First off, the campaign is infinitely more difficult (I HAD to save scam quite a bit). The mobs get weapons almost immediately, by the 5th mission or so, they are already proficient with their weapons.
The middle campaign is a bit ridiculous in the number of Citadels that show up. So, make sure you have a Scylla clearing group. She comes in mean and hot by turn 2 or 3 in most Citadel missions. She is often followed by athrons with launchers, tons of mindfraggers and the snake dudes.
Clearing the new resource sites is almost nigh impossible. I went in blind just figuring that the fight couldn’t be too hard because I had cleared Citadels. I was wrong. My advice, stay back. Your cover will get blown up, so you cant be too passive, but if you get surrounded, you’re dead.
I focused on building archaeology labs because it was new and I had no idea what I was doing, but it turned out to be a great decision. The more labs you have, the faster you can collect the 3 resources once you clear them. Also, playing for a guardian for the sites is largely a waste of time. You can use it as a tank, but it’s not going to do any damage, and the aliens ignore him most of the time anyway.
Once you get the sites cleared and start collecting resources though . . . the game gets easy again. I made it through the final few missions without losing a single guy. The last mission (with 2 scyllas) was ridiculously easy. I used turrets and spider bombs to create a block for the scyllas and just shot the bejesus out of them. The lay out of the mission allows for some pretty channelling gameplay.
Other than that, the movies still flicker for me! Anyone else have this issue? I don’t have epilepsy, but watching the movies gave me a headache.
Congrats. I have yet to finish any campaign in Phoenix Point, ever. I can win XCOM 2 on Legendary (but not Ironman), but even on Veteran this game was such a cast iron bitch I gave up. That was over a year ago, and the new updates have made it more manageable so I’m trying again. Maybe I’ll get there this time.
After release, PP changed a lot in terms of the level of difficulty. At the release it was: either you win after the first round or the other side (both “OP”). Now the difficulty curve is much smoother.
However, my experience is exactly the opposite of yours.
I played XCOM2 and WOTC about 10 times more hours. I was only able to survive on Legendary after several attempts and also with save reload.
But I can beat PP on Legendary with self-simulated Ironman and with extreme self-enforcing restrictions. (Only mono-class, only class-related equipment, no DLC equipment, no aircraft steal [no more]).
From the point I get access to certain skills, it’s just a cakewalk. All fights last between 2 and 3 turns, with a few exceptions (e.g. Lair). After the first Scylla, which I shoot without a scratch, I usually don’t even end the campaign because I already know the outcome of every other fight.
But I have to admit that I had problems with the game at the beginning. It was mainly the cover system that caused it. The thing is: someone who comes from Firaxis (like me) first thinks that walking far forward and standing in front of a tree is a good idea. But this is only true for Firaxis XCOM. This procedure has become so established that it is done automatically in PP. The result is, you will likely get hit from the side by all sorts of opponents in the next round and wonder why.
Edit: But I don’t mean to say that the PP cover is worse. On the contrary! It’s more realistic. I can no longer accept the Firaxis cover system after approval. But it could give the player more feedback on what danger you are in which position.
Yeah, I’ve been more careful when advancing, and my Snipers are absolutely crucial. I get mauled if a squad goes in without them. Sniping arms is the fastest way that I can cut down their offensive capability and protect my guys.
Is there a tech tree published anywhere? I’ve sorted some of it, but I’d like to see the whole thing so I can really plan and prioritize my resource allocation.
Sorry, I put myself too simplified.
When it comes to “counting” the turns after completing the mission, this statement only applies formally to a few missions, e.g. kill all opponents and small map.
For example, if I stealing an aircraft, I usually need 2-3 turns to kill or cripple all opponents. After that the mission is “formally” not yet done, because I have to activate the aircraft (walk 2 turns there) and then wait 5 turns. The statistics then say I needed 3 + 2 + 5 = 10 turns. In truth I was only really “active” 2-3 of them.
It’s the same with the citadel. For my playstyle, the queen is either fatally injured by an acid heavy weapon (optional: + Rage Burst) or killed with super duper turrets. I don’t have to plan a lot with the latter. I set everything up nicely and she runs suicidally towards me, where she is killed in the next round by double the force (approx. 8 turrets and 8 soldiers). Well … now it took me 3 turns (sometimes 4) to do this. And now I need about 4-5 (and with turrets even longer) to get to the evacuation point. Most of the small cattle have already been taken care of with the queen and I only have to click on the path, with a little shot here and there in between.
Most of the formal number of turns I need for the resource so-called “thrill” mission. (walk to each box, exchange items between soldiers, because full, evac, etc.)
So I should speak of active or significant 2-3 turns.
Thx for clearing this. I was crazy how can’t I do those with 2-3 turns…
As we see here, most of the game time goes to inactive movements like evacs… I hate evac missions… yes i said that before and I will continue to say it…