Our Finest Hour Achievement in XCOM: Enemy Unknown

  • Our Finest Hour

     

    90

    Beat the game on Impossible difficulty.

     
  • How to unlock Our Finest Hour

    It is highly recommended you have a thorough understanding of how the strategy elements and mechanics of the game work before attempting the game on Impossible. The greatest challenges you will face on Impossible difficulty is the skill and tactics of the aliens and the reduced funding/rewards you earn each month.

    The following outlines the difference between each difficulty level:

    Easy:

    • Initial funding of 175 credits.
    • Initial global panic level of 0
    • Monthly income increased by 50%
    • Begin with an Officer Training School already constructed.
    • Begin with 1 satellite in reserve.
    • Base begins with 35 power

    Normal:

    • Initial funding of 175 credits.
    • Initial global panic of 0
    • Begin with an Officer Training School already constructed.
    • Begin with 1 satellite in reserve.
    • Base begins with 35 power

    Classic:


    • Initial funding of 100 credits.
    • Initial global panic of 1 per country.
    • No Officer Training School at the beginning.
    • No extra satellites in the beginning.
    • Engineers & Scientists awarded per satellite launched is halved.
    • Base begins with 30 power.
    • Rise in panic from ignored abduction missions is 2
    • Enemies have roughly 10% greater aim/chance to score a critical
    • There are more aliens on each map compared to Normal

    Impossible:


    • Initial funding of 75 credits.
    • Initial global panic of 2 per country.
    • No Officer Training School at the beginning.
    • No extra satellites in the beginning.
    • Engineers & Scientists awarded per satellite launched is halved.
    • Base begins with 30 power.
    • Rise in panic from ignored abduction missions is 3
    • Enemies have roughly 10% greater aim/chance to score a critical
    • There are more aliens on each map compared to Classic


    The key to beating Impossible difficulty is taking your time and knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the aliens and how to counter them with your own soldiers and research projects. Overall there is no one way to beat the game and will depend on your own style and strategies.

    Make use of the save system and be sure to have multiple save files going at once. You may find yourself saving after every 2 or 3 turns in case something goes horribly wrong or you just want to give a turn another try. It is also a good idea to make a save at the beginning of each mission (after you land on the ground, not before at the base as the missions will be random) so you can restart if you find yourself employing a strategy that is destined to fail.

    NOTE: The percentage outcome of both yours and the alien's shots landing is decided at the start of each turn. So saving directly before taking a shot and reloading if the shot misses is pointless. You need to save at the end of the previous turn to alter the outcome of your shots.

    Overall, as long as you take your time, abuse the save system and research/upgrade equipment and satellites regularly, this won’t be overly difficult. Completing the game on Impossible will also unlock 'Earth First'

    For a general walkthrough and combat tips/build, refer to the Classic/Ironman Mode Walkthrough as many of these will also apply to Impossible difficulty.

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Comments
  • I predict lots and lots of reloads tied to this one.
  • You're probably correct. 78% chance of hit. "Shot wide." Lord in heaven...
  • Yeah, mine missed shots when I had 100% chance of hit...
  • Really looking forward to trying this to be honest. Just finished a classic game in ironman mode so being able to save again will be great!
  • Makes me want to microwave baby kittens. If you understand the rng you get enraged when your sniper misses a 88% shot and you load back and a thin man makes the very same shot from outside your line of sight and crits to kill a full health soldier.
  • sniper+scope with advanced scope, plasma rifle, and ghost armor, gets in position, lines up and pops that little head clean off...i love ghost armor, you can actually sneak up on the little blighters with out them running all over the map.....
  • This guide got me through it: http://www.reddit.com/r/Xcom/comments/11j7az/as_promised_ironman_impossible_strategy_discussion/
  • Just change difficulty before you go into the last mission
  • i made the mistake of ironmaning this one. hahaHAHaha. talk about a beating and gulton for punishment. saving will REALLY make this one actually possible.
  • I think I' ll pass on this one. I just finished my classic run and have to say that compared to normal, there wasn' t much of a difficulty spike (at least to me). But impossible difficulty? 12 aliens on first mission and no matter what you do, you only get like 25 % hit ratio. Get hit yourself, and half your squad goes into panic mode. I did the first mission 10 times now, getting 3 different maps. All the same results (me dying horribly). If I go to far ahead (to get better aim or to flank), I constantly trigger a new group, again with a chance to hit like 30 %. I can' t do this. I' ll try ironman on classic again.

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