Pavonis Interactive Forums

I know many players can identify which enemies are on the map and possibly where from the sounds made during enemy turn. I can't. Are there any aides, like mods, manuals, sound samples for which sound is which alien, anything that can help me learn (or circumvent via mod) this?

This has quite a big impact on my playstyle, like not knowing whether there are cryssalids or faceless on the map, and thus not knowing when to lay down battlescanners.

I cant give you more then this tip:
Listen to the sounds the aliens make when you discover the pod. Those are the sounds they make as hints.

Identifying aliens by sound is a skill that comes with playtime. It should be noted though that disguised faceless do not make any noises, and non-disguised faceless can only show up on advent-spy ambushes in havens (later in the game). Likewise, I also don't THINK chrysallids make noises, except when they burrow and unburrow. And I'm pretty sure the game always gives you vision of burrowing and unburrowing chrysallids, which would negate the need for an audio cue.

Someone feel free to jump in and correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a hot minute since I played Long War 2. Simply wasn't running stable on my computer, and the engine updates for War of the Chosen didn't get propagated to the main game. Alassss...

I think chrysallids make their roaring noise.

Lyzak wrote:and non-disguised faceless can only show up on advent-spy ambushes in havens (later in the game).

I've found this to be *mostly* but not *totally* true. Every once in a while I'll see an undisguised faceless as part of a pod on a GOp. They make their distinctive sound during the alien turn when this is true.

Are you hearing impaired?

Dwarfling wrote:Are you hearing impaired?

Not according to the doctors. I do have trouble distinguishing though.

I've been playing for a long while though, currently on my 9th playthrough iirc. Haven't picked this skill up though.

Is it possible to identify the alien's position or direction by the sounds?

You have the visual cue (yellow soundwaves) when a pod/alien moves from/in that direction.

The loud roaring sound is made by Berserkers. Mutons have a similar one, but it feels more synthetic (due to the masks I presume).

Vipers make a slithering sound, close to the one a big reptile makes sliding through a hot sand dune.

Chryssalids make a chittering sound when they move, you can not mistake it. They do emit a small, subtle roar when revealed or having revealed targets.

As a rule of thumb, the sound that aliens make when you reveal their pods is the same one you will hear from the fog of war. You will need to pay attention to the cutscenes (if you have not disabled them).

Now if you really have issues to distinguish sounds in general, I am not sure even sound files with each and every alien will help you, as you will need to learn them by hearing and playing the game. Do the doctors have any advise on how you may facilitate learning and separating sounds one from another ?

Also keep in mind that in case you thought you heard a certain enemy but you didn't encounter it, you might have been right, but just not triggered the pod where it was in.

Distinguishing the sounds comes from experience: clanking for mechs, slithering for snakes, tipper tapper for sectoid, etc. Someone already described them well. I play with regular stereo headphones, and what I do to tell the direction they're coming is that just as the sound is playing, I swivel the camera (Q or E) towards the direction I'm hearing it until I hear the sound queue in both ears. It's a lot easier to do if you got the Free Camera Rotation mod installed. The mod was a bit jarring at first because I was used to the 45º camera, but I had to install it for WotC because 90º is much worse.

Thanks guys. The distinguishing thing is usually not that much of an issue. Maybe I just need to pay more attention.

Dwarfling wrote:I play with regular stereo headphones, and what I do to tell the direction they're coming is that just as the sound is playing, I swivel the camera (Q or E) towards the direction I'm hearing it until I hear the sound queue in both ears.

So it IS possible to judge the direction?

Direction but not distance. And it isn't super accurate because I think they make they sound before moving, not at the destination. But it helps to sort of recognize which sides you want to have cover against and where you want your shinobi to hang around.