XCom Chimera Squad

[LaZodiac]

I will say this, sometimes the game IS very weird about breaching items. You can only do certain things from the second slot, and some from the third, and nothing actually says that in game. It is a little weirdly put together.

[Knaight]

I will say this, sometimes the game IS very weird about breaching items. You can only do certain things from the second slot, and some from the third, and nothing actually says that in game. It is a little weirdly put together.

One of my quibbles with this game is that there's a lot of communication of key mechanics that never actually rises to the level of explicit communication.

[Cikomyr2]

Thanks for the flash bang notification. Flash bangs and disarming grenades have proved surprisingly useful so far.

I wished there was bonuses for subduing suspects beyond what's necessary for 100% chance to get your intel. Like, maybe you reduce unrest in a neighborhood because you prove you are a good cop team?

[MCerberus]

I haven't gotten any more conversations involving Torque but I honestly, genuinely believe it's going to be snake titties. Something involving those.

Spoiler: Whisper/Torque

Show

Torque asks Whisper why he's so cheerful and he replies that it's a Canadian thing... when Canada was a thing.
Torque: "Oh, the Maple Syrup Flavored ones"

And that's just a small taste of the indignities Whisper puts up with. Turns out Terminal is literally satan

[LaZodiac]

One of my quibbles with this game is that there's a lot of communication of key mechanics that never actually rises to the level of explicit communication.

It gets real bad when you say, Berserk a Chryssalid or something and the enemy just doesn't do anything. I'd like someone very kindly in game to tell me what my actions will actually Do, please.

[Eurus]

My only problem with this game so far is that some of the stuff is very unclear.

Godmother can get an extra action this turn if she does her Alpha Strike breaching move! What does that mean? So far every time I've done this it has not actually changed anything. Stunned... appears to do nothing, as every time I've stunned an enemy it has had a full turn still. Why is Toxic Greetings so short range and limited to breaching, and what do all the various colours mean when aiming, outside of breach phase?

Otherwise this game is pretty damn solid. Torque just disabling an entire enemy feels really good, and Zephyr (despite being a Skirmisher expat) is basically a Templar from XCom 2 but without any of that prissy mind magic. Instead she just ****ing punches everyone to death.

I also really like the character writing and hope we get more of it please. Verge hailing a cab to a hostage situation is hilarious and I want more character STUFF. They made these characters and they're pretty unique and cool and I'd like more interaction please.

Stunned is tricky because... as far as I can tell, being stunned does in fact stop your next action, but Stupor doesn't always stun. Or maybe it stuns from 0-2 turns and sometimes rolls 0, idk, same result. And it doesn't actually tell you that in the ability description, so sometimes you zap someone with a 100% chance and they still don't get stunned.

[Name_Here]

So I've gotten a little annoyed because the hitpoints of the enemies has far outpaced my ability to do damage. I mean you get 2 upgrades per weapon each giving you one more damage. Meanwhile enemies have in some cases doubled their HP. And they've radically increased their damage output meaning they're sometimes doing more damage of a graze that my guys do on a hit.

[Deatch]

Stunned is tricky because... as far as I can tell, being stunned does in fact stop your next action, but Stupor doesn't always stun. Or maybe it stuns from 0-2 turns and sometimes rolls 0, idk, same result. And it doesn't actually tell you that in the ability description, so sometimes you zap someone with a 100% chance and they still don't get stunned.

It seems to me that stun removes available actions. So, stun 1 removes 1 action. Stun 2 removes two actions. Since almost anyone has 2 actions, you need stun 2 to take them off completely. Stun 1 only means they won't be able to reposition, or reload.

In my experience there is around 50:50 split between stun 1 and stun 2.

[BRC]

Stunned is tricky because... as far as I can tell, being stunned does in fact stop your next action, but Stupor doesn't always stun. Or maybe it stuns from 0-2 turns and sometimes rolls 0, idk, same result. And it doesn't actually tell you that in the ability description, so sometimes you zap someone with a 100% chance and they still don't get stunned.

As far as I can tell, each stack of "Stunned" removes an Action, and a turn consists of 2 actions, which many actions (Attack actions) ending the turn.

So stunned 1 means the enemy gets 1 action, which if they were just going to stay put and shoot anyway, does nothing.

Also, there are a lot of Breach abilities that require specific positioning, but they don't tell you what that positioning is, just that you can't do that here.

Also, it's not clear, but your units ALWAYS get their chance at the Breaching Shot, no matter what Breach Ability they have you do. The game presents "Breaching Shot" as an alternative to the other Breaching Options, but it looks like you always get it.

As far as Feel

Spoiler

Show

Oddly enough, I feel like this game does some of what I wanted more out of with Xcom 2, but it doesn't work here.

One of my quibbles with Xcom 2 was that the whole "Scrappy Guerilla fighters" thing fell apart with all the missions where the objective was the clear the area, as opposed to getting in, achieving a goal, and getting out. There should have been more missions about achieving objectives and evacing, rather than clearing the field of enemies.


Here, a TON of missions involve getting in, achieving a goal, and getting out, with endless waves of reinforcements swarming in. But, that doesn't quite fit the flavor as well. If Chimera Squad is a SWAT team, shouldn't 31PD have the building surrounded? Where are these endless reinforcements coming from? Are we fighting organized criminal groups, or do these factions control large swaths of the city?


This, plus the design of a lot of the enemies, really drives home the idea that this game was made up of a lot of assets they had lying around. The generic enemies, the Troopers, Bruisers, and Hitmen, don't look like generic criminals filling the ranks of the enemy, they've got uniforms and riot shields and such.

Mind you, I'm still enjoying the hell out of it.

[Eurus]

It seems to me that stun removes available actions. So, stun 1 removes 1 action. Stun 2 removes two actions. Since almost anyone has 2 actions, you need stun 2 to take them off completely. Stun 1 only means they won't be able to reposition, or reload.

In my experience there is around 50:50 split between stun 1 and stun 2.

That makes more sense, then. Definitely could stand to be explained better.

I started with the tutorial team and picked up Blueblood as my first addition, more shots per turn seems like a Good Thing. Patchwork as my second, I'm not actually fighting mechanical units yet but I fully expect to before long. Cherub and Terminal seem like they're worth using regularly but I'm not sold on Verge and Godmother yet.

[BRC]

That makes more sense, then. Definitely could stand to be explained better.

I started with the tutorial team and picked up Blueblood as my first addition, more shots per turn seems like a Good Thing. Patchwork as my second, I'm not actually fighting mechanical units yet but I fully expect to before long. Cherub and Terminal seem like they're worth using regularly but I'm not sold on Verge and Godmother yet.

Verge is good, while Stupor may be unreliable as far as completely wiping out an enemy turn, so he can still shoot.

Godmother, needs to level up a bit. Her biggest asset is that she's a Shotgun user, with Shotguns being very good in Chimera Squad. Otherwise, her abilities seems a little iffy, Scattershot has been occasionally useful, but Ventilate is quite good if you give her an auto-loader.

[Cikomyr2]

I have to admit I love Cherub's nonlethal AoE

[LaZodiac]

As far as I can tell, each stack of "Stunned" removes an Action, and a turn consists of 2 actions, which many actions (Attack actions) ending the turn.

So stunned 1 means the enemy gets 1 action, which if they were just going to stay put and shoot anyway, does nothing.

Also, there are a lot of Breach abilities that require specific positioning, but they don't tell you what that positioning is, just that you can't do that here.

Also, it's not clear, but your units ALWAYS get their chance at the Breaching Shot, no matter what Breach Ability they have you do. The game presents "Breaching Shot" as an alternative to the other Breaching Options, but it looks like you always get it.

As far as Feel

Spoiler

Show

Oddly enough, I feel like this game does some of what I wanted more out of with Xcom 2, but it doesn't work here.

One of my quibbles with Xcom 2 was that the whole "Scrappy Guerilla fighters" thing fell apart with all the missions where the objective was the clear the area, as opposed to getting in, achieving a goal, and getting out. There should have been more missions about achieving objectives and evacing, rather than clearing the field of enemies.


Here, a TON of missions involve getting in, achieving a goal, and getting out, with endless waves of reinforcements swarming in. But, that doesn't quite fit the flavor as well. If Chimera Squad is a SWAT team, shouldn't 31PD have the building surrounded? Where are these endless reinforcements coming from? Are we fighting organized criminal groups, or do these factions control large swaths of the city?


This, plus the design of a lot of the enemies, really drives home the idea that this game was made up of a lot of assets they had lying around. The generic enemies, the Troopers, Bruisers, and Hitmen, don't look like generic criminals filling the ranks of the enemy, they've got uniforms and riot shields and such.

Mind you, I'm still enjoying the hell out of it.

I had that exact same thought. It's funny, I think, how this game manages to do what XCom 2 utterly failed at.

As for the generic faction enemies, I kinda feel like they made it pretty obvious that they're the former members of Shrike that became mercenaries, but that's my read on it anyway.

Verge is good, while Stupor may be unreliable as far as completely wiping out an enemy turn, so he can still shoot.

Godmother, needs to level up a bit. Her biggest asset is that she's a Shotgun user, with Shotguns being very good in Chimera Squad. Otherwise, her abilities seems a little iffy, Scattershot has been occasionally useful, but Ventilate is quite good if you give her an auto-loader.

Verge is also good because he's one of the people who gets assault rifles, and one of the rifles gives you Banish. With a Superior Extended Mag that's seven shots. I killed the Progeny's leader in one move thanks to that, and it felt REAL satisfying.

Anyway, I beat the game! It's incredibly good, especially for it's price point. It uh... still has a number of glitches that I expect them to patch at some point. To put it bluntly I couldn't even see what my end game stats were because the text was so misaligned I couldn't read it. Oops!

[Eurus]

Just to repeat the obvious: Terminal is so good she's probably broken. Seriously, missions with her are so much easier than missions without her it's like a different game. Maybe I'm just bad, because I get shot a whole lot and without that healing it feels like I'm racing against attrition the whole time.

[LaZodiac]

Just to repeat the obvious: Terminal is so good she's probably broken. Seriously, missions with her are so much easier than missions without her it's like a different game. Maybe I'm just bad, because I get shot a whole lot and without that healing it feels like I'm racing against attrition the whole time.

I mean... that's just XCom. Firaxis has decided that you will field a Support unit and if you don't you have a bad time. It's just way more reasonable about the bad time in Chimera Squad.

[BRC]

I haven't really felt that Terminal is overpowered. She's pretty nice, but I'm playing on expert, and am usually fine without her. Healing on tap is nice, but your units are relatively durable enough, and the enemy has a lot fewer Surprises, that I don't really find myself missing her when she's gone.

[Draconi Redfir]

i've been loving Verge personally. once i figured out the whole network thing, linking him up with like five different unconscious bodies, and giving him the ability to heal health for each link, guy is a beast now.

[GloatingSwine]

Verge is good, while Stupor may be unreliable as far as completely wiping out an enemy turn, so he can still shoot.

Godmother, needs to level up a bit. Her biggest asset is that she's a Shotgun user, with Shotguns being very good in Chimera Squad. Otherwise, her abilities seems a little iffy, Scattershot has been occasionally useful, but Ventilate is quite good if you give her an auto-loader.

Godmother is pretty much the middle of the road character.

She's very dependent on her weapon, so Codexes will give her a bad time and she needs to avoid the disable slot.

Alpha Strike doesn't synergise with her kit at all, because she doesn't have anything to spend the extra action on, all her abilities end her turn anyway so it's just a poor man's run and gun.

What she does do well though is Close Quarters Expert. With her high mobility and an Extended Magazine you can park her next to an enemy, shoot a different enemy, and as soon as the one next to her tries to move it gets a shotgun to the face as it activates next to her. Melee enemies in particular will run up to her and get picked off. I've had her shoot a Berserker, it reaction moved next to her and got shot again, then in its turn she shot it again as it activated next to her.


Verge is fantastic for bigger fights, take the ability that gives him extra aim and crit for every enemy in the network, take the ability that adds his levitate target to it, and always look to add a new target whenever you can because his psi powers don't end his turn. By about 2-3 enemies networked he'll basically never miss shots, he can snowball hard. (Don't Battle Madness a Chryssalid though, that's not a good plan)


Torque is the invaluable one. She can do terrible terrible things to the action economy because she not only has a free action (Bind), but once she hits max level if you tongue pull an ally you can grant them an immediate action. So you can release your currently bound target, poison spit someone, yank an ally to have them do something, then rebind your original target.

Add to that having 40 dodge once she's done her mid tier training and the +1 armour whilst binding a target skill, and a Mach Weave and basically nothing ever hits her, she will almost always dodge and reduce the damage further through armour making her an exceptional tank.

Her only downside is that she doesn't quite grasp the idea of "nonlethal", because all her bind and poison abilities are lethal damage. Which is, admittedly, in character.

[Eurus]

Oh! I totally didn't even realize bind was a free action, that's a big difference.

[GloatingSwine]

Oh! I totally didn't even realize bind was a free action, that's a big difference.

She can even do it off-turn. If you have Shelter standing next to Torque and use his ability to swap places with an enemy, Torque gets an instant bind chance against that enemy.

Also you can tongue yank Blueblood with Eternal Vigilance to put him in Overwatch.

[LaZodiac]

She can even do it off-turn. If you have Shelter standing next to Torque and use his ability to swap places with an enemy, Torque gets an instant bind chance against that enemy.

Also you can tongue yank Blueblood with Eternal Vigilance to put him in Overwatch.

Tongue Yank enemies and it triggers overwatch fire from your allies. Torque is AMAZING as an offensive support unit. Trust the snake lesbian, she will strangle and poison everyone.

[GloatingSwine]

It also triggers proximity reaction fire from Godmother and Patchwork.

Speaking of Godmother, I've just found out how to turn her into an unstoppable murder engine. Get a Reflex Grip from the scavenger market, giving any character the ability to fire without ending their turn.

Godmother can get three actions on the first turn of an encounter. She can then use Overtime to act again almost immediately.

You can fire five times in the first round.

Once she has her top tier training if she gets a kill she reloads for free. So she doesn't need an autoloader to do it.

[Knaight]

It also triggers proximity reaction fire from Godmother and Patchwork.

Speaking of Godmother, I've just found out how to turn her into an unstoppable murder engine. Get a Reflex Grip from the scavenger market, giving any character the ability to fire without ending their turn.

Godmother can get three actions on the first turn of an encounter. She can then use Overtime to act again almost immediately.

You can fire five times in the first round.

Once she has her top tier training if she gets a kill she reloads for free. So she doesn't need an autoloader to do it.

Godmother is a significant part of the reason I was able to get through that ridiculous Sacred Coil finale (though Terminal and Patchwork also pulled a lot of weight there, and Patchwork especially is at her strongest against Sacred Coil and all their inviting hackable mechs and androids). She can put out a lot of shots, and if she's next to Patchwork and you have inbound Ronin their automatic defenses will do a lot of damage in a hurry. Especially if you have Terminal on overwatch to shoot at every Ronin that comes near and burn their automatic dodge.

[Draconi Redfir]

didn't have patchwork, but i did have terminal, and i discovered two neat tricks i exploited.


the first two rooms don't end (or in the case of the second room, the Ronin wave doesn't begin) until everything is dead, including the turrets. So for both i kept the turrets alive as long as possible, stood far outside the range of the turrets, and had Terminal heal everyone up before moving on. In the second room, i had everyone group up and overwatch near one of the doors, hoping (and sometimes getting) a cheap insta-kill on an approaching Ronin.


The other Trick was two words: Tranquilizer rounds. Not only do they keep all of Verge's connections alive and working even when taken out of the battle, but if there are no corpses around, the Gatekeeper can't raise any zombies. It spent a few rounds either blasting it's own allies, or just empty sections of the room trying to raise zombies that didn't exist.

still had to do the whole ting eight times, but eventually got it.

[Eurus]

It also triggers proximity reaction fire from Godmother and Patchwork.

Speaking of Godmother, I've just found out how to turn her into an unstoppable murder engine. Get a Reflex Grip from the scavenger market, giving any character the ability to fire without ending their turn.

Godmother can get three actions on the first turn of an encounter. She can then use Overtime to act again almost immediately.

You can fire five times in the first round.

Once she has her top tier training if she gets a kill she reloads for free. So she doesn't need an autoloader to do it.

Bahaha, I love it. I've gotta grab that reflex grip when it shows up next. Five actions in the first round, and that's before you even add in throwing a motile inducer at her, having Terminal give her another action, using Team Up on her...

Also motile inducer is really strong, guys. If you haven't seen it, it's a scavenger market utility item that you use 1/mission on an ally to instantly give them two actions. I see why people say Claymore is good just for the ability to get a second use from one of those.

[GloatingSwine]

Bahaha, I love it. I've gotta grab that reflex grip when it shows up next. Five actions in the first round, and that's before you even add in throwing a motile inducer at her, having Terminal give her another action, using Team Up on her...

Also motile inducer is really strong, guys. If you haven't seen it, it's a scavenger market utility item that you use 1/mission on an ally to instantly give them two actions. I see why people say Claymore is good just for the ability to get a second use from one of those.

Yeah, I think with my current setup I could get nine shots in a single round.

Alpha Strike > Overtime > Fire three times, Move Torque next to an enemy and tongue grab Godmother so she ends next to the same enemy, Close Quarters Expert would make her fire again then the tongue grab on ally grants an extra action so she fires again. Then she gets her Overtime turn to fire two more times. Then a motile inducer would give her two more shots.

Then yeah swapping the other two for Terminal and Shelter could get you more. Terminal could grant an extra action after using the Motile Inducer and then Shelter could get one more by moving next to Godmother and swapping places with an enemy so Close Quarters Expert fired again.

There's also an epic shotgun that gives the two shot ability.

As a bonus, if the enemy next to Torque is somehow alive after you've fired a shotgun twelve times in a single round she will be able to bind it.

[LaZodiac]

Wow, there are some intense combos in this game. The things I've discovered are kinda second rate in comparison.

What's interesting to me is that aside from like, a few dicey moments in early game, a few dicey moments in the final mission, and the Sacred Coil finale, the game isn't really that hard. It's a fun sort of difficulty too, so it's not BRUTAL but it's also not child's play. As long as you approach the map as a problem to be solved, you can figure it out and gain the momentum needed to get through without much issue.

My personal favorite was how I basically immediately defanged the psychic faction's final fight. Banish plus increased mag size means seven assault rifle shots and that... that'll kill basically anything.

[Eurus]

Oh man, banish. Combine with a stock if you want, just for extra reliability... Even seven misses will kill pretty much anything at that point.

[lord_khaine]

Oh man, banish. Combine with a stock if you want, just for extra reliability... Even seven misses will kill pretty much anything at that point.

It might have been a recent nerf. Or a bug thats fixed now.
But i dont think Stocks work with Banish.

[MCerberus]

It might have been a recent nerf. Or a bug thats fixed now.
But i dont think Stocks work with Banish.

It worked as a Reaper ability in WotC but the optimization for reapers was always extended clip, scope/reloader, and ammo to kill your preferred target.

I mean using banish to do something other than bluesceen murder a doom bot was a waste.