[NGTM-1R]

Steam's crossed the first preorder line, so unless you really want the extra stuff in the physical box, it's probably a good choice now.

[SpardaSon21]

I don't usually like turn-based games like these since I typically have to micro-manage every single detail of every single thing.  Firaxis has said they've cut down on that so that's a good thing.  The %-based combat with dice rolls determining whether my soldiers live or die turns me off pretty heavily though.  I'm going to have to skip this.

[Polpolion]

Steam's crossed the first preorder line, so unless you really want the extra stuff in the physical box, it's probably a good choice now.

Do we even know what will be included with it yet?

[NGTM-1R]

Do we even know what will be included with it yet?

Yes, actually.

The Elite Soldier Pack, an X-COM Vigilo/Confido patch, a foldout map of the base, artbook, and (iirc) the soundtrack. Possibly a doohicky or two I've forgotten. But it'll cost ten bucks more than the steam digital version.

[NGTM-1R]

Minor spoilers; achievement list confirmed.

Vaguely annoyed the achievement for beating a mission with a single soldier is "Lone Wolf" rather than "Be The E"

[TrashMan]

I have stopped perordering anything.

Got burned quite a few times, so now I wait. Always.

[SpardaSon21]

Minor spoilers; achievement list confirmed.

Vaguely annoyed the achievement for beating a mission with a single soldier is "Lone Wolf" rather than "Be The E"

The same, plus I'm disappointed there's no Spoonzer Elite achievement.

[NGTM-1R]

I'll just have to photoshop the tank one.

[headdie]

Xavier
Mind Control an Ethereal. Single player only.

aside from the potential IP infringement, Mind Controlling an Eth??????

[SpardaSon21]

The psionic mastermind Sid Meier could totally mind control an Ethereal.

EDIT: This game looks good, but I'm really on the fence.  Can anyone try and convince a complete tactics noob that I don't have to worry about a complete squad wipe of my best soldiers three missions in?

[NGTM-1R]

The psionic mastermind Sid Meier could totally mind control an Ethereal.

EDIT: This game looks good, but I'm really on the fence.  Can anyone try and convince a complete tactics noob that I don't have to worry about a complete squad wipe of my best soldiers three missions in?

As that sort of wipe for bad tactics, or just because, was part of the charm of the original game...

I guess what I'm saying here is that if you don't want to deal with a wipe it may not be for you. If you're prepared to accept that sort of thing and learn from it, or simply soldier on, then it probably is.

[SpardaSon21]

Hmm.  I honestly don't know.  I'm hoping they put a demo up on Steam so I can see whether or not I would actually like this game because I would want the pre-order bonuses if I were to purchase it.  Honestly though, the soldier deco packs and armor painter should be standard items in the game, not pre-order bonuses.

[LordMelvin]

Honestly though, the soldier deco packs and armor painter should be standard items in the game, not pre-order bonuses.

Don't you know how preorder bonuses work? they'll be available as DLC as soon as a little time has gone by.

[SpardaSon21]

Pre-order bonus or paid DLC, it still doesn't change what I said.  If Firaxis decides to give it away for free later after release though, that's a completely different matter and I have no issues with that.

[TrashMan]

I don't usually like turn-based games like these since I typically have to micro-manage every single detail of every single thing.  Firaxis has said they've cut down on that so that's a good thing. The %-based combat with dice rolls determining whether my soldiers live or die turns me off pretty heavily though. I'm going to have to skip this.

So how would you do that, considering you have multiple soldiers?

You either have percentages or you have fixed numbers with 100% hit chance, which is far, far worse.

[SpardaSon21]

Looking back, I can't see a better way to do it, but I'm just used to RTS games where things that are decided on a die roll don't typically lose you a large portion of your available killing power.  There's typically some active way to avoid losing a squad or three, or losing a squad or three is a minor setback compared to an elite Major getting his torso melted by plasma and you're out a devastatingly powerful unit.

[Scourge of Ages]

In X-COM you weight the dice in your favor with training and armor, and use tactics to keep your squad, as much as possible, in positions where the alien's can't even roll against them.

[SpardaSon21]

If tactics and equipment plays a large role in the survival rates of my soldiers, that's a good thing.  If it is like Civilization where a Phalanx or Legion can seriously damage an Ironclad, that's not fun.

[Polpolion]

Looking back, I can't see a better way to do it, but I'm just used to RTS games where things that are decided on a die roll don't typically lose you a large portion of your available killing power.  There's typically some active way to avoid losing a squad or three, or losing a squad or three is a minor setback compared to an elite Major getting his torso melted by plasma and you're out a devastatingly powerful unit.

That's part of what I like about the original X-COM though. You can have top tier gear and super highly trained soldiers and things can still go to hell in a hand basket during a mission. There's nothing you can do to change that, things just turn out that way some times. You need to build your bases and train your army in such a way that one or two cluster ****s won't doom you to failure (and even then mess-ups early on usually will just for lack of resources). There's no way you can avoid these things (aside from save whoring, which really is tantamount to cheating); it's part of what the game is supposed to be, and I feel it makes it much more real.

The only things I'm really not looking forward to about this game is that it seems like they shrunk some really cool parts. One thing I really liked in the original was that you could deploy so many people - you really could have multiple fire teams and support teams acting in concert during a battle. The thing in the original that I felt they missed was a more diverse array of weapons. All you really did was race to heavy plasma and blaster launchers. Maybe you'll keep laser rifles just so you don't need to worry about ammo, but by and large useful endgame weapons are pretty limited in breadth. Judging by the gameplay videos I can guess that the new game will be better than that, but I really don't like the fact that you can only have a handful of soldiers; it really limits the kinds of things you can do in the battlescape. Don't let it seem like I thought the original was a shining example of what the battlescape should've been, though. Things got unwieldy fast when you decided to take more than even eight soldiers. Needless to say, I'm super glad there is going to (apparently) be good modding support in XCOM 2012. Also AI. I always felt AI in X-COM was boring and usually difficult for the wrong reasons. And the BFG. But I think I've said all this before in this very thread so whatever.

[SpardaSon21]

Well, you guys have convinced me to try out the demo if/when Firaxis releases it.  I can't guarantee I won't find ordering around every maneuver of every soldier fun, but I'll give it a shot.