I'd like this to be a thread where you can share your tactics, tips, and tricks for busting the alien menace down to size. I've now knocked over the first major objective, the Advent Blacksite, and I've come away with some more tips!. Even a 100% shot can still 'graze' an enemy, doing reduced damage. Don't assume you'll get the damage listed, even on flanks!. Medkits protect the holder from poison. I totally forgot how useful that can be. You get diminishing returns on scientists.
I'm down to something like a 13% reasearch speed boost for picking one up. You get a big power boost if you wait to put a generator on one of the power coils, which are buried deeper in your ship. Or, you can use those rooms for any other building, with no power cost. Grenadiers can launch any grenade type, even if it isn't in the grenade slot. This includes flashbangs or smoke, which is handy as you can only take one damaging grenade type per solider.
The Sharpshooter's pistol also uses whatever ammo type you have equipped, not just his sniper rifle. Grenadiers can launch any grenade type, even if it isn't in the grenade slot.
This includes flashbangs or smoke, which is handy as you can only take one damaging grenade type per solider. The Sharpshooter's pistol also uses whatever ammo type you have equipped, not just his sniper rifle.I would like to emphasize this point. Especially since the new types of grenades and ammo are almost free (requiring only a single item) and are quite useful. Finally getting these new toys really helped.Still haven't gotten a single extra skill from AWC and I built it first and already have several captains:/.
Best tip ever: Flashbangs counter Sectoids. Breaks mind control, kills zombies and prevents Sectoid ability use on the next turn.You are welcomeYou know what else counters Sectoids? - A long sharp piece of metal! Seriously tho that is a good tip, especially when you don't want to move too much forward with your sword ninjas.By the way if anyone wants to see some ridiculous shit, put a sword build ranger with Blade Storm in the middle of an enemy reinforcement drop, add sharpshooter with Kill Zone for even more hilarity.One thing that confuses me is how to make more of the specialty grenades you first get through Proving Grounds (acid, napalm, etc)?
There doesn't seem to be a way to build them directly afterward. Do you just have to roll the dice again?. Early game frag grenades are a godsend. I usually use one as my first move in an encounter because I can get at least one (usually 2) guaranteed hit(s) (kills if it's the weak troopers) and reduce the inevitable volley that I know is coming my way as soon as I initiate contact. I don't know this for sure but high ground seems to have a bigger effect on aim% than in EU. It's really easy to get snipers situated in this when you are concealed so get them in position on some high ground before you attackQuestion: Is there an assault class analog in this? I feel totally naked without my big boys up front.
If one of your soldiers gets incapacitated by one of those annoying enemies (Vipers) you can use a combat drone attack to free them. You can also send a drone to heal them if need be, the enemy will not be healed.Make sure to have extra recruits on hand, even if soldiers aren't KIA, they can get injured and be out for weeks, so you need a deep bench. Get them by going to the armoury (25 supplies each) and as missions rewards.More than that, build the guerilla training school. It lets you stick a rookie in there for 5 days to get their first promotion which helps. Do not underestimate Gunslingers. When you stack their skills, they can fire like 3-10 times in one turn and they are highly accurate.
Customize every character you can and check in when you reach higher ranks since it unlocks new customization options. Once satisfied with one, edit their bio, name, appearance etc and save them to the character pool from there. No need to go into the special character creator. They'll show up on your next playthrough.
You essentially only have to create a specific character once this way. Reaper is properly contesting Rapid Fire, which I thought impossible. Especially with Shadowstep and Untouchable, you can basically just go to town. Use your Gunslingers to make enemies with too high health for a kill, a bit weaker to set them up. Complete story missions to reduce the Avatar Project. Each successful part of story reduces it by 1 or 2 so far it seems.
Be careful of Sectopods. They have ridiculous amounts of health and they can basically take 3 actions each turn. Fire twice and then another special ability which I thought was either area overwatch like Kill Zone, or preparation for launching missiles the next turn. Save your Elerium Cores! I got plenty of them early, like 5, so I randomly experimented, but I haven't seen one in over 8 hours now and I can't make some of the stuff that's actually great like Alien Grenades. You should spend them on random stuff if you have like 3. If you only have 2, probably hold on to them for something you know is amazing.
The enemy has a bad habit of upgrading their units as the campaign goes on, especially robotic ones. The best way to counter this?
(item spoiler) Research Bluescreen rounds, and you'll find yourself doing a whopping 5 extra damage per shot on any soldier that has them equipped. It turns all robotic enemies, even the late game ones, into tissue paper.My secret recipe is to equip them on sharpshooters, since it applies to their pistol, and they usually can get more than one shot off per round. It's how I'm able to kill even incredibly tough robots like the Sectopod on the first turn I encounter them.
I think this is a really good tip: Using Aid Protocol on the first action does not end your turn. This is useful in many, many cases but especially if you're in concealment and setting up an ambush.
Place all your troops and set them on Overwatch except one with which you are going to take a shot. Use your Specialist to apply Aid Protocol on this person, then set your Specialist to Overwatch. Take a shot with the one who has Aid Protocol buff, and he will take the shot and still get a reaction shot when they disperse. : That is a very good tip, but you need to mention you have to spec into Threat Assessment for it to work, otherwise they just get the defensive bonus.That goes without saying I would think.I'll repeat my previous tip since I haven't seen any Gunslinger hype still: Gunslingers are insane. Lightning Hands = free pistol shot. Quickdraw = pistol shot as first action only costs one action.
Face Off = Fire pistol at all visible enemies. Fan Fire = fire 3 times at one enemy.They are insaaaaaaane with the beam pistol.
Lightning Hands Quick Draw Fan Fire on one target = 5 shots on one target without any penalty whatsoever. That's 4-6 damage. 5 = 20-30 damage. LH QD Face Off = 3 shots at one enemy and one more shot against all other visible enemies. It's just nuts.
The inherent high aim of Sharpshooters makes it really crazy. Especially because you can more or less choose which target will take a hit each round fired, as opposed to all other abilities like Rapid Fire and Chain Shot that must be fired on one target. Hooooly shit, I just discovered the religion that is mines. Sweet mother of god these things are OP as fuck.There I was in a middle of setting up the usual ambush scenario on a pair of mutons and one of those flying dinguses.
Decided to finally give mines a try. They don't trigger detection, so i shot one right in the middle of the enemy pod. Took a shot (which missed, of course). And the mine triggered right as they start to move. It blew straight through the armor of the mutons, killed one the other was at 1 hp, and killed the flying dude too.
That was almost a triple singlehandedly. The damage is nuts! The rest of the squad was like 'er what are we here for?' One thing I think that should be pointed out for people just getting started is that they changed the way weapons work. You no longer have to build a single weapon for each soldier you want to equip it.
Now you essentially just build 'access' to a weapon. It makes the high cost of building weapons make a lot more sense because now the cost is basically the cost for an unlimited number of weapons.Just something that I thought people used to the first game should know since lack of this knowledge caused me to ignore Magnetic weapons for awhile. Research psionics asap!
Instead of being an extra skill tree for existing soldiers like in EU, psi troopers this time around are a seperate class that needs to be trained from a rookie. You pop them in the psi training center and pick a skill, and they'll learn it and rank up once the requisite days have passed, but you can take them on missions without interrupting their training.
Get mind control (dominate) first, it's even more OP than it was in EU. It can only be successfully used once per mission (you can wiff and try again once the cooldown is done) but the control lasts for the entire mission, and, like in EU, enemies seem to prefer to kill mind controlled units over your soldiers, so a particularly strong unit like the andromedon, my personal favorite, combined with a specialist healer, can be an incredibly effective tank.Some of their other skills have a chance to inflict temporary mind control on targets, so with a little luck you can amass a good little drone force.
They can also inflict panic, and lock units down with stasis. I never go anywhere without one. The enemy has a bad habit of upgrading their units as the campaign goes on, especially robotic ones. The best way to counter this? (item spoiler) Research Bluescreen rounds, and you'll find yourself doing a whopping 5 extra damage per shot on any soldier that has them equipped. It turns all robotic enemies, even the late game ones, into tissue paper.My secret recipe is to equip them on sharpshooters, since it applies to their pistol, and they usually can get more than one shot off per round.
It's how I'm able to kill even incredibly tough robots like the Sectopod on the first turn I encounter them.Any ammo type is great for sharpshooters for the same reason, but great tip. Ill try it out in my next play through (just lost my ironman normal). Here's a dumb bug that can really screw with you; if you are rescuing/kidnapping a VIP, when you knock them out, the game considers their position to remain the same when you pick them up, until you put them down again in a new spot.This means that if they start next to a vehicle (or you place them down next to one) and it catches fire for whatever reason, they can be killed in your arms by the exploding car even though they are now miles away.The only way around this is to make sure you drop them once you move away from the car, as that updates their position. You can then pick them back up and take them to the evac safely. Do the Shieldbearer autopsy. It unlocks experimental armor.
Which yields a better nano vest upon completion. Doesn't sound like much, but I really like them. They all give +2HP instead of +1, and they also have a special bonus ability. I have two, one grants immunity to poison, acid, burning and all other environmental hazards. The other grants the ability to regenerate 2HP per turn up to a max of 8HP per mission.
So basically Adaptive Bone Marrow from EW, except it starts regenerating when any damage at all is taken, instead of only near death. I found that out for myself last night after finally splurging on some magnetic weapons. I thought it was a bug at first! This tip applies to armor as well.My tip: when setting up concealed overwatch ambushes consider saving the actions of one or two of your soldiers for use after the ambush.
This allows you to react to the outcome of the ambush before the aliens get their turn. You may be able to set up some flanking shots to finish them off, pop smoke to protect your squad, or simply run up and collect some loot. : Thanks to the wonders of AWC I got a sniper with Rapid Fire. It's on my Gunslinger to boot.
It's like a scene out of an action movie. I can alternate between, Lightning Hands + Rapid Fire or first pistol shot + Fanfire when the situation calls for it. I can also just straight up just use Rapid Fire.with my sniper. Insane damage provided XCOM's RNG doesn't screw you over ofcourse.By the way, is really useful. Some of it is already mentioned here but in general has some really good tips, one in particular that is mentioned is the fact that not only do story missions or objectives sets back the Avatar project doom ticker but you can basically use that to your advantage. There are those Advent facilities for example that do set back the project when you destroy them but if you really want to min-max your playing time to buff up your troops and gear and contact more regions, don't destroy a facility or do a story mission the moment it's unlocked.
Instead, try to ride out the doom ticker until you only have a few days left and then destroy a facility or do a story mission to set it back.Also since no one mentioned this specific thing about the Flashbang yet, it DOES affect the Codex and Gatekeeper. It prevents the Codex from teleporting and cloning and the Gatekeeper from doing its AOE reanimation bomb.
So what I'm saying is that the Flashbang, other than the EMP Grenade and Mimic Beacon, is an absolute life saver. : That's not a great tip on Commander difficulty and up. I just lost my second playthrough, and I'm doing the math now. I'm pretty sure I was unable to ever complete that game.
ALL alien facilities spawned way far out on the map. I had to make contact with 4 regions before I could reach them.
There is just not enough time and intel to do that. The only possible way I could've made it this game, is if I prioritized expansion and doing story missions ASAP and nothing else. The story missions only clear 1-2 blocks of progress. Meanwhile, you gain 3-4 blocks every month if you don't mop up facilities. By some miracle I managed to get on time to a blacksite by the hour and finish it. It knocked off 2 bars of progress, which immediately filled again in the couple days after.
Not enough time to make contact with more zones.I think I may have gotten unlucky. At least, I hope so. I'm going to give it another try, but this time I'll prioritize the story above all else.
: What I did was I prioritize expanding and held off on doing the Skulljack optional objective until I was ready to deal with it. Just did a Blacksite facility mission instead and continued expanding.
Xcom 2 Landed Ufo Full
I think in your playthrough the facilities may have just been too far to reach unfortunately and maybe the Dark Event which added two blocks may have happened as well. AFAIK every Avatar project progress just gives one block every time other than the Dark Event that instantly adds two blocks of progress unless there is a something in your playthrough that I'm not aware of. I'm also playing on Commander, too for reference.
Supply Barge.Notes. The are not aware that you are closing in on them so they could be anywhere on the map around the UFO doing whatever it is that they do. You often find aliens much further from the UFO site in comparison to a. Expect to see any of the Alien race types.
The UFO is undamaged, so try to keep it that way. Many undamaged can be found on this type of mission. Expect to always find aliens somewhere on the UFO.
Xcom 2 Ufo Attack
As with crashed UFOs: once the is active, you are told the number and composition of the aliens that will be present. Ignoring this will very likely raise panic on the country where the UFO has landed. You may also expect later a Battleship showing up to destroy your satellite, unless you intercept it.Tactics. A hint for any UFO raid, landed or shot down: if during Alien Activity, you do not hear any of the usual calls of the aliens, then that means that only the Command squad remains; usually on the ship's bridge.