NOTE: This is a migrated LP thread from Olde Talking Time that was originally started in Jan 2019. I have attempted to preserve the back-and-forth of the various posters, but you might find the whole thing easier to read if you go back to the original thread.
How do I love thee, XCOM 2? Let me count the ways...
Uh, 214 ways, apparently. That is a whole bunch of ways! In fact, I think I'd be lying if I didn't say that XCOM 2: War of the Chosen was my favorite game of all time. It's fun, it's challenging, it's eminently replayable and it hates me. But you know what could make it even better? Here's what:
XCOM 2 lets you customize your soldiers in many ways, from their appearance to their name and callsign to their nationality and even their backstory. It also lets you put your custom characters into something called the Character Pool, which is sort of like Central Casting for XCOM. Once a character is in the pool, they have a chance of showing up in any campaign that you play as a recruit, a friendly VIP or even an enemy VIP (ie, target, as in snitches who get stitches).
So consider this thread to be my recruitment drive. I want to assemble a crack team of soldiers to fight and [strike]possibly[/strike] probably die for the cause of freedom, and I want you to be a part of it. I'm looking for eager Tyrants to join my ranks, which you can do by simply filling out an application form and DMing it to me or just posting the whole dang thing in this thread. Once you do that, I'll make up a character in your image and add it to the character pool. And once I have a bunch of those, I'll bundle them into a Talking Time character pool that I'll make available to the general public! Download yourself and your virtual forum buddies! Send them into the virtual meat grinder in your very own campaigns! Character import only available for the PC version of XCOM 2, not available in all regions.
But before we get started...
A Word of Warning
I will probably stream XCOM from time to time - it is my favorite game, after all. So don't give me any personal information that you wouldn't be OK with a very small audience of Twitch or YouTube viewers seeing. As much as I would like to have a squad that reflects the people of this forum, I don't want anyone feeling uncomfortable taking part in this thread.
Create You Character
With that out of the way, here's what I'll need from you before you can join the fight:
NAME and/or CALLSIGN: What do you call yourself, soldier? Doesn't have to be your legal name, but I would like something that I can trace back to the forum somehow. If you'd rather just specify a callsign and have a randomly generated name for your character, that's fine too.
APPEARANCE: What should your character look like? Give me a visual reference to work from. My preference is for an actual photo (which I WILL NOT SHARE IN ANY WAY WITH ANYONE EVER), but I will also accept drawings, concept art or even descriptions. Note that XCOM's character creator isn't as detailed as some games - you have to choose from a fixed number of faces, for example. But you can choose:
If you want to specific examples, this video shows off basically everything in the game. My goal is to make a character that represents you, but that doesn't mean they have to look like you necessarily. Send me something to work with and I'll try to do you justice. I will also happily make a revision or two if you don't like how your character comes out.
NATIONALITY and LANGUAGE: Pick a country and put their flag on your uniform! There are a bunch to choose from, you'll probably get your wish unless you're going for something esoteric. As for languages, it's more or less EFIGS, but English comes in American, UK and Australian variants.
ATTITUDE: This basically determines your soldier's body language. Choose from By the Book, Laid Back, Normal, Twitchy, Hard Luck, Happy-Go-Lucky, Intense, Angry, Cocky, Smug, Suspicious, and Let's Go!
BACKSTORY: Entirely optional, but there's room for about 3-4 sentences if you want to talk a bit about your character.
CLASS: Also optional, and not necessarily fixed from campaign to campaign. If you want to be one of the basic classes (grenadier, sharpshooter, specialist, ranger), it should be no problem to fit you in. If you want to be a psi operative, you'll have to wait until late in the game (but your character will kick ass and your hair will turn white). You can also ask to be one of the special faction classes (Skirmisher, Templar or Reaper), but there's a cap of two per class per campaign, so I'll do a random draw if I have too many volunteers. Note that faction classes are a bit less customizable than standard soldiers - Skirmishers in particular are gonna be stuck with a bad case of Skirmisher face. There's also room for exactly one robot on the squad, if that's your thing.
Questions and Answers
Where can I download the character pool?
Here's link to Tyrant Squad v1.0. To import the characters, copy the file into \Documents\My Games\XCOM2 War of the Chosen\XComGame\CharacterPool\Importable, then go into the Character Pool in-game and import them from the squad. You'll also need the following mods to get the full experience:
Are you actually gonna play this game or are we just making characters?
I am! But this isn't going to be a proper LP, in part because that would take FOREVER. Instead, whenever I feel like playing a bit I'll try to take some screenshots to show off the squad's highlights and inevitable deaths. Don't expect painstaking detail or a regular update schedule, but do expect me to put you guys through your paces. In Ironman mode, of course.
I don't feel comfortable with the gender dichotomy presented in this game!
This is an extremely fair criticism, and there are certainly some games with character creators that let you roll non-binary characters. Sadly, XCOM 2 is Not That Game. The only options we have are to use hairstyles and/or makeup to try to bust out of traditional M/F, to use one of the game's many, many helmets to cover your character's face, or to be the robot. I'll do my best here, but the toolset is limited, and the voice options and body types are all hard-panned to male or female.
Can you promise not to get me killed?
Ha ha, no.
Can I opt out of the character pool at a later date?
Absolutely, I will happily remove anyone from the pool at their request. But of course this is the internet, so anyone has already downloaded your character will have access to it.
How do I sign up?
You really skimmed this post, huh? OK, fill in this and post it here and/or DM it to me. Please also post or DM me a reference image if you have one, I'll be able to do a much better job with one.
NAME:
CALLSIGN:
APPEARANCE:
NATIONALITY/LANGUAGE:
ATTITUDE:
BACKSTORY:
CLASS:
Now let's get out there and kill some alien fascists!
How do I love thee, XCOM 2? Let me count the ways...
Uh, 214 ways, apparently. That is a whole bunch of ways! In fact, I think I'd be lying if I didn't say that XCOM 2: War of the Chosen was my favorite game of all time. It's fun, it's challenging, it's eminently replayable and it hates me. But you know what could make it even better? Here's what:
YOU
XCOM 2 lets you customize your soldiers in many ways, from their appearance to their name and callsign to their nationality and even their backstory. It also lets you put your custom characters into something called the Character Pool, which is sort of like Central Casting for XCOM. Once a character is in the pool, they have a chance of showing up in any campaign that you play as a recruit, a friendly VIP or even an enemy VIP (ie, target, as in snitches who get stitches).
So consider this thread to be my recruitment drive. I want to assemble a crack team of soldiers to fight and [strike]possibly[/strike] probably die for the cause of freedom, and I want you to be a part of it. I'm looking for eager Tyrants to join my ranks, which you can do by simply filling out an application form and DMing it to me or just posting the whole dang thing in this thread. Once you do that, I'll make up a character in your image and add it to the character pool. And once I have a bunch of those, I'll bundle them into a Talking Time character pool that I'll make available to the general public! Download yourself and your virtual forum buddies! Send them into the virtual meat grinder in your very own campaigns! Character import only available for the PC version of XCOM 2, not available in all regions.
But before we get started...
A Word of Warning
I will probably stream XCOM from time to time - it is my favorite game, after all. So don't give me any personal information that you wouldn't be OK with a very small audience of Twitch or YouTube viewers seeing. As much as I would like to have a squad that reflects the people of this forum, I don't want anyone feeling uncomfortable taking part in this thread.
Create You Character
With that out of the way, here's what I'll need from you before you can join the fight:
NAME and/or CALLSIGN: What do you call yourself, soldier? Doesn't have to be your legal name, but I would like something that I can trace back to the forum somehow. If you'd rather just specify a callsign and have a randomly generated name for your character, that's fine too.
APPEARANCE: What should your character look like? Give me a visual reference to work from. My preference is for an actual photo (which I WILL NOT SHARE IN ANY WAY WITH ANYONE EVER), but I will also accept drawings, concept art or even descriptions. Note that XCOM's character creator isn't as detailed as some games - you have to choose from a fixed number of faces, for example. But you can choose:
- gender (male or female only, see the FAQ below if that's no good for you)
- race (XCOM's four races are unnamed but vaguely fall into white, black, brown and east Asian categories)
- hair color and style
- accessories (hats, bandannas, glasses, cigars, monocles, etc), tattoos and scars
- clothing and weapon colors (with optional patterns if you're fancy)
If you want to specific examples, this video shows off basically everything in the game. My goal is to make a character that represents you, but that doesn't mean they have to look like you necessarily. Send me something to work with and I'll try to do you justice. I will also happily make a revision or two if you don't like how your character comes out.
NATIONALITY and LANGUAGE: Pick a country and put their flag on your uniform! There are a bunch to choose from, you'll probably get your wish unless you're going for something esoteric. As for languages, it's more or less EFIGS, but English comes in American, UK and Australian variants.
ATTITUDE: This basically determines your soldier's body language. Choose from By the Book, Laid Back, Normal, Twitchy, Hard Luck, Happy-Go-Lucky, Intense, Angry, Cocky, Smug, Suspicious, and Let's Go!
BACKSTORY: Entirely optional, but there's room for about 3-4 sentences if you want to talk a bit about your character.
CLASS: Also optional, and not necessarily fixed from campaign to campaign. If you want to be one of the basic classes (grenadier, sharpshooter, specialist, ranger), it should be no problem to fit you in. If you want to be a psi operative, you'll have to wait until late in the game (but your character will kick ass and your hair will turn white). You can also ask to be one of the special faction classes (Skirmisher, Templar or Reaper), but there's a cap of two per class per campaign, so I'll do a random draw if I have too many volunteers. Note that faction classes are a bit less customizable than standard soldiers - Skirmishers in particular are gonna be stuck with a bad case of Skirmisher face. There's also room for exactly one robot on the squad, if that's your thing.
Questions and Answers
Where can I download the character pool?
Here's link to Tyrant Squad v1.0. To import the characters, copy the file into \Documents\My Games\XCOM2 War of the Chosen\XComGame\CharacterPool\Importable, then go into the Character Pool in-game and import them from the squad. You'll also need the following mods to get the full experience:
- Vindictus Male Hairstyles
- CapnBubs Accessories
- XXL Tattoo
- [WOTC] Advent Armor [Dead]
- And of course, War of the Chosen (possibly with the Alien Hunters DLC for Mogri's helmet)
Are you actually gonna play this game or are we just making characters?
I am! But this isn't going to be a proper LP, in part because that would take FOREVER. Instead, whenever I feel like playing a bit I'll try to take some screenshots to show off the squad's highlights and inevitable deaths. Don't expect painstaking detail or a regular update schedule, but do expect me to put you guys through your paces. In Ironman mode, of course.
I don't feel comfortable with the gender dichotomy presented in this game!
This is an extremely fair criticism, and there are certainly some games with character creators that let you roll non-binary characters. Sadly, XCOM 2 is Not That Game. The only options we have are to use hairstyles and/or makeup to try to bust out of traditional M/F, to use one of the game's many, many helmets to cover your character's face, or to be the robot. I'll do my best here, but the toolset is limited, and the voice options and body types are all hard-panned to male or female.
Can you promise not to get me killed?
Ha ha, no.
Can I opt out of the character pool at a later date?
Absolutely, I will happily remove anyone from the pool at their request. But of course this is the internet, so anyone has already downloaded your character will have access to it.
How do I sign up?
You really skimmed this post, huh? OK, fill in this and post it here and/or DM it to me. Please also post or DM me a reference image if you have one, I'll be able to do a much better job with one.
NAME:
CALLSIGN:
APPEARANCE:
NATIONALITY/LANGUAGE:
ATTITUDE:
BACKSTORY:
CLASS:
Now let's get out there and kill some alien fascists!
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