scorpio

It's ok, I did in fact validate steam files at first, which took like 20 minutes and didn't work obviously. I then just uninstalled and reinstalled, and it's a general lesson learnt, my internet is so fast it was done in 3 mins. I've made the mistake of verifying integrity before and never thought "hey, let's just install from scratch..." Put back just Skitso's maps for now. Does Kabil's random map sub-map stuff work as well? Thinking about adding those, and if anyone can say whether they're decent and AI works fine with them.

Oh, er, verify steam cache to remove I guess? Since it was just merging the folders and files, and I didn't keep a backup of the initial "assets" folder?

Thanks for the advice all. I downloaded Xeno yesterday, and have already lightly modded it up with community maps, stinky's maps and skitso's maps (excuse any mispelling). Have yet to load it up though. Maps are a major concern from EU/EW, and I know this game has pre-defined maps too (other than the sub-map stuff which can technically allow randomisation etc etc but hasn't yet been perfected - I know) but the moddability of actually having more maps makes it a non-issue. This is why I got so many maps right off the bat to play even on a first eventual playthrough. Any other amazing mods I should include? I just want an awesome game, and have done the original without psionics etc on superhuman (Fixed, true superhuman!) so there are no worries with "ruining" anything with mods that might be a little drastic, whatever is fun - I know the formula well and just want sweet mechanics and light-storyline immersion that is the nature of this game, and chances for great tactical battles and (unlike EU) a strategy layer that takes more than a simple optimisation done on paper beforehand to nullify...

The numbers are admittedly misleading - a civilian that turns into a chrysallid counts as a kill on that end statistic, still not all of them turned and I'd guess real numbers of enemies killed were still minimum 30 in first, and 35+ in the one that ended with 48. I'm currently deciding whether to play XCOM with the Long War mod or try Xenonauts. I've played and beaten I/I on XCOM so much now and everyone says Long War is much harder. Basically looking for a real challenge, do you think Xeno on hardest (Insane I think it's called?) would do it? It's all I'm basing my decision on right now really, that and repetitive maps in XCOM that I now have seen too many times. I've bought Xeno but never really played it at all, my bro is playing it but...er, he plays the opposite spectrum of (non-)difficulty...modding easy to make it easier so I cannot base it on his feedback.

Heh, reminds me of this...Some Ironman Impossible carnage back in EU:

Have to say I think you're missing out. I'm an avid player of the original, and have it extensively modded with Xcomutil, UFOextender, custom uniforms etc and love the gameplay at a deep level. I enjoyed beating it at superhuman with heavy restrictions such as no blaster bombs/psionics for myself. Let me just say that the new XCom had me planning turns for a good 10 minutes at times. True tactical moves, considering fewer troops as we all know, and therefore much more satisfying. This is at the impossible/ironman difficulty, which is by FAR harder than the afore-mentioned vanilla game I describe above. Much better with not having to artificially restrict myself aswell. The most satisfying victory I've had in any game. Anyone who says it is dumbed down need only boot up impossible ironman and see how that works out. The reviews are by people who play it once on normal, or even classic, and decide it's not as punishing or involved as the original, when it is in fact better in so many ways. There are certainly downsides, the interception is just you sitting there watching it, but really how involved is the OG interception? The strategic layer is bland/obvious and far too punishing on the highest difficulty, but still doable. Anyway, you know the downsides I'm sure so I wanted to mention how great I found the game, in the end, having been very skeptical to begin with aswell. The best way is (would have been) to try yourself for a reasonable price!

What caught my eye is that there are supposedly no randomly generated maps anymore? That would have been one of the big draws of this game over XCOM for me. I understand people can make maps at least? Anyone clarify for someone a little on the fence (now)?

If I understood correctly about the corner thing - you mean peering around it and taking a shot whilst being in cover? If so, the Firaxis XCom does this, no wait, is ALL that game is about in some ways, so you should try that. I do not mean that in a derogatory way either, I really love the new game and it's great in so many ways. Worth a try. This game is much more like the original X-Com, in terms of mechanics, and that would be a fairly big change, so I can see why they didn't go for it, but I do understand wanting it and many other features. Hopefully the game will make up for such things in other ways.

ClosetYeti's two latest videos are promising; from my point of view of course, and not so much from his what with the death and destruction his forces have met. Game looks awesome, cannot wait to get it.

I have not yet bought this game, but I am only delaying to avoid spoiling things for myself (sounds a little strange, what with having played original X-com and the new one - how different can things be, but I mean mechanics-wise). It all looks very promising and I just have a question regarding difficulty: I'm someone who plays at the hardest settings, and enjoys the challenge. I've beaten the original on superhuman, but the newest on Ironman Impossible too - which is much harder than the original at that setting! So, will this game have a suitably high enough difficulty available, and a near-insurmountable challenge? I would love that. I only ask because I have seen a couple of videos, and there seem to be relatively few aliens - I realise its the smaller ships I'm seeing, and people are not always playing on hard difficulties, but the battlefields seem a little sparse in terms of alien numbers. Also, how is the AI shaping up? I would love seeing intelligent moves - the new XCOM has aliens that make pretty much optimal moves, admittedly that's because of the design decisions regarding a very gamey, cover-based model, which I'm sure most are familiar with, but still it IS good that they make those good moves. I understand this game isn't designed that way, but it would be great to see some clever AI movements now and then. Keep up the great work, I look forward to beating another alien invasion!