XCOM 2 announced....PC Exclusive

I'm enjoying it, I really enjoyed the prior game, if anybody has any recommendations for turned based games like this let me know.
 
polydiol said:
I'm enjoying it, I really enjoyed the prior game, if anybody has any recommendations for turned based games like this let me know.
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Two I'd look at are Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun Dragonfall (also Shadowrun Hong Kong). They are RPGs, so more story, and their turn based tactics are not quite as solid as XCOM's but both are very good and I like the TBT combat.
 
polydiol said:
I'm enjoying it, I really enjoyed the prior game, if anybody has any recommendations for turned based games like this let me know.
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Are you willing to play handheld 3DS games?

If so, Fire Emblem comes out next week.
 
Have any patches hit or have they announced any patches in the works? I want the game, but not in it's current form.
 
I am really enjoying this game, even with the problems it is having. I am hoping the bugs get squashed relatively soon. I was thinking about installing the mod that increases the turn based counter up by 2, but I haven't actually failed a mission yet with a timer, so while they look impossible, I have been handling them fine. The damn loading and unknown pausing thing is killing me though.

polydiol said:
I'm enjoying it, I really enjoyed the prior game, if anybody has any recommendations for turned based games like this let me know.
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Divinity Original Sin would be my recommendation.
 
Shadowrun Dragonfall is a good one.

Wonder if they'll ever give Master of Orion a legit remake and/or sequel while they're going thru Microprose's old IPs
 
polydiol said:
I'm enjoying it, I really enjoyed the prior game, if anybody has any recommendations for turned based games like this let me know.
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Silent Storm. WW2 squad turn based game.
Gets a little cheesy at the end but the game play and destructible environment were amazing.

More modern games a mentioned. Wasteland and Shadowrun are good picks.
 
kledar586 said:
...
Wonder if they'll ever give Master of Orion a legit remake and/or sequel while they're going thru Microprose's old IPs
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Try to keep up :D

I'm hopeful about the new Orion, but their promo materials damn sure don't look like the MoO I'm familiar with right now.
 
polydiol said:
I'm enjoying it, I really enjoyed the prior game, if anybody has any recommendations for turned based games like this let me know.
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Xenonauts, which is also a remake of Xcom.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/223830/

Jagged Alliance 2, older game but IMO the best of the TB tactics games. You can update this one with mods to give widescreen res and other improvements.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/1620/

Fallout Tactics, another older game.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/38420/
 
I don't really understand the animosity for the turn counters. They are only counting down for a specific part of the mission and to me it creates a fun unique type of challenge. Personally I think they are a great idea, and the thing that disturbs me a bit, is that on the missions where you are supposed to place explosives to blow something up, there is no timer after you set the explosive. I think that would make it more interesting as well.

That said, perhaps they will add an option to turn off the timers. It seems like they had a lot more options for the game in the first game in this reboot series.

As for the issues with the game, I also am hoping a patch comes out soon, I have hit a point where I have a mission that keeps crashing no matter what I do once I get about halfway through the mission. If I try to load a save game from that mission after 4-5 turns it just keeps crashing. I haven't even been able to play the mission through straight without saving without it crashing yet. It is quite annoying.
 
I had that same issue with a save game, and had to go back to a point before the mission started and do it all over again. Even then, there are some extreme pauses during that mission that I just cannot account for. Like the alien turns taking several minutes where it looks like it is doing nothing.

So I made it to the final mission, and while it is a blast due to the sheer amount of enemies, why can I not use the damn grenades? Is it a bug or something due to ceiling height? It pisses me off because I brought two heavies just for the extra explosions and they cannot throw a grenade farther than 2 feet.
 
thanks for the recommendations, much appreciated.

So I just finished a playthrough, I got my butt kicked on veteran difficulty and I didn't even get out of the United States as I don't really understand the concept of how to do so but for my turn based gaming fix it was great. The A.I and random number generator can be ruthless so I will confess to reloading a few times after one of my characters got killed but I found it very fun. I like how will can be recovered via successful missions and not taking damage but I also had a few key characters freak out and do their own thing at the totally wrong time. I had a ranger that was my go to character to kill things quickly but she had a problem with random will issues after she was gravely issued a few times and I had 2 snipers that were pure gold as they finally got to where they didn't miss everything.

Great game, I'm going to start another playthrough after I mull the difficulty.
 
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I got this game today for Valentine's Day. Boy, where the crazy redditors correct, this is a performance turd. Ironically the worst playing parts for me are the cut scenes. I only played the first mission so far, and man this game is spectacular. Yeah, it still has same bugs from XCOM, yeah it is (assumedly) horribly coded, but its freaking great. I was totally against the procedurally generated levels but this level I played so far was really good. I really like the new units I have seen so far, they really pulled out some creativity this time around. I just hope the game isn't so messed up that they can't or don't get around to patching it up.

Nonetheless, even if it stays in it's current state, I am very pleased. Call me a fanboy.
 
polydiol said:
thanks for the recommendations, much appreciated.

So I just finished a playthrough, I got my butt kicked on veteran difficulty and I didn't even get out of the United States as I don't really understand the concept of how to do so but for my turn based gaming fix it was great. The A.I and random number generator can be ruthless so I will confess to reloading a few times after one of my characters got killed but I found it very fun. I like how will can be recovered via successful missions and not taking damage but I also had a few key characters freak out and do their own thing at the totally wrong time. I had a ranger that was my go to character to kill things quickly but she had a problem with random will issues after she was gravely issued a few times and I had 2 snipers that were pure gold as they finally got to where they didn't miss everything.

Great game, I'm going to start another playthrough after I mull the difficulty.
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Build order matters. In my experience, you need to build both a GTS and Resistance Comms, ASAP, for the squad size upgrades and territory bonuses. After that, go AWC and maybe a Workshop. Rush for Mag weapons as your tech. Should be fine if you reach that far.
 
NoOther said:
That said, perhaps they will add an option to turn off the timers.
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Saw a video on youtube that said there is now a mod to completely turn off the timers and not just extend the turns a bit so now I will buy it, but when the price comes ways down.
 
The timers really aren't an issue. Everyone knows you're supposed to Save Scum in Xcom games :p
 
mr_zen256 said:
The timers really aren't an issue. Everyone knows you're supposed to Save Scum in Xcom games :p
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They are kinda annoying in my opinion. They make you have to rush missions. You can do them all, it isn't like they are too short to make ti happen, but you have to rush everything. I don't really care for that, so I grabbed the mod to extend them which works nicely for me.
 
Whee finally beat the game on Commander/Ironman mode. I have to say this is a much better game than the first simply cause there's no annoying UFO/Satellite minigame. The mission timers also improve the pacing and strategy considerably. I'll probably try to tackle Legendary/Ironman once they come out with the new class and balance the game some more. Overall, I think Firaxis did a great job of focusing on the fun aspects and getting rid of the annoyance from the first game.
 
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So, I don't have to purchase scientists \ engineers? How do I get more? I've only done 3 or 4 missions so far. Loving this. Turned down some of the graphics settings last night, much more playable now. I installed the "Quit wasting my time" mod as well but haven't tested it. Some of those pauses are really absurd.
 
you can purchase them in your home area once the council guy allocate them to you.
 
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Thanks ^

Played a few more missions today. Do you guys think that this game is a little too easy for XCOM? I have mixed feelings about the difficulty and how I get away with playing so aggressive. Granted I can simply turn the difficulty up.
 
eh, the sequels are decent games but more than difficulty, the originals inspired a kind of spooky tension that I don't think they can recapture.
 
I saw the first update to the game came out a couple days ago. For those playing, does it improve performance?
 
No. They added an anti-aliasing option that is it. I don't expect the performance to get ironed out ever to be honest. You are talking about the rendering part of the engine, which is the point of using Unreal Engine in the first place. The amount of code they would have to rework is probably astronomical. They were probably careless with a lot of stuff when they molded what is basically a FPS engine into what it is now. Just an uneducated theory by myself.

All that aside, I am freaking loving this game. And what I said earlier about it maybe being to easy, I definitely hit a rough patch now so I can say its balanced. At one point I had like all 18 Soldiers in my Armory injured. Although now I caught a lot of my tech up and I am mowing down the enemy again, but they are soon catching up themselves. There were a lot of mechanics I did not understand about this new game on the first play through that I will do better on my next go around. The game is true to the original though, I am constantly feeling stressed when playing this game because at any given time I can't tell if I am doing really really well or really really poor. Bravo to Firaxis, they have designed the perfect XCOM sequel, performance aside.
 
Looks like a new patch dropped yesterday. Did it fix any of the performance issues?

Also, how is 21:9 support for this game? Does it still have misaligned tiles/cursors and stuff like the first one did?
 
Yesterday the Mac\Linux version of the Windows patch came out. No idea on 21:9.

I am on the final mission now guys. I have two guys in the PSI lab that I have never used. I read over and over again how people think this one is so hard. I don't get it. Maybe I just really sucked at EU. Those darn satellites would always be the end of me.
 
So yeah, this final mission is hard. And the glitches? That's crazy. On one playthrough I get destroyed at the end part of it. I attempt a second playthrough pulling my guys out of the PSI Lab and the glitches are so bad I stop. Maybe I will play other games until this is patched.
 
The patch is out!
XCOM | Age Gate

The first major patch for XCOM 2 is live! This patch will automatically install when starting the Steam client. If it doesn’t install automatically, restart Steam.

This patch introduces new fixes, balance tweaks, and several performance optimizations in the game that should improve framerates and in-game delays overall. Players can also opt into the new “Zip Mode” option by pausing the game at any time and activating it under gameplay options. Zip Mode will create a faster paced experience that speeds up animations and some delays in gameplay.

After installing the patch, we recommend all players to go into the graphics tab under options and select “Auto Detect Graphic Settings.” Installing the patch will not rewrite your graphic settings. Players must do this manually.

The XCOM team has been working hard to improve performance, balance, and stability issues reported by our fans. A big thank you to anyone who took the time to provide feedback and submit reports. We will continue to improve the XCOM 2 experience with additional updates and patches over the coming months.

*Required User Action: If you have mods enabled after installing the patch, launch it once, close the game, and launch it again. Players will only have to do this once. After the restart, the game will have initialized the patch to work with mods. While the majority of mods will operate in harmony with the patch, some mods may conflict with patch updates and will need to be updated to take advantage of the patch improvements.

Performance

  • Added Zip Mode gameplay option. While Zip Mode is enabled animation (like step outs & gremlin movements) speeds are significantly increased. Normal movement animations are moderately increased
  • Fixed an issue where shadow rendering during glam cam shot transitions was slowing down performance
  • Support for nVidia SLI and AMD Crossfire
  • Removed MSAA options from default presets and adjusted autodetect to target 40FPS instead of 30FPS
  • Reworked Light Clipping Manager
  • Particle Vertex Buffer Reallocation
  • Optimization to shadows in the Avenger
  • Enable triple buffering to fix VSync performance
  • Shadowed light fade out within Avenger; Disabled Post & Pre Mission cinematic lights not being used
  • Disabled shadow casting from character lights w/in Avenger
  • Reduced High Shadow Resolution - Reduce shadow resolution when set to HIGH to 1536, instead of 2048
  • Reduces the impact count of the Avatar Rifle
  • Removed a hitch that occurs when the camera enables/disables building visualizer
  • Deferred profile saves to next tick. This prevents multiple calls within the same frame from creating multiple requests to save the profile
  • After changing graphics settings, based on the selected preset, extra crew will be capped
  • Character head mesh optimized


Balance



  • Mimic beacon rebalance: Price increased to 75
  • Mimic beacons can no longer take cover, and are guaranteed to be hit by enemy shots
  • Wet Work is no longer retroactive
  • Graze is no longer a chance for 100% shots. Targets being shot by a concealed attacker cannot dodge
Gameplay

  • Added a new recommended Steam Controller configuration with support for additional actions
  • Fixed an issue where VIP units would take damage when their origin location was damaged
  • Fixed an issue where Promotion Earned text appeared before action is seen on screen
  • Fixed an issue where civilians pathed to the base of ladders and blocked XCOM units
  • Fixed an issue where Character Pool choices like Class, Attitude, and props did not save
  • Fixed an issue where weapons did not keep names and customizations upon tier bump
  • Fixed an issue causing some scan timers to go into negative time
  • Engineering items that are full squad upgrades are now designated in the UI
  • Fixed an issue where strategy project timers reset if players started building a radio relay immediately after making contact with a region
  • Fixed an issue with POIs not spawning when first visiting the Geoscape if Beginner VO is turned off
  • Removed start-of-turn hang during certain missions where enemy units had fallen out of the world. Auto-saves (and ironman saves) made in these situations should now be playable
  • Minimized action camera obstructions
  • Minimized camera look-at hopping during AI abilities
  • Fixed an issue where Psi abilities did not trigger death cams
  • Kill Zone now respects concealment status
  • Fixed an issue where the Ever Vigilant AWC perk did not work for Sharpshooters
  • Buildings don't cut down when tabbing through units
  • Fixed an exploit that skips the AI turn by spamming the END/BACKSPACE button while the Player's last action is being visualized
  • Rapid Fire and Chain Shot visualization optimized to get the second shot to fire faster
  • Fixed an issue where shot HUD wings would fail to re-open after taking an action that required the wings to close
  • Fixed an issue where crit chance would be negatively affected by shots with a success chance greater than 100
  • Optimized Return Fire hits causing long delays
  • Optimized AI reveals causing long hangs
  • Optimized Wait actions causing long timeouts
  • Optimized falling unit visualization to timeout faster
  • Updated the Geoscape save description to use the localized HQ time, instead of previously used GMT game time
  • Fixed an issue with an invalid spawn point on a specific Retaliation mission plot
  • Destroyed cover does not take reduce % to-hit on enemies
Systems

  • New option to only use Character Pool creations until the pool is exhausted
  • Bulletproofing bad saves from causing main menu crashes
  • Fixed an issue causing hitches in strategy
  • Fixed an issue where armor customizations did not save


Graphics

  • Unit Highlighting Flash when targeting units

Multiplayer

  • MULTIPLAYER: Fixes slow communications with internet players resulting in delays between actions, turns, and end-of-game screen.
  • Added camera rotation to MP
 
Let's get some impressions from this patch. Might be time I picked this up finally. Hopefully they fixed all the issues people were having.
 
It's a good patch, some noticeable improvements. I don't think performance will EVER be where it should be. It's engine design is messed up from the ground up. I don't understand games like this and Mortal Kombat that change so much of the Unreal Engine they could have made one from scratch. Then they have to pay licensing fees.

The gameplay is solid enough it's worth the purchase regardless. This game has replay value too.
 
Went back and re-played the previous XCOM. I really appreciate the instant mission loads and exits without 30+ second delay even with 16GB RAM and SSD.
 
Hitting capslock forces a quickload during some loading screens.
 
I think the patch is a step in the right direction, but the game needs more. It is still pretty slow, the loading/unloading missions is awful still even with a significant improvement. I am working my way through my 4th play through getting some achievements and such right now. I wish there were more content available already...
 
patch made my game run worse. gonna have to play with the settings but it could be the crossfire profile needs to be updated on my machine. I had already finished my first play through on Veteran and enjoyed the whole things pretty much. The last mission was pretty excellent
 
Did they fix it so it works with non-steam controllers (i.e. xbox)? I'm not buying it until they stop playing favorites for no reason.
 
Have they fixed all the performance issues this game had on launch? I'm thinking about grabbing a copy.
 
Seems to run fine on linux; maybe you all need to switch to linux ?
 
Drawmonster said:
Have they fixed all the performance issues this game had on launch? I'm thinking about grabbing a copy.
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I picked it up a few days ago. The only problems I've noticed are increasing load times when leaving a mission and jerky video during that same time. The soldiers are just sitting there fidgeting while the info loads so it isn't at an important point or anything. I think starting the game and loading a save gets done quicker now than returning from a mission.

Some minor line of sight bugs like shooting thru walls but doesn't happen often. No aliens suddenly spawning in the middle of your formation. I'd say it is better than EU.

Still not the xcom I wanted but a decent game.

I did not get any of the DLC.
 
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