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Sudden mission difficulty spike


DarqueDragon

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I think this game hates me. I was getting Easy and Moderate missions, then it suddenly jumped to Very Difficult. I am not ready for that. I have only been playing the game for a short time (maybe 5 hours total, if that). I was doing okay with the other missions, but the Very Difficult missions are killing me. Literally.

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I think this game hates me. I was getting Easy and Moderate missions, then it suddenly jumped to Very Difficult. I am not ready for that. I have only been playing the game for a short time (maybe 5 hours total, if that). I was doing okay with the other missions, but the Very Difficult missions are killing me. Literally.

 

start researching plasma weapons, they should even it out even at the higher levels of difficulty and classic mode. Also try to lure them back to you so you can ambush them. Slow, steady and paranoid help a lot in the game.

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I feel you dude...

 

I was playing the other day and saved, then on my next move (even if I moved backwards) 3 muton bezerkers, 6 mutons, one sectopd and 2 heavy bloaters spawned....

 

no matter what I did, they were there! Took me 3 days to get myself out of that pickle!

 

This game is horrendously difficult at times, but its one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had gaming.

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start researching plasma weapons, they should even it out even at the higher levels of difficulty and classic mode. Also try to lure them back to you so you can ambush them. Slow, steady and paranoid help a lot in the game.

 

Unfortunately, I can't. I am not even far enough into the game to have those available. I only just recently got the Carapace Armor, and the missions right before they all became Very Difficult was right after getting the stun gun and taking my first aliens alive (got some regular and thin man aliens). My first mission on Very Difficult was to get the Outsider alive. Now, every mission is Very Difficult.

As I said, I am not very far in the game. I don't have access to most of the stuff in the game yet. I see no reason why the game, on Easy, should suddenly shift me to Very Difficult missions. I didn't even get any Difficult missions. It went from Moderate (the mission that allowed me to get the stun gun) to Very Difficult in one jump.

I think I might end up having to start over, as I didn't know how to put extra satellites into orbit until two days ago.

 

This game is horrendously difficult at times, but its one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had gaming.

 

I don't mind a challenge. I just wish the game had given me more time before throwing impossible challenges at me. I have only played a handful of hours, on Easy, and was doing fine on Easy and Moderate missions, then the jump to Very Difficult so suddenly and so soon is what is killing me.

Edited by DarqueDragon
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The mission difficulty is relative to the panic level in the continent. If you have higher panic level then the mission would be more difficult. On the other hand you have to deal with the continents with more panics first so that is the way it is. You will always face Very Difficult or at least Difficult missions for the rest of the game.

 

But the good news is after you attack the alien base the world panic level will reduce and it would be more easier!

 

The point is the Very Difficult mission doesn't necessarily mean that the mission is really difficult. Just means there would be more enemies in the ground than you expect so with good strategy it would be a piece of cake

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The mission difficulty is relative to the panic level in the continent. If you have higher panic level then the mission would be more difficult. On the other hand you have to deal with the continents with more panics first so that is the way it is. You will always face Very Difficult or at least Difficult missions for the rest of the game.

 

But the good news is after you attack the alien base the world panic level will reduce and it would be more easier!

 

The point is the Very Difficult mission doesn't necessarily mean that the mission is really difficult. Just means there would be more enemies in the ground than you expect so with good strategy it would be a piece of cake

 

Problem with the panic level thing is that it wasn't high. Of the three abduction missions I got right after, one of them had a high panic level (4), but the other two were only at 2. Still, all three missions were very difficult.

Also, I am new to XCOM and strategy games in general, so these missions are killing me. I am still getting used to how the game works and developing strategies and whatnot, and had only played a few hours (maybe 5 hours total) of the game before I started getting Very Difficult missions.

The enemies also immediately became harder, because those skitterling things (can't remember their names, but they kinda resemble spiders) appeared, and seem to be very difficult to kill and have twice health as the other enemies I have encountered, and they seemed to be able to cover twice the ground my soldiers could, making it impossible to put some distance between us.

The worst missions I had was a terror mission, which was listed as Very Difficult and I was getting swarmed by enemies. No matter where I moved to, new enemies were appearing. Also, I was supposed to rescue humans, but they were dying immediately, before I even saw them on the map. I not only never had a chance to rescue them, I ended up with several zombies, which are also very hard to kill. No matter what strategy I use, I die.

I do have the alien base location, but with how badly I am doing in the other missions, I am not in any hurry to take that place on. I can only imagine how difficult it will be.

Also, as I am on Easy and getting crushed by these Very Difficult missions, the higher difficulty levels are just not gonna happen. I can imagine how bad those missions will be on the harder difficulties.

I had a lot of fun in the beginning, and was thinking maybe I wasn't as bad at strategy games as I used to be. But, now I know I still totally suck at them.

Edited by DarqueDragon
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This game is horrendously difficult at times, but its one of the most rewarding experiences I've ever had gaming.

 

That could not have been said better if I do say so myself. As for the OP just keep your boys well spaced and move slow. It's always good to have as many bodies with as much line of sight as you can (i.e.: if you have 3 enemies out there try to have at least 4 guys with eyes on them). The more chances you have the better.

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Problem with the panic level thing is that it wasn't high. Of the three abduction missions I got right after, one of them had a high panic level (4), but the other two were only at 2. Still, all three missions were very difficult.

Also, I am new to XCOM and strategy games in general, so these missions are killing me. I am still getting used to how the game works and developing strategies and whatnot, and had only played a few hours (maybe 5 hours total) of the game before I started getting Very Difficult missions.

The enemies also immediately became harder, because those skitterling things (can't remember their names, but they kinda resemble spiders) appeared, and seem to be very difficult to kill and have twice health as the other enemies I have encountered, and they seemed to be able to cover twice the ground my soldiers could, making it impossible to put some distance between us.

The worst missions I had was a terror mission, which was listed as Very Difficult and I was getting swarmed by enemies. No matter where I moved to, new enemies were appearing. Also, I was supposed to rescue humans, but they were dying immediately, before I even saw them on the map. I not only never had a chance to rescue them, I ended up with several zombies, which are also very hard to kill. No matter what strategy I use, I die.

I do have the alien base location, but with how badly I am doing in the other missions, I am not in any hurry to take that place on. I can only imagine how difficult it will be.

Also, as I am on Easy and getting crushed by these Very Difficult missions, the higher difficulty levels are just not gonna happen. I can imagine how bad those missions will be on the harder difficulties.

I had a lot of fun in the beginning, and was thinking maybe I wasn't as bad at strategy games as I used to be. But, now I know I still totally suck at them.

 

On the Difficult Mission part, it depends on the continent panic level not just the country so if the country have panic level 2 but the other countries have 4 then you probably get Very Difficult mission.

 

There are some hints which you can utilize which may ease your progress.

 

- First of all try to research laser weapon as fast as possible. They are very handy in the beginning of the second month and can kill enemies faster than tradition stupid rifles. This may help you with the spider thing.

 

- Use Office Training School and increase the squad size. More crew means more possibility to kill off enemy in the time.

 

- Equip all of your squad with S.C.O.P.E. This enhances their aim and believe me it is the best thing to equip!

 

- Use two sniper with "Squadsight" ability in your team and put them in the back of the area with the view of everything. They come in handy with overwatch and may even prevent the enemy to come near you.

 

- Use satellites as many as you can. If you go for missions with Engineer as reward then you can build uplinks very fast and with a good timing you can launch at least 3 satellites per month (except the first month). remember you need 34 days to build satellites (14 days for uplinks and 20 days for satellites). The point of having satellites is that no abduction ever appears on the country with satellite on top of it. Instead it will replace with UFO landing or shoot down which a lot easier and also you get lots of goodies on the UFO which you can use for buying equipments or sell them to get money.

 

The point is after the third month it would become a piece of cake even on the impossible difficulty so don't worry use this strategy and you will pass it

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Thanks for the tips, Pooyas. I will have to start over, as I think this playthrough is pretty much boned.

I do have the scope things, but I also thought I needed health packs and whatnot. I never even got the chance to research laser weapons. No clue if I missed it, or if I just wasn't far enough into the game yet. I was already into the second month, so maybe I just didn't get what I needed to unlock laser weapon research? What should I look for to get that?

I did try using the officer training school. Problem is the lack of credits. It is very hard to get credits in this game, and things are rather expensive. I also didn't even know how to launch satellites until the other day, as the game never told me how to build extra relays.

And, unfortunately, of the 8 squad members who got specializations, only 1 became a sniper.

 

 

EDIT: After looking through the trophy guide, there seems to be no laser weapons. There is plasma and beam weapons.

 

 

EDIT 2: I just thought of another thing. If every member of my squad uses the scope, how am I supposed to capture aliens? I need someone to carry the Arc Thrower, but should I have only 1 for a 4 man and maybe 2 for a 6 man squad, or are you saying not to bother with the Arc Thrower at all?

Edited by DarqueDragon
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Thanks for the tips, Pooyas. I will have to start over, as I think this playthrough is pretty much boned.

I do have the scope things, but I also thought I needed health packs and whatnot. I never even got the chance to research laser weapons. No clue if I missed it, or if I just wasn't far enough into the game yet. I was already into the second month, so maybe I just didn't get what I needed to unlock laser weapon research? What should I look for to get that?

I did try using the officer training school. Problem is the lack of credits. It is very hard to get credits in this game, and things are rather expensive. I also didn't even know how to launch satellites until the other day, as the game never told me how to build extra relays.

And, unfortunately, of the 8 squad members who got specializations, only 1 became a sniper.

 

 

EDIT: After looking through the trophy guide, there seems to be no laser weapons. There is plasma and beam weapons.

 

 

EDIT 2: I just thought of another thing. If every member of my squad uses the scope, how am I supposed to capture aliens? I need someone to carry the Arc Thrower, but should I have only 1 for a 4 man and maybe 2 for a 6 man squad, or are you saying not to bother with the Arc Thrower at all?

 

What I said about the SCOPE thing is that the best strategy in this game is to have a great offense so before enemy attacks you, you should get rid of him and the SCOPE is the way to do it. For the arc thrower thing just use your support squad because he can move in larger areas and more probably the one who can approach the target. There are only three times that you need to use the arc thrower for mission objectives: 1- Capturing crystal shard 2- Capture an alien 3- Capturing the ship captain (in the alien base attack). The rest has no importance really!

 

For the laser weapon or beam weapons, after the first mission start researching Weapon Fragments (8 days) then wait for the first UFO to attack. After that beam weapons research become available. It takes 24 days but it would be finish in the start of the next month. It is gonna worth it.

 

For the satellites, in the first abduction mission go for the Engineer reward. After that the cost of the satellite drops to 77 and you can make one before the start of the next month and save like 70 credits. If you gather more engineer before day 26 (say 10) you can start building the next satellite uplink beside the first one (to gain an extra satellite of course).

 

If you have credit issues just sell in the grey market! you don't need UFO power source and UFO flight computer not until the third-fourth month.

 

Getting two snipers is somehow a kind of luck. Bring some rookies for your UFO crash missions. They may be upgraded to Sniper. There is also another way: Go for the abduction missions with Sniper as a reward!

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The Scope thing makes sense, but I have been using it and it doesn't seem to make much difference. Especially during the Overwatch attacks. My soldiers can't hit a thing, even a few feet in front of them. Their overall aim is quite bad, too. Even with the +10 form the scope, they still can barely hit anything it seems. Even my snipers have high accuracy numbers, but can barely hit anything.

Are you sure about having no importance for capturing aliens, though. According to the trophy guide, you have to interrogate one of each type of alien to get research from them. So, I have to get at least one of each type, but are you saying that capturing more than one of each type is useless? I am trying to get as many trophies as I can in my Easy run, because I really don't think I will survive the harder difficulties.

I have actually researched Beam Weapons and have done a UFO crash, but don't have the ability to make the weapons, yet. Weapon Fragments were actually researched before the first UFO encounter.

I have another satellite waiting, but no way to build the relay, since I have no credits.

I did try selling things on the Grey Market, but the only things I have that it says are useless was a broken computer that was only worth 20. The aliens destroyed the power source trying to shoot one of my soldiers through it. :(

As for the snipers thing, I actually have 3. The first one came from the first mission, then another from the abduction, and a third from the UFO we shot down. My first sniper has the squadsight ability, but it doesn't seem to work. Or, maybe I am not understanding how it works. I thought that it would allow my sniper to shoot at any enemy that another soldier could target. This doesn't seem to be the case, though. In the UFO crash, my Assault guy had an enemy in his sights and shot, but was only able to take half his health (he was being buffed by another alien). I figured my sniper should be able to shoot him (had a clear line of sight to him, but wasn't close enough to shoot him herself), but was still told there were no enemies to target. Am I wrong about how this ability works? I didn't see any way to activate it, so I assumed it was always active, but now I have no clue what I am doing wrong.

I did notice that if you take out the alien providing the buff, both die, so I always try to target the buffing alien. Two kills with one shot is always a plus. ;)

 

 

EDIT: So, I sold tho power source and flight computer like you suggested, and it turned out I needed them! I actually have research available for the Nav Computer and Power Source. You said they wouldn't be needed until month three, but why do I have research for them already?

Edited by DarqueDragon
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The Scope thing makes sense, but I have been using it and it doesn't seem to make much difference. Especially during the Overwatch attacks. My soldiers can't hit a thing, even a few feet in front of them. Their overall aim is quite bad, too. Even with the +10 form the scope, they still can barely hit anything it seems. Even my snipers have high accuracy numbers, but can barely hit anything.

Are you sure about having no importance for capturing aliens, though. According to the trophy guide, you have to interrogate one of each type of alien to get research from them. So, I have to get at least one of each type, but are you saying that capturing more than one of each type is useless? I am trying to get as many trophies as I can in my Easy run, because I really don't think I will survive the harder difficulties.

I have actually researched Beam Weapons and have done a UFO crash, but don't have the ability to make the weapons, yet. Weapon Fragments were actually researched before the first UFO encounter.

I have another satellite waiting, but no way to build the relay, since I have no credits.

I did try selling things on the Grey Market, but the only things I have that it says are useless was a broken computer that was only worth 20. The aliens destroyed the power source trying to shoot one of my soldiers through it. :(

As for the snipers thing, I actually have 3. The first one came from the first mission, then another from the abduction, and a third from the UFO we shot down. My first sniper has the squadsight ability, but it doesn't seem to work. Or, maybe I am not understanding how it works. I thought that it would allow my sniper to shoot at any enemy that another soldier could target. This doesn't seem to be the case, though. In the UFO crash, my Assault guy had an enemy in his sights and shot, but was only able to take half his health (he was being buffed by another alien). I figured my sniper should be able to shoot him (had a clear line of sight to him, but wasn't close enough to shoot him herself), but was still told there were no enemies to target. Am I wrong about how this ability works? I didn't see any way to activate it, so I assumed it was always active, but now I have no clue what I am doing wrong.

I did notice that if you take out the alien providing the buff, both die, so I always try to target the buffing alien. Two kills with one shot is always a plus. ;)

 

 

EDIT: So, I sold tho power source and flight computer like you suggested, and it turned out I needed them! I actually have research available for the Nav Computer and Power Source. You said they wouldn't be needed until month three, but why do I have research for them already?

 

In the overwatch there is an aim penalty so it will reduce the aim and yes it is probably not going to hit the target but still with SCOPE (and later research advanced SCOPE in Foundry) you still have better chances. I understand sometimes the snipers suck but as they grow in their rank they become better. In the colonel rank with SCOPE if the enemy is not in the cover you usually get 100% hit with like 75% critical chance.

 

Capturing an alien is good, if you have the opportunity. They give you research credit and reduce the research time which in my opinion is not really important in keeping you alive because in the first few months you have credit issues anyway and don't have enough money to buy the things you have researched. For getting the trophy yes you have to capture all kind of aliens (except for those which can not be captured like spiders). But just leave it for your next play runs because either way you have to play it 5 times from each continent. I just gone in my first play through to get used to the game mechanics and my 4th to get all of the trophies.

 

You need 12 engineers to build the weapon so if you planned correctly and selected the right abduction missions then you are good to build those in the start of the second month. There is a trick you can use. There is always one Council missions in the first month which may grant engineers as reward. If you encountered it and it didn't give you the engineers before going back to Geoscope, load the autosave. It will bring a new Council mission and randomly it may give engineers. Repeat as much as you need until you get what you want.

 

You need only 150 credit so based on calculations and what you earn in the month including Council mission you should be able to do that just ignore purchasing anything that may not be useful for now. Satellites are in the great importance: They reduce the panic, gives you money, gives engineer/scientists and no abduction will ever happen in that country.

 

I still say you don't need the power source and flight computer because the things you can build by researching them is not very necessary for now. you encounter lots of UFO crash or landing throughout the game you can research them later. There are more important things to research at the first few months.

 

About the sqaudsight, it is a kind of tricky. The sniper will shoot the target which is in the sight of your teammate IF it is also in the line of sight of his too so if the enemy is in the back of a rock or tree and your sniper cannot see him directly then it is not possible to shoot. Mostly in UFO crash or landing the best place to put the sniper is in a high ground preferably in the middle and behind a tree. In the situation you said about the sniper, there is a possibility that there is a stupid object between the sniper and target sometimes it is a headache do deal with these situations that's why I suggest to have 2 snipers which you should put in two different positions. One of them probably sees the target. When you unlock the squadsight ability you don't need to activate it. it is always there.

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Okay, so I got one laser rifle built (ran out of money). I also realized something that made me feel like a dunce. After getting my second relay, I launched my satellites (I had two waiting, since I built them as I waited to be able to get the relay), and chose what I thought were the cheapest places to launch them. The credits per month, I thought, was the upkeep of the satellite (like, how you have the upkeep for your base's lifts). I didn't realize that was the money you now get per month. After figuring that out, I reloaded my save (I have one save going to when I am at the base, and a separate one for the missions) and relaunched them into better places to get more per month money.

I am in my second month, have two snipers, one up to a high rank (Sergeant) and another one who is a Corporal (and a third who is still a Squaddie), both with the squadsight ability. Still don't quite understand this ability, though. If they have to be in the sniper's line of sight to be shot at without squadsight, then what good does it do? Does it give the sniper more range or something?

I haven't seen any autosave, though. When I go to load, it only shows my two manual saves.

I did actually get two Council missions (one for money and the other for Engineers) in so far, but not many of my abductions have given Engineers. Most have all been recruits, Scientists, or credits. I currently have 15 (got some from Satellite placement).

As for Satellites giving no abduction missions, I thought those missions were good things, since they give you resources and materials? Are they replaced by more UFO crashes and landings, then?

 

 

EDIT: I have another question. When should I assault the Alien Base? Should I try to take it down as soon as I get access to it, or wait until a specific time? I am in the second month and have access to it, but don't know if I should or not. Also, what difficulty level would you say it is? The game doesn't seem to tell me.

Edited by DarqueDragon
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I think you should enable autosave in options.

 

About the squadsight, yes exactly it only increases the sight of the sniper. If you may notice when you see targets with the sniper, some of them has some kind of "aim" logo on their head (on the red icon on the upper left), those are the ones in your squadmates sights.

 

Actually abduction mission is not that good! it increases the panic on two continents and increase the chance of loosing a country and therefore missing one continent (or two) bonuses. In the long run they are not good but they will be replaced by UFO crash and landing which is better IMO. Later in the game you will need Elerium, Power Source and Flight Computer for building sophisticated weapons and armors and the only place you can find them is in UFO landing/crash sites.

 

As soon as you get laser rifles for your Assault and Support and Skeleton Armor for all of your member (not necessarily for snipers because they are always in the back) you can attack but I suggest you also have Laser Sniper before attacking, it saves lots of headache for you, it is a one shot kill opportunity. The sooner you attack the base, less enemy (or enemy type) you may encounter. Normally you encounter like 20 enemies in the base. If you attack soon, the toughest enemy you see is just the Spider or Mutton but if you delay it you may encounter the stupid Disk thing

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EDIT: I have another question. When should I assault the Alien Base? Should I try to take it down as soon as I get access to it, or wait until a specific time? I am in the second month and have access to it, but don't know if I should or not. Also, what difficulty level would you say it is? The game doesn't seem to tell me.

 

I would wait at least until the end of the month, longer if possible. I'm working on my impossible play through and actually waited until I had Titan Armor and plasma weapons before assaulting it. But, it really depends on your panic level and satellite coverage. Assaulting the base gives you a worldwide panic reduction, so if your in a spot where your about to lose 3-4 countries then you may want to consider going before the council report. Keep in my mind losing some countries is okay; just leave yourself a little wiggle room.

 

I would also recommend not worrying about the first play through or two going horribly wrong. I was new to this type of game, and had to restart from scratch twice on easy, as I learned the ropes. It was the best way to learn tactics, order of construction, order of research, etc. I was really overwhelmed the first 15 hrs or so; and just getting my butt kicked and making dumb decisions was actually extremely beneficial to my future play-throughs. It'll get easier as you learn and extremely rewarding.

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