Let's Play X-Com: Enemy Within!

[KingdomAces]

I just want to say that I bought Enemy Unknown in large part due to Wraith's topic, and I've loved every bit of it. I didn't buy the expansion though because it wasn't on sale, so I'm definitely going to be following this.

I don't really want to apply though, because I don't feel like dying. I might contribute something else if there aren't many applications though.

[KingdomAces]

Supports can use shotguns? I thought they were assault only.

[KingdomAces]

You really want to research something that takes over a month?

I say research Xeno-Biology, because I like being able to do autopsies and stun things. Though to be fair the one time I tried to play the game on anything but normal I got owned, so maybe you shouldn't be taking my advice.

When I'm not feeling lazy I think I'll submit an application for Aigis from Persona 3, because she's female, and she's already a robot so having her limbs taken off would be par for the course for her. (Mostly saying this now so I remember to do so later.)

[KingdomAces]

X-COM APPLICATION
Name: Aigis
Gender: Female
Race: White (Despite the game being Japanese, her "skin" color looks more white than Asian. Either that or I'm just an idiot.)
Hair: Short and a bit messy. Headphones.
Hair Color: Very light blonde.
Facial Hair: None.
Armor Tint: White.
Why I Should Hire YOU: Aigis was made to be an anti-shadow weapon, but being a rare JRPG character that can use guns should be helpful to halt the alien invasion as well. Also, since she is a creation in the first place, her arms and legs are made to be detachable in order to make replacing parts easier. This would make her a good candidate to be a MEC trooper, since she wouldn't really be sacrificing anything.

Her page on the SMT wiki, in case I'm bad at describing things. I was going to use my game to figure out what specifically would be the best options to use, but then I realized that I appear to have far less options than Gamma has for some reason.

[KingdomAces]

Yeah, weapon fragments.

[KingdomAces]

...so I just watched the stream. Yeah. I know that my X-Com playing style is extremely far from what it should be, but if this were my game I would probably just delete the file and start a new one, possibly on a lower difficulty. Also, following this up with a Metis application. I know it makes absolutely no sense based on Persona, but I don't think I've played any other games with female androids.

Anyway, whatever happens, I'll try to be there for the stream tomorrow.

And Dan, I think you are actually still alive. I don't remember you being put on a mission, though I could be just being forgetful.

[KingdomAces]

X-COM APPLICATION
Name: Metis
Gender: Female
Race: Asian
Hair: Short and straight. She has a visor that is generally above her head, which can look like headphones I guess?
Hair Color: Somewhere between black and dark blue.
Facial Hair: None.
Armor Tint: Black.
Why I Should Hire YOU: I must protect my sister!

...wait, too late.

Her page on the SMT wiki, in case I'm bad at describing things again.

[KingdomAces]

Steam, you were supposed to e-mail me if it went on sale. How dare you!

Anyway, I'll be picking up the expansion now, thanks for mentioning it.

[KingdomAces]

Okay, I started a normal game and my research times were a lot less than that. Does increasing difficulty affect that? I know I started in South America because research credits are awesome, but a lot of that still seems like more than double what I've been getting.

Also, Reaper Rounds make any conventional (read: the ones you start with, not beam or plasma) weapon deal more damage, but have decreased accuracy at long range. I took one look at flashbang grenades and immediately forgot about them, so they're probably not worthwhile. I could just be biased against consumables though.

In terms of research, Carapace Armor would probably be best since there's only double autopsy length left on it, but after that I think it would be best to start prioritizing Arc Thrower and interrogations. I'll need to double check which ones are the best ones though.

[KingdomAces]

Also confirming that all of the snipers I've had have had Squadsight vs. Snapshot as their first choice even with training roulette. That's probably because a sniper without one of those two abilities is by far outclassed by any of the other jobs, so they probably kept that to make sure the snipers were still useful.

[KingdomAces]

I'll try to show up if I can. Also, I technically tried to vote for Carapace Armor, but I kind of got a bit long winded and didn't bold it.

[KingdomAces]

The three health enemies aren't the problem, and that research takes way too long. I'm constantly surprised how little beam rifles actually help, so much that I never even made one in my most recent playthrough.

Then again, take everything I say with a grain of salt because I don't play on classic because I'm a wuss.

[KingdomAces]

Note: This is live.

EDIT: Note, this is not live anymore.

[KingdomAces]

I don't think you made it clear enough that what Tidus did when she 'opened all of your mind's eyes!' was throw a grenade at the wall for the sole purpose of breaking it down.

And I second the notion of watching at least the first mission of the most recent stream. Seriously.

[KingdomAces]

The streams are so lonely, where is everyone?

[KingdomAces]

I just double-checked some stuff. First, all reaper rounds actually do aside from increasing the range penalty is add 20% crit chance to organic targets. The description makes it sound like ten times better than it actually is.

Second I checked some of the autopsy bonuses. Ignoring the gene mods since you don't have those yet, the only useful ones seem to be

Floater

, SEEKER which unlocks a +2 health/immunity to poison/strangulation hold item, Muton which unlocks Ammo Conservation in the foundry, (Which if I remember correctly is really expensive, but it removes a lot of hassle.) and Thin Men which unlocks improved medkits in the foundry.

Third, the foundry and the cybernetics lab do indeed get adjacency bonuses with each other.

Edited because I'm an idiot.

[KingdomAces]

First, I'm an idiot and what I said was floater was actually the seeker autopsy, because my short term memory lasts less than two minutes. The floater autopsy was practically useless from what I remember, though I should probably check again now. EDIT: Confirmed this, and editing my previous post now.

Second, I don't actually have a second because I thought I was going to have to mention the cost of building a foundry, therefore needing more power, and then buying stuff from it, but that was because I thought you were talking about something else because of point one.

EDIT: Third, I think one of the countries Gamma is forced to send a satellite to is South American, there are only two countries there, and their continent bonus completes all interrogations and autopsies instantly. So if I'm remembering all of that right then it might be better to wait for any of them until he has a free satellite to get the bonus with.

[KingdomAces]

...Mexico is close to South America?

Yeah, I thought that my memory might be a bit off there. Oh well, it's not like anyone thought I was actually smart after the last mistake anyway.

[KingdomAces]

I'm fairly sure that I never built a single beam rifle in my game (which I really need to get back to soon), so if it was increased it has something to do with difficulty. But then again, we have ways, so my research time may have been reduced to like 25% of the original time. I did still research beam weapons/precision lasers (and eventually heavy lasers), but the fact that I got the arc thrower early and made researching light plasma rifles just as easy if not easier than beam rifles allowed me to get weapons that have the same stats except an additional +10 aim bonus for free.

In this case though, no alien containment coming any time soon kind of negates all of that. So yeah, probably beam weapons. Though it might not actually be too soon to start thinking about getting the firestorm. I'll have to double check some stuff before actually saying anything major about that though.

[KingdomAces]

I'm kind of upset that I missed the first mission, but the second one done was, well, interesting.

Spoiler:

I also may have insulted the abilities of the EXALT right before they made the rating terrible. Oops.

[KingdomAces]

I agree with Yos2.

Also, do you need more recruits right now? I think all of mine are currently dead.

[KingdomAces]

The description you have for Close and Personal is actually the ability Close Combat Specialist. The Close and Personal ability allows the first shot made to not cost an action against a nearby alien, and is quite frankly even better than Close Combat Specialist despite the fact that the latter is pretty good as well. An assault can just run up to an enemy, shotgun them, then still have the option of shotgunning them again if they're still alive, shooting someone else, going on overwatch, or getting a practically free reload. The only downside is Run and Gun disables it, which makes it only half obscene instead of completely.

I really don't feel like creating someone right now, so I'll just muse on the abilities in case someone who has less of a clue wants to take it.

1: Sentinel allows two reaction shots per overwatch instead of one, so it's basically a really similar decision to the other promotion 1 on this page. I'm not as big of a fan of Deep Pockets, since I never actually use grenades, but even then I still think it's better due to more medkits/arc throws.

2: Close & Personal is really good for assaults. Like really good. Covering Fire (Overwatch shots are triggered by enemy fire as well as movement) can be decent, but it rarely ever actually activates, and when it does it still has a chance of not mattering, so it shouldn't really be considered here. (Though the combination of Sentinel/Covering Fire could be interesting, Close & Personal is probably better than both of them combined)

3: If this was back when HEAT Ammo was +100% I'd say that would be better, because most of the enemies the extra damage is really needed against are mechanical anyway, but with the nerf it's not quite as clear. I think Rapid Fire takes it in this case, despite the necessary cooldown, aim penalty, and extra ammo usage, but it could be argued either way.

[KingdomAces]

Even though Gamma hasn't exactly been updating the thread, he is still streaming missions, and because of that he still needs recruits.

[KingdomAces]

Is this actually happening?

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I was on your twitch homepage the entire time, and it never loaded...

[KingdomAces]

I was asleep...