@alex: Yeah, I think you can try to learn on normal, but you'll end up starting over/resetting turns a lot. Also just being pissed off at yourself (and bugs). Normal can lead to some super satisfying moments, though.
I wasn't trying to bust your chops - I think it was definitely the right way to go for the QL. Thanks for running it!
@karlhungus01: Yeah, you can definitely dig yourself into some very deep holes if you completely screw up your positioning. But, you also see the emergence points and know the move radius of the bugs, and can presumably plan for it (if you're smarter than I am).
Another early game tip is to remember that your mechs repair after the battle - definitely you should prioritize getting hit and losing health over letting a building (and the power grid) take damage. Sometimes literally tanking the damage is the best move.
I know Alex was dialing it back to easy so that he could move the video along, but don't be fooled - you can definitely spend 5 minutes on a turn trying to puzzle your way out of it on harder difficulties.
One thing I'm curious about is whether the bug moves are specifically designed in such a way that they can always be countered (assuming perfect play), or if the design is just so tight that it always feels like everything is perfectly solvable if you play well enough. I'm honestly not sure which would be more impressive.
As a filthy European, those stickers are from before the unified licence plate scheme in the EU, and they were required to show where your car was registered, now they're mostly integrated into the plates.
SF stands for Suomi Finland, which is where the game is set (Finland). Trying to figure out country codes is fun, because they're not usually obvious, depending on the languages you know (eg CH is Switzerland, from the Latin Confœderatio Helvetica). Some are obvious, though (GB is Great Britian, F is France).
At some point somebody here in the US took notice of them and started appropriating them for other things. I'm pretty sure there's one for Walt Disney World ("WDW") and for the various states here.
Oh, yeah, they definitely have been used for a bunch of other things (26.2 for marathons or whatever), but that's where they originated, as far as I know.
As a filthy European, those stickers are from before the unified licence plate scheme in the EU, and they were required to show where your car was registered, now they're mostly integrated into the plates.
SF stands for Suomi Finland, which is where the game is set (Finland). Trying to figure out country codes is fun, because they're not usually obvious, depending on the languages you know (eg CH is Switzerland, from the Latin Confœderatio Helvetica). Some are obvious, though (GB is Great Britian, F is France).
Ever since SpaceChem, I've bought Zachtronics games sight unseen, and never been disappointed. They all do an excellent job of making me feel extremely dumb, then extremely smart once I solve the puzzles. Then extremely dumb again if I ever look at other people's solutions.
The only issue that I have is that they do require focus and brainpower - not exactly the most relaxing of games. Was happy to hear how into it everyone was on this QL - I'd be curious to see how into it Dan gets (post gifs!).
The main problem for me is that Xcom is already extremely challenging if you've not played it before (or, if you're Dan, your ethanol-addled brain can't remember anymore). If you're already switching between three players, with only short notes to each other to explain the overall strategy, that's even harder.
Maybe they're discussing behind the scenes. Maybe Abby can pull out a miracle. But I would have rather seen an honest attempt by all 3 players to collaborate and try to actually beat the game, but that's obviously not going to happen.
Dan playing the exact same character that he always has is just not very interesting. I don't think this feature can be rescued at this point, which is too bad. I very much enjoyed the early episodes.
can't wait to see the results of dan stupidly ruining the entire run last episode. could have been enemy within, but now its enemy unknown.
no way they make it past episode 8.
Probably true on the Episode 8 call, but I've seen a lot of this EW v. EU horseshit, and thought it should be corrected.
Failing Portent (and the whole Progeny chain) is a net loss of 4 guaranteed psi active soldiers and $200. That's it. All of the rest of the EW content is enabled. For example, the giant robots and genetic modifications this very episode. ADVENT is still in play, too. Fuck off with this "EW is ruined!!" shit.
@ybbaaabby, you did great with what you were handed. Yes, there were better "optimal" moves, but there always are, unless you've played this game to death (guilty). You had the right idea, and played the mission well. Good luck to all going foward!
@edmundus: Yeah, I saw that. I think it's still probably a pretty tough mission to walk into after being away from the game for a while, even on Normal.
I checked after the show, since the Thin Men less deadly than I expected. they have -10% aim and -10% critical on Normal compared to Classic. Probably would have been closer to a squad wipe on higher difficulties.
aben's comments