There are basic tips include (but are not limited to).
Tips for New Players
Don’t start with the tutorial turned on. While it’s good for some extra story, it’s terrible for helping you play the game.
With it you start the game with one soldier with a class. Without it you can start with up to four of them (or three, if you picked a starting faction hero in the advanced options).
Once you are out of the starting mission (known as Gatecrasher) head into engineering and buy a flashbang. This thing is going to be your fallback panic button for at least the first third of the game. So always have someone carry it into a mission, and then have that person towards the rear of the group and acting last in a fight.
I normally stick it on a Spec (the one with the little robot) if there’s the option to.
Just keep in mind that if you flashbang a sectoid before it has tried to use any psionics on you, this means they will shoot at you instead. It can often be better to hide the person with it, let them mind control someone and then flashbang the alien to remove the effect.
Normal grenades are your friends, and you should abuse your friends (ok, that sounded better in my head…).
The standard grenade is a 100% chance to hit, will always do at least three damage (which on rookie is enough to one-shot a normal ADVENT trooper) and blow up most cover making people easier to hit with an extra 40% chance to crit.
Speaking of cover. Low cover gives a 20% less chance to hit (or be hit) while high cover gives a 40%. If possible you always want people behind high cover.
Though a counter to that is, try to avoid grouping up. Your people aren’t the only ones with grenades.
Shooting someone on a lower elevation (most commonly because the one shooting is on a roof) gives a bonus to aim for a better chance to hit making them great if you can get the drop on people. Downside is you will almost never find a roof with high cover and most rooves will also blow up with a single grenade at which point fall damage is a thing.
If you’re playing on WotC there’s a new game option to double turn timers and the avatar doom clock, good for newer players.
For the shorter turn timer (green missions) if you can get to and complete the main objective the timer goes away letting you hunt down and finish the rest of the enemies at your leisure.
For the longer ones (pale blue missions) you don’t need to kill all the things to win, just get who you are there to get and then get them and your squad to the evac.
Using the evac option to get out is a free action and can still be taken if that person has no actions remaining so it is safe to dash to safety so long as your move ends inside the glowing square.
For research I would personally recommend grabbing Modular Weapons followed by Alien Biotech and then keep an eye out for Resistance Communications. After which it’s often time to get a better gun (at least a better rifle and pistol as these are you weakest offerings).
For more general research
Better weapons > better armor. Better armor may help you live longer if shot at, but better weapons stops you from being shot at in the first place sooner.
Man, I have no idea why Reapers are so beloved by so many. My snipers deal more raw damage than any other unit, and my skirmishers are great flankers and front-line troops that can deal a lot of damage with two shots. Templars are a bit of a pain in the beginning, but with enough practice, you can get them to the point where they can run up to a guy, gut him, and then tank a free shot with a 33 percent chance to deflect damage, making them nearly unstoppable in high cover. Templars are absolute butchers because of how much cover there is in XCOM (and how enemies usually use the best cover available, leaving them fairly vulnerable to a good shankin’).
You can’t understand what a reaper does if you can’t understand why people like them. It really is that easy. You will comprehend if you use them more. Although firepower isn’t the main factor, obtaining the banish skill will give you access to their firepower. They can move very, very close to enemies without being noticed, are sly, can move far, shoot without being noticed for a percentage of the time, and in later ranks, can be extremely lethal. Elevate the situation. Additionally, unlike snipers, who must use a pistol to fire when moving, you are free to move them around and still fire. Although reapers are much more cunning and versatile, snipers are still stronger.I believe you haven’t used them enough if most people like them and you don’t, but you can still figure out why.
I concur that if you are strong enough to endure for a month or two, the training center is preferable. You’ll know it when you find yourself inheriting superhuman strength and abilities as a soldier. The sacrifice is worthwhile for Rangers and Snipers who possess specific extra class abilities. Hail of Bullets Rangers, Phantom Grenadiers, Shredder Snipers, Serial Rangers, etc.
In the beginning, GTS is not superior to the Training Center. This can be constructed on your base’s second or even third level. with a comparable effect on the game. The reason is that your soldiers are simply lacking in AP. Furthermore, having a larger squad is always preferable to having more skill.
My two cents: Always carry a specialist equipped with plenty of grenades and combat protocol. This consistently saves my bacon. With the most obnoxious opponents, the 100% hit frequently seals the deal. Despite having a 98% hit probability, my characters have a terrible habit of missing. Combat protocol allows you to mock misfortune. Those 2/4/6 (double versus mech.) damage frequently determine whether a pod is destroyed or damage is sustained.
Since you never have to reload a pistol, I enjoy having sharpshooters on the lost missions because they can shoot pistols until there are no more lost.
I would like to mention one thing: in some missions, a templar with bladestorm can be absolutely invaluable. lost difficult missions, such as those involving stun lancers or bug freaks. This will serve as both a lawnmower and a meat shield. I have witnessed a templar handle VIP rescue operations by merely placing them in a situation where the lost would charge you, and then watching with amusement as the templar chopped them down like weeds. However, I do agree that if you’re not careful, a templar can quickly put you in danger.
To be honest, I also never enjoyed Reapers. I’m all for stealth, but only when it comes to positioning myself for an attack.
The claymore ability required excessive effort for minimal return, and banishment became redundant as soon as my characters possessed sufficient strength to take down a heavy target independently.
With the ability to use the Chosen rifle in addition to specialized pistols and most of the sharps combat abilities, such as squadsight, longshot, and Death from Above, as well as the ability to use grappling armor to gain an extra move and the late-game ability to fire after moving, the Sniper simply outclasses the late-game Reapers. This is especially true later in the game when permana stealth becomes less valuable.
Everybody has a different play style. I never had reapers and skimishers in mine.
Playstyles are undoubtedly important, but Xcom loses its challenge in the early to late game when the Reaper’s damage starts to decrease. They are extraordinarily good in the challenging early and moderate mid games. Robots with remote start capabilities that evolve into invisible, close-quarters combatants with a high critical rate and 100% accuracy, capable of eliminating a Ruler or Chosen in a single blow. It is difficult to quantify that.
Though I believe the lack of customization was probably the main reason I didn’t use them, I’ll have to give a Reaper a try to see if I can find more use for them.
The only truly dangerous Chosen was the Assassin. In about two minutes, I killed the sniper—ironically, with my sharp. I never once took damage from him in any situation where we faced off. I gave the Warlock a steamroller. clubbed him after downing him in the first turn and dunking the Gate before he could revive.
It was all midgame at this point. The problem was that my Sharp had a lot more range and was 100% accurate. I could also give her the rifle of her choice and the viperskin (grapple). She thus outperformed my reapers in terms of mobility, damage, shots per turn, and accuracy. I simply got the impression that the Reaper was a “trapper/scout/saboteur”. That was not what I wanted. I desired a “Pitter” who was committed. I object to multiclassing.
To find out if I enjoy it, I’ll have to play through a Reaper once more and spend some time with one.
Yes, reapers are extremely weak for two main reasons: first, their main rifle deals the same damage as a sharpshooter’s handgun; second, they require their claymore to get one-turn kills even early on (goodbye to loot unless you save scum); and third, their big “they can one shot things” later on isn’t really a one-shot; rather, it’s called banish, and it has ONE use per mission. You can only use this weapon until it runs out of ammunition, so unless you happen to roll a particularly lucky shot of mutons.
The Vektor deals the same amount of maximum base damage as a bulpup and one less than an assault rifle. It’s not nearly as helpless as a handgun. With a repeater, Banish can pretty much one-shot everything in the game, and with a laser sight and soul harvest, they can easily get 100% crit. You are the first person in recorded history to attempt to say, “Holy shit, Reapers suck.”
Good luck hitting anything with the laser sight, and the repeater only occasionally picks up on the harder modes. Moreover, if you base your argument on the repeater, you should be ashamed of your entire team! Additionally, if you play the game on easy mode, which greatly favors your damage and hit rolls, the only way to get 100% crit on anything is. Enemies in the harder modes have a lot more HP, and you can choose to give them even more. and because of how the game is designed and how damage accumulates, the gun’s damage is enormous. Similar to D&D, you want to use a +3 weapon rather than a basic one!
Bonus: I don’t think any of your arguments really refute my assertions that the sharpshooter outperforms the reaper at what it tries to do, leaving the other members of your team to deal heavy damage and manage the crowd.
I’ve defeated Legendary multiple times, lol. Reapers have 100% aim because of their ridiculously short detection range, which allows them to almost point blank flank shots without endangering themselves. At that range, their superior laser sight is almost exactly 100% crit, close enough that most hits will crit. With expanded mags, a superior repeater is +15% instant kill x6, and it will usually kill the rulers and chosen. You seriously underestimate Reapers; they are notoriously powerful in the community and not just because of their usefulness.
Not to add to their OPness, Reapers have a pretty strong utility OUTSIDE of missions as well. They can sabotage alien facilities alone without firing a shot, saving your troops from fatigue or injury while guerrilla or retaliation missions proceed.
Therefore, your math is still incorrect. Using a repeater seven times is not 15% x 6, but rather 15% each time you shoot, or a chance of roughly 1 in 6 (closer to 1 in 7). It’s also very nearly impossible to kill a sectopod at maximum difficulty (it has about 40 HP), setting that all up for nothing when I can just approach one with a ranger, use rapid fire, and deal 45–60 damage—oh, and look at that, they can do it again!
Reapers: they eliminate a large object before going extinct. Not to add, when the difficulty is increased, it’s not the large foes that kill you but rather a single muton that throws a lucky dodge. By setting up sharpshooters to kill every single small alien with a 100% hit chance in a single turn, you can free up your teammates to finish cleaning up after them.
Sharpshooters always possess superhuman strength, while reapers and skirmishers use weak baby weapons (the sharpshooter’s sidearm is far more powerful than theirs) and have extremely limited abilities that, once used up, are essentially just a weaker handgun version of a sharpshooter. Ranger skills are still superior, but Templars carry no risk. Additionally, the whole REAPERS CAN ONE SHOT ANYTHING thing is a joke. Try playing on Veteran or Harder; the only way they can kill anything is if they use up their one banish use, and even then, you might be able to kill two small things or maybe one large thing if your damage rolls high.
Are you genuinely attempting to portray Reapers as evil? LMAO
I will concede that the G.T.S. second build strategy is hot and may backfire due to comments made by others, but my man is genuinely attempting to discredit Reapers and saying, “I have no idea what I’m talking about,” lol.
I hardly ever used Skirmishers or Reapers. Although the skirmisher was essentially a CQB Ranger with an additional move and a less potent weapon, he had some utility in early game combat and even during upgrades.
Though the Reaper had its peculiarities and the permacloak proved useful on a few occasions, I eventually came to the conclusion that I would eventually break stealth. It’s ironic that the permacloak allowed her to approach before I did, given that Reapers are snipers.
But I was a huge Templar fan. She saved the bacon on every mission I went on, even though I didn’t always bring my templar.
Muton Ma, Berserker Buster, and Gateway CrusherNo, not that one, meleeing a muton is like using a semi truck to brush your teeth. Still, the general idea is conveyed. When I needed to rip something in half, I would keep the Temp under heavy cover. Then, I would send her screaming into the fray to destroy her target. After that, I would either send her giggling back into cover or lock her down and challenge someone to take the next shot.
Training center: The training center is essentially worthless early in the game since you haven’t earned any Ability points. For many of the enemies in the game, BS rounds on grenaders and sharpshooters are just a simple delete button. Since I can eliminate mechanical enemies with BS rounds, I don’t believe I hacked a single one during my recent Commander Ironman run. And it is invaluable to be able to one-shot Codex’s.
I will say that having hacker specialists on staff is crucial. After playing the game for a few days, I realized they were more crucial than sharpshooters.Combat Protocol renders robotic adversaries insignificant.
Templars: In the upper tiers, they can deal 7-9 damage every turn with 100% success rate, (possibly more to others with the psionic wave perk) then just move or parry and mitigate all risk.
Let alone their abilities which are: to make another one of themselves, capable of doing the same damage as themselves, to passively have a chance to just ignore damage, or reflect it, to do Ionic Storm (no explanation needed, I hope), and ignore explosions and status effects.
I’ve never gone a run without a Templar being MVP of the whole game.