So while in general I've been enjoying the game a lot, I just need to get a couple of niggling issues off my chest.
The main one is that it really annoys me that you can be fighting one pod, and there can be a hidden pod right next to the one you are fighting that won't engage (as I believe they did in the first game). Obviously it's not ideal to fight more than one at a time, but this leads to situations where you use your very last action in a turn to send someone into a flanking position that looks totally safe, only to realise there was a muton hiding behind a shed that hadn't popped. Quite apart from being frustrating, it just seems wonky from a lore perspective I guess, like they were just hanging out smoking behind the sheds until you discovered them.
Making it a requirement to save at least six civilians on retaliation missions was a mistake, I think. The placement is always such that it takes you 3 turns to get to where most of them are anyway, and the random enemy placement can really fuck you if you try and rescue them. The "saving" system is basically broken so that focusing on killing enemies is the only viable option. It just adds a layer of stress that is annoying, and slows the pace while you watch the civvies get shot during the alien turn.
I really wish the Dark Event stuff was clearer. Is there actual any way I can actively try and prevent them? So far it seems a little pointless to tell me they are working on these things, then only give me the chance to block them at random, and have to choose with the missions. I was sort of hoping that scanning from your HQ would play into this, like it's a choice between doing other stuff or hoping to reveal a mission to prevent a dark event, sort of thing.
On the plus side, I just had a pretty good run at it, that I'm putting to bed for the time being. Got to mag weapons for the first time. There was in interesting difficulty wobble, where I was dominating for a few missions, then the mutons turned up and I got destroyed three missions in a row. Lost 3/4 dudes in a retaliation mission, then wiped on a "destroy the beacon" thing, partly because I didn't realise they bumped the health on the transmitters. The specialist who got out of the retaliation mission though was a great demonstration of how the game can work really well, when it wants to. After that mission she got a AWC skill - the one that allows a free move after a kill - and having had to evac her after her squad was killed - I was quite attached to her!
I also got my first Avenger defense mission in this downward spiral. I did pretty well, and I really liked the concept. I liked it gives you a chance to give some of your bench a little run out.
Anyway, I might go back to salvage that run when I'm a little better, but tomorrow I start anew. I think my research and building strategy worked pretty well, although it relied on a bit of luck with getting engineers, but I need to fine tune knowing when I need to throw everything I have at a mission, and when to give a b-team some action, or even just how much to mix it up. With the need to evac troops in some missions, I guess I also need to make sure to use gunslingers appropriately for those missions. I seem to get in the trap of letting sharpshooters lag behind too much.
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