I played like 40 minutes of XCOM a few months ago with a friend. Now I got a new computer, and I would like to play again, but I don't know where to start. I know Enemy Within is the DLC, but is Enemy Unknown really that bad? What are the differences? Which one do you recommend? Or, maybe, do you think I should just jump to XCOM 2?
iirc it just adds some missions and a new enemy faction and the MEC units, no reason not to get it.
>>737673708>is unknown that badNo but Within is like the Complete version. Since you're brand new I won't recommend Long War, but just know that there is a mod called Long War that really ramps the game up mechanically
Play XCOM 1 with Enemy Within, same game with more stuff. The biggest difference is that there's a mechanic which encourages you to rush the maps instead of overwatch turtling all the time.If you like that and want to play 2, I'd recommend playing with none of the DLC since I thought it was all shit.
>>737673801>>737673827Anything else different? Small things like UI, items or whatever that affects or improves the experience
>>737673919It might be placebo but I remember getting soft locked a lot less after EW came out. You'd be like, ready to move your guy or end your turn, and you just fucking can't, so you have to save, and load, and if that didn't work, close the game and reopen it and then load that same save.>should I jump right into 2There's not necessarily any harm in doing that, but I still recommend playing all of EU/EW before playing 2, not that there's any crazy lore or story you're really missing or anything
>>737673827i don't recommend long war ever
>>737674049I don't recommend long war 2 ever but I thought long war 1 was great fun
>>737674049
>>737674049Skill issue
>>737673708every few months i start up a long war campaign and tell myself i won't savescum but i end up savescumming. one of my goals in life is beating long war legitimately, but god damn it's hard
>>737673708Enemy Within is the same game as Enemy Unknown just with more content.
>>737673708Xcom 2 is kino
OP here.Thank you all. I'm going to play Enemy Within.
For when you eventually do play XCOM 2:For your first playthrough, I'd get the DLC. People hate on the new boss encounters for being a bit repetetive and off-tone, but War of the Chosen adds additional elements to the strategy layer between missions that I think makes the game more fun. Do not press the "Intergrate DLC" button though, that takes the non-WotC DLC and works the content into regular missions without any story context. Use that for future playthroughs for when you don't want to do the DLC missions.
>>737673708Like people have said, no reason not to play EW. Try the long dong once you've beaten it on impossible/ironman.Be sure to give OpenXCom a go when you're done.
>>737674223Eh, the airgame is honestly unfair enough for me to not bother. And sometimes I want to science something on the tactical layer, or just want to see a campaign through rather than start over
>>737674223it's just an adventure in frustration doing ironman
>>737679346Squadron Unleashed helps a lot with the air game.
>>737673870>The biggest difference is that there's a mechanic which encourages you to rush the maps instead of overwatch turtling all the time.Why would anyone want this though?Like 99% of the fun of this genre is overwatch turtling.
>>737682568It's a trap, just like "sectoids are weak to melee" in XCOM2.
>>737673708The faction in EW places some additional pressure on the campaign, but one you should be able to manage. If you ever move onto 2 playing it with all DLC enabled can be overwhelming at first.
>>737673708It is mostly the case that EW just adds to EU without being completely experience changing. When you get to XCom2 that is a point where it is worth playing the vanilla + DLC (pre-WotC) experience compared to playing with the WotC DLC which basically works more like ye olde expansion more than traditional DLC.
>>737674049Long War for XCom1 was worth it. Long War for XCom2 sans WotC expansion was worth it too. I get what Long War WotC is going for but it just isn't fun and a lot of it is padding that adds nothing to the overall experience.
>>737682865I've only played LWotC here - I thought it was just a port of LW2 to be compatible with WotC?What am I missing out on by not playing LW2? I figured the WotC version would just be like Enemy Within; that is, extra content
>>737674049Long War XCOM EW makes the first two or three months immensely better to the point you will despise going back to the base game. The skill trees are also vastly better thought out and playtested. It gets old but playing LW for three months then quitting is much better than playing an entire game of vanilla.
>>737682568God help you some incentive not to creep safely across the map and take some risks.Since we're in an XCOM thread I'd like to make a related comment, anyone played Last Train Home? It looks kino
>>737673708I played Enemy Unknown first, and it was a great experience that made me fall in love with the series. Then I played Enemy Within, which I also liked. But after playing Enemy Within coming back to Enemy Unknown feels a bit lacking. So what I would recommend is playing the vanilla game first, and then playing with the DLC to get the most value out of the game. Same thing applies to XCOM 2. Just be aware, that vanilla XCOM 2 is much harder than War of the Chosen. Then after you play those two mainline games and their DLCs, go play Long War. It's a massive overhaul mod that's in my opinion the most interesting XCOM experience to date. Just be aware that it's really really challenging, so only play it if you truly love the series. Alternatively I also recommend the original Ufo Defense, but play that one with OpenXcom, since it fixes many game-breaking bugs and adds quality of life improvements.
>>737682925LWotC (based on where it is now) tacked on a strategic level to the existing LW2. Which sure can and does arguably make it feel a lot more like a guerrilla war but when stripped down is basically just padding that doesn't really add to the experience itself. Pre-LWotC was basically all the classes and research tiers and combat mechanics without that excess strategic layer that dragged things out. As an autist myself I can get the appeal for LWotC for those it clicks with, but from a purely gameplay perspective I feel that LW2 pre-WotC was the better experience overall. It is one of those things where realism gets in the way of fun so at the very least it will be polarising. And it doesn't help that the whole thing is poorly optimised since the game itself it also poorly optimised.
>>737683906The strategic layer being infiltration and haven mechanics?
>>737682568People hear this and think it will be the XCom1 EW Meld experience for every mission, which isn't the case. XCom2 does indeed have a mission variant that is akin to that but it isn't every mission. It is there to force risk, and add a Stealth layer to the game. On top of being a setting variable so even when on it isn't really an issue with the slider set to its lowest setting. Regardless it fits the narrative of the game where you are a guerrilla force so everything you do is against the clock in regards to a response from the powers that be. However despite what people might say this translates to just having 1-2 units act as scouts with the remainder of your playstyle basically unchanged compared to XCom1.
>>737673919There's more items, a new tech tree for units that gives them gene powers, new story missions, enemy types, all in all it's a straight improvement. No reason not to have it even for a first time player.
>>737683951Yeah, that and the mission fatigue or whatever it is where you need units to rest. Pre-WotC that stuff didn't exist. Or at least not in the version I played which as far as I am aware was well after XCom2 launch but well pre-WotC. It fits narratively but doesn't really add anything to the game experience unless you are wanting some extra simulation aspect. And I say this as someone who enjoyed vanilla XCom2, vanilla WotC, and pre-WotC LW2.
>>737673708Enemy within has a better balance patch and just more stuff and content. you can easily play Enemy Within without playing enemy unknown and not miss anything. The actual enemy unknown DLC with slingshot and the one with the psychers aren't very popular and the missions are hard as fuck. It's weird because for EU and 2 they made 3 DLCs where one was cosmetic, no one likes the other 2 and then they made expansions everyone likes
>>737673919it has some more maps and it has better balancing with some of the classes being op in EU
>>737673708I personally preferred 2.I know some people felt that the overly generous mission timers were still somehow too restrictive, but I personally disagree.
>>737673708I have a tangential question, considering this is an XCOM thread. In Long War, how do I prevent my Assaults from being blown up with Exalt explosives in the later months of the first year? I'm getting tired of having my Ironman campaigns die because Exalt decides to one-by-one grenade the fuck out of my high-ranking units that took months to promote. Is there some unit positioning that makes it more likely for them to reload after a relay has been hit, rather than reaching for a grenade or a rocket launcher? I already know that Exalt medics don't carry any explosives.
>>737683058>Carefully and tactically advancing across the map, scouting out enemy patrol routes and setting up perfect ambushes along them? No, you're not allowed to have fun doing that. You VILL sprint across the map triggering three pods, that is the ONLY way to have fun playing the game. Also we made it so enemy pods triggering during their turn have a 50% chance of immediately killing your forward unit instead of moving to cover because a fucking youtuber was overwatch crawling during prerelease (I'm not making this up)
>>737674049The only reason I recommend Long War is because it doesn't base your entire run on your first encounter with Thin Men. Legendary and even Commander runs live and die if your survive your first encounter with Thin Men for the base game.
>>737684864>I know some people felt that the overly generous mission timers were still somehow too restrictiveTimers are fine now but it was worse before WotC.
>>737674223I did an ironman impossible run of EW Long War in like 2015 and I'm still burned out on tactics games
>>737684784I couldn't bring myself to like XCOM 2 as much as 1, and it's not necessarily the timers that can make it unfun at times. As another anon said, the timers existed in XCOM EU/EW but unless it's for a bomb diffusion mission or some random special mission, the MELD isn't something that is vital to grab and the timer isn't so strict that you can't still grab at least 1 crate per mission. XCOM2 takes not only the timers to the next level, but so many random variables will often appear in missions that would logically force a more conservative and cautious playstyle and makes you take possibly dangerous actions to deal with these new stressors. It's intentionally putting you in a position to fail then punishing you when it happens. Many times it doesn't feel fair, which also means it doesn't feel fun when it happens.
I hate that they even did the shitty terrorist scenario in X2 instead of just making sequels that do the "defending the earth through a multinational military conspiracy" in new innovations of the gameplay style. The cartoony tone of the X2 scenario with such a grimdark concept just killed it, and it went into complete meltdown with the WotC shit.
>>737683038>playing LW for three months then quittingI must have done that at least 4 times.Not that I'm complaining.
>>737687201I found xcom 2 easier, especially WotC with the reaper and the templar because you can use shit like the mimic beacons and stealth to avoid damage
>>737687201I liked XCom2 overall. It fit the new narrative of resistance forces well enough without massively reworking the general formula XCom1 followed. WotC changed up enough stuff to keep things interesting without out and out breaking the general game flow up too much. Weather or not you agree with the narrative and scope changes mechanically it worked pretty well. Diversity Squad too did a lot of great stuff mechanically even if it took a massive nosedive when it came to writing and general scenario quality.
>>737685243I just modded the turn limits out
>>737673708What are some good XCOM-likes?
>>737689580JA3 and JA2
>>737674223You get a landed abductor UFO mission in the first month or two which if you complete it completely breaks the progression and makes the rest of the game a lot easier. It usually has at least 1 chryssalid pod but as long as you kit every squad member out with 1 AP and 1 Frag grenade it's fine. The trickiest part of the mission is clearing the command room which has several outsiders. But again it's manageable with grenade spam.
>>737685048It's a kill them before they kill you situation. Like with chryssalids. There isn't a secret technique that makes them not insta rape your dudes. You just have to shoot them as soon as you see them.
>>737685048If you pull your units completely out of sight range the AI gets a thousand times dumber over the next turn. This is pretty much the secret of unfucking any situation where you can't alpha strike away all enemy forces.
