Ironman 12, capthawk 0

[capthawk]

Ironman is intense!
Another promising squad has been mauled.
Not beyond salvage this time but I had to quit for awhile after watching both engineers die in Extermination by Fire.
All on me, of course, I'm a horrible Ironman captain thus far lol!
I knew, four turns before engineer buffet time for the Xeno I needed to fall back.
But did I? Noooo, my captain can destroy four Golis, four hunters, countless scittering, spawn beasties in green and blue... multiple, carapaces everywhere.

So, I think it's time to admit I need to be playing Nightmare, as I'm not yet ready for primetime.

I'm excited, this will be a chance to apply what I'm learning about enemy v. almost as tough a beastie level as iron.
But, I can chicken out if I want to keep my people alive.
Just feel like I simply have to get better before I tackle Ironman again. It's that good.

[Cory Trese]

How far did you make it on Nightmare before moving up to Ironman?

[capthawk]

Apr 29, 2016 11:03:06 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

How far did you make it on Nightmare before moving up to Ironman?

Not far. I replayed my Brutal squad quite a few times. When I did early Nightmare it didn't seem as tough as my amped up Brutal, so I thought maybe I'd test out Ironman.

I'm toying with the idea of taking a Nightmare squad through all missions, incl. Stratos, then select Ironman for the replay.

Like I said, the failure is mine as a captain. I make the same mistakes time and time again, so to me I need more seasoning to tackle the missions when it's truly life and death.

I want to make it clear I'm not complaining at all. I absolutely love Ironman, and can't wait to tackle it again.

[capthawk]

Glutton for punishment.
Running another Ironman. I lost one knight, but after a break from iron I could be more philosophical about it.
It was her first deployment, which is sad, but in the long run I just recruited a noob on the spot, and got the XP toward a second engineer class anyway.
Running much more protectively, tighter formations, better gear combos and safer tactics.
Still able to secure most turn bonuses, as well as all secondary so far. Kill bonus actually a bit better at this pace.
Fun!

[capthawk]

0-13, Kaldun South did me in.

[fallen]

Would definitely recommend getting a better hang of the game on lower difficulties first.

If you go straight to Ironman, you are not putting yourself in a position to successfully learn the required skills.

Beat the game on a lower difficulty, and you'll find you're better prepared for Ironman

[capthawk]

May 2, 2016 12:05:43 GMT -5 fallen said:

Would definitely recommend getting a better hang of the game on lower difficulties first.

If you go straight to Ironman, you are not putting yourself in a position to successfully learn the required skills.

Beat the game on a lower difficulty, and you're better prepared for Ironman

Agreed.
I ran my normal and brutal squads through the entire campaign multiple times.
I think part of my issues are playing so much with high level characters and gear, I've lost some early game strategy.
And I really think Ironman is just great. Very tough, but the ultimate true game over Sword of Damocles adds to the tension on every turn... sometimes on every AP or MP.

I'm glad you saved perma-death for the hardest difficulty on BF, unlike ST where you meet game over death early on in difficulties.

Also, just to be perfectly clear, I love Ironman!
I'm not bitching about how hard it is. I am enjoying feeling so challenged. Also, many of my 13 fails were just I quit because I wanted to at least get the whole squad out of part one alive.
This time I'm giving up the no deaths. I'm getting ready to square off with the loathsome Litch as we prepare to storm the Palace, and I've lost three knights getting here. All were regrettable, but were also either first time deployments or backups; in any case we recruited and moved on.

[fallen]

capthawk - awesome! I do think Ironman becomes more fun if you let go of the no deaths. Just take a moment between levels to go check your Wall of Fallen to honor those who died to get you to where you are today!

[blaa]

First game I played was on iron man and it was really intense, not knowing the missions and all. Lasted till the mission where you have to kill that guy that respawns at three pillars.

I chose to play brutal now but I can see the appeal of trying to get further and further in iron man, it's thrilling to play a mission for the first time with maximum risk.

[capthawk]

I thought of an alternative, if I continue to struggle early on Ironman. I'll run a Nightmare squad all the way through, then pick Ironman for retry.
Then I'd have more development in gear and troops.

[algesan]

May 2, 2016 12:05:43 GMT -5 fallen said:

Would definitely recommend getting a better hang of the game on lower difficulties first.

If you go straight to Ironman, you are not putting yourself in a position to successfully learn the required skills.

Beat the game on a lower difficulty, and you'll find you're better prepared for Ironman

Toss up IMO. I'm going back through from the bottom again and, as before, using a Normal squad to run the mission to see the terrain before doing the Ironman run. Massively different playstyles.

Normal is all speed, shoot, fun to step up and face bash stuff, oops maybe we need a healer stuff.

Ironman is armor, firepower, heat management (IMO, Heat Sink is more critical than any healing), securing against surprise Xeno intrusions, one-two hit melee kills by Xenos, and not overextending. Okay, speed is still useful...as long as you can manage the heat penalties.

Normal is a fun frolic in the park, appropriate for women, children and the faint of heart.

Ironman is a grinding slugfest of precision and balance with a good portion of your enemy being the RNG.

So, yes, it is nice to know the terrain, but my Normal squad build would die like flies in Ironman.

Normal: "Oh look, you overheated, take the turn off, drink some fluids, we are good."
Ironman: "Overheating? Are you in Lockdown? No? Then keep shooting, they are still coming!"