Long War 2 - Playing Slow
When you feel as though a disaster is near at hand, or already underway, it is time to throttle back your decision making, and play it slow.
Yesterday I was playing Long War 2 and had a nasty engagement on a Troop Ambush. My squad had great position on a rooftop, though a couple were standing next to an explosive barrel, and there were only 16 enemies left on the map. In the prior turn, I had broken concealment and destroyed a pod of 6 enemies. I knew there were two pods nearby. The 3rd pod (with a Sectopod) had wandered off, and I had no idea where it was. So things were looking pretty good…
Then all three of the remaining pods charged my position.
Now I am facing 16 enemies; Sectopod, Muton Elite, Berserker, 4 other Mutons, 2 Sidewinder Elites, a Longbow, and 6 assorted Advent.
I didn’t panic. I have Kubikuri on my Sharpshooter. I have Domination on my Psi Operative. I have Full Override on my Specialist. My Spark can tank some shots. Also, I’ve been here before. These are the situations that make the game fun! Once upon a time, this screw-up would have given me a sick feeling in my stomach, and the anxiety would have caused me to play fast, so I could just get it over with. I would have decided on actions without consideration, then realize afterwards that I should have done something else, or done it in a different order. The difference now, is that I know how to control my anxiety, and not let it affect my decisions. I know how to play slow. And so looking at this mess, I shifted down a couple gears, and carefully considered all the options for each of my 7 soldiers. Then calmly spent the next 15 minutes dismantling the enemy position. Here is how I did it.
Grenadier: Sting Grenade hits 5 enemies, including the MEC Longbow, an advent sentinel on overwatch, the Muton Elite, the Sectopod, and a Sidewinder Elite. 2 are stunned (Sidewinder, and Muton Elite). Starting with a Sting Grenade is usually a good idea. I could have hit more enemies with the sting grenade, but this placement hit the MEC, the overwatcher, and some tough enemies.
Spark: Hit Overdrive. With overwatch removed, the Spark can move freely to a position where he can target the most enemies with the Shredder Gun; 5 or 6 enemies are wounded, including the Sectopod, which is necessary to use Kubikuri on it. Third action is Bombard. I choose as a target 2 advent on a roof. One dies in the fall, the other (Heavy Rocketeer) lands out of cover with 2 HP. This was a critical move. The Rocketeer was extremely dangerous, as most of my soldiers were on a roof, and 2 were next to an explosive barrel. The other option was to use Bombard to hit 3 enemies (2 Mutons and a sentinel) behind very destructible cover. However, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to follow that up with enough shots to kill all 3. Only my Ranger was going to be able to take advantage of those uncovered targets. So I decided to burn that group later, with a Grenadier, and use Bombard to help take out the Rocketeer.
Officer Shinobi: First action is Get Some. This is to guarantee the Kubikuri on the Sectopod. Officer will hold the remaining action for later. As I write this, I am realizing that Get Some should have been my very first move of the turn. It didn’t end up mattering, but is worth pointing out.
Sharpshooter: Kubikuri on Sectopod. Get Some improves crit from 85% to 100%. Boom. I was going to kill the Sectopod with Kubikuri on this turn, regardless of whether or not it was stunned by the Sting Grenade. If something happens to the Sharpshooter, or she is unable to steady her next shot, then the Kubikuri would be in jeopardy. Not worth the risk.
Specialist: Aid Protocol on himself. Full Override on the Longbow. The Sting Grenade improved the odds from ~56% to ~82%. It lands, but in doing so, I activate a Heavy Turret. Oh well. It was important to make this move soon, as the Longbow must be controlled to keep it from nuking the soldiers standing next to explosives. If I had failed to hack it, the Psi Op could use stasis on it.
Psi Operative: First action is Stasis on Advent Officer. I was surprised that there was not a more dangerous target. If I had not stunned the Muton Elite, or hacked the Longbow, those would have been the Stasis target. Elite Officers are pretty dangerous shooters and have grenades. Also this guy was on a roof. The second action was Domination on Berserker at 87%. I looked at every domination target, and this was the best. It lands. Sometimes it is good to save Stasis for later, but I wanted to know if the Domination would land before planning remaining moves.
Officer Shinobi: Command on Grenadier. Grenadier throws a fire Bomb on 2 Mutons, and an Advent Sentinel. All 3 burn. Very lucky.
Ranger: 100% to hit on uncovered Rocketeer that had fallen from roof. Dead. Rapid Fire on Muton Centurion in half cover. It’s a coin flip to hit. But I only need one shot to land clean as the target was wounded by the Spark’s Shredder gun. The second shot kills it.
Enemy Turn: Only 6 enemies will get to act on their turn. 2 Mutons, a Sentinel, a Sidewinder, a Heavy Turret, and a Shieldbearer. They have 2 easy targets that are not my soldiers. On the enemy turn the Berserker takes a small wound, and my Spark loses all ablative and a few HP. Awesome.
Things could have turned out much much worse. My soldiers were very lucky; succeeding in the Domination and the MEC hack. But by prioritizing targets, and planning out the whole turn, I was able to control all the worst enemies, and prevent the worst possible outcomes. Playing slow was essential to managing this encounter, and has helped me overcome numerous other difficult scenarios.
Slow play didn’t come naturally to me. When faced with likely defeat, my instinct is to play faster. To just get this over with. The stress and fear of losing prevent me from thinking clearly, and compel me to hasten the outcome. Panic play, has killed many of my campaigns; leaving me angry and frustrated at myself, for having played the worst when I needed to be at my best. Now I am less concerned with the outcome of the campaign, and more concerned with my own decision making. That’s all I can control anyway. Luck will always be a major factor in XCOM, but it is not dominant, unless I let it dominate my thoughts. Controlling my emotions, freeing my mind of anxiety, allows me to slowly consider each challenge as though it were just a puzzle. This mindset helps me win; more importantly, it helps me enjoy XCOM.