Hello fellow duders, I have a few question in regards to xcom and was wondering if you could offer some assistance?

1. The sniper ability that lets you take a shot from another persons view point, how does it work? I've tried it a few times but it doesn't seem to work. What the conditions?

2. Do you personally make each soldier of a certain class have the same skill tree as your others or do you try to mix it around a bit? I know it might be better to mix it around, but some skills I find better. Am I shooting myself in the foot?

3. How accurate are the saves? It seems that when in my base, if I start to build something, save, then load. It will go back to the point where I hadn't built that specific thing. Does this have something to do with autosave perhaps?

Thanks!

Fuck, messed up the title.


Questions*

@NekuSakuraba said:

Hello fellow duders, I have a few question in regards to xcom and was wondering if you could offer some assistance? 1. The sniper ability that lets you take a shot from another persons view point, how does it work? I've tried it a few times but it doesn't seem to work. What the conditions? 2. Do you personally make each soldier of a certain class have the same skill tree as your others or do you try to mix it around a bit? I know it might be better to mix it around, but some skills I find better. Am I shooting myself in the foot? 3. How accurate are the saves? It seems that when in my base, if I start to build something, save, then load. It will go back to the point where I hadn't built that specific thing. Does this have something to do with autosave perhaps? Thanks!

1. Make sure that the Sniper in question's LOS (line of sight) can see the alien as well. If there is a wall, car, or anything other obstacle in the way that would otherwise block their view, you won't be able to fire. This is extremely frustrating, but it makes sense in the end.
2. I mix around a lot. I usually like to run with a support with improved med-kits + mutliple med-kits, and sometimes I really like to use the smoke-bomb. With heavies it really depends on the mission. I find that some aliens/mission types completely invalidate some build-types. An obvious one would be suppression on a Crystallid.
3. Remember to press F12 to save whenever you like. I believe the saves have something to do with post/pre-mission and not necessarily every moment in the game. I know that Iron-man saves after each move you make in a mission, if that helps.

1. - If any squad member can see an enemy (the red/yellow alien face icons appear in the bottom right), and the sniper has a clear shot/line of sight to that same alien, then he can shoot it. After the big patch on PC, you can tell which aliens can be seen in squad sight by their red icons having a little yellow crosshair over them when you have your sniper selected.

2. - I always pick the same abilities for every soldier of a certain class, mainly because I'm afraid if I switch it up, I'll forget which soldier has which ability at a crucial time and mess something up. "Alright time to do this, and-oh shit this Heavy isn't the one with Shredder Rockets. I'm boned."

3. - I have not had this issue.

@NekuSakuraba said:

1. The sniper ability that lets you take a shot from another persons view point, how does it work? I've tried it a few times but it doesn't seem to work. What the conditions?

To elaborate on what others have said, it doesn't actually let you take a shot from another person's point of view. With snipers, their rifles have HUGE range (they are allowed to hit thing 20,30,40 tiles away [I think] as long as there isn't a wall or tree blocking the shot to that guy), compared to the rifles and pistols. But snipers' normal sight range is about 10 tiles in all directions, so if there is an enemy SLIGHTLY outside your sniper's personal sight range, you can't aim at him because the sniper can't personally see him, even though one of your other soldiers can see him and take a shot at him. What Squad Sight does is allow your sniper to aim at ANY enemy that ANY of your squad members can see (again, as long as no wall or tree or rock completely blocks the sniper's shot to that guy), even if the enemy seems crazy far from the sniper.

Basically, Squad Sight is good because it allows you to keep your sniper safely in the back and take full advantage of his range, and use your other forward units as scouts, to reveal enemies, then your sniper can safely take shots at them from way the hell back. If you don't take Squad Sight and instead take Snap Shot (which allows snipers to move and shoot their rifle on the same turn, which they normally can't), yes you're more mobile, but that means you're always firing at guys who are within the sniper's own sight range (again, about 10 tiles?), meaning whoever you're shooting at will have a chance to shoot back at your sniper if he lives.

@Cr0ssbow: I appreciate your WIGU profile pic.

@NekuSakuraba said:

1. The sniper ability that lets you take a shot from another persons view point, how does it work? I've tried it a few times but it doesn't seem to work. What the conditions?

To elaborate on what others have said, it doesn't actually let you take a shot from another person's point of view. With snipers, their rifles have HUGE range (they are allowed to hit thing 20,30,40 tiles away [I think] as long as there isn't a wall or tree blocking the shot to that guy), compared to the rifles and pistols. But snipers' normal sight range is about 10 tiles in all directions, so if there is an enemy SLIGHTLY outside your sniper's personal sight range, you can't aim at him because the sniper can't personally see him, even though one of your other soldiers can see him and take a shot at him. What Squad Sight does is allow your sniper to aim at ANY enemy that ANY of your squad members can see (again, as long as no wall or tree or rock completely blocks the sniper's shot to that guy), even if the enemy seems crazy far from the sniper.

Basically, Squad Sight is good because it allows you to keep your sniper safely in the back and take full advantage of his range, and use your other forward units as scouts, to reveal enemies, then your sniper can safely take shots at them from way the hell back. If you don't take Squad Sight and instead take Snap Shot (which allows snipers to move and shoot their rifle on the same turn, which they normally can't), yes you're more mobile, but that means you're always firing at guys who are within the sniper's own sight range (again, about 10 tiles?), meaning whoever you're shooting at will have a chance to shoot back at your sniper if he lives.

@BisonHero: Those support abilities are actually pretty good. Particularly on higher difficulties, having more overwatch opportunities can be a lot more useful than covering extra ground or getting a few extra health points back from medkits. On my few attempts at Impossible Ironman I've found myself having to move my squad just a few inches at a time and relying on overwatch constantly. I find the sniper choices way more unbalanced, namely Squadsight, Gunslinger and Opportunist.

I think the vast majority of perk choices have clear winners, and there's only a couple times you might want to go the other way.

Assaults take Tactical Sense, Lightning Reflexes, Rapid Fire, Bring Em On, and Killer Instinct. All of these contribute to them being able to Run and Gun up to an enemy and do 25 damage in a turn, which is the reason to use assaults.

Supports take Sprinter, Field Medic, Suppression, Dense Smoke. The last skill can go either way I suppose, double overwatch is awfully nice and I never really got a ton of use out of medpacks healing for 10.

Heavies take HEAT Ammo, Danger Zone, Rocketeer. The first 2 perks are balanced well and can go either way to support different styles.

Snipers take Squad Sight, Damn Good Ground, Battle Scanner, Opportunist, Double Tap. I've tried the other abilities and I think this set is no-contest. Gunslinger is neat but it's rare that 2 damage will make or break an encounter, meanwhile you will almost always have an easy way to get to high ground, essentially having permanent +10 aim and defense with Damn Good Ground.

@BisonHero: Those support abilities are actually pretty good. Particularly on higher difficulties, having more overwatch opportunities can be a lot more useful than covering extra ground or getting a few extra health points back from medkits. On my few attempts at Impossible Ironman I've found myself having to move my squad just a few inches at a time and relying on overwatch constantly. I find the sniper choices way more unbalanced, namely Squadsight, Gunslinger and Opportunist.