Impossible playthrough + Classic ironman

[Twohands108]

I've just completed the game on impossible and classic iron man as there didn't seem to be many tips so I started this thread.

 

Tips for impossible

 

Save often including during missions

Wherever possible get full cover - Early on you will almost certainly die if you do not have full cover.

The first few missions are the hardest, get a good start. Keep replaying until you complete the first mission with no deaths. Also you want the base to have 2 steam on second floor.

Do impossible before classic iron man, it makes this feel a lot easier.

You will lose countries on impossible, except that.

Reload the save if someone dies.

 

Tips for Classic

Its a lot easier doing this after impossible. Trust me, classic seems a breeze compared!

I lost one of my heavies in the overseer mission, so i kept playing to get my next heavy in line to max promotion. Having max promotions for party is a must!

 

Tips for both

Use the leapfrog method for moving, where possible get the enemies to spawn on the enemy turn.

Research laser weapons first then research carapace armour second.

My final party was 2 snipers, 2 heavy, 1 support & 1 assault

Complete the DLC, the blaster launcher is a big help killing sectopods, especially with 100% damage from heavy`s against robots.

In the final mission there is a section with 2 Sectopods. If this part is not handled correctly they will wipe your entire party - The tip I used was as follows - I edged my heavies close but not close enough to spawn them, I then used the sniper battle scanner so I could see the enemy. I then fired at them with Blaster Launcher with x2 damage against robots it took 2 rockets to kill them both at same time. So that was a difficult part beaten without even spawning them.

In the very final battle with the boss i did something similar, I edged my troops close (but not to spawn) and then just concentrated on killing the boss (ignore everything else, although if you shoot the rockets right you will kill the 2 Muton Elites at same time). I had saved the second rocket for the final part and concentrated on boss. They don't reflect explosion damage so its most useful to use this.

Satellites, Satellites, Satellites!!!! - This is key, have them on constant build where possible.

Dont be afraid to sell in the grey market - Make sure you dont sell everything but its a good source of income.

 

I'm sure there's more, if I think of it I'll add it. Also if you have any question, just ask.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Twohands108

[Save7heDay]

Thanks for the help.

[Patricko]

I would really appreciate more help like what to do during each month. How many satellites and etc. Of course just approximately, for noobs like me to have better start.

 

Also it would be nice to explain some bugs/glitches which can ruin ironman run. I heard that there are few.

 

Anyway great topic. Will be looking here very often. Keep up the good work!

[zz383]

1 sat in first month

3 in the second

3 in the third

however many you feel is needed from then on.

 

all you need to do is stop countries from leaving, worry about actually getting them to a safe level later, but you need them around for the money.

 

Africa yo. NA and Europe have two of the better secondary bonuses to save because they reduce how much you pay in monthly fees, and these fee don't ever stop they just get bigger as the game goes on. plus they give out a whopping $400+ a month.

[Patricko]

I started playing od Easy to learn the game basic. I'm actually at the point, when those spiders come out.

 

I have few question as I started playing and seeing some things that worries me:

 

1. Whatever I'm doing, I've already got full panic level in Australlia. I started making satelites and those uplink in the research, but it takes forever.

I'm also doing every misson that comes out.

So it's really hard for me to keep up with satelites, but probably I'm doing something wrong.

 

2. Should I do all sub-mission like abductions and ufo scaving? Or just ignore it?

I read somewhere, that people are not doing it right away, but I don't know if it's good or bad.

Because when we ignore it, I think that panic level will go up for all countries.

 

3. Is it better to capture aliens or just kill them?

I think I need to capture those few aliens, because it's somehow story related?

 

4. What are the best builds for our soldiers? I'm trying to go with the best in my mind, but dunno if they are really good.

 

5. Are there some walkthrough/builds what to do in each month?

I don't want to follow a one path, but it would be nice to read and learn few thing from builds like that.

 

PS.

Does this game have such a big problems with framerate?

At the beggining everything was ok, but with eah mission with more enemies, the frame drops are awfull.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Patricko

[kidalot]

I've noticed issues with he frame rate, almost like playing on a under powered PC.

 

For me this game on easy is challenging enough, is the ia smarter on higher difficulties, will they still storm you have everyone on overwatch?

Almost every mission is taking almost me an 1 hour....on easy!!!

[pooyas]

I would really appreciate more help like what to do during each month. How many satellites and etc. Of course just approximately, for noobs like me to have better start.

 

Also it would be nice to explain some bugs/glitches which can ruin ironman run. I heard that there are few.

 

Anyway great topic. Will be looking here very often. Keep up the good work!

 

There is a very good guide here: Impossible Difficulty Strategy Guide - XCOM Wiki

 

It describes everything in details. Helped me a lot during my impossible playthrough

[bulletproofcupid]

I have been doing

0 Sat link - 1 Sat in first month

1xSat uplink - 3 Sats in second month

2xSat uplink - 7 Sats in 3rd month

 

I once succeeded in having 1xSat uplink and 4 Sats in the first month... but theres alot of engineer luck involved! I always work towards this though, and if you dont have enough engineers 16 days before the council report, its no real loss, your just more prepaared for the 2nd month.

 

Dont be afraid to sell almost everything EXCEPT Weapon fragments and Alien Alloys for funds. Careful management and this should be no problem. Just remember to always think 1 month ahead.

 

How many Engineers will you need to fulfill next months Satellite uplink builds? Will you gain enough through missions or do you need to build a workshop now?

 

Moving to the next level? Build a lift now instead of later.

 

Not near a steam vent? You need to build more power generators more quickly.

 

Im playing through Classic Ironman again even though I have the Platinum... cant say I have returned to many games after achieving it! Can't give too many combat tips a my play style changes all the time, however I cannot overstate how awesome Supports with Covering fire can be when used correctly. Covering fire has racked up more kills than my most effective double tapping sniper!

[bulletproofcupid]

I've noticed issues with he frame rate, almost like playing on a under powered PC.

 

For me this game on easy is challenging enough, is the ia smarter on higher difficulties, will they still storm you have everyone on overwatch?

Almost every mission is taking almost me an 1 hour....on easy!!!

 

That sounds like me on my first couple playthroughs!

 

Now I can play through on Classic Ironman, which whilst challenging is incredibly satisfying! Lost alot of rookies...

 

Stick with it, gaining the skill to play on Classic is even more rewarding than those early games.

 

Impossible was fun... would never do it Ironman though, I personally feel it was unnecessarily difficult!

[bulletproofcupid]

I've noticed issues with he frame rate, almost like playing on a under powered PC.

 

For me this game on easy is challenging enough, is the ia smarter on higher difficulties, will they still storm you have everyone on overwatch?

Almost every mission is taking almost me an 1 hour....on easy!!!

 

That sounds like me on my first couple playthroughs!

 

Now I can play through on Classic Ironman, which whilst challenging is incredibly satisfying! Lost alot of rookies...

 

Stick with it, gaining the skill to play on Classic is even more rewarding than those early games.

 

Impossible was fun... would never do it Ironman though, I personally feel it was unnecessarily difficult!

[Patricko]

Ok, I've got another question.

What is the priority of research?

Better doing laser weapons or armor?

 

Because I'm playing on easy now, and I didn't know, that first You need to reseach Beam Weapons to unlock Laser, so I waited for Plasma.

Sniper with Plasma + Double Tap = overpower

I'm playing currently on Easy with 3 sniper, and it's a blast!

But yeah...it's easy...

 

I also didn't know that on Classic and Impossible You can save everytime You want.

And it's Ironman option that prevent You from saving, so it will be only one playtrough when I will have to reload game after each bad alien move

[bulletproofcupid]

Personally, on Normal and Easy I skipped Beam weapons, they dont offer you that much of an edge, so go straight for Carpace armour.

 

However on classic and Impossible (Ironman or not) I found Beam weapons to be essential, so essential infact that I broke my standard gaming rule of Armour before weapons!

 

The ability to 1 hit kill is just far too important, and if your playing carefully, using full cover and/or hunker down liberally you should be avoiding those hits as much as possible anyway. You will hear different opinions from other players, but after 3 failed games of rushing Carpace armour over beam weapons I highly recommend going for beam weapons.

 

(Note: I never went for a beam sniper or heavy... the research time would be wasted and these weapons are poweful enough to 1 hit kill the early enemies anyway)

 

Good luck

[Patricko]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

 

I started Impossible difficulty, and everything went smoth until first Council mission where I need to escort some guy.

Thin Man's show up and they litteraly smash me up with just one hit.

I can't even outrun them or backtrack, as this is happening at start of the map.

I mean...wtf? This game cheats againts me really hard and it's really impossible with 4 almost rookies beat this mission. I think I will abort it as this is really impossible to beat.

3 Thin Man + Sectoids + "soldiers" who acutally misses every shot? Give me a break.

 

One more thing.

During this escort mission, does enemies spawn all the time?

Because behind my start position was spawning Thin Man all the time, and I don't know if it will like that during whole mission? Because I killed like 3 Thin Man's there and couldn't even get out from the building I started in...

[bulletproofcupid]

Your doing the same thing wrong that EVERYONE new to XCOM does wrong with impossible. Your playing it how you normally play!

 

I had about 8 attempts on impossible before I had a run I was happy with, and I still had to re-load over and over again. I thought it was literally impossible too but once you power through the first 3 months and get beam weapons and Carpace, the game turns into 'Classic' difficulty.

 

All I can recommend is slow down, always use full cover (half cover without being hunkered down is useless, you may as well be standing in the open) and be prepared to reload ALL THE TIME until you get it right.

 

Spawns are completely random, and sometimes they suck. You either reload the game and hope for a better level/spawn, or try your best to deal with it. I have had plenty of missions where I completed it without moving from the start position.

 

Sorry, think that was my least helpful post to date...

[Patricko]

Yes, I know that normal strategy on Classic/Impossible is not good.

 

I'm currently playing with "pull" strategy, so Snipers go into full cover and I'm moving little by little my assault, and if some aliens will show up, I'm backing up and goind overwatch and just waiting for them. It takes long for one mission but it's easly done.

 

But Council mission is something different. During Escort mission I need to move ahead as aliens are spwaning all the time in same places after few turns.

Or maybe they will stop spawning at some point? Would really appreciate the info about this.

 

Will be trying to beat this council mission, as all other mission went really good for me and I didn't loose even one soldier (save/load ftw).

[gibbygreatness]

This council mission seems similar to the first one I did while playing doing a classic ironman playthrough.

 

I killed about 3 pairs of thin men before giving up on them & making a break through the right hand side of the main entrance into a small room & pushing to the exit from there.

 

I didn't try to quit out of the game at anytime & ended up getting through the mission with only two guys left in what I think was a 4 or 5 man squad

 

So Yeah its tough & the there doesn't seem to be any safe cover with the thin men dropping down from behind, and then using poison on you if you are in full cover

[Patricko]

I'm always making save in Geoscope (headquaters).

So if there will be Council Mission, I'm waiting for the easy one, if hard one will show up (bomb disposal), I'm just realoading and waiting for other kind of Council Mission.

I think Bomb Disposal is the hardest on Impossible, as You need to move really fast, and moving fast on Impossible = death of all squad.

I'm also using guide from XCOM.Wikia, it's really helpfull to know what to build in what order.

 

I made this escort mission, and I said to myself "I won't move from the start position as long as Thing Man's won't stop to show up", and guess what? They stopped showing up.

My back was safe so I could focus on the front and doing "pull" strategy without anything to worry up.

 

I'm in the middle of third month right now. I've got Carapace Armour, 6 man squad, Laser Rifles and I'm during researching Laser Snipers, but it will take me long time, even during fourth month.

Only 4 countries have left me so far, but I'm doing what I can to prevent North America and Africa from leaving. Europe won't leave as I choose it for my start position.

Third Satelite Uplink is building up right now and 3 Satelites are already made and waiting.

 

I see, that if we won't move with the story, like making Arc Thrower, and etc. the game doesn't incrase difficulty on us even more. I mean, I'm during 3 month and it's so easy so far that I'm starting to worry if I didn't make some mistake.

 

I think that so far I'm not doing so bad.

Only what worries me is that, if I will be waiting to many months, countries will start to leave XCOM project and I think You can't do anything with that, because there is Satelite already and panic level is still going up.

 

PS.

If I will ignore Abduction mission, will panic level raise for all 3 countries or it won't?

Because when we choose one country to help, the other 2 will have panic level up, and it's stressing me out because I can't do anything with this.

[bulletproofcupid]

Don't Ignore any Abduction missions! Especially in impossible, In the 3rd month means that you will have a decent pay day coming up when you launch the satellites/end of month. Do whats best for your panic dont worry about cash or engineers.

 

Once you progress with the story and assault the alien base, panic will lower worldwide so try not to worry too much! Losing 4 countries by month 3 on Impossible is normal, pretty sure I had lost 4 (maybe even 5) by the end of month 3.

 

Just make sure in Month 4 (or sooner if you think it wise, look into your timescales) you start progressing with story and have the Alien base assault as an option to complete when you want to.

 

Edit: The game does still increase in difficulty, in month 3 you will see newer tougher enemies including robotic ones, regardless of how far you move along with the story. But thats ok, because you are still researching new armour and weapons to handle them.

Edited August 30, 2013 by bulletproofcupid
Adding Info

[bulletproofcupid]

Yes, I know that normal strategy on Classic/Impossible is not good.

 

I'm currently playing with "pull" strategy, so Snipers go into full cover and I'm moving little by little my assault, and if some aliens will show up, I'm backing up and goind overwatch and just waiting for them. It takes long for one mission but it's easly done.

 

But Council mission is something different. During Escort mission I need to move ahead as aliens are spwaning all the time in same places after few turns.

Or maybe they will stop spawning at some point? Would really appreciate the info about this.

 

Will be trying to beat this council mission, as all other mission went really good for me and I didn't loose even one soldier (save/load ftw).

 

Oh last night I had an Escort mission! Good timing. Didn't really do any proper testing as I am playing Classic Ironman, but the random spawns appeared to be literally random, so calculating how many moves between spawn drops seems impossible. However I am confident that one you 'deliver the package' no more enemies spawn on the map, you just have to clean up the ones left.

[Patricko]

Okay, I went on straight on Impossible difficulty.

I'm now during June month, and got almost everything I can get.

I've got Titan armor, Plasma Rifles, Plasma Snipers, but couldn't get Heavy Plasma as I didn't have enough materials for it.

Oh, and all countries that stayed with me (only 5 left so far) have satelites + stealth upgrade.

 

I've already done first story mission on Alien ship, so 2 story mission to go.

 

The best strategy for Impossible that I can give is patience!

Sometimes I stayed at the start point for most of the mission.

Find good places for snipers, get full cover, and have one assualt to pull aliens.

That's the best strategy for the whole game, even on Terror missions and Escort.

Bomb Disposal is the only one exception, and try to avoid it as much as You can.

 

PS.

During Escort mission, aliens are NOT spawning all the time.

I stayed for few or even more turn at the start point and was waiting then Thin Mans will stop coming for me. After few kills they really stopped coming and I could move ahead with worrying about my back. So do like that, and there won't be any problem.

 

PS2.

Can someone tell me, how Ironman saves game?

When something goes wrong, when should I reload the whole game?

I know that game saves after each alien move, but what about the rest of the game?

Like in our headquaters or during our turns on missions?

 

And how hard is Classic on Ironman? Is it harder than Impossible?

[vZA87]

@Patricko : the game (in geoscape) save after every decision you make (recruit new soliders => save, etc ...)

 

I do not practice the art of reload in Ironman (cause I'm kind of masochist I guess Oh so many squad wipe <3) so I'm not sure but I guess you have to quit the game (via XMB) before you end your turn, someone with more experience will probably have a better answer tough.

[Patricko]

All right, I managed to beat Impossible..ufff

But now the hardest part, at least I think it's the most hardest thing....IronMan.

 

I started today IronMan on Classic...and damn...it's so frustrating when You can't load game whenever you want. Those soldier in the first months are missing almost every shot, it's so hard to manage good positions and don't get hit by enemies.

I'm trying pull strategy, as I did on Impossible, but still it's very hard to do it when You know that You can't save and load every time You want.

 

You guys got some tips for IronMan? Would really appreciate it, as it's the last hard part for me in XCOM and after that, I can go straight for the platinum.

[vZA87]

I'm currently on mine :

 

- If you have the DLC : take the slingshot mission, do the first one (may be a little challenging if you don't have a squadsight sniper but doable, just advance with extreme caution) : you'll get a few goodies and two more important thing, a heavy lieutenant and the ability to negate every "council" mission (Its a bit gamey but oh what the hell ^^ I tried it and failed short, I was expecting to have a panic nightmare and no nothing, next time the council proposed me the mission I simply ignore it and still nothing, no country crying or leaving the project)

 

- I would strongly advise for a 2 squadsight snipers teams. You'll get injured -even if you play like a champ, the AI "have ways" to pull off shots out of nowhere.

 

- Research : Give priority to survability, armor (just to avoid being one shot all the time by regular shots) and beam weapons, the gap between the start and the moment you'll get plasma weapons is huge, going to war with "classic" weaponry knowing you'll face Cyberdisk & Mutons is not really a good thing ^^

 

- Building : of course satellites, loads of them, even if it mean to sell ressources.

 

- Missions : at first engineer, but I find scientists to be an asset but it's up to you.

 

- Panic : I recommend to let one of the two big continent (Asia or Europe) go to hell and focus on the "minors". Yes they give a lot of goodies but they also cost 4 satellites, the idea behind this is too quickly have a manageable panic situation, besides "We have ways" is an awesome bonus (+ the little cash) for 2 satellites, same goes for "All In". In my current game if let Asia withdraw (except china) and have coverage over North America, South America & Africa (except Nigeria who end up withdrawing for no apparent reason -_-), Panic in Europe is good (3 for UK, rest at 2) and I'll probably cover them by the end of the month, leaving only china as a place for abductions ^^ (and a chance a nice goodies along the way )

 

 

- Be patient as hell : every map as a roaming group of aliens, take good position and let a few turns go into overwatch, they'll probably come and be shredded then use a bait - never dash with it - find a group, let your sniper(s) take a shot(s) and withdraw to cover, ideally the other squad members a in position to overwatch for the "bait".

 

 

Considering you team set up : I'll recommend :

- 2 snipers with squadsight + gunslinger (an absolute must have), I personnaly use Disabling shot for its multi purpose use and mostly because my sniper are way back so battle-scanner is only good at the start of a map.

- 2 heavies : those guys (and girls) are simply awesome, they are multipurpose, besides zone damage is really useful.

- 1 support (or 2) : with emphasis on smoke rather than "field medic", yes you 'll see people die horrible death, I'd rather have mobility and a possible way to avoid massive damage to my entire squad than just "revive" one soldier. Beside they still can stabilize soldiers if needed.

- 1 bait (Assaut with tactical sens or support)

 

It work well for me (except a shortage in support dudes, no matter what they end up dying after ridiculous shots ).

 

 

Last tip : wait until "full recovery" to take back on mission a soldier who was injured. Injuries make a huge dent in the "will" of a solider - it will come back eventually so don't take someone who was injured (even if they are ready to) if you have an alternative.

 

Hope this help

[Patricko]

All right, I managed to survive first month on IronMan classic.

But now I'm during abuction mission for 200$ and if everything will go ok, I will be able to by Laser Rifles + Pistols for snipers. For Laser Snipers I need to wait, cos Carapace armour is the next most important thing.

 

And I'm also skipping Council Missions, even if it means full panic for some country.

Bomb Disposal on this level means death for whole squad. On Classic and Impossible You need to take cover and wait for even few turn, and that's impossible on Bomb Disposal.

Escort is easier, as You can "bunker" yourself at the start position and just wait for the spawning Thin Mans and smash them with overwatch.

 

The worst part in this game are the first 3 months, and I think that second month is the hardest one, as if we won't make Carapace Armor + Lasers Rifles for everyone (except Heavy and Snipers of course), we are screwed in the third month.

After our team get's armor + better weapons, the whole game becomes really easy, I would say that it goes down for one difficutly level (like from Impossible to Classic, and from Classic to Normal).

But in the XCOM you can't lose focus, especially during hard missions on IronMan.

Wrong move and whole team can go to hell. Of course we can abuse the quit to XMB method, but still, it gives us only one turn back, which is still good considering how hard IronMan can be.

 

Either way...save game is locked for XCOM, so only option is to upload in the cloud, but You can download it only once for 24h, so no help here.

[vZA87]

I wouldn't say it becomes easy -easier probably- but last night -i'm an unlucky one- I suffered a squad wipe on the alien base mission.

 

It was one of the worst BS I of missing 80% shots I ever saw, prompting me to asking myself If the game didn't cheat a little . I finally lost it -overconfident maybe ?- when my last awesome sniper got killed by an invisible Muton (it seems that He find himself a blind spot). I try to right the ship after, but it's pretty pointless, a squad full of rookie/squaddie suck so much (well, let's be fair, they suck to maintain their cool level in tight situation )

 

I'm 100% I'll beat it on my next Run, even if its mean I have to train 3 squad sight sniper, 2 heavies and 1 bait