XCOM 2 Monoclass Run: Psi Operatives
It turns out I was not able to get the WotC misc missions post done in time, so have another post I mostly wrote up and then never got around to finding a good time to post it. This time, it's actually XCOM 2-related, being a bit of an overview of a run I did back in either early 2020 or late 2019 (My documentation is unclear) of arranging a run of nothing but Psi Operatives.
Well, sort of.
As with all of my mono-class runs, this was played on Commander difficulty with 'aim assist' manually disabled through ini editing and with the Commander's Choice mod installed to smooth out the process of becoming one-dimensional. This was base-game in particular, to be clear.
Unlike the other runs, this was also done with the Psi Rookies mod installed, since normally Psi Operatives don't become a realistic option until the early midgame, and the limitations on the Psi Lab make it extremely impractical to field a full team of six outside of stalling at the end to specifically bring a team of six for the final mission. The Psi Operatives that Rookies can promote directly into in the Psi Rookies mod also diverge in more fundamental ways from non-modded Psi Operatives, gaining levels from kills like other soldiers, only getting half their possible skills (Except that they start with both Soulfire and Stasis) as well as getting them in a fixed order (No rolling Null Lance down at Corporal-equivalent), and being able to roll Advanced Warfare Center bonus skills, so even aside how fundamentally impossible it is to do a mono-Psi Operative run this isn't precisely representative of what a 'real' mono-Psi Operative run would be like. (Where 'real' would be defined as something like giving yourself a beginning Psi Lab with 6+ training slots, no other changes; sadly, no mod exists that does this as far as I can tell, nor anything remotely close enough, and I wouldn't know how to do it myself)
It also fails to apply the white hair and purple eyes effect, hence the lack in these screenshots.
Nonetheless, the run was educational and fun.
First of all, Soulfire: I was going in expecting early access to it to be a Big Deal, and... kiiiinda? The fact that it ignores Armor and Dodge was actually basically irrelevant up until around the phase of the game I would've had some rudimentary Psi Operatives if I was pushing for them plausibly early, as most early-game enemies don't have any points in either stat. ADVENT Mecs and ADVENT Turrets are both exceptions, but they're also both immune to Soulfire, so Soulfire wasn't a clutch skill against them. The big thing about Soulfire was that it was kind of like having Hail of Bullets, but without actually spending ammo: a way to force 4-6 damage on a target even if it's in High Cover and I can't flank it. This let it serve as a safety net; I could take iffy-odds shots at the last enemy in a pod, and then finish them off with Soulfire if that didn't work out, or with two Soulfires if they had more HP than a basic ADVENT Trooper. This was very nice for mitigating how far RNG-screw could go, but wasn't particularly cheesy or 'powerful' in a more conventional sense; I generally didn't use Soulfire very often in the early game, since the cooldown nature meant that if bullets could do the job successfully it was better to go for bullets and only break out Soulfire if bullets failed me.
Second, early Stasis: this was huge, and a lot less unhealthy than I was expecting it to be. Its primary utility for much of the early game was as a panic button when, for some reason or another, I pulled more pods than my squad was ready for. As the vast majority of those cases were examples of unintuitive or outright broken line of sight mechanics -I had one mission in particular where multiple pods outright activated through solid walls with no windows or open doors- this aspect served primarily to mitigate frustration over the game not functioning correctly/as advertised. There were a handful of occasions where I made a genuine error that really should've gotten someone hurt if not killed and Stasis let me pull the squad out of the fire, but these were very much the exception. I'd really gone in expecting to be using Stasis as a secondary RNG-immune safety net, but in practice I only did that a little bit, most of it before I'd gotten the first squad size expansion purchased.
This run was actually the run in which I pulled off The Untouchables Achievement. Psi Operatives are really good at avoiding taking casualties. (Plus I got lucky: I didn't suffer deaths in Gatecrasher, after all)
Nonetheless, the run was educational and fun.
First of all, Soulfire: I was going in expecting early access to it to be a Big Deal, and... kiiiinda? The fact that it ignores Armor and Dodge was actually basically irrelevant up until around the phase of the game I would've had some rudimentary Psi Operatives if I was pushing for them plausibly early, as most early-game enemies don't have any points in either stat. ADVENT Mecs and ADVENT Turrets are both exceptions, but they're also both immune to Soulfire, so Soulfire wasn't a clutch skill against them. The big thing about Soulfire was that it was kind of like having Hail of Bullets, but without actually spending ammo: a way to force 4-6 damage on a target even if it's in High Cover and I can't flank it. This let it serve as a safety net; I could take iffy-odds shots at the last enemy in a pod, and then finish them off with Soulfire if that didn't work out, or with two Soulfires if they had more HP than a basic ADVENT Trooper. This was very nice for mitigating how far RNG-screw could go, but wasn't particularly cheesy or 'powerful' in a more conventional sense; I generally didn't use Soulfire very often in the early game, since the cooldown nature meant that if bullets could do the job successfully it was better to go for bullets and only break out Soulfire if bullets failed me.
Second, early Stasis: this was huge, and a lot less unhealthy than I was expecting it to be. Its primary utility for much of the early game was as a panic button when, for some reason or another, I pulled more pods than my squad was ready for. As the vast majority of those cases were examples of unintuitive or outright broken line of sight mechanics -I had one mission in particular where multiple pods outright activated through solid walls with no windows or open doors- this aspect served primarily to mitigate frustration over the game not functioning correctly/as advertised. There were a handful of occasions where I made a genuine error that really should've gotten someone hurt if not killed and Stasis let me pull the squad out of the fire, but these were very much the exception. I'd really gone in expecting to be using Stasis as a secondary RNG-immune safety net, but in practice I only did that a little bit, most of it before I'd gotten the first squad size expansion purchased.
It did get pretty powerful by the time Gatekeepers and Sectopods were running around, but you can pretty reliably have Stasis in time for them if you really care, so it's not like this was news.
A related topic is the Alien Rulers: I'd gone in expecting this to be the run that would basically laugh at them completely, and... no? Widespread access to Stasis blunted their impact, let me consistently avert worst-case scenarios by Stasising the Alien Ruler when things were about to get really bad, but in turn my squad wasn't very good at doing damage to them in an adequately swift manner. Intellectually, I was aware Psi Operatives aren't actually good at burst damage, as unlike the other classes they have no way to fire twice or more in a turn and Null Lance is their only attacking skill that hits particularly hard, but I hadn't grasped experientially how much of a problem this would be for facing the Alien Rulers. I could put them on pause to get a breather from Ruler Reactions and all, but I couldn't output enough burst damage to drive them off before they started trying to attack people.
In fact, the main reason the Alien Rulers weren't outright a nightmare was because I insisted on using the Bolt Caster throughout the run. Shenanigans with Stasis+Inspire meant I could fire for a reasonably hard hit with a 50% chance to Stun and then be ready to do it again next turn without having triggered a Ruler Reaction by reloading. Even with these shenanigans, the Berserker Queen and Archon King put a fair amount of pressure on the squad when they showed up, admittedly in part because I had a strangely low rate of successful Stun infliction -something like 1 in 3 hits was a Stun across all my fights with both of them.
The team also pretty consistently struggled with robots, Stasis ended up being an important safety net less as a laugh-at-the-RNG sort of dealy and more for letting my squad deal with ADVENT Heavy Mecs reasonably effectively; the squad simply struggled too much with damage output in general, but especially against enemies that couldn't be Dominated, Schismed, or Soulfired, ie robots. I could focus on the Mec's buddies, then do a bit of damage to the Mec, then Stasis it and finish it next turn. The need to do this kind of thing actually lead to a surprising amount of difficulty in timed missions; the Psi Operatives could reliably get through problems safely, but often they had to be slow in the process. (Contrasting pretty strongly with my mono-Ranger run, which laughed at timers in general)
A related topic is the Alien Rulers: I'd gone in expecting this to be the run that would basically laugh at them completely, and... no? Widespread access to Stasis blunted their impact, let me consistently avert worst-case scenarios by Stasising the Alien Ruler when things were about to get really bad, but in turn my squad wasn't very good at doing damage to them in an adequately swift manner. Intellectually, I was aware Psi Operatives aren't actually good at burst damage, as unlike the other classes they have no way to fire twice or more in a turn and Null Lance is their only attacking skill that hits particularly hard, but I hadn't grasped experientially how much of a problem this would be for facing the Alien Rulers. I could put them on pause to get a breather from Ruler Reactions and all, but I couldn't output enough burst damage to drive them off before they started trying to attack people.
In fact, the main reason the Alien Rulers weren't outright a nightmare was because I insisted on using the Bolt Caster throughout the run. Shenanigans with Stasis+Inspire meant I could fire for a reasonably hard hit with a 50% chance to Stun and then be ready to do it again next turn without having triggered a Ruler Reaction by reloading. Even with these shenanigans, the Berserker Queen and Archon King put a fair amount of pressure on the squad when they showed up, admittedly in part because I had a strangely low rate of successful Stun infliction -something like 1 in 3 hits was a Stun across all my fights with both of them.
The team also pretty consistently struggled with robots, Stasis ended up being an important safety net less as a laugh-at-the-RNG sort of dealy and more for letting my squad deal with ADVENT Heavy Mecs reasonably effectively; the squad simply struggled too much with damage output in general, but especially against enemies that couldn't be Dominated, Schismed, or Soulfired, ie robots. I could focus on the Mec's buddies, then do a bit of damage to the Mec, then Stasis it and finish it next turn. The need to do this kind of thing actually lead to a surprising amount of difficulty in timed missions; the Psi Operatives could reliably get through problems safely, but often they had to be slow in the process. (Contrasting pretty strongly with my mono-Ranger run, which laughed at timers in general)
They held up better in timer-less missions; this was the base-game gimmick run that had the least difficulty with plot missions, Supply Raids, etc.
Widespread Fortress was also fun, since of course the AI doesn't 'see' it. Not being scared of Plasma Grenades or Micromissiles was a refreshing experience... though this was also the run where I discovered that the Blazing Pinions rockets don't count as explosions. (Nor Devastate rockets) Once I knew about this detail Archons weren't a real threat -Psi Operatives have a lot of tools for bypassing their Defense and Dodge- but it was a pretty nasty surprise. A more pleasant surprise was realizing that widespread Fortress made the Psi Gate mission less of a pain, since I didn't need to constantly burn Medikits on curing Chryssalid Poison. Indeed, thanks to being able to leech with Soulfire, I didn't even need to be too aggressive about using Medikits for healing! Which was good, because the six I brought might not have been enough healing on their own...
This run was also the run that most strongly pushed me toward realizing Overwatch ambushes are increasingly a bit of a trap option as a run progresses; as my team got high enough level that they had a bunch of powerful tools that couldn't participate in Overwatch ambushes, I largely stopped trying to do them at all, and then was surprised to often find myself doing stuff like just walking somebody forward to flank and shoot one of the enemies. It wasn't simply that Psi Operative tools are ambush-unfriendly, it's that the superior ability to respond in an intelligent way to the situation was simply more reliably useful than the Aim and crit advantage of participating in an Overwatch ambush. I actually experienced this pretty consistently in my mono-class runs, with only the Specialist runs being really adequately rewarded for going for Overwatch ambushes that I persisted in doing them into the late game, but it was this Psi Operative run where the pressures were strong enough to clearly overcome my conviction Overwatch ambushes must obviously be worth pursuing reliably. (That is, in my Grenadier runs I persisted in setting up Overwatch ambushes because even high-level Grenadiers aren't so drastically weighted against ambush-participation that I was pressured to stop bothering, even though at this point I'm pretty sure it was a mistake to persist in Overwatch ambushes past the early game)
This run was actually the run in which I pulled off The Untouchables Achievement. Psi Operatives are really good at avoiding taking casualties. (Plus I got lucky: I didn't suffer deaths in Gatecrasher, after all)
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I'd still like to do a 'true' mono-Psi Operative run someday -or more accurately two, one for the base game and one for War of the Chosen- but this was a decent enough glimpse into some of the strengths and weaknesses Psi Operatives have. It wasn't until this run that I really grasped how bad at damage output Psi Operatives actually are -in a normal run, breaking out Void Rift or Null Lance for big damage when the opportunity arises sticks in the memory a lot more than all the times they didn't get such a good opportunity and only mildly contributed to a fight while regular classes did the heavy lifting.
Psi Ops are notorious for being broken overpowered classes, but now after reading this post, I wonder if their reputation happens to be bolstered by other factors. First, you only really get high-level psi-ops something like 2/3rds of the way through a campaign, even if you rush them. At that point, almost literally everything you have is completely OP and can stomp anything the game can throw at you. Second, having them in a squad actually bolsters the rest of the squad very well, with things like Stasis for crowd control, Inspire for handing over actions to other characters, and of course the reliable damage that don't care about cover and armor.
ReplyDeleteI mean, they're pretty powerful on their own right but as it turns out they're rubbish if you're using them exclusively in the early game (which is not really possible without mods). I mean, even Null Lance's damage is underwhelming if you only have the basic tier Psi-amps.
I've actually seen multiple people try to seriously argue Psi Operatives are the worst class in the game. I've no idea how one arrives at such a conclusion, but I've seen it repeatedly. (I can get behind 'not really worth the trouble' as a position, particularly in War of the Chosen, but that's not what I've seen people argue)
DeleteBut yeah, part of what this run illustrated for me is that a big part of why Psi Operatives feel so strong is you have little reason to see them being weak; a Squaddie-equivalent is actually impressively bad, but in normal play they just sit in the closet until they're maxed out or at least have whatever key capabilities you value most. So for example Sharpshooters also have a really painful early game (I once saw someone arguing they're not worth herding through the early game even though they do get very good eventually. I don't agree, but I can understand where they're coming from), but you have to actually herd them through it -if you switched the two so that Sharpshooters trained at a firing range and Psi Operatives grew via battlefield experience, you'd get painful low-level Psi Operative play while your Sharpshooters wouldn't bother to come out until they had the really good stuff like Fan Fire and Faceoff, and probably Sharpshooters would feel kind of broken and Psi Operatives would feel a lot weaker.
Though the other thing about Psi Operatives is the scaled-to-other-factors nature of multiple of their abilities, and how it fits into normal usage. Stasis is amazing when you've pulled two pods and one of them includes a Sectopod or Gatekeeper, but is merely somewhat okay when you pull two pods of two basic Troopers -but of course that latter scenario is normally impossible, while the first scenario is exactly when you're liable to actually have Stasis on hand. Similarly, Inspire scales to the quality of the recipient; Inspiring your godly Colonel Ranger into Reapering through a bunch of weakened enemies is just as powerful whether it's a Magus or an Initiate performing the Inspire. So if you bring a low or mid-level Psi Operative into late-game battlefields, they can do a lot of work by focusing on their capabilities that scale to other things, in a way that most classes can't really do at lower levels.
"I've actually seen multiple people try to seriously argue Psi Operatives are the worst class in the game."
DeleteThey are the worst in the sense that a no-Psi run is basically no harder than a normal run. XCOM2 difficulty is so front-loaded, some late game super-unit basically doesn't matter.
If you use a mod that makes them trainable like standard classes, they are stupidly good. Stasis and Inspire are crazy force multipliers, and Solace is also pretty decent.
I think that's basically accurate to War of the Chosen, but in the base game the Alien Fortress is noticeably harder without Psi Operatives than with; my base-game runs that came closest to failure in the final mission were all runs that skipped psionics.
DeleteAmong other points, WotC drags everybody else up in power, making Psi Operatives less super by comparison.