Tried Ironman Impossible ~20 times. I missed every single shot.

[AlienRenders]

All my shots were above 45% to hit. Most were 65%. Some 70%'s. A few 80% and one 93% shot. All misses. That's like over 200 shots missed, probably more like 300. By the end, I threw caution to the wind and just went point blank at them. That's how I was getting 80% shots. All misses. I got a 93% shot. Missed. Finally got a 100% chance and that one hit. I was actually surprised it hit.

I don't think this is normal. And the aliens don't care if you're using full cover or not. They'll just one shot you every time if they see you.

[AlienRenders]

Yeah, but I missed ALL my shots. Over 200 shots in a row missed.

[red255]

Its called impossible son.

its not supposed to be possible.

[Traul]

Originally posted by Vorlath:

Most were 65%.

Which is crap on Impossible, because if you miss, then the alien will not miss you back. Impossible IS played at point blank or with explosives, at least until you get better armor. That is why the approach phase is so important: you don't want to engage any aliens until they are at least in grenade range.

That is exactly the opposite of playing recklessly: you only commit to an attack when you have a 100% plan B (often a grenade), the rest of the time you ensure survival by hunkering or retreating out of sight.

[Temper]

It took the guy I consider to quite possibly be the best Xcom player that I've ever had the privilege and pleasure to watch play and chat with on Twitch 27 attempts to complete an EW blind playthrough,Impossible,Ironman,all second wave,4 man squad challenge.....

His chances of completing a standard I/I campaign were 100% in his favor,no if's,but's or maybe's,guy just could not lose a standard I/I campaign.

But ! .... the one point he made sure to always stress to others not as "gifted" at Xcom was that he had to work on it just like everyone else,he had to learn from his mistakes,excercise great patience and consider loss as a positive experience,rather than a negative experience.

It in fact took him some 70 odd attempts to defeat his first ever I/I/ASW and was still occasionally defeated in later attempts.

I'll provide a link to his Twitch page where all his past live cast challenges can be viewed (including failures).Check it out if you want,don't if you don't want. =P

http://www.twitch.tv/defenderofsoul/profile

Final note: My point ?

What seems impossibly hard and unfair now ... can over time become a non issue by accepting that it is us that need to persist and adapt to the situations presented to us by way of learning from our failures.

=)

[AlienRenders]

I don't think you all understand what I'm saying. I didn't just get bad luck. I missed ALL my shots. ALL OF THEM. Didn't matter if it was 45% or 93%. They all missed. 200+ worth of consecutive shots. Not a single hit.

And understand I'm not exaggerating either. It's not something like "Oh, I got bad luck and missed most of my shots because I didn't blow their cover and didn't use high enough hit chance, etc." No, I missed EVERY. SINGLE. SHOT.

[Traul]

Originally posted by Vorlath:

I don't think you all understand what I'm saying. I didn't just get bad luck. I missed ALL my shots. ALL OF THEM. Didn't matter if it was 45% or 93%. They all missed. 200+ worth of consecutive shots. Not a single hit.

Even if you are not exagerating, it does not matter. From your own description, you played poorly. Getting wiped is a logical consequence, RNG will not change that. To get better, you first need to admit that you can improve.

And understand I'm not exaggerating either. It's not something like "Oh, I got bad luck and missed most of my shots because I didn't blow their cover and didn't use high enough hit chance, etc." No, I missed EVERY. SINGLE. SHOT.

Again, your example shows that you do not understand how to play Impossible. Your quote describes someone having trouble to adjust from Normal to Classic, but the way you play is just as typical of a player having trouble to adjust from Classic to Impossible. On Impossible, blowing cover is just not enough.

[AlienRenders]

Originally posted by Traul:

Even if you are not exagerating, it does not matter. From your own description, you played poorly. Getting wiped is a logical consequence, RNG will not change that. To get better, you first need to admit that you can improve.

I 100% admit I need to get better. Now it's your turn to admit that this doesn't matter at all.

Originally posted by Traul:

And understand I'm not exaggerating either. It's not something like "Oh, I got bad luck and missed most of my shots because I didn't blow their cover and didn't use high enough hit chance, etc." No, I missed EVERY. SINGLE. SHOT.

Again, your example shows that you do not understand how to play Impossible. Your quote describes someone having trouble to adjust from Normal to Classic, but the way you play is just as typical of a player having trouble to adjust from Classic to Impossible. On Impossible, blowing cover is just not enough.

Who cares how I play? I INTENTIONALLY threw caution to the wind at the end to get higher chances to hit. They all missed. About 20 80% shots, at least 30 70% shots and 1 93% shot. They all missed. Those aren't the only ones that missed. ALL SHOTS MISSED.

I just calculated the odds of what I have done. It's one chance in 3.8 * 10^38. That's if I only took 45% chance shots. I took plenty of shots that were higher than that. That number has 38 digits in it. Not getting a single hit in 200+ shots is ridiculous no matter how bad the percentage is.

[Temper]

I'll try and make it simple as possible with screenshots. =P


Does your shot look like these screens ?

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=324650004

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287852675

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287852805

If yes,do not take the shot and look for an alternative actions.

What kind of shot to take on Impossible difficulty ?

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=287852930

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=282039033

Winner,winner,chicken dinner.These shots will hit ... and more importantly will kill the target.Scenarios like this are setup intentionally and with foresight of possible outcomes.

Take into consideration that there are only two classes in game that are designed with rifle accuracy in mind.The sniper for long range (sniper rifle) and the assault for close range (shot gun).You need to manipulate the flow of battle to make that work to your advantage.How to do this will depend from scenario to scenario and is better left for a thread about more advanced tactics in Xcom.

Any shot below 100% is a gamble,you've had extremely bad luck,but bad luck is all it is because you're playing with probability rather than possibility.

Any further questions ?

=)

[Aurumlamina]

Temper just took us to school!

I'm curious about looking into what others may consider 'advanced tactics' now. Any suggestions?

[BloodDeacon]

What I've learned is that hunkering down (behind sustainable cover if possible) is key to forcing the enemy to make mistakes (moving into flankable range, for example). You have something like 35% chance of getting nailed by an enemy shot if you exchange fire from behind full cover, but only the range bonus if you're hunkered down (which is typically in the single digits).

As an example, I used to believe the highway adbuction map was a killer due to the sparsity of early full cover, but if you can survive long enough to get your soldiers behind and inside that first trailer, you can pretty much lure every pack to their doom. Once you have an assault with LR you can navigate the other early big squad killer (overwatch).



Side Note (a long one): I just rage quit trying I/I in EU over a SECOND screwjob by the game for abduction rewards. After 20 attempts, I finally managed to make it through the first two missions without casualties (and pulled a Corporal SS sniper to boot). When I returned to the screen, instead of engineers, I was greeted with scientists. No engineers means no workshop and no satellites, which I'm not gonna go through on I/I.

I looked around for a save game editor in hopes I could swap the scientists for engineers, but it seems since the suspension of Toolboks development none exists.

I'll be honest -- there are a only a handful of games (Fallout NV, Daggerfall, maybe) I can think of where the bugs impacted what I think would otherwise have been a tremendous game, and this is one of them. I played this on my friend's PC the month it came out, and it was buggy as Hell. I returned to it two years and many patches later, and I've experienced at least 6 minor and major bugs in a matter of weeks of playing. I really hope X-COM 2 is more robustly coded.

[OsoMoore]

It sounds like you are having a nightmare. Statistically, what you are seeing is less possible than winning the lottery. You probably need to take a break from XCOM.

[no0ne]

Stop crying like stupid little child. 45% =/= 100%. And you can miss 10 of 10 shot with 99% aim. Because IT IS NOT 100%. And IT IS POSSIBLE! If you don't like something - go to school lurn maths.

PS Everybody whines about miss with 90% aim. But i've never seen complains like "I hit with 14%! This is not normal! I want to miss!". It is very easy to compensate "not 100%" chance to hit with grenades, rockets and abilities. All you nned is to think a bit. If you can't - go play Mine Sweaper. Ah stop. You need to think there too.

[Falentir]

Originally posted by Vorlath:

All my shots were above 45% to hit. Most were 65%. Some 70%'s. A few 80% and one 93% shot. All misses. That's like over 200 shots missed, probably more like 300. By the end, I threw caution to the wind and just went point blank at them. That's how I was getting 80% shots. All misses. I got a 93% shot. Missed. Finally got a 100% chance and that one hit. I was actually surprised it hit.

I don't think this is normal. And the aliens don't care if you're using full cover or not. They'll just one shot you every time if they see you.

Impossible is not meant to be won at all. Requires lots of luck - I'd say it requires lots of attempts, too. Took me many times before I decided to record my campaign.

And I do agree with @Temper (as usual). Loosing and having bad luck is the only way to win.

BTW, take a shot on Long War. It's far more difficult than Impossible Mode, but you can recover from your mistakes and bad dice rolls, in the long run. Maybe this would be better for your playstyle, and maybe more fun for you - since it's more challenging than Vanilla Impossible.

Otherwise, I don't know. Having a backup plan is always a good thing, but I'm pretty sure that you know it already ? The point is: you may loose some shots in a row, but you will always hit for the next ones.

[drake_hound]

You only use your shot in impossible. if you got a backup plan to take out that alien.

So example 2 guys both got 65% one of them beter have a grenade.
So if I take the first shot and miss, then I am not going to use the 2nd shot but rather a grenade or rocket launcher.

Now in your case you need to come up with a plan. like that.
Instead of oh 80% chance will succeed. ops it failed.
well then I got a 65% chance .. well it failed too.
Oh a 45% chance NOOOOO it failed.

And the guy with 80% chance will get shot back and be dead.
If you can't be sure of wiping out the enemy in 1 turn or force them to retreat.
Chances are great one of yours get killed.

Impossible is only difficult early on. and Ironman sometimes the maps are against you.
Bomb disposal is a pain in Ironman first month. especially with rookies.

Best players in Xcom have a backup plan for a backup plan... for a backup plan.
Even if that backup plan fails, they will exit saving only the best of there troops :P

[Falentir]

Originally posted by drake_hound:

You only use your shot in impossible. if you got a backup plan to take out that alien.

So example 2 guys both got 65% one of them beter have a grenade.
So if I take the first shot and miss, then I am not going to use the 2nd shot but rather a grenade or rocket launcher.

Now in your case you need to come up with a plan. like that.
Instead of oh 80% chance will succeed. ops it failed.
well then I got a 65% chance .. well it failed too.
Oh a 45% chance NOOOOO it failed.

And the guy with 80% chance will get shot back and be dead.
If you can't be sure of wiping out the enemy in 1 turn or force them to retreat.
Chances are great one of yours get killed.

Impossible is only difficult early on. and Ironman sometimes the maps are against you.
Bomb disposal is a pain in Ironman first month. especially with rookies.

Best players in Xcom have a backup plan for a backup plan... for a backup plan.
Even if that backup plan fails, they will exit saving only the best of there troops :P

indeed :)