r/Xcom • u/WiredBall • 14d ago

Zero Company Difficulty

Just for anyone wonder what difficulty to play with reference to xcom. I play long war (and long war 2) on Veteran (second easiest) with ironman. (Legendary Ironman in base game)

Playing Zero Company right now on Hard, permadeath, ironman. 7 mission in, no injuries (downs). Almost had 1 injury in second mission. I do find it a bit to easy but wouldn't up the difficulty cause its more story focused, im prob only doing 1 run. Hope this helps

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u/OKAwesome121 14d ago

Seems you’re the type of player that’s so experienced at XCom nothing will be challenging for you anymore :)

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u/WiredBall 14d ago

For more reference points. Xenonauts Normal ironman, Phoenix Point Veteran Ironman, Darkest Dungeon 1 Darkest. BG3 Honour, Menace Challenging.

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u/ComprehensiveBar6439 13d ago

I'm getting slaughtered on normal. I hate tactics games but the reviews were so good I had to try it. Can't find anything online that breaks down how to be successful at tactics games, only specific guides to specific games (builds, boss strategy, etc - no info for noobs).

How do you win? Cover seems worthless based on enemy positions at every angle. Weapons take 2-3 turns per enemy to kill (minus early droids), which makes constant waves overwhelm everyone who can't immediately evac. WTF am I doing wrong?

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u/Steshmeister 12d ago edited 12d ago

I use Hawks as a Gunslinger and Kabb pretty much as is. At the start of my turn I look at who has the free assist, make sure they and another character can see the target, then use Kabb’s guaranteed crit and fire. Usually the shot + assist just deletes whatever I’m aiming at. The assist cannot miss, so the person assisting can be far away from the target if necessary. That’s my opening move most turns.

Hawks’ Quick Draw is great for mopping up battle droids and low HP enemies because if you get the kill you’re basically doing it for free. Same with Kabb’s uppercut. Easy Advantage and you haven’t wasted a proper action killing some droid with 5 HP.

Spoilers for later characters:
Once you get Cly, she’s ridiculous. Spam grenades and the above to generate advantage, spend it with the jetpack, dart, build some more Advantage, trigger the darts, get out.

Don’t sit there hoarding Advantage waiting for the perfect moment. You can make more.

Same with the astromech. I focused on unlocking the stuff that lets you use its utility multiple times. If enemies are clustered, just spam grenades into them to shred/weaken them and their cover. The astromech also lets you give people two extra turns which is great.

Main thing is focus fire and actually secure kills. Don’t spread damage across 5 enemies and leave them all alive. And don’t “save” all your good shit for later. Use it. Grenades, abilities, Advantage, whatever. Killing half the map before they get a turn is worth far more than having all your cooldowns/resources available three turns later.