X-COM, XCOM and their derivatives - Including: Xenonauts, Phoenix Point, and assorted tactical turn-based alien shoot-a-thons

[Corn Flakes]

With the Let's Play thread for UFO defense going so well, looks like there's a good amount of interest in discussion of the X-COM/XCOM franchises in general. What's the difference? Keep reading. Since I didn't find any general discussion threads for the franchise (only LPs and talk about specific games like Chimera Squad), we might as well have one now so the LP thread doesn't get derailed.

The old games are dead but there's always something to discuss (plenty of anecdotes), and who knows. Maybe they'll try to release XCOM 3, The Search for Spock later on. Plus there are things like Xenonauts (X-COM with Blackjack! And Hookers!) and Phoenix Point ("I'm the creator and I know best! What do you mean, my design concepts are outdated?") which might as well be lumped in here.

So, what's the difference between X-COM and XCOM? Simply put, X-COM are the old games with as much depth as the Challenger Deep, and XCOM is the modern reboot with all the shiny bells and whistles. Simple as that, but I've seen some people using the terms interchangeably so we might as well get them cleared up.

Edit: here's a bunch of resources courtesy of @L50LasPak.

UFOpaedia Wiki: The definitive resource for all three of the original XCOM games, their remakes, *some* of the various modification out there, as well as oldschool tools like Xcomutil and UFO Extender. Amusingly, this is you first result if you punch "ufopedia wiki" into a search engine, not the site that catalogs UFO sightings.

https://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php/Main_Page

XCOM Trilogy UFOpedia at Chaotic Signal: A simple web page that hosts an interactive version of the in-game UFOpedias from all three games. The UFO Defense one obviously contains spoilers for this thread.

http://ufopedia.csignal.org/

XCOMUFO.com: Oldschool resource for the original three games that still has some neat stuff.

http://xcomufo.com/

1d4Chan's Page on XCOM: Dated for sure, but provides a good overview.

XCOM - 1d4chan

1d4chan.org

OpenXcom Forums: Contains all resources and discussion for OpenXcom and its many, many mods.

https://openxcom.org/forum/

OpenXcom Mod.io Portal: Alternate and more user-friendly mod portal than the forums. May or may not always be up to date compared to the forums though.

https://openxcom.mod.io/

GuavaMoment's LPs: So you can see how the Something Awful goons handled this. This is the archetypical XCOM forum LP in my mind, I'm not aware of many others and the ones I do know about I haven't actually ever finished reading like the Spacebattles one. The games are done out of order though, its kind of confusing.

https://lparchive.org/X-COM-Apocalypse/

X-COM: UFO Defense

Let's Play X-COM: UFO Defense by GuavaMoment

lparchive.org

X-COM: Terror from the Deep

Let's Play X-COM: Terror from the Deep by GuavaMoment

lparchive.org

---

Let me get out on the ramp first with a quote poached from the other thread:

Man, Apoc is my absolute favourite of the three, even in its flawed form, and it's a real shame that it turned out the way it did.

Cut features and gutted AI aside, I can honestly tell anyone here that the atmosphere of the game is incredible, from the artwork, to the sprites they used and even the music. It definitely evokes the popular 90s dystopia ala Judge Dredd or Cyberpunk 2020. Combat, while clunky, isn't bad at all. Real-time mode gets a lot of shit from turn-based purists, but it's also one of the strongest feature imo. Everything, and I mean, everything is supremely overpowered in that mode. You're not helpless against aliens; you ARE the reaper god of death there.

Have you ever wondered how it was like to dual-wield machineguns? Well, in Apoc you can. Duelwield that Marsec machinegun and gun down ayys like Rambo.
Have you ever wondered if you could blow up an entire building in X-Com? You can, in Apoc!
Have you ever wanted to level a city? You technically can in Apoc too! MegaPrimus doesn't have shit against you in the late game.

Honestly, real-time is by far the best way to play Apocalypse. That's my hot take.

It renders the two most obnoxious threats in any turn-based game in the franchise a lot more manageable: Brainsuckers and Poppers. Poppers being walking grenades should be obvious enough. But brainsuckers, though? Brainsuckers are a pace-murdering nightmare in turn-based because they're everywhere, the aliens toss their pods like confetti, and it doesn't matter how much health or armor you have. Even in late-game. Unless your agent is an android, if you didn't reserve TUs to overwatch every. single turn (and got lucky with the hit chance), a brainsucker in turn-based will not just remove your agent but also turn him against the rest of the squad. Likely at point-blank. And it was probably the guy with the heavy launcher, too. The original Chryssalid at least had the decency of being a Terror mission unit that didn't show up on Day 1. And they didn't jump.

In real time, though? They can still be a threat, particularly to lone agents with low accuracy/slow-firing weapons (as they should be), but you don't have to worry so much about one of them ninja-dodging their way past a whole firing line of agents with machineguns to go full succ/full blow on one of them.

Plus there's always the late-game lulz of having agents flying around with personal shields and teleporters and dual-wielded Devastator cannons. The Aliens never saw it coming.

 

[Kane Lives]

Speaking of old-school X-Com, does anyone have a list of recommended mods for it?

I only ever played UFO Defense in its original form (warts and old), so I never really looked into its modding scene.

With the Let's Play thread for UFO defense going so well, looks like there's a good amount of interest in discussion of the X-Com/XCOM franchises in general. What's the difference? Keep reading. Since I didn't find any general discussion threads for the franchise (only LPs and talk about specific games like Chimera Squad), we might as well have one now so the LP thread doesn't get derailed.

The old games are dead but there's always something to discuss (plenty of anecdotes), and who knows. Maybe they'll try to release XCOM 3, The Search for Spock later on. Plus there are things like Xenonauts (X-Com with Blackjack! And Hookers!) and Phoenix Point ("I'm the creator and I know best! What do you mean, my design concepts are outdated?") which might as well be lumped in here.

So, what's the difference between X-Com and XCOM? Simply put, X-Com are the old games with as much depth as the Challenger Deep, and XCOM is the modern reboot with all the shiny bells and whistles. Simple as that, but I've seen some people using the terms interchangeably so we might as well get them cleared up.

Let me get out on the ramp first with a quote poached from the other thread:

Honestly, real-time is by far the best way to play Apocalypse. That's my hot take.

It renders the two most obnoxious threats in any turn-based game in the franchise a lot more manageable: Brainsuckers and Poppers. Poppers being walking grenades should be obvious enough. But brainsuckers, though? Brainsuckers are a pace-murdering nightmare in turn-based because they're everywhere, the aliens toss their pods like confetti, and it doesn't matter how much health or armor you have. Even in late-game. Unless your agent is an android, if you didn't reserve TUs to overwatch every. single turn (and got lucky with the hit chance), a brainsucker in turn-based will not just remove your agent but also turn him against the rest of the squad. Likely at point-blank. And it was probably the guy with the heavy launcher, too. The original Chryssalid at least had the decency of being a Terror mission unit that didn't show up on Day 1. And they didn't jump.

In real time, though? They can still be a threat, particularly to lone agents with low accuracy/slow-firing weapons (as they should be), but you don't have to worry so much about one of them ninja-dodging their way past a whole firing line of agents with machineguns to go full succ/full blow on one of them.

Plus there's always the late-game lulz of having agents flying around with personal shields and teleporters and dual-wielded Devastator cannons. The Aliens never saw it coming.

I never actually realised what a big deal with brainsuckers was until I tried playing it fully in turn based. Holy shit the game really transformed from something akin to a John Woo action movie to a horrifying TFTD sequel. Never even got to poppers before I just switched back fully to real time.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Speaking of old-school X-Com, does anyone have a list of recommended mods for it?

I only ever played UFO Defense in its original form (warts and old), so I never really looked into its modding scene.

I don't remember playing UFO Defense with any mods, besides one to fix the difficulty. I remember an old friend was all about the mods back in the day, though. I'll see if I can contact him again.

I never actually realised what a big deal with brainsuckers was until I tried playing it fully in turn based. Holy shit the game really transformed from something akin to a John Woo action movie to a horrifying TFTD sequel. Never even got to poppers before I just switched back fully to real time.

Seriously. It was like getting Tentaculats in every mission, from Day 0.

I've managed to beat the game in turn-based, and it pretty much requires a lot of savescumming and trickery (and a couple exploits) in order to avoid a lot of unavoidable wipes. Megaspawn (the huge aliens that usually cover the entrances to the larger ships) can be taken down pretty easily with a firing line at a safe distance away from the door in real time. In turn-based? Unless you're bringing in full squads you just don't have enough firepower to take them out in a single turn when the first appear, because if they get to live for more than one turn and they actually hit someone? It hurts. The best trick I found was to just chuck a vortex mine per agent from max throw range and hope for the best.

 

[Considered HARMful]

FWIW, I sorta-kinda like playing the XCOM reboot (didn't play the second game yet, only the first with expansions). It's slick, polished, streamlined. Yet at the same time I deeply despise the state of the modern gaming market, catering to console dimwits (change my mind challenge!) which brought the rich mechanics of UFO Defense down to:

• Why need countries when you can have continents instead?
• Man, managing more than one deployment at the same time is sooooo hard. Let's go shopping! So no more multiple UFOs flying around, while I dispatch two different Skyrangers to crash sites/landing sites/terror sites/alien bases. No bueno.
• And the rotten cherry on top of the shitcake: dumbed down tactical combat. No more TUs, stances, different attack types, inventory management and, fuck me, actual tactics! Two action points and half-assed cover system should be enough for anybody console plebes who can't be arsed to complex management of a 12-man squad on a shitty gamepad.

I assume XCOM 2 is not better in that regard and therefore it's not very high on my game-TODO-list.

I just wish there was a modern XCOM game without the brain damage.

 

[2d6]

FWIW, I sorta-kinda like playing the XCOM reboot (didn't play the second game yet, only the first with expansions). It's slick, polished, streamlined. Yet at the same time I deeply despise the state of the modern gaming market, catering to console dimwits (change my mind challenge!) which brought the rich mechanics of UFO Defense down to:

• Why need countries when you can have continents instead?
• Man, managing more than one deployment at the same time is sooooo hard. Let's go shopping! So no more multiple UFOs flying around, while I dispatch two different Skyrangers to crash sites/landing sites/terror sites/alien bases. No bueno.
• And the rotten cherry on top of the shitcake: dumbed down tactical combat. No more TUs, stances, different attack types, inventory management and, fuck me, actual tactics! Two action points and half-assed cover system should be enough for anybody console plebes who can't be arsed to complex management of a 12-man squad on a shitty gamepad.

I assume XCOM 2 is not better in that regard and therefore it's not very high on my game-TODO-list.

I just wish there was a modern XCOM game without the brain damage.

Have you tried the Xenonauts series? It's really popular with XCOM grognards like yourself and has mechanics like TU management and more geoscape interactions and such.

 

[Considered HARMful]

Have you tried the Xenonauts series? It's really popular with XCOM grognards like yourself and has mechanics like TU management and more geoscape interactions and such.

I have not and from what I've read about in the Let's Play UFO Defense topic - I don't want to.

 

[Corn Flakes]

I actually like both the old-school X-Com and the XCOM reboot. Mostly because I see them as filling completely different niches. If I want tension, high casualties, mental calculations and putting everything the hands of RNGesus, I'll play UFO Defense. If I want fun 80s action movie action and quips with turns that last less than 30 minutes, I'll play XCOM.

Ironically, XCOM: Enemy Unknown does a much better job of thematically re-enacting the cheesy UFO Defense opening cinematic than UFO Defense ever could.

 

[Considered HARMful]

I actually like both the old-school X-Com and the XCOM reboot. Mostly because I see them as filling completely different niches.

This is a fair point and, as I mentioned, I like the XCOM reboot. Having my onions firmly tied to the belt, I'm just slightly butthurt that it's called XCOM and not ${any_other_name} and more butthurt at the game industry in general.

 

[Allakazam223]

I had the most fun with nuXCOM in multiplayer matches. Pitting one fully loaded and ranked Sniper with Ghost armor and Plasma Sniper vs full balanced squads with Lasers (at best) is just ridiculous. Unlimited ammo and 2? 3? Inventory slots is pretty dumb, coming from X-Com games though.

How is nuXCOM 2 with the DLC? I was hoping they would have gone back to the roots of X-Com but I haven't even peeked at it.

 

[NOT Sword Fighter Super]

Obligatory Spoony clip.

 

[Kane Lives]

I had the most fun with nuXCOM in multiplayer matches. Pitting one fully loaded and ranked Sniper with Ghost armor and Plasma Sniper vs full balanced squads with Lasers (at best) is just ridiculous. Unlimited ammo and 2? 3? Inventory slots is pretty dumb, coming from X-Com games though.

How is nuXCOM 2 with the DLC? I was hoping they would have gone back to the roots of X-Com but I haven't even peeked at it.

Nah. XCOM 2 is just a better XCOM:EW. If you didn't like nuCOM before, you wouldn't like nuCOM 2.

 

[A-Z0-9]

Personally I adore XCOM: UFO Defense due to the freedom in tactics you have in attacking the aliens and the deadliness of the opposition (Even though it gets somewhat easier later down the road.).

In the tactics department, you can equip each individual soldier with whatever items you desire. Further, each soldier has his/her/killxself own particular stats that can and will heavily influence whatever action that their stat corresponds to. In the actual battlefield, the presence of Z-levels (height) in X-COM meant that death can come and be dealt from several locations a unperceptive player will miss. Walls, debri and elevations can and will block shots and influence grenade throws, with certain terrain being destructable (like walls) allowing the tactical player to create dynamic entrances to locations. Hell, even craters can be formed, allowing trenches to be made in the midst of battle. You might think the enemy AI is relatively simple, but it can surprise me often. They can flank, provide supporting fire, they even use certain expendable units to find your troops, have them pull back and have a designated heavy unit then rain fire upon where your troops where located.

The opposition in XCOM is fucking deadly. Yes, the sectiods might not be bad early on, but later on more and more challenging enemies will start appearing.

One of these, is called a chryssalid.

What do these things do, you might ask?

Well, these units are tanky and can get shot multiple times with the starting rifles and even several explosives before it dies. Whilst they have no ranged weapons, they are fast and deal a fuckton of damage on melee. What makes these fuckers so dangerous is that they can zombify the troops that they kill.

No prob, right? They are just zombies man. Like, really slow. While it sucks that our guy is currently walking towards us -moaning about brains - it should not be that difficult to kill em.

So you order your other troops to fire on him. The bullets hit, he dies AND FUCKING TRANSFORMS INTO A FULLY HEALED CHRYSSALID.

YES. CHRYSSALIDS ARE FUCKING TANKY, QUICK AS FUCK, AND CANOVERWHELM YOU ON TERROR MISSIONS SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY TRANSFORMED EVERY CIVILIAN INTO THEMSELVES, WHOM CAN THEN IN TURN TRANSFORM EVEN MORE.

I've had missions where the entire one part of the map is just craters and corpses, littered empty magazines and having constant chryssalids charging in from the fog of war. I've had over several magazines of ammo for each individual weapon for each soldier. I RUN OUT OF AMMO. EVERY TIME.

This is why I love XCOM: UFO defense. No other game offers this amount of freeform whilst remaining challenging and incredibly intense. No other game has me fearing the "Enemy Movement" Phase and whenever the view shifts, I experience a minor heart attack.

Get it. Experience it. Just be forewarned it IS a slow burn, so only try it if you have the patience and time.

 

[Polyboros2]

I tried the original after getting them all in a bundle, but they were just a bit too dated and I didn't have the nostalgia to get past that. I absolutely love the concept.

Missed the first one, started with XCOM 2. Actually really enjoyed it, played through a decent chunk, but I really disliked the flavor of it being post Alien take over terrorist movement, and I eventually sat the game down and never picked it up again.

I'll probably play again at some point. Might go with the first nuXCOM, or see if there is some good overhaul mods for 2.

 

[Quintex96]

How is nuXCOM 2 with the DLC? I was hoping they would have gone back to the roots of X-Com but I haven't even peeked at it.

WOTC is a fantastic expansion, adds new types of recruitable soldiers (Chernobyl snipers, awakened Advent troops and psykers) as well as a few more mission types. The battles against the chosen are also pretty engaging, as they have specific strengths and weaknesses you have to prepare against.

Shen's Last gift I remember being okay, It's been a while since I played it.

Alien Rulers is an excercise in pure unadultered pain. If you are some kind of masochist that gets off to watching your entire squad getting wiped to a nigh unkillable enemy that can and will show up without warning then go ahead. I have played through the game 3 times with this DLC enabled. Every time I have never been able them in a straight up fight. I had to cheese them with weapons with the chance instakill mod on. The DLC isn't bad in theory, the problem is the 'alien rulers' are far too powerful for how early they show up in the game. The chosen are pretty strong too but you at least have a fighting chance against them and they don't always kill your troops if they catch you off guard. But if the beserker queen shows up before you have maxed out squad size, it's pretty much gg.
On the positive side though, the gear you unlock for killing them is pretty great.

 

[Radical Cadre]

Have you ever wondered if you could blow up an entire building in X-Com? You can, in Apoc!

Building destruction was the only thing the newer XCOM2 got right.

Beyond that the game was just boring and...

Ah it was okay I just thought it was a big old step back from EU/EW which I thoroughly enjoy. Especially with mods like The Long War. Just wanted to make sure the Spoony clip got onto page one.

 

[The Valeyard]

No prob, right? They are just zombies man. Like, really slow. While it sucks that our guy is currently walking towards us -moaning about brains - it should not be that difficult to kill em.

So you order your other troops to fire on him. The bullets hit, he dies AND FUCKING TRANSFORMS INTO A FULLY HEALED CHRYSSALID.

YES. CHRYSSALIDS ARE FUCKING TANKY, QUICK AS FUCK, AND CANOVERWHELM YOU ON TERROR MISSIONS SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY TRANSFORMED EVERY CIVILIAN INTO THEMSELVES, WHOM CAN THEN IN TURN TRANSFORM EVEN MORE.

They got a big nerf in nuXCOM. The Chryssalid doesn’t spawn if you kill a zombie as it is on a three turn timer instead, and when it does spawn a new Chryssalid it’s a weaker “hatchling”.

They are still something to dread in Terror Missions, however.

 

[Brahma]

Apocalypse is probably my favorite of them all.

Originally played UFO Enemy Unknown on a ... Amiga 600? as a kid but I played tftd and apocalypse on the first pc I ever built.


Real time was the way to go. I used to live for raiding corporations that the aliens suborned, especially if I fucked up and let marsec or megapol get away early game because it was the only way to restock their weaponry.

Fucking with the cult of sirius was a given and a great way to train up recruits because once you had some research under your belt even recruits went through the temples like a hot knife through butter.

Once cost is no longer an issue and alien weapons are on all your aircraft (or that giant tank!) Enemy buildings were flattened to the foundations and kept that way.

 

[Kane Lives]

I tried the original after getting them all in a bundle, but they were just a bit too dated and I didn't have the nostalgia to get past that. I absolutely love the concept.

Missed the first one, started with XCOM 2. Actually really enjoyed it, played through a decent chunk, but I really disliked the flavor of it being post Alien take over terrorist movement, and I eventually sat the game down and never picked it up again.

I'll probably play again at some point. Might go with the first nuXCOM, or see if there is some good overhaul mods for 2.

Xenonauts, for all its faults and quirks, might be the closest to the OG X-Com experience that doesn't feel too dated. I'd recommend trying that first if you're interested. That said, always play Xenonauts with the Community Edition. The vanilla game still has unfinished features which CE patched up and fixed. (Things like Bravery not mitigating psionic attacks were pretty bad.)

 

[Pinainas]

What's up with the nausea inducing perspective of the autopsy scenes in Apoc? Goddamn I gave myself a headache trying to figure it out.

Spoiler: autopsy scenes

 

[Twitter Hate Mob]

NuCOM is incredible with the Long War mod installed, it actually gives some tactical depth to the game and comfortably ticks all the tactics itches I have.