Firaxis + XCOM, that is all.

Zerker on 4/9/2013 at 21:51

Quote Posted by henke

Er, I'm not sure there's any such thing as trigger tiles. Enemies get agroed if you get close enough to where they are, or spawn at certain points in the mission(like just after you approach a scientist that you're supposed to extract), but I haven't noticed there being certain specific tiles that trigger enemies.

You should play more missions. I've had some cases where I would be exploring a map and would actually trigger enemies to be "discovered" right beside existing squad members! They were clearly not there a second ago :)

Also: video of Enemy Within:
(http://www.joystiq.com/2013/09/04/xcom-enemy-within-narrated-trailer-shows-contents-within/)

mothra on 5/9/2013 at 04:24

henke, you do not have to hunker down when there is no enemy contact, hihi.
You just move your group together, always following in the steps of your "point man" as to not aggro any enemies.
Near cover you spread out and check if you trigger stuff so you can quickly retreat. I play on classic and one little mission (abduction or alien crash site) takes around 1 hour because I do not want to loose anybody. If more than 1 soldier dies, I abort the mission and get back to base.

henke on 5/9/2013 at 04:35

Yeah that's more or less what I'm doing mothra. Except I've never aborted a mission. And I mostly just hunker down if I only have 1 move left and there's nothing else I can, or want, that unit to do.

Quote Posted by dethtoll

So I have this game (got a copy with my BSI pre-order (which, thankfully, someone else bought for me)) but have been a bit skittish about playing it. I want to get started on it now, but should I wait for the DLC?

I'm about 30 hours into the vanilla game now, and... well, not having as much fun as when I started. Feeling like I might get bored of the whole thing before I get to the end. Personally, trying to get through both the vanilla game and DLC in one go would be too much, ymmv.

icemann on 5/9/2013 at 05:56

I'd recommend 2 play throughs. 1 at present with the game as is, and then 1 with the dlc expansion later on. This is a game that you'll very likely be happy to replay (assuming you liked/loved the previous XCOMs).

june gloom on 5/9/2013 at 06:07

Never played them. Tried to play 'em about a year or so ago and they were aggressively inaccessible (though I may be too used to (https://twitter.com/Zajazd1/status/368784214411325441) Press X to Hollywood) Am generally bad at strategy.

icemann on 5/9/2013 at 06:40

Ah. Hmm, well give the vanilla version a try for a day and then see how you feel on it I'd suggest.

faetal on 5/9/2013 at 09:47

I second what icemann said. The DLC adds additional gameplay elements on top of the vanilla game.
I loved the vanilla game and will definitely play it again. Be prepared to fuck up a game or two. The first 2 false starts for me were all about figuring out the balance between gameplay elements. Two things not to neglect: satellites and aircraft (not really spoilers, just hid in case you want to figure it all out for yourself).

mothra on 5/9/2013 at 10:15

tips:
(not too spoilery though)

"Priority" missions or research trigger not only new cutscenes but also new enemy types.
So be prepared for that (financially and equipment-wise), do not run out and do them immediately if you are in a weak spot atm.
Don't rush to capture new aliens immediately, they will be reused later and they could be much easier to capture later.
Yeah, and satellites, satellites, satellites is what wins the game (meaning holding a few countries and getting enough money)

I won't be getting the DLC until it is cheaper than the main game was, I got it with Bioshock:Infinite for free ;)
And the campaign is rather lengthy and maps/enemies get reused alot, don't know if I would replay it soon.

PS: Hunkering down is bad though, rather have all on overwatch when there is no contact. The game likes to spawn enemies out of nowhere later, like Zerker said.
Hunkering down/smoke grenade/supression is when you want to bait an enemy to attack someone (with highest health I would suggest) to get other units into position.

henke on 5/9/2013 at 10:25

Yeah I figured out the importance of satelites halfway through my first (failed) attempt. Now I'm building a bunch of em. Just got a Satelite Nexus made and before the end of the current month I should have 4 new satelites up. *CH-CHING!* Sadly I won't be able to get the bonuses for more than 2 continents though, too many countries have withdrawn. Africa I've ended up neglecting so badly in both my campaigns I'm surprised Steam hasn't give me a "Racist" achievement yet. :p

Quote Posted by faetal

The DLC adds additional gameplay elements on top of the vanilla game.

Oh, I just figured it was a separate campaign.

mothra on 5/9/2013 at 10:33

I played with some 2nd wave features turned on (random stats for promotions I think, can't remember the other one) which makes it sometimes easier, sometimes harder.
The DLC could lighten up the whole "been there, done that" feel you get during the last xxxxxx abduction missions. But having new enemies during "alien terror" missions would make me insane.
Those are the hardest, you can't take your sweet time and they love to spawn dozens of enemies on you, got full wipes on my first playthrough on those.