u/Reddit-Arrien

>!Call me a pessimist, but I feel like this is a exercise in futility. If players create the environment where the "higher" difficulty is what you should be playing on, its going to happen, no matter how much effort you try to make or convince people otherwise. The Devs can say no, but the playerbase can turn that into a maybe.!<

>!On one hand, afaik this community doesn't really do that. On the other hand, there isn't much discussion about Easy Mode or Spacer Start to begin with.!<

>!I would also like to say that my view may stem from being on r/Xcom and how if you don't play on the highest difficulty, or sometimes the 2nd highest, they consider your opinion invalid until you do.!<

Faction: Star federation

Size: Cruiser

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Faction: Star federation (officially) - Federation (Cormorant, Daptrius, Egret, Emerillon, Super Buffalo), Rebellion (Brava, Centa, Invader) (internally)

Size: Destroyer

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Faction: Star federation (officially) - Federation (Hirondelle, Belle, Colubris), Rebellion (Brane, Byte) (internally)

Size: Frigate

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That is, when there's a good/nice/ally character, and there are hints that "the good character is actually evil!" trope is gonna play out.

But it doesn't.

Queen Watevra Wa'Nabi (The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part) - The queen of the Systarians and self-titled "The most least evil person you'll ever meet!". Opens up with a song with the aforementioned line as well as showering Emmett's friends with stuff that they always wanted. The tone of which this is done gives the impression that something is wrong, so Emmett, with help from a newly-found mentor Rex sought out to bring her down, Imagining that her end with break her control on his friends and save the day.

But in truth, the Queen isn't evil; She does want to help out of altruism, and Emmett's friends are going along because they think she's swell. No, ironically the film also plays the "good character is actually evil" trope straight, not with her, but with>!Rex, who is actually Emmett from a future timeline (Rex standing for "Radical Emmett Xtreme"). He came from a future where he was abandoned and forgotten by his friends. In turn, he wanted to take revenge and break everything down, even if it means brining forth Armamageddon !<

Blonde Blazer/Mandy (Dispatch) - Admittely this is definitely more on a fandom-level than a in-Universe level.

The manager of the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN) branch in Torrence, and the one who recruits our protagonist Robert Robertson III in exchange for fixing his wrecked suit. People were skeptical that she was as good as she appeared to being. Adding fuel to fire was that the whereabouts of Elliot Connors, the man behind the Villain Shroud, was unknown, so people theorize that she was going to be a new Shroud. Furthermore, there was her decision to cut a member of the Z-team in attempt to make the rest perform better.

However, in the end it was shown she wasn't a villain. She did want to help Robert and reform the Z-Team. Yes, she did make some poor choices, but it wasn't out of malice. As for Shroud, >!Elliot Connors was still very much alive (and can remain so at the end depending on your choices), and he still wants bring an end to the Robertson line after Robert's Father humiliate him when he was still part of the Brave Brigade.!<

Faction: Mayasuran (Mokarran (K), Scaramouche (CJ)), Pirate (Dark Victory), Stormhawk Republic (Moa (SR)), Merchant Marine (Mithuna (MM))

Size: Cruiser (Moa (SR), Scaramouche (CJ)), Capital (Dark Victory, Mithuna (MM), Mokarran (K))

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Faction: Mayasuran

Size: Variable

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Faction: Mayasuran

Size: Capital

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Faction: Mayasuran

Size: Cruiser

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Faction: Mayasuran

Size: Destroyer

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Faction: Mayasuran

Size: Frigate

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Faction: ScalarTech Solutions

Size: Cruiser (Vestige), Capital (Silken Banshee)

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I got the game about a week again, managed to finish a run a few days ago. Just want to share so experience, and as for some advice as I'm want to try this again on Veteran.

Note that I never played the the first Xenonauts game. I've played the Firaxis' XCOM games (EU/EW, 2/WotC, even Chimera Squad), I've also for fun looked at UFO defense on the UFOpaedia page (It'll make since in a bit). More recently, I've been playing MENACE a fair bit.

Now for some hightlights:

-Weapon wise, I largely tried everything, usually buying one of each. I bought a lot of laser weapons due to how they have a aim bonus, whereas I only bought the MG for the gauss tier, primarily for soldiers in Colossus Battlesuits (They can only carry ammo anyways). Eventually Everyone got fusion weapons, but I still kept the gauss MGs for those Sebillians. Speaking of fusion weapons, the aliens managed to field them while my troops still had guardian armor (should have I prioritized that sooner?)

-The squad weapon ratio was about 2-4 "tanks" (soldiers with either shields or Battlesuits), 1-2 shotgunners, 2-3 heavies, 1-2 snipers, 0-1 grenadiers, and 3-4 Rifles. For the suits, I imagine that they prevent the soldier wearing it to improve their strength? If so, should I put them on low-strength or high-strength units? I did try the MARS HWPs, but I felt like they were not worth it (to the point that when it got wrecked, I just sold it).

-When recruiting, I mainly picked units that had high TUs. Later one, when realizing a lot of soldiers couldn't carry much, I made sure to check the soldier's strength. I didn't pay much attention to reflexes, accuracy, or bravery. When deploying on a mission, I filled the dropship on a bottom-up basis (ie the lowest rank ones were prioritized). Back in X2, once a soldier reached Colonel, I basically never deployed them again except the final missions.

-Base Defense Missions were (mostly) manageable. From the UFO defense wiki I tried to position the hangers into a single room chokepoint. The first one was largely Mantids vs my main base, the soldiers having guardian armor and laser weapons, and it went rather well. The second time was against my developing second base, and it was Androns+Wraiths+Servitors against ..... a low level 12-soldier garrison (just sergeants and sergeant majors) With just baseline armor and weapons (aside a few Cleaner Mag rifles). The first time the storage room behind the lift was for some reason packed with Wraiths and Androns when I had a soldier check around turn 3. Needless to say, I was slaughtered, and I did reload and try again. The second time a third of them died, I=but I did win, and no enemy units spawn behind this time (maybe a bug?). I know the briefing mentions that some units are not confined to the hanger, so which ones? Also How many AA systems do I need to just not let any happen in the first place?

-As for Alien Bases (and ships), they were rather the hardest ones for me. The lack of room felt like aliens can easily open a door and shoot at my soldiers at close range while not triggering reaction fire. Speaking of, How do I position my troops for reaction fire? I feel like to give them a clean shot, I need to either stand them behind half cover (not always available in UFOs) or out in the open. If a soldier is adjacent to a door, it won't protect if a alien decides to open and take a peek/shot. So how do I clear UFO, and should I just blow everything up? (even if it means wrecking alien tech).

-Explosive wise, I basically never used regular grenades, only Demo charges, Flashbangs/Shock grenades, and smokes. Smokes I ended up using for crossing open terrain, acting like a LoS blocker akin to them in MENACE (even though they obviously don't). Multiple times though it really impaired some shots, and early on soldiers could uncommonly get shot while in the smoke and promptly fall unconscious from stun damage.

-For the air combat, Alien Interceptors were a pain; they both shoot fast and turn fast. There was one interception involving three Phantoms against two of them and a abductor, and after a lot of save scumming just had to accept taking down only the abductor and a Phantom getting wrecked. For a bit I had Phantoms armed with dual laser lances, but it felt like they were being outclassed by the aliens. Eventually I tried the missile and torpedo weapons (up to that point I largely avoided them due to their low ammo count), and they ended up working well enough to alpha strike UFO and gain a numbers advantage. Never bothered with Accelerated or Gauss cannons, it was just Conventional Cannon->Laser Lance->Fusion Lance. Also, I only ever kept just one dropship, dismantling the old Skyhawk/Dragonfly when I finished the new Dragonfly/Pegasus (They were also renamed to "Big Sky", "Firebird", and "Avenger" respectively just for fun).

With all that said, how did I do? Going into Veteran (and eventually Commander difficulty), what are some other things that I should know? What are some things I probably should do ,and things I probably shouldn't do?

Faction: ScalarTech Solutions

Size: Frigate Capital

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Mod Ship Index

Faction: ScalarTech Solutions

Size: Frigate Cruiser

• How do you outfit them?
• How balanced you think the ship(s) are compared to vanilla?
• what are some mod mixes you like to do with them?

Mod Ship Index