The RNG Gods demanded tribute for the amazing incredible luck that occurred during the mission. A small tribute really considering Dan was very close to disaster.
@gunflame88: Ironman only allows you to replay DLC missions, so it's been a debate from Episode 1 whether or not they'll accept defeat at the Xcom Base Assault mission, but at this point I don't think they'll even make it that far and I'm okay with that. Accepting defeat, and taking the bad ending in Enemy Within was honestly one of the most satisfying videogame moments I've experienced. Knowing that you're persisting in a battle that you truly cannot win is an experience that no other game has provided, and knowing that it's canon going into the infinitely better sequel is incredible.
All that said, while I find manual to be a more enjoyable experience, I don't know how it could be described as "easier" haha.
My grandfather drives an automatic (dodgy knee so working a clutch is awkward) and has on a few occasions cursed it for being in the wrong gear (we live in a hilly area, so it being in too high a gear and chugging on hills) so if you drive a particularly bad one, I can see how you might think manual is easier (gear changes become subconscious and the car does _exactly_ what you tell it to do).
This is quite accurate - not all automatic transmissions are equal in setup. The mechanical or computer-controlled function behind which gear the transmission should be in at any given time in any given road condition will vary across the board. A lot of cars simply have very indecisive or lazy gear selection, and even more expensive cars struggle with this.
Generally speaking though, most people simply don't really care all that much, which is the trade-off for going automatic vs. manual.
That sounds like issues from a few decades ago. Automatics are much better now than they were in the 70s-80s.
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