Hardest game I ever played

[Zdravko Čolić]

I am new to XCOM (but quite familiar with tactical and strategy games) and this game kicks my ass. Am I the only one that finds this game extremly hard ?

[Commander Gorda]

I find it extremly easy but i played thousands of hours :) take some time to become good at the game. How to scout to fight one pod at the time, what target to prioritze killing and so on.

[Abrakadabra]

Use savegames for your first 2 runs. Play an entire mission or play it as far as you get. If things go bad, just retry the missoin and try out different strategies. Dont load after individual moves or actions. Play one mission, if it goes bad, try it again or even a few times. Watch some videos how other move their squads.

[Zdravko Čolić]

Originally posted by Commander Gorda:

I find it extremly easy but i played thousands of hours :) take some time to become good at the game. How to scout to fight one pod at the time, what target to prioritze killing and so on.

Yea after thousand hours of playing when ur soldiers get beefed up like a mad cow, but I am forced to play with team that is made up of 50% rookies and I need to kill enemies which are stronger in every way.

[['w']]

Originally posted by ĐeStingo:

Originally posted by Commander Gorda:

I find it extremly easy but i played thousands of hours :) take some time to become good at the game. How to scout to fight one pod at the time, what target to prioritze killing and so on.

Yea after thousand hours of playing when ur soldiers get beefed up like a mad cow, but I am forced to play with team that is made up of 50% rookies and I need to kill enemies which are stronger in every way.

guess he refered to his own experience.

for example: try to avoid low cover, and really never believe that you're saver at a building, you receive a bonus to aim towards your enemy, but far more will be able to shoot at you.

[Green Raven]

You arent alone. This is widely considered one of the most challenging games ever made (right up there with UFO Defense, Terror from the Deep, Apocolypse, and Enemy Unknown)

[Haildodger]

I had a harder time with 2 than I did with the first xcom. I read one of the guides to get a handle on the Avatar mechanics and some general tips. Now, it's much easier.

[nzguzzi]

My second start was much easier.
Don't focus on the Avatar Project red bar.
Build the Resistance Ring ( then you can send units out on auto missions, some lower Avatar project by 2 spaces. You get bonus items, exp, free stats)
Soldier training facilities ( increase your squad size as quickly as possible~ focus everything on this)
Weapon and armour upgrades, research what unlocks them first and plan ahead.
Later on putting 2 Psionic trained soldiers in your group is just instant win.
1x Reaper for scouting
1x Sniper
I also like a Hacker/medic
1 or 2x Grenadiers
( research what skills to get )

Weapon upgrade slots are amazing, you can get insta kills, free shots etc.

The start is always the hardest, used save games. No shame in that.
Don't let soldiers die unless you doing Ironman mode.

[nzguzzi]

Originally posted by Haildodger:

I had a harder time with 2 than I did with the first xcom. I read one of the guides to get a handle on the Avatar mechanics and some general tips. Now, it's much easier.

You don't need to worry about Avatar Project.
If it reaches max, you get 22 days to counter it and it resets.
There are sooooooo many missions in the resistance comms area to lower this by 2 bars and it only takes 4 days if you have an engineer in the room monitoring it.
It allows you to build the uber team of Psionic killers.

[red255]

no. you get some time on normal on Commander, its less. like 10 days the first time then 7 for all the remaining times.

regardless the game is you hold on, until your research completes, just hold on.

then you get squad size 2, some higher rank soldiers, some powerful weapons some upgrades.

you do things to minimize the time where you are weak, but the game is holding on thru that period of weakness. after you pass the period of weakness you are strong and most find things easy.

[nzguzzi]

Originally posted by red255:

no. you get some time on normal on Commander, its less. like 10 days the first time then 7 for all the remaining times.

regardless the game is you hold on, until your research completes, just hold on.

then you get squad size 2, some higher rank soldiers, some powerful weapons some upgrades.

you do things to minimize the time where you are weak, but the game is holding on thru that period of weakness. after you pass the period of weakness you are strong and most find things easy.

Just like marriage....

[red255]

love is a battlefield

[RM]

No you're no the only one. I played for several hours last night and my experience went something like this: Missed!, Missed!, Missed!, Missed!, Missed! (I'll get him this this time, he's standing a foot in front of me!).......Missed! Then my soldier gets grabbed by a Serpents tongue which is standing about half a mile away. Don't get me started on those Faceless things - they must weigh the same as a hippo, yet they can leap from ground level to the top of a guard tower!

[Commander Gorda]

I can give some general advice
1. Always use a concealed scout
2. Use the concealed scout as a spotter and a sniper with longwatch perk to pull one pod towards the rest of your soldiers who are overwatching.
3. Any surviving aliens should be target prioritzed to kill the most dangerous first, like stunlancers and officers. Sectoid, shieldbearers and advent priest are low prioritze for example since they don try to kill your soldiers first turn if they cant get flanking shorts.
4. Give promotion and kills to one soldier first as foten as you can to get squadsize 1 and 2 upgrade.
5.research magnetic wespons early so you have better firepower when tougher aliens show up.

[Zdravko Čolić]

Thanks for all plp commenting here. It meant a lot since I thought that I am playing the game wrong. Someone mentioned that the game is hard at the begging since my soldiers are weak so I find that very interesting cus it throws u more in that feeling of desperation to start rebelion. In general I like the game but i find it shame for not beaing a bit easier since it feels like a job in which u need to work to have fun.

[BurnAFatty]

I've got thousands of hours and I'm still learning stuff. After you've done the campaign a few times it's still fun to run through it again with different strategies and troop sets. I'm mostly in MP anymore where the map sare constantly changing with many nuances to learn like blind spots and ranger reveals. Most people never see me when they die.