XCOM 2

Droigan said:

Not sure I agree with the previous DLCs being balanced for this expansion. The Alien hunters being able to pop up on timed missions, even along with chosen is just basically you being xcomed at the start of a mission without knowing it until you encounter it. Think I might restart and disable it until a mod comes that actually balances it, either by disabling the ability to spawn on timed missions or at least show that they will spawn in the sit rep so you can somewhat prepare.

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There's a setting at the beginning that rebalances the DLC for WotC and it's defaulted to on, so you turned it off. With the rebalance, the rulers no longer show up randomly but instead each one is tied to a random facility.

Droigan said:

Not sure I agree with the previous DLCs being balanced for this expansion. The Alien hunters being able to pop up on timed missions, even along with chosen is just basically you being xcomed at the start of a mission without knowing it until you encounter it. Think I might restart and disable it until a mod comes that actually balances it, either by disabling the ability to spawn on timed missions or at least show that they will spawn in the sit rep so you can somewhat prepare.

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How far into the game are you? The Shadow Chamber would have warned you.

Gavinmad said:

There's a setting at the beginning that rebalances the DLC for WotC and it's defaulted to on, so you turned it off. With the rebalance, the rulers no longer show up randomly but instead each one is tied to a random facility.

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You're misunderstanding how the feature works, Gavin. After their initial appearance at a facility, just like the original story missions, they can randomly appear in any mission (I had Viper King on a a VIP mission). The only thing turning the tick on or off does is whether or not they're story activated.

Sulrn said:

You're misunderstanding how the feature works, Gavin. After their initial appearance at a facility, just like the original story missions, they can randomly appear in any mission (I had Viper King on a a VIP mission). The only thing turning the tick on or off does is whether or not they're story activated.

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Oh they can flee from the facility where you encounter them? LOL

Still better than them just randomly showing up after you do the narrative mission pre-WotC, or randomly showing up with no warning at all like they did pre-WotC with the narrative mission turned off. My biggest problem anticipating rulers is that with no modded/Long War classes, the bolt caster kinda sucks. Can't get multiple overwatch shots from a guardian specialist and you have to give up the shotgun to carry it on a ranger. If they no longer have their own special turn mechanics I guess stunning them won't be quite as important though.

Gavinmad said:

Oh they can flee from the facility where you encounter them? LOL

Still better than them just randomly showing up after you do the narrative mission pre-WotC, or randomly showing up with no warning at all like they did pre-WotC with the narrative mission turned off. My biggest problem anticipating rulers is that with no modded/Long War classes, the bolt caster kinda sucks. Can't get multiple overwatch shots from a guardian specialist and you have to give up the shotgun to carry it on a ranger. If they no longer have their own special turn mechanics I guess stunning them won't be quite as important though.

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Yes, they don't activate until you do the facility, but when you do the facility mission it is like the first time you encounter them pre-WotC. They cause havoc for around two full turns (they do have their special turn mechanic) where you most likely will get around 1-1.5 health bar removed from them + armor. Then they port out and you finish the mission normally. At this point, that ruler can spawn at any mission you do with no warning.

Wonder if you can get multiple rulers or a ruler and a chosen on the same map at once. Probably not but that would be hilarious.

*edit*

Can you imagine doing the final mission with all three chosen and all three rulers on the map?

I had one like that, but they were spaced far enough apart for it not to be such an issue. I was going on one of those X4 planting scenes. I encountered the viper king before I got to the building where I was going, the assassin after. Luckily, I made magnetic weapons a priority. I didn't take them both down, though. I just noped the fuck on out of there, leaving the assassin to pound sand.

EDIT : Also, you can get multiple shots from a guardian specialist. I know, I've done it. I dunno what's happening with your game. Did you choose Covering Fire previously?

goishen said:

I had one like that, but they were spaced far enough apart for it not to be such an issue. I was going on one of those X4 planting scenes. I encountered the viper king before I got to the building where I was going, the assassin after. Luckily, I made magnetic weapons a priority. I didn't take them both down, though. I just noped the fuck on out of there, leaving the assassin to pound sand.

EDIT : Also, you can get multiple shots from a guardian specialist. I know, I've done it. I dunno what's happening with your game. Did you choose Covering Fire previously?

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Can't get multiple shots from guardian if you have the bolt caster equipped.

*edit*

Also, it's possible for a Reaper to roll up tactical rigging as one of their possible XCom bonus abilities you can buy. Holy shit is that OP.

All in all, I think Reapers by design are just OP, especially in comparison to the other two factions. Then adding the random XCom abilities on top of things just makes it goofy.

Super stealth allowing you to scout the entire map without any fear. Stealth kills / actions meaning you're never at risk. Paired up with a marskman in the endgame and you can wipe most pods with a shrapnel homing bomb + deadshot well before they have a chance to agro.

Sulrn said:

All in all, I think Reapers by design are just OP, especially in comparison to the other two factions. Then adding the random XCom abilities on top of things just makes it goofy.

Super stealth allowing you to scout the entire map without any fear. Stealth kills / actions meaning you're never at risk. Paired up with a marskman in the endgame and you can wipe most pods with a shrapnel homing bomb + deadshot well before they have a chance to agro.

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Dunno, Templar + Bladestorm is a pretty insane one too. Honestly, Templars impress the shit out of me more often than Reapers - yea, Reapers can do some awesome stealth shit, but Templars are brutal once you get them past Squaddie level in my experience.

Vaclav said:

Dunno, Templar + Bladestorm is a pretty insane one too. Honestly, Templars impress the shit out of me more often than Reapers - yea, Reapers can do some awesome stealth shit, but Templars are brutal once you get them past Squaddie level in my experience.

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Oh, you mean that same thing a ranger can do more consistently? Or that skirmishers get a bastardized version of? Oh, yeah - so unique, so wow. Don't get me wrong, having a better implemented PSI Operative (without any of the ranged utility, mind you) is cool and all, but my Maxed Templar isn't doing anything game breaking. Super stealth literally breaks missions.

Just more of an RNG clown fiesta on the strategic layer than it already was.

Sulrn said:

Oh, you mean that same thing a ranger can do more consistently? Or that skirmishers get a bastardized version of? Oh, yeah - so unique, so wow. Don't get me wrong, having a better implemented PSI Operative (without any of the ranged utility, mind you) is cool and all, but my Maxed Templar isn't doing anything game breaking. Super stealth literally breaks missions.

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Jolt isn't ranged utility? The super stealth is really powerful, yes - but unless there's something in the last tier that I've not seen that really changes things, in exchange for that Super Stealth you have to forego most aggression with the Reaper - running a man down in order to abuse it is a mixed bag to me. (Yea, yea, super sniper cases are great - but that's really late game, and still requires some LOS from the sniper, so not all maps work)

My templar face tanked an andromedon and then the andromedon shell while also killing about 10 lost, without taking any damage yesterday when a 2 man covert op got ambushed. It was pretty clutch seeing as how his partner was only a sergeant.

Getting bladestorm as one of his XCom skills would have been absurd.

Vaclav said:

Jolt isn't ranged utility? The super stealth is really powerful, yes - but unless there's something in the last tier that I've not seen that really changes things, in exchange for that Super Stealth you have to forego most aggression with the Reaper - running a man down in order to abuse it is a mixed bag to me. (Yea, yea, super sniper cases are great - but that's really late game, and still requires some LOS from the sniper, so not all maps work)

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If it weren't for the reaper I'd be leaving a ranger in concealment the entire battle, because being able to see enemy pods before you activate them is incredibly powerful. In fact, I do leave a ranger in concealment for the entire battle when my reapers are wounded or tired. The idea that the reaper is just a dead slot when you keep them in shadow is retarded.

Gavinmad said:

My templar face tanked an andromedon and then the andromedon shell while also killing about 20 lost, without taking any damage.

Getting bladestorm as one of his XCom skills would have been absurd.

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Exactly one of the sorts of cases I was talking about. For mine w/ Bladestorm he tanked a Priest, two Stun Lancers, and a ton of Lost in a single turn - I think I averaged 8 kills per turn that mission or something absurd like that, because he literally was chewing through an entire pod of Lost each turn.

Gavinmad said:

If it weren't for the reaper I'd be leaving a ranger in concealment the entire battle, because being able to see enemy pods before you activate them is incredibly powerful. In fact, I do leave a ranger in concealment for the entire battle when my reapers are wounded or tired. The idea that the reaper is just a dead slot when you keep them in shadow is retarded.

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Shrug, I tend to use Scanners - I'd rather have full firepower than have a stealth unit just sitting AFK while everyone else does their thing. I'm sure for the I/I streamers they do it that way - but I'd rather have active units and get information via Scanners than have a unit sitting on the sideline.

Beat my first War of the Chosen campaign. Very satisfying.

Cool. I'm on my way to beating it. Just took down the warlock. Had like four strengths and only two weaknesses. He had regenerate health, missed shots shield him, teleport when hit, and no melee damage can hurt him. His two weaknesses were that he would take more damage the closer you were to him and adversary skirmishers.

I dunno, I'm still loving my rangers, 'cause they hit run and gun, and just go up next to him and blow his fucking head off.

I wasn't expecting the ascension chamber to be the exact same for the warlock as it was for the assassin, I don't see how the hunter can be any threat at all when he starts so close to you and has so little room to maneuver.

I did the Hunter first, so he was hardest because I had no Chosen gear yet. Assassin/Warlock got rolled.