After The End: X-COM Apocalypse "LP"

[Saphroneth]

Break out the time machines!
Again. For the first time.

It all depends on how far back we go, really, doesn't it?



Did you try using the Hoverbike Swarm? That helps on the "shooting down the transporters" front, as you can overwhelm a target and then redeploy very fast, or for that matter hit three at once.
Other than that, I don't think anyone would mind if you used hacking to keep track of alien infestation so they don't get a chance to spread out.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I'm enjoying watching; if you need to reboot and try again, go for it. I have no problems with rocks falling...

[Inumo]

If equipment has anything to do with it, could the Hawk you got also be involved?

[Arcalane]

It's possible. I think I could've replaced the Hawk with a Valkyrie and another Hovercar but I doubt that would have done any good against the Fast Attack Ships. I mean, by that point it took two Hawks with two Light Disruptor Beams and two top-rate Plasma Cannons a good minute or two of concentrated pounding to bring down one Fast Attack Ship, and both Hawks took a serious pounding. It seems to be badly overrated in terms of performance... which I guess I shouldn't be surprised by.

But really, I spent too long reorganizing the Greybox to get that biotech research started early on, and my technology actually advanced incredibly quickly once the opportunity presented itself.

That and my starter base placement was just awful. The Greybox was right off in the corner with really really bad road connections, which ruined my old MO of using a pair of Wolfhounds a lot until I got a pair of Biotrans up and running. The Wolfhounds frequently got lost trying to navigate to their intended destinations or spent several minutes doing loops, and at least one building was totally inaccessible to ground vehicles. It had a garage ramp and everything, but the map file itself meant there was no actual road leading to that ramp - it was blocked off by a support structure for one of the people tubes.

I might sit down, figure out what I want to do exactly, get it set up properly, and do a rerun. No tweaking things midgame, etc.

Maybe try for an all-android run or something.

[Saphroneth]

All-android is tricky late game. What about "no baseline humans"? That means you get the androids, and also the start-crap Hybrids.

And from what I've read, the best tactic for handling enemy ships up until they have the Multibomb Launcher is just to have as many Hoverbike(Cyberweb module/Lineage plasma cannon) as possible. They're fast enough to dodge some incoming fire and cheap enough you can swarm the enemy beyond their ability to quickly shoot down. They end up wasting most of their shots.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Control of a swarm is a problem, though, which might explain why Arc hasn't tried it.

Less of an issue until you go realtime, then you tend to lose track of some of them, and run the risk of defeat in detail...

[Arcalane]

Say what you like about androids, I think this speaks for itself:


Yes, that android is carrying a missile launcher (loaded), a spare missile, a snub assault rifle (loaded), three spare magazines, two fragmentation grenades, a stun gas grenade, a smoke grenade, a medical kit, two proximity mines and a full set of armour. Notice that small dent in the Speed bar, around half of which is due to the armour.

No modding. The problem with humans is that unless they live to the endgame and have been with X-COM from the start, they rarely have the stats to compete with androids, though accuracy tends to be the first thing that improves... 

[Saphroneth]

No argument there, it's just that Psi attack can be nice.

[Arcalane]

Psi attack got meganerfed in Apoc though. Only Skeletoids and Anthropods are anywhere near vulnerable to it (other than non-XCOM humans, who as you saw can sometimes have unreasonably high base psi defense) and even then your chance of doing any good 'damage' with it is very low, even with plenty of psigym practice. The most you're going to manage every once in a while is a decent mind probe.

End result: it's mostly used by micronoid aggregates and psimorphs to screw your human troops up. Psi in the player's employ got the hammer, hard.

This is all on top of the hybrids having awful starter stats. You can hardly afford to battle-improve their combat skills as they're so fragile (and they don't have the speed to arrive on time for anything other than base defense or UFO capture) but psi demands LoS contact now. They can maybe take a few shots at stunning an Anthropod with plenty of practice... wouldn't put any money on it though.

I also ran into that weird base-inventory-filled-with-alien-widgets bug for the first time in a while. As a sidenote, having five redshirts (four humans, one android) with outdated equipment and no grenades defending twenty scientists in a base with a defense grid that's in the middle of being upgraded and refuses to be of any help whatsoever is... a little touch and go.

Watching all five rookies take down all hostiles without receiving a single a scratch? Priceless.

[Saphroneth]

Fun.

But one of the changes with Apoc compared to earlier games is that most of the stat increases come from the training facilities like the Psi-gym rather than from combat. If you have a load of Hybrids training up while the robots paste the early enemies, then by the time you're facing enemies vulnerable to it (or for when you need to MC humans in a raid) then you have well trained troopers for the job.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Hrm. Running two teams instead of one, one training, one fighting, you mean?

I'm not sure it counterbalances the loadout that that 'droid is carrying.

[Saphroneth]

Normally in Apoc that happens naturally anyway - the troops train up when not on missions - but using the Hybrids, with the best stat growth, as the sleeper units to potentially surpass the Androids in accuracy and when it actually becomes easier to use TUs (toxiguns) as a support to the Androids (stat growth: maybe you'll get a point of increase. If you're lucky) makes some sense.