XCOM2 thoughts and a question or three

[Molach]

Won commander ironman campaign.

Yay me.

Fun.

Now to decide.. variant run or go for legendary.. ?
Could try an all X run.. (all grenadier run would be fun, all psi run hard at start then op. All ranger run and sniper runs and maybe spark runs...but all spec. run sound a bit dull. Well, they would have longevity.)

Allow only rookies + chosen class...or allow unpromoted members till you get a full complement of X.

Jowy, was that legendary run...? or the one youre reporting?

[Jowy]

It was my legendary campaign that I've been playing on the side. Got up to that point without deaths or failed missions. But 5 pods including 3 MEC's and 2 Berserkers were too much. I was still running basic armor and only a 5-man squad.

Legendary will be tough if you go Ironman, but probably relatively easy if you don't.

[WarriorKnight]

Legendary without Ironman is a grind. While certainly tough, being able to reload does make it doable if you have no problems with save scumming.

Legendary with Ironman is an endurance marathon where a single mistake can cost you a run. Not recommended for the faint of heart, and probably best if you complete Legendary without Ironman first to get a feel for the pacing.

If you're looking for a variant, I suggest the speedrun (it was my most enjoyable run, although I didn't play with DLC). Your goal is to complete the final mission before the end of June. Make sure you plan ahead, you'll barely have time to complete all the story missions (and you certainly won't have the time to research everything before then).

[Jowy]

Holy crap. I went back to that nightmare mission for closure.



That was the craziest mission ever. When I rage quit the first time, two soldiers had just died. I only had 3 left, two of who were completely surrounded and at low HP.
The enemies had a Berserker, a MEC, an Advanced Trooper and an Advanced Officer. Oh, and one of my guys was burning to death. No hope to win, right? Guess what happens next.
The freaking Berserker ATTACKS THE ADVENT!!   That scares off the MEC who runs off to the sunset. Even with that it was a close fight, but somehow I ended up winning over the next 5 turns, with two survivors too.

[AdrienIer]

And you didn't even get promotions for your two surviving guys...

[Molach]

Just popping to comment on my ongoing game...

Decided to go for an all-grenadier squad.

It was surprisingly difficult to get the grenadiers together. First mission was good, one KIA but grenadier promoted. Along with sniper and ranger.
I built the training facility first, and decided that I would use only grenadiers + rookies, if I ran out of rookies I was allowed to bring along other classes, as long as I did not promote them or use their special ability. Snipers could not be taken because of weapon.

I then got my head grenadier wounded on a mission, and ....2 rookies promoted to specialist. I then made a new grenadier...only to have him focus-fired down and killed on a terror mission. In the end I pulled through and managed to get the squad up and running. First mission with 4 grenadiers was glorious. And flawless. So were the next 2. It is seriously easy, flatten cover and blast away. Fun note, on a unlock cargo - type mission (where sane people use a specialist) I _almost_ got +20 hacking skill as reward. I was sooo close to hitting a 8 % chance. Sadly, no go.

With full 6-man (or rather, one man and 5 woman) squad, I have two set up with gunner perks and others with grenade ones. Everyone gets shredder, of course. And suppression. Then 2 get holo targetting, will get saturation fire later. Others get all grenade goodies and will end up with rupture. And I think everyone should have gotten salvo, but one got the no-fail hit perk.

It really is easy mode (should have gone for highest difficulty, perhaps...but a bit hard to get the squad set up so...). I have far too much cash and resources, since I only need to upgrade 1 kind of gun + launcher. No rifles, pistols, sniper rifle, shotgun or sword.

However I am afraid for the final mission. Perhaps I need to re-spec some of them. Or just save all grenades for the last bit and go thermonuclear in the end. Might be fun.

Edit: Some pics:


Did I say missions were easy mode? Hell no. Just see here; very hard to reach the evac zone when I've carpet-bombed the last pod with incendiary and acid grenades. Also seen in shot; even though we only fired 3 bullets this mission, 'Bulldog' here is bringing _2_ grenades back on the plane. Some of the other babes also have spares. Explosive hazard on a fast-moving plane is a recipe for disaster...



Whew, seems like we made it in one piece. "Females - look cool, male - look bored. Perfect".

[Whosit]

I remember a let's player theorizing on how strong an all grenadier squad could be, though that was at release and before grenades got a nerf. Glad to see the dream is still alive, though!