I just finished X-com:EW on ironman mode. What a feeling of accomplishment.

I usually feel compelled to have 'perfect' games, and am constantly going back in time via old saves in Civilization and Xcom. Ironman mode disallows this, and makes accept you losses and move on.

When my best soldier, Martha "Brickhouse" Washington, bled out just moments before victory vs the overseer, it just made the ending more poignant.

Now I guess I wait for the new Alpha Centauri Civ:Beyond Earth to be released.

Congrats. Great games.

I've been trying to do this recently on classic and I keep getting stomped, even though I did well in xcom enemy unknown. Got any good tips to pass along?

Having only played XCOM: Enemy Unknown and hearing about your soldier bleeding out in the last mission has given me goosebumps. I probably should pick up Enemy Within at some point.

Duder. Excellent!

This, of course, reminds me that I need to play X:EW...

But, but, I'm just starting a co-op Divinity: Original Sin game with my wife - and that's, what? 50 to 80 hours?, urgh.

Sure, I have some tips.

Setup -

1. DO NOT turn on Damage Roulette. Its too unpredictable and unfun without multiple saves.
2. TURN ON "Not Created Equally" - and then dismiss your recruits with bad stats once you start hiring new recruits.

Early Game

1. Go for the steam vents for Geothermal energy
2. Don't give out all the medals. You will need them in the endgame.

Midgame

1. Bring a rookie on small scout downings, let them get the kill and advance
2. Try to spend less on weapons, more on armor. You can get weapons from Exalt/alien forces, but not armor. Use your Arc Zapper thingie.

Endgame

1. Protect your Psionic soldiers. Get them a second heart or regen. have them carry a health pack maybe.
2. overweight on snipers.
3. All soldiers must have high will or mind shields.
4. the whole squad should be gene modded for final mission.
5. MECs are dangerous on final mission. Cant be psioinic, can't carry mind shields, can be turned against you too easily

Good luck, duder!

PS: XCOM board game coming! need more RL geek friends!

@oneloneclone: Congrats, duder!

If you're in the mood for more XCOM, I highly recommend the Long War mod. Among other things, it features 8 soldier classes, new perks and an overhauled tech-tree.

The aliens also have their own tech-tree and research, which can be hindered by successful ground ops. Soldiers become fatigued after missions and the air game is significantly tougher (and features new UFOs). In short, Long War gives you plenty more avenues for impact on the game, and each decision carries weight.

Picked up the bundle on Steam the other day (I already owned Enemy Unknown on 360). Any tips on build queue etc? (Probably my weakest part, but I think it's really the most important). I've started a couple of Ironman campaigns, looking to go through on Classic. I've gotten a few missions in and had some things go pear shaped so I restart rather than delay the inevitable. I have a basic idea of where I want to build things and roughly what I want to build.

I don't have any real idea regarding gene mods or MECs

I played this game and beat it when the week it came out along with Dishonored. This was right between jobs and inbetween moving out of my friend's apartment with my wife, and these two games really carried my mood in that time. I didn't really touch it since then.

Although I will never try hard or iron man, I will buy Enemy Within and give the regular game another whirl. I commend you for beating it on Iron Man

Stuck at home and recovering from a surgery, I felt the urge to finally try the expansion content.

This time, I felt brave enough for Ironman. Now that I've experienced it, it's the only way I'll ever play. This is coming from a life-long save scummer.

Ironman has been scary and stressful, but the highs are so worth it. I almost wanted to quit and restart when in the mid-game, I had 5 bad missions in a row where all of my veterans were systematically wiped out. It felt pointless to keep going. Because I had not prioritized scientists, all I had were rookies with basic armor and basic weapons. Not where you want to be when the base invasion mission comes around. I regretted wasting so much effort on MECs and Gene soldiers, when that stuff wasn't needed in the early game.

I decided to just see things through, toughen up and bear witness to my complete downfall. Instead I found out that the game is balanced to give the illusion of impossible. It's actually very possible to come back from this. Apparently I had built my base well enough that I still had options. From then on I prioritized armor, then beam weapons (which I always skipped in Enemy Unknown) and suddenly my rookies started to survive.

Since then, I've lost only 2 vets (some close calls), and getting close to the end I have 8 colonels and a dozen others who are lieutenant or better. Despite that earlier setback, my crew is kind of OP.

Definitely moving up to classic next time. Or that Long War mod.