By all means say skill issue, but please also advise

[DeeJayDoubleYou]

picked up base game and dlc whilst it was heavily discounted recently, booted game up for first time today. Every single mission I have either scraped through with 2-3 casualties or outright failed. i'm trying to keep flanking angles, but there's four of me and 57 of them. sectoids seemingly don't care if you're in cover to panic or mind control you, i've literally never seen it miss (can it miss?). Did i just roll unlucky with my first promotion being the frontliner with the sword, because she immediately got mind controlled in the first real mission and then went doom marine on my rookies before ending up soloing the mission because when that shotgun hits it's game over for anything. Then i got absolutely clowned on by the faceless in a civilian saving mission because I just casually thought that running up to the civs like the game told me to would be the correct thing to do, again only after a sectoid that just started in front of my squad immediately wiped half the health off two of my squad.
I played a decent amount of the first Xcom reboot game and i don't remember it being anywhere near this brutal, at least to start, that one gently lubed me up before rawing me. I really like this game, but currently my squads are being fed alien ♥♥♥♥ in every orifice and they really need a break. so please help me understand what might have happened here, what combination of aforementioned skill issues, firaxis being trolls, and knowledge gaps are gaping my poor rookies. I really need to know before i take up less stress inducing hobbies like smashing my tits in a trouser press.

[mk11]

Flashbangs.

Flashbangs break Sectoid mind control. Flashbangs make faceless move less distance and give a good chance they miss.

Grenades

Grenades delete (most) cover leaving enemies in the open to be shot.

The game comes with a series of surprises that catch you out. It is part of the learning experience.

Losses and mission failures are an expected part of a campaign. One thing to learn is when to abandon a mission.

[SympliKrazi]

I played XCOM:EW and EU before this game and still lost on my first play through of XCOM2 base game on normal difficulty. Yes, there's a learning curve.

Also, imo this game is save scum dependent. I really don't see how people could have gotten 100% achievements without it. In other words, if something goes horribly wrong, for example, multiple pods get activated consecutively or on the same turn and your squad gets mopped up, the a earlier save is perhaps a good idea. And the take away from the experience is to avoid going into the fog of war to flank the enemy, cuz chances are, 25-50% of the time, there's another pod waiting to ambush unsuspecting commanders.

[Amanoob105]

If you're coming here asking for advice, that isn't a "skill issue". We save that for the few people we get each year that insist "I'm not bad at the game, it's just forcing me to loose".
This is just a normal "issue with the learning curve", completely different.

On top of the above comment.
If you have the option between a sectoid or an advent soldier (any type of them), kill the soldier first.
Sectoids have an absolute addiction to raising advent corpses as psi zombies. This sounds bad until you realise you can just then next turn kill the sectoid for a two-for-one on enemies downed.

Skip the tutorial, it's good for some extra story and awful at helping you in the early game. It can teach you a lot of bad habits.
It also means your first (and only) starting promotion will ALWAYS be the person with the sword. Not a great start for newer players.

From the moment you get access to engineering, build a flashbang (as mentioned above). Have one person carry it and try to keep them a square or to back from everyone else and always try to have them go last.
The list of problems this can solve is far greater than just sectoids and until you can kill and autopsy your first faceless will be your main "panic button" for the first third of the game.
https://xcom.fandom.com/wiki/Disoriented
Try to avoid throwing it at psi enemies before they use their abilities, better to remove mind control than to have the enemy risk shooting at you.
If you're playing WotC, they don't work on the Chosen.

Speaking of, are you playing the base Xcom2, or WotC. And do you have any of the other DLCs installed. As what further advice could be given will depend on what you do or don't have active.

[DeeJayDoubleYou]

Ah, sounds like tomorrow I'll be restarting the game. I have WOTC installed but when I started it up in that it looked like it was a separate campaign from the go, so I started in vanilla.

I've been ignoring the resurrected enemies unless they're in my face, and try to focus those sectoid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ down just on the misguided belief that a faceful of buckshot might interrupt the act of mind controlling someone, what a silly thing to think.

[Amanoob105]

Originally posted by DeeJayDoubleYou:

Ah, sounds like tomorrow I'll be restarting the game. I have WOTC installed but when I started it up in that it looked like it was a separate campaign from the go, so I started in vanilla.

I've been ignoring the resurrected enemies unless they're in my face, and try to focus those sectoid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ down just on the misguided belief that a faceful of buckshot might interrupt the act of mind controlling someone, what a silly thing to think.

I mean.... Technically a face full of buckshot does interrupt the act of mind control, but only if said buckshot then comes out the back of the head .
Oh. On top of everything else the tutorial fails to mention despite giving you a guy with a sword, sectoids take bonus damage from melee attacks presumably due to it not being a great idea to go into combat butt naked.

Because your own troops will have on at least their undies, they don't suffer from the same issue.

Vanilla Xcom2 and WotC are the same campaign, but the latter comes with a LOAD MORE options. Both for you and your enemies.
Personally I do recommend starting with WotC. Simply because if it does end up being too much you can always drop down to vanilla, but do so knowing what's waiting for you when you climb back up.

Oh, speaking of starting over, if you've grown attached to any of your troops there's an option in the barracks to save each of them to the Character Pool. Doing so can let them turn up again in later campaigns.

*Edit*
Shoot, forgot something.
When starting a new campaign in WotC, there will be an option called "Lost And Abandoned". It's basically the tutorial for WotC.
Like the other one it's (say it with me) good for some extra story and awful at helping you in the early game.

[Gallifrey - CSSC Gaming Founder]

Okay - even on rookie the game is rock hard even vanilla.

Please read my review (profile, then reviews) for tips and a few helpful spoilers.

Keep your squad in a roughly dispersed line all in cover - but not vehicles that explode. Too bunched up and they're an obvious target for alien area weapons.

You'll generally encounter aliens two or three at a time. Try and wipe out each group and reload before moving on - you are far better outnumbering aliens than vice versa -but beware time limits. Guerrilla Training School to give you more men per mission and start all Rookies as trained men is essential. Magnetic weapons, plasma weapons, and better armour are key to your survival as are medikit trained and equipped specialists. Try to keep your troops alive.

If aliens leave a cloud or environmental effect over your men move them away - well away - next move.

Remember if you do really badly on a mission you can redo it.

And the game is rock hard and far harder than any other X-Com game - even Terror from the Deep.

S.x.

[DeeJayDoubleYou]

Originally posted by Amanoob105:

Originally posted by DeeJayDoubleYou:

Ah, sounds like tomorrow I'll be restarting the game. I have WOTC installed but when I started it up in that it looked like it was a separate campaign from the go, so I started in vanilla.

I've been ignoring the resurrected enemies unless they're in my face, and try to focus those sectoid ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ down just on the misguided belief that a faceful of buckshot might interrupt the act of mind controlling someone, what a silly thing to think.

I mean.... Technically a face full of buckshot does interrupt the act of mind control, but only if said buckshot then comes out the back of the head .
Oh. On top of everything else the tutorial fails to mention despite giving you a guy with a sword, sectoids take bonus damage from melee attacks presumably due to it not being a great idea to go into combat butt naked.

Because your own troops will have on at least their undies, they don't suffer from the same issue.

Vanilla Xcom2 and WotC are the same campaign, but the latter comes with a LOAD MORE options. Both for you and your enemies.
Personally I do recommend starting with WotC. Simply because if it does end up being too much you can always drop down to vanilla, but do so knowing what's waiting for you when you climb back up.

Oh, speaking of starting over, if you've grown attached to any of your troops there's an option in the barracks to save each of them to the Character Pool. Doing so can let them turn up again in later campaigns.

*Edit*
Shoot, forgot something.
When starting a new campaign in WotC, there will be an option called "Lost And Abandoned". It's basically the tutorial for WotC.
Like the other one it's (say it with me) good for some extra story and awful at helping you in the early game.

Nah not attached to any of them, I think they might have all been recruited from the glue huffing section of the resistance. Though I did find it funny my first Scottish guy got promoted to a demo. I'll give WOTC a shot tomorrow, if it's same but more TY for letting me know that I'd probably have never realised and then when I got to it just cried a little

[DeeJayDoubleYou]

Originally posted by Gallifrey - CSSC Gaming Founder:

Okay - even on rookie the game is rock hard even vanilla.

Please read my review (profile, then reviews) for tips and a few helpful spoilers.

Keep your squad in a roughly dispersed line all in cover - but not vehicles that explode. Too bunched up and they're an obvious target for alien area weapons.

You'll generally encounter aliens two or three at a time. Try and wipe out each group and reload before moving on - you are far better outnumbering aliens than vice versa -but beware time limits. Guerrilla Training School to give you more men per mission and start all Rookies as trained men is essential. Magnetic weapons, plasma weapons, and better armour are key to your survival as are medikit trained and equipped specialists. Try to keep your troops alive.

If aliens leave a cloud or environmental effect over your men move them away - well away - next move.

Remember if you do really badly on a mission you can redo it.

And the game is rock hard and far harder than any other X-Com game - even Terror from the Deep.

S.x.

I'll give it a look before I start again tomorrow.

I was generally splitting my squad into two pairs to scout/flank at the same time. It was not working, but I couldn't tell if that was me, or the game. Or both.

When it comes to save scumming I'm conflicted. I generally don't like doing it mid mission, let the stones be cast as they land imo. But when a couple bad rolls at the end of a thirty minute mission might mean losing my best units it's so tempting, but then it all feels a bit hollow lmao

I remember the acid spitting/bleeding bastard chrysalids(?) so I'm prepared for AOEs and environmentals.

I've played both the first Xcoms, I think I got about 70% through the reboot. And I quit the OG after the first mission, I like hard games, I like games that want you to work for it (my current other game is Sekiro (maybe this is not a good combination of games for my sodium levels)) but dear god that game was opaque.

[SympliKrazi]

Originally posted by DeeJayDoubleYou:

I was generally splitting my squad into two pairs to scout/flank at the same time. It was not working, but I couldn't tell if that was me, or the game. Or both.

It would be difficult for a two man team to handle a 3 alien pod, especially with starter weapons/equipment. I mean, it's not that it's impossible, it's just that the aliens would stay alive enough turns to gravely wound the soldiers. With a two man group, the odds are against you. Concentrated fire is usually the way to go.

[Stardustfire]

as a side note, Sectoids take extra dmg from melee attacks, so the sword wielder is not the worst thing you have to counter them.

[LRNK]

Early campaing focus on the tactical guerrilla school and promoting one of your soldiers to rank 3 if rememebr, so you can get 5 man squad upgrade, early game this is a power spike for you.

Rush magnetic weapons in research another power spike.

Resistance ring is another priority building, you can gent bonus stat points through resistance missions as well as ways to delay avatar project, resistance orders are also powerful through the game and those extra +2 turns help you with turn based missions by giving you extra breathing room for slower peace.

The most dificult part of the game is the early game and the first month is the hardest part with the first terror mission, from there you start to even the playing field.

Don't be afraid to retreat and save your experiencied soldiers, you are expected to do so as well as losing some soldiers to thats xcom baby moments

[fluidwill]

What a pleasure to read considerate helpful advice from the community.

[DeeJayDoubleYou]

Originally posted by fluidwill:

What a pleasure to read considerate helpful advice from the community.

I was fully expecting to get some skill issue responses, and y'know not undeservedly, but yeah this was nice.

[HiggsLP]

Imo this game is easier on Normal/Veteran than eu/ew were on Easy.
But nevertheless I fumbled 1st mission after 2y hiatus even though I completed it sevetal times.

I think this game is more about getting better aim by removing cover/using holotargeting than sone clevet flanks which 90% time will wake another pod and make things way harder for u.

[Jack]

Something I couldn't see mentioned in other comments is that there's an equipment item called a mindshield that you can make using sectoid corpses and supplies. It will prevent the soldier carrying it from being mind controlled. Don't bother making them for the whole squad but it can be useful to have your ranger carrying one early game

Oh and if you skip the tutorial you can get all four starting soldiers promoted in the first mission, guaranteeing you'll get one of each class. They only need one kill each and each carry a grenade that's a certain kill on basic advent troopers