A few quick questions about XCOM: EW

[Dalisclock]

So I finally got around to playing this and am enjoying it quite a bit so far. I'm playing on classic difficulty but so far am fairly happy that it's not nearly as difficult as the original(Because as bad as my squaddies are at shooting sometimes, at least they can hit the broad side of a barn).

So some quick questions:

1.) Is there anything better then the Arc Thrower for actually capturing these guys? Because it's really a pain to get that close without killing them(or my squaddies, more importantly).

2.)Any ways of making more cash between missions that won't screw me for resources in the long term(since you need alien bodies to make weapons, apparently)? Somehow I suspect the trick of becoming a laser arms dealer from the original isn't going to work here either.

3.Am I stuck with carrying one item into battle other then my weapons and armor? Hell, is it too much to ask if my squaddies can carry more then one grenade? I kind of understand the balance thing but it seems kind of annoying that "I have a rocket launcher....and one rocket"

4. Most importantly, Is the games difficulty tied to time, items, plot objectives or something else? The first terror mission didn't seem tied to anything, but in the meanwhile, Herr Doctor keeps bugging me to capture an outsider(and stop blowing up the aliens, and try to capture all the aliens) and I can't help but think the game is going to get tougher the moment I do.

OTOH, the original pretty much gave the player a couple months to figure things out before it started kicking you in the balls and kicking even harder once you were down, and while I don't think this version is that evil, I don't want to discount it either.

 

[tippy2k2]

It's been a bit of time so I may be wrong (or changes may have been made):

1. Arc Thrower is the only way to capture

2. Not really. You get resources to sell if you do no damage to the alien ships so try not to blow the ship up too much during the fights.

3. Pretty much. There are upgrades later according to everyone and who am I to question them?

4. The "story" moves at the pace of you doing your objectives but bigger and badder bad guys will appear when they feel like it (there's probably a set time or something). The invasion waits for no man![footnote]This is the only one I'm questionable on. The other ones I'm pretty sure I'm right about[/footnote]

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I'll no doubt be ninja'd on this, but:

1) nope, but you can upgrade it once.

2) not really, your main income is monthly, and only desperate Commanders go selling pricey gear to buy that extra medkit/MEC/sattelite/other thing you desparately need... Hang in there, and by the time your base and regions are stabilised, you'll practically be rolling in money and MELD. Various nations request items from time to time, and they can reward you quite nicely. But sometimes you simply won't have what they need, or it'd be too costly to make the items then hand them over for the reward.

3) nope, you can use the Foundry to unlock the ability for 2 item slots per soldier (Tactical Harness, I think?). I never played the older titles, but I like the restriction in this version. 2 slots is a godsend when you unlock it. An ability upgrade for Heavy's allows them to carry two grenades, but that's obviously not what you're asking about.

4) difficulty's generally tethered to the month, and how you progress the story missions/objectives, as in; certain enemy types will only start to appear after a certain time, or a certain plot event/action. Mostly the latter, I believe (so don't rush the story if you're struggling for resources or your squad keeps getting wiped).

/edit

And lo, he was ninja'd...

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Surprised how many anti selling commanders we have here. I'll gladly sell something I feel I have too many of if it helps me get another satellite or the new gun/armour that can keep my soldiers alive. It's a hard decision but not unviable, if selling a UFO bit or a few alien bodies can get you a satellite a month earlier that's nothing to sniff at.

 

[Dalisclock]

Surprised how many anti selling commanders we have here. I'll gladly sell something I feel I have too many of if it helps me get another satellite or the new gun/armour that can keep my soldiers alive. It's a hard decision but not unviable, if selling a UFO bit or a few alien bodies can get you a satellite a month earlier that's nothing to sniff at.

It's kind of annoying to go to my sell screen, see all these corpses(presumably sitting in a massive freezer somewhere or packed into boxes next to the ark of the covenant) and realize I really need to buy more carapace armor to keep my guys alive(Or at least not spend a week in the hospital if they get grazed) but I'm not sure if I need the corpses to build more lasers or reaper ammo.

I kind of miss when all these bodies were useless after the first autopsy, so it was onto the sushi truck they went.

 

[Dalisclock]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I'm really enjoying the game, and I'm kind of annoyed at myself that I didn't bother picking it up sooner.

Since I'm playing EW for my first play through, I can only imagine how this game feels without it. The Gene mods and MECS seem to fit the game very well.

 

[Terminal Blue]

1.) Is there anything better then the Arc Thrower for actually capturing these guys? Because it's really a pain to get that close without killing them(or my squaddies, more importantly).

Nope. There isn't, and that's actually kind of the point.

Support troopers in particular are your best friends in capturing aliens. They can move very fast and can cover each other with smoke grenades or suppression.

But yeah, Vahlen sometimes gives really bad advice. You don't need to capture every alien you see (although nabbing a live Muton when they start showing up is a huge bonus).

2.)Any ways of making more cash between missions that won't screw me for resources in the long term(since you need alien bodies to make weapons, apparently)?

You can sell most alien bodies. The exception are Chryssalids. Never, ever sell Chryssalids. They're used to make one of the most useful items in the game and you need a lot of them (plus, Chryssalids themselves don't show up very often). There's one other alien you probably shouldn't sell, but it's even rarer and I don't want to spoil.

But yeah, once you research the alien bodies you'll know what they produce. Most of the time, it's either not very useful or really situational.

UFO parts are used for buildings, so you need to be a bit more careful.

Never sell alloys or Elerium unless you absolutely need to build a satellite or something. You will run out of these at some point.

3.Am I stuck with carrying one item into battle other then my weapons and armor? Hell, is it too much to ask if my squaddies can carry more then one grenade? I kind of understand the balance thing but it seems kind of annoying that "I have a rocket launcher....and one rocket"

There's an upgrade you can research which gives everyone an extra item slot. Direct equipment upgrades are researched in the foundary, which requires the "experimental warfare" tech. If you started in Asia (which is a really good choice) foundary research is half price from the beginning of the game, so go nuts. Otherwise it's pricey and probably a mid-game thing.

Some classes can gain additional rockets and grenades as skills when they level up. The heavy class generally excels at using explosives. MEC troopers also have some very powerful AOE abilities, once you unlock them (MEC troopers can be a massive early game edge if you research them quickly).

Most importantly, Is the games difficulty tied to time, items, plot objectives or something else?

For the most part, time. Although completing certain plot objectives will cause certain new enemies to appear, it also tends to give you access to new stuff yourself to even the score. As with any Xcom game, the difficulty often starts to drop towards the end. Panic in particular becomes much easier to manage once you have the world covered in satellites (or as close as you can get). Until then it's a massive race against time.

OTOH, the original pretty much gave the player a couple months to figure things out before it started kicking you in the balls and kicking even harder once you were down, and while I don't think this version is that evil, I don't want to discount it either.

Obviously there are difficulty spikes, generally when a new enemy type starts appearing, but I think the game does a good job of making it very difficult for the player to trap themselves in a corner.