Poll: Most fun way to play Xcom?

Alleged_Alec

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Sep 2, 2008
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So, I completely fucked myself over in my last playthrough of Xcom: Enemy Unknown by waiting too long with putting up satelites and my decision to skip laser rifles in favour of getting faster plasma weaponry. Therefore, I want to start a new one, but I'm not sure if I should get Enemy Within and possibly Long War.

So I was wondering, what do you guys think is the funnest way to play Xcom?

Completely forgot: do you guys like randomized starting stats/stat gain?
 

Redingold

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Mar 28, 2009
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Enemy Within is a huge improvement over Enemy Unknown, I definitely recommend that. Long War is excellent, but quite different to the vanilla X-COM. It also gets way more difficult than vanilla, so I'd only recommend if you're fairly competent. If you can handle the increased difficulty, though, it's very satisfying.

As for randomised stats, I'm not a fan. If you get a rookie with poor starting stats, you just end up not taking them on missions and it's effectively a waste of your money.
 

Alleged_Alec

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Redingold said:
Enemy Within is a huge improvement over Enemy Unknown, I definitely recommend that. Long War is excellent, but quite different to the vanilla X-COM. It also gets way more difficult than vanilla, so I'd only recommend if you're fairly competent. If you can handle the increased difficulty, though, it's very satisfying.

As for randomised stats, I'm not a fan. If you get a rookie with poor starting stats, you just end up not taking them on missions and it's effectively a waste of your money.
What really appeals to me in Long War is the increased number of classes and weaponry, which allows for a bit more flexibility in how to build troops, making them feel less like Assault number 3. That's the same reason I'd do randomised stats, but I'm hesistant for the same reason.

CAPTCHA: in over my head
Thanks captcha. I'm really glad you give such good advice... /s
 

vledleR

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I tried out Iron Man on Classic difficulty mode a few months ago and failed miserably. There is a huge difficulty spike between the Normal and Classic.

Enemy within is a must imo. Tends to fall into tedium late game without it.
 

BloatedGuppy

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Feb 3, 2010
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Enemy Within is a must. Long War once you've mastered/become exhausted with Enemy Within. Long War corrects some of the base game's issues with difficulty pacing (most particularly the sheer drop-off in challenge about mid way through) but has a higher degree of difficulty overall, particularly for new players.
 

Savagezion

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Enemy Within and Long War both surpass Vanilla by a lot. The new maps alone added a lot for me personally. As well, Mechs and implants to compliment psi. PLus, the EXALT faction does mix things up enough as some missions you are against other humans. The only problem I have with it is that some missions are bugged and at least one is imbalanced (Portent) which can royally bork an ironman save and if you combine it with slingshot, you are better off just not doing iron man so that you can reload missions if they get bugged.

As for Long War, I do like it but it is a totally different thing. While it does offer more classes, I feel some of them are pointless or too restricted. Personally, I am a fan of the original classes but with training roulette active. Which also brings up random stats, I like it. While some people do not like that you will get soldiers that are on the low end, they overlook you also get soldiers on the high end. OH look at my rookie with a 74 aim out of the gate. Even if you end up getting a bum willpower roll on him, give him a badge (Enemy WithinW) and voila, no more panic. But as you say it does make the soldiers feel more unique.
 

DementedSheep

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I haven't played Long War so I can't comment on that. The game is better with Enemy Within, I'm not a fan of randomised stats though it dose make your soldiers feel more diverse and I think the game is best on Iron Man (or at least minimal saving).
 

zumbledum

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Nov 13, 2011
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for me , Enemy within , classic ironman, i play with the random stats and stat gain , aiming angles and flank shots always crit

love finding that perfect squad of 80 accuracy base grunts that will turn into gods if i can just get them max level and into mech suits
 

Phlap

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Jun 1, 2011
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I've tried Long War, and while I appreciate all the extra goodies, the mod makes the game unplayably hard. I've never seen what fun stuff they've added to the late-game, as I've never been able to make it that far.
 
Mar 30, 2010
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Enemy Within is a huge improvement to the standard game. It's a shame 2K released it as a separate title rather than an add-on, but the good news is XBL currently have it in their 75%-off section if you fancy snapping it up for a couple of quid.
 

NoPants2win

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Dec 4, 2010
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Enemy Within for sure. I go with not created equal, hidden potential and training roulette (random abilities!). It makes individual soldiers way more interesting and forces you to problem solve in different ways. It's super frustrating when guys die though, I quit in frustration frequently. Definitely don't try to classic ironman your first run through ew. It's much harder than vanilla.
 

Valkrex

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Enemy Within all the way. It added a LOT to the base game and improved in just about everywhere. I'm not the best at the game, so I don't play with any second wave options on but I do play Classic Ironman cuz its fun.

Also, the BEST way to play ANY turn-based PC game is with one hand on the mouse and the other holding a plate of pizza or whatever you feel like snacking on.
 

Doom972

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Dec 25, 2008
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I suggest successfully finishing the campaign at least twice before trying Long War. Regardless of Long War, you should still get Enemy Within because of the features that it adds.
 

baddude1337

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Enemy Within for sure. The new content is really, really good and makes the game a bit longer with more battles. More classes (MEC is great, tech, enemies, and general improvements make it way better than vanilla.
 

Kathinka

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EW is fantastic, for adding maps alone (god how I miss randomly generated maps of the olden days), and also increases your tactical options a lot. The Mechs ability to destroy cover without the use of explosives is absolutely invaluable.
As for randomized stats, I'm a bit undecided. Yes, you end up with a bunch of useless oxygen thieves that fight so bad you'd think that the XCOM program recruited them from the Halo roster. But it also adds the strategic option of hire & fire that you had in those brilliant earlier games and puts a bit more debt into the very railroady strategic mode.
 

Gustavos

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Jul 19, 2009
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The Long War is pretty impressive, but there's no conceivable way for you to enjoy yourself without playing on easy mode and for those players that felt like Xcom should take even more than 40 hours to beat.

My vote goes toward Enemy Within. It's a nice breath of fresh air after experiencing Vanilla. Sure, so is Long War for experienced players, but that's more like choking.
 

Danbo Jambo

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vledleR said:
I tried out Iron Man on Classic difficulty mode a few months ago and failed miserably. There is a huge difficulty spike between the Normal and Classic.

Enemy within is a must imo. Tends to fall into tedium late game without it.
I'd say classic is the games "truest" experience. You've still a bit of breathing room, but it's far more challenging than normal. Impossible was just annoying, mainly for the none-combat panic scenarios being a pain.

With classic, just try to avoid getting flanked, stay in full cover, and inch forward. With a bit of persiverance I think you'll thrive on it mate.
 

Cowabungaa

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Feb 10, 2008
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Not.



Nah, I liked XCOM. I always played vanilla, but I longed for Enemy Within long enough to even know without playing it that it makes the game so much cooler. I actually burned out of the vanilla game before I finished it.
 

Rattja

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Like the people say, get Enemy within and play that first since you need that for Long war anyways.

Personally I found Enemy within to be too easy to cheese, where things like a pure stealth squad with jump mod completely breaks the game. The only hard part is getting started, but it gets so much easier once you get one or two of them.
Don't get me wrong though, it is a very good game as it adds a ton of goodies to the game. So if you like the game there is no excuse for you not to get this one because it just makes it so much better.

As for Long war.. It's quite brutal and a whole other experience, and even on the lowest difficulty it will mess you up if you don't know what you are doing. I say you should at least be able to beat Enemy within on classic without too much problem before you start on Long war, because classic is "easy" in Long war.
I'd say it is the best one, but it is more a question of taste really as it plays very differently with all the changes.
It gives you a lot more control and options on how you want to play and customize your squads and so on, but that also means you have a lot of ways to screw up as well.

So in short, you need Enemy within, get it.
Long war is a free mod, just try it.
 

The Random Critic

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This post is in regards to second wave, the extra options you get at the start of the game. (I only played enemy within, want to try mods next playthough)

Training roulette can be really fun, I also recommend not created equally. Both these option can let you create pretty op guys, and both of these option can backfire when things are not going in your way.

I also enjoy Diminishing Returns, since now I really have decide which continent I want to have.

It's too bad XCom doesn't work on my computer anymore.