This is beside the point, but I just had to add: Calling Firaxis XCOM “the original game” is quite a bold move 
I know. This was supposed to be an ironical insult. I’m well aware the original was released back in '94 (my very first PC game, btw) and one of the Phoenix Point’s creators was on the original’s team. My apologies, I’ll try harder next time.
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Yes, that is quite hard to follow tbh 
The new Rage Burst has been much improved in the last patch, btw.
Ah - good. What’s changed about it? Has the cone narrowed any? (gonna check out the new LotA DLC after my latest play through of the new Battle Brothers DLC - I can’t multi-task lol).
The cone is the same size, but you select a target for the RB so that the attack is optimized for it. Among other things it adjusts the height of the attack to hit the target’s central mass.
Also Destiny III, the mounted laser, has been improved to make it the most accurate weapon in the game (more than any SR), using similar targeting improvement.
Cheers - will check out asap.
Beside the Archangel Rocket Launcher, and that with first person aim and a so small aim circle that you mostly can’t see even fully zoomed in, but it is there … somewhere 
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Lol, Well, I would argue that Destiny III has one on the Archangel: Destiny III continues to track the body part after each shot of the burst! So when you hit that Siren in the head with the first shot, and her head moves, the DIII follows it so that the next 2 shots still hit her on the head!
And we are discussing in another thread how to buff accuracy for the Hel 2 Cannon and the Deceptor because Heavies are not accurate enough 
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I used the Destiny 10-15 times in my last campaign. I think I hit maybe 1/3rd of the shots I took with it. Most of the time it fired a 3-shot burst into the ground. The Hel Cannon in full heavy armour had a better hit rate.
If there’s some specific way you move your mouse that makes the Destiny accurate, then the UI sure does a really good job of hiding it.
It was changed in Necro, along with Rage Burst. It can literally hit a foot sticking out of cover from across the map now.
Edit:
That’s because that discussion is focusing on early and mid game, and on those weapons more specifically - stop being mean Voland!!!
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OK, guilty as charged
BTW, I get the Destiny III (and Gorgon Eye-A, and the laser turret) really earlier, because all it takes is basic tech from Synedrion and NJ. I always have it by the first week of February at the latest, weeks before I get the less advanced and “easier to get” NJ armor penetration tech.
I’ve never used the destiny because of resource limitations and because I’d read somewhere (probably here) in the past that it was terrible. It’s great to know it’s good now because I really wanted to use it.
However, getting this tech is being a problem for my current playthrough. I’m having really few HD’s now and none for NJ, so I can’t really up my relations with them. In fact they lowered because of the new DLC and there was a time I wanted to get a heavy from them but couldn’t because it was negative. I’m entering february, had only 2 nests and I’m at 1% with NJ because I can’t raise it. I have 6 or 7 bases in key locations, all with radars and I can reach the whole world, but the pandorans seem to be attacking NJ and SYN as I don’t get the HD’s since I don’t know the location of their bases and don’t see HD’s further away from my base. I’ve only seen one Anu once as I’m 46 relation with them but couldn’t get there in time.
For a bit more info, my starting base is in north Africa and I’ve explored the entirety of Africa, Europe and Asia that is revealed, but only my starting base has a scanner in these areas so my exploration was done with the new discovery system.
Sorry for the whole off-topic thing, but it was to explain that it’s not always easy to get the Destiny.
edit: I know I can do sabotage missions but I don’t do them, I’m neutral good 
This.
Not only does it have potential for exploit - but it SHOULD!
So what if my team turns into the goddam X-Men and starts whooping ass on the enemy. That is goddam FUN ! Let the player have fun ffs!
If a player wants to have a bigger challenge - fine - scale things up more in the difficulty settings. Instead of completely reworking an ability - lets rework other metrics.
In another thread we discussed a few changes that could be done within the difficulty settings - here are a few more.
But before I get into that - lets remember that this game is actually four games in one: It is a tactical turn based battle sim, it is a real time world exploitation sim , it is a diplomacy sim, and it is a real time economy sim. Each of these effect each other, but also are handled quite differently. If you tone down the economics you will affect combat (as weapon upgrades become more scarce).
So here are only a few possible suggestions for difficulty setting changes that could be implemented in lieu of completely changing ‘OP’ skill combos.
Combat:
- Armor. Rookie: PP armor is buffed, Enemy Armor nerfed. Legendary: PP armor nerfed, Enemy Armor buffed.
- Weapons. Same.
- Will Points. increases cost of abilities to execute - reduced effect of ability.
- Level up - increase / decrease cost of abilities/attributes
- Aim. Improved on easy, penalized on difficult.
- Strength of opponent squad - reduced on easy - increased on Legendary.
World Explore
- Ship speed; improved on easy, penalized on legendary
- HD timer runs down slower on easy, faster on difficult
- Range between havens - shorter on easy, longer on Legendary
- Frequency of Ambush - reduced / increased
- Speed of mist slowed/increased
- Range of aircraft - increased/decreased
Diplomacy
- Hostile or friendly acts have smaller/bigger impact based on difficulty
- Diplomatic Missions spawn nearer/further from active base
- Pandoran attacks only close to starting base on easy (thereby keeping havens on the other side of the globe from being wiped out before you have a chance to meet them) ; on legendary Pandoran’s can attack globally.
- Would like to see more diplomacy options in general; the ability to nurture a have, the ability to task a faction to do something. Frankly - I find it inconsistent that when I steal form a haven they have eight or so well equipped soldiers protecting their ship - but when I help defend a haven from total annihilation only three of those guys bother to show up. Fix that. It’d also be nice to try to broker a peace between faction - or at least cease fire. Or maybe instead of attacking each other they attack the Pandorans?? Can I ask them to? Or maybe even a joint exercise? Diplomacy has much room for expansion.
Resource Management
- Increase/decrease yield of crates
- Increase/decrease scrap value of weapons/armor
- Increase/decrease exchange rates with factions
- Increase/decrease cost of construction/manufacturing
- Decrease/Increase construction / manufacturing time
On easy this game will be - well . EASY! A goddam cake walk. That is the whole point, right? Easy players will be swimming in resources and blasting opponents with ease. However, Legendary will be a much larger challenge. Introducing new players to the game or genre in a super fun way.
Sure - the “OP” builds might still happen on legendary - IF the player lives long enough to acquire them - and even if they should - will it be soon enough to safe the world???
The point being - LET US make supersoldiers - impotent soldiers are not fun. Marginally effective soldiers are only marginally fun. Super soldiers are SUPER FUN! If you need to provide ‘balance’ then don’t make the soldiers flaccid - make the tasks ramp up with more difficulty.
You don’t see DC ‘nerfing’ Superman - That would be no fun at all! Instead they actually have made him more powerful over time. Same for Marvel. They kept it interesting by throwing greater challenges for the heroes to overcome.
Let us build supermen. Let us have that achievement. For those players who want a challenge make it more difficult to get them - but don’t take them away. Mediocre heroes makes a mediocre experience makes a mediocre game. Let our heroes be EPIC so your game will be also.
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Which is why I am constantly calling for Second Wave Options.
I don’t want supermen, they’re boring. What is in the least bit interesting about clicking on a map 15 times and wiping out every enemy in the first turn?
What’s much more interesting is knowing that if you don’t make good use of cover, combined arms and well thought-through tactics, you’ll get your ass handed to you on a plate. So you have to think and plan, make good use of the terrain, set up outflanking manoeuvres and OW traps to lure the Big Nasties into and earn your victories.
That to me is what makes an interesting game - and it’s why I gave up on XCOM around the time of WOTC and turned to LW2 for a more interesting challenge.
Atmo, PP isn’t that game (despite the complaints of some players on these forums), but it could be.
However, if other players get their rocks off by mindlessly carving their way through acres of hapless Crabbies without paying any attention to squad-level tactics, by all means let them have their fun. Just give me a Second Wave Option to switch the stupid exploits off and get the more interesting game I thought I had signed up for.
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I want to revisit this. After trying different play styles and facing a harder than usual Legend campaign on the latest difficulty curve, I find Onslaught to actually be a pretty decent skill. I’ve found myself several times now stuck in situations where I’m going “Oh no… now what do I do?” only to realize the Onslaught I took on someone immediately solves the problem in the simplest way imaginable, and that if I didn’t have Onslaught, I would’ve been in a worse situation because of the positions of all my units and enemies who surprised me. Instead, I came out unscathed.
So that really changed my mind on this ability. I’ve come across dozens of little tricks and minor uses for the ability that were perfect for the situation, as the WP cost was refunded, and the AP would’ve been useless otherwise. Not bad. Good, even.
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[MichaelIgnotus] I don’t want supermen, they’re boring. What is in the least bit interesting about clicking on a map 15 times and wiping out every enemy in the first turn?
Whoop - dee - doo and good for you. That is why they have a legendary setting - and if you are not playing on that setting but still bitching the game is too easy then you are full of shit.
Not everyone wants to play this game the same way as you. Some don’t have time, or patience to delve that deeply. That is why there are difficulty settings. If you think legendary needs to be made more difficult then find the balls to say so - but don’t go buggering the entirety of the game for the whole of the community just to satisfy your over-developed sense of superiority.
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Which is why I started and ended the post which you have oh so selectively quoted from with: “That’s why I am constantly calling for Second Wave Options.”
You want supermen. I don’t.
The only way the devs can square that circle is by providing us with the Second Wave Option to turn it on or off in line with our preferences.,
No need to be an offensively rude dick about it.
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so then, you are playing on legendary and finding it to be a cakewalk?
Actually, I find Legendary quite dull and restrictive (timer too short, Haven Recruits too similar to PP Recruits, not enough choice of Armours etc), so I choose to play on Hero.
I also choose not to build superheroes, and without superheroes I find the difficulty to be about right for my level of ability.
Of course, I could opt to build a Terminator, activate RC and stroll across the map annihilating all before me, but I self-restrict in a variety of ways and play HonestMan (which is essentially Ironman without the autosaves), and while that generally works for me, at times when things get hairy, it’s very difficult to resist the urge to press the ‘win game’ buttons and go into full superman mode.
But for me that’s simply not very interesting, which is why I’d like the devs to give me the option to turn it off. I’d much rather lose a favourite squaddie, but feel a sense of achievement about beating a mission where all but one of my squad got panic-locked or the squad got bombed to sh*! by Bombard Chirons, or half of them got MC’d by Sirens (all of which have happened), than engage an RC or AR loop and cheeze my way through the scenario.
But that’s just me. You have different goals and that’s fine. I don’t want to stop you having your fun, but similarly I’d still like the option to have mine and not constantly have to fight the urge to hit the ‘get out of jail free’ button.
All I’m saying is the only way the devs can give us both what we want, is either by making the game fully moddable, or by giving us Second Wave Options, where you can tick ‘Supermen On’ and I can tick ‘Supermen Off’ (though tbh it would be better if there was more granularity to it than that, like asking us how many times per turn we’d like RC to return APs or some such).
It’s on the cards, but not any time soon, as the devs have way too much on their plate atmo. But I can wait. 
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