Sorry for the off-topic comment but I like to occasionally refer to your Long War content - does Substack provide any way for you to make "Playlists" so that I can quickly click to e.g. LW1 and look through your posts on only that game?
It would be nice to be able to just click into a LW1 playlist and quickly leaf through those posts, instead of either remembering the name of the post I'm thinking of, or scrolling through the entire archive.
Really glad that you asked me about this. This morning I set up a list of links in the sidebar of the main site, grouped by xcom version. I am really happy with how it looks and how it makes all my posts readily accessible.
Hey. Been reading your blog for quite some time mostly for the Long War 1/2 stuff (personally I have no interest in Rebalance), and I generally play on Impossible Ironman, although I play without Alien Rulers.
For me the biggest change is that the nerf to Fuse and Soulfire somewhat devalued Psi-Rushing. One of the main strategic benefits was that out of the box Squaddie Psi Operatives (and Squaddie+Fuse) were very strong soldiers out of the gate and didn't feel like a liability in normal ops missions (you wouldn't take one on a retaliation or long mission, naturally). Now they are still functional soldiers but the pressure on your barracks feels just a bit more taxing knowing that Psi Squaddies will have far less to contribute in protracted engagements until they hit their first apex ability.
The other big strategic difference for me is that Concussion Rocket is *really* nice to get on Rocketeers. They used to be awfully stinky, both inherently (what did they *do*?) and also because competing with Burnout/Shredder was rough. In previous campaigns I found myself bringing a flashbang on my Technicals well into the midgame and now C. Rockets are functionally a sting grenade. Technicals are the kings of early game, and giving them a sting grenade rounds them out midgame in a great way in the occasional situation where neither a Rocket or Flamethrower are ideal. The damage is also really nice in tandem with Reaper's Blood Trail and possibly removing evasive.
I also already always took Combat Protocol, but the buff is really nice there. Doing guaranteed 10 Armor-Piercing Damage (with T2 Gremlins) to the most dangerous midgame enemies (Robots) is a huge deal and makes the ability feel like a *real* ability beyond simply an early-midgame crutch to finish off low-health-but-awkwardly-positioned enemies. The Sentinel build is still better for long missions, but now Combat Protocol is less inferior.
Kind of surprised you didn't mention it, but the Banish nerf was pretty hefty. Kind of turned Banish from "This ability reliably solves beefy targets for me by itself" to "This is a useful tool but I need to have a backup". Before I might argue it was the strongest non-Domination ability in the game, now it is more comparable to Cyclic Fire. Which is to say it is still good but you really need to invest AP into some decent XCOM-row abilities to enable it. On my Second Reaper I went Light-Em-Up+Death Dealer+Chain Shot (T4 XCOM Ability) and honestly I didn't miss the ability.
Warlock feels more intense to fight. Before I would usually think "Thank god this isn't Assassin or Hunter" but now, while I still think he is the most manageable you have to be a lot more cautious when engaging him.
I completely agree with your view about all the changes, though I still love my psi soldiers and find the nerf to fuse doesn’t slow them too much. Psi insanity is not too big a step down.
I should have mentioned some of these tactical wrinkles.I believe I was planning to update my class builds and tactical posts and comment on the changes there but never got around to it.
Shame I didn’t see much of the warlock. I was mostly fighting the assassin.
Sorry for the off-topic comment but I like to occasionally refer to your Long War content - does Substack provide any way for you to make "Playlists" so that I can quickly click to e.g. LW1 and look through your posts on only that game?
It would be nice to be able to just click into a LW1 playlist and quickly leaf through those posts, instead of either remembering the name of the post I'm thinking of, or scrolling through the entire archive.
Great content, keep it up.
Really glad that you asked me about this. This morning I set up a list of links in the sidebar of the main site, grouped by xcom version. I am really happy with how it looks and how it makes all my posts readily accessible.
It looks great and is very easy to navigate, appreciate it!
In the meantime just use the search filter with “LW2” for example.
Actually, they do provide something like that. I can add a sidebar on the website with groups of articles. I used to have that.
I went away from it for some reason. Can’t remember why, but I may read it when I go back to writing posts…
Hey. Been reading your blog for quite some time mostly for the Long War 1/2 stuff (personally I have no interest in Rebalance), and I generally play on Impossible Ironman, although I play without Alien Rulers.
For me the biggest change is that the nerf to Fuse and Soulfire somewhat devalued Psi-Rushing. One of the main strategic benefits was that out of the box Squaddie Psi Operatives (and Squaddie+Fuse) were very strong soldiers out of the gate and didn't feel like a liability in normal ops missions (you wouldn't take one on a retaliation or long mission, naturally). Now they are still functional soldiers but the pressure on your barracks feels just a bit more taxing knowing that Psi Squaddies will have far less to contribute in protracted engagements until they hit their first apex ability.
The other big strategic difference for me is that Concussion Rocket is *really* nice to get on Rocketeers. They used to be awfully stinky, both inherently (what did they *do*?) and also because competing with Burnout/Shredder was rough. In previous campaigns I found myself bringing a flashbang on my Technicals well into the midgame and now C. Rockets are functionally a sting grenade. Technicals are the kings of early game, and giving them a sting grenade rounds them out midgame in a great way in the occasional situation where neither a Rocket or Flamethrower are ideal. The damage is also really nice in tandem with Reaper's Blood Trail and possibly removing evasive.
I also already always took Combat Protocol, but the buff is really nice there. Doing guaranteed 10 Armor-Piercing Damage (with T2 Gremlins) to the most dangerous midgame enemies (Robots) is a huge deal and makes the ability feel like a *real* ability beyond simply an early-midgame crutch to finish off low-health-but-awkwardly-positioned enemies. The Sentinel build is still better for long missions, but now Combat Protocol is less inferior.
Kind of surprised you didn't mention it, but the Banish nerf was pretty hefty. Kind of turned Banish from "This ability reliably solves beefy targets for me by itself" to "This is a useful tool but I need to have a backup". Before I might argue it was the strongest non-Domination ability in the game, now it is more comparable to Cyclic Fire. Which is to say it is still good but you really need to invest AP into some decent XCOM-row abilities to enable it. On my Second Reaper I went Light-Em-Up+Death Dealer+Chain Shot (T4 XCOM Ability) and honestly I didn't miss the ability.
Warlock feels more intense to fight. Before I would usually think "Thank god this isn't Assassin or Hunter" but now, while I still think he is the most manageable you have to be a lot more cautious when engaging him.
I completely agree with your view about all the changes, though I still love my psi soldiers and find the nerf to fuse doesn’t slow them too much. Psi insanity is not too big a step down.
I should have mentioned some of these tactical wrinkles.I believe I was planning to update my class builds and tactical posts and comment on the changes there but never got around to it.
Shame I didn’t see much of the warlock. I was mostly fighting the assassin.
Awesome Intel! Thanks for the advice and heads-up.