What is Mission Impossible difficulty like?

[Econ]

I've finished the game on First Blood and Commando, but want to keep playing - what is Mission Impossible like?

I did not notice much difference between FB and Commando - mainly that the grenade launcher was a bit less overpowered (targets were often left with some health rather than obliterated).

[Rhapsody]

You can switch difficulty level while playing. If you don't use any of the extra options, it's very similar to lower settings.

[mr_oluap]

It's very possible don't worry, just a bit less ressources and a bit tougher ennemies (like the tooltip says)

[Lightning]

From my experience the enemies were a bit harder but the main nerf was the money income was in negative even having all mines around 90% rep each.

So basically hired the same costly mercs I did on easiest mode and from easy mode I was in around +7500 or so and on hardest I was pretty high on negatives.

Pic at end mission from easiest mode https://i.imgur.com/MUbz4ZF.jpg

Pic at end on hardest difficulty for Iron man https://i.imgur.com/LA9HY0t.jpg

Can compare the 2 with the income and current money lol

So yeah to do the Ironman legitimately without mods or cheats its basically a time race if you hire to many mercs at the end. Also if your going MI might as well go for the Ironman Achieve at the same time imo.

[Trolleur_Durden]

Enemies are tougher but also more accurate, they have no issues hitting you from far away with burst shots. Some strategies like going on roofs become much more risky, among other things. But as others have said, it's still quite doable if you are careful.

[Dorok]

Originally posted by Econ:

I've finished the game on First Blood and Commando, but want to keep playing - what is Mission Impossible like?

I did not notice much difference between FB and Commando - mainly that the grenade launcher was a bit less overpowered (targets were often left with some health rather than obliterated).

Combat setup are totally identical, what changes are (partial list):
- Management cost are higher, income lower.
- Less loot.
- More enemies the same but higher grade like more elites.

I agree that Commando feels the same than Normal for combats.

[HozzMidnight]

I started on First Blood and I am now on MI and I am someone who generally avoids the highest difficulty level in any games as they are usually tuned for masochists with unlimited free time, which is not me.

After getting to know the game and what works and what doesn't I would say MI is easier than Ernie island was the first time I did it on First Blood.

[Lightning]

Same here but I managed to do it to get Ironman achievement also the achievement for not losing a single merc / Down state even though yeah couldn't have a down state anyway since dead is dead.

[Dorok]

Originally posted by HozzMidnight:

I started on First Blood and I am now on MI and I am someone who generally avoids the highest difficulty level in any games as they are usually tuned for masochists with unlimited free time, which is not me.

After getting to know the game and what works and what doesn't I would say MI is easier than Ernie island was the first time I did it on First Blood.

Yeah, for me, there was many differences making a huge difference.

Not guess there's no point keep money in reserve at start so hire one more merc is fine. Stop lost time with risked real time ambushes, and instead discover power of stealth and re stealth in TB mode. Consider more how exploit the sector terrain which makes a huge difference in many sectors. Admit use more grenades and SR in some cases. Certainly more.

Still from later combats I'm not sure I want bother with max difficulty, me too I don't care do that in games. I think I'd prefer Commando for combats and last difficulty for management.

[kayfabe]

As Durden pointed out the big thing is extra accuracy, which has the downstream effect of punishing you harder when you break stealth just to take an unlikely potshot since enemies don't have to close as much as they used to to really threaten damage. Recklessly drawing your overwatch cones too far out in Normal is also suboptimal but so long as you're in decent cover oftentimes you're just nerfing your damage potential whereas in MI it can quickly lead to being suppressed and down a couple wounds. Overwatch and long distance shooting is still powerful in MI but you have to be less reckless about it and if you want to rooftop snipe it pays to spec into it hard with Hold Position as an end-of-turn defensive tool since re-stealthing instead would often require you to abandon your position.

[Dorok]

Some roof have a plain cover, if you are at a higher position then prone should allow re stealth. If there's no border, even higher it's more complicate to guess, move backward one step and prone could not work. Sure that's AP and time lost.

Even at Normal, stay exposed risk get hit and be suppressed. But I see your point, if mostly all enemies setup this risk, it's another level of risk.

Well could worth a check of IM for players even no used to bother with highest difficulty, I could try.

[Econ]

Um, I tried Mission Impossible and I don't think it is for me. I was doing the fight above the bunker in Ernie and taking a lot of hits from burst firing across the jungle (against mercs in cover, often taking cover). Also, even before the 30s countdown for reinforcements, the AI side was getting an extra soldier each turn. The description of the difficulty as being for players who want to suffer sounds accurate.

[zpc]

What's wearing me down on mission impossible is the lack of money / low income / high maintenance time (both for healing mercs and repairing stuff). I'm always broke and have to sell everything, just rushing around to get enough diamond shipments for the next month. The fact that I set the amount of enemies x2 with Custom Settings mod also didn't work in my favour here I guess.

Too much of a hazzle and no fun - I turned "forgiving mode" back on

[w.f.schepel]

Fairly easy, but fun. I enjoyed it so much I did a second MI run right after the first one. What you need to avoid like the plague is chasing after diamond shipments. They are a massive noob trap. You waste more money going after them than you get out of it. What you do need to do is control the map and the mines. That means taking out all the camps and then bunker down on the island (with a barebones 2nd squad) since pretty much everything goes past that one. I can't recommend militia enough as a resource saving feature. (In fact, you get 5.56 ammo out of dead militia, so even if they die they are useful.)

Also, learn to love recruits. They are your bread and butter on MI. Eventually you can splurge on a higher tier merc, but avoid expensive mercs unless they bring something you absolutely need, Like dr Q for the red rabies skill check.

[zpc]

Originally posted by w.f.schepel:

Fairly easy, but fun. I enjoyed it so much I did a second MI run right after the first one. What you need to avoid like the plague is chasing after diamond shipments. They are a massive noob trap. You waste more money going after them than you get out of it. What you do need to do is control the map and the mines. That means taking out all the camps and then bunker down on the island (with a barebones 2nd squad) since pretty much everything goes past that one. I can't recommend militia enough as a resource saving feature. (In fact, you get 5.56 ammo out of dead militia, so even if they die they are useful.)

Yeah, that blockade at Chalet de la Paix is nice and all - but it takes time to reach that... :(

By "rushing around" for diamond shipments I'm more talking about the time when you don't have a spare squad yet. Then you have to abort progression in order to get enough money for saving your squad composition (by not loosing the contracts). So I'm not zipping after every shipment but I do factor them in when planning my next steps. Mining income is very low - at least for the middle-south approach. I'm trying a new order right now (north - middle - south), which involves going for red diamond first.

That militia ammo tip is nice =) I have them (on my mines only obviously - not enough time to train them in buffer zones -.-).

But as said - not very enjoyable for me. I'm not playing that game for the economy part. ^^

[w.f.schepel]

Originally posted by zpc:

Originally posted by w.f.schepel:

Fairly easy, but fun. I enjoyed it so much I did a second MI run right after the first one. What you need to avoid like the plague is chasing after diamond shipments. They are a massive noob trap. You waste more money going after them than you get out of it. What you do need to do is control the map and the mines. That means taking out all the camps and then bunker down on the island (with a barebones 2nd squad) since pretty much everything goes past that one. I can't recommend militia enough as a resource saving feature. (In fact, you get 5.56 ammo out of dead militia, so even if they die they are useful.)

Yeah, that blockade at Chalet de la Paix is nice and all - but it takes time to reach that... :(

By "rushing around" for diamond shipments I'm more talking about the time when you don't have a spare squad yet. Then you have to abort progression in order to get enough money for saving your squad composition (by not loosing the contracts). So I'm not zipping after every shipment but I do factor them in when planning my next steps. Mining income is very low - at least for the middle-south approach. I'm trying a new order right now (north - middle - south), which involves going for red diamond first.

That militia ammo tip is nice =) I have them (on my mines only obviously - not enough time to train them in buffer zones -.-).

But as said - not very enjoyable for me. I'm not playing that game for the economy part. ^^

FWIW, I never ran into money trouble the second time around. Took the obvious first mine and then went south for port Cacao. What might be relevant here is that I made sure to up the loyalty of the nearby towns. (Just killing baddies in the vicinity works.) That makes a lot of difference in terms of income. For the Port Cacao mine there is also a mission that improves the income from the mine.

I would also suggest you don't train militia on your mines. You can save your antiques and get instant militia from Port Cacao. This nets you more than the 3k per piece because you save a lot of time.

Last, but not least, I assume you got max LDR on your IMP? Because that is the magic trick in staying afloat: move fast!