Xcom tips, tricks and advice

[King of Asgaard]

Heavy's Holotargeting is really helpful. You have them shoot at a target first, and it adds 10% accuracy to every attack against that target that turn; and it stacks!

10% accuracy increase is OK, but being able to shoot twice in a turn with Bullet Storm is invaluable.
Heavies are designed for damage dealing, not de/buffing. There are supports for de/buffing.

Debate is still out on that. That 10% bonus applies for the whole turn, so potentially the whole squad may get that 10% bonus.

My experience with heavies is that they account for the fewest kills of all classes, even with that extra shot, because they have the lowest accuracy of the bunch.
Support seems to be their biggest use, including suppresion and blowing up terrain cover.

Really?
Because mine always have the second highest kills of the squad, with the first being snipers.
I suppose it comes down to luck at times, because I've had heavies armed with plasma stuff hit their targets at 25% chances.
I'd say it's because they have their rockets; that's some beautiful damage output, especially with HEAT ammo.

For me it's snipers #1, followed by assault, then support and then heavy.

Snipers need no explanation.
Assualt are 100% accurate at short range with their shotguns and they can get close with fast reflexes + run&gun. Upgraded they get as many free shots as they need on all aliens walking around the corners they hide behind.
Support don't have much in the way of firepower, but they are accurate enough at medium range to outperform heavies.
Heavies finally have a rocket or two to help out, but I rarely use them on weak targets that would be killed with one blast, so the heavies don't always rake up the kills.

I don't give my Assaults shotguns, because the range on those things is awful.
I assume you use Alloy Cannons; is it true that they have a better range than regular or scatter lasers, and if so, is it worth giving them a try?
Also, may I ask what difficulty you obtained this data from?
I've noticed a bit of a discrepancy between difficulty levels, to the point where tactics need to change.
Case in point, on Normal, I rarely used rockets, because my heavy usually one-shots most nasties, yet on Classic I found myself reworking my strategy to incorporate rockets as my main source of annihilation.

 

[Souplex]

The Assault class' left tree is far better than its right tree, with the exception of double shot.
Double shot at close range can make short work of most anything.

 

[Plumerou]

best tip ever, always bring a arc thrower and capture aliens if you have a chance (dont risk it, only if you are certain that you can capture one without casualties), since that way you dont destroy their weapons and can get plasma rifles for your whole squad without having to build them yourself :0

 

[BloatedGuppy]

That said, I havent yet delved into Impossible because honestly the constant cheap shots in Classic are enough to make me want to punch a baby. The combat portions of Normal flow really well, theres just not enough enemies and they just sit around for eternity waiting for you. The base managment in Normal is a total cakewalk though.

Ive been waiting for a sequel to Xcom for as long as you, I played on the playstation1 port which got me interested in TBS games. Not sure if Id say they are my absolute favorite genre ever (More of a metroidvania sort of guy, Dark Souls ftw) but Ive definitely spent more hours playing them than any other genre out there. Silent Storm and CivIV robbed me of many a nights sleep.

I can't say I love the health allocation in Impossible. The number of aliens feels about right, but I really hate how beefy they are compared to your troops. I'd say Classic tuning (health, strategic layer, to hit chance) combined with Impossible's populations would be ideal. I do like how tough Impossible is though, you literally cannot make errors.

Did you ever play JA2? It's generally considered to be the king of tactical turn based games. It lacks the elegance of X-Com's strategic layer (the original), but the tactical game play is meatier.

Really?

Because mine always have the second highest kills of the squad, with the first being snipers.

It depends on how you develop them. Heavies have terrible base accuracy, so I like using mine for suppression. With danger zone and mayhem, you'll shred cover and do AoE damage while suppressing, and it never misses. If you have holo targeting stacked on that, all the better.

And then, once the cover is gone, it's time for your In The Zone Sniper to go to work...

 

[veloper]

Heavy's Holotargeting is really helpful. You have them shoot at a target first, and it adds 10% accuracy to every attack against that target that turn; and it stacks!

10% accuracy increase is OK, but being able to shoot twice in a turn with Bullet Storm is invaluable.
Heavies are designed for damage dealing, not de/buffing. There are supports for de/buffing.

Debate is still out on that. That 10% bonus applies for the whole turn, so potentially the whole squad may get that 10% bonus.

My experience with heavies is that they account for the fewest kills of all classes, even with that extra shot, because they have the lowest accuracy of the bunch.
Support seems to be their biggest use, including suppresion and blowing up terrain cover.

Really?
Because mine always have the second highest kills of the squad, with the first being snipers.
I suppose it comes down to luck at times, because I've had heavies armed with plasma stuff hit their targets at 25% chances.
I'd say it's because they have their rockets; that's some beautiful damage output, especially with HEAT ammo.

For me it's snipers #1, followed by assault, then support and then heavy.

Snipers need no explanation.
Assualt are 100% accurate at short range with their shotguns and they can get close with fast reflexes + run&gun. Upgraded they get as many free shots as they need on all aliens walking around the corners they hide behind.
Support don't have much in the way of firepower, but they are accurate enough at medium range to outperform heavies.
Heavies finally have a rocket or two to help out, but I rarely use them on weak targets that would be killed with one blast, so the heavies don't always rake up the kills.

I don't give my Assaults shotguns, because the range on those things is awful.
I assume you use Alloy Cannons; is it true that they have a better range than regular or scatter lasers, and if so, is it worth giving them a try?
Also, may I ask what difficulty you obtained this data from?
I've noticed a bit of a discrepancy between difficulty levels, to the point where tactics need to change.
Case in point, on Normal, I rarely used rockets, because my heavy usually one-shots most nasties, yet on Classic I found myself reworking my strategy to incorporate rockets as my main source of annihilation.

That's both on normal and on classic mode, where on classic the heavies main weapon sucks even harder.

Low ranking assault guys I give assault/laser rifles. Once they get a couple ranks under their belt though, I use them as intended, so shotty at close range. I find that shotguns are more accurate than rifles only at close range and they do more damage.
My assault guys see alot of action on the front lines and once they get that free reaction shot at any alien that moves in close range, they really clean the house (or ship interior).

 

[Danceofmasks]

There are a lot of good tips on the 'net.

However, seeing as I'm one of those people who played the old games with a carpetbomb strategy (on highest difficulty of course), I seem to have brought some of those habits to the new game.
I'd use rockets and grenades to win with minimal losses, and deal with the fragment shortage by .. well .. just not doing a bunch of projects that require them.

Also, just chiming in on the subject of shotguns, sometimes you just need that one alien to be dead. Now.
When you have that need, a rapid fired shotgun with increased critical chance is one of the most reliable moves you can pull.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

You two need to get your panties out of the twist they're clearly in.

We made up ages ago! Your sensible chiding is several days too late.

But how dare you suggest there are other valid strategies than mine! Impossibru!

And while it may not be the best thing in some people's eyes, I always take two Snipers.

Two Snipers is "standard", for the exact reasons you've discovered. I like 2 Heavies, 2 Snipers, 1 Support, 1 Assault myself.

 

[triggrhappy94]

The Assault class' left tree is far better than its right tree, with the exception of double shot.
Double shot at close range can make short work of most anything.

Thank you for reminding me. Assault + Shotgun + Run and Gun + Double Shot = Everything dead. But really, That combination has pulled me through many times. Especially when you're fight melee enemies, because they often run out of move points right before they reach you.

OT: What happened to my thread. It just exploded into a wall of text.

One more question. I have had zero luck with Shivs. They're super expensive, and mine died the second mission it was out.
It's nice to have movable cover, but I'd rather have a unit that can actually use cover.
It may just be the gattling gun, but it was also super inaccurate.