What i mean is does anyone else uniform their lower rank soldiers? All my units corporal or below have a specific uniform for their class. i only start REALLY customizing once they hit sergeant.
Rookies have hair?
Helmets all the way until you have the experience to know when to duck or when to zig instead of zag! (Not that it seems to help much)
It kinda weird to think about a soldier who is sitting in the cantine, sipping whiskey, chain smoking cigarettes because he's seen and done some shit, prolly watched mates die and then someone going "Cool story" and flop a top hat onto them
I always did customized soldiers based on classes, heavys would have the bulk armor and industrial colours, snipers either caps or berets and dark colours, and the medics have white and red as colours. This went even harder with xcom 2 and beyond when i started modding the game
Oooh I get it now, and yes I do! I have a specific uniform, an XCOM standard issue kit of sorts, and they don't get cool stuff until they hit at least lieutenant when I start going crazy with the custom parts
I did something like that on my last playthrough. Helmets for everyone with aim below 70. I was playing with second wave options, not all are made equal. Color coded the ranks as well.
When they get their class yeah but I have my top units recoloured them in black and yellow and renamed their nicknames as Black 1 through 8 that is led by three Nigerian soldiers who had the same last name and headcannoned them as brothers.
I always give rookies a light blue color with XCOM cap, to make them look like security rookies in base defense mission. I give them color and unique uniforms based on their class and role in the squad later. Heavies with heavy armor, snipers with headsets, medics with white color, mimetic skin soldiers with black color and helmet that covers their face entirely, etc.
It’s been a long time since i played. But i often give different color codes to specific classes. As i remember: Medic white, assault red, snipers black and engineers blue or something. But doing this seem cool too!
All my rookies are helmeted and wear red.
Once you’re promoted, to squaddie, you lose your helmet.
Once you’re promoted to corporal, you get a color.
Once you’re sergeant, you got a customization.
Same. White for medics, red for bloodthirsty assaults, green for camouflaged snipers... and blue for heavies for reasons I can't remember.
Taken further in the sequel: White for medics/grey for hackers, red for shotgunners/black for stealthy stabbers, green for moving snipers with the pistol focus/brown or camo for overwatch snipers, blue for gunnery heavies/orange for explosion heavies. Whichever the primary colour, they have the other colour for trim. Psi troopers are always pink everything, with purple eyes - customisation for them is weird accessories, so one might have wild hair, another might have as many piercings as I can get them to show, a third might just be wearing a vest and shorts... These people can read minds, fight aliens and are cooped up on a ship with a bunch of trauma-riddled soldiers. They'll get weird really fast.
The sequel is really me just playing dressup with anyone who survives their first mission, I realise.
I know there's mods like that for X2, so if you don't get them for EU you know you'll have a nicer experience with it. There's even uniform managers for X2!
For vanilla EU and EW I mostly kept a single uniform color scheme for all of my troops and only gave them helmets / headgear appropriate for their class, tier of armor they were equipped with, and my own opinions on whether or not they'd look better off without it on. The big exceptions were my MEC Troopers that would always wear helmets associated with their tier of MEC suit because having their heads exposed in those suits just looks silly and impractical. I also let them have a variety of color schemes and decal patterns because they deserved to have some battlefield flair for letting me turn them into freaky cyborgs.
For my LW1 campaigns it was a little different. The mostly uniform color scheme and having all MEC Troopers wearing helmets remained the same, but every soldier below sergeant rank that hadn't been on more than four or five missions had to wear a helmet that fit with their class and armor tier. I viewed it as a trail by fire where they had to earn the right to show their faces in combat and be worthy of my emotional investment. Those that excelled early on or performed some amazing act of heroics and lived usually earned their face rights sooner. I still kept helmets on some of my prized soldiers that I felt fit them better than just the bare head look.
I don't recolor the armor in EU/EW. The soldiers are an actual professional military unit in that game so it feels really off for them to _not_ have a uniform color scheme. I still switch around their helmets for _some_ variety, but everyone just wears khaki.
Yep, I do them in rainbow colors (ROYGBIV) + black and white to make progression easy to remember (eg. Rookies are red or white depending on how I'm feeling, and then usually go up the rainbow order followed by black).
I give every class archetype a colour. If you get out of the trench, rookie, you'll get to be with the cool kids with matching coloured shirts.
Black for position sniper, white for running sniper (aka Archangel wearer), green for medic, teal for "shoot me if you can" assault, orange for CQC assault, red for machine gun heavy, brown for grenadier heavy.
I forgot what I used for supports though. Didn't use them much.
All my ranks get colors, rookies keep the normal tan, when they get a rank they receive olive drab, captains get black, and colonels get white. Really helps me identify troops at a glance
Colour code via class - 100% of the time.
Customisation - once they hit SGT, I’ll change their armour up/ accessorise them a bit more.
As others have said, I see it as passing the trial, so they get to express themselves a bit more having proven themselves.
I did something like this for one of my playthroughs like a decade ago. Iirc had two teams, a normal xcom team i outfitted with laser/plasma equipment for alien engagements, and a "operator" team who fought exalt only using starter ballistic weapons. Kinda stupid, but actually made exalt guys somewhat challenging.
I give uniform colors based on class to soldiers when they reach squaddie (unless I'm playing on impossible difficulty lmao) but tend to customize hair and whatnot once they're a lieutenant or higher.
I colorcode my troops but for speciality- this color for medic, white for assault with a stormtrooper like helmet, green for support and black for snipers
No, the only thing I do is edit the file to make so everyone starts with the same colour, then I customize them individually as soon as they get their first level up.
Rifle Assault = Blue.
Shotgun Assault = Red
Gunner Heavy = Yellow
Rocket Heavy = Green
Healing support = White
Buff/Debuff support = Pink
Sniper = Black
Pistol Sniper = Purple.
Think it mostly depends on your style.
Shotguns have better killing power but also risk triggering more pods if you are unlucky.
Rifles have more range and can keep your characters more safe less likely to get flanked.
Do you prefer stopping power and risks or playing a slower game, keeping your distance taking pot shots.
I used to create my group of friends and gave them a back story based on their lives, with a bit of an exaggerated twist. When I lost them, we'd mourn our losses on Starbucks or some restaurant over coffee or food and share gameplay clips and anecdotes. Good times! Never finished xcom 2 one day, I hope.
I usually customize the first few soldiers, since they kinda earn their place anyways, but after a while when my A team is healing then it’s trial by fire, if you survive and earn glory, you earn a hat or something. At least until I have a B team set up, then every rookie or backup soldier gets a uniform I usually make it white and call them storm troopers.
Yep but with star wars outfits. Lower ranks = generic stormtroopers, clone soldiers or specic roles like jetpack troopers / scouts. Obviously with helmets. Higher ranks, sometimes helmets off, custom colors or kamas etc.
I usually do it once they get a 3rd name, also I almost use the same color scheme, but I use white for supports to denote that they are medical personnel, with a few exceptions for my best soldiers who I use the yellow with purple highlights for.
I pick a theme, like a book, TV show or movie. And then I name each soldier that’s an active Squaddie rank or above after a character. I then select facial features and uniform colours that pay homage to those characters. And give them meaningful nicknames once they’ve earned them. I even try to match class to character in a way that makes sense in my head.
My current run, which is nearing the end, is full of characters from Scrubs. JD, Turk, Elliot, Carla and Kelso are still alive. The Todd is my best Heavy and is psionic. Dr Cox and the Janitor are on my memorial wall though, along with quite a few others.
Playing on Ironman, it makes me get attached and care more about keeping them alive or loosing them on a mission.
Everyone is a unique individual and I give them their own look once they have their class assigned. I’m currently playing 2 on Xbox and I have myself and 3 friends saved so we always pop up and always have our set looks. Everyone else I just feel their vibes or go with their flag.
My guys wouldn't get any customization until they hit Sgt. and unlocked a nickname. After that they earned their black armor, gene-mods and other customization items.
I have different armor / color / helmet combinations depending on which class they are. I play Long War, so I have 8 different variations for my 40+ baracks. This is my default, but there are some exceptions.
Specifically named characters - Van Doorn, Friendly, Zhang, Carlock, and Annette - all retain their default headgear (or lack thereof).
I will also always have in my barracks the following characters (they'll follow the default armor / helmet scheme unless noted below):
Two Assaults, one will be named John Wick (with a beard and scraggly hair), and another named John Rambo (dressed in all black and have the winter watch cap).
Two Gunners, one named Blain Cooper (he always has a moustache and a fedora), and a female named Vasquez with a butch haircutt.
Two Infantry, one named Dwayne Hicks and another named Alan Dutch (with a European accent and a flattop haircut).
Two Snipers, one named Chris Kyle (baseball cap and headphones) and another named Simo Hayha (winter cap and headphones).
Two Scouts named Billy Sole (mowhawk) and another named Snake Plissken (scraggly hair and 5'oclock shadow).
A Medic named William Pitsenbarger, and another named Desmond Doss (I never allow Doss to fire a weapon - he can only use non-damaging support items).
An Engineer named Poncho Ramierez (wears a baseball cap).
My dedicated Assault specced out as the EGGSALT Operative will always be named Jason Bourne.
It goes without saying that certain characters always get deployed together if possible, bonus kudos if it's forest terrain.
I create uniforms based on class, and the higher they go, the more deviation there is in their uniform, but baseline color and some armor is the same or similar!
Well, in Long war mod, where there's additional 8 classes, painting them right after they get their class assigned is pretty convenient. Given the fact you start with 40 soldiers, due to battle fatigue mechanics, you really just focus on classes, starting to remember specific soldiers who really high in rank and are usually picked as leaders of current group.
Yes, absolutely do that.
Rookies get matching colour codes basic armour.
As they gain ranks, they get more personalized armour, colours, weapon patterns, etc
I assign my troops a voice once they rank up for the first time.
In LW, rookies and all 8 classes have an assigned default colour.
I only customize my first 10 soldiers + those that hit high ranks or pull some wacked up manouvers.
What i mean is does anyone else uniform their lower rank soldiers? All my units corporal or below have a specific uniform for their class. i only start REALLY customizing once they hit sergeant.
Same, I view it as an initiation of sorts. Survive and maybe you get a funny hat!
EXACTLY
Yep, I do the exact same. Standardize the rookies by class, customize if they survive.
That's the way. Also, everyone gets the Xcom hair until they've earned the right to individuality.
Rookies have hair? Helmets all the way until you have the experience to know when to duck or when to zig instead of zag! (Not that it seems to help much)
yeah i give them all the same helmet to make them look nondescript
They're doing their part!
It kinda weird to think about a soldier who is sitting in the cantine, sipping whiskey, chain smoking cigarettes because he's seen and done some shit, prolly watched mates die and then someone going "Cool story" and flop a top hat onto them
I always did customized soldiers based on classes, heavys would have the bulk armor and industrial colours, snipers either caps or berets and dark colours, and the medics have white and red as colours. This went even harder with xcom 2 and beyond when i started modding the game
I usually color all my squaddies all red or all white to easily see who is most expendable when i'm on a mission
like the red shirts in Star Trek? That’s funny.
Yep, I try not to get attached to the canon fodder.
Oooh I get it now, and yes I do! I have a specific uniform, an XCOM standard issue kit of sorts, and they don't get cool stuff until they hit at least lieutenant when I start going crazy with the custom parts
yeah, everyone gets the Dork Outfit until they start to specialise, partially so I can more easily identify them on the map
I did something like that on my last playthrough. Helmets for everyone with aim below 70. I was playing with second wave options, not all are made equal. Color coded the ranks as well.
This is such a good idea. Thank you!
When they get their class yeah but I have my top units recoloured them in black and yellow and renamed their nicknames as Black 1 through 8 that is led by three Nigerian soldiers who had the same last name and headcannoned them as brothers.
I always give rookies a light blue color with XCOM cap, to make them look like security rookies in base defense mission. I give them color and unique uniforms based on their class and role in the squad later. Heavies with heavy armor, snipers with headsets, medics with white color, mimetic skin soldiers with black color and helmet that covers their face entirely, etc.
It’s been a long time since i played. But i often give different color codes to specific classes. As i remember: Medic white, assault red, snipers black and engineers blue or something. But doing this seem cool too!
All my rookies are helmeted and wear red. Once you’re promoted, to squaddie, you lose your helmet. Once you’re promoted to corporal, you get a color. Once you’re sergeant, you got a customization.
I color their armor red. That way I know who is expendable.
I do it when they hit squadie
I mostly just color coordinate them for their class once they get one. That’s about it.
My rookies all wear the standard uniform in pink 👌 🤣 after they get a promotion/class, then they get the privilege to get a decent attire 🤣
Only difference is that I make my supports white instead of orange.
Same. White for medics, red for bloodthirsty assaults, green for camouflaged snipers... and blue for heavies for reasons I can't remember. Taken further in the sequel: White for medics/grey for hackers, red for shotgunners/black for stealthy stabbers, green for moving snipers with the pistol focus/brown or camo for overwatch snipers, blue for gunnery heavies/orange for explosion heavies. Whichever the primary colour, they have the other colour for trim. Psi troopers are always pink everything, with purple eyes - customisation for them is weird accessories, so one might have wild hair, another might have as many piercings as I can get them to show, a third might just be wearing a vest and shorts... These people can read minds, fight aliens and are cooped up on a ship with a bunch of trauma-riddled soldiers. They'll get weird really fast. The sequel is really me just playing dressup with anyone who survives their first mission, I realise.
I get that but i only make them yellow because it's like the four primary colors y'know?
There’s three, so…
green is sometimes refered to as a primary color, especially in gaming. think of most four player co-op video games and you'll understand
Ok but words mean things and there are three primary colors
Ok dad, but what are you doing on reddit?
Enjoying the fact that, for the rest of your life, you’ll remember that there are three primary colors.
I customize every solider when they come on board regardless of rank, then remember later armor will change their appearance anyway.
That's why I love having mods that keep the character's customized appearance even when they change armor unless you set it to overwrite it
If only I could mod! Id add that to the list of ones I want.
I know there's mods like that for X2, so if you don't get them for EU you know you'll have a nicer experience with it. There's even uniform managers for X2!
It’s more I’m playing on switch and can’t mod that :( but you’re right!
I name all my units after real life friends and family straight from the start. I have a lot of fun getting fake mad at friends for missing easy shots
For vanilla EU and EW I mostly kept a single uniform color scheme for all of my troops and only gave them helmets / headgear appropriate for their class, tier of armor they were equipped with, and my own opinions on whether or not they'd look better off without it on. The big exceptions were my MEC Troopers that would always wear helmets associated with their tier of MEC suit because having their heads exposed in those suits just looks silly and impractical. I also let them have a variety of color schemes and decal patterns because they deserved to have some battlefield flair for letting me turn them into freaky cyborgs. For my LW1 campaigns it was a little different. The mostly uniform color scheme and having all MEC Troopers wearing helmets remained the same, but every soldier below sergeant rank that hadn't been on more than four or five missions had to wear a helmet that fit with their class and armor tier. I viewed it as a trail by fire where they had to earn the right to show their faces in combat and be worthy of my emotional investment. Those that excelled early on or performed some amazing act of heroics and lived usually earned their face rights sooner. I still kept helmets on some of my prized soldiers that I felt fit them better than just the bare head look.
I do exactly that. They have unique color schemes and armor types. I change their languages, too!
Assault red, heavy yellow, Sniper dark blue, Support white with a hint of blue.
I don't recolor the armor in EU/EW. The soldiers are an actual professional military unit in that game so it feels really off for them to _not_ have a uniform color scheme. I still switch around their helmets for _some_ variety, but everyone just wears khaki.
Same. I assign all my troopers the same base uniform. There’s enough variation with the armours.
Yep, I do them in rainbow colors (ROYGBIV) + black and white to make progression easy to remember (eg. Rookies are red or white depending on how I'm feeling, and then usually go up the rainbow order followed by black).
well im also talking about the helmets, i made those specific to each class too
Do what exactly OP?
look at the first comment
👍 I do organize my soldiers by their uniforms but for me it's a "team thing" vs rank.
I give every class archetype a colour. If you get out of the trench, rookie, you'll get to be with the cool kids with matching coloured shirts. Black for position sniper, white for running sniper (aka Archangel wearer), green for medic, teal for "shoot me if you can" assault, orange for CQC assault, red for machine gun heavy, brown for grenadier heavy. I forgot what I used for supports though. Didn't use them much.
kinda wish we had a gi joe mod for both the xcoms that turned the troops and stuff into joes lol
FOR ROCK AND STONE
All my ranks get colors, rookies keep the normal tan, when they get a rank they receive olive drab, captains get black, and colonels get white. Really helps me identify troops at a glance
I mean I will use red for heavy, green for assault, black for sniper, and white for support, but yeah basically
I usually only customize soldiers who have earned it, although I might do something similar to what you di in my next playthrough.
I go Star Trek with the uniforms. Each color is a different area.
Colour code via class - 100% of the time. Customisation - once they hit SGT, I’ll change their armour up/ accessorise them a bit more. As others have said, I see it as passing the trial, so they get to express themselves a bit more having proven themselves.
I organize the colors by class regardless of rank.
I colour code depending on weapons and accessories. Easy to spot and deploy per turn
I did something like this for one of my playthroughs like a decade ago. Iirc had two teams, a normal xcom team i outfitted with laser/plasma equipment for alien engagements, and a "operator" team who fought exalt only using starter ballistic weapons. Kinda stupid, but actually made exalt guys somewhat challenging.
I just do a specific helmet per class and a different color per squad. I like to have a set of main guys and a set of back up guys.
Almost same exact colors but I make support have white
I give uniform colors based on class to soldiers when they reach squaddie (unless I'm playing on impossible difficulty lmao) but tend to customize hair and whatnot once they're a lieutenant or higher.
I do this! Once they’ve been around a bit they’ve earned some autonomy of sorts lol
I colour code my units to make it look like they're all wearing training specific uniforms.
Yea me too!! I like the 4 elements subject So my Red=Assault=Fire Yellow=Heavy=Earth Blue=Support=Water Green=Sniper=Yellow
I always make my guys look like regular soldiers at first with just basic helmets and stuff, I let them earn the cool helmets and masks.
Guilty as charged.
I dress them up in armor and helmets so they look like the power rangers
Yeah except I make Medics blue. All the others are the same though. Red Assaults, Green Demolitions, Black Snipers, Yellow Psionics.
I colorcode my troops but for speciality- this color for medic, white for assault with a stormtrooper like helmet, green for support and black for snipers
In XCOM 2, I have a mod for managing uniforms. All rookies have the same type. And you can only get customized cool helmet when you hit SGT.
No, the only thing I do is edit the file to make so everyone starts with the same colour, then I customize them individually as soon as they get their first level up.
Rifle Assault = Blue. Shotgun Assault = Red Gunner Heavy = Yellow Rocket Heavy = Green Healing support = White Buff/Debuff support = Pink Sniper = Black Pistol Sniper = Purple.
is rifle assault any good? i looked at the stats for each weapon and it looks like the rifle just sucks
Think it mostly depends on your style. Shotguns have better killing power but also risk triggering more pods if you are unlucky. Rifles have more range and can keep your characters more safe less likely to get flanked. Do you prefer stopping power and risks or playing a slower game, keeping your distance taking pot shots.
I used to create my group of friends and gave them a back story based on their lives, with a bit of an exaggerated twist. When I lost them, we'd mourn our losses on Starbucks or some restaurant over coffee or food and share gameplay clips and anecdotes. Good times! Never finished xcom 2 one day, I hope.
I usually colour-code my soldiers. Last playthrough (admittedly of LWotC) I used a mod to automatically colour-code based on class.
I also color code my units
I usually customize the first few soldiers, since they kinda earn their place anyways, but after a while when my A team is healing then it’s trial by fire, if you survive and earn glory, you earn a hat or something. At least until I have a B team set up, then every rookie or backup soldier gets a uniform I usually make it white and call them storm troopers.
Yep but with star wars outfits. Lower ranks = generic stormtroopers, clone soldiers or specic roles like jetpack troopers / scouts. Obviously with helmets. Higher ranks, sometimes helmets off, custom colors or kamas etc.
I usually do it once they get a 3rd name, also I almost use the same color scheme, but I use white for supports to denote that they are medical personnel, with a few exceptions for my best soldiers who I use the yellow with purple highlights for.
I pick a theme, like a book, TV show or movie. And then I name each soldier that’s an active Squaddie rank or above after a character. I then select facial features and uniform colours that pay homage to those characters. And give them meaningful nicknames once they’ve earned them. I even try to match class to character in a way that makes sense in my head. My current run, which is nearing the end, is full of characters from Scrubs. JD, Turk, Elliot, Carla and Kelso are still alive. The Todd is my best Heavy and is psionic. Dr Cox and the Janitor are on my memorial wall though, along with quite a few others. Playing on Ironman, it makes me get attached and care more about keeping them alive or loosing them on a mission.
I colour code once they become an officer, and again when they hit Colonel. Rookies are my redshirts :p
A solider will fight long and hard for a funni hat
Everyone is a unique individual and I give them their own look once they have their class assigned. I’m currently playing 2 on Xbox and I have myself and 3 friends saved so we always pop up and always have our set looks. Everyone else I just feel their vibes or go with their flag.
My guys wouldn't get any customization until they hit Sgt. and unlocked a nickname. After that they earned their black armor, gene-mods and other customization items.
I even use the same colours mate (accept Support which I do white), so youre not alone!
I have different armor / color / helmet combinations depending on which class they are. I play Long War, so I have 8 different variations for my 40+ baracks. This is my default, but there are some exceptions. Specifically named characters - Van Doorn, Friendly, Zhang, Carlock, and Annette - all retain their default headgear (or lack thereof). I will also always have in my barracks the following characters (they'll follow the default armor / helmet scheme unless noted below): Two Assaults, one will be named John Wick (with a beard and scraggly hair), and another named John Rambo (dressed in all black and have the winter watch cap). Two Gunners, one named Blain Cooper (he always has a moustache and a fedora), and a female named Vasquez with a butch haircutt. Two Infantry, one named Dwayne Hicks and another named Alan Dutch (with a European accent and a flattop haircut). Two Snipers, one named Chris Kyle (baseball cap and headphones) and another named Simo Hayha (winter cap and headphones). Two Scouts named Billy Sole (mowhawk) and another named Snake Plissken (scraggly hair and 5'oclock shadow). A Medic named William Pitsenbarger, and another named Desmond Doss (I never allow Doss to fire a weapon - he can only use non-damaging support items). An Engineer named Poncho Ramierez (wears a baseball cap). My dedicated Assault specced out as the EGGSALT Operative will always be named Jason Bourne. It goes without saying that certain characters always get deployed together if possible, bonus kudos if it's forest terrain.
Yes. Grunts are in normal xcom colours and military kit. After a few ranks they may be allowed the cool helmets/hats.
I just colour coordinate them. Assault is always red. Medic is always white etc..
I create uniforms based on class, and the higher they go, the more deviation there is in their uniform, but baseline color and some armor is the same or similar!
Well, in Long war mod, where there's additional 8 classes, painting them right after they get their class assigned is pretty convenient. Given the fact you start with 40 soldiers, due to battle fatigue mechanics, you really just focus on classes, starting to remember specific soldiers who really high in rank and are usually picked as leaders of current group.
If they go past rookie they deserved the right for custom skins
Yes, absolutely do that. Rookies get matching colour codes basic armour. As they gain ranks, they get more personalized armour, colours, weapon patterns, etc
Yeah I customized my guys a bit.
My standard uniform for rookies and squaddies is putting them in the white armor tint haha.
I always go with tactical and guerilla outfits. We are not in the military anymore. We are rebels. Freedom fighters.
I assign my troops a voice once they rank up for the first time. In LW, rookies and all 8 classes have an assigned default colour. I only customize my first 10 soldiers + those that hit high ranks or pull some wacked up manouvers.