This is possibly the most impactful guide video on XCOM2. Most XCOM youtubers will have recommendations for class builds, tech order, etc. But as far as winning the mission on a tactical level theres nothing more important than this... Once a pod is triggered the fighting is pretty straight forward: use flanks, use highground, use your abilities to remove their cover, etc. But I dont think many people know about the AI as in depth as you!
Thanks Tristan, I am glad that it adds value to you and I would agree - in terms of winning the game, this is likely one of the more powerful/impactful lessons to learn.
I don’t know if I can (easily) get out of bad habits, but the visuals helped make sense of why I trigger early or an extra pod. Even though I’m “close” to my initial scout, it’s not close enough. My “circle” of where I can be spotted gets bigger and bigger if you line up 4-6 horizontally (along a rooftop wall for example). That 1-2 extra spaces to the side can be enough to trigger, and you should stay behind that scout, along his initial path.
This is by far the best tutorial on XCOM, you explain excellently things that are the very core of the combat. Although I was familiar with most of the concepts it's nice to see them in such a nice format. I knew your name through reddit but I started watching your channel when you did a jagged alliance 3 playthrough and discovered you have a great channel overall. Great content
"8) Regularly review missions and learn from your mistakes." THIS. Absolutely THIS. When I picked up the game, half the reviews that I read complained a lot about the timer mechanic. But on my first playthrough of the game, I found the timers to be a total non-issue, regularly taking the objectives with 3-5 turns remaining. So I was like, what's the big deal, these timers are no big deal! On my second playthrough, I upped the difficulty from Rookie to Veteran, and also went from the vanilla game to WOTC. Suddenly, the timers gave me a lot of trouble. I still won the missions but ended up really close (like 1-2 turns left) and tended to get my squad injured because I'd then need to double-move someone to the objective while there are still some enemies active. I did up the difficulty, but I thought what the hey, I must be doing something wrong. I started debriefing myself and realized I got into the "too smart for his own good" part of the learning curve; on my second playthrough I tended to be a bit too perfectionist in setting up the initial ambush. So what ended up happening especially in the early game when the squad is weak, is I would see a pod in concealment, then decide I'd take an extra turn to position myself optimally... and then the alien turn comes around and a second pod would get into visual range. I was now in a conundrum: do I spend turns repositioning so I don't end up engaging two pods, or do I start the encounter so I can continue moving towards the objective? Most often I'd end up in 1) a bad position 2) engaging too many enemies and 3) getting massively delayed, anyway. I adjusted my approach so that I'd start the encounter in a "good enough" position instead of making the perfect the enemy of the good, and ended up being able to deal with timers once again with little issue. And I feel like this is where the majority of all the "that's xcom baby" players end up, blaming the timers, or "why did I just miss 3 85% shots in a row", etc. for losing. XCOM 2 is engaging and is surprisingly well-tuned for being such a rushed buggy mess lol, but one really needs to be constantly analyzing one's own game to get better at it.
It is an important trait for sure. Many players tend to stagnate, because they complain and externalize the problem, essentially thinking that the game is unfair and that they are already doing everything right.
@@SykenPlays I mean, XCOM2 is still XCOM, and the RNG can indeed sometimes totally screw you over (forced evac council mission, very large map, alien ruler guarding the evac zone). 95% of the time though what I see is just plain old bad play.
it's not so kuch thinking you are doing everything roght as much as it's not knowing what you are doing wrong. the game does not make it obvious what is happening or what mistakes you are making. i just started playing a couple of days ago, never played this before , playing on veteran and i'm constantly getting into situations were if i fail to eliminate an entire pod in 1-2 trns, another one sees me and joins in and then i get overwhelmed and this video gave me some insight on how the a.i. moves. i had no idea that the enemies "know" where you are and position thmselfes outside your view in between ou and the objective. i also had no idea that they were reacting to the sound of battle. i also had no idea that they watch you from outside your vision range and if you overwatch, they are careful not to trigger it. . .that's kind of a dbag DM move. . in one mission, i triggered the archon king who was hiding in the back room of a downed ufo, while i was still trying to deal with 2 mutoids and a codex. needless to say, i reloaded that save and went in again and managed to kill the pod without triggering the king and then because it was a downed ufo, there was no time limit, so i knew the king was back there and kept overwatching and he wouldn't come out. i could hear him moving around but he wouldn't come out. ispend a dozen turns waiting for him and then started edging closer. moving 2 steps closer, overwatching everone and waiting multiple turns and i can hear him in there and he refuses to come out, and then i get closer.. and closer , until one turn, i take a step and see him right freaking there with my first guy and now have to deal with his ruler reactions before being able to overwatch him. i'm also deep in the campaign now, after august and sectopods are spawning and ine mission had an andromedon and 2 mutoids hiding in a train car, while a MK3 mec and an officer were coming up the side, while a sectopod and another officer and a shieldbearer were hiding just behind the train car and it took me 20 reloads , because every time i engaged the mec, the andromedon would just "happen to notice" me and join in or i engaged the andromedon and then the mec and the officer would "wander" in and then i would hear the sectopod moving and in the multiple round of delay while i'mmdealing with these guys, the sectopod would always just in at the worst possible moment and screw me over. in the end, i managed to kill everything, but failed the mission anyway, because the sectopod parked itself next to the mission objective and when i killed it, it self destructed and destroyed the objective, but at least nobody died. . but yeah, i'm sitting there thinking i dunno how i did that wrong, like how os a player supposed to deal with that? . i don't sit there thinking "i did everything right", i'm thinking "wtf did i do wrong?" and i have no clue
This is a great video, all these things I learned the hard way when trying my way doing Commander diffculty. Very good video for most advance and new players, much to learn. Thanks.👍
This is the guide I will be using as starting knowledge for my first run, Commander Ironman. Spent a few missions in veteran to get a feel for the game, and I am 100% going to lose but we will see how far I get. I have no knowledge of this game besides this guide. Will edit this when I lose. With this guide and absolutely no experience in any Xcom game, I expect to get steamrolled but that's probably a little more lore accurate, given "our side" is just a small terrorist cell.
Been playing the game since ps1 era and after watching a couple of your videos …my gameplay has improved drastically to the point that I need to jump to the next difficulty
Great explanations. Allthough I knew most stuff, because I follow your other vids closely, this condensed format ist great to recapture some things. Keep it going, please!
Thank you very much, I am getting injured/dead far too often as I am pulling packs. Replaying again and thinking about Commander for the next run but would just get rinsed with my poor tactics atm. This video is really helpful thanks.
Excellent. I enjoyed watching this video and learned a lot form it. Thanks for putting in the time to create it for us. You made a couple of references to a video explaining more details about the practicalities of the actual fighting. Can I please ask where it’s located? I’ve searched for it, but unfortunately haven’t found it yet. Thank you.
Hi AusDoug, I do have a few class guides and general guides for equipment on the channel. When it comes to actual fighting, I suggest you look at the 4man challenges, the OMFG run or any of the newer material, all of which typically give a relatively good input over the first few missions each campaign about how to engage the early game.
@@SykenPlays Brilliant. Thank you so much. I’ve watched many of your class guides and learned quite a bit from them. They’re very helpful. I only recently started playing xCom and your advice has helped so much. Honestly, the game was so overwhelming at first that I may not have continued if not for your explanations. I’m only playing at the rookie level at present, but at least all my soldiers don’t die on every mission anymore. I’m looking forward with great anticipation to looking at more of your videos. Thank you for all the time you put into them.
Yes, which was exactly, why I created the video, so that there is a reference guide. It is quite common for players to struggle with this part of the game.
Can this software extract enemy placement and movement from plays? Or is this just a 2d map for references? How did you figured out all this video content without seeing the whole map while playing... PC mods? Great video!
Love the guides. Very helpful. I understand all these concepts. but still I sometimes have trouble knowing how far my sight range will expand. It's quite unpredictable in some situations where a stray window can give you away. Also when dealing with these scenarios it's fine if the last man standing is a sectoid. Sectoid is harmless and gets cleaned up on the next turn. But what do you do if the last man standing is a muton or worse and you have the option to go up just a few squares and get a flank --> thus likely kill the muton. On the other hand we all know expanding vision just by one tile can mean triggering...... Also is there a way I can review my missions? That would be tremendously helpful
That is a good point Shattered Realm, It certainly depends on the situation and how to deal with them. Maybe I will make another guide to go through each of the packs and how to engage them correctly. The focus of this guide was - how to not pull more than one pack.
Nice guide. If you're me, you understand all of this but still pull all packs on the map at the same time. ;) Have you ever messed around with the yellow alert mod? I'm still really on the fence about whether this mod is any good or not. Also, there is a mod that will keep track of the number of enemies you have killed and are active (and if you have the shadow chamber, how many are left). I like it, as it's just one less thing I have to manually keep track of. It's called TacticalUI KillCounter.
Hey Lyrrakell, thanks for the feedback and yes, I have used Yellow Alert, it changes the pace of the game quite a bit - to the point where every mission is a big slugfest at the beginning and then becomes very easy, after you have beaten the enemies. I am not opposed to using it, but I actually personally like the mechanic of triggering only 1 pod and being rewarded for smart gameplay. The TacticalUI KillCounter seems like a good addition, almost like the Gotcha mod.
@@SykenPlays Yeah, the kill counter mod doesn't give you an unfair advantage--just helps you keep track of things. I agree with you on Yellow Alert. Maybe if they toned it down just a bit, it'd be better--so you still have to think about opening up with explosives or not. As it stands, it just means that as soon as you engage, every enemy runs straight toward you.
My preferred method is to have a Ranger with Phantom in a position where they will not be detected by the incoming Pod once attacked and let one of my snipers engage the ambush, either manually if I can get away with it/Killzone is down, or through Overwatch. I've found that on some maps you can seriously abuse this. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes the AI will just completely derp out and it is hysterical when it does. Basically if you are too far away, they won't even move forward - they will just dart back and forth allowing you to chip at them with your sniper(s). Obviously this is only really good on non-timed missions but it's still awesome. Having a Grenadier with a Flashbangs and advanced GL is also great, as the upgraded launcher actually does increase the already significant radius of the Flashbang and again if you do it from far away enough you might not even fully aggro the pod (or at least avoid linking others)
Thanks for the guide, is there also any schematic when extra reinforcement arrive? I feel like they pick the worst moment when I just about to finish with struggle my mission objective 😊
Great question: If you are still conceiled, the AI will ignore you and potentially move forward. If they can spot you, but you didn‘t spot them, they will not activate, but also not proceed closer. They will wait for you to trigger their POD
I was thinking about this video and I cannot emphasise how important this is, together with the target prioritization video. I share a case study to show why I feel this video is arguably more important: I was playing (on Veteran) a Resistance Operative (+2 soldiers) VIP mission earlier with the Lost Sitrep, non-timed. Stupid me saw 3 patrolling pods and was not willing to shift my troops for another 3-4 turns cos I thought high ground = OP. I ended up activating them all (+1 more pod cos Very Difficult) cos cover situation could not accomodate my whole squad (so I accidentally stepped on a tile not mentioned to be covered by the Lost) + 1 Advent Lancer, less 1 reaper who went to pick up the VIP. (Skirmisher was there in case Assassin shows up, which she did not until the next Mission) I was lucky and unlucky enough to escape with only 2 soldiers wounded from a single grenade. Lucky because I watched your target video and it could have been a lot worse. (1 Archon, 5 Mutons, 2 Vipers and 2 Sectoids + Lost, so I am happy I only got 2 wounded soldiers) But unlucky because it took me 3 Mimic Beacons, 1 Frost Bomb, 1 base level Hunter's Axe, a lot of Bond benefits (had 1 lvl 3 and 1 lvl 2 bond) and generally very skilled soldiers (Sergeant - Major level soldiers, one promoted to first Colonel after an outstanding performance this mission) and I still ate a grenade. Using these consumables is the best I could do action economy wise. Key point is that even having a good kit and materials cannot fully override the mistake of activating more than one pod at a time, and you could get wounded soldiers at best (and dead units at worse). If done right, prioritizing targets keeps your soldiers healthy. If done wrong, prioritizing targets is mitigating damage and hoping no one dies. I took some lessons from that mission, but I can say that tactically, this and the target video is essential viewing if you want to play Xcom and on legendary.
@@SykenPlaysthanks for responding! I'm a bit of a mad man, I've played XCOM 2 a lot, but never beaten the game, got bored and needed that XCOM 2 itch scratched, so I'm doing Legend Ironman Vanilla lol 😂 I believe this video is the one for Triggering One Pod at a time or trying to not draw more - I'm sure when I watched it earlier, I heard you say there was a seperate video for Overwatch Traps and early game like Gatecrasher etc... maybe I was mistaken - if so a video on that topic would be great!
Thanks mate, trying a few new concepts for questions that are being asked. I do understand that some viewers might not have the problem to pull individual pods, but I was not finding a compelling guide online, so I made one.
@@SykenPlays it's definitely needed. A lot of in depth xcom content are not being addressed. The only youtubers addressing these points in depth are yourself and Ronar
Nearly 9.000 hours of playing the game, a degree in computer science and knowledge of how to program and several podcasts / interviews with the developers.
What I need to know is when you do run into enemies out of concealment does them scrambling for cover count as their move and then it comes back to me? Because sometimes it seems like that’s the case but then other times they get to have a whole turn and take out most of my guys purely because I revealed them on the screen. It’s easily the most confusing and frustrating thing for me in this game
When you aggro a pod, (either by attacking them, or by being detected) they will always have a freebie "get to cover" reaction that --does not cost a turn--. This means if you spent your whole squad moving, and the last action was you moving your troop accidentally aggro-ing the pod, you are at a severe disadvantage as now the pod gets to take cover, then initiate the "first turn" of the contact after your finish yours. Avoid this by utilizing your ranger (or whatever you have setup) as your point man/ scout. This means moving them first and far to see what dangers are ahead. This works wonderfully with phantom as you can continue throughout the entire level without losing the benefit of seeing your enemies before you aggro them. You can make this better by giving your scout scanning grenades to make it even safer for your scout to move ahead/ determine if a building or blindspot is occupied or not. This paired with a combat specialist with the scanning ability basically means that i almost never get caught unaware by both enemy pods on general missions or faceless hiding during retaliation missions. My scout almost never comes out of concealment unless they have the ability to conceal themselves again OR my squad is actively in a firefight and my scout has a flanking shot on the last enemy (which they almost always should) that the rest of my squad couldnt get either from misses or grazing shots. The entire point of this is to see the enemy before they see you. Thats the scouts job, not to fight all the time. The squads job is to do the fighting. Thats IF you do this method. If you plan on moving without a scout, or scans-- then you need to learn how to move cautiously as a unit. Every move needs to be a blue move, and into generally decent to good cover. With this method You shouldnt be extending your point man (who is not a scout, or does not have concealment) if your squad has no moves left-- and you shouldnt be extending your point man so far that your squad cannot effectively support him with attacks or other means. You also shouldnt be extending that point man in a terrible position for the sake of "checking whats ahead". Every move should consider "if the enemy caught me RIGHT NOW, would i feel this the ideal fighting position to be in?" If the answer is no, adjust.
On the other hand, sometimes it can be loads of fun to engage multiple pods at the same time. I was assaulting a Chosen stronghold yesterday and on my second move 3 pods triggered at the same time because one of them went through a door, but two other doors out there were already open. Those were a lot of enemies to engage at the same time and there didn't seem to be anything I could have done about it. I did wipe the floor with most of them on turn 1. Leaving a Mind Controlled Andromedon, A Purifier and a Codex alive, along with a Spectre I think. Killed them all on the next turn. That said, this is pretty late in the campaign with a high level Psi soldier, end game gear and my entire squad having a host of abilities, but it was still a ton of fun. I even ended that mission flawless without a single damage on any of my soldiers :P
Yeah...the other day I was doing an early game VIP extraction. The first council mission, and I moved my grenadier up just a little bit further, pulled another pod. Had a car explode and kill one of my guys. So I was left with two badly injured guys and a mind controlled grenadier. Managed to complete the mission successfully, but had to abandon the grenadier and one of the other soldiers had to sacrifice herself so the VIP and my sole remaining soldier could escape This is on v/i
This is possibly the most impactful guide video on XCOM2. Most XCOM youtubers will have recommendations for class builds, tech order, etc. But as far as winning the mission on a tactical level theres nothing more important than this... Once a pod is triggered the fighting is pretty straight forward: use flanks, use highground, use your abilities to remove their cover, etc. But I dont think many people know about the AI as in depth as you!
Thanks Tristan, I am glad that it adds value to you and I would agree - in terms of winning the game, this is likely one of the more powerful/impactful lessons to learn.
I don’t know if I can (easily) get out of bad habits, but the visuals helped make sense of why I trigger early or an extra pod. Even though I’m “close” to my initial scout, it’s not close enough. My “circle” of where I can be spotted gets bigger and bigger if you line up 4-6 horizontally (along a rooftop wall for example).
That 1-2 extra spaces to the side can be enough to trigger, and you should stay behind that scout, along his initial path.
This is by far the best tutorial on XCOM, you explain excellently things that are the very core of the combat. Although I was familiar with most of the concepts it's nice to see them in such a nice format. I knew your name through reddit but I started watching your channel when you did a jagged alliance 3 playthrough and discovered you have a great channel overall. Great content
Glad that I could attract your attention with JA3 (which is a great game in itself).
And glad that you like the guides so much
"8) Regularly review missions and learn from your mistakes." THIS. Absolutely THIS.
When I picked up the game, half the reviews that I read complained a lot about the timer mechanic. But on my first playthrough of the game, I found the timers to be a total non-issue, regularly taking the objectives with 3-5 turns remaining. So I was like, what's the big deal, these timers are no big deal!
On my second playthrough, I upped the difficulty from Rookie to Veteran, and also went from the vanilla game to WOTC. Suddenly, the timers gave me a lot of trouble. I still won the missions but ended up really close (like 1-2 turns left) and tended to get my squad injured because I'd then need to double-move someone to the objective while there are still some enemies active. I did up the difficulty, but I thought what the hey, I must be doing something wrong.
I started debriefing myself and realized I got into the "too smart for his own good" part of the learning curve; on my second playthrough I tended to be a bit too perfectionist in setting up the initial ambush. So what ended up happening especially in the early game when the squad is weak, is I would see a pod in concealment, then decide I'd take an extra turn to position myself optimally... and then the alien turn comes around and a second pod would get into visual range. I was now in a conundrum: do I spend turns repositioning so I don't end up engaging two pods, or do I start the encounter so I can continue moving towards the objective? Most often I'd end up in 1) a bad position 2) engaging too many enemies and 3) getting massively delayed, anyway. I adjusted my approach so that I'd start the encounter in a "good enough" position instead of making the perfect the enemy of the good, and ended up being able to deal with timers once again with little issue.
And I feel like this is where the majority of all the "that's xcom baby" players end up, blaming the timers, or "why did I just miss 3 85% shots in a row", etc. for losing. XCOM 2 is engaging and is surprisingly well-tuned for being such a rushed buggy mess lol, but one really needs to be constantly analyzing one's own game to get better at it.
It is an important trait for sure. Many players tend to stagnate, because they complain and externalize the problem, essentially thinking that the game is unfair and that they are already doing everything right.
@@SykenPlays I mean, XCOM2 is still XCOM, and the RNG can indeed sometimes totally screw you over (forced evac council mission, very large map, alien ruler guarding the evac zone). 95% of the time though what I see is just plain old bad play.
it's not so kuch thinking you are doing everything roght as much as it's not knowing what you are doing wrong. the game does not make it obvious what is happening or what mistakes you are making. i just started playing a couple of days ago, never played this before , playing on veteran and i'm constantly getting into situations were if i fail to eliminate an entire pod in 1-2 trns, another one sees me and joins in and then i get overwhelmed and this video gave me some insight on how the a.i. moves. i had no idea that the enemies "know" where you are and position thmselfes outside your view in between ou and the objective. i also had no idea that they were reacting to the sound of battle.
i also had no idea that they watch you from outside your vision range and if you overwatch, they are careful not to trigger it. . .that's kind of a dbag DM move. .
in one mission, i triggered the archon king who was hiding in the back room of a downed ufo, while i was still trying to deal with 2 mutoids and a codex. needless to say, i reloaded that save and went in again and managed to kill the pod without triggering the king and then because it was a downed ufo, there was no time limit, so i knew the king was back there and kept overwatching and he wouldn't come out. i could hear him moving around but he wouldn't come out.
ispend a dozen turns waiting for him and then started edging closer. moving 2 steps closer, overwatching everone and waiting multiple turns and i can hear him in there and he refuses to come out, and then i get closer.. and closer , until one turn, i take a step and see him right freaking there with my first guy and now have to deal with his ruler reactions before being able to overwatch him.
i'm also deep in the campaign now, after august and sectopods are spawning and ine mission had an andromedon and 2 mutoids hiding in a train car, while a MK3 mec and an officer were coming up the side, while a sectopod and another officer and a shieldbearer were hiding just behind the train car and it took me 20 reloads , because every time i engaged the mec, the andromedon would just "happen to notice" me and join in or i engaged the andromedon and then the mec and the officer would "wander" in and then i would hear the sectopod moving and in the multiple round of delay while i'mmdealing with these guys, the sectopod would always just in at the worst possible moment and screw me over.
in the end, i managed to kill everything, but failed the mission anyway, because the sectopod parked itself next to the mission objective and when i killed it, it self destructed and destroyed the objective, but at least nobody died. . but yeah, i'm sitting there thinking i dunno how i did that wrong, like how os a player supposed to deal with that?
.
i don't sit there thinking "i did everything right", i'm thinking "wtf did i do wrong?" and i have no clue
This is a great video, all these things I learned the hard way when trying my way doing Commander diffculty. Very good video for most advance and new players, much to learn. Thanks.👍
Thanks Soura, appreciate your comment.
This is the guide I will be using as starting knowledge for my first run, Commander Ironman. Spent a few missions in veteran to get a feel for the game, and I am 100% going to lose but we will see how far I get. I have no knowledge of this game besides this guide. Will edit this when I lose. With this guide and absolutely no experience in any Xcom game, I expect to get steamrolled but that's probably a little more lore accurate, given "our side" is just a small terrorist cell.
Been playing the game since ps1 era and after watching a couple of your videos …my gameplay has improved drastically to the point that I need to jump to the next difficulty
Glad that I could help you with your gameplay. Which of the videos was most helpful for you?
@@SykenPlays the blind playthrough legendary videos
Great explanations. Allthough I knew most stuff, because I follow your other vids closely, this condensed format ist great to recapture some things.
Keep it going, please!
Thanks for the feedback and yes, it is a condensed version of what one would know after watching some of the let‘s plays.
Love this format! Thanks for the help!
Thanks Alex, appreciate your feedback.
Wow, thanks for the help, i am playing my first playthrough of xcom 2, and this guide is incredible!
Glad that you like it Robocast.
Thank you very much, I am getting injured/dead far too often as I am pulling packs. Replaying again and thinking about Commander for the next run but would just get rinsed with my poor tactics atm. This video is really helpful thanks.
That is great to hear Justin, glad that you liked it.
Excellent. I enjoyed watching this video and learned a lot form it. Thanks for putting in the time to create it for us.
You made a couple of references to a video explaining more details about the practicalities of the actual fighting. Can I please ask where it’s located? I’ve searched for it, but unfortunately haven’t found it yet. Thank you.
Hi AusDoug,
I do have a few class guides and general guides for equipment on the channel. When it comes to actual fighting, I suggest you look at the 4man challenges, the OMFG run or any of the newer material, all of which typically give a relatively good input over the first few missions each campaign about how to engage the early game.
@@SykenPlays Brilliant. Thank you so much. I’ve watched many of your class guides and learned quite a bit from them. They’re very helpful.
I only recently started playing xCom and your advice has helped so much. Honestly, the game was so overwhelming at first that I may not have continued if not for your explanations. I’m only playing at the rookie level at present, but at least all my soldiers don’t die on every mission anymore. I’m looking forward with great anticipation to looking at more of your videos. Thank you for all the time you put into them.
I saw you on reddit telling a guy who was asking this exact question that you would make a video on that
Yes, which was exactly, why I created the video, so that there is a reference guide. It is quite common for players to struggle with this part of the game.
@@SykenPlays indeed, I was just happy to see it, I hope the guy that asked for help watch the vid :)
I now have :DDDDD
this is the most important thing in the game
Glad you liked the guide, I wish more people would watch this one, because it indeed is a VERY important skill in the game
Can this software extract enemy placement and movement from plays? Or is this just a 2d map for references?
How did you figured out all this video content without seeing the whole map while playing... PC mods?
Great video!
It is a roll20.net implementation of a map for visualization purpose :)
Love the guides. Very helpful. I understand all these concepts. but still I sometimes have trouble knowing how far my sight range will expand. It's quite unpredictable in some situations where a stray window can give you away.
Also when dealing with these scenarios it's fine if the last man standing is a sectoid. Sectoid is harmless and gets cleaned up on the next turn.
But what do you do if the last man standing is a muton or worse and you have the option to go up just a few squares and get a flank --> thus likely kill the muton. On the other hand we all know expanding vision just by one tile can mean triggering......
Also is there a way I can review my missions? That would be tremendously helpful
That is a good point Shattered Realm,
It certainly depends on the situation and how to deal with them. Maybe I will make another guide to go through each of the packs and how to engage them correctly. The focus of this guide was - how to not pull more than one pack.
Nice guide.
If you're me, you understand all of this but still pull all packs on the map at the same time. ;) Have you ever messed around with the yellow alert mod? I'm still really on the fence about whether this mod is any good or not.
Also, there is a mod that will keep track of the number of enemies you have killed and are active (and if you have the shadow chamber, how many are left). I like it, as it's just one less thing I have to manually keep track of. It's called TacticalUI KillCounter.
Hey Lyrrakell,
thanks for the feedback and yes, I have used Yellow Alert, it changes the pace of the game quite a bit - to the point where every mission is a big slugfest at the beginning and then becomes very easy, after you have beaten the enemies. I am not opposed to using it, but I actually personally like the mechanic of triggering only 1 pod and being rewarded for smart gameplay.
The TacticalUI KillCounter seems like a good addition, almost like the Gotcha mod.
@@SykenPlays Yeah, the kill counter mod doesn't give you an unfair advantage--just helps you keep track of things. I agree with you on Yellow Alert. Maybe if they toned it down just a bit, it'd be better--so you still have to think about opening up with explosives or not. As it stands, it just means that as soon as you engage, every enemy runs straight toward you.
My preferred method is to have a Ranger with Phantom in a position where they will not be detected by the incoming Pod once attacked and let one of my snipers engage the ambush, either manually if I can get away with it/Killzone is down, or through Overwatch.
I've found that on some maps you can seriously abuse this. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes the AI will just completely derp out and it is hysterical when it does.
Basically if you are too far away, they won't even move forward - they will just dart back and forth allowing you to chip at them with your sniper(s). Obviously this is only really good on non-timed missions but it's still awesome.
Having a Grenadier with a Flashbangs and advanced GL is also great, as the upgraded launcher actually does increase the already significant radius of the Flashbang and again if you do it from far away enough you might not even fully aggro the pod (or at least avoid linking others)
Thanks for the input Malacite, it is certainly a way to approach pulling packs.
Thanks for the guide, is there also any schematic when extra reinforcement arrive? I feel like they pick the worst moment when I just about to finish with struggle my mission objective 😊
i dont understand what it means that they have longer vision than you...
what actually happens when they see u and u dont see them??
Great question: If you are still conceiled, the AI will ignore you and potentially move forward. If they can spot you, but you didn‘t spot them, they will not activate, but also not proceed closer. They will wait for you to trigger their POD
@@SykenPlays
Oh ok so they hold position when u r near enough
Thank you for this 🙏🌞🙏
You are most welcome!
I was thinking about this video and I cannot emphasise how important this is, together with the target prioritization video. I share a case study to show why I feel this video is arguably more important:
I was playing (on Veteran) a Resistance Operative (+2 soldiers) VIP mission earlier with the Lost Sitrep, non-timed. Stupid me saw 3 patrolling pods and was not willing to shift my troops for another 3-4 turns cos I thought high ground = OP. I ended up activating them all (+1 more pod cos Very Difficult) cos cover situation could not accomodate my whole squad (so I accidentally stepped on a tile not mentioned to be covered by the Lost) + 1 Advent Lancer, less 1 reaper who went to pick up the VIP. (Skirmisher was there in case Assassin shows up, which she did not until the next Mission)
I was lucky and unlucky enough to escape with only 2 soldiers wounded from a single grenade. Lucky because I watched your target video and it could have been a lot worse. (1 Archon, 5 Mutons, 2 Vipers and 2 Sectoids + Lost, so I am happy I only got 2 wounded soldiers)
But unlucky because it took me 3 Mimic Beacons, 1 Frost Bomb, 1 base level Hunter's Axe, a lot of Bond benefits (had 1 lvl 3 and 1 lvl 2 bond) and generally very skilled soldiers (Sergeant - Major level soldiers, one promoted to first Colonel after an outstanding performance this mission) and I still ate a grenade. Using these consumables is the best I could do action economy wise.
Key point is that even having a good kit and materials cannot fully override the mistake of activating more than one pod at a time, and you could get wounded soldiers at best (and dead units at worse). If done right, prioritizing targets keeps your soldiers healthy. If done wrong, prioritizing targets is mitigating damage and hoping no one dies.
I took some lessons from that mission, but I can say that tactically, this and the target video is essential viewing if you want to play Xcom and on legendary.
Great feedback, thanks for sharing your story.
Is there a link to your video on Overwatch Traps? I can't see it 😅
You might want to look for the video of how to only trigger one pack at a time, I go into some of the details of overwatch in there.
@@SykenPlaysthanks for responding! I'm a bit of a mad man, I've played XCOM 2 a lot, but never beaten the game, got bored and needed that XCOM 2 itch scratched, so I'm doing Legend Ironman Vanilla lol 😂
I believe this video is the one for Triggering One Pod at a time or trying to not draw more - I'm sure when I watched it earlier, I heard you say there was a seperate video for Overwatch Traps and early game like Gatecrasher etc... maybe I was mistaken - if so a video on that topic would be great!
Luv it 🔥
Thanks mate, trying a few new concepts for questions that are being asked. I do understand that some viewers might not have the problem to pull individual pods, but I was not finding a compelling guide online, so I made one.
@@SykenPlays it's definitely needed. A lot of in depth xcom content are not being addressed.
The only youtubers addressing these points in depth are yourself and Ronar
How did you figure out how the XCOM 2 engine/AI works?
Nearly 9.000 hours of playing the game, a degree in computer science and knowledge of how to program and several podcasts / interviews with the developers.
By the way syken do you consider mods like gotcha/gotcha again 'cheating'?
Not really, they make the game definitely easier, but they are within the limitation of fair information display.
What I need to know is when you do run into enemies out of concealment does them scrambling for cover count as their move and then it comes back to me? Because sometimes it seems like that’s the case but then other times they get to have a whole turn and take out most of my guys purely because I revealed them on the screen. It’s easily the most confusing and frustrating thing for me in this game
When you aggro a pod, (either by attacking them, or by being detected) they will always have a freebie "get to cover" reaction that --does not cost a turn--.
This means if you spent your whole squad moving, and the last action was you moving your troop accidentally aggro-ing the pod, you are at a severe disadvantage as now the pod gets to take cover, then initiate the "first turn" of the contact after your finish yours.
Avoid this by utilizing your ranger (or whatever you have setup) as your point man/ scout. This means moving them first and far to see what dangers are ahead. This works wonderfully with phantom as you can continue throughout the entire level without losing the benefit of seeing your enemies before you aggro them. You can make this better by giving your scout scanning grenades to make it even safer for your scout to move ahead/ determine if a building or blindspot is occupied or not. This paired with a combat specialist with the scanning ability basically means that i almost never get caught unaware by both enemy pods on general missions or faceless hiding during retaliation missions. My scout almost never comes out of concealment unless they have the ability to conceal themselves again OR my squad is actively in a firefight and my scout has a flanking shot on the last enemy (which they almost always should) that the rest of my squad couldnt get either from misses or grazing shots.
The entire point of this is to see the enemy before they see you. Thats the scouts job, not to fight all the time. The squads job is to do the fighting. Thats IF you do this method.
If you plan on moving without a scout, or scans-- then you need to learn how to move cautiously as a unit. Every move needs to be a blue move, and into generally decent to good cover. With this method You shouldnt be extending your point man (who is not a scout, or does not have concealment) if your squad has no moves left-- and you shouldnt be extending your point man so far that your squad cannot effectively support him with attacks or other means. You also shouldnt be extending that point man in a terrible position for the sake of "checking whats ahead".
Every move should consider "if the enemy caught me RIGHT NOW, would i feel this the ideal fighting position to be in?" If the answer is no, adjust.
Isaac has done a nice job answering that question …. hope it explains the reaction for you.
Thanks for answering, great to see the community on my channel engaging.
@@isaacestrada7659 really appreciate that man. Makes sense👍👌
Thank you
Glad that you liked it.
On the other hand, sometimes it can be loads of fun to engage multiple pods at the same time. I was assaulting a Chosen stronghold yesterday and on my second move 3 pods triggered at the same time because one of them went through a door, but two other doors out there were already open. Those were a lot of enemies to engage at the same time and there didn't seem to be anything I could have done about it.
I did wipe the floor with most of them on turn 1. Leaving a Mind Controlled Andromedon, A Purifier and a Codex alive, along with a Spectre I think. Killed them all on the next turn.
That said, this is pretty late in the campaign with a high level Psi soldier, end game gear and my entire squad having a host of abilities, but it was still a ton of fun. I even ended that mission flawless without a single damage on any of my soldiers :P
Great story, thanks for sharing it :)
Yeah...the other day I was doing an early game VIP extraction. The first council mission, and I moved my grenadier up just a little bit further, pulled another pod.
Had a car explode and kill one of my guys. So I was left with two badly injured guys and a mind controlled grenadier.
Managed to complete the mission successfully, but had to abandon the grenadier and one of the other soldiers had to sacrifice herself so the VIP and my sole remaining soldier could escape
This is on v/i
That is unfortunate to hear, I hope the video was helpful to prepare you better for the future.