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Playthroughs / Hardmode Expansion Mod. Superhuman, Ironman, Zero Offensive Psionics. Victory!
« on: August 07, 2022, 08:42:34 am »
I've been playing X-COM for 26+ years. Played on Superhuman ever since I found OpenXcom and have completed countless campaigns. Have done "First 8" runs, Human Weapon only runs, 12 Elerium runs, you name it, I've tried it and done it, most on Ironman. But this campaign was by far the hardest fought victory I've ever had in classic XCOM. The Hardmode Expansion Mod by Hellrazor truly lives up to it's name. It stays so close to classic UFO Defense that the name "Expansion" is fitting, because to me, it feels like it could be an official expansion to an already incredible game. Beyond that, IT. IS. HARD. The aliens are tougher, faster, far more aggressive, far more dangerous and come in far greater numbers. The revamp to the research tree means you have to complete very dangerous missions to capture live aliens to unlock any real gear progression. No just picking up a Heavy Plasma in the first mission and rolling to the end game. It's a war of attrition, and a brutal one at that.
Our final fight was brutal from the get go. Turn 1, action 1, drone edges out and dies on the ramp. An ominous start. We begin to clear some of the threats, see that we are close to the elevator down and decide to move in fast.
A moment later, we eat 3 blaster bombs. Our Walker Tank is a $1.6m heap, our other drone is dead, and 2 soldiers are a barely recognizable mass of pulpy flesh. Many more are wounded. We patch them up and "escape" into the interior. Only now our excess gear is left sitting on the deck of the AVENGER.
A brutal, dangerous, ominous and tense mission follows in an alien fortress 3/4x's bigger than an alien base on earth. Crammed full of ~70 aliens, including the most deadly and dangerous terror units. 6 hours later, 3 brave souls emerged, having survived the massacre and prevailed to wipe out the alien brain!
Superhuman. Pure Ironman, Zero offensive psionics, all streamed live. #THATSXCOMBABY
One of the single hardest and most satisfying runs I've ever done in gaming at all, let alone just in XCOM! I WILL come back to this mod in the future, better prepared, more knowledgeable, and ready for the challenge again. If you enjoy really difficult runs in classic XCOM, I recommend this one for sure. But know that it is only balanced around Superhuman, and playing on lower difficulties can actually make it harder because of the lack of income from fewer UFOs/Aliens.
We're live @ Twitch.tv/The_Voice_ every Tues-Thursday 7PM - 11PM+ and every Saturday 2PM - 9pm+ as well as bonus streams on alternating Fridays! We've got an awesome, ever growing community full of great people, XCOM fans, and gamers of all kinds, and we'd love to see you there!
Our final fight was brutal from the get go. Turn 1, action 1, drone edges out and dies on the ramp. An ominous start. We begin to clear some of the threats, see that we are close to the elevator down and decide to move in fast.
A moment later, we eat 3 blaster bombs. Our Walker Tank is a $1.6m heap, our other drone is dead, and 2 soldiers are a barely recognizable mass of pulpy flesh. Many more are wounded. We patch them up and "escape" into the interior. Only now our excess gear is left sitting on the deck of the AVENGER.
A brutal, dangerous, ominous and tense mission follows in an alien fortress 3/4x's bigger than an alien base on earth. Crammed full of ~70 aliens, including the most deadly and dangerous terror units. 6 hours later, 3 brave souls emerged, having survived the massacre and prevailed to wipe out the alien brain!
Superhuman. Pure Ironman, Zero offensive psionics, all streamed live. #THATSXCOMBABY
One of the single hardest and most satisfying runs I've ever done in gaming at all, let alone just in XCOM! I WILL come back to this mod in the future, better prepared, more knowledgeable, and ready for the challenge again. If you enjoy really difficult runs in classic XCOM, I recommend this one for sure. But know that it is only balanced around Superhuman, and playing on lower difficulties can actually make it harder because of the lack of income from fewer UFOs/Aliens.
We're live @ Twitch.tv/The_Voice_ every Tues-Thursday 7PM - 11PM+ and every Saturday 2PM - 9pm+ as well as bonus streams on alternating Fridays! We've got an awesome, ever growing community full of great people, XCOM fans, and gamers of all kinds, and we'd love to see you there!