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Subject: "Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"     Previous Topic | Next Topic
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Gryphonadmin
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Aug-03-13, 07:20 PM (EST)
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"Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
 
   So there's this random mission that comes along in XCOM: Enemy Unknown where your squad has to go and rescue a woman who has somehow managed to escape from Alien Captivity. I did the mission the other day, and when the Skyranger got back to base, I got to thinking.

Then I went into my troop roster and found a high-Will rookie from the same country that I'd just done that mission in, changed her name to that of the rescuee, and started sending her on missions. She's now a major, one of my four go-to squad leaders (I run them like a starting-pitcher rotation), and my ace sniper. Codename: "Payback".

This makes me obscurely happy. Despite the customization options for the troopers, XCOM is pretty clearly not designed to be any kind of roleplaying game, but, well. I think this is the same creative impulse that makes discarded appliance boxes the best toys ever for some elementary-age children. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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  Subject     Author     Message Date     ID  
  RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Mercutio Aug-03-13 1
     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Aug-03-13 2
         RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Mercutio Aug-03-13 3
             RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Verbena Aug-04-13 4
             RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything BZArcher Feb-15-14 38
  RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Aug-16-13 5
     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything BeardedFerret Aug-16-13 6
         RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything twipper Aug-16-13 10
             RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Aug-17-13 12
     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Matrix Dragon Aug-16-13 7
     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Mercutio Aug-16-13 8
         RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Aug-16-13 9
             RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Mercutio Aug-16-13 11
                 RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Verbena Aug-17-13 15
                     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Mercutio Aug-17-13 16
         RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Sofaspud Aug-17-13 14
     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Aug-18-13 17
     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Aug-23-13 25
         RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything BeardedFerret Aug-23-13 26
             RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything laudre Aug-25-13 28
                 RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Aug-26-13 29
         RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything The Traitor Aug-24-13 27
  RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Bad Moon Aug-17-13 13
  RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything twipper Aug-21-13 18
     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Aug-21-13 19
         RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything BeardedFerret Aug-21-13 22
     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Mercutio Aug-21-13 20
         RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything twipper Aug-21-13 21
             RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Star Ranger4 Aug-22-13 23
                 RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything MuninsFire Aug-22-13 24
  RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Feb-11-14 30
     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything BZArcher Feb-12-14 31
         RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Verbena Feb-12-14 32
             RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Feb-12-14 35
  RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything ebony14 Feb-12-14 33
     RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Gryphonadmin Feb-12-14 34
         RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything ebony14 Feb-12-14 36
             RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything Peter Eng Feb-13-14 37

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Mercutio
Member since May-25-13
388 posts
Aug-03-13, 10:21 PM (EST)
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1. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #0
 
   I used to have all kinds of fun using the squad customization options to assemble a squad I could tell a little story about.

Then I started trying to beat the game on Classic Ironman and Impossible. I learned very, very quickly that that was... way to depressing. Think "the memorial wall has about twenty-five names on it as of mid-June" depressing.

That doesn't mean I don't still tell stories about my squad, of course, but I let them evolve more organically. On Impossible this involves imagining a lot of self-medication going on among the two or three people who actually live long enough level up.

-Merc
Keep Rat


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Gryphonadmin
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Aug-03-13, 11:01 PM (EST)
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2. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #1
 
   >Think "the memorial wall has about twenty-five names on it
>as of mid-June" depressing.

There should come a point where nobody on Earth who is still alive is daft enough to sign up, and you just have to make do with entire squads of armed Hazbots. :)

--G.
"This looks like a job for GOLIATH-1 through GOLIATH-6!"
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Mercutio
Member since May-25-13
388 posts
Aug-03-13, 11:41 PM (EST)
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3. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #2
 
   This is, no fooling, a viable strategy. One of the best ways to beat Impossible, or so I'm told.

Hover Plasma SHIVs have a base accuracy of 95, +20 more from altitude (flying), 50 defense when flying. Nearly as defensive as an assault in ghost armor in full cover, nearly as accurate as a squadsight sniper, with better movement and flanking abilities than either. More HP too. And best of all, expendable. A dead SHIV is much less painful than a dead Captain.

Later on in the game a SHIV should replace one of your assaults as your designated point man, and they can actually duel with Sectopods on even terms and come out of it in one piece.

You can't assault the base early, or do battleships, with the ground-bound SHIVs; they have clipping issues with doorways that Firaxis is either unable or unwilling to address, at least on the PC. But minigun alloy SHIVs are the ultimate terror mission clearers on higher difficulty settings. They have 18 HP, which means they can't be one-shot, and they chew through Chryssalids and zombies like they're nothing.

Firaxis is actually a little bit unhappy with how underutilized SHIVs are; you have to make the deliberate choice to develop and deploy them, and for most people when given the choice between the Foundry and building a satellite net choose the satellite net. They're very much a niche strategy.

-Merc
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Verbena
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Aug-04-13, 00:15 AM (EST)
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4. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #3
 
   I admit I've only beaten this game on normal, and that's all I care to play it on.

But from where I'm sitting, any choice where one side is 'build satellites' isn't a choice at all. That's your income. Without that you can't build much of anything else, never mind the effect on country morale.

That said, making the rescuee a soldier is absolutely awesome. I didn't think of that, though in my current playthrough my base is in Japan...and my top sniper, top squad leader is a Japanese woman I had from the very first mission. (Nothing like sweeping a whole room clear in one action with In The Zone.)


--------

this world created by the
hands of the gods
everything is false
everything is a LIE
the final days have come
now
let everything be destroyed

--mu


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BZArcher
Member since Nov-8-05
598 posts
Feb-15-14, 07:11 PM (EST)
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38. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #3
 
   I decided to get the "Rise of the Machines" achievement the other night, so I loaded up an old save and dumped $500 into making a squad of flying plasma and alloy plasma SHIVs, plus one MEC tropper just so I could claim someone was nominally in charge.

Dear god, it was almost scary how effective they were.

---------------------------
We will BUILD heroes!


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Gryphonadmin
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Aug-16-13, 09:35 PM (EST)
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5. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #0
 
   LAST EDITED ON Aug-16-13 AT 11:04 PM (EDT)
 
In case you needed any further proof that I am a cheez pirate, here is the roster of my current A-team, who get called on for all the really tough missions. Let the rookies go and rescue the Council's pet politicians and consolidate the capture of shot-down scout UFOs. These ladies get the call when it's time to assault the alien base or raid a battleship that's been caught parking in the peculiarly-desert-like* Siberian wilderness.


KUZNETSOVA, Irina
"Cherno"
Russian Federation

CLASS: Heavy
NOTES: Personally confirmed Dr. Shen's suspicion that UFO Power Source pylons might be unstable; thinks she might have latent superpowers now, after all that radiation exposure. Believes suppressive fire is for cowards.


d'ANGERS, Jenny
"Gipsy"
United States of America

CLASS: Assault
NOTES: Carbineer; Arc Thrower specialist. Likes to operate at the edge of the envelope. Once passed up an obvious piece of cover just to get behind a Muton Berserker and shoot him in the back of the head.**


WALKER, Zoë
"Striker"
Australia

CLASS: Assault
NOTES: Close combat specialist. Of no use as Arc Thrower operator, because she automatically kills anything that gets within AT range, a habit which has been impossible for her to shed (not that she's tried very hard).


SHEN Ping
"Typhoon"
People's Republic of China

CLASS: Sniper
NOTES: High-speed, low-drag opportunist. Once spent the first turn of a mission getting to the corner of an observatory roof and then never bothered moving again, accumulating four kills in the course of the day - including a Sectoid who really should have known better than to try and ambush an ambush predator.


KATO, Kazumi
"Coyote"
Japan

CLASS: Support
NOTES: Medic/grenadier, also known as "the Pharmacist". Such a good judge of distances she once cleared enemy units off Gipsy's position with a grenade, without blowing Gipsy up in the process. A handful of shrapnel makes the medicine go down.


KATO, Hitomi
"Tacit Ronin"
Japan

CLASS: Support
NOTES: Coyote's younger sister; our best hand with a rifle and by far the fastest runner in the squad. Probably could've been a sniper, but lacks patience. Never says one word when none will do.


Also of note, serving in the B-squads, are the aforementioned Anna "Payback" Sing, who is the squadleader for B-squad Alpha, and her sidekick, Fabricio "Fiasco" Russo, who is notable in the annals of XCOM for having once cleared an entire abductions mission singlehandedly... by accident.

In fairness, though, that Sectoid should totally have known not to try and hide from a guy with a rocket launcher behind a gas pump. Don't they brief these guys on what Earth stuff is before they send them down? Anyway, it's a good thing Central Officer Bradford mentioned before the mission that collateral damage wasn't a concern, because, um, there was some.

--G.
* In hindsight, random mission map selection might not have been the best design from an immersion standpoint.
** To be fair, this was an accident. I meant to have her go to that cover, I just... missed it. Fortunately, she didn't miss the Berserker, or one imagines she'd have missed the next mission instead.

-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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BeardedFerret
Member since Apr-21-08
387 posts
Aug-16-13, 10:03 PM (EST)
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6. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #5
 
   I sense a pattern, and that pattern has a strong resemblance to THE BEST MOVIE IN THE WORLD.

I like it.


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twipper
Member since Jan-8-03
207 posts
Aug-16-13, 11:20 PM (EST)
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10. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #6
 
   LAST EDITED ON Aug-16-13 AT 11:21 PM (EDT)
 
Not sure if you play the game, but a successful all-gal mission earns you the Ride of the Valkyrie achievement.

Put all those ladies in Titan armor, paint 'em black and Skuld has a new squad. :)

Brian


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Gryphonadmin
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13296 posts
Aug-17-13, 00:32 AM (EST)
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12. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #10
 
   >Not sure if you play the game, but a successful all-gal mission earns
>you the Ride of the Valkyrie achievement.
>
>Put all those ladies in Titan armor, paint 'em black and Skuld has a
>new squad. :)

OK, now I want to go twiddle the squad-generation RNG settings so it creates nothing but Norwegian and Swedish lady troopers.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Matrix Dragon
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Aug-16-13, 10:37 PM (EST)
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7. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #5
 
   *Bows to Gryph* Well played sir. Well played indeed.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter


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Mercutio
Member since May-25-13
388 posts
Aug-16-13, 10:55 PM (EST)
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8. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #5
 
   >In case you needed any further proof that I am a cheez pirate, here is
>the roster of my current A-team, who get called on for all the really
>tough missions. Let the rookies go and rescue the Council's pet
>politicians and consolidate the capture of shot-down scout UFOs.

Hey, in fairness to SEELE, there's only one mission where they send you to save a politico, and Thomas Hutch seems like a stand-up guy. Everything else is people like Anna Sing and General Van Doorn.

(The General is a class act. I'd have given him a laser pistol and a flak jacket and invited him to join in if the mission had allowed it.)

>These ladies get the call when it's time to assault the alien base or
>raid a battleship that's been caught parking in the
>peculiarly-desert-like* Siberian wilderness.

I'm assuming all Colonels, yes? By the time May or June rolls around, I usually have six people who I want to get up to Colonel ASAP and will be going on every single mission barring being laid up.

The two Supports are an interesting choice, especially the Grenadier, who I'm assuming runs Medpack/Grenade, yeah? The grenades are amazing early in the game, but I've found by July at the latest even alien grenades no longer cut the mustard; sure, AOE guaranteed five damage is nice, but when half the guys in any given UFO are Muton Elites, that just doesn't cut it; the plasma rifle can do a lot more than that, albeit just to one target. I'd rather have Chitin Plating in that slot, to cope with those damned heavy plasmas those guys sling around. (I run everyone with Chitin except my Heavies, who are in dire need of SCOPEs usually.)

Myself, I go Assault/Assault/Heavy/Sniper/Support/Other, or by the end of the game Hover Plasma SHIV/Assault/Heavy/Sniper/Other. A Support with all the trimmings can heal 30 HP worth of damage, and if guys are getting put down it means I'm fucking up a lot anyway. The two Assaults carry Rifles, not shotties; the shotty is just awful no matter the map and should never be taken, in my opinion. I can make it work on normal, but on Classic and higher you just do not ever want to be that close to x-rays on purpose.

That "other" is almost always a second sniper. Two snipers with appropriate skills can damn near clear a whole abduction site by themselves. I once beat the game by cracking open the last room in the Temple Ship and sending in a single assault guy. Revealed three Ethereals and their bodyguards... all of whom died as the result of the six precision plasma rounds that hit them over the course of the next single turn. My psionicist never even got in the room.

>KUZNETSOVA, Irina
>"Cherno"
>Russian Federation
>
>CLASS: Heavy
>NOTES: Personally confirmed Dr. Shen's suspicion that UFO Power Source
>pylons might be unstable; thinks she might have latent superpowers
>now, after all that radiation exposure. Believes suppressive fire is
>for cowards.

She's Doctor Vahlen's favorite! No, wait... not favorite. The other thing.

>SHEN, Ping
>"Typhoon"
>People's Republic of China
>
>CLASS: Sniper
>NOTES: High-speed, low-drag opportunist. Once spent the first turn of
>a mission getting to the corner of an observatory roof and then never
>bothered moving again, accumulating four kills in the course of the
>day - including a Sectoid who really should have known better than to
>try and ambush an ambush predator.

That map is the bane of my existence.

First time I pulled it, I sent my sniper dashing up the ladder to get in position on that observatory roof. Of course, INSIDE the observatory, which I did not know at the time had an inside on the second story, were three Sectoids. He did not make it back from that one.

The next three times I pulled it, I sent whatever sniper was around up the ladder very, very carefully, with an Assault escort. Of course, all three of those times? Roof has been deserted. Meanwhile, every single x-ray on the map was just... hurling themselves headlong into the killzone I had set up at ground level. We're talking Mutons and Heavy Floaters just... charging with wild abandon. So all three times, I get my sniper set up... and the mission ends. Can't argue with success, but...

>* In hindsight, random mission map selection might not have
>been the best design from an immersion standpoint.

There's also the fact that, while the game tries to avoid it, it's possible to touchdown in Japan at four in the afternoon in the middle of summer, and walk out the Skyranger into pitch black night.

>** To be fair, this was an accident. I meant to have her go to
>that cover, I just... missed it. Fortunately, she didn't miss the
>Berserker, or one imagines she'd have missed the next mission
>instead.

You'd be surprised. A Chitin-wearing Colonel Assault in Carapace armor can take a Berserker hit and not even qualify as Gravely Wounded. In Titan Armor, they can take that hit and possibly not even end up on the Wounded list after the mission.

(I'm a big fan of Chitin, if you can't tell. I will actively root for Terror Sites to show up just so I can harvest Chryssalids for their delicious armor.)

-Merc
Keep Rat


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Gryphonadmin
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13296 posts
Aug-16-13, 11:03 PM (EST)
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9. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #8
 
   LAST EDITED ON Aug-16-13 AT 11:03 PM (EDT)
 
>the shotty is just awful no
>matter the map and should never be taken, in my opinion.

Liar! The Alloy Cannon is your best friend! It is your only friend!

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Mercutio
Member since May-25-13
388 posts
Aug-16-13, 11:29 PM (EST)
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11. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #9
 
   The Alloy Cannon is waiting to betray you and steal your girlfriend, man. It happened to me. It'll happen to you.

-Merc
Keep Rat


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Verbena
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428 posts
Aug-17-13, 02:34 AM (EST)
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15. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #11
 
   The Alloy Cannon is badass. Have you seen what happens when you put an Assault with that and the skill that auto-shoots anyone in range behind cover, then snipe the Berserker? -Hamburger-.

>The Alloy Cannon is waiting to betray you and steal your girlfriend,
>man. It happened to me. It'll happen to you.
>
>-Merc
>Keep Rat

--------

this world created by the
hands of the gods
everything is false
everything is a LIE
the final days have come
now
let everything be destroyed

--mu


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Mercutio
Member since May-25-13
388 posts
Aug-17-13, 08:15 AM (EST)
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16. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #15
 
   Well, to be all serious about it, the question isn't "is the Alloy Cannon amazing at what it does." The answer to that is clearly "yes." The question is "are there better choices?" And I think the answer to that is also "yes", although less clearly; the calculus behind the Alloy Cannon specifically is, I will admit, somewhat different than the calculus behind the shotgun class of weapons in general.

On Normal difficulty, it doesn't really matter, use what you like. What I'm about to say mostly applies to Classic and higher.

Generally speaking, in order to maximize your chances of everybody not dying, especially during the critical March-June window where the game is the hardest, you do NOT want to be getting up close and personal with aliens. You want your guys hiding behind full cover if at all possible, slowly flushing the x-rays out one group at a time and using overwatch to blow them away when they come at you. If the x-rays themselves set up in good cover, you probably want to pull back and/or flank around the sides. In that critical window that shows up in May-June, when Mutons begin showing up but you maybe don't have a full set of Carapace and Laser weapons yet, it's even more important not to engage closely. Using run-and-gun to charge up close and deliver your shotgun payloads will work, but it's also a great way to unexpectedly activate yet another group of x-rays you didn't know were out there, who turn your Assault into hamburger.

There's also the fact that the Scatter Laser and Alloy Cannon involve extra research, which means in any game there'll generally always be a window where your assaults will be carrying standard rifles anyway.

Now, once you've completed your long slow crawl up the tech tree to the point where you're going against the x-rays on far superior terms before? Okay. Things change a little bit. A fully promoted Colonel Assault with Ghost and/or Titan Armor who is optimized for survivability and/or big hits is very, very not-squishy, and the Alloy Cannon specifically has a better range envelope than its predecessors. At that point the extra damage might be worth it, especially if your snipers and supports are up to snuff; being able to run-and-gun and damn near one-shot a Sectopod is pretty awesome. And a specifically designed "Stealth Assault" guy is totally viable and will definitely want that Alloy Cannon, since firing out of the Ghost suits stealth mode guarantees a crit and you can scout with impunity.

But it's still inordinately risky, especially up on Impossible; enemy density on Impossible is so high that moving forward and revealing tiles during a firefight is nearly always a bad move.

There's also the question of map layout. There's a few maps where you'll be in tight, shotgun-friendly quarters. The small construction yard is hugely shotgun oriented. The interior of the Medium Scout UFOs. A couple of the Terror Mission maps. But the Supply Barge? The Battleship, the Temple Ship? Most of the abduction map pool? Long, long lines of sight, often combined with long stretches of not-so-hot cover. Better to have the versatility of the rifle in-hand. You can't do damage if you don't hit the x-rays, and hitting them at range with any of the shotguns can often be an exercise in frustration.

I just think the rifle is almost always a better choice, and is always a better choice until Alloy Cannon.

-Merc
Keep Rat


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Sofaspud
Member since Apr-6-06
147 posts
Aug-17-13, 02:18 AM (EST)
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14. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #8
 
  
>You'd be surprised. A Chitin-wearing Colonel Assault in Carapace armor
>can take a Berserker hit and not even qualify as Gravely Wounded. In
>Titan Armor, they can take that hit and possibly not even end up on
>the Wounded list after the mission.

I read that as "Colonial Assault" and had a brief, highly entertaining mental image of an X-COM squad storming a Cylon Basestar.

Thank you! :D

--sofaspud
--


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Gryphonadmin
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13296 posts
Aug-18-13, 08:48 PM (EST)
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17. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #5
 
   Somehow, it doesn't surprise me that Gipsy and Coyote are psionic, and Cherno and Striker are not.

No word yet on Typhoon or Tacit Ronin.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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Gryphonadmin
Charter Member
13296 posts
Aug-23-13, 02:02 AM (EST)
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25. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #5
 
   Aw, man, Cherno got killed by a Berserker. I suppose I should have expected that.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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BeardedFerret
Member since Apr-21-08
387 posts
Aug-23-13, 02:47 AM (EST)
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26. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #25
 
   Cue funeral Russian-sounding music.


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laudre
Member since Nov-13-06
202 posts
Aug-25-13, 09:53 AM (EST)
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28. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #26
 
   >Cue funeral Russian-sounding music.

Reportedly, one of the redeeming qualities of the novelization is a scene where Sasha and Aleksis are jamming out to Ukrainian house music, to the annoyance of the triplets.

"Mathematics brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis."
- Kenneth Boulding


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Gryphonadmin
Charter Member
13296 posts
Aug-26-13, 01:14 AM (EST)
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29. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #28
 
   >>Cue funeral Russian-sounding music.
>
>Reportedly, one of the redeeming qualities of the novelization is a
>scene where Sasha and Aleksis are jamming out to Ukrainian house
>music, to the annoyance of the triplets.

If you have problem with Ukrainian hard house, you have problem with life.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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The Traitor
Member since Feb-24-09
637 posts
Aug-24-13, 01:34 PM (EST)
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27. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #25
 
   We will bury her with full military honours, in one of the surprisingly numerous instances here at X-COM where the bravery medals outmass what we could find of the corpse.

---
"Yeah, I'm definitely going to hell/But I'll have all the best stories to tell" -- Frank Turner, The Ballad of Me and My Friends

"Look, Darren, I know you're being respectful of the dead, but did you have to use the best biscuit tin? It's not like she'll know-"

"It's Irina. She'll know."


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Bad Moon
Member since Dec-17-02
238 posts
Aug-17-13, 01:22 AM (EST)
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13. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #0
 
   It's true. Before every mission I would say "Mr. Presidents, we have a mission for you."

The League of Extraordinary Ex-Presidents saved the world countless times, and nobody would ever know.

------
Jon Helscher

Oh God, it was me. I was the grognard all along.


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twipper
Member since Jan-8-03
207 posts
Aug-21-13, 04:03 PM (EST)
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18. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #0
 
   Hmm, looks like not all is well with the Council...
http://screencrush.com/xcom-enemy-within-trailer-expanding-on-the-unknown/


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Gryphonadmin
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13296 posts
Aug-21-13, 04:11 PM (EST)
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19. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #18
 
   >Hmm, looks like not all is well with the Council...
>http://screencrush.com/xcom-enemy-within-trailer-expanding-on-the-unknown/

Subtitle's kind of a giveaway.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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BeardedFerret
Member since Apr-21-08
387 posts
Aug-21-13, 09:53 PM (EST)
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22. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #19
 
   >>Hmm, looks like not all is well with the Council...
>>http://screencrush.com/xcom-enemy-within-trailer-expanding-on-the-unknown/
>
>Subtitle's kind of a giveaway.

Chrysalids. Chrysalids -everywhere-.


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Mercutio
Member since May-25-13
388 posts
Aug-21-13, 04:35 PM (EST)
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20. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #18
 
   Gosh! Something is rotten inside of SEELE?

I'm shocked. Shocked and appalled. How could this have happened?

-Merc
Keep Rat


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twipper
Member since Jan-8-03
207 posts
Aug-21-13, 05:12 PM (EST)
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21. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #20
 
   I blame the lack of sunlight. Would it kill their architects to add a few windows to their secret lair?

Brian


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Star Ranger4
Charter Member
2014 posts
Aug-22-13, 10:24 AM (EST)
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23. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #21
 
   >I blame the lack of sunlight. Would it kill their architects to add a
>few windows to their secret lair?

But, if you can see in from the outside, is it really secret?


Of COURSE you wernt expecting it!
No One expects the FANNISH INQUISITION!
RCW# 86


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MuninsFire
Member since Mar-27-07
107 posts
Aug-22-13, 12:57 PM (EST)
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24. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #23
 
   There's ways to fix that. You can have the windows facing what amounts to a wall inside, with a light gap such that indirect daylight can get into the secured enclave. So long as there's no direct line of sight, access from the outside, nor reflective surfaces, you ought to be able to get the governing authority to sign off on it as suitable for a secured enclave--provided that it's not open-storage, anyway.

For a proper SCIF, though, you are correct in that no windows are allowed.

--
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome
decree,
Where Alph, the sacred river,
ran
Through caverns measureless to
man
Down to a sunless sea


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Gryphonadmin
Charter Member
13296 posts
Feb-11-14, 09:00 PM (EST)
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30. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #0
 
   LAST EDITED ON Feb-11-14 AT 09:01 PM (EST)
 
I wish you could promote the random security guards from the base defense mission into your squad afterward. I had one a bit ago who was a god damn rock star during that operation. I guess I'll have to hire a bunch of rookies and sort through the box when Amazon delivers them in hopes that I got a Japanese lady I can rename, then fake it (like I did with Payback Sing).

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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BZArcher
Member since Nov-8-05
598 posts
Feb-12-14, 00:05 AM (EST)
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31. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #30
 
   Yeah, I had a Brazllian rookie who earned a promotion AND put the coup de grace on a Cyberdisc. Far as I'm concerned that deserves a promotion up from AAA.

---------------------------
We will BUILD heroes!


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Verbena
Charter Member
428 posts
Feb-12-14, 09:17 AM (EST)
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32. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #31
 
   So did I. And she was Japanese. Hm, sensing a pattern here.


--------

this world created by the
hands of the gods
everything is false
everything is a LIE
the final days have come
now
let everything be destroyed

--mu


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Gryphonadmin
Charter Member
13296 posts
Feb-12-14, 11:58 AM (EST)
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35. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #32
 
   >So did I. And she was Japanese. Hm, sensing a pattern here.

Well, everyone knows Japanese women are natural badasses.

Heck, mine was even named Mori. (Hiromi, but still.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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ebony14
Member since Jul-11-11
126 posts
Feb-12-14, 09:19 AM (EST)
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33. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #0
 
   I ended up with a trooper on my first run-through of the game who got the call-sign, "Mr. Clean." In a fit of whimsy, I went into the Barracks after the mission and edited his appearance so that he was completely bald. I figured that, if the grunts were gonna call their Sergeant "Mr. Clean," he better look the part. I left his eyebrows as they were, because they gave his face some contrast.

Fast forward through several months of in-game play, and the Psi-Lab testing starts up. The then-Captain is one of the first to be tested, and is the first to come up positive. So, my first psychic soldier in the Invisible War is a slim, bald fellow, with impressive eyebrows.

Sadly, neither "Charles" nor "Xavier" featured in his name, but the synchronicity was amusing.

Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."


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Gryphonadmin
Charter Member
13296 posts
Feb-12-14, 11:57 AM (EST)
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34. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #33
 
   >Sadly, neither "Charles" nor "Xavier" featured in his name, but the
>synchronicity was amusing.

Memo to self: Someone has to refer to UF-universe Professor X as "Mr. Clean" at some point.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.


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ebony14
Member since Jul-11-11
126 posts
Feb-12-14, 01:53 PM (EST)
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36. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #34
 
   >>Sadly, neither "Charles" nor "Xavier" featured in his name, but the
>>synchronicity was amusing.
>
>Memo to self: Someone has to refer to UF-universe Professor X as "Mr.
>Clean" at some point.
>

I nominate Rose "Rosie the Ravager" Wilson.

Now that's a fanart commission I'd like to George Perez do: Ravager flexing a bicep with "We Can Kill It!" underneath.

Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."


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Peter Eng
Charter Member
957 posts
Feb-13-14, 01:51 PM (EST)
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37. "RE: Proof You Can Roleplay in Almost Anything"
In response to message #36
 
   LAST EDITED ON Feb-13-14 AT 01:51 PM (EST)
 
>
>Now that's a fanart commission I'd like to George Perez do:
>Ravager flexing a bicep with "We Can Kill It!" underneath.

>
>Ebony the Black Dragon
>

"Rose, I don't care how good it sounds. Take it off the website before the 'Bob the Builder' people sue."

Peter Eng
--
"Can we kill it? YES WE CAN!"


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