XCOM 2 - Part 18 - What We Do In The Shadow Chamber

XCOM 2 continues, as we face a fearsome new enemy in the field, finally finish constructing the Shadow Chamber, and try to get our heads around radio towers...
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[@arthurgomes5188]

The speed at wich Jon goes from *"i'm a genious"* to *"OH NO!"* will never not be hilarious.

[@Techstriker1]

The Ohno second.

[@TheNzFox]

its why I watch Jon :P

[@mikb5165]

That's what is all about!

[@katieheys3007]

Haha it's one of the best parts of his personality imo

[@ScFirestorM]

19:20 : Jon, Remote Start needs ammo. That's why Elana couldn't make the truck goes boom, because her gun was empty.

[@Rush2201]

It amazes me that he's made it this far into the game and still hasn't made this connection.

[@t2force212]

​@@Rush2201especially since he's made this mistake before

[@ZakisHereNow]

I love that it literally states, lacks ammo and he just doesn’t put it together. 😂

[@ishill85]

pretty sure it's why her weapon was unaffected too, can't empty an empty ammo clip.

[@Notski]

@@ishill85 No that wasn't Elena. The ranger has the Assassin's shotgun which is immune to the thing.

[@DavidRickmann]

The soldier from the resistance that Tygan was talking about @21:45 was Elena, not Shaun.

[@dool889]

Bets on when Jon realizes that remote start takes ammo since she literally shoots the target.

[@ShadowMage]

Unless he reads the comments, I don't think he will ever notice. Even then, if he does read the comments it probably won't even be the ones about remote start.

[@JPTheGuy]

At least two more episodes, after this one, before it gets included in the next "All the things Jon got wrong"

[@makronebiest1]

Hey John. The reason you couldn't remote start the vehicle in the first mission was because Elenas gun was empty. Remote start souds like hacking, but is actually just a well aimed shot at the gastank. :)

[@areacua95]

It's the second time this has happened, I wonder when Jon will find out you need to have ammo to activate remote start

[@misssniperella]

I wonder if he will ever realize he can claymore them remote start it right after

[@Kaarl_Mills]

How does it sound like hacking? You literally see them shoot the object in question, Jon is just dense

[@quantumlolliepop5472]

@@misssniperella I wish.

[@makronebiest1]

@@misssniperella Oh yeah! It's been I while since I played my last campaign, but now that you mention it, that was always pure annihilation! Looking forward to hopefully see it at least once during John's playthrough!

[@TheGamegurusChannel]

Don't give up on the SPARKs. They have some fantastic abilities in their trees, and their armor upgrades also reduces enemy chance to hit. I would absolutely give them their upgraded weapons though

[@tortoiseoflegends4466]

Yeah, SPARK's are definitely useable and have some great stuff, but they're also probably the weakest class in the game, which is a shame. The giant badass robot could've been much cooler.

[@PoisonInc]

I really wanna give them a proper go, if only just because of the achievement to beat the final mission with just SPARKs.

[@BreakdancePeach]

@@tortoiseoflegends4466 "weakest class in the game" is right. I was so excited to get a robot unit after how awesome they were in the last game :/ It feels like the devs just forgot about SPARKs. Every cool new thing your soldiers can do in WOTC, SPARKS can do *none* of. _(no training center, no breakthroughs - only 2 weapon attachments, no covert ops - can't increase stats, no bonding. Also no PCS's, no items, buggy 'Target Preview' due to their height. They just fall behind so easily.)_

[@tcaz]

Yeah I basically don't use unmodded SPARKs. There are some really good mods for them, though.

[@zilichus9192]

@@tcaz Same I use a Mod that gives my SPARK's access to the training ground and bonds.

[@FWDDGS]

Oh! John! If and when Alpha-6 gets his makeover, you have to go into the voice options as well. No spoilers, but one of them is exactly what you asked for a couple episodes back.

[@CABRALFAN27]

I'm pretty sure he's already gotten his makeover, or else he'd still be the default SPARK-001

[@SirZeu]

the game ever told him but he forgor

[@gnaskar]

Again, remote start requires ammo. You can't remote start with an empty gun. Remote start involves shooting the thing to explode it.

[@Usernamehear]

He will figure it out eventually. Probably the second to last mission or so😂

[@romanw6636]

Regular soldiers can take cover, and can step out into adjacent squares to take shots. Sparks cannot take cover which means that they can only take shots from their tile. This is also what makes enemy MECs more sneaky than enemy soldiers - they are not visible when they stand next to the corner of buildings because they do not lean out.

[@inductivegrunt94]

No matter how good Jon is, he still forgets crucial things like remote start requiring ammo. And his plan generally go from "I'm a genius" to "Oh no!" Just another typical day in the service of XCOM under Commander Jon.

[@jasonglasser1621]

Jon, you STILL need to do the Faceless autopsy. The thing behind it is a huge help even this much later - would have helped more had you done it earlier *cough back when I was first saying to do it cough* but it's hugely effective all the way up to the end. Please do the Faceless autopsy whenever you possibly can - don't know how many of these are recorded already.

[@Penguin1535-p7b]

One thing to keep in mind with Sparks’s cover ability. The enemy can also use it as cover

[@BreakdancePeach]

"The enemy can also use it as cover" You just made me remember a bug. idk if it applies to SPARKs too. Remember in XCOM 1, how Alloy SHIVs (the little tanks) were usable as half-cover? So if you ran your robot next to an alien at *_point-blank range,_* your hit chance would go DOWN instead of up, because it counted as the alien using *_you_* as cover. They're wrapping their lips around your minigun to increase their defense.

[@CABRALFAN27]

@@BreakdancePeach I like to imagine them running around the SHIV in circles while its turret constantly spun around to try and track them, always just a few inches behind. :P

[@alexpage4355]

@@CABRALFAN27 While "Yakety Sax" plays in the background and the whole scene runs at 3x speed, yes.

[@BreakdancePeach]

@@CABRALFAN27 Military-grade tech moment

[@macroglossumstellatarum5932]

@@BreakdancePeach But it is hilarous how often the aliens will just forget the shiv is an enemy and run up to it for cover. Especially if you did the foundry project that gives it a free reaction shot against anything approaching it.

[@problempal5395]

Good to see jon still hasn't realised that remote start requires a bullet

[@Sankey84Gaming]

Jon if you upgrade Guerrilla tactics school you can use more of the orders each month. You should also look at upgrading the infirmary as well to get ride of the negative traits.

[@Chessrook44]

Pretty sure to this date he still has no idea it's even possible to upgrade any of the rooms in his ship.

[@Sankey84Gaming]

@Chessrook44 Let's hope he sees this then if not I will have to use my member message to tell him next livestream haha.

[@zilichus9192]

Resistance ring not the GTS :)

[@Sankey84Gaming]

@zilichus9192 your right. I got them mixed up.

[@Party_Magician]

Negative trait recovery doesn’t require an upgrade, only Revitalize does

[@MysticalBeard]

37:49 Seeing that enemy list? My prediction.....Pain

[@CABRALFAN27]

The "+2 turns to all timers" order is such a huge boost. It can come back to bite you if you lean on it too much this playthrough, and then never get it in your next one (There are orders that allow contact with new regions and collection of Supply Drops to be instant, which is such a massive timesaver that going back to playing without them is painful), but for this run at least, it'll definitely serve you well. You can get such bad procedural/RNG on even just vanilla maps (Never mind some of the enormous modded maps) that you have to charge forward so recklessly to even get in sight of the objective in time, so yeah, I'd definitely keep that extra breathing room active. And so you meet the Andromedons. These bastards can be scary in the right circumstances (You're so lucky the first one ran away instead of Acid Bombing all your soldiers clustered together on the highway), and they're also an indicator that ADVENT's force level is getting pretty high. Pretty soon, the toughest non-unique enemies in the game are gonna start to appear, and that's bad news for you. It was definitely the right call to prioritize Plasma Weaponry over the story research. Speaking of which, good to see you finally get the Shadow Chamber online. Its enemy preview can be invaluable, especially because, while the Alien Rulers themselves don't show up, but their escorts do, so if you have a Sitrep for only a certain type of enemy (Robotic, Psionic, etc), but the Shadow Chamber also shows you, say, a Viper, that's a sign that the ol' Snake Pope is gonna be hanging about. Anyway, we aren't quite in the endgame yet, but we're definitely a fair way into the midgame. As with every great series I've followed, seeing it progress so far is bittersweet, in a way, cause it means we're not too far off from the end, but it's been a blast so far, and when this story does eventually reach its destination, I'm sure it'll be just as fantastic as the journey. Vigilo Confido, Commander Jon!

[@iamded.]

I've found the key to Sparks is to use their overcharge ability as often as you can, as it grants an extra action and lets you take them all before the turn ends. So with overcharge you can get three shots off, or take a double-move and still attack. For example, 11 minutes in when Jon complains there's nothing else the Spark could do, it could have overcharged, repositioned and caught both enemy robots in it's flamethrower (not that it would have mattered since they're immune to fire lol). Sparks can be fun!

[@Mobysimo]

God, seeing the Spark run around with a basic gun while there’s Andromedons on the field hurts....

[@ManyATrueNerd]

I did give him better armor at least...

[@Mobysimo]

​@@ManyATrueNerdHe still has a peashooter though.

[@dandelyon1830]

@@MobysimoIf it was my spark, I'd go for armor first too tbh

[@Knut92]

Plasma weapons are within reach. Why upgrade now?

[@CardSearcher911]

​@@ManyATrueNerddon't forget to change Spark's voice

[@chriswoodend2036]

Jon, bluescreen rounds. You've hit that point of the game. Take a sniper with bluescreen on every mission. Oh and rename Alpha 6 to "Julian." It will fill you with joy and your enemies with lead.

[@alexpage4355]

Don't forget to go in and customize his voice to match, though!

[@chriswoodend2036]

@@alexpage4355 Unless they changed something it will update the voice automatically, just as an FYI. Also should play one of the little blurb auto lines in the top right corner.

[@alexpage4355]

@@chriswoodend2036 If true, I've learned something new! I'll have to give that a look, sometime. It doesn't help that I always name my first (and usually only) SPARK Johnny "Number 5"... cause anyone who's seen the Short Circuit movies knows that is the proper amount of sass.

[@TheTruth-xp2of]

There's plenty of material for "let's talk all about the things that Jon got wrong" here yes, but I'm honestly just delighted that Jon's finally stopped sleeeping on Rangers.

[@drxymen]

What a wonderful way to stop work and enter the weekend! Having just started the video, I'm sure everything is going to go swimmingly

[@Ikcatcher]

Seeing people’s first reaction to an Andromedon coming back from the dead is always funny

[@ShadoShade]

It's funny to watch, especially if you decide the killing blow should go to the ranger who's been concealed the entire time. So much less fun to be the one who sent that ranger to cut down the andromedon

[@TheDieselMK3]

19:07 No ammo in the rifle means she can’t shoot the car to explode it.

[@bobbys332]

Game: This is an alien in an ENVIRONMENT SUIT. It CAN'T HANDLE THE ENVIRONMENT. Jon: I'mma set it on fire!

[@sagebrushrepair]

Jon, I've watched you for years and will continue watching you for years. Your character and your voice are so god damn good. Thanks for editing 7000 hours a day.

[@divegabe]

I saw his comments on seeing the andromedon for the 1st time and had to watch if it would fire the acid bomb at him. Wasnt disappointed :) In truth it happens to all of us at the beginning haha. Once you learn this game, you should have plasma weapons by the time you meet an andromedon, or a high level psionic soldier to mind control it. Good luck mate, you're gonna need it.

[@rancidkippa4589]

Love the reference in the title!

[@Tsurja]

Jon discovering what Andromedons are about was everything I hoped for.

[@ShadowMage]

I feel that he got kind of lucky with the andromedans to be honest.

[@dylandugan76]

What are you talking about? He literally discovered as little as possible about them so far because he handled the encounter so quickly. He has no idea yet what attacks either form can make.

[@alexpage4355]

@@dylandugan76 He did get nailed with an acid bomb, which is the worst thing they have going, though only Claire was in any real danger from it, and he had the sense to heal her right away.

[@CABRALFAN27]

I thought he was so screwed when he had all his troops clustered up on the highway, but the Andromedon retreated instead of firing an Acid Bomb.

[@TigonOlogdring]

Surely Stig, given the alarming headwear, shouldn't be "Smash" but really should be "Slash"

[@henrik2766]

Thanks!

[@Badwolf461]

Some day Jon is going to learn about spacing. Today is not that day.

[@Zorya306]

Been a reil lack of Neil this episode

[@Dead-EyeJuncan]

Neil "Ape" Gardner is the hero X COM needs.

[@stonzy87]

I’m really enjoying this series. Seeing this playthrough made me pick up XCOM 2 and all the DLC and I’m starting for my first time on Legend difficulty. It’s very brutal and I’m not even 1 month in. I made 2 custom characters, Jon from this series and Gussy Toughson, the legendary Sniper from ChristopherOdd’s original Xcom Enemy Within Impossible Ironman run. And Gussy and Jon an already bondmates 😊. Not sure if a bad first build but I!ve started building the Lab for month 1. I figured the faster I can get things researched the quicker I’ll be running to match the high difficulty better. Not sure if that’s a dumb pick or not 😅

[@markhenderson6389]

Loving this series! Be sure to keep an eye out for duct tape on your next supply drop. Who knew it was so essential to building radio beacons?

[@QuixoteBadger]

Holy crap! our favorite Scotsman might just have some competition with how much of a total badass Karen has turned out to be!

[@LLlap]

An organic "shot the front door". Nice.

[@vargknight]

Jon "right we need to get a B team levelled up" takes only two people who are not already majors...

[@extralyfe]

my favorite bit was Jon noting that the robot can't use cover right before he jams it behind a wall and wonders why the flamethrower isn't getting a good shot.

[@FeCyrineu]

One thing to keep in mind is that you can upgrade facilities, so you don't necessarily need to build more power or comms. Also upgrading the Ring gives more resistance order slots, which is great.

[@inkyGhosty]

Good afternoon to you too, Jon

[@kabobawsome]

Jon. Jon. Remote start involves shooting Elena's weapon. The truck should still be remote start-ed, she just needed to reload.

[@nicklange2962]

Bwahaha, that double Andromedon + Codex start :D

[@juanfranciscomarcos2489]

What do we do in the shadow chamber? What do we do in the shadow chamber? What do we do in the shadow chamber? Early in the morning!…

[@darkokat]

I think that pun was a play off of "what we do in the shadows" movie/show

[@Salamekleikum]

I was waiting for this!

[@TheOneOrMore]

Sparks don't use cover. So when you place a Spark behind cover they won't have a shot. They also cannot be flanked. They are your version of the Advent Mecs.

[@NewOldEBM]

XCOM: This is a very difficult mission Jon: Naaah dw about it, doubt it. Anyways! Time for the B team Also Jon: Lot of enemies on this map, innit?

[@evilbob840]

Jon, I know you are a big fan of the Reapers' claymore now, but did you know that shooting it isn't the only way to make it blow up? You can also set it off by having someone else throw a grenade on top of it...

[@hardticket123]

Covert actions that reward mobility. Send Ted on all of them you can find. A PCS for mobility would be useful too.

[@MrElrondmcbong]

I hope jon picks up some bluescreen ammo for those walkerpods otherwise"things will go bad really really fast" :3

[@nessesaryschoolthing]

Especially since I don't think he's really focused on any his hackers enough to give them the edge they'd need to haywire it

[@jms31896]

Jon upgrade the ship, just look at the different room upgrades you can do, look first then choice which is best to buy. Also look at the different things you can do in rooms like clear negative traits from people

[@stevewesley3841]

You might find that a mimic beacon may help keep your casualties down....

[@alexpage4355]

Mimic beacons are downright broken for how useful they can be, when things go south (as they inevitably do)... and it's so easy to sleep on them, because they don't seem all that impressive until you've seen them in action.

[@CABRALFAN27]

@@alexpage4355 Have you seen the Drifter's Broadcast's XCOM 2 single-Class runs? They are absolutely invaluable, to the point where he always lets the "Alien Infiltrator" Dark Event fire, just so he can get more Faceless corpses sooner.

[@alexpage4355]

@@CABRALFAN27 I have seen several of those as well as a few other KZbinrs who are far better at the game than I'll ever be, and that's kind of what I meant. When I first played the game, I saw the description for mimic beacons, and I was unimpressed. Then, I saw them being used by someone who actually knew what they were doing and realized how much trouble they would've saved me if I hadn't slept on them for so long... and I know I'm not alone on that one!

[@shocker1209081]

Jon, Remote Start requires ammo. If you look closely you'll see Eliana shoots the target.

[@Ajax8237]

Took you long enough tonight Jon - can't go to sleep without knowing what hapoens in XCOM 2

[@newCrysis]

Stig Smash thump thump

[@KashouWannabe]

Ted: Hit Chance 75% Hay-fever Chance 10% Good Boy Chance 100%

[@mattS550]

I'd recommend going for blue screen prtocol at some point. I usually give the anti-tech rounds to my specialists, they can make short work of mechs and those andromedon suits. Plus I think Ted would love to play with an EMP grenade

[@theknightman]

I feel like Jon didn't even read the other, much better ability for the S.P.A.R.K...

[@deltadrag00n19]

Jon just FYI if you kill baddies with grenades and explosions you lose out on drops that can be a lot of them alien allos and cores needed for upgrading I mean sure it's fun blowing things up but you lose out on the drops doing it

[@GamerTagCaptCluel3ss]

We’re getting to the shadow chamber finally? Well done

[@davidhopley2661]

@19:05 You cant remote start the truck because Elena has no bullets left in her gun to shoot it. Just reload. This isnt the first time you've made this mistake.

[@CABRALFAN27]

Actually, that's a good point; I remember he was in that same exact situation like 5+ parts ago, and we all talked about it in the comments. How far in advance _has_ Jon actually played? Cause it feels like he should've gotten that memo. Then again, it's entirely possible that little tidbit went in one ear (Or, eye, I suppose) and out the other. Wouldn't be the first time. :P

[@BRUXXUS]

Double Agent can be hilariously useful. I'm so happy you went for that. I'm also happy that you've come to love how utterly bonkers Rangers can be! I'll "mimic" so many other comments and suggest researching the Faceless. I think you'll have a lot of fun with it. :)

[@74153080]

Jon, do the Faceless research. The Mimic beacon is a MUST now, since you have Andromedons AND heavy mechs on the field. Those missile will destroy you.

[@darkokat]

Hey Jon, do you remember when you said "Shock is useless, I hate Templars"? Yeah, the same thing with the mechs. They are great at high ground because their rocket boots let them get wherever and they can do really good dps because they have a heavy weapons (although the flame thrower is by far the worst option) slot as well as being able to hit twice in overdrive. The more you know...

[@fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

Andromedons are utterly unfamiliar with silent assassin; but they do suit only pretty well.

[@quiet_calamity]

Take my like and choke on it.

[@QuintonMurdock]

1:40 oh my god. He is frederator colors. He is shredderator

[@sleepyking5131]

Remember, reapers NEED at least one bullet in the clip to use the remote start ability in order to… you know, shoot the explosives…

[@Velomarke]

One important note, remote start is done by firing at the explicable target which means when you are out of ammo remote start is not available.

[@ryuugaming7726]

Hey john , please upgrade the Resistance ring to use more order , you can use two more order if the ring is fully upgraded.

[@rakiest]

As soon as you get plasma weapons you might increase difficulty again

[@BardMichaelKelly]

The "Stop stealing Canada, America" line hits a little different right now.

[@DontEvenWorryAbout1t]

I roadied for Hell God in '87. Best operation to rock Atlanta since Sherman's March. Mission names nowadays; jeeze....

[@chrisdixon892]

Its sad to see that it cant be exploded is whar Jon sees, what i see is that she was out of ammo.

[@samuelstensgaard4828]

A+ title today

[@drewhorton1272]

For the new enemy, try baiting them with Untouchable rangers and parry Templars. The Andromeda tend to prioritize melee attacks against close targets. Thus you can totally shut them down if you have a unit who will be immune to the attack and deal extra damge back with blade storm.

[@dracorawth8962]

Jon, Elena needs to "shoot" the vehicle for it to explode.... Reload her weapon next time

[@PieMoe]

The Shadow Chamber will provide excellent foreshadowing, and I feel it already has, through its enemy roster forecast.

[@chrismorrissey5675]

Loving the series 😅

[@CidSid]

Salutations from Brazil!

[@74153080]

TMJ irmão, Jon é brabo. Love from Brazil Jon 😘😘😘

[@CidSid]

@@74153080 Slk Tmj 🇧🇷🇧🇷

[@supersasukemaniac]

instead of building a new Resistance Comms, you can just update, and staff the ones you got, I think staffing the Resistance coms gets you like 2 extra contacts, update adss another work station and staffing the new workstation gets i think 4.,

[@EnderiumSmith]

Eleina needs ammo in her gun to remote start

[@thebpphantom]

Legendary Long War of the Chosen once the tutorial's over.

[@OddlySpecificGaming]

Good idea to give the Christmas elf the tox suit

[@Rateus_Johanson]

"It was just Shaun, we don't actually care about Shaun" What is this, Fallout 4? ;-)

[@peachfish7367]

im-PLACE-able, Jon!!! Im-PLACE-able!!!

[@BardMichaelKelly]

No, Jon is saying it correctly.

[@peachfish7367]

​@@BardMichaelKellyfair enough (although I'm 36 and have only ever heard it pronounced with the soft c instead of the hard one).

[@BardMichaelKelly]

@@peachfish7367 - Not surprising, as it's one of those words that's very often mispronounced. Its root word is 'placate', which also has a hard C sound (but confusingly has a hard A sound rather than the soft ones in 'implacable'. English is a stupidly counterintuitive language sometimes.)

[@Hunter_312]

Jon, remember to do the Faceless Autopsy and Bluescreen Protocol!

[@thiagooshiro4857]

Jon, Elena can't use remote start when she has no ammo

[@Astrotdog]

Recommend using mimic beacons I try to bring 2 on missions because you can’t afford to be hit a higher difficulty levels.

[@Seris.]

I wonder when Jon will learn that you can prevent Codexes from cloning with flashbangs.

[@darkokat]

Or just bluescreen rounds...

[@MelficeSilesius]

I may have missed this in the last episode, but did Jon deliberately paint Alpha as Alpha-5, from Power Rangers?

[@greyangel4198]

Jon, do the MEC breakdown as soon as possible if you want to make your anti-robot dudes much better.

[@Mixxie67]

A moment of silence for Shaun Red Shirt.

[@jackfolley102]

I am incredibly disappointed that Jon didn’t tell ted that he was only supposed to blow the bloody doors off

[@catay411]

Really enjoy your commentary and sometimes ineptitude

[@MadTurnip]

Yes, robots don't take cover, but they have other advantages. You should try Enemy Within again, MECs are amazing. I enjoy them much more than SPARKs here, it's just so badass to run up to an enemy and murder them with a single punch.

[@MuffinTheCat]

Whats the amount of times Jon didn't realise that remote start requires ammo at this point?

[@DR.LingeringFrey]

Lost World … the Dark Event that has made me rage quit more often than anything else in the game. It’s not the Lost. It’s them activating the aliens. Combine that with, for example, a heavy mec seeing your concealed squad which is behind a wall … with two soldiers within two squares. So it grenades them, destroying the wall. Then the other 8 aliens all shoot your now revealed squad. Just one of many examples.

[@ZakisHereNow]

Prediction for the ending: Possible spoilers… I think they never actually rescued the commander, and it’s all a simulation on how he would defeat them, so they can prevent it. This is just one of the simulations where they won.

[@TheNzFox]

I can tell you what is actually going on if you want, you have actually already been told as the chosen have flat out spoilers in their lines if you know what they are saying

[@ZakisHereNow]

@@TheNzFox I do not. Just taking my guess.

[@TheNzFox]

@@ZakisHereNow Jon will probably work most of it out in the next episode or two, the majority comes out when you do shadow chamber research

[@PoisonInc]

Dunno if you're gonna use the SPARK much Jon, but you can change the voice to have it be Julian!

[@OhMeGaGS]

The final battle of the game is just Karin vs Cameron

[@seanisanalien]

Well Sean didn't last very long 😂😂😂