My second Xenonauts campaign / Commander Guide / Thoughts / Story

[Berserk]

Hello guys , welcome back !

Since the new milestone, I decided to make a new campaign !

"I am a xenonauts 1 veteran who completed the game on insane iron man. I also ended on day 900 my first xenonauts 2 commander campaign because there was no ending and alien ship stoped spawning."

This is my 4th attempt in commander difficulty (not ironman in order to respect my time and also to have the ability to savescum as a last resort if needed.) 

"LOSING IS FUN"

• My first campaign ironman was a failure because of the dooms day mechanic , its just pure luck based. I didn't have much luck regarding the green light thingy. Even today I still doesn't fully understand how it work. The only thing I know is to get as quick as possible all available buff that get you -1 doom day /panick run. 
• The second ironman attempt was just bad luck for some weird reason my game kept crashing on turn 3 in the first cleaner mission. For some reason the general dialog would start while I was still in the spawning area.
• Third ironman attempt was failed because i had a bad strategy for the cleaner operations ie : "vip /rescue/ data raid ".

My strategy for tactical battles : 

In xenonauts 1 my favorite weapons were shotguns and rifles because of the exploitable and "frustrating" leaning mechanic (the game engine was broken).

Now in Xenonauts 2, Line Of Sight is shared meaning in theory that if an enemy can shoot you, you can shoot back & vice versa.

This changes everything  for CQB combat and weapons. For commander difficulty If you want to take the least risk, you came to the right topic.

Weapons & Equipment CQB

1. Machine guns are your primary weapon making the main used gun for your composition.
2. For the first missions until day 100 equip your field medics with rifles and switch to full automatic when they have enough strenght capacity .
3. Have at least 1 shield guy with a 9mm for 4 main reasons : draw reaction fire on doors / be a bait for alien fire / scout  / protect wounded soldiers.
4. Get 1 MARS : the MARS is extremly useful  I use it the same way as a shield guy with the exception that it can be sacrificed and have more power of destruction
5. Equip your soldiers if possible with : ammo<aiming module <smokes <flash<grenades. Smokes are extremly useful to avoid getting shot at and it gives you time to change positions .
6. composition view : 1 shield 1 MARS 2 Medics 5 machine guns.

STRATEGY : Use the Turtle method. After many trial and cqb testing I sorta "invented" the Turtle method wich is as simple as it is effective. 

• You need to make a square with 1 front row and 1 back row . You can put anything as you like in your square. If needed  you can make a rectangle or another shape depending of the space.
• Move your formation (square ) 1 foot step by 1 foot step. Be aware to face all angles and always keep a security behind as you move.
• If you have a small oppening or a diagonal angle where an alien is sitting : let him walk on your threshold  or use grenades to get rid of him or to repostion.
• Take your time. If a soldier is wounded heal him and take him back to the rear somewhere safe.

Weapons & Equipment for Cleaner/EXDEF operations 

1. You will need to be on the move consistently YOU DON'T HAVE TIME !
2. Prepare for casualties , choose meats bag that you don't expect to live.
3. Composition I used : 1 shield 2 assault 1 shield 2 assault 1 shield 2 assault .
4. Equip assault soldier with shotguns or rifles , first aid and  smoke grenades .
5. The mask module is mandatory on everyone!

STRATEGY : RUSH B  Sadly if you lose one of these missions, it can end your campaign ! You are backed into a corner so there is only one way and its to fix bayonets & yell : foward !

For the VIP just rush B get rid of the baldy and dip/ For the journalist wait 1 or 2 turn at spawn to clear enemies and then rush B don't look back/ For the rescue missions wait 1 or 2 turn and then rush B again./For data raid rush B.

Side Notes:

• The dooms day mechanic is ruthless ! One bad move and its game over !
• There is SO MANY enemies like 15+ for data raids / rescue the journalist raids it's just actually insane 
• Heavy Armor is Mandatory in commander difficulty
• Grenade launcher is useless (see grenades )
• Grenades becomes useless as the game reaseach goes on (im talking to you fusion nade)
• Smoke grenade is Over powered (I love it )
• Flash bangs are kinda useless or very niche for commander difficulty
• Demo charge is useless or very niche for commander difficulty
• Shotguns becomes useless past cleaner mission (not enough damages)
• Rifles is useless past cleaner mission (not enough damage and/or accuracy)
• UI is gooood
• Pathfinding was changed ? Feels like it
• Loves the new aliens addition
• Love the new AI behaviour (I got flanked by 1 mantis and 1 sebillian all the way around in alien base and they killed my back security)
• Wonder were the alien baby stroller machine gun went
• Love the new spawn behaviour

PRAY FOR THE ALMIGHTY MACHINE GUN

The machine gun have so many advantage over the rest of the weapons counterparts :

1. Mag dump : Shooting 10 bullets is very lethal to transform any bad alien behaviour into purple mist . Heavy armor is essential to survive a potential one-shot from enemies over 10 tiles away. Firing 10 bullets ensures at least one will land.The heavier the accuracy penalty for wearing heavy armor, the more useless other weapons become.  
2. Reaction fire : This is the only weapon that can shoot 3 bullets over 20 tiles ! It have also the benefit to add the suppression effect. TU or ACTION POINT with my turles strategy  will make sure that our soldier will always shoot before the bad behaving space face that is trying to kill us . 
3. Mesmerizing : Some of the aliens have the ability to mind control like Alakazam from pokemon, big brain energy ! The machine gun will counter this mechanic because you will anyways shoot only once  lmao.

THE SPIKE IN DIFFICULTY FROM REALLY HARD TO IMPOSSIBLE 

"THIS IS WHERE THE FUN BEGINS"

Everything was alright until the alien switch from plasma to fusion weaponnery and I wasn't aware what was going to take place until my second alien terror site mission in Latin America.

The spike In Difficulty went from challenging to new objective : SURVIVE 

8 soldier and 1 MARS vs 22 aliens and 7 Cyberdrone main battle tank it was pure nightmare I was forced to save scum twice to not lose the continent and the game

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 6 by Berserk

[Berserk]

It was so bad I had to get on the corner of the map to survive .

I went really low on ammo and I took 4 ammo box on each soldiers

Edited April 6 by Berserk

[Berserk]

What I don't like about this difficulty spike is that it was SO HARD, even with another strategy or weapon — and even with savescumming — this mission would have been impossible to win.

 

FUSION CYBERDRONES NEED A NERF

Edited April 6 by Berserk

[ih8california]

Yes, I just won a commander run on ironman. A lot of your comments are spot on. Shields, Assaults, Heavys, Snipers (occasionally a grenadier).  Rifles are pretty worthless IMO and never invest in them. SHOTGUNS, MGS & SNIPER RIFLES. 

I don't think people realize how much more difficult commander is from veteran.

Many of the timed cleaner missions are pure sprints. 

Totally agree that cyberdrones need a nerf (as well as servitors), being able to move and fire 3 fusion grenades is insane.

[Berserk]

It's always a pleasure to share my ptsd with other fellow commander enjoyers !

Did you know that cyberdrones have the ability to fly ? I was shocked when i tried to block it with my mars to find out it was able to fly over the helicopter lmaooooooo

Edited April 6 by Berserk

[ih8california]

Also the cyberdrone/psyon terror missions are bad; but the late-game wraith/andron terror missions are worse. Usually after the 3rd terror mission I stop doing them, because they are such an existential threat to your soldiers when they are swarmed by 30+ wraith/androns. Very important to have panic under control to be able to absorb +35 pain to a singular region.

[ih8california]

1 minute ago, Berserk said:

It's always a pleasure to share my ptsd with other fellow commander enjoyers !

Did you know that cyberdrones have the ability to fly ? I was shocked when i tried to block it with my mars to find out it was able to fly over then helicopter lmaooooooo

yes both servitors and cyberdrones can fly.

[Berserk]

I saw lot of people complaint about he lenght of the game or the difficulty of the missions saying "its to short" "its to easy!".

But on commander difficulty  its make everything longer even the tactical mission like this one I just showed on this post, it took me an hour .

Yeah I totally agree with you its in dire need of balancing. The fact that aliens are drunk vodka addict who rush the spawn like you owe them money its insane how they don't give a F. about their lives. hahahhaha

[ih8california]

i practically ignore most of what anyone says about the game being too easy if I find out they don't play on commander. its like play the game how you want to play it, but if you are not playing on max difficulty don't whine about the game being too easy. We've already gotten too many nerfs based on recruit and soldier player whining/exploits.