5 Things I Wish I Knew About XCOM 2 Before Playing Pt 1 (ft. Syken4Games)

[@WilliamUmstattd]

The message of XCOM is everything will go wrong and you will win anyway.

[@meltdowntf2865]

The message of XCOM 2 is everything will go right and you will lose anyway.

[@colmenasio5542]

​@@meltdowntf2865 *misses 4 guards in a row*

[@meltdowntf2865]

@@colmenasio5542 *guards kill all of your soldiers in one round with impeccable shots*

[@yearoldsinger]

@@meltdowntf2865ue advent guard shooting up 2 stories and landing a crit through 2 buildings, a billboard, and ignoring the soldier left out in the open 😭😭

[@williams.n.9443]

Unless it's legend or comander level, there If a little something Goes wrong someone Will die

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

Save scumming is how I learn this game. Yes not just reloading if you miss a shot, but replaying it differently or seeing if something works or not (literally do I have to be inside the circle for civilians or touching it, how does each grenade actually work etc). It's just like replaying a game of chess from a certain point.

[@One.Zero.One101]

I don't consider replaying a mission as save scumming. It's no different than replaying a mission in Splinter Cell to get better scores. What I consider save scumming is reloading misses to get a better RNG. As far as replaying a mission with different tactics, I have absolutely no problem with that.

[@rrteppo]

I reloaded the first 3 turns of missions all the time whenever I ran into a map I have never seen before. Figure out sightlines, what is destructible, where cover is, high ground, ect. Then I accept anything that happened after the 3rd turn once I am happy with positioning and hitting the first pod.

[@kennethmaldonado8681]

I can car.I've been playing x com for years. Just got back into it.I will save scum all day long. It's my way of sticking it to the x com chaos It gods

[@tedtran7855]

I think save scumming is good for learning on a first play through, but anything beyond that it reinforces a lot of bad habits. I got absolutely destroyed trying iron man after doing a regular run because I had the mindset that there are no stakes to any move, and I would do needlessly aggressive plays that overly relied on luck.

[@lucien4980]

Nothing wrong with save scumming. No reason to waste a lot of time because of bad rng or something.

[@VonRyeGaming]

I never beat XCom2 until I watched a TapCat playthrough. Now I know so much more, that I dont freak out when 8 enemies are activated on one turn. It's not just tactical things, but also which items to equip or research, and knowing how they affect combat before you go on a mission.

[@presumablysteve]

Totally agree. TapCat (and Christopher Odd) turned XCOM 2 from utter frustration into one of my favourite games. Love TapCat's content and watch even if I'm not keen on the game (sorry Warhammer 40K Chaos Gate Daemonhunters 😮‍💨)

[@VonRyeGaming]

@@presumablysteve I enjoy Christopher Odd too, but I find myself yelling at the screen...'reload! reload your weapons!" every episode :D

[@DinnerForkTongue]

@@presumablysteve I prefer Tap and Arbozir for skill. Odd I watch for the sideplots of the sub characters.

[@perteraboofolympus150]

Having a skull jack and meditation on your specialists is so damn powerful being able to hack machines to shut them down or take over or just instant kill any advent troop type regardless of health is stupid strong. Flashbangs and mimic beacons are both absurd and then there's the ridiculous power of smoke grenades. Then there's the resistance orders the Templar faction has probably the best orders in the game the bleed out option is a great safety net and the psychic backlash straight up makes most psychic enemies useless. If you see a sectopod in the shadow chamber sitrep bring a gunner with shredder and blue-screen rounds it will half health with one shot.

[@BadPhD777]

I just discovered XCOM 2 about two weeks ago. I refuse to play it on anything but the rookie setting because it's enough of learning curve for me and I don't need the extra frustration of an enemy that's even harder to defeat. I enjoy saving at the beginning of a mission and trying alternatives. I've spent 3 to 4 hours on one mission. I'm in no rush to finish the game. I'm enjoying learning, and reloading the mission numerous times helps me do that. I also enjoying reading on the Internet about it and watching videos like this one. Thank you for the videos!!!

[@GLVSCOW]

I've been replaying it after original launch (I never played WoTC), and I enjoy saving before a mission to learn the mechanics, but try to play out my mistakes. Because of this, I keep feeling compelled to try iron man, what about you?

[@BadPhD777]

@GLVSCOW no Ironman for me. I'm too much of a wimp! :-)

[@GLVSCOW]

@@BadPhD777 I'm too much of a masochist to not try it once xD I'm still deciding what difficulty for it, unless it's hardlocked to hard or something

[@BadPhD777]

@@GLVSCOW Go for it! Hope you survive! 🙂

[@SykenPlays]

I didn't realize that your kitty was part of the conversation when we recorded it. Great video, good editing! :)

[@TapCat]

Thank you! Ray is the real star of the show, he just lets me do most of the talking!

[@DrLean-qi8zp]

The beginning segment on understand what you're getting into was really well articulated. Honestly an excellent mind set to anything you are trying to improve yourself in! Thanks for the wisdom

[@TapCat]

Awesome, thank you!

[@lorenpearson1230]

All good points. Have played for years, and I once re-ran a retaliation mission about 10 times. The first 9 were the same - go clockwise towards three easy civilians, kill the first pod (Droid, Stun Lancer, and Troop Leader) - but invariably I would alert the other pods (3 + faceless) and end up swarmed (Vipers, Mutons, Faceless, Stun Lancers). I won only once, running from the faceless and saving civilians and evacuating (this was before mimic beacons). The 10th trip I went the other way around , and took on the pods one by one, and saved more civilians, and took fewer hits. The other lesson is a simple tactical one: reduce the enemy shooters. Simple truth, the fewer shooters shooting back at you, the less damage you take and the more you can concentrate on the others. So, given two possible shots, make the kill shot, as oppose to wear them down for the next round. Yes, a 7 point hit for a 1 point kill feels like a waste, but it was one less flanking shot you had to worry about.

[@TapCat]

Totally agree with your 2nd point. Much better to have one alien go down for keeps than to have 2 wounded and still on their feet!

[@nepocrates]

I know this is over a year old but this video and it's part 2 has been so helpful. I am a veteran on XCOM. Not the one most people think of I am an veteran of XCOM from the old VGA days. This mindset has messed me up in the newer XCOM. From these videos I have decided to put a pin in my current campaign where I put my A team in the hospital for 20+ days and wiped out the next group. I was playing with the knowledge of the mechanics of the old XCOM. So I drop difficulty and restarted with tips I am learning here and on Syken's channel. This has allowed me to focus on the mechanics of the game and My enjoyment of the game is like night and day. I cannot thank you enough. I am post this also on part 2 on Syken's channel as well

[@TapCat]

I'm very glad to hear that you've found our videos so helpful, best of luck in your new campaign!

[@RabidHobbit]

What's the biggest difference? I was around durng the old X-Com days, but just never played them for some reason. The only turn-based games I had played by that point were japanese RPGs on NES or SNES. Maybe King's Bounty and Might & Magic on SEGA Genesis.

[@fractaljack210]

The first time I played the downed Avenger mission, I thought the enemies would stop landing troops after the relay was destroyed. All my soldiers ended up being trapped on the wrong side of the road against the guardrail...when I finished the mission I had killed 99+ enemies, and was barely alive. A massive screw up, but a fond memory that taught me a lot about the game.

[@GLVSCOW]

That's crazy, I've never even hit 99+ on lost missions

[@94Pattycake]

This is actually brilliantly told. Spoken with so much kindness. I'm going to enjoy my play through even more now!

[@adambickford8720]

Part of the problem is the negative feedback loop combined with dead-man-walking situation. If you lose a soldier, you just lost 1/4 of your options/firepower early on and are suddenly even more outnumbered, so more likely to lose the mission. Losing the soldier(s) and the mission means reduced mission AND monthly rewards in addition to the soldier(s), making future missions even harder. But it could be several hours/missions before its obvious you're mortally wounded.

[@orctrihar]

And the fact despite some poeple seem to to thinks is not, thé game do unbalanced stuff so you really just have to accept to F* it and go yolo, it is rng.

[@poopie-boorger]

Early missions do be like that. You lost one unit, then you need to level up another from scratch in a higher level battle. Not to mention early team sweep plus early dark events. Game is hard (but fun if you took your time to learn it)

[@RabidHobbit]

Once you get pretty decent at the game, at least on the standard difficulty, it's not too hard to play in such a way that you don't lose a soldier that early in the game. More realistically, you won't lose your first soldier until you have 5-man or even 6-man squads. And taking a loss is much more manageable by that point. If I lost a soldier that early in the game, I'd consider restarting the campaign.

[@spectron5012]

to be honest, this game gives you too many soldiers for this to ever actually be a problem

[@KevinModz65]

Load/Die/Save/Load/Die/Save

[@itree4]

It's so weird to see Tapcat videos where he's not talking about Xcom so I'm glad he made this video.

[@TapCat]

I do love talking XCOM, so it's very likely that you'll see more in the future!

[@brianfullilove3931]

Watching TapCat and Syken has upped my game tremendously. Finally Beat commander using the strats learned by watching your playthroughs.

[@TapCat]

That's awesome, I love hearing when players break through that way!

[@ScottieMacF]

I think the number one thing to know is the difference between turns and actions. When I first started, I just went soldier by soldier until everyone was done. Once I learned actions and that I could use a soldier, tab away, and then go back to that soldier, the game became much easier. Oh, and while ambushes seem nice for the story. They aren't good long-term strategies.

[@orctrihar]

Worst is to lock all your soldier during your turn Ambush during there turn

[@bulletproofblouse]

The last TapCat campaign taught me so much on getting through the game successfully, and with a bare minimum of fatalities. I think the main takeaway is people see grenadiers as the explosives team only and they have so much more utility than that, armed with aim PCSs and scopes they're your first contact that shred armour and increase the aim for everyone else.

[@TapCat]

I think I've reached the point where grenadier is my favorite class and the one I would struggle the most if I had to do without them.

[@ruffusgoodman4137]

Maybe grenadiers are the openers after all, just because they tend to miss less or their missing throws are way less punishing

[@GLVSCOW]

I have also recently using Grenadines to open instead of scouts and its been alot less chaotic. Even a miss with holo targeting helps kill priority targets

[@ChrisOatley]

I see TapCat is talking about Xcom and I click. Simple as that 😂 So cool to see the collab. I know those are often hard to coordinate and produce, but thank you both for doing this. I’ve only watched the first tip so far, but I just wanted to underscore what @Tapcat said about the headgame of it all: Personally, I have played more Xcom 2 campaigns than probably any other game. I’ve played so many that I’ve completely lost count at this point. And in all of those campaigns, there is a consistent and ongoing realization: *CONCENTRATE.* …even though you’re almost entirely in control of the pace of this game, it’s still easy to lose focus and get distracted or just get impatient and rush. Certainly, tips and strategies and learning your own preferred play style help tremendously, but it’s all for naught if you can’t keep your head in the game. It can require intense concentration to keep slowing down, keep every playfield dynamic in mind and, as TapCat says “puzzle out” each move. I think it’s just as intense to concentrate on this game as it is to concentrate on a game like Doom that might be considered a polar opposite. But with this game, because demons aren’t shooting fireballs at you constantly and you aren’t in constant motion, it’s easy to forget that you can’t ever relent in your concentration.

[@ChrisOatley]

@@scottmcdonald2807 I don’t know, actually. And I’m not sure I want to know 😂😂😂😂

[@TapCat]

First, great comment! I agree with every word you said. Second, it was indeed difficult to set this up but well worth it from my point of view. Both of us are hoping that there's an appetite for more as we had a great time doing it and there's no shortage of topics to talk about.

[@correctthatfilthygrammar]

@@TapCatow about some feedback on dealing with countdown missions while running the higher difficulties? These pretty much force you to make hasty decisions to reach your destination before you're forced to retreat. And these are the missions I have always had a problem with the most. Edit: I wrote this before I'd seen the video. Apologies.

[@TapCat]

@@correctthatfilthygrammar I'm just glad you found some answers in the video!

[@Uzicide]

Dude. Your vids are why I never uninstalled XCom2. Every time I watch one of these, I start up another campaign.

[@AperireMens]

I've only ever played XCOM 2 on ironman mode. I've never managed to finish the game but to me this just feels right.

[@badgerbane]

Well, I mean the canonical ending to EU/EW is that you lost, so you probably are getting the Canon XCOM 2 ending by losing.

[@charongold6532]

Yeah the main problem woth ironmanmode is not me getting my crew killed ( they can be replaced) or other setbacks it'd that then the gage crashes ( it does that ag least 5 times a run) your only savefile gets coreupted and you can't reload.. I wish I could finish the game on normal ironman mode

[@falsfire]

I'm only 5 minutes in, but I feel the urge to comment already lol. I too struggled at XCOM at any difficulty above 'easy', until I started watching Let's Plays from players such as Syken, and took note of the many micro strategies that make a world of difference. To name but a few: "full cover is half cover, half cover is no cover" "when revealed, consider every movement action before just moving, to make sure you won't risk activating another pod or pods" "defense before offense" "crowd control" (specifically, I think many players discount the flashbang grenade because it deals no damage, but it is a vital survival tool!) "the definition of insanity, is trying to do the same thing, the same way, multiple times, and expecting different results"...

[@TapCat]

All of that is good advice!

[@whensomethingcriesagain]

I think one of the most important lessons is the importance of what I would call enabling tools, that is items and soldier abilities that let you do things that are otherwise really bad ideas. So taking your specialist hacking example, you've got a myriad of tools you can use to cover their advance and either redirect or mitigate enemy fire: smoke bombs, mimic beacons, flashbangs, Guardian overwatch, suppression, and so on. I find a lot of low to mid level players overuse direct shooting and standard overwatch, trying to maximize their damage output instead of trying to actually control what's going on

[@Story_Yeller]

Thanks for introducing us to syken4games! He definitely deserves more subs !

[@TapCat]

Agreed!

[@ZubiForce]

There is one more point I would add, as I have lost the most soldiers to this: Play fatigue. XCOM 2 is addictive and you can quite easily put 3 hours straight on it, when you get tired or begin to feel slightly bored you rash your actions. Even on the Avenger, you might end up picking the wrong research because of it. Being aware of when you are starting to rush and take a break is huge in my honest opinion. It is actually quite hard to notice you are beginning to feel tired/impatience about the game and is only after you make some monumental screw-up that it suddenly becomes clear to you.

[@cryptout]

Nice, I was thinking of getting back into xcom. Syken is an absolute beast in this.

[@TapCat]

He really is.

[@vangoth74]

Great video, guys. Bradford is an interesting topic, this guy keeps me on the edge of my seat. After 30 years of gaming not many games manage to do that to me, but this guy man xD When it comes to save-scumming: Games are supposed to be fun so people should play as they see fit. I'm quite sure it made me a better X-Com player as well ironically since it allowed me to try different approaches. Nowadays I don't need to do that anymore but it sure helped me getting there. Best wishes, guys^^

[@Phoenix-J]

Can I just take a moment to point out that this man has the best shirt collection ever lol

[@alanhernandez303]

I watched your videos when I started xcom years ago I’m glad you’re still making content!!

[@TapCat]

Thanks, Alan, glad to hear it!

[@kylesheehan7217]

The NPCs like bradford are perfect. Several people putting pressures on battle commanders is very true to life. Love the pressure it makes

[@Bigbuckgaming]

One big tip that I learned that helped a lot was learning the different aliens attacks and priorities so I know what aliens to take out first and what aliens. I can leave for a turn because they are going to charge up or try to mind control

[@Steadtfield]

Genuinely happy seeing this video with the cam. It made me realize I can game even when I get older. Thank you

[@TapCat]

Glad to hear it!

[@jlc3069]

New to the channel, and to Syken, and I genuinely thought that at @0:08 you were introducing your talking cat.

[@TapCat]

That would be hilarious, but my cat only talks to me when the camera is off.

[@cleanitupjanny7033]

It's awesome to see you and Syken collaborate. Both of you guys make great content!

[@TapCat]

Thanks, we had a great time doing this and I'm definitely hoping we can do more in the future.

[@bilLYNX]

I was one of those people that played it once then was to hard now that I have really tired to understand what to do and how to fix my game strategy is awesome. I haven't beating the story cause I have restarted 1000 of time already and honestly I learn different things each time. Love these kinds of games

[@ziff_1]

the part about the game pushing you to do certain things quickly, really resonated with me. I know it pushed me to do a story mission that i wasn't ready for, and I got overwhelmed. I was kind of just looking at the home base screen and, not knowing what to do, just accepting its nudges. that resulted in a lot of frustration.

[@warrend2880]

Great videos on XCOM 2, these videos are as timely today as when the game first came out!

[@TapCat]

Thank you! I'm glad they are still helpful, even after all this time.

[@knightofvirtue613]

Big fan of the channel, nice to put a face with the voice. This is definitely one of my favorite games, but extremely challenging as well. One of these days I'll try to get Legendary. Not sure if you enjoy real time tactics games, but if you do, I highly recommend Aliens: Dark Descent and Shadow Tactics: Blades of the shogun. Excellent games that make you think about solving problems with creative tools. Could make for an interesting series as well.

[@TapCat]

I've definitely thought about trying both of those but I am generally terrible at real-time games and that has held me back.

[@newguy3312]

Missed your xcom content, looking forward to part 2!

[@TapCat]

Part 2 is live on Syken's channel now.

[@viloftera89]

Just got the game last weekend from sale. I'm loving how difficult X2 and love the challenge mate compared to EU and EW. Fcking worth it!

[@Methodical-]

only discovered this title today and i'm blown away yet sad i didn't find it earlier but at the same time happy as i got xcom2 and all dlc from cd keys for like £6.99. i for one love the challenge and already started again as i was losing a soldier every mission. so have another sub, ill be doing my homework while progressing. thanks for the info

[@TapCat]

XCOM is not kind to beginners, but can be really rewarding for those willing to dig in and learn the ropes. Best of luck and welcome to the channel!

[@codykolis7577]

Fully agree on the "looking for any options" thing during my commander iron man run... many things were "unwinnable" and I still made it out with only 2 deaths pretty early on.

[@Michaelkayslay]

If I add a weapon upgrade to say a sniper rifle. Then I upgrade sniper weapons. Does the weapon add on stay with new upgraded rifle. Or do i lose it ?

[@TapCat]

It stays with the upgraded weapons.

[@Michaelkayslay]

@TapCat are you absolutely sure I haven't played since asking and scared to.upgrade

[@TapCat]

@@Michaelkayslay Yes, I have played many campaigns, am even in the middle of one now. The upgrades consistently carry forward to the upgraded weapons.

[@kyleMwardle]

Nice video guys. Wish I could have seen this years ago before my first playthrough. Really good advice for new players👍

[@dantes9811]

It is a great game to return to. When I was reminding game details from your videos I was pleasantly surprised that you still upload xcom stuff. Thank you.

[@TapCat]

Glad you enjoyed it and I do have plans for some more XCOM 2 videos in the near future.

[@AlexTSilver]

Awesome vid. I just got into tactics games after playing Gears of War Tactics on gamepass, and just bought XCOM 2 on the steam sale. I'll try to play without loading any saves to get that more raw experience, even if I get pissed off for making mistakes lol

[@TapCat]

Good luck!

[@MrEMeat-kk9tc]

Really enjoyed listening to you and Syken chat about XCOM. Maybe more collabs with other creators in the future?

[@TapCat]

I'm certainly open to it, and am hopeful that Syken and I will do more videos in the not-too-distant future.

[@gulagbatman1318]

I've got 350 hours on Xcom 2. The first 75 hours was my first complete playthrough on normal easy/normal difficulty. The rest of my hours are failed Commander/Legendary ironman playthroughs. (Mostly Legendary ironman) I have about 115 failed campaigns in my auto save files. The earliest in-game point that I fail is the first supply raid, the latest I fail is the second retaliation. Getting wounded is the same as losing a soldier. And getting wounded is an inevitably. But I won't quit. I'll go insane before I give up.

[@ALeCoq112]

That Legendary ironman is insane :) The fact that on a mission after finishing the objective and killing every one, they drop in even more enemies was killing me. Especially timed missions.

[@gulagbatman1318]

@@ALeCoq112 Did you beat it?

[@ALeCoq112]

@@gulagbatman1318 No, after many failures I gave up and went with lower difficulty and what do you know, I beat it :) I will try again at some point. I need to beat it. It is a good gaming challenge for me.

[@gulagbatman1318]

@@ALeCoq112 I usually lose because I run out of Intel to contact other regions to stop the avatar project. Or my troops are too under strength to complete missions. Because in the mid-game phase and onwards, if you fail to meet the mission parameters for any mission, you lose contact with the region in which the mission took place. I know, stupid right? I now have 430 hours on Xcom 2 and 155 failed campaigns. I'm dying inside lol.

[@ALeCoq112]

@@gulagbatman1318 I feel your struggle. I didn't know that you could lose contacts. Maybe because in legendary I never get that far and the lower version I don't have that problem :) Damn, now I need to start playing it again :)

[@mikeestelle940]

The humble Flash Bang! So underrated!

[@guitarsnstrings4things677]

Thank you for all your videos. I mosly went off of what the in-game descriptions read and never realised what changes occurred in the background edit: Just on the first point I want to add that game pretty much wants you to experiment. You can come up with a lot of strategies (where the fun of this sits), and likely your fist game won't be a success. I'd encourage players that haven't played similar titles or previous games to rather think of this as running multiple scenarios in a game and not get too attached. You can get a lot out of the game by trying things, being stupid and learning from it

[@TapCat]

I totally agree, and I encourage people to use the first campaign as a learning sandbox every chance I get.

[@2GooDProductions]

I thought I was an old gamer at 48, you give me hope for my future

[@cIoudbank]

tap cat looks literally nothing like i thought he did. wtf.

[@rharrington4204]

1000%

[@Tranquilarium]

Absolutely haha

[@Cheddar_96]

Good video, I’m about to start playing XCom 2 this weekend and I’m trying to take in some info so I’m not 100% clueless when I start lol. I’m also pretty new to turn based games having had only played solasta cotm, and pillars of eternity 2. Super excited to play XCom

[@TapCat]

That's awesome, good luck!

[@Cheddar_96]

@@TapCat thank you sir, I will be watching more of your XCom videos, I seen that you have a whole library of helpful videos lol.

[@TopcatsLair]

Hi TapCat, I'm Topcat LOL I loooove XCOM Enemy Unknown, but have only dipped my toe into the second game. Bought it on Switch recently to have a portable version of it, but also have it on PS4 and PC. I feel like my love for the previous game means my strategy for base building and prioritising missions might be burned in to me from my previous playstyle. I'm enjoying checking out your vids.

[@TapCat]

Glad to hear it, us cats have to stick together!

[@gustavomarins6201]

replaying this game and got really happy when he said to not be afraid to reload saves to try a different approach, i do it all the time

[@raymondkravitz2001]

I've been banging my head against the wall with both XCOM: EU and XCOM2, I'm gonna take this advice to heart. Thanks, TapCat!

[@ta6t5n]

Left already comment on Syken channel, but have to comment here too. Great stuff ! I love to watch both of you guys, learn a lot. One note is that after you get all that great info from both of you on both tactical and strategic level (strategic level better in original ufo games from 90's) for pure entertainment I really like to watch you guys struggle and suffer :). With your experience when you play campaign from start 2 end usually around month 3 I don't see you get into spots simply because you don't do many mistakes early on. I would love to see you make a similar series like Syken's save a disaster campaign or at have a playlist when due to unlucky event or simple error you put yourself into spot with activating 3 pods at once.

[@lazy2452]

Dark Souls Syndrome is so accurate. 10+ years ago I bounced off both the Souls and Xcom franchises but now I'm obsessed, I've gone back and played Demon Souls and UFO Defense and there's kinda nothing that compares to feeling like you've outsmarted a game that previously felt impossible.

[@OrangeNash]

True on ignoring that dialogue! After losing lots, gradually realised that protecting your soldiers is always #1. Evac if things are going bad - especially if you could lose a key soldier. Keep getting soldiers promoted, you don't want to be in mid-game with rookies because your initial experienced soldiers got killed , even over several missions. Use rookies as cannon fodder. Also, I had a big high-level strategic mindset realisation. It is that the tactical battles are totally unrealistic and abstract, they are like chess, not real life. Real life military tactics don't really work, because the game is total fiction. Don't think in terms of "I need to move my squad in a formation close to that alien and shoot him". Think of moving a piece in chess on a game board. Look at possible moves and see where that leaves you. Then move that piece on the board. Nothing behaves like in real life, you are moving pieces on a game board. Might not help anyone else, but seeing it like that transformed my game!

[@blizzardqc]

TapCat AND Syken?! Wow! Talk about skills and fun to listen to! :D

[@Awol991]

I just did another play through and used the mimic beacon that I never really had used before. I took it on almost every mission, did not always use it on the mission. But it was a nice escape when I was going to end turn with 2 or more enemies still active (you know the time you trip a second group when working on the first). The mimic target could usually soak up at least 2 attacks that would then not be direct at real troopers.

[@TapCat]

True, you don't always need it but it can be a literal lifesaver when things hit the fan!

[@BlueMercury84]

Another video about XCOM? I would have thought that you'd be burned out by this franchise by now. Yet despite all the years that you've been playing these games, you still light up when ever you are talking about. I kind of envy you. I don't that I've play a game for a very long time that makes me feel that way. Anyway, you keep being you Tap. On another topic, I've just recently started playing "Into the Breach." I don't suppose that you've heard of/ play this game before? Would you consider doing a let's play on this game? If so, I will watch the series with great interest.

[@stardaggerrihannsu2363]

1) There is no Vanilla 2) Use Mods 3) Avoid the Church of the Needless Nerf (they are BAD and pervasive) 4) There is no RNG 5) Winning is Fun, Everything else is Losing

[@alexjohnson3179]

TapCat following all those helpful tips, being careful, killing the enemies tactically, etc., only for the game to, on the last turn of his mission, bring him to within a fraction of a percentage of that 2nd hack reward but not give it to him, is the perfect encapsulation of XCOM2

[@juttyism]

I watch Drifters challenge runs all the time and even after years and years someone with prolific knowledge of the game is learning new things, new edge cases especially, on like every challenge run video.

[@TapCat]

It's amazing how deep this game is and how much there is to discover.

[@logixindie]

This game is not very beginner friendly so I understand some people would fail to get into. A lot of poorly explained stuffs, but that could be the beauty of it. My biggest problem is how powerful you are in late game causing the game to feel not challenging at all. I hope Midnight Suns won't suffer the same problem.

[@dustbagwx5186]

Nice tips Tapcat! I would like to share one that I don't think is very obvious because I don't see very many players do it. Tip: Equipped ammo works for pistols. Pistols with bluescreen rounds are insanely strong mid to late game. With gunslinger perks quickdraw, lightning hands, and faceoff with bluescreen rounds can almost down a sectopod by themselves in one turn on legendary with full armor. One shred and the gunslinger will down it by themselves after that. I don't think many people know that bluescreen rounds increase damage vs alot of enemies. All robots, codex, spectres, andromedons after the shell is broken, and even gatekeepers while they are closed. With some setup you can get some pretty crazy faceoff turns because late game most enemies are susceptible to BS rounds. Bluescreen rounds almost negate AP rounds and they are so good that some people don't use them because they make the game to easy even on legendary. Seriously if you have not tried it before give it a shot! Who needs specialists!

[@TapCat]

The bluescreen rounds are indeed very powerful and I rely on them pretty heavily in my own playthroughs.

[@travis8106]

I am a couple hours in, and I had to quit tonight before I hit my monitor with a sledgehammer. I also recognize that I had this feeling with Dark Souls 3, Sekiro, and Doom Eternal. Three games that I began playing the wrong way, learned how to play properly, and became my favorite games of all time.

[@RaisingJackal]

New to xcom and loving the game. These videos helped me understand what the hell is going on.

[@TapCat]

That's fantastic, glad to hear it!

[@richardsylvester4518]

Nothing wrong with a reload if your sniper misses a 99% shot and you lose a soldier because of that. Chance is in the game sure, but sometimes these percentages are bullshit.

[@runelt99]

Problem with savescumming in xcom enemy unknown(within) for me was that it feels like first attempt goes in the worst way possible and retry goes perfectly. Sure part of it is me knowing where enemies are likely on but still...

[@TapCat]

I can honestly say that I've had missions that were sufficiently challenging that I couldn't crack them regardless of how many times I reloaded and tried different approaches.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

@@TapCat The infamous Portent mission is one of those. It is extraordinarily difficult to juggle the poor cover availability and deadly sightline positioning of the map, low skill of the troops, inadequate equipment and unusually fierce opposition of clustered Thin Men not afraid of being aggressive. Especially if you're a masochist like me and play with Training Roulette enabled, which eliminates consistent strategies, and the Larger Alien Pods mod. Although no matter how many times I run Portent, I never go without finishing it. And that doggone mission has taught me by far the most in flexible thinking and adaptation on the fly. And definitely attention to detail as well, because Thin Man overwatches can kill a mission veeeery quickly.

[@runelt99]

@@DinnerForkTongue Are you sure? I find missions like portent to be extra easy. Yes first attempts are hard, but whenever I retry I already have memory of roughly where enemies spawn, how far can I walk before they spawn and what enemies spawn. Meaning that I can have my entire team overwatch and destroy anyone that lands, know that if I stay in one spot no more enemies will spawn so no need to rush... Also why the hell did youtube only notify me of this now thanks to somebody liking my comment??? Damnit youtube!"

[@DinnerForkTongue]

@@runelt99 No joke. I struggle with Portent most times. Often because my more destructive squaddies are out of commission, and all I have are rookies with their unreliable aim and no basekit abilities. Last time when the best I had was a Support with Suppression, was especially tough. I decided to eat a few deaths to get it over with. "Saying in one spot" never worked for me. Thin Mints set up on cover _just_ at the edge of my vision (so they don't trigger Overwatch by moving from one observed tile to another observed tile) and any fire I take by this point is a one-shot. I just don't bother with Overwatch. Though I suspect the main problem is my setup: I tend to play on Marathon so by this point I don't have a single thing researched and can't field so much as a MEC, and with Larger Alien Pods the "forcelevel" is at the point where pod sizes are consistently 3.

[@runelt99]

@@DinnerForkTongue Hm, by staying in one spot, I mean knowing that if i dont move forward, no new enemies appear so I can reload, heal up if needed. Them overwatching is usually easier for me - them dropping down already triggers my entire team's overwatch and since he does it too, it means that next turn is free for all of my units to rain down death. IIRC if you move just 1 tile just to get sight you won't actually trigger overwatch (quick googling shows that its 2 tiles in enemy within for some reason) so it might be useful to have another unit flank from another direction if enemy keeps agressively overwatching. If not possible I just have my unit dash for that extra chance to avoid it. I personally find missions that are time sensitive like that blasted pre-giant ship train mission where you have to activate nodes to get turns, and then activate train to make ship land. It may be scripted but I constantly forget where those accursed first ever mutons spawn. To conclude, I found my classic ironman playthrough much more difficult and honestly fun then my impossible - because impossible lead me to cheesing by dashing my units to find out enemy location, then reload. Its not foolproof but still. Then again my ironmen included restarting like 7 times because of bad rng and once I got a good team, I was able to roll with them to endgame.

[@failsafe123123]

Good vid, thanks for it. I'm playing game on vet (second level) and I expected it to be fairly easy, like in many other games, where first level is just boring, so never worth taking it. In X2 however veteran level is something, especially on the start. Game is annoying, since in many missions you are not only weak, but also have to face time limitations. Moreover, I've noticed that map generation is a problem. Same mission - but replayed starting from scratch - will offer different maps, and sometimes difference is huge. With time limit it matter how far is your target and how many ways lead there. Replaying missions is a key to victory, at least early on, but I know few people who started playing X2 and just gave up - obviously everybody expects that game with hard start will only be more difficult later.

[@cjbrown1979]

Thanks for the great tips. Console gamer here. I'm new to XCOM2, and I admit that I save and reload A LOT! But only to avoid soldier KIAs. Losing troops makes the game so much harder because you're constantly recruiting and playing with weak freshies. Sure, it's a bit of a cheese, but it keeps the fun factor at max and the frustration to a minimum. 😂

[@09jadeen]

I do the same, but I only have about 15 hours into the game and I'm still learning the ropes before upping to a harder difficulty and trying a legit run. Currently on medium and it can be difficult at times, especially when the chosen shows up

[@jerometruitt2731]

Proud save scummer and that's exactly how I use it. But I would add that even saving shot for shot can give you valuable information about the inner workings of the game. I've discovered that the game seems to punish you for making less than optimal choices. For example. I had an 85% shot that missed, I was elevated above the target and had them flanked. I restarted and realized I could have used a grenade on another solider to kill 3 troops before taking that shot, so I did. Took out the troops and then my 85% shot not only hit but did critical damage for the kill.

[@pandemicg6677]

tips i cant contact the area with avatar project.. i try four times but nothing. i think its kinda a bug something like that.. so frustrating..

[@TapCat]

Make sure you've made contact with all of the resistance cells in each region leading to the avatar project (including the one where it's sitting). It won't let you attack any kind of alien facility unless you do that first.

[@SinSorrowEU]

Saw Rays tail nearly at the beginning.😸 so, a like is confirmed!

[@petetrc9671]

If you're new and have XCom2 with all the DLCs and Wotc, start off with vanilla + DLCs before Wotc. If you start with Wotc, certain content from the DLCs will be dumped on you without context as it disables the storyline missions from the DLCs by default. You may re-enable the storylines when you start a new game by turning off 'integrated dlcs', but Wotc's gameplay mechanics and 6 new 'boss' enemy types will be overwhelming for the new player.

[@kevinerskine3299]

Absolutely agree about Syken. His flawless legendary run is insane.

[@AceGoodheart]

I'm not new to X-COM. I think I've played almost every version. However, I haven't played X-COM 2 since about 2017 and I'm about to start up again now that I have a new laptop. My problem is trying to figure out which mods to add to the game. I wish there was a list of top mods worth adding to the game. I think part of the thrill of this game is losing dear soldiers. It's emotional. You've invested so much time into ranking up your soldier so losing him in battle sucks, but I'd rather accept his death and carry on rather than reload the mission and replay it. "Next man up" I say. I'll cherish my elite fallen soldier but it's fun to see which soldier takes his/her place.

[@TapCat]

If you search my channel for "XCOM 2 mods" you should find a video where I recommened 5 really helpful quality of life mods that I use in every campaign. If you like seeing your soldiers as individuals, then I would also suggest looking for mods that let you customize their appearance more as I've found that really helps add personality and I start to think of them more as individuals.

[@elborito6738]

Just started and i love it. Incredible game

[@ReLLaKaT316]

For me the only thing that I'm confused about is the map! I don't get it. You can go anywhere but I don't understand what order or what dark events are etc. What i mean is I don't know how well I'm doing. My advent bar thingy is nearly full. Think I'm doing it wrong🤷‍♂️

[@TapCat]

If the progress bar on the Avatar Project is almost full, then you're in a very dangerous position. If there are any story missions like the black site that you have unlocked but haven't done, then do those. A lot of them lower the progress. If you can get to an alien facility, take it out because that also slows it down. If you're playing War of the Chosen then watch for both covert ops to reduce Avatar Project Progress and facility leads. If you do end up losing this campaign to the avatar project, then when you start your next you'll want to really focus your scanning on the world map to opening up new resistance contacts and getting access to regions with alien facilities. Don't get sidetracked by the new scanning missions that they constantly offer you. The rewards are nice, but you're usually better off sticking to the main priority of growing your network. You'll not only be able to take out alien facilities, you'll also earn a lot more credits each month to buy new weapons, armor, etc. Anyway, good luck and I hope this is of some help to you!

[@Ze_N00B]

I think it makes perfect sense that Bradford's advice is so terrible, at least in the Commander's (your) perspective. Think about it: Bradford is not a leader, but a soldier. People like him have been commanding the resistance for decades and just barely surviving the war with Advent, while you manage to make ludicrous progress into defeating Advent and even win the war in about a year or two. That terrible advice is the reason why they spent so much time looking for you in the first place.

[@TapCat]

That's a great way to translate into the story!

[@dariano56]

That is a very interesting take on poor game design.

[@youknowihadtodoittoem3579]

Your comment on dropping difficulty if you are being forced to consistently savescum really hits the mark on my end. Xcom has really been messing with my mental on a lot of the missions I had been playing on regular difficulty (Yes, I've dropped down to rookie). As an example, my tactical movement, I would consider very, very solid. And my strategic gameplay does include equipping my long range units with scopes, my close range units with laser sights, knowing who to use where, if it weren't for variables I feel I'd be able to play on veteran or commander difficulty. However I've noticed that I quite consistently miss shots that are in the 90-98% range on regular difficulty, while enemy troopers quite consistently hit their low% hit shots, like shooting from the low ground at my sniper who is using high cover from across the map. Ever since I dropped back down to Rookie difficulty, my shots are actually hitting (By now two of my rosters unironically have 100% hit chance on enemy units) and the enemy team doesn't always hit the unbearably unlikely shots. That doesn't mean they don't hit when they flank me back, but since I have, what I'd consider high level positioning skills, that generally doesn't happen.

[@TapCat]

Just as an FYI, the enemy doesn't suffer a penalty to their aim no matter how far away they are when they shoot. The % to hit is as simple as their aim score minus the value of your cover (20 for half, 40 for full). Short of hunkering down behind full cover, they're always going to have a pretty decent chance to hit you. That's one reason I have a whole series of strategy videos where I talk about the importance of identifying which enemies will fire at you on their first turn and killing them before they have a chance to act. There are other enemies that use abilities that may seem scary but don't actually do anything to hurt you on that first turn and you can wait to deal with them until the 2nd turn of the encounter. Anyway, I'm glad to hear that the game has been going better for you and good luck with the remainder of your current campaign!

[@privateer236]

Some familiarity with the previous version was helpful. The urgency element was a nice addition.

[@laurenrockzful]

I feel attacked by the dark soul syndrome but guess what I went back after I beat number 2 and 3 just to prove I could beat the 1st one

[@BortBortson]

For me the biggest chance coming from Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within is that grenades now have no real penalty unless it kills the one guy who drops the elerium core or weapon upgrade. Using grenades to level the map and remove enemy cover makes it much easier. That and a sniper with kill box. As long as you don't get cocky I did pretty well first time out

[@RobotPlaysGames]

Loving your X-COM 2 content! Glad I found your channel. I’m totally new to this genre, bought the game before I knew what I was signing up for, and I’ve been putting off playing it until now because I thought it would just demoralize me. I am finally starting it, though, and my main question at the moment is, given what I just said, is it a bad idea to start my game with War of the Chosen? Is it better for beginners to start with the base game?

[@TapCat]

My opinion is that you'll be much better off starting with the base game without any of the DLC. War of the Chosen is popular but it will bombard you with a ton of new decisions and demands that can be overwhelming if you haven't wrapped your mind around the basics of the game yet.

[@RobotPlaysGames]

@@TapCat okay, I will go with the base game then. Thanks!

[@TapCat]

@@RobotPlaysGames Happy to help, and good luck with your first campaign!

[@pimpinaintdeadho]

@9:47 That's part of what makes the game so much fun to replay.

[@binbadende]

Man, had I just known that my lookalike makes XCOM content, I could have avoided lots of restarts. Thanks to almost myself. And to you of course.

[@TapCat]

Glad I could help!

[@austinhuntoon2813]

as someone who did a blind playthrough of the base xcom 2 game i wish i would of had this video but i did beat it and then went through again and well i didnt listen to what bradford was telling me and i focused on other things which actually made the game alot easier and then of course when it came to WOC oh boy that was dificult and i actully used the save at the start and then go through again after beating the level as i had a sort of very deadly warlock chosen role so i had to take time to figure out how to beat him in that mission. anyways thanks for the video it made me chuckel alot at the stuff i picked up while playing.

[@rexythedeathclaw5766]

I know I'm like a year late but what others would you recommend to watch play xcom 2 I'm new to xcom 2 I got it because I've heard it's similar to gears tactics and I am struggling quite alot

[@TapCat]

Are you asking about what other videos to watch or other channels? I have a whole play list of guides that may help. If you have the time, watching a whole let's play series is ideal because then you get a chance to see all of the decisions. On my channel, Season 6 would probably be the best to watch.

[@monkeytime9851]

It is so weird seeing this game again, and without the long war mod.

[@lukeskyblaster8860]

so good keep the work up i just started xcom series this was very helpful !! thanks

[@Philip-0]

9:43 Whenever I replay an approach, I discover that the AI cheats. Going around to the 2nd pod causes the 1st pod to follow you to them, even though you're still concealed. Approaching the first pod causes them to drift the opposite way. Watching the AI react to actions they're not supposed to be seeing can get very irritating.

[@TapCat]

Agreed. The pods are drawn to you, whether you're revealed or not and that isn't always convenient to say the least.

[@sepo3451]

If I run close up (next to) an enemy and have a 95% hit chance and the doofy still misses the shot - this is exactly when I ask myself "what the hell were the devs thinking?" In my opinion, there should be a threshold for the RNG so when you are e.g. above 90% hit chance - you should just hit that sucker, no matter the dice roll. This simple tiny adjustment would take away so much frustration from the players - and it would add the realism of not being able to miss a shot if you press the end of a barrel into the face of an alien commander.

[@Xeno_Solarus]

That's such a dumb thing to say, no offense. "90% should just be 100%." My guy has never played an rpg before.

[@JeremaiahT]

@Tapcat are you planning on making a gatekeeper guide video?

[@TapCat]

I don't have specific plans to, but I'd consider it. I will say that the "how to kill..." videos are my least popular XCOM guides, though, so that doesn't help.

[@PadelbootStudios]

Using saves to see what other approaches could've been taken is certainly an interesting idea. I think I might do that some time and see how it goes. And while it is certainly useful to have guides and tips at hand, even in the first playthrough, some of my most memorable XCOM2 memories are from my first campaign, where I went in completely blind. Yes, it was ineffective, hard and filled with reloading saves, but it was memorable and still got me to crave for more. Just imagine going into the first site mission (the one that appears at the start and where you get that vial) thinking the campaign is filled with these and thus bringing 4 rookies, because "oh it's the first one, it should be easy". With no upgrades whatsoever and then thinking "oh, it starts at night. It's a stealth mission". Made it to the top of the facility until I realized that one pod keeps walking straight to me. And of course that's how I first met the mutons and their plasma grenades... yeah. I actually tried to find videos on how to stealth it, thinking the mission was the exact same for everyone. Two people made it out with the vial and as frustrating as it was, it was also nailbiting and memorable. Looking back on it, every attempt in later campaigns felt a bit like a breeze compared to that. So I would argue it is a good idea to try to play it blind the first time and only resort to guides, when needed as it allows for some of the most memorable moments and learning opportunities. In any case, these two videos were very interesting to watch and had some interesting insights to them as well. ^^

[@TapCat]

As long as the struggle won't frustrate you too much, I agree that there is value in playing blind. That said, I can tell you that I've gotten countless comments on my videos from people who do get very frustrated in their first run so my main focus is on helping people learn the game quickly enough that they don't just rage quit.

[@PadelbootStudios]

@@TapCat Fully agree with that. Frustration limits are different for anyone and I can see that some people would be put off very easily without a proper guide helping them to understand how to improve. In the end of the day a game should always be fun to play and as long has someone achieves that, it's a good thing.

[@michaelborror4399]

I wouldn't say Bradford is always wrong, but particularly on the ambush missions, I always die if I run, but usually don't get shot more than once killing all the advent and lost, and getting the xp. I usually have the most success when I take out the first pod I come across, even if I have to go a little out of the way on a 7 turn timer, with a flashbang ready for the commander about to go up the rope on commander missions at least with my attempts at sneaking to the evac zone?, and when I'm prioritizing defensive placement with not bunching up when grenades or aoes are present, or not melee attacking into activating another pod, and having a better idea of which characters are usually best for what kind of missions in the beginning, like skirmishers, templars, sharpshooters, rangers, and specialists being good against lost, and templars being pretty good on civilian retaliation missions, with the potential of getting yourself in trouble or underpowered auto-pistoling on guerrilla ops sometimes. Or sometimes mission 5 guerilla hacking op, with a sharpshooter, ranger, grenadier, and reaper; or bing, bang, boom, and doom; when there's three troopers with one on the roof. I usually play on ironman though, which can be upsetting sometimes, trying out the labratory instead of proving ground as the 3rd building this time, which I'm liking so far, and the workshop was just a waste by the time I wanted to start over last time, with accidentally putting the shadow chamber instead of the psylab on the second power coil. And I found out that monthly supply drops go down considerably when you let the avatar meter fill up. And I probably won't use any alloys or elerium on any power suits until I get some plasma weapons and powered armor squad upgrade this time, with keeping 15 alloys available for plated armor when it comes up.

[@NvisibleTreeMan]

I had not realized TapCat was such a distinguished gentleman

[@chrismartindale7840]

I only reload when the game glitches on me. I recently added a terabyte of memory to lessen crashes and hopefully cut down on the game lagging on me, which I think causes some of the bugs.

[@rustyshackleford3160]

I like your attitude on "save scumming". You feel like straight garbage reloading each shot you miss, but like you say it's a tremendous learning experience retrying an encounter as long as you aren't "cheating" like maximizing your squad location before the fight starts. Phantom Doctrine is a great espionage based Xcom-like that you can quite regularly stealth your way through entire missions no matter what your goal is....that doesn't work so well in Xcom 2. I got to the center of my first black site completely stealthed, but then you are utterly surrounded for exfiltration which is not ideal.

[@TapCat]

I replayed a number of missions when I first started. I feel like I got the equivalent of multiple campaigns from that first run.

[@brentramsten249]

ive never had an issue not just running to the evac point on ambush mission. in fact its so easy to run away from enemies using walls that i once saw a codex on an ambush, used a skulljack, killed the avatar with a banish, and still ran away to the evac without taking a single point of damage. cant see a good reason not to....

[@JoeSmith-mp2fn]

It's wild how every time I get that xcom itch (once a year or two) there's usually a recent top cat video. I consider myself a vet at this point, yet here I am.

[@TapCat]

Happy to be here for you whenever the need arises!