We Broke The Curse, But Who Paid The Price? // XCOM Enemy Within // Impossible Difficulty

We are playing through XCOM Enemy Within, followed by XCOM 2 WOTC! Buckle up! Become a KZbin member: / @christopherodd
/ discord XCOM EW 2024 Campaign Playlist: • XCOM Enemy Within 2024...
👇🏻Other XCOM Playthroughs👇🏻
• I Still Have PTSD From... • Not Your Mama's Gatecr... • FLIPPING THE FORMULA |... • 6 NEW Classes, NEW HIV... • HEROES and ZEROES - XC... • XCOM 2 WAR OF THE CHOS... • XCOM 2 - Part 1 - Firs... • X-COM Enemy Unknown - ... • XCOM: Enemy Within - P... • Let's Play XCOM Enemy ... • Let's Play XCOM Enemy ... • Let's Play XCOM Enemy ...
👇🏻Character Pool Info👇🏻
TO BE SUBMITTED ON PART 1 IN THE COMMENTS.
KZbin 'Set The Vibe' members and Patrons in the 'custom soldier tier', submit on discord. When you submit a character, you’ll need to submit:
Name: First name, Nickname, and Last Name
Visual description: Hair/Skin/Armor Color
Who were you before the invasion?
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Limit the answer to the above two questions to 150 words total.
👇🏻Mod List👇🏻
All mods on default settings unless specified in brackets.
Abduction Map Manager www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Compact HP Display www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Custom Sorting of Soldier Lists www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Game Speed www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Improved Enemy Icons www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Kills Counter www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Limit Chain Panic (ignore soldier wounded, ignore ally mind controlled) www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Line of Sight Indicator (gold disc, .80, .30, enemies only) www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/666
Map Image on Squad Select www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Mini UI Helpers www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
MoreGlamCam
Officer's Iron Will www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Scout Sense www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Sequential Overwatch www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Show Squad Selection Progress www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Soldiers' Respec Training (10, 14, 20, 2 Squad Size II)
Strip Gear Anytime www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
HUD Cleaner (Mouse Controls) www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/572/
Enable Camera Pitch www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/444
Camera Zoom Levels www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/444
Camera Yaw Angle www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/444
QE Free Rotation www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/444
XCOM EW Toolboks www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/79
Colored Aliens Content www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/817
Colored Aliens Script www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/817
New Colors for Aliens www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/734
SweetFX www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/445
Corpses Destroy Time www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/474
Hunker Down and Overwatch Delays www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/474
Remove Death Animation Delay www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/474
Mini Mods www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/735
Sightlines www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/666
Geoscape Pause on Notification www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/474
PatcherGUI www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/4...
UI Mod Manager www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/766
👇🏻Second Wave Options👇🏻
New Economy
Not Created Equally
Hidden Potential
Absolutely Critical
More Than Human
Total Loss
Mind Hates Matter
Thumbnail Design by / boultonjeff
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#xcomenemywithin #xcom #impossible

[@Melinon]

For XCOM2 I recommend a campaign without extra Lost spawning. You'll still want existing lost to be there, but you can buff them with various mods. This alone will speed up any mission with Lost without making all the lost-related missions and tech irrelevant.

[@Vognee]

I second this profoundly: while Lost missions have their flavor the time it takes to complete those especially with additional spawns is just too much

[@BlackHawk7154]

This for sure, one of the main things that turned me off from the last season was watching you shoot lost for 20 min lol

[@OkFellow]

I've grown to appreciate Xcom EW a lot more now, holds up well and I like the horror vibes.

[@-Zikade-]

Yeah. While Xcom 2 is great, IMO it lacks the atmosphere this one has. Which is why, while I have way more gameplay hours on Xcom 2, EW is still more memorable for me.

[@jorgmeltzer9234]

EW Long War Rebalanced. No. Overwatch. Crawl! You have to move the big meat first (or SHIV). The extra Graphics make it almost look as good as XCOM2. Not sure why the mod wasn't chosen for this campaign, I bet it was the "Long". But hey, there is a "Not so long war" second wave option.

[@Deadput]

​@@jorgmeltzer9234Odd wanted to go back to basics and he doesn't care for Long War, I imagine that if he did hear of Rebalance then it didn't trigger his fancy.

[@jorgmeltzer9234]

Hehe, there's enough dying in vanilla methinks 😅. I recently discovered LWR, and it's like a new game. For total immersion, I played vanilla, LW, and now LWR.

[@cainednd]

In my personal opinion, take it for what it is, I find your 45-60 minute videos to be spot on in terms of length. It fits perfectly during my lunch breaks at the office. 😀 The long episodes that can't be helped in XCOM 2 are the missions involving the Lost whereby you spawn a ton to deal with ADVENT. To help with all those units on the board though would be to include the Field Alchemist in your roster to deal with the Lost. Flamethrowers everywhere!

[@lekoe961]

First thought looking at the title is "Oh god did we lose 3 soldier this time instead of 2?"

[@prcervi]

nope we just lost the second most meld expensive one to build

[@bozzutoman]

Advancing your mech into fog-of-war, with only 6 hp remaining, on a _Terror_ mission... ouch.

[@mattdespard6576]

You don't need 400 elerium at this stage of the game. Part of what makes Gangplank such a game changer is the slingshot it gives your economy. I'd recommend selling ~100 Elerium and ~50 alloys of it to get the satellites you need to blanket coverage over the remaining countries in the council.

[@lemnoms]

Aliens will never show up with exalt, and exalt will never show up with aliens

[@bigsheeshus5280]

Would've been interesting to see some kind of mechanic where Exalt troops do not attack aliens but the aliens attack everyone.

[@Tacoaloto]

Yeah Long war features can sometimes be confusing when returning back to Normal EW.

[@TheHumanRanger]

They don't want their affair to be obvious lol

[@twinodoom]

*-Justin Rodriguez, XCOM Science Team-* The MEC Trooper got torn apart by two Cyberdiscs. The Cybersuit was salvageable, but the pilot didn't survive. We'll need to make improvements if future MEC Troopers are going to keep up with the aliens mechanized units and their heavy weaponry. But at least we only one soldier this time.

[@MasterNettrow]

I think having episodes wrapped around one mission plus some base building regardless of the amount of time taken has been very digestible viewing wise. I wouldn't worry about the length of the videos if viewers expect every episode to be 1 mission + some base & story elements afterwards :)

[@Sam-xd5oy]

completely understand you wanting to keep the episodes shorter but my concern is how do you balance late game without the episodes getting longer? your just too good

[@BigBoss-rw4mn]

Stop is not good 😂 he is rusty besides game got harder with the last update years back. He Fked up a lot that is why I like this run. It is mix of rusty skill and good luck. I enjoy this run way more than his old runs

[@marcksvel]

@@BigBoss-rw4mn rusty but skill nonetheless, he is still going xd But ye, this run is rollercoaster of emotions, very fun to watch

[@ttltobbe]

Keeping episodes to 40-60 min feels important, hard to keep up otherwise. But I love it either way

[@cristianreyes628]

The good thing about the Mech diying is that Odd wont butcher the name Magallanes anymore 😂. Keep Up the good work my man, best gaming content on KZbin.

[@Wolfeson28]

It seems any last name with 9 letters or more is a death sentence in this campaign. Mellioria and Laitinen...beware...

[@gamingnscience]

So, you inspired me to play and finally try to get Impossible Ironman done. I‘ve seen Enemy Within is alive and well on Twitch, others have mentioned to me how they see randomly people playing the game again suddenly and yesterday I find Marbozir’s new campaign. Your influence is undeniable, Commander Odd!

[@PanchoTheSneaky]

The memes are pure gold man. The fanbase will always pick on your little mistakes. That's so funny!

[@donovanprice8140]

I first saw your videos when you played the first dark souls. Your my favorite Gamer

[@PackAddict]

I love Odd's enthusiasm while people are screaming and dying in the background. That is commander level focus on the task!

[@TheDenzil95]

To answer how lon the episodes should be - personally I like the longer X-COM2 episodes because I watch them when I get home from work and pretty much go to bed after. I may be an outlier but just because the video is longer it doesn't stop me coming back to it but I understand your reason for wanting them sub an hour.

[@suggestiveartefacts3956]

Writers' and roleplayers' logs are compiled at : docs.google.com/document/d/1WpKFCy6kCWAOOjlFWC9y7hZ0h9ARhL0k3Sv6ptMIHPM/edit?usp=sharing

[@alessiobellotti3912]

I think you should take every opportunity to introduce squaddies you can. A larger soldier pool has more possibilities for psychics, and more options for gene-modded and mecs soldiers.

[@CharlieNoodles]

And more chances our submissions will get picked 😂 don’t forget that😂

[@gemberkoekje]

If you want to have daily episodes, for me I don't even mind it being a bit less than 40 minutes, with a bit of editing - but I respect that that isn't your style. So 40-45 minute daily episodes is fine to me. That said, if you do want to do it heavily modded, you can of course have 2-parters, so half the mission on one day, half on the next.

[@Casey_W]

It has been a long time since I played XCOM 2 but the mods I generally used were the major map mods (Vozati, Waterfowl, Mandarb) because they change up the tactical situation and alleviate some of the "been there, done that" feeling of repetitive maps. I also used a few of the QoL mods like Commander's Choice (it simply makes no sense to me that a squaddie gets a random class). As for the length of the episodes, 45 - 60 min seems like the right length to me. 30 min episodes seem a bit shallow when 10-15 min of that time is strategic and prep time. For longer missions, there is nothing preventing you from breaking them up into 2+-part missions and even releasing them together and letting us consume them on our own schedule.

[@joehemmann1156]

100% on Commander's Choice. Vanilla is like "You can run a marathon and you're tough as nails, but can't hit the broad side of a barn? Sniper! You've got the best aim in history, but get winded when you run further than to your couch and a stiff breeze will put you in the hospital? Assault for you!" Real militaries assign soldiers roles that play to their strengths, randomizing classes is incredibly unrealistic and should have never been a thing, even in vanilla unmodded.

[@saber-seathearn82]

45 to 60 minutes feels good it’s kinda like the Netflix model enough time to get invested but not to much time to get bored. But like also I bet looking at viewer retention could be a helpful metric.

[@bulldozeprime2345]

Love the length of these videos 45-60 mins is the ideal for me while staying engaged with the story over a campaign.

[@pageboysam]

Keep the episodes short. Appeasing the YT gods keeps the channel going.

[@WDGaming010]

Your episodes are the highlight of the day for me. Keep up the great work commander Odd.

[@BakuretsuTen]

The longer the better for me.

[@thatguycaz]

.... Must..... resist.....

[@PhenomenoRonaldo9]

At 22:20 you crit for 14 thanks to Bring Em On (+1 crit dmg for each enemy in sight)

[@armchaircivilian3076]

Relative newcomer here, loving your vibe as well as any and all xcom you put out; i'm loving this return to eu/ew and would LOVE to see you play Long War on maybe classic at some point ;) Episode length-wise, i think you're hitting it right, leaving us begging for more - splitting up 2-hour missions into 2 or 3 episodes would allow you to bank show time against rl catch-up. The back stories, learning to love and to lose these chars are a goodly part of the enjoyment of these seasons, pls keep them coming sir

[@syncmonism]

The free close and personal shot only disables the option of using run and gun, it doesn't prevent you from doing rapid fire as your second action. There is never any reason to use rapid fire on a target that you can get a free close and personal shot on instead. Also, you shouldn't risk triggering alien pods if you don't have to, especially not when you've already used all of your actions on some of your other soldiers!

[@prcervi]

Personal Log of Micky “Frosty” Caldwell June 16th - June 22nd That mission was a lot of a mess, most of the civilians died, mec gal’s suit was only barely salvageable, way too many of the zombie bugs, and a frankly unreasonable amount of cyberdisks. I guess seven saved civies ain’t too bad for the shit show that turned into, not great but the chance for great was shot dead before the squad landed. Flight computers got finished! The tech it lead to is more satellites and satnavs then the very fun spaceships but it’s still really cool tech. Jumped straight to power cells so I’m still loitering around the labs when I can. Research has been chatting up a storm about what this could get used for, it’s still just a battery, a cool and rather more explosive alien battery but still, a battery. Maybe I’m missing something that’d I’d learn in the three years of engineering degree that I haven’t successfully crammed into three months. I know I could just ask one of the Research crew but they all seem pretty busy and I don’t want to get a lecture for interrupting work. It’s nice that the past few days have been quiet, everyone was getting a bit short on sleep and it was starting to show. They’re gearing up for an EXALT raid, squirrely hoarder lady got the data so we can finally whittle down where on earth these weirdos are basing themselves out of.

[@askfrex]

In my opinion I agree with vdo length idea should not be too long and my opinion about the mod here is why. 1. Longer Mission ie >45min : in theory it the recurring of the same type of event available in that mission let say if you are early it will lengthen the mission with not much of benefit it provided. As you progress it might yield some variation like how you/player choose skill/approach/ combo to deal the same stuff which can be interesting but I tend to found out that in the end you/player seems to use the small set of Best tools/Combo you have at the moment to Get things Done and also exhaust player by its repettition so here I agree to the impactful medium mission run for benefit of both watcher and Player 2. Mod like Enemy Health buff seems redundant and not giving mission the variety for result and approach 3. Some mod that affect behavior or stat of Enemy seems interesting to me since it give variety to the run. 4. WOTC non Vanilla class can be overwhelm very quickly This is up to what you think is best (I like it mechanic but gameplaywise me myself seems overwhelm and not holing on concecpt/core exp wise. other QOL change are fine. Just drop my thought here and in anyway I can always enjoy the playthrough no matter it 20 or 90min. Thanks!

[@askfrex]

Just added up here: In my opinion as a player/watcher I myself found increase the number of Enemies spawn with low-normal health are more enjoyable than few of very tanky enemy. Since you can't really do much with tanky enemy except shoot-run shoot-hide and if lucky some Damage combo but More enemies with 1-2shot to death give player more layer of strategies and fun stuffs.

[@Threeve703]

Damn dude! That was a rough mission, but you did great.

[@juuchan298]

I vote for longer videos. It is nice to see missions back to back with little interruptions.

[@bfwebster]

I like the ~45 minute format. I just finished my iPad EW game last night (Normal). The final ship assault was actually easier than either the Alien Base assault or the XCOM base defense. I'll repeat my earlier comment: you don't want to do the Alien Base until you have a very strong and solid squad, because not only will you have to fighter several sectopods, but it will trigger the XCOM base invasion in which you'll only have a few of your (randomly-chosen) squad members and a bunch of rookies.

[@absentialucci]

Interceptor Pilot, Claudia Seamus. Log 13 Another terror mission. Locke and I were dispatched, alongside the other interceptors to beat the aliens back. We were out of range of our operatives on the ground, but from what it sounded like, things were rough. The cyberdiscs can function as damn anti-air. The aliens had to use their brains eventually. It's worrisome though. Couple of the other pilots took light knocks from them, Locke and I emerged unscathed. Couple of the others worked together to bring down a UFO. Seemed like a scout class. Not quite as big as the one that Locke and I couldn't take down. I'm proud of them. We're humanity's best, and I'd like to believe the scout crashed down, and took out some chryssalids in its dying grasp. It felt good seeing it burn. Locke and I led the airstrike on another potential chryssalid hive. I can only hope we keep catching where these things pop up. ... When we returned to base, there was another body bag. Another name added to the wall. It still hurts. And that gives me hope. Means I'm not becoming numb to this. I spent a few quite hours at the memorial wall, bourbon being a good companion. Locke and some of the others tried approaching me, but I assured them I was fine. ... I think I should give Baby's tags to Laitinen. I'll find him after I inspect the new laser cannons being installed on my Raven. I must say... they're beautiful. Not much different in profile to the phoenix cannons, so I can only assume they're close range as well. But they look good! I can't wait to take these babies out for test flight. Gotta make sure the power to weight ratio isn't thrown off. End Log.

[@stephencrabtree3338]

Log entry 5 Name Stephen Crabtree Call-sign "the kid" Current Assignment raven-2 pilot Heard they're putting the new laser cannons on raven-3. Must be nice getting some of that fancy tech, almost sounds like something out of one of those comic books or sci-fi movies. Hope I can get some big upgrades soon for my craft though if I can't get a position on the field teams. Here's to hoping. End log

[@spiritsoldier4475]

Interceptor Pilot, Log #23 - Aren Locke We lost our first mech soldier, Magallanes. Got blasted by two cyberdisks. The rest of the ground team were able to save up to seven civilians, and with what was out there, that was as good as it could get. Meanwhile, up in the air, we kept any infestations of chryssalids from spreading further like last time, and took out whatever alien aircrafts was around. Other cyberdisks they deployed took to shooting at us from the ground, so we had to watch out for that as well. Overall, the results were similar to the last... if not a bit worse. My recommendation for these types of missions (Cause there will be others, unfortunately) would be to deploy our best in the field. The aliens are clearly doing the same, if only to optimize the slaughter; so why not us? Our lower ranks can be sent on UFOs, abductions, and EXALT. Speaking of EXALT, our operative is calling for extraction. The Commander is sending out Jube, Cutter (Call-sign, Lockport), Watcher, and Hide (Call-sign, Kayzar) once again. He's also sending out Durant, along with a sniper by the name of Benjamin Eastmond (Who's... mental health I'm questioning right now). We're getting close to figuring EXALT's main base; let see how much closer we can get. Locke out.

[@exequielgaleano9947]

I'm really enjoying the length of the videos, I like longer ones too but maybe not consistently. Also, thinking about the time most people has to actually watch anything makes sense too, I think. That said, the breaking of the curse was something eeelse. I trust you'll get back on your feet after that and you'll be even tronger. Many thanks for this amazing campaign Odd, happy to be here for it!!!! 😁

[@RyanBetts]

I feel like Cutter comes through in a lot of episodes with key shots that blend in to the background. Glad to see Cutter with another clean run.

[@tyroneuk11]

Personally I don't mind the length of the videos be they 40 mins or 2 hours, I think the format is perfect with do a mission and then any base stuff until another mission pops. It for me makes the episode great because you have included a bit of everything that the game has to offer.

[@thatguycaz]

Honestly, each episode I'm amazed you don't squad wipe based on my own experiences playing on this difficulty.

[@dennisc3438]

As someone who watches 3-5 hour Let's Play episodes regularly, these 45 minute episodes are basically palate cleansers for me. 90 minutes for a single mission would be a bit of a slog, but 90-100 minute episodes with 2 or 3 missions in it? I'd be so in for that.

[@DarkElfPaladin]

"This just kinda spiraled" ah, classic xcom. Good stuff.

[@RatoInsano]

I prefer keeping with shorter episodes over longer. 2 hour daily episodes sounds insane, I don't have enough time to watch that every day and I'm unemployed. Those 40 minutes episodes are pretty good, and I can watch at 1.25 speed perfectly fine so it works pretty nicely. As always love the daily and consitent uploads, great content.

[@wikkipicks]

I am honestly good with however you do them, I'm just pumped for the XCOM content.

[@armelior4610]

The current length is fine. When it gets to >1 hour it means I'll watch it several days later usually.

[@coolvery3018]

Enjoy the long episodes. I just want a lot of class variants and enemy variants. The rest will work itself out. Thank you best content creator in the known universe.

[@tobiaskilroy]

I do love that intro to each video. Great work!

[@Deadput]

Edit: Now that I've watched the episode, from a certain point of view the curse wasn't broken if you think about it since at the end of the mission it says you lost 11 Civilians and 1 soldier, that rounds out to 12 people being lost which means this was a big paired curse bundle! Although only from a certain point of view since ultimately the curse was 2 soldiers not 2 allied units dying in pairs. As for helmets? Well Valentino had one! But uh...yeah no helmets anymore, Jayko log below.

[@TauShasla]

Bad Hews

[@Deadput]

@@TauShasla Heh indeed.

[@Deadput]

Date: 2015/06/16-2015/06/22 Name: Jayko Joyeuse, Rank: Base Security Junior Officer Subject Log: Operation CURSED THUNDER and the leftover wreckage. Well…our death curse is “broken” right? Damn, it never gets easier to see someone die at least not for me anyways, Cyberdisc tore Magallanes to shreds like what happened to Norpendrock…that and the 11 civilians who died means Strike-1 is going to come back home tired…and bitter despite the squad dealing with such a rough Terror Attack as best as they could. Looks like the Aliens strategy in tiring out the squad did indeed work if that was the goal anyways. All those resources that went into that Mec armor, nearly lost just like that…but that’s what happens when there’s 2 Cyberdiscs and a bunch of Drones, Chryssalids and Zombies! Commander’s tactical skills is what allowed the rest of the squad to survive and I’m at least grateful that 7 civilians were saved…it just wasn’t as good as it could have been but like I said, really tough odds this time. We can only move on and keep pushing, to avenge the fallen, Delta Squad, Johnson, Gibson, Enko, Ito, Kainoa, Ryan, Cray, Chapman, Valentino, Norpendrock, Magallanes and whoever else will fall. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Another Exalt cell has been found by Ibrahim who’s been the Covert Operative for this cell instead of Durant as some of you may know, although Durant herself has been attached to the Strike-1 deployment that’s heading in this time around alongside Laitinen, Leigh, Cutter, Hide and a sniper who’s been sitting around for awhile, one Mr. Benjamin Eastmond who had quite the experience with some Aliens…although I have to ask How does an Italian speaking White Japanese man come to be? No problems or anything I’m just curious about the circumstances that would have had to happen for that to be, that or it’s another Mellioria situation where the Xcom database had a glitch that assigned the soldier the wrong country flag…who knows. But nevermind that, Junior Officer Jayko signing out, Vigilo Confido!

[@TheTurtleinariver]

I have found with previous X2 seasons I got watcher fatigue about 30 episodes in. I'd tune back in at certain points but those 90 minute episodes can be painful, especially when you get one or two behind.

[@sad_yorick]

I personally watch at 2x, so 90 minutes is no problem. The ridiculous difficulty of the last xcom2 run was fun, I don't remember time being an issue

[@WanoReborn]

The curse is broken, finally! The cost was too high tho, RIP our first and only MEC! Meme is amazing as usual. As for the videos - I love them in any length, but prefer long ones. Still, i believe you will make it great anyways, Commander!

[@herrikudo]

Hour or longer episodes are definitely preferred, much more enjoyable. I unfortunately am entirely unable to play this game due to lack of a computer, so this is kinda how I get into the game. Also, consider gene modding Jube with the eye enhancement, that small buff to aim and crit would make the beast and absolute MONSTER on the battlefield.

[@swe_nurse8121]

I'll watch it no matter what, but the way I watch it might change depending on the length. If it's about 45 minutes I watch it the same day (like this campaign), if it's longer I might watch a couple of extra episodes on my days off. I think that might be true of many people, the views will be there but it will take longer for them to get up there with longer episodes.

[@ReinReads]

Getting mission timers balanced is tricky but can keep tension & pace up. Also lost missions often become a slog. Not sure if much can be done from a mod standpoint. Maybe just a focus on getting in and out as quick as possible without worrying about kill counts.

[@Fr564]

Your reliability is awesome

[@chihtsieh]

I occasionally like long episodes, but realistically, 45m is about what I'm able to readily commit to. Carry on, Commander.

[@gaborgopcsa]

im fine with hour long episodes - when i sit down to watch it i always make time for it -

[@myrrhbear]

Remember when looking to convert soldiers into MECs that it's often going to be much stronger if you wait until max rank. - An assault at Colonel rank has 89 Aim. - Heavies can and should be converted at any rank before Captain rank as it maximizes all attribute gains (Aim, Will, HP). The resulting soldier at Colonel will have 77 aim. - Snipers get large amounts of Aim per promotion, 105 total at Colonel, but only 8 HP to other soldiers' 9. Augmenting them at Major will result in one additional HP point in exchange for 8 Aim, although with a MEC Trooper's already large health pool, one single point tends to be irrelevant. - A support at Colonel has 90 aim. - With the "Hidden Potential" Second Wave option enabled, MEC Troopers have a gain of 1-5 Aim per promotion. This is much less than a Sniper (3-9) and inferior to a Support (2-6), but equal to an Assault and superior to a Heavy (0-2). As such, if a Heavy-based MEC is in the plans, it's best to augment the soldier as soon as possible for maximum accuracy gain.

[@bobb-pov]

Hey Odd, have been watching you play xcom since 2015. I appreciate you considering episode length. Whenever there are back to back 2+hour missions I would just put it on as background noise while I played something myself. I know you love Covert Infiltration byt I personally had to start playing without it. It's great for youtube but makes the strategic layer take even longer on an already long expansion. Going for normal size pods with stronger enemy mods might help because the challenge is in the type of enemy rather than considering how many enemies. The last thing is Yellow Alert. I think it makes missions feel repetitive and takes away from the pod mechanic that xcom is designed around. And when you start having multiple missions being long and repetitive it feels like an obligation to watch rather than something I'm excited for.

[@Leo-369]

I'm a personal fan of heavily modded playthroughs, even if thats at the cost of longer episode lengths. No one puts together more fun modlists than Odd and his team

[@131Clem]

This is a good pace for this series. I came to your channel through XCOM, when you did that joint series with Marbozir, who's also a fantastic XCOM player. I have been watching your content ever since. I do agree that episodes under an hour are easier to watch for most people. I also would have a hard time justifying watching a full playthrough of Long War for example. The pace with that mod is just too slow. Years ago I would have had more time, but I can't dedicate so much time to watch someone else play video games anymore. Even if you are a joy to watch. I love your content, I love your vibe. Keep it up.

[@matbox4857]

Iirc, disabling shot on cyberdisk is really effective

[@wjwoodget01]

MOAR XCOM!!! WOOO!!!! I'm enjoying the series Odd, I know you will, but keep it up!

[@bamatrucker31]

I started a game and I'm right at about where you're at I passed you up a little bit. I'm only playing on classic difficulty but I am playing iron Man.

[@SassyWaifu]

45 minute episode supremancy! I know nothing about mods, but anything that pushes the missions to be 30-35 minutes so that with the base management we get to 40-45 is extremely good for me. Anything that makes the enemies bullet sponges (lots of armor, hp etc), bigger pods, more enemies on the map, all of that make missions either too long or impossible with the timers. Also the timer pause during concealed phase, although good for set up is making missions longer too because of set up.

[@sparklefizzy]

Strongly agree with your 45-ish minutes theory, as well as with the people who are suggestion fewer Lost.

[@robertforton9729]

For X-Com 2 I’d love to see something similar to what you’ve done with Enemy Within: Mostly Vanilla classes, and as few (gameplay impacting) mods as possible.

[@NIGHTSTALKER0069]

I like the 30-45 minute episodes works good for a lunch break.

[@Rhadagar]

I don't mind longer episodes, happy with up to an hour tbh and longer for the special missions. As for mods, class mods are what I enjoy. Really enjoyed the progression classes and the few classes that have been released that are compatible with that system, like the one that uses the flamethrower. Along with psi just being another class. The unique loot with special abilities from one of the seasons was also a lot of fun. Oh, and covert infiltration. That was a great season.

[@Myomer104]

While it would have prevented the last kill from happening as early, I think you should have captured the second-to-last Floater. This would have granted you two things: 1) Free Light Plasma Rifle 2) The Council can buy it off you for a little extra cash.

[@mailnix329]

Well, I'm loving the longer Episodes. Ok, at first I don't watch them completly, but when I'll get sick it's the time to watch all off your XCOM plays (so I watch them twice). Nevertheless it's XCom and I'm looking forward to it😊🎉

[@usmcMike05]

Every time he says Alexa Durant's name, my Alexa devices around the house get triggered. 😂

[@MrVariando]

Part of me was expecting you to lose 3 soldiers instead of 2 😂😂😂😂😂

[@Kjotleik]

Just wanted to chip in that 45-60 minute episodes is better for me than 60-120+ minute episodes. That said, there is nothing wrong with dividing one mission up into two (or more) episodes to keep the length reasonable. You get the views from people who cannot watch two hours straight. I find it harder to start watching an episode if it is over an hour - and I know I probably will have to pause and come back to it later - than to start a 45 minute one. Some days I can spend two-three hours in a row on KZbin, of course. But that is not every day for most people.

[@Nick1979BN]

Oh please stay vanilla for XCOM2 as well - we had so many added classes, abilities, aliens etc. in the past play throughs I have been looking forward to a vanilla run again before going back to the crazyness of mods!

[@snowheader2200]

That double tap sniper is really putting in the work!

[@tulkasnomin4991]

I run that Skull helmet on my Snipers.... the death they never see coming. I like the current 1 mission per episode scheme and letting the episode length just organically follow the difficulty of that mission. As for X-com 2 mods... I'd like to see you run the squad affinity mod to incentivize having set squads and potentially wanting to swap out entire units when one member is injured.

[@KasiKuula]

For XCOM2; Only UI/cosmetic/bug fix mods + built in ones. Video length, ~45min is more like guide line, than rule. So if there is some edge of seat type of thing happening in mission, it is ok to take longer. No cliffhangers!!!! 🙃

[@radovicimihai3666]

X-COM 2 episodes : 45 minutes it's ok for regular mission , 60 minutes for the " unexpected " type , 90 minutes for hard/heavy/story type missions. Maybe we can cut on Lost (lost movements =lot of wasted time)?

[@shanew7711]

In regards to the mods and episode length for XCOM 2. I do like the more vanilla campaign, rather than a campaign thats mod heavy. I terms of the length: however long you need to do a mission is fine by me Also I started a Legendary campaign on XCOM 2 after watching this campaign and its going a lot better than my first attempt at legendary. Probably cause I've been watching your playthrough

[@Lukuigi]

I would imagine a few mods or few less mods could clean up a little bit of the extra enemies and xp growth. Pair that with the idea I had a few years ago in only allowing X amount of missions per soldier before retirement. That might allow for more community involvement (character pool), and keep missions tougher without having so many pods per mission.

[@SandaiTheThird]

Look at the bright side at least it wasn't 3 people dead that broke the curse

[@Boredperson360]

episode length is spot on! am watching the xcom 2 campaign from last year, and thouse 90 min vids are abit tooo long imo.. but again, its an epic campaign!

[@ToaDrakua]

Mr Eastmond sounds like he could have been plucked out of the wreckage of last episode's mission.

[@lordmuaddib]

the longer the better

[@bazou2263]

45-60 minutes is the sweet spot for me

[@gamerule18]

Keep em longer chief. I've watched 8 hour stuff already, nothing can stop me I may need help

[@royrush288]

As for mods on XCOM 2, keep them simple. A graphics mod or two, a couple of enemies mods, maybe an extra soldier class, but not a whole lot.

[@IAmDollop]

I think 45 minutes is a good aim to hit. That’s about the length of a TV show. Not everyone has 90 minutes plus to spend watching one thing, whether their attention is on it 100% or not.

[@redblarin8030]

I like mods that help quality of life, but I enjoy maybe not straight vanilla, but maybe a French Vanilla feeling. And I watch your vids at work so hourish plus/minus are great

[@btnskillsh0t810]

The Lost missions were always really long if I remember correctly. I usually skipped or sped up the videos last time. Maybe you could edit the ''boring'' parts out

[@lemnoms]

The first one no matter what is around an hour long

[@michiduta07]

For XCOM 2, I would like to see no Lost whatsoever, they are annoying, waste a lot of time every time they are part of a mission, their specific mission types are annoying, and they bring no real challenge for any moderately capable squad. In terms of Mods, I would like to see you include: - the A Better Advent/Barracks/Campaign/Chosen/Militia set of mods - Some map mods that have been suggested by other community members, for diversifying the missions and not seeing the same old vanilla maps we have seen sooo many times before - A Requiem For Man: Strongholds Standalone - Narrative Control - to reduce the spam from Bradford and friends - [WOTC] Prototype Armoury - [WOTC] Covert Infiltration - [WOTC] Reliable Wounds - Chosen Dark Events Fix - [WOTC] Less Overwatch Lock Ups!

[@skylar9046]

So, it did look like you noticed, but MEC suits have to be repaired if the operator dies. Makes it pretty costly to do each time - and they really wither fast. Getting to MEC-2 would be really helpful so they could take another hit... but MECs lose health very fast. Admittedly, they're very risky. Think of them more as support troopers than front-liners. Logistics Tactical Officer "Ruby" Log 24. Date: June 21, 2015. Aliens struck back hours after we shot down that UFO a few days back. Crashed a highway and sent Argentina into havoc. The squad tried to move as quickly as they could, but once they hit contact, things got messy... fast. Chryssalids scampering around in the dark, creating zombies. A pair of Cyberdiscs bombarding and barraging with cannon fire and grenades. Those things are like faster, smaller, and more mobile tanks. They take a lot of hits when not exposing their weak points - but they fall pretty fast when they do show them. And those Drones keep the big robots working when they're not pelting civilians. Bloody terror attacks, and they keep getting worse. That once-highway was a place crawling with death. Came at a cost, too. We lost Magallanes - withering fire from those Cyberdiscs cut through that MEC chassis like a hot knife through butter. If we're to deploy them, we have to repair and improve that chassis - fast. The worst part? I don't even think that's the worst of what we've seen of alien firepower. I've had a day or two to rest and think. There is a way we can win this war - there is a path forward. But how many lives is it going to cost, though? We've lost so many soldiers already, and countless civilians from those abductions and terror strikes. This is becoming a war of attrition. How much longer can we survive?

[@Ghost0fTheNavigator]

The Arc Thrower can still be used on EXALT operatives, but rather than be captured, they'll off themselves. Honestly, outside of the novelty and the achievement for doing so, I'd say taking something else would be more useful. Sad to see our mech trooper go down so soon, but I think - particularly on this difficulty - the lower levelled mechs might be a bit fragile, especially since they can't effectively take cover. As for the XCOM 2 campaign, I always advocate for the longer episodes because that's what I enjoy. But if that's not what you want to do, Odd, then go with what you think works best. I'll still watch every minute!

[@drumsofberk]

I definitely like the 30-40 minutes in length. While the longer episodes for XCOM 2 may seem better, it felt as though they just longer for the sake of being longer. In the time I could watch one of those episodes, I could watch 2-3 of this campaign. Subtly, it feels like I am getting more done when watching your content. But XCOM 2 content is longer, so it is a balance. Mission length could be about 40 with setup for the next mission could be 20 minutes. The special missions I can see being longer but if every mission is an hour and a half long, than no mission is special.

[@user-sy8tm6zk9y]

"Bus fares", lol😂

[@AA-ir7rj]

The reason I didn't finish watching the last season of xcom 2 was due to the length of episodes. I just kept falling asleep and couldn't help it. Maybe focus more on mods that can help roleplay like the squad mod that let's you manage squads. Helps build lore between designating certain mission types for certain squads. It keeps track of squad stats throughout the campaign as well.

[@mza9869]

For xcom 2 i think more vanilla with cosmetics and quality of life mods is what I enjoy. too many different classes gets hard to keep track of for me, longer mission is no problem lol

[@AnimaGrimm]

Honestly feels like a death was unavoidable here. Not really surprised at the loss, but 22 aliens and 2 of them were the Disks, so, what can you do?