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tigerkirby215 · 4 years

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5e Frank West build (Dead Rising)

(Screenshot of Dead Rising 4 - Game by Capcom)

“I’ve covered wars ya know.”

In an attempt to branch out my builds beyond D&D I had a look through my Steam library for other games with interesting characters. While most of the games I play have pretty broad characters (Killing Floor, XCOM, Void Bastards... btw play Void Bastards it’s good) I eventually came across Dead Rising and all I could think is... “Yes.”

Frank West! Forever charismatic journalist, amateur craftsman, minor wrestling star, major anti-government conspirator, and part-time zombie. For “just a normal dude” Frank is capable of some pretty extraordinary feats, going up against countless zombie hoards with nothing but his wits and the products you’d find at your local shopping center... Helps that he can drop kick all day long without getting tired.

GOALS

Anything’s a Weapon - The core appeal of Dead Rising is the ability to use anything you find as a weapon, which Frank obviously needs to do.

Duct Tape it or Die - While it was more of Chuck’s thing Frank borrowed the ability to craft Combo Weapons and does it quite well. And obviously the only reason he survived a day in Willamette was his ability to weaponize golf clubs, sandwich plates, and cartons of orange juice.

I am the Ultimate Best - Frank is no pushover in his own right with some WWE superstar smack-downs and the endurance to run a marathon without getting tired. Because the original Dead Rising was made before stamina meters were a thing.

RACE

Frank is amazingly just human, and while the ending of DR4 says otherwise we’ll stick with Variant Human for now. You get an increase in two ability scores of your choice: increase your Constitution and Intelligence. You also get a Skill of your choice and you should take Athletics to run through the entire mall all night long. You finally get a Feat: take Tavern Brawler for proficiency in Improvised weapons and some unarmed damage and increase your Constitution again. And take whatever language it really doesn’t matter.

ABILITY SCORES

15; STRENGTH - You need to be able to fight off a zombie trying to bite your face; being able to chuck them 10 yards is an added bonus.

14; CONSTITUTION - Frank takes a lot of damage in the Dead Rising games. Getting shot, run over, sliced up with a chainsaw, and receiving countless claw and teeth marks and still being able to march on takes a lot of hardiness.

13; INTELLIGENCE - Knowing how to attach chainsaws to a kayak paddle “safely” takes a certain degree of know-how, and you helped Isabella create a cure for zombism! But above all it’s a requirement to multiclass so...

12; DEXTERITY - Shrugging off a hoard of zombies trying to grab at you takes some evasive ability.

10; CHARISMA - Not extremely in-character (feel free to swap DEX and CHA if you want better roleplay but worse AC) but we unfortunately don’t need it for this build.

8; WISDOM - Jumping off a helicopter into a mall full of zombies wasn’t exactly the best choice, and I doubt I could call anyone who walks into a hardware store full of decapitated bodies “wise.”

BACKGROUND

Unfortunately there’s no Reporter background for 5e but thankfully Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion from Acquisitions Incorporated is pretty close to what we need. The main feature of Name Dropping will let everyone know that you’re Frank West, and that you’ve covered wars you know.

Replace the Performance proficiency with Insight but keep Perception to find the perfect shot. You also get two languages of your choice (pick whatever) and proficiency with a Disguise Kit to try on all sorts of clothes while surviving the zombie apocalypse.

(Artwork from Project X Zone - Owned by Capcom)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ARTIFICER 1

We’re going to start this build off as an Artificer to get the ability to craft things as soon as possible. You get two skills from the Artificer list: take Investigation for some investigative journalism and Medicine to know what brand of orange juice to drink to cure all that ails ya. You also get an artisan’s tool of your choice and Smith’s Tools would be what you use to make most of your Combo Weapons.

You also get Magical Tinkering which lets you pick up a grab bag of random stuff from various stores. You can touch a tiny, non-magical object with your tools as an action to give it a variety of effects that are listed in the ability’s description. The effect last indefinably but you can have a number of them equal to your Intelligence modifier.

Speaking of Intelligence modifier that’s what we use for our Spellcasting. You get two cantrips of your choice and while you’ll get the ability to swap them out later on start with Mending to duct tape any of your weapons if they’re going to break and Light to turn your camera’s light on. But feel free to choose whatever cantrips you think will help and since Artificer’s get a lot of choice with their spellcasting I’ll just list all the cantrips and how I’d reflavor them for Frank:

Acid Splash could be you throwing a bottle of something nasty at the zombies.

Create Bonfire could be a Molotov.

Dancing Lights could be a toy helicopter or something similar providing the light.

Firebolt is a gun.

Frostbite or Ray of Frost could be a combo weapon with a toy gun and a fire extinguisher, chilling your foes.

Guidance or Resistance is a fatherly mentor slap on the back for good luck. <3

Mage Hand could be a drone, or alternatively one of those grabbing-claw toys that Nintendo used to make. Similar idea with Thorn Whip.

Magic Stone... chuck some shit at the enemy like you do in MvC.

Message could be a walkie-talkie or a cell phone.

Poison Spray is bad don’t use it.

Prestidigitation is your grab bag of stuff from the toy store.

Shocking Grasp or Thunderclap could be you weaponizing your camera flash.

Spare the Dying is emergency medical care.

Can you tell I like Artificer? Because I really like Artificer. Anyways you also get two spells of your choice: Cure Wounds will let you or an ally guzzle some life-giving OJ and Catapult will let you grab something heavy and chuck it at a hoard! But much like with the cantrips Artificers are prepared spellcasters so you can choose your spells at the end of every long rest, giving you the ability to choose what weapons you want at the start of the day.

LEVEL 2 - BARBARIAN 1

Quickly bouncing over to Barbarian for two reasons. The first is to get Unarmored Defense equal to 10 + your Dexterity and your Constitution. We can still use Medium Armor (and I’d argue you probably should use that currently) but while the knight armor is a post-game unlock and you usually wear a leather jacket (leather armor) you can skip the padding and let your muscles protect you. The other reason however is for Martial weapon proficiency - you need to use everything you can find and Frank swings a katana as well as a baseball bat.

But you also get Rage which lets you scream up at the heavens about the government and get some work done. While raging you have advantage on Strength checks and saving throws (both of which are needed for grapples), do extra damage with strength weapons (including your fists from Tavern Brawler!), and resist bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. It lasts for 1 minute but ends early if you end a turn without attacking someone or getting hit. You can also end it as a bonus action which you might need to do because you can’t cast spells while it’s active, so no OJ while you smash faces. You can Rage twice before having to take a long rest.

LEVEL 3 - ARTIFICER 2

Back on the Artificer train we finally get our Combo Weapons, or rather our Artificer Infusions. You know 4 infusions and can have 2 active at a time. You can choose which infusions you want at the end of a long rest so pick-and-choose what you need to fight the local psychopath.

For your Known Infusions pick the following:

Enhanced Weapon lets you stick some knives on the end of a broom to make it do more damage.

An Enhanced Arcane Focus meanwhile lets you improve whatever fire-spitter someone might be using to make it spit a little more fire.

An Alchemy Jug lets you carry around a variety of drinks (or mayonnaise) to mix in a blender for some juices and cocktails.

And the Pole of Collapsing from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything can actually be used by you as a weapon effectively since you have improvised weapon proficiency from Tavern Brawler. A 10 foot quarter staff is nothing to scoff at, and you can do a good Zero impression!

Truthfully though Artificers have a huge list of items they can choose from and I’d suggest taking whatever infusions your team asks for that would help them. The strength of Artificer lies in its versatility, and while Frank’s mostly alone in Dead Rising don’t let the Survivors in your party go unarmed.

LEVEL 4 - ARTIFICER 3

3rd level Artificers get their Artificer Specialty and Alchemist is perfect for someone who makes combo cocktails as well as combo weapons.

Truthfully though the reason we’re going for Alchemist is because it’s the only one that doesn’t have a summon. The new Armorer subclass also works but that serves more for if you want to play as Exo-Suit Frank.

As an Alchemist you can craft an Experimental Elixir after a long rest with a set of Alchemist’s Supplies (which you also gain proficiency with.) You’ve got six possible cocktails to make: Healing is self-explanatory, Swiftness lets them run faster, Resilience makes them harder to hit, Boldness lets them hit a little harder, Flight lets them... fly (talk about fizzy lifting drinks!), and Transformation lets you get your zombie on with the Alter Self spell.

You get one after a long rest but you can craft another one by spending a spell slot of first level of higher. It’s up to DM’s interpretation if you can do this while raging but since it’s described that you make the elixir “magically” I’d argue against it. That, and you need some time with the blender to make juice.

Also on subject of spells you get Healing Word to shout some words of encouragement to your allies and Ray of Sickness to shoot them with the B.F.G and make them puke their guts out. You also get another spell slot and Grease lets you throw a bottle of shampoo on the floor to make your enemies slip and fall.

You also get The Right Tool for the Job which lets you quickly pull together any Artisan’s tools you might need. You need an hour to make the tools (which can be done over a rest) and they last until you use this feature again. Can’t find a maintenance closet? Just make the stuff on the fly!

LEVEL 5 - ARTIFICER 4

Grabbing an Ability Score Improvement or rather a Feat since that uneven Strength score is bugging me: take the Athlete feat with an increase to Strength so you can run after the truth or away from a hoard.

You can also prepare another spell like Identify, so you can now exactly what you’re taking pictures of.

LEVEL 6 - BARBARIAN 2

Now that we’ve got our combo weapons and our cocktails it’s time to learn some wrestling moves. Level 2 Barbarians get Reckless Attack, giving yourself Advantage on attacks with Strength weapons but giving the enemy Advantage to hit you. A piledriver might get the job done but it does leave you wide open.

You also get Danger Sense, giving you advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects you can see. Makes sense since you can dodge bullets if you see them coming but can still get outplayed by your protegee.

LEVEL 7 - BARBARIAN 3

3rd level Barbarians get their Primal Path and Path of the Totem Warrior is perfect for anyone who wants to bear hug their enemies. You get Spirit Seeker to cast the Beast Sense and Speak with Animals spells as rituals because this is meant to be the “naturalist” Barbarian but what we’re really here for is the Totem Spirit. You’re more than welcome to choose Bear like I know most people will but the most in-character option would be the spirit of the Eagle. Zombies have disadvantage to hit you if you run past them while raging and you can also Dash as a bonus action while raging, letting you run through a hoard of zombies and only suffer minimal damage. You can also Rage one more time before needing a long rest, adding up to 3 times total.

LEVEL 8 - BARBARIAN 4

4th level Barbarians get an Ability Score Improvement, and how about we finally get those wrestling moves? The Grappler feat gives you Advantage on attacks against enemies you grapple and lets you use your action to try to pin your opponent. If you do both you and the creature you’re grappling are restrained until the grapple ends.

LEVEL 9 - BARBARIAN 5

5th level Barbarians get an Extra Attack so you can combo two hits instead of one. You also get Fast Movement which increases your movement speed by 10 as long as you aren’t wearing Heavy Armor. The Megaman suit isn’t exactly aerodynamic...

LEVEL 10 - BARBARIAN 6

At level 6 Totem Warriors get Aspect of the Beast and the aspect of the Bear is perfect for anyone who wants to lift a zombie over their head and swing them around. Your carrying capacity for combo weapons is doubled and you have Advantage on Strength checks to push, pull, lift, or break objects. Technically this doesn’t include grappling and technically you can’t pick up people that you’ve grappled, but if you have a cool DM this would totally be the feature to let you chuck a zombie at another zombie. And an extra use of Rage (adding up to 4 times total) will definitely help with that zombie chucking.

(Artwork by Capcom)

LEVEL 11 - ARTIFICER 5

Now that we’ve got all the WWE we need it’s time to improve our combo weapons. 5th level Alchemists get Alchemical Savant which lets you add your Intelligence modifier to any spell that heals or does acid, fire, necrotic, or poison damage. Speaking of which you now get access to second level spells, and the Alchemist list gives you Flaming Sphere which lets you kick a burning trash can at your enemies, and Melf’s Acid Arrow lets you chuck a Queen at an enemy’s face and have them sting them a bunch.

LEVEL 12 - ARTIFICER 6

6th level Artificers get Tool Expertise, letting you double your proficiency bonus with any tools you know how to use. You can also prepare another spell like Pyrotechnics, letting you pop firecrackers in a zombie’s face to either blind them or use the smoke to cover your escape from a psychopath. You can also make two Experimental Elixirs are the start of the day instead of one.

But most importantly you learn two new Infusions and the number of Infusions you can have up at a time increases by one: Radiant Weapon finally lets you weaponize your camera flash and use your reaction to try to blind someone that hits you. Cloak of Elvenkind meanwhile makes it easier for you to sneak around and take pictures of military men talking about covering up the zombie outbreak. The government; it’s always the government...

LEVEL 13 - ARTIFICER 7

7th level Artificers get Flash of Genius. If you or one of your journalism students are in a jam you can use your reaction to add your Intelligence modifier to an ability check or saving throw, and can do this a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier. Speaking of which...

LEVEL 14 - ARTIFICER 8

8th level Artificers get another Ability Score Improvement and we’re not getting Intelligence and are instead getting Constitution for more health and better unarmored defense.

You can also prepare another spell and you can’t go wrong with Heat Metal. Get a barbecue lighter and stick it in a zombie’s face!

LEVEL 15 - ARTIFICER 9

At 9th level Alchemists get Restorative Reagents. You buff your juice mixing power so the drinks give temporary hitpoints equal to 2d6 + your intelligence modifier, and you also carry some Zombrex with you to cast Lesser Restoration a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier. Lesser Restoration won’t cure a zombie infection but I’m sure it can delay it for 24 hours.

You also get 3rd level spell slots now and as an Alchemist you always have Gaseous Form and Mass Healing Word prepared... I have no reason why Frank can turn into a cloud of gas: is he a vampire? Is it nanomachines? Are we giving a regular guy the ability to cast spells? Yes.

LEVEL 16 - ARTIFICER 10

10th level Artificers get Magic Item Adept, letting them attune to 4 magic items at once and letting you craft common and uncommon magic items in a quarter of the time using a quarter of the gold.

But more importantly you get two more known Infusions (and one more prepared infusion) and it’s finally time to fix that Intelligence! The Headband of Intellect sets your Intelligence score to 19, and the Gauntlets of Ogre Power do the same to your Strength. It’s not perfect but you’ve always been rough around the edges.

You get another cantrip so I’d suggest grabbing Firebolt for a backup pistol, but with the Headband of Intellect on your head you can prepare three more spells!

Elemental Weapon will let you turn a weapon into a +1 weapon and make it deal an extra d4 acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage.

Haste lets you speed up your combos with some X-Factor.

And bouncing back to level 2: Rope Trick will let you open up a bathroom so you can save and take a break.

Note: If you’re starting at level 16 (for some reason) and want to give your character a better stat array an updated stat distribution will be posted after this build goes live.

(UMvC3 screenshot compilation by kiraDaidohji on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 17 - ARTIFICER 11

At level 11 with Artificer you get access to a Spell Storing Item. When you finish a Long Rest you can touch a weapon or one of your infusions to put a spell of first or second level into it as long as it takes an action to cast, even if you don’t have the spell prepared. Whoever’s holding it can use their action to cast the spell using your spellcasting modifier, and if it requires concentration they concentrate on it instead of you. They can cast the spell a number of times equal to twice your Intelligence modifier (so 8 times if you’re wearing the Headband of Intellect.)

I’m not going to tell you what spell to put in the Spell Storing Item - look through the spell list yourself or search online for the best spell for the job. An Artificer’s strength is versatility and I can only do so much themeing without playing your character for you. (Pro tip though: Blur is god tier if you can give it to a Fighter or someone else with high AC who can concentrate on it.)

LEVEL 18 - ARTIFICER 12

12th level Artificers get another Ability Score improvement: cap off your Constitution for maximum hardiness, AC, and Constitution saves. Last thing you want is to lose concentration on a spell and then lose your liquor afterwards.

You can also prepare another spell such as Revivify to quickly stick a hot dog in someone’s mouth and bring them back from the dead.

LEVEL 19 - ARTIFICER 13

13th level Artificers get 4th level spell slots and Alchemists get Blight and Death Ward always prepared. Zombify an area, or alternatively stop an ally from going down to zombies. Or yourself: you going down to zombies would suck too.

LEVEL 20 - ARTIFICER 14

Our capstone is the 14th level of Artificer for Magic Item Savant, allowing you to attune to up to 5 magic items and use them regardless of any restrictions the item might have.

But most importantly you get more Infusions and it should be mentioned that you can replace old known Infusions when you level up: replace your Gauntlets of Ogre Power with a Belt of Hill Giant’s Strength which is objectively better in every way. You can also make Bracers of Defense to further increase your AC and... hell, why not a Ring of Protection too? But once again I have to recommend you listen to your party for what they want you to make: don’t hoard your Infusions or the OJ.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Won’t Stop until I’m Dead - For my first tank build on this blog Frank is a remarkably good tank. Maxed out Constitution with Barbarian levels means your health will easily go over 200, and Unarmored Defense combined with Bracers of Protection and a Ring of Protection can put your AC close to 20, and you can still wield a two-handed weapon.

You think you’re better than me? - You’re not the only one on the team who can be awesome with this build. You have a lot of utility spells and can help the team survive with your elixirs. Just remember the crafting recipes for juice.

Crislip's Home Saloon - You can use any weapon you get your hands on, including the kitchen sink. No matter the class or race restriction you can use a weapon. Even if you’re unarmed Tavern Brawler lets you grab whatever you find and make use of it, or resort to your fists if it comes to it.

CONS

Wrestling is Fake - Grappling isn’t exactly practical; neither are improvised weapons. A lot of the features that we grab are done entirely for the sake of roleplay, and you’d be far better off taking more practical Feats or more ASIs.

PP - This build is subpar until level 16 and only really reaches its true potential at level 20. While it’s great to theorycraft these types of builds I know that most campaigns don’t reach level 20.

Grrrrrrr - Rage is nice but it’s tough to use it in this build. Not only does it stop you from casting spells or concentrating but you’ll lose your rage if you don’t get hit or don’t hit someone else.

But we all start out somewhere kid. Fight the good fight, save the civilians, take good pictures, and maybe someday you’ll be in a war someone else covers. And be sure to drink healthy orange juice and pass up on the whisky - the last thing you want is to puke in the middle of a combo.

(Minecraft skin found on superminecraftskins.com)

#DnD 5e #dnd build #dnd guide #dead rising #dead rising frank west #frank west #dnd multiclass #dnd artificer #dnd barbarian

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waynekelton · 4 years

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XCOM: CHIMERA SQUAD | GAME REVIEW

XCOM: Chimera Squad is still classic XCOM. You gather resources and unlock technology on the strategic map, and then dive into turn-based tactical battles to secure objectives and beat down the resistance menace. The world has changed, though. The Advent war is over.

The storyline

Humans, aliens, and hybrids have reached an uneasy peace. In City 31 they live side by side, but there are still restless groups who want to continue the grudges of the Advent war. Chimera Squad is a special forces unit designed to cripple those resistance movements and keep the peace.

There’s no world map here. The game focuses purely on City 31’s nine districts. You have to manage levels of unrest in each district to keep the city’s anarchy level low. If the city anarchy bar maxes out, it’s game over.

What is there to do?

To save the city you need to investigate three resistance groups, one at a time. You take on missions, gather intel, research new gear, unmask each group’s leader, and then take them out in climactic final missions. Don’t be fooled by the smaller scale; this is still a lengthy, chunky tactics game.

Missions are much shorter than XCOM fans will be familiar with, however. Some are just a few rooms packed with enemies. Significant missions are chains of three room-clears, each of which has a ‘breach’ phase in which you position your squad at different entrance points. That’s why my squad members are dangling off ropes outside an old warehouse.

The breach phase is chaotic. One by one my four squaddies smash through their assigned window. Then time slows to a crawl. The camera shifts to an over-the-shoulder perspective as my primary breacher, Cherub, takes aim.

The camera has a blurry fish-eye filter that makes it impossible to gauge the layout of the room, but I can switch focus between enemies and choose what I want to pick off. I tab between enemies, noting their classes.

There’s a turret—that will deal with reliable damage to my squad over time, but it can wait. There are a couple of androids, easily killed but they can self-destruct and do significant area-of-effect damage.

Then I see a purifier. The purifier has to die. It’s just a man with a flamethrower, but area-of-effect attacks are massive when you’re fighting at room-scale.

The flames can linger and make traversal a nightmare. Also, the initial spray can set off explosive barrels, creating a cascade of events that could end up with my entire squad aflame and covered in acid.

Instead of shooting, I order Cherub to hunker down. You don’t create your own characters in Chimera Squad. Each of the 11 available heroes has unique abilities.

The differences

Each function as a separate class. You’ll recognize some archetypes from XCOM 2—the gunslinger, the medic with a healing drone, the shotgun maniac. Then there are others like the muton Axiom, who hits people and sometimes goes berserk in the middle of a mission.

This approach sacrifices one of XCOM’s greatest features: the ability to name your soldiers and bond with them over the course of a campaign. There are advantages though. Each character is voiced.

The story is told through cartoon vignettes that efficiently lay out the stakes and do a good job of describing the new world order with humor and character—one off the cuff description explains that City 31’s inhabitants fry and eat the terrifying Chryssalids as though they’re lobsters.

There’s tension too. Some of the hybrids on your team may have fought on the alien side in the Advent war against humans. The events of XCOM 2 loom over City 31 throughout.

Cherub’s hunker down ability is amazing. He draws all enemy fire and takes it harmlessly on his shield, sparing his teammates from the threat of return fire. Next up is my most powerful guy, the psionic Verge.

Instead of shooting, he uses his mind to lift the purifier out of cover. Suspended in midair, he’s an easy target for my other two teammates, who execute him before the battle even starts.

weathered

Your soldiers can’t die in XCOM: Chimera. If you evac and leave them bleeding out on the tarmac they register as ‘gravely wounded’ at the end of a mission.

Wounds don’t take soldiers out of action, instead, there’s a chance that they will give that agent a ‘scar’, which amounts to a stat reduction that you can burn off by sending that agent on a healing training routine for a few turns.

Watch out though, some missions auto fail if you let an agent bleed out. As long as you stabilize them, you’re fine.

I found the breach phase irritating at first. I’m used to having a lot more battlefield awareness in XCOM, but Chimera Squad deliberately sends you in blind. It’s a very different dynamic to XCOM 2.

That game is about advancing efficiently and positioning properly across large maps. You manage odds and control the situation as much as possible. Chimera Squad throws a scenario at you and shouts “catch!”.

The breach phase is about eliminating important enemies. Once that’s over your squad automatically moves to cover and a traditional XCOM fight ensues. They take cover intelligently, most of the time, but it’s another point where the game takes tactical choice away from you.

Once I learned to shrug and go with the flow of the game I started to like it a lot more, but you’re always a victim of circumstance in Chimera Squad.

Learning

Things picked up when my heroes started to level up and their unique talents came online. There are some delicious combos to unlock. My medic has an incredible ability to give a teammate a free action.

This is fantastic paired with Verge, who can draw enemies into a psychic web, one by one, and then zap them all with his brain for guaranteed damage. In XCOM’s world of percentage changes, that sort of en masse two-to-three points of chip damage is gold.

Beautifully, he can brain-zap everyone, and then the medic can throw him a free action so he can brain-zap everyone again. These are XCOM Chimera’s best moments when you engineer team combos and wipe out a whole room in just a few turns.

I like the heroes a lot, but there’s not much experimentation space in XCOM, especially when fights are just a few rooms long. I wish the heroes had some of those powerful unique skills unlocked already so I could switch them around and play with combos right away.

The game removes XCOM 2’s health pool race at least, which demanded that you level up armor and weapons to keep up with enemies’ ever-expanding health bars.

That’s great in XCOM 2, but keeping health pools and damage output stable leaves you free to swap in inexperienced heroes without too much loss of power.

Performance

The game runs well on high and maximum settings for me on a GTX 970, with a few exceptions. There are certain points when the game stutters, notably sometimes when it’s seemingly resolving damage outcomes.

Breaching moments also involve a quick freeze when the actual breach happens and your agents storm in. The game is still perfectly playable, but it’s a regular annoyance.

The strategy layer of the game is surprisingly involved too. There’s no base building, but you still need to research technology, buy gadgets, and gather three resources: elerium, intel, and dollars.

I miss the cool visual armor and weapon upgrades of traditional XCOM. Without them, the strategy layer feels like fussy, abstract number crunching. You can (and really should) deploy field teams to the city’s districts. These function a bit like XCOM’s satellites.

They keep unrest down and feed your resources so you can buy rad flashbangs for your squad. Separately, you can deploy squad members to work on spec ops, which sounds exciting, but it’s just another way to hoover up resources. Without base building and XCOM 2’s lavish presentation, it all feels too much like admin.

It’s still an involving tactics game though. A curious XCOM experiment with a neat setting that I’d like to explore more. It’s fantastic value, too. This isn’t budget XCOM exactly, it’s an attempt to rework the series’ rules into a snappier experience.

The Verdict

There’s a version of Chimera Squad I can imagine that’s even more elegant and streamlined, but I still felt the familiar feelings of elation when a combo comes off, and annoyance when that 90 percent shot misses. If anything, it’s convinced me to start yet another XCOM 2 campaign, and that’s nothing bad.

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donnyjabronie · 6 years

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XCOM 2 Story Thing: The Last Line of Humanity

so XCOM 2 is a dope game with random characters that die permanently, so of course I have to give them backstories and profiles. I figured “why not get something more fun out of it and document it all?” So I did. This is that.

Soldier Introductions:

Jane ‘Stinger’ Kelly, age 27, nationality Irish: While not the most experienced, she is certainly one of the most elite soldiers in all of our guerrilla forces, even becoming Central’s right-hand gal and personal bodyguard in the days when he still went on operations himself. She’s made it through many missions without taking a single hit, despite her preferred distance between her and the enemy being up-close-and-personal.

Remy ‘Icepick’ Simon, age 29, nationality French: Among the second wave of recruits to join the reorganized XCOM forces, Simon is one of the few soldiers that aliens know to fear. A convict escaped from holding, Simon naturally found his way to our forces. Much like Kelly he prefers to take down enemies with his saber, with his bunk surrounded by trophies from the various aliens he’s taken down. A little bit of a kook, willing to throw himself into the jaws of danger at a moment’s notice, his brand of crazy is exactly what we need to win this war.

Alexandra ‘Deadeye’ Sokolova, age 27, nationality Russian: Much like Simon, Sokolova escaped from prison and found our way to us. We’ve come to learn that the way she got into prison was when she was ambushed and left behind by her former squad. Preferring to keep to herself on operations as far away from both the enemy and her squadmates as she can, it’s come as no detriment due to her incredible sniping precision.

Colin “The Avenger” McIntyre, age 41, nationality Scottish: One of the few XCOM soldiers remaining who were there to witness and fight the invasion in person, McIntyre has had more than his fair share of brushes with death. He isn’t one to hurl himself into danger, but he’s done exactly that countless times when it means rescuing a squadmate. He wears a non-traditional set of pink armor, in honor of a fallen comrade he lost in the first invasion. It’s good knowing your squadmate cares about getting you out alive, but when you die on his watch it starts to take a toll. Having his own private quarters with the rest of the members from the invasion called the Old Guard, they are the only ones to see what’s underneath his helmet.

Kalia ‘Ice’ Varma, age 39, nationality Iranian: Our youngest member of the Old Guard who marked so highly in combat efficiency that she joined while being only 19, Varma has also taken some of the most physical punishment and lived to tell the tale and keep fighting. She was on the ground floor when the aliens invaded XCOM HQ, where a piece of shrapnel crippled her leg. She was rescued by Gertrud Meyer, and the two took to hiding until eventually hearing word of the revival of XCOM. Varma was initially deemed unfit for combat ranks, but having heard of her previous experience she was fitted with an experimental prosthetic leg and still serves as one of the remaining Old Guard.

Gertrud ‘Mothafuckin’ Meyer, age 48, nationality German: Meyer was 28 when the aliens invaded. She found her way leading countless efforts against alien forces, ultimately stepping in to organize a last-ditch defense during the invasion of XCOM HQ when all others qualified had fled or were incapacitated. Her defenses were crushed by the alien threat, and with her resolve shaken she too fled. It was during this escape she heard one of her soldiers crying out in pain, and turned back to make sure she saved at least one life or died trying. The two survived, but the soldier she rescued, Kalia Varma, needed an amputation. With one crippled physically and the other mentally, the pair retreated into hiding until eventually hearing word of the revival of project XCOM. Ready for a second chance, Meyer and Varma traveled to the HQ and joined the ranks of the other Old Guard, once again taking the role of squad leader, as well as combat medic due to her age slowing her down from the assault soldier she once was.

Bernadette Meryl, age 18, nationality American: She’s literally just Meryl from MGS only now she has a minigun and a grenade launcher.

Miguel ‘Gunner’ Romero: age 35, nationality Spanish: Romero’s parents were gunned down in the streets by aliens during the initial invasion. An only child, he took to hiding for many days until he was found by the aliens. Filled with fear, he complied with living in his city as usual, now alone and supporting himself as the aliens continued to integrate themselves more and more into the area he once loved. At the age of 26, he saw that his city was going to become a city center, where humanity and aliens were to coexist. This pushed him to his breaking point and he fled, eventually finding his way to a guerrilla recruitment camp and joining the cause.

Asha ‘Titan’ Diallo, age 30, nationality South African: Diallo was raised inside a refuge during and after the invasion. She was constantly told to fear and beware the aliens and to never let herself be discovered. When the XCOM project was beginning it’s revival and guerrilla forces were starting to become organized, Diallo immediately enlisted, refusing to continue living in fear and hiding the rest of her life.

Here ends the introduction. More soldiers will come, and some will go, either by choice or without. Important operations and movements will be logged here for historical records. I only hope we can win this war, and win it soon. I’ve already seen more losses than imaginable when the invasion came and dread the losses to come.

#XCOM #xcom 2 #fake diary #Funtime funsies

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furryvengance · 7 years

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Xcom 2: Extra Unit Class

Tech Specialist: This is not the same as the technician class and they do not have access to drones. The Tech Specialist is a unit that specializes in experimental weapons and any other technology. Their class gains extra state benefits when equipped with any specialty or experimental items. Similar to the grenadier or the ranger, they get a secondary weapon. The two weapons I have created for this clas so far are the Charge Bean Cannon and the Missile Silo. The CBC is a short range high damage output weapon. This is the type of weapon used when you want to blow through armor or take slow chunks out of heavier units. One of the character abilities that goes with this gun is OverCharge, which is where you spend a turn to full charge you shot. You can get a reaction shot or take a shot purposefully to spend this higher damage round. The Missile silo is a miniature hand held short range missile launcher. It requires a full aim lock on to fire and is able to fire 5 missiles in a row. It shoots similarly to a revolver with only the "primed" rocket ready to fire. The rockets have a limited force of tracking and are able to detect when they've "missed" their targets and thus won't explode. Here are able to be manually detonated by a secondary button located somewhere on the back of the gun that explodes any missiles that are not still loaded into it, The Tech Specialist is meant to be the odd ball character, fitting into whatever gaps in your team makeup that you need him to,

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job914-blog · 7 years

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Xcom 2, Finished

HOLY TOLITO! The ending to the story of XCOM 2 leaves a lot…like a LOT…to be desired in terms of the story, but it was a hell of a journey. 5/5, would recommend, truly a brilliant game. Most impressive for me was the pacing. All throughout the game, you’re making tactical choices, whether in the meta game regarding the earth or the tactics in an individual encounter. Every move feels weighty, and the risk of perma death or putting yourself in an unwinnable situation, forcing a game restart, makes everything all the more intense. A soldier you’ve gone on 23 missions with and amassed 75 kills with dies in a fight? He’s gone forever, and it’ll take you either lots of time, or lots of resources, to get another colonel at that level. But these intense choices come later in the game. Initially, you’re still floundering and making plenty of mistakes, and the game is relatively forgiving. But by the end, it absolutely stacks the odds against you, and you have to make every single move count to come out on top.

I admit, by the time I got to the final mission, I had 2 colonels for every category, and several majors about to be promoted. Even on difficult or very difficult missions, I’d regularly complete them with one or two soldiers lightly wounded. I was getting too good; I knew the enemies, knew how to loadout my team, knew how to use the environment to my advantage, knew when and how to use abilities. I amassed almost 2,000 resources by the end, simply because there was nothing else to buy. And then the last level happened, and I had to use every trick in the book. Every ability, every grenade, every move mattered again, and it was a terrifically intense and tactical ending mission. Everything came into play; soldier positioning, ability cooldowns, health, likelihood of hitting shots, ammo consumption, the type of gear….by the time you hit that last mission, the game has prepared you to handle it. And that is a truly awesome thing to achieve. I played on normal difficulty and custom saves, but the game was still very, very intense. I’m lousy at TBS so this was a challenge from start to end…apart from when I had all colonels with max gear and could murder everything in two turns. Although that was fun in its own way. I worked hard to get to that point, so I enjoyed the fruits of my labor.

I really can’t give the game high enough praise. Yes, there are some nick picky things here and there you could complain about. The animations overall are a bit blocky and highly overused and more enemy types would be nice. By the end you have a set strategy for all enemy types and configurations and only the very last encounter really challenged me to think outside the box. And the concealment mechanic, although useful for setting up that initial attack, feels largely useless after that, especially since it’s broken right the first attack and never seemed to come back. I never felt the need to stack all the sneaky traits on a Ranger since they’d be more useful killing stuff than sneaking around for objectives, since objectives are always shown on your screen, and proper tactics would prevent you from running into a group of enemies around a corner unprepared. Also, many of the items went largely unused in the game. once bluescreen rounds got developed and my grenadier learned saturation, mechs were never an issue. I never needed mimic grenades, mindshield, flamethrower augs, or most of anything else, nor was I heavily incentive to try and experiment. Messing around with new stuff can get your people killed easily imo. You try a new thing, don’t realize how it works, now your guy is left exposed and gets killed. Cool beans. I never saw the benefit of throwing a grenade to distract the enemy for a turn when I could just kill them and not have to worry about being shot at. And the randomness regarding experimental upgrades was very frustrating. I’d often keep getting the same crappy upgrade and just thought na, bluescreen rounds will definitely mess up mechs, shredder takes care of armor. Done, let’s move on. The rng regarding highly valuable elerium cores is irritating. Leaving the basis for your whole future strategies to maybe getting an upgrade you don’t even know how to use / if you’ll want to use it is silly. But these are nitpicks, I can’t stress that enough. This game is flat out brilliant. I don’t even like TBS and I adore this game. I probably won’t because of the huge library of games I still have to play, but I may just take a crack at commander mode, and disable manual saves to make it really intense. Wanting me to play a harder difficulty of a game I’m bad at, for a game genre I don’t like…high praise. Bravo Firaxis. Bravo.

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