X-Com2 - Early UFO Defense mission

[GearSolidMetal]

If you've played X-Com2 you'll understand the OP.
If you haven't played X-Com2, good luck.

Started replaying X-Com2 for the 4th time and something very unique happened, that rarely happens apparently. I'm going to remember this for a very long time.



In my previous playthroughs I got the UFO defense mission pretty late in the game, at the earliest it was halfway through. So my troops were somewhat prepared for such a tough mission.

This time many issues made it practically impossible.



It's really tough to describe how far you are into the game. I started in North America and unlocked everything, was unlocking most areas in South America. I'd estimate I'm 6-8 hours into it, 2-3 of it being 'Shen's Last Gift' DLC mission.
I just bought the ability to take 6 soldiers on missions.

Most of the enemies I've seen on missions are the standard footsoldiers & mechs, but over the last 3 missions I've been introduced to...

Mutons

Vipers

And they're moderately challenging when there's maybe two of them, and six of you.


Anyway, due to my two last missions injuring most of my active soldier roster, having only two Rangers and my SPARK being of optimal condition.

I hadn't even been able to fully construct an infirmary yet on my base, and it was a dozen 'days' away from completion.

So, in other words I'm on dire straights at this point, and the worst thing that could have happened..... happened.

Apparently a 'hidden event' was triggered, and I'm seeing the red UFO flying all over the world map and I'm thinking "Its a bit early in the game for..."
And the 'UFO Avenger Defense' mission begins.

Of fucking fuck fuck fuck I'm completely fucked.

Its the most memorable mission in the entire game because it has its own extensive cutscene.

And then the mission is you defending the landing ramp from enemies, and having to destroy a defensive matrix on the other side of the map.

As I said, my crew is on dire straights. But a SPARK & two rangers can be a deadly trio.

They're not a deadly trio against 5 footsoldiers & 2 battlemechs. (Appear in the 2nd turn)

2 Mutons. (3rd turn)

2 Vipers. (4th turn)

2 Bezerkers (5th turn) And it was the first encounter with these bastards.

Also, with all enemies their Health & Armor stats were much stronger than in previous missions.

So, by Turn 8, all of my soldiers are dead. Completely dominated. No chance of victory.
I played it again. Same result.
I guarantee any X-Com2 pro wouldn't be any more successful. The odds are simply overwhelming against my depleted forces.

If you're curious about the additional crew member that appear on the loading ramp, they're practically cannon fodder. They merely delayed the inevitable.

So... I was about to put the game down & erase my save. No point in several attempts if there's no chance at victory, right?

Well, let me go for one last Hail Mary.

I restarted the mission for the 3rd time, but made my SPARK sprint across the map to the defensive matrix. I completely lucked out with it being next to a gas station.

Roughly half of the enemies spawning were going after the SPARK, so when I camped the SPARK on top of that gas station cover, it made him very hard to hit. Though he couldn't hit the defensive matrix very often because he was attacking the battle mechs jumping on top of the gas station to attack the SPARK. Every shot taken by enemies to the SPARK were missing.

That distraction was very very worth it.
It was the exploit I needed to win this.

It still was a tough fight on the loading ramp, with 5 soldiers, then 6, then 7, and it got all the way up to 12 of (mostly useless) rookies and un-upgraded snipers. It was the numbers I needed to take on very tough enemies and attack them from multiple angles while not clumping the soldiers too closely and make them vulnerable to area attacks.

They started going down, one-by-one, and with 12 soldiers I started the push across the area to the Defensive Matrix.... and the SPARK was destroyed.

You did your duty.
You sacrifice allowed many organics to live.
You will be remembered.

And I surrounded the gas station with 12 soldiers and let them loose on the remaining enemies, which were footsoldiers & Mutons, destroyed the Defensive Matrix, got back on the landing ramp and GTFOed.

Total Playtime, just with that 1 mission - 6 hours.

Only losses were the SPARK & 3 'cannon fodder' rookies.




Anyway, I felt like typing about this because so many gaming sessions are forgotten about within a few days. But this was one I'm going to remember for a very very long time because it seemed completely unfair to get slapped with such a tough mission so early in the game to the point it seemed impossible.... but I kept at it and still failed...and finally it was a Hail Mary attempt... and somehow & someway it worked.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

I’ve really got to get around to playing X-Com 2. I’ve owned it since like 2016 on PS4 but only made it about 4 or 5 missions in and my save got erased somehow and I didn’t go back. I remember playing X-Com on my PS3 in 2012 and absolutely loving it. I kind of feel like doing a play through of the first game before taking another crack at X-Com 2.

 

[High Test With da Best]

If you've played X-Com2 you'll understand the OP.
If you haven't played X-Com2, good luck.

Started replaying X-Com2 for the 4th time and something very unique happened, that rarely happens apparently. I'm going to remember this for a very long time.



In my previous playthroughs I got the UFO defense mission pretty late in the game, at the earliest it was halfway through. So my troops were somewhat prepared for such a tough mission.

This time many issues made it practically impossible.



It's really tough to describe how far you are into the game. I started in North America and unlocked everything, was unlocking most areas in South America. I'd estimate I'm 6-8 hours into it, 2-3 of it being 'Shen's Last Gift' DLC mission.
I just bought the ability to take 6 soldiers on missions.

Most of the enemies I've seen on missions are the standard footsoldiers & mechs, but over the last 3 missions I've been introduced to...

Mutons

Vipers

And they're moderately challenging when there's maybe two of them, and six of you.


Anyway, due to my two last missions injuring most of my active soldier roster, having only two Rangers and my SPARK being of optimal condition.

I hadn't even been able to fully construct an infirmary yet on my base, and it was a dozen 'days' away from completion.

So, in other words I'm on dire straights at this point, and the worst thing that could have happened..... happened.

Apparently a 'hidden event' was triggered, and I'm seeing the red UFO flying all over the world map and I'm thinking "Its a bit early in the game for..."
And the 'UFO Avenger Defense' mission begins.

Of fucking fuck fuck fuck I'm completely fucked.

Its the most memorable mission in the entire game because it has its own extensive cutscene.

And then the mission is you defending the landing ramp from enemies, and having to destroy a defensive matrix on the other side of the map.

As I said, my crew is on dire straights. But a SPARK & two rangers can be a deadly trio.

They're not a deadly trio against 5 footsoldiers & 2 battlemechs. (Appear in the 2nd turn)

2 Mutons. (3rd turn)

2 Vipers. (4th turn)

2 Bezerkers (5th turn) And it was the first encounter with these bastards.

Also, with all enemies their Health & Armor stats were much stronger than in previous missions.

So, by Turn 8, all of my soldiers are dead. Completely dominated. No chance of victory.
I played it again. Same result.
I guarantee any X-Com2 pro wouldn't be any more successful. The odds are simply overwhelming against my depleted forces.

If you're curious about the additional crew member that appear on the loading ramp, they're practically cannon fodder. They merely delayed the inevitable.

So... I was about to put the game down & erase my save. No point in several attempts if there's no chance at victory, right?

Well, let me go for one last Hail Mary.

I restarted the mission for the 3rd time, but made my SPARK sprint across the map to the defensive matrix. I completely lucked out with it being next to a gas station.

Roughly half of the enemies spawning were going after the SPARK, so when I camped the SPARK on top of that gas station cover, it made him very hard to hit. Though he couldn't hit the defensive matrix very often because he was attacking the battle mechs jumping on top of the gas station to attack the SPARK. Every shot taken by enemies to the SPARK were missing.

That distraction was very very worth it.
It was the exploit I needed to win this.

It still was a tough fight on the loading ramp, with 5 soldiers, then 6, then 7, and it got all the way up to 12 of (mostly useless) rookies and un-upgraded snipers. It was the numbers I needed to take on very tough enemies and attack them from multiple angles while not clumping the soldiers too closely and make them vulnerable to area attacks.

They started going down, one-by-one, and with 12 soldiers I started the push across the area to the Defensive Matrix.... and the SPARK was destroyed.

You did your duty.
You sacrifice allowed many organics to live.
You will be remembered.

And I surrounded the gas station with 12 soldiers and let them loose on the remaining enemies, which were footsoldiers & Mutons, destroyed the Defensive Matrix, got back on the landing ramp and GTFOed.

Total Playtime, just with that 1 mission - 6 hours.

Only losses were the SPARK & 3 'cannon fodder' rookies.




Anyway, I felt like typing about this because so many gaming sessions are forgotten about within a few days. But this was one I'm going to remember for a very very long time because it seemed completely unfair to get slapped with such a tough mission so early in the game to the point it seemed impossible.... but I kept at it and still failed...and finally it was a Hail Mary attempt... and somehow & someway it worked.

That mission is right up there with the toughest in the game. Played through again recently, got this mission before I unlockee the Defense Matrix guns for the ship, luckily beat it and only lost one unlevelled recruit. Later, had a diff UFO mission I never knew about, UFO landed in NA and I was able to ambush it. Difference was no landing ramp, just doing a sneak attack.

Also dang, 6 hours is a looong slog!

 

[mihailovich]

Tough luck! I only play X-COM 2 with ironman mode so I guess would have lost the campaign at that point. I love the fact that it's a possibility. Makes the game so much intense.

I once played the game through with Alien hunters DLC and those rulers fucked me up pretty bad in the start of the campaign. Lost like 12 soldiers to them in total. Also, they are terribly balanced - never playing that DLC again.

 

[NoSmilez]

Vanilla game is kind of easy. There are certain builds that are way too overpowered. Ranger and templar builds are kind of broken. The only thing unfair about the game is that sometimes you can have 95 percent accuracy and still miss.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

I’ve really got to get around to playing X-Com 2. I’ve owned it since like 2016 on PS4 but only made it about 4 or 5 missions in and my save got erased somehow and I didn’t go back. I remember playing X-Com on my PS3 in 2012 and absolutely loving it. I kind of feel like doing a play through of the first game before taking another crack at X-Com 2.

I was questioning if I'll should say this, but I'll go ahead and say it.

XCom2 on PS4 is nearly complete ass. Without question the worst PC-To-Console optimization I've ever seen.

I played through it twice on PS4, and although it has PS3 graphics its load times are aggressiously long, with very long pauses during the gameplay, constant slowdown far below 30FPS, and bad crashes every few hours.

The expansion is even worse, when there's a dozen zombies on screen it shows down to five or six frames a second.

And there was a game-breaking bug at the end of my 2nd playthrough before the final mission.

I bought it again for the Series X and although it still has its PS3 graphics and isn't optimized (It'd be a GOAT game if it was), and it runs far far better.

During Holiday Sales on XBox & Steam its usually pretty cheap. Very worth re-buying for the dozens of hours of fun & a less technically frustrating experience.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

I was questioning if I'll should say this, but I'll go ahead and say it.

XCom2 on PS4 is nearly complete ass. Without question the worst PC-To-Console optimization I've ever seen.

I played through it twice on PS4, and although it has PS3 graphics its load times are aggressiously long, with very long pauses during the gameplay, constant slowdown far below 30FPS, and bad crashes every few hours.

The expansion is even worse, when there's a dozen zombies on screen it shows down to five or six frames a second.

And there was a game-breaking bug at the end of my 2nd playthrough before the final mission.

I bought it again for the Series X and although it still has its PS3 graphics and isn't optimized (It'd be a GOAT game if it was), and it runs far far better.

During Holiday Sales on XBox & Steam its usually pretty cheap. Very worth re-buying for the dozens of hours of fun & a less technically frustrating experience.

Well I have a PS5 these days so I’d hope that its performance via backwards compatibility would be improved. If not then I suppose I could pick it up on Steam for my gaming laptop.

 

[Fedorgasm]

I’ve really got to get around to playing X-Com 2. I’ve owned it since like 2016 on PS4 but only made it about 4 or 5 missions in and my save got erased somehow and I didn’t go back. I remember playing X-Com on my PS3 in 2012 and absolutely loving it. I kind of feel like doing a play through of the first game before taking another crack at X-Com 2.

It's really fun. The ps4 version is glitchy as hell and the loading screen takes forever, but I did manage to play through it a couple times. But there was a steam sale and I got XCOM 2 super cheap on PC, so now I never have to deal with that shitty PS4 version again... And now I can add mods too.