The Exquisite Corps: XCOM: Enemy Within - Part 05

This was cool, but Vinny's hands are on the wheel way too much, and with a tone of desperation. Relax Vindog, this content is super fun regardless of outcomes. Alex stayed composed and calm though...great job Alex. Hope is still alive....for now. : )

The use of Dan-freaking-out-sounds before his ignominious death in the opening montage was perfect.

Alex did a fantastic job. It wasnt 100% Vinny telling Alex what to do as there were times he didnt follow the advice. Can't wait for Dan to fuck everything up and kill everyone.

This is a good show. Thank you.

Let's just mutiny and let Alex run the show from here on out.

@yyninja: Despite her tactical mistakes in the last episode, Abby got screwed by the RNG for all the hits she had on her team in full cover so I think it all evens out this episode with Alex.

Abby and Alex have both been maybe a bit too cautious in combat, but it's understandable as a reaction to Dan's completely careless play of dashing people to totally no cover and moving into a flanked position just to reload.

Credit to Alex though for giving us a small glimmer of hope. Can't wait to see how Dan manages to throw it all away with a spectacular failure.

Oh man... so, Outsiders are only present in UFO missions, not abductions. Bringing an arc thrower on them is a waste. (Also I guess Alex didn't notice that Dan sold the Alien Containment...)

Also, quoting myself from last episode:

It's not actually a total waste since it does allow you to get those plasma weapons intact, but it certainly isn't as beneficial as it could be with an alien containment facility and doesn't help progress the main objective.

@chaser324: Oh, for sure! Actually I think progressing the story objective should be near the bottom of their priorities while they stabilize and get back up on the tech curve. Right now it should be all grenades anyway

Some other mechanical things on the tactical battles that Vinny and Co. might want to know, since they actually go against the common sense-instincts that they are playing with: The boundary walls of the map are safe and nothing can come from them, so putting your back to them is fine. Being on the passenger side of the car was actually relatively safe. Also, cars do not explode immediately from small arms fire, you always get a turn to run away. You would need high explosives to detonate a car instantly

It's been forever but... Zhang is playable right?

Just thinking that as the resident Yakuza with good intentions on the team, there's a real good renaming waiting for him.

Edit: Whoops. I just realized he's Chinese & not Yakuza. Damn.

Alex's cautious, methodical approach gives the Exquisite Corps and the XCOM project two victories! Still waiting for that terror mission. Dan might have to play it and that's when things might really go off the rails.

Someone please tell Vinny to stop advising people go into overwatch instead of taking the shot. It is bad advice Vinny, stop giving it. The only time it was worth doing was when dirt bike was suppressed because suppression lowers accuracy by a lot.

Perhaps there's hope for XCOM yet! Play of the game: Giving Lang squadsight instead of the other thing.

Loving this series, it's got me trying to do my own ironman run, just like a ton of other folks.

@higsian: Overwatching was what forced the Sectoid to shoot Lang and get a critical hit, too. Also, when Vinny said "I wish you could destroy that cover", if only there was an item in the game that was free and equippable on almost every soldier that completely destroyed cover...

Corners are great for taking a shot but not a great place for ending a turn unless you're in overwatch. Full cover only offers so much protection as even low terrain with full cover (cars) still allow the enemy to take shots at you.

A good tactic to deny the enemy line of sight is to place them in the middle of a piece of tall full cover so that they end the turn totally obscured. The enemy with either be denied a shot or be forced to move (which triggers your overwatch).

Yakuza 0 spoilers: Chinese with triad connections and good intentions - could make a good Tachibana.

Are we getting some X2 WOTC coverage comming up? It's pretty great. A huge improvement on XCOM2 .

I can't really blame him, for the sake of the series. If they don't correct the ship this episode after the train wrecks that were the last two episodes, this feature is probably pretty short lived. My guess (and hope) would be that if they get things in a little better shape he'll be able to be a little more hands off.

I feel like Dan's gonna look at SWERY 65 and just rename him to Hideo Kojima.

Seems like the box is never going to be rebuilt.

Alex sure had a few lucky dice rolls there when he left people out of cover but most of his move were careful and considered. Good job! @vinny@alex@danryckert Here's a few things to keep in mind as you guys get better at this game:

• Overwatch in the middle of combat is useless most of the time. When facing aliens with guns they will just take a shot and not trigger your overwatch. Be mindful of when it's better to shoot than overwatch.
• Always be in cover unless you're desperate. If you're about to shoot or throw a grenade make sure you move to cover before doing so. Full cover is a must and hunker down can help you survive in half cover
• ALWAYS have research in progress. You had no research project between missions 1 and 2.
• I heard that mech lab is very good. It's also super cheap (50$). Build it!
• Dan, please don't fuck this up.

Beautifully done, Alex. I had given up hope. Now let's see what Caligula can do with what you've given him.

I've sure been having fun watching Vinny play this game through his surrogates.

Seriously, Vinny called most of the moves right down to a specific movement commands, promotion choices and more! A great episode, but I would tone it a bit down, Commander Alex was just another stage between Vinny and the mouse cursor!!

To be honest, half of the guidance he provided to Abby contributed greatly to her failure of a mission.

Alex did good. Also, it really looks like Dan will get the first Terror Mission. Maybe Abby, but probably Dan. It's almost as if Vinny planned this all along...

Squadsight is one of the few things in this game that is 100% correct to always pick. Making a gunslinger sniper is finicky and not that much better than other options, especially in Enemy Within. (They really made them good in the second game.)

Also please take time to check things that are easily verified with one click. Last episode it was grenade damage, this episode it was the number of satellites you can build (Dan went through all the trouble to get the adjacency bonus so you could build a third satellite).

Also please build a Cybernetics Lab. Please.

Good job Alex in this one. I was proud. I appreciate you giving the game some time to learn it a bit more as well. Aside from not really flanking to get good shots (although I do appreciate the cautious play with your back to the wall on Ironman). I think Alex was doing more of the work at times and knew what he was doing but I agree I hope this isn't Vinny just playing the game.

More flanking and less overwatch are my advice though.

@the_big_rough: oh don't worry, knowing dan, he'll remake himself.

Production is soooo good on this series... I'm loving it so much...

Fun episode! Nice to see Alex do so well, his practice has definitely payed off; best of the three.

Alex done good. Now if they can keep Dan from ruining all that hard work with his cowardice, they'll be in good shape. Hopefully not having himself to protect anymore will make Dan a better commander.

Some good strategic thinking paired with a couple of ridiculously lucky hits put the team back in it somewhat. With these satellites and beam weapons coming up you might actually manage to field a team that can handle a terror mission.

Though Chryssalids and, sooner rather than later, Mutons will be rough for this team regardless.

Hopefully Dan makes some good decisions now that his avatar is dead and he can be impartial. Alex seems like he knocked it out of the park this time.

@ 44:17: So says, Mr. Stewart.

Tune in next week for Dan to screw it all up!

ALEX YOU ARE A LEGEND

Alex: Maybe we will name the heavy Austin?
Vinny: Well...keep in mind Austin will want to be a mech at some point.

Awww the Vinny is a good dad haha

I'm loving the series, but I really wish Vinny would stop playing the game by proxy. It kind of defeats the purpose of having 3 different people play the game in turns when it's actually just Vinny playing.

The following is a communication fragment from the first war, unearthed during a recent salvaging run by Resistance forces:

....and I just wanted to thank you for taking a moment to hear my recommendation, Commander.

Ahem.

After our recent mission, with that VIP during, uh... y'know, Operation Sleeping Dogs or whatever, I had an idea.

We here at XCOM traditionally run five-man squads; one man in the air, and four on the ground. Now what I've been thinking is, if we added one extra grunt and made it an even six, it would substantially improve our success rate.

[a pause]

...Yeah, I know, Commander. The logistics and shit ain't easy, but believe me the expenses involved in reworking all of our procedures, training, and all that, will easily pay for itself. We'll have that much less wasted supplies, an--

[a pause]

This is our planet we're fighting for, Commander. Can't put a price on that.

Shit, just think about it at least. I can't believe I'm the first to suggest this.

[a pause]

...What do you mean you've renamed me? Is that even legal?!

Man I really like the intros to these. It's weird to see that stuff on GB but it's great!

Somehow I always knew Alex would be the hero of this series.

I just started XCOM 2 last week. Watching these XCOM:EW videos makes me appreciate the introduction of XCOM 2's timers. I really appreciate the faster pace and how you can't simply overwatch hop your troops to victory.

Basically, nearly every time you hunkered you should've overwatched, and most of the time you overwatched you should've hunkered, or just moved

If you can just reverse those two impulses, you'll be gravy

Move more, essentially. Moving yr boys is OP

Good episode Alex. Vinny was giving away a bit to much tips in my opinion. Also, Dan will wreck everything Alex did in this episode.

I'm loving this series, but I'd actually appreciate Vinny cooling off the tips, tricks, and hints a little bit and let the Commanders do their job on their own a little, unless they ask for more help. I totally get it, it's really hard to watch this without wanting to play yourself, but it sorta defeats the purpose I feel if he's just advising the entire time.

Love you guys though! Please keep it up!

This series inspired me to get this game out after a few years (also to keep me from spending $60 on Mario Rabbids) and I have some thoughts.

The 20 day satellite build time really screwed me. There's just so much to juggle in this game, but if you forget just one thing, the consequences feel very harsh. The missions feel unfair as well. For how easy it is for units to die, and the fact that aliens can attack you on the same turn you discover them, it sucks how blind you are going in. But the answer to that (spending turn after turn creeping across the map with nothing happening) is boring and tedious.

The train mission with a 10-turn timer felt particularly unfair. On my first try I did pretty well, I planned it so I'd hit the last objective on my last turn, then they added a new "actual final" objective that I couldn't reach in time. Then I got to a higher-tier UFO crash mission where a muton killed one of my vets in cover in one hit, and I decided I had enough.

I thought about starting over armed with better knowledge of how to do the base management, but each mission is so mentally taxing and stressful to get through, I just don't know if I have it in me.

Really, it's SATELLITES. You need to rush them and because it takes so long, really push for it quick. It's really the key to the strategy layer of the game and why to me it's a rather shallow thing. But to me it comes down to if you don't get a good start up there, your game is going to suffer, harshly.

If it's just the worry for you, start over and give it another go pushing for satellites. You will be okay and the whole game will turn around for you.