Xcom long war best starting country
Use them to break mind-control and stop creatures meleeing too. I took 2 or 3 along until the end of the game.īattle Scanners give you more information and help you not get ambushed.Īcid Grenades do guaranteed damage over time and strip armour.įlashbangs stop aliens using non-basic attacks and abilities. Which bails you out of trouble more often than you think. As long as you throw it carefully it means 2, maybe 3 aliens ignore you, once. Perception (Aim) all round with two exceptions Mobility on the Rangers (for those beautiful flanking shots with Hunter’s Instinct and for good scouting) and Conditioning on the Psi-Operatives (as they’ll never sully themselves with something as mundane as using a gun or moving about). Plus the whole ‘never miss’ aspect to Hail of Bullets really helps with certain late-game enemies… Personal Combat Stims Grenades were less vital and the final mission is a slug-fest that goes on for ages you want non-limited abilities if possible. Psi-Ops: You can get as many as you like but you definitely want Stasis, Inspire, Domination, Null Lance and Void Rift.Īgain these all revolve around Rule 1 guaranteed damage, information gathering and general improvement to your odds.įor the later stages of the game I changed the talents on my Grenadiers to take Hail of Bullets and Rupture. Specialist: Combat Protocol, Haywire Protocol, Scanning Protocol, Threat Assessment, Guardian, Capacitor Discharge
#XCOM LONG WAR BEST STARTING COUNTRY SERIAL#
Sharpshooter: Long Watch, Lightning Hands, Death From Above, Kill Zone, Steady Hands, Serial Ranger: Phantom, Shadowstrike, Conceal, Implacable, Untouchable, Rapid Fire Grenadier: Shredder, Suppression, Heavy Ordnance, Volatile Mix, Salvo, Rupture If it was a raid / non-timed mission I took an extra Sharpshooter instead of a Grenadier as I’d have more chance of loot if I didn’t carpet-bomb everything.įurther in I took an additional Ranger instead of a Grenadier.Īnd for the final missions I went with 2 Psi-Operatives, a Ranger, a Sharpshooter, a Specialist and a Grenadier. Through the early stages of the game I had 1 Ranger, 1 Specialist, 1 Sharpshooter and 2-3 Grenadiers. Hunters instinct + items + high mobility + shotguns means you’ve got a ‘in case of emergency kill 1 alien instantly’ button. Of course get as many Psi Operatives as you can field (as long as they have one of the key talents). Better to avoid the damage in the first place. Combat Protocol: Guaranteed damage! Scanning Protocol: More information on the tactical map! The medic tree is good but if your guys get hit they’re wounded for so long that they’re no good to you. Thinking about Rule 1, grenades give both guaranteed damage AND strip cover away giving you as close to sure shots as you’re going to get. A concealed ranger stops that happening (at the cost of an active soldier). Even with the troops you start with (combat effectiveness rating : blancmange) you can normally take on a pod of aliens with little risk but if you trigger two groups you’re pretty much dead (Mimic Beacons not withstanding). So bearing the above in mind, I found the following got me through the game. Ideally you want to be planning for the best outcome but have a mitigation for the worst (“I focussed on my sharpshooters and now all my snipers are in the hospital as apparently sandwich vans are stuffed with TNT.”) Concrete Tips There are multiple paths to avoiding catastrophe but you need to commit to one and get cracking in time to make it.Ī bit of flexibility can help though if you find a cache of weapons with a great experimental ammo type in it or get a great hack bonus (like 50% reduction in research) then your plans might change. With a couple of exceptions (like building a new item in Engineering) you need to be planning waaaay ahead for the next big spike in difficulty. Rule 2: On the strategic layer, you’re fighting the next battle, not the current one.Įverything takes ages to research, develop and build in XCOM this applies especially on Legendary where the pace is slowed down further than normal. So focus on things that give you guaranteed results (or as close as XCOM gets). You never want to be relying on a random chance to save your bacon as that 10% chance to fail occurs 90% of the time*.
#XCOM LONG WAR BEST STARTING COUNTRY MANUALS#
I remember reading in one of the old AD&D manuals about how generally the players are stronger than the monsters and so anything that increases randomness makes the game harder for the players. The Two Basic Principles Rule 1: RNG is not your friend I’ve written a similar guide for Long War 2, here.Īlso here’s a guide for War of the Chosen (the latest XCOM2 expansion). I’ve collated some tips to help you retain some sanity when you start Operation Gatecrasher for the tenth time. It’s a lot of fun you always feel you’re close to death (at least at the beginning of the game) and the tension really gives you that “against all odds” vibe. After many restarts and dismal failures I did it Legendary Ironman XCOM 2 complete!