X-COM XCOM 2 + War of the Chosen Expansion Thread

[anus_pounder]

A full blown ter- Freedom Fighter strategy sim would be p. nice tbh...

 

[Infinitron]

XCOM 2’s Concealment Mechanic Changes Everything

Procedural maps, randomised weapons and chain-smoking soldiers. In XCOM 2[official site], the rules have changed. One seemingly minor addition to the tactical combat might have the greatest impact of all though. In our recent hands-on, we had a chance to test out the new concealment mechanic. It removes one of XCOM’s few frustrations and creates an entirely new scouting phase as each mission begins.


Remember how the aliens always had the jump on you in XCOM? You’d stick to cover, make sure that none of your agents exposed themselves, and hope to get the drop on the bastards, and then scream at the monitor when one of those animations kicked in as soon as you sighted a gang of Ets. They scattered and scurried for cover, again and again, until you accepted that they’d probably seen the Skyranger coming, and that your sneaky tactics were all for naught.

That’s no longer the case.

In keeping with XCOM’s new role as a hidden organisation, trying to bring down the alien authorities from the shadows, your squads can now take advantage of cover to conceal themselves, as well as to hide behind once spotted. The new mechanic that allows for stealthy approaches and planning goes by the name Concealment and it’s a perfect example of Firaxis’ careful marriage of systems and themes.

Your squads would be fairly terrible clandestine agents if the aliens always knew they were in the area. To reflect the guerrilla warfare campaign that you’re waging, while addressing that stolen march that was a cause of such frustration in the first game, your squad members are concealed at the beginning of each mission.

That means you can move everyone into position, placing snipers on roofs to provide coverage and setting up ambushes for patrolling aliens. As long as you’re not spotted and don’t make too much noise (firing a gun, for example), you’ll be able to scout out the area and get a bead on enemy positions and movements.

When you fire your first shot, any XCOM operatives with line of sight on aliens or Advent soldiers will fire in sequence. That gives you the ability to take down an entire enemy squad in one action but the tactical advantage is a slight thing in comparison to the power that the earlier reconnaissance provides. Being able to see enemy movements before they’re aware of your presence not only gives an insight into the way they patrol and guard locations, it also ensures that you feel a sense of control over the battlefield than was the case in Enemy Unknown.

The scouting works in combination with the procedural maps. The sense of the unknown that they provide, the fact that the precise layout can never be known in advance, means that retaining concealed status for as long as possible can be very advantageous. Even a brief session with the game demonstrated the importance of scoping out as much terrain as possible, and that’s at odds with the first XCOM, in which missions usually entailed creeping from one encounter to the next.

Here, it’s entirely possible to avoid encounters until finding the one that works best as your first point of contact in any given situation. Effectively, you’re picking your point of insertion and angle of attack, rather than sticking to the path laid out by a level designer.

I’d thought that concealment might not be effective unless the setup of a mission were crafted to support it, or that it’d feel like a special ability to be utilised when conditions are ideal. Now that I’ve played the game, I don’t think that’s the case at all. Concealment and the stealthy approach are a key part of the redesigned tactical layer of XCOM 2 and are central to the way that the mechanics fit with the theme of resistance and retaliation.

If concealment had been restricted to a specific class, it would have been rarely used, or one of those apparently optional skills that turn out to be an essential component of victory. As it is, Firaxis have made it a cornerstone of their sequel and it’s one more way in which XCOM 2 has been fundamentally altered rather than simply expanded.

 

[Space Satan]

 

[ArchAngel]

I'm waiting for a mod where everything is desert and you fight human occupation force as freedom fighters.

I wonder when someone in mainstream media notices Firaxis is already making a terrorist simulator :D

A JihadCom mod can be awesome! Fighting the infidels for Allah...

I think you can already do that by enlisting in your Iranian National army

 

[HotSnack]

And yet, I bet that Hard West (and original X-COM) still has better stealth mechanics.

 

[ArchAngel]

And yet, I bet that Hard West (and original X-COM) still has better stealth mechanics.

Actually it does not. Enemies in HW don't patrol around. What HW has better is that once fight begins all enemies on map are aware of it and attack kind of together. In Xcom 2 every other patrol keeps patroling like nothing happens and only activates like in nuXcom once you get them in your sight range (or they get you during their patrol on their turn).

 

[HotSnack]

That's good to know. Still by the sound of it X2's system will allow you to only get off one alpha strike (and anything else will be the free scramble to cover like the last game). On the other hand while everyone is agro'd in HW, it is still possible to get the jump on enemies that don't know your precise location, or to have hiding spots be given away by shadows.

 

[Zeriel]

So, the old "move - spot enemy group - enemy freely moves into cover" gameplay is still here? Or is there a way to sneak up to and ambush enemies now?

You start missions in sneak mode and that lasts until you open fire with your first dude or until someone spots you (patrols, civilians or scanners). Rangers have an ability that he stays in sneak mode even after that and can do another sneak attack.
After sneak mode is done it works like nuXcom with difference that enemies don't teleport around the map but actually move and they spawn in but come in transport craft.

I wouldn't be surprised if the old ghost armor/ghost grenades also put you back into concealmeant. And yeah, rangers... ever since they announced that ability, I was wondering if 6 rangers with it would work as advertised.

 

[ArchAngel]

That's good to know. Still by the sound of it X2's system will allow you to only get off one alpha strike (and anything else will be the free scramble to cover like the last game). On the other hand while everyone is agro'd in HW, it is still possible to get the jump on enemies that don't know your precise location, or to have hiding spots be given away by shadows.

You can put everyone in overwatch except one guy that does the attack. Then when enemy units scramble for cover you finish them off.

HW also did this better. Your whole team would get to do their surprise attack. But that works in HW when whole map goes after you and it is very much needed (at least on Hard) to drop as many enemies as possible in that first round. That would be totally OP in Xcom2 as it works now.

I am very disappointed that activation system was left as it is but just with a minor twist

 

[ArchAngel]

At least the Geoscape part was improved a lot and for battlescape I guess will will have to wait for good mods.

 

[an Administrator]

I'm waiting for a mod where everything is desert and you fight human occupation force as freedom fighters.

I wonder when someone in mainstream media notices Firaxis is already making a terrorist simulator :D

A JihadCom mod can be awesome! Fighting the infidels for Allah...

I think you can already do that by enlisting in your Iranian National army

They fight for Khamenei and die for Assad not Allah

 

[Jaedar]

Game looks p baed.

Still has the stupid activation pod system. It also seems they added lots of minor shitstain upgrades. HAIR TRIGGER +5% chance of free shot! And 4-6 soldiers seem confirmed.

 

[anus_pounder]

Hopefully the preload comes out early enough for my potato net to dload before the actual release.

 

[anus_pounder]

 

[Morgoth]

These people need to shut their annoying cunt mouths. Especially the high-pitched Limey ones.

 

[HotSnack]

These, however, make me wonder how they decided that playing video games was their area of expertise.

Blame modern videogames.

 

[Makabb]

Angryjoe

 

[Zeriel]

He's the first person I've seen that calls the geoscape "simplified". I guess he really liked the air game.

 

[Shaewaroz]

Why can't they just make the fkin time units optional instead of not having them at all? I'd be throwing money at them. Now I'm just probably going to pirate it and play a couple of hours, uninstall and go play openxcom instead.

 

[Zeriel]

Why can't they just make the fkin time units optional instead of not having them at all? I'd be throwing money at them. Now I'm just probably going to pirate it and play a couple of hours, uninstall and go play openxcom instead.

You want them to make a core gameplay mechanic "optional"? What the fuck are you smoking?

 

[anus_pounder]

Angryjoe

I can't tell if that is just his online comedian personality, or if he actually is an idiot.

Both. He really is an idiot, but he also plays up his net personality a lot.

 

[Shaewaroz]

Why can't they just make the fkin time units optional instead of not having them at all? I'd be throwing money at them. Now I'm just probably going to pirate it and play a couple of hours, uninstall and go play openxcom instead.

You want them to make a core gameplay mechanic "optional"? What the fuck are you smoking?

Whatever let's me forget how they're raping xcom.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Fortunately, there is now an overwatch icon. So none of that bullshit anymore.

 

[anus_pounder]

Fortunately, there is now an overwatch icon. So none of that bullshit anymore.

Wait, wasn't there always an overwatch icon? Is that something LW added? I could've sworn LW had overwatch warnings for enemies. Either that or I'm just used to making a mental note of who used overwatch, easy enough since you face like 1 'pod' of enemies at a time, most of the time.

 

[Mozg]

LW hacked it in.