I've been doing this ONE UFO LANDING mission for two hours! Nothing but MUTONS in this one! Laying ambushes though...mwaahahaha.

Some of the missions do get a bit... muton-y
This game is a massive time-sink.

The psi powers are awesome though

^^ I don't have psi powers yet. Maybe I should actually capture an Outsider Alien and continue the story instead of just mucking about on random abductions and UFO landings/crashes...

I lucked out on the outsider
I get the feeling that just mucking about will eventually lead to trouble, as alien abductions always hit three spots and you can only handle one. I think they will eventually nibble of all your funding.

Doing any mission above medium difficulty without lasers and some decent armour is asking for trouble.

Increase squad size ASAP.

I have to say, the base building is the most annoying part. Space is at a premium, energy is scarce and it is very expensive...

I got an Outsider easily enough.

I had all my snipers on Overwatch...there were two Outsiders....one got sniped when it moved. The other got caught.

Sometimes the A.I. is really dim...
I roll into a room with my tank, disturbing 2 aliens having a private moment.
One ducks behind the console, the other runs across the room and... takes shelter behind MY tank.
Next round: "Adjusting aim..."

Didn't spend enough time upgrading my interceptors
Getting creamed in the skys

^^ I've been upgrading my Intercepters! Currently replacing them all with Firebirds.

So…here’s my thoughts of XCOM after spending quiet some time with this game this weekend.
1st and foremost…this was money WELL spent, the game is just so awesome, great visuals, great game play (Once you get use to it) and an awesome difficulty and challenge to it, this game seriously tests your patience and the way you think strategically and tactic wise, and I mean it seriously tests you. The game takes no prisoners and is very unforgiving (which I like btw), if you mess up even in the slightest way…well…off to the memorial with you. In the beginning it was quiet frustrating (I started on classic difficulty) losing experienced soldiers and failing missions etc. but you soon come to realise that you are at fault and not the game, slow = success, fast = memorial room =  .

The 1st game I started, I started on Classic Difficulty, after 3hrs I decided to restart as I felt my understanding about the game was (obviously) a lot better after 3hrs, what I actually then did was, I started 2 new games, 1 on normal difficulty and 1 on Classic difficulty. I then play 1 full month on (until you receive the council’s report) normal and then 1 full month on classic just to see and feel the difference in the game play. Well there is an obvious difference in the these 2 difficulty settings, there is quiet massive jump in difficulty for normal to classic ie. My normal play through after 3 months:

I have mostly Captains and Lieutenants in my squads, I also only have 1 country that has pulled out of the XCOM project due to the panic lvl’s increasing too much.

On classic however, I have mostly Squadies and Rookies and if 1 more country pulls out of the XCOM project, my game is over

I did however play two different types of strategies between the 2 difficulty settings. In Normal, I focussed on building satellites and satellite uplinks more than what I did on building better gear and weapons in the beginning, which works well.

On classic difficulty, I focused on building better weapons, gear and increasing my squad size to 6 as well as building Laboratories and workshops, WHAT A BIG MISTAKE!!!!

Here’s some advice, make sure you build enough Satellites and Satellite Uplinks whilst ensuring you are still able to increase your squad size to 6 ASAP. The satellites will reduce panic quiet substantially which reduces your work load so to speak as well as reducing the chance of losing countries, and then obviously a squad of 6 rather than 4 speaks for itself. As for game play, only 1 or maybe 2 important things I’ve noticed, 1 NEVER use your second move unless it’s to run away, rather keep it for an “overview”, keep your soldiers close to one another (not too close so 1 grenade kills them all lol) and look at the “Type” of soldiers in your group ie. Get Snipers up high asap and behind your team, Assault Members in the front and your Launchers in the middle. Get at least 1 Support Unit upgraded until he has the Ability to move 3 tiles as well as carry 3 medikits (At 1st I felt a support unit was useless, until you upgrade them properly), Support Units are pretty cool when upgraded, tactics will depend on yourself and environment.

I will add, that playing the game on Classic Difficulty is definitely the way to play this game, Normal just doesn’t provide the challenge and enjoyment it should. The most frustrating part to this game for me is, when your Rookie soldier panics and shoots your major or Captain dead, my god, I’ve never felt like jumping into my tv and killing a game character myself with my bare hands…man it’s annoying when they do that.

Anyway, the game is really, really cool, if you like these turn based, strategy type games, then this game is a definite buy. I can’t wait to die and start again lol!!!

Yes, Morschee, everything you said happened with me...

Started a game on Normal difficulty, did quite a few missions, got destroyed, lost all of my fairly good soldiers... Started again on Easy difficulty! I'm new to XCOM and this type of game, so the learning curve is so high!!!

Have found that the satellite link up and satellites are good, but still finding it hard to know where to start with spending money (and how developed i should be by what point)... I am starting to get into it though, and i had a quick game this morning with a mission that was 'difficult' and i didn't lose one soldier... this is good, and has got my confidence up because i'm actually getting better... Just difficult trying to learn how to battle, and then losing the whole world to aliens! In the beginning i was winning the battles, losing the war... but getting better!

This game is amazing! so much to do, so much to learn (seriously, it will take so many hours to master this game), and i reckon so much replay value!

Setting up your soldiers is awesome, and one doesn't want them to die!!! The Customization is awesome!

Some questions: If a country leaves the XCOM council, can you get them back?
How many in game months is a 'full' the game? (can one even answer this, because game seems to varied)

And yes, two moves only if you really need to cover distance, otherwise, slow and overwatch makes a huge difference!

Love how difficult this game is! The challenge is very satisfying (and i'm still on easy level )

@ Nagool - You cannot get a country back that has pulled out of the XCOM project, once 8 countries leave it's "GAME OVER".

This is also my 1st XCOM game, but I have played games like Civilization (awesome game btw) which has similar charteristics, yet, playes different Anyway, to answer your question on "What to spend money on" (If there are XCOM Vets out there, pls correct me where I go wrong):

The most important parts of the game is:

1) Get your Squad as experienced as possible aka Don't let them die
2) Don't let countries go into panic

So these 2 - of which I think - most important parts are what you need to protect 1st.

1) I know it's hard, but let atleast 3/4 of your team always complete a mission. ALWAYS take 1 Rookie along (to all the easy and moderate mission, not the hard ones), when you group expands to 6, take 2 rookies, so that you constantly upgrade you rookies, you don't want rookies in the hard and very hard mission, they SUCK!!! Spend money on vests and scopes at 1st, swop your assault guys Shotguns with Rifles (it's free) as you hardly ever get "Close" combat, I find this method more succesfull. Equip your "Heavy" Guys with a vest, no need for them to carry a grenade when they have a rocket launcer, and as they get upgraded, they can shoot 2 rockets in 1 mission Later on, buy laser weapons, else the "Hard and Very Hard" missions are near impossible to complete. And also, get a Support Char upgraded ASAP, they can eventually move 3 tiles and carry 3 medi kits, at 1st Support Chars feel useless, but once they reach a certain lvl, they are great and very neaded in game!

2) Build Satelites and Satelite Uplinks as well as planes to protect them. Satelites will decrease the panic lvl quiet a bit, making things a bit easier for you. The hard part about this is, you'll need power and engineers, so in the beginning, do mission that offer engineers, then build 2 Power Generators, this should be enough to build 2 Uplinks and 4 Satelites.

This si so far what I've picked up with regards to this game, but spend your money on these 2 above point 1st, it makes the game a bit easier, after you reached this part, well, I'm sure everything else would make sense

*Also...ALWAYS try and flank, else the AI WILL flank you. And stay to one side of the screen, this will prevent you from activating more than2 groups of Aliens. I find that if I move in the middles of the "Battle Field" I activate to many enemies, activating 3 or more groups ALWAYS ends in disaster

Thanks for the advice! All good! I'll give this a try tonight!

Great game!

Oh yes, I'm sure this is a great game to have a Strategy Guide for, is AWX gonna be getting one? Thanks

Stay away from strategy guides...work your own strategy out, it's more fun

I just miss the old Manuals that came with games... you know, with the pretty pictures, easy references to icons, etc...

But yes, i will beat this alien invasion! Thanks for the motivation! On this day, we will make a stand! We will not give up! we will fight until every little pixelled alien is sent packing! No [censored] probes will enter me on this day!

Nagool said ...

I just miss the old Manuals that came with games... you know, with the pretty pictures, easy references to icons, etc...

But yes, i will beat this alien invasion! Thanks for the motivation! On this day, we will make a stand! We will not give up! we will fight until every little pixelled alien is sent packing! No [censored] probes will enter me on this day!

Me too!!!

I wish one could somehow Co-Op this game, it would be SO awesome to get 2 groups into a massive battle field and destroy Aliens

Ja, i was wondering what the Multiplayer entailed! Was hoping there was a Co-Op... Could totally work!

One small tip:
When your doing your advance across the battle field, do not use you last solder to "dash"
Rather dash as far as you can with one soldier (or tank) then when he scares up some targets, the rest of the team can move in for the kill

I try avoiding Dash completely! But what you say might be something I'd like to try, quiet a nice "catch the AI out" move

Tebulot said ...

One small tip:
When your doing your advance across the battle field, do not use you last solder to "dash"
Rather dash as far as you can with one soldier (or tank) then when he scares up some targets, the rest of the team can move in for the kill

Here's what I do: I advance everybody slowly, wait a turn, then set them to Overwatch. THEN I send my tank dashing in to reveal potential enemies. The enemies move forward and my entire team (I have three snipers, all high ranked, with plasma sniper rifles) unloads on them.

I cleared an entire UFO out in this fashion, though it took me 3 hours

I love it when a thin man dashes out, and 5 guys unload on him with heavy lasers. Pow! instant vapour!

Really want to play tonight, but my brain is just broken after a full day of exams, and tomorrow is also full.

Will probably try to take friday of