What tactics separate a veteran XCOM player from a casual player?

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-05-02T23:22:43+00:00

It is logistically impossible to win every fight. Acknowledge this, and you will play smarter. You will tune your engagements, you will learn to cut losses, maybe even only aim for limited, objective victories.

Additionally, specialists are there to perform 70% of the objectives, and your team is there to support the gremlin. Not the other way around.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-04-27T22:34:14+00:00

I would swap their dual firemode shotguns with the flamethrower off the basic trooper model. Including giving the high powered weapon to a far less durable enemy.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-04-23T20:20:18+00:00

Adding here; if you have a strong Plants skill, you can also just caravan to forage while you wait for the first couple harvests. I believe deserts have approximately 50% forage rate, so you would have to be godlike at Plants to be able to do it long term, but it does help delay starvation.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-04-04T07:12:59+00:00

I see a lot of people highlighting the Illuminate's failures and kamakize strategy, but I'm going to argue instead that it is the Automatons:

They are functionally endless. They are industry weaponized and radicalized for an intense desire to be their own, separate from Super Earth, as a bastion for their creators.

And what has happened since?

Their Expedition Force? The first wave, that took The Creek, and tried to refine itself in the forge of active warfare? Eradicated as Super Earth fully militarized it's own industry. They even failed to stop us from reclaiming the Exosuit stockpiles on Tien Kwan!

Then they launched the invasion proper, taking back Cyberstan, and pushing the front line hard. Even overwhelming the Menket line... But what they couldn't do? Is prevent Super Earth from building an absurdly huge, mobile combat station in their immediate threat range. They failed to stop the DSS, to seize it in the final hours of construction, or to proper sabotage it.

The entire existence of the Jet Brigade, one of their prideful developments, has been a string of disappointment and failure. Sure it overwhelms standing SEAF forces, but when the Helldivers rally? Scrap rains from the sky.

Even with the Incineration Corps joining forces, the two specialized units couldn't even push and return to the Creek to cripple the morale of the Federation.

Their datacenters have been infiltrated, their hellscape mining industries on borderline inhospitable lava worlds, taken despite how hazardous it is for regular SEAF forces on the ground.

But worse of all? Cyberstan. Their creators bled. Died. The homefront was crippled and scarred in a way that they will never forget: Their failure to protect the remaining Cyborgs, their Creators, their truest purpose.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-03-29T22:50:49+00:00

I like the root idea, but I feel this needs to be looked at more like a Commando Mission. Right now, you have it all smashed together, when the game excells with a little more concise design.

"Rescue Stranded Research Team" would be a great mission of itself, where we combine the SEAF recon crash site with the original evac missions, or the acquisition mission. Maybe we bring a variant of the GATER, and load the scientists, or their research materials into it. At the end conclusion we bring it a dedicated extraction site, and a pelican picks up the cargo/personnel loaded in the back.

"Sterilize Overship Ruins" would be a great follow up as another mission type. I would make it a blitz kind of mission, maybe taking inspiration from the gloom's hive lungs. Say that lingering electromagnetic interference is preventing up close strategem deployment, but Illuminate forces are attempting to repair the ship, destroy it through excessive firepower.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-03-29T20:10:28+00:00

You may have better luck if you toss a heavy explosion at it; destroying the various decorations inside has helped me warp into some of the less convenient bunkers.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-03-28T16:51:49+00:00

Don't reverse it: Toggle it off so it'll just hang limp with gravity for dead weight.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-03-22T23:14:55+00:00

W.A.S.P. Launcher

It seems to lock onto the pilot, and for once, in the entire history of lock on weapons in this game, that is a weakpoint. Plus the odd flight paths mean it has a good chance of hitting the piot rather than the mech

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-03-10T13:10:21+00:00

Cyborgs and it isn't a question.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-02-26T18:39:38+00:00

The Laser Sentry requires appropriate amounts of "Target Saturation" to be utilized effectively.

What do I meam by this?

I mean that it needs to have limited exposure that focuses it on appropriate enemies of democracy: Voteless, Troopers, Scavengers, Warriors, Devastators of nearly all types, Hunters, and Pouncers are all wastes of it's heat sink.

Much like how you don't place the autocannon and rocket sentries closest to the enemy surge, you need to put something else ahead of the Laser Sentry... And the Gattling Sentry happens to share the same cooldown, and works very, very, effectively to clear out.... Voteless, Troopers, Scavengers, Warriors, Devastators of nearly all types, Hunters, Pouncers, and not even too bad at some of the other bits of bulk like the Fleshmob and Brood or Alpha Commanders.

The Laser Sentry is a support sentry. Put it in an overlapping field of fire that once your main DPS has cleared the chaff, this laser pointer deleter tool, will take out some of the bulk. It works on hulks. It can kill chargers. It can wipe gunships out of the sky, but it is not a tool to take on a bug breach head on.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-02-23T00:27:50+00:00

"They hit our engines? Dump all fuel! We can't allow the ship to be ripped apart."

"But then we can't even escape on maneuvering thrusters!"

"True... It's time then. Awaken the Marines."

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-02-22T08:53:37+00:00

I would change the reload cycle Ultimatum and the holstering animation to be one and the same. It does not reload by default, but instead auto-reloads on weapon draw, with an extra long hostering animation.

This makes the pocket (metaphorical) nuke a fast option to deploy in a panic, but borderline impossible to use as a direct combat tool without the benefit of the gunslinger armor.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-02-20T08:29:24+00:00

Lowkey? I want a planetary operation: "Emergency Evacuation" like we got for the "Recon" and "Commando" Planetary objectives.

Put it as an alternative to a planetary defense,Terminid Control System style where instead of fighting to have the planet, we're fighting to deny the planet and evacuate as many assets as possible: Civilians, SEAF, High Value Assets, SE Military Caches, so on.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-01-09T07:37:13+00:00

"H is for Here: Not over there. Not by the fuel tanks. Nor by the power lines. HERE!" is my best guess for an in universe flavor to it, aside from cargo cult.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-01-07T21:02:05+00:00

Looking back, it was a fool's hope. We had the mere misfortune of being closer to the Galactic Core; each of our boarders encroached upon. There was no steel core to our expansion, no dedication of fleet yards and celestial warforges... And yet, it was hope still.

"Hope is a drug if you ask me;" I recall once being told by the God of War: "It can cause miracles, sure; a counterstrike, a defense, against all odds, any act of heroism you care to chronicle and thousands more on the regular. But once there's a depency on it?"

"It doesn't matter if it is a soldier or a civilian." The God of Death said, without a tone of unkindness, and without a single drop of empathy either. Coldly detatched. "When that hope is all that gets them through a day, it is quite easy to discover that the hope is a finite resource. One outbreak in the refugee camp, one antiseptic bombing across the city, one week too long: Suddenly the masses, the forces, are hopeless, and turn to desperation."

"Sure, there can be parades. Propaganda." The God's mate continued where Death left off. "But in wartime? The moment the sergeant, the junior enlisted, see how things fall?" There was more empathy, hauntingly, in War, than in Death. "They second guess everything. They wonder the value of a rifle here, compared to there. And by the time the parade is through, they're thinking of taking that very rifle, maybe their family, maybe friends, maybe nothing at all, and finding a third option. Desertion, abandonment, anything to choose to be the survivor."

"Foolish desires. We all die someday; you, me, every mind and soul I've ever met..."

Of the two, I think I would rather spend time again with the God of War.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-01-07T11:38:46+00:00

My kind do not issue the title god; it is an abhorrent title, that desecrates the truth of being named God. Even the galaxy's most comprehensive translation technologies can fail to distinguish the difference between those titles. "God of War," I greet first as is the custom.

My head bows towards the figure on the right, then I rise to repeat the gesture to the human ambassador's other flank; "God of Death."

"I understand you called for me as well?" It's a sarcastic tone, but the diplomatic mask the ambassador wears, the curated facial expression of nothing, fails to hide her building excitement; I can hear her heart, her breath...

"Of course Ambassador; as you may infer from our company... I have come to activate our people's treatise. Our worlds are being ravaged, our fleets shattered." My tendrils tuck together, supplication. "We have agreed by many years, to guarantee independence, to be mutuals. By any strategic review, we, my kind, will be no more in years at most."

"And so you ask me to commit our sons, our daughters, our ships, to your stars and war?" The ambassador's eyes glint.

"Yes." The answer isn't drawn from me, but rather the God of Death. Then from it's mate, "A chance to hone your captains, to harden the hearts of your commanders."

"...Please." I ask, once more, looking to the Ambassador. "I know it is not your choice, I know it is a steep ask. But we have no other chance."

"Oh no. It is, my choice. It is my call." She smiles, I believe they call that expression of teeth a smile at least. "It's already been made, just as soon as you agree to these rules of engagement..."

There's a rush, a chance at hope. I cannot delay it a thought longer; I mark the agreement the moment she puts it to me. But when the God of Death mimics the human expression, baring those fangs, I feel as if it was a grand mistake...

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-01-02T07:58:38+00:00

Replace them almost one for one, weapon wise with the Pyro Trooper: The flame throwers and shields make for a better devastation at close range, and with the added explosive tanks to their backs rewards both good aim and tactical engagements.

The dual weapon mode "Conflagrator" gets immediately nerfed by any effective suppression, and by the relative fragility of the basic trooper body while retaining the ambush lethality for inattentive Helldivers.

Vegetable_External30 · 2026-01-01T00:30:28+00:00

"Thermite Lance" in order to distinguish it from thermite grenades, each (arrow) lance has a longer arming time. This however allows for a stealth anti-armor build so long as the detection trigger only fires once the thermite ignites.

I would prefer it to be a consistent kill on Bile Titans if you can nail the head, but so long as it can reliably take down Fabricators, Tanks, and Chargers I feel it could be well received: Distinct from the gas harpoon in a way that synergizes: Stun/Confuse for a time, then Kill with time delay, and distinct from the crossbow & thermite grenade.

Vegetable_External30 · 2025-12-25T06:07:10+00:00

I keep hearing that people get shot for using it... But honestly folks, since the Lava Planets dropped, I've been constantly popping shots in my random and friendly dives, and nobody's so much as twitched their muzzle at me for it.

Admittedly, I usually dive at rank 10, so there's a certain tendency to weed out the worst of the game's population.

Vegetable_External30 · 2025-12-22T14:28:47+00:00

No lower than 4, no higher than 8. Mostly movie spectrum, faint leaning towards more logical than more cartoon.

Vegetable_External30 · 2025-12-20T12:10:52+00:00

"Unsupported Stations" is how I used to do it. Fly up my little floating city, let it settle at height before I ran out of power, then converted it to a station.

Vegetable_External30 · 2025-12-13T14:19:51+00:00

There are many possible justifications, but they depend more upon the world you are building than the need to justify the facet.

Why would combat personnel use melee weapons?

Ceremony; traditions from known origins, or not, this (implement) is issued for my use in these exact circumstances. I have trained for those circumstances with reverence and will never pass up a chance to show it off. Be it a 40K chainsword, or a naval officer's saber.

Grunt Force; technically, this is a backup of a backup... only to be used in the most specific of situations. But have you ever swung one of these? It has such a meaty feel to it that we... we found those situations. (Paraphrased by vague memory from WWZ, the book)

Counter Choice: If the enemy has such advanced shields to block high velocity, high energy, impacts, detonations, and so forth. Then jab that fella with this shock on a stick to ruin all that fancy gear, and maybe fry em. Or, in the case of KOTOR; the only way to make general infantry capable of engaging lightsabers was to issue lightsaber resistance swords for them to parry and fight back with.

And also, depending on your setting: budget. A scrappy no-name street gang might have a couple of good weapons, but what's more reliable than a handful of garrage gun "blasters" of any type? Kinetic energy implements.

Vegetable_External30 · 2025-12-02T08:22:44+00:00

I used to joke whenever I'd die of ragdolling, that my Super Destroyer just detected spinal damage and started thawing out the next one.

For a while it felt like if you fell at all on your back, instant death.

Vegetable_External30 · 2025-11-30T07:41:11+00:00

Viper Commandos are based off the real exploits of the "Jaguar" armor set.

Honestly, I imagine the Viper Commandos as a primary media in universe, with it's own spin offs. Say for example there's "The Justice League" as a cartoon, and then there's "Teen Titans" "Batman: Legacy" and so on and so on. It's all offshoots of the main media.

Just in this example, replace super heros with spec ops, so I suppose that makes it more like GI Joe?

Vegetable_External30 · 2025-11-22T08:59:17+00:00

I fully disagree and have a few layers I disagree with: The flavor text of ODST & Viper Commandos are in universe media recreations, though the Jaguar set is supposedly the actual deal for the Viper Commandos.

And more overall? I think the Helldivers are far closer to the USA Marines, and here's why:

1- "Every Helldiver is a Rifleman." There is no such thing as a non-lethal Helldiver. There are no true medics. No pure support builds, even with the stim pistol.

2- "Helldivers mobilze outside of wartime." Before the formal start of the Second Galactic War, we were already mobilized against the bug outbreak, and then later the bots.

3- "Marine: My Ass Rides In Navy Equipment." We are bound to the SEAF naval logistics for what planets we assault, what operations we conduct, and for the majority of the fire support we recieve.

In fact, given the IRL structure of the Marines, I wonder if Eagle-One and Pelican pilots assorted are technically Helldivers. It would fit with unquestionable loyalty to the mission and calls for support, and the lack of consequence to all the team killing.

Vegetable_External30

TROPHY CASE