Xenonauts 2 - Early Access Campaign - 7 High speed, low drag.

[@deevee5327]

Watching that civvie rush inside the UFO and them immediately collapse made me laugh way more than I expected.

[@renogillenwater3781]

He missed his opportunity to rush America's area 51, he made sure he wasn't going to miss this one lol

[@brendanlund6959]

The Civvie AI is so weird haha. They always seem to want to get inside the UFOs. I can't tell you how many times I have been ready to breach the door and they end their turn standing right in front of it. Let's just say my xenonauts aren't too careful about collateral damage lol.

[@Nortonius_]

Crockett and Tubbs, riding the Lambo in to clean out Miami. Perfect

[@czpiaor]

One thing I'd like to see more is utilizing the DAGGER to destroy walls to open the area up for your sniper or team in general. It might be a good idea to put your sniper in a location with high potential that may not seem great at first, but become strategic once a few walls go down in the future. Don't have to waste TU's to move and can take shots straight away. Building clearing becomes a lot easier when you park your guys outside, behind cover, and with a lot of time units and let the robot destroy the walls. Since you didn't need to move, your soldiers can have more aimed shots. Also, no more need to have a guy charge inside and potentially take reaction fire. I guess the downside is not every room or building has aliens. 13:51 To avoid rockets missing, maybe aim at the ground by the target? That way, it flies torwards the ground and hits the ground near it, even if it misses target tile.

[@manyheadedmishaps6182]

I'll add to this because DAGGER can also just drive through walls, no rockets needed. You don't pay for property damage, and walls don't need to be an obstacle

[@czpiaor]

​@@manyheadedmishaps6182 I agree, the ability for robots to drive through walls is underrated; everyone seems to forget about it. Even when you use rockets (to break walls), its fine because the other option of using rockets on enemies can be a waste anyways. Not enough damage, and if it kills, destroys things you can salvage. So save your rockets for destroying walls instead of enemies.

[@manyheadedmishaps6182]

@@czpiaor There's a place for rockets, but they also can miss and/or open more wall than is needed or beneficial and/or blow up friendly units or civilians or loot or whatever. Time and a place for both options

[@czpiaor]

@@manyheadedmishaps6182 Yep.

[@czpiaor]

What a great episode! It was satisfying to see the mission go so flawlessly. Putting the second base in a place with high panic was such a great call, turns out cleaner bases were in NA and Asia, so both locations would've been great regardless. Warden armour finished just in time to raid the Cleaner bases. Everything is falling into place and this series is looking good! If you get another shield guy, can you name him Stone?

[@CoolSs]

28:22 the civilian got so scared, that he allowed himself to be captured by the aliens xDDDD

[@jk5399]

"game of kane misses, that does happen occasionally" shows how phros is enamoured with our favorite sniper

[@Di3Leberwurst]

@12:09 at long last the question of why did the xenonaut cross the road was answered.

[@HarveyR701]

Very nice mission! Enjoyed watching it.

[@TheWaldleufer]

That went quite swimmingly. Gg!

[@Phrosphor]

I am very happy with a flawless clear, even with a few mistakes it went really smooth.

[@bertrandcorrea676]

28:52 lol, u have two stun pistola to shoot

[@Phrosphor]

The stun was a lucky side effect, I was planning on just killing it. The chances of a stungun working before shooting it all those times were really low.

[@linksterbot]

Great mission. For the "super strong" guys who could carry an extrra steel plate, would they be able to carry the "aim better" kit in lieu of the additional armour?

[@Phrosphor]

Hmm, I don't think the Assaults need it since they have the shotguns, and my riflemen already carry the Aim unit. The only person this would effect is our shield user and he couldn't probably actually carry both...

[@renogillenwater3781]

​@Phrosphor for your assaults with free carrying capacity, it might be useful to have them carry extra grenades or demo charges for more flexibility in missions.

[@satire__]

hey i got mentioned! nice :)

[@morranhaelkor]

can you SHIFT+Click to create specific path to move your units? especially MARS

[@NimDod]

why did you not try to stun/capture the brain at 28:55?

[@MouldedSalad]

31:31 Walking into battle with an entire gym's worth of heavy metal duct taped to their body! 🦾

[@DSMTyralion]

Nicely done!

[@CoPstesr42]

Gosh its so hard to level up Shield troops. I wonder if making them Heavies to level up their strength for a bit, and then making them shields would be more efficient. They just don't get kills early game due to the starter pistol being so inaccurate.

[@Trasherke]

Since soldiers aren't locked in their roles, I alternate their roles to give them the medals and the level ups. I think strength gets lvled by running with 80% capacity. So in my style the assault lvl's faster. My heavy and sniper do not move that much.

[@DebatingWombat]

It depends on their accuracy. My Shield soldiers often have quite low accuracy, so I don’t want them spraying MG fire all over the place. But it would be viable to shift them to assault. Especially as their strength will allow them to wear heavy armour and/or lots of gear without TU penalties. Shifting to Assault is even more viable if they have decent reflexes, which is probably the third’ish stat after that I look for in Shield soldiers, strength being the most crucial and TUs and bravery also being quite important.

[@Trifler500]

You may not want to invest in four new Angel aircraft, since you'll be getting a new interceptor design. So maybe two or three, depending on how long it takes to research the next interceptor.

[@DebatingWombat]

Yeah, but as in X1, it’s a “cannon only” interceptor, so there might be a reason to have a couple of Angels in reserve for using missiles/torpedoes.

[@Trifler500]

@@DebatingWombat IMO that was fine when they had 2 or 3 missiles per hardpoint, but now that they only carry one, I'm far less enthused. I'm not against having surplus aircraft, but not until after getting at least one of the new ones.

[@DebatingWombat]

@@Trifler500 I totally agree that the next interceptor is definitely worth it (whereas it was debatable when it came to the “cannon fighter” in X1). I see the main concern as one between: 1) Cost; can you afford to produce both one or more Angels and the new fighter? 2) Availability; how long do you have to wait for research and production until your new fighter(s) will be ready? If you have the money to build both, the Angel might be a useful stopgap and not totally obsolete afterwards. However, if you cannot afford both, waiting for the better fighter comes with a potential “panic cost” during the time when you have less fighter coverage than if you had had the Angel.

[@DebatingWombat]

Btw, I really like that one of the armour upgrades also allows you to upgrade the Angels, though it’s pretty limited in the amount of armour it provides. Kind of like the pros and cons of magnetic vs. lasers, I think it’s an interesting mechanic that you can choose to upgrade your existing equipment or to try to skip ahead for something more advanced. This makes the “skip this tech” approach less of an obvious attraction and could mean that your early investments aren’t necessarily superseded and made obsolete to the same extent as in X1. It would be nice if the final version of X2 also allowed for significant upgrades of the Angels’ engines (say, based on alien power and electronics research?), as well as their armour, making choosing between building/upgrading them or waiting for better designs more of a real choice.

[@BOTmaster15]

Hey, I'm bit more ahead than your YT lets play however I'm pretty curious how it will go next time. This mission is quite hard (even after I BARELY completed it - only one of my guys came back alive still dont know how to properly do it). Also I i had more crashes/windows quit after second month (on mission complete screen - I had to redo last turn like 3-4 times). Keep it coming!

[@Abband0n]

Ouch lol.

[@DogHonest]

Can’t wait to watch this. Short episode 😢

[@ricodevega109]

The Warden Armour itself is 8 weight (kilograms?) lighter than the Defender. This means the new warden armour with steel plates is only 4 units heavier than the defender on its own for nearly double the armour. Anyway what I was getting at is it just seems like an overall fantastic upgrade for any soldier. Also not quite a damageless fight. It sounds like Disco Caddy gave the D.A.G.G.E.R a love tap with their three round burst. Maybe they thought it had been a few missions since they had a new robot. I notice you don't use snapshots for your shotguns at all. From the tutorial I've seen people play, the shotgun seems to have very similar accuracy between its firing modes at close ranges. Ultimately it would've only meant one extra shotgun shot against the mentarch at the end, but it might be worth considering when you're not worried about reaction fire.

[@LenaMel]

You really should stop crouching units that cannot be shot by aliens, its a waste of TUs since you have to spend 4 to get up the next turn. Also, you can put people behind cover diagonally. They'll still be able to shoot over it and gives them a different cover angle, which is advantageous sometimes.

[@jonber9411]

14 Aliens in a scout? How many are there in battleships? Max 4 would have felt more plausible

[@Phrosphor]

I am *terrified* of how many aliens will spill out of a Battleship. I am starting to understand what the Commander difficulty enemy amount setting of 'Excessive' means. On the plus side it means we are swimming in corpses and alloys.

[@DebatingWombat]

@@Phrosphor There generally seems to be a lot more aliens in these early/standard missions when compared to X1, even on lower difficulties (I play on the “normal” setting). And they seem to be placed quite close to or in your landing zone more often as well.

[@jonber9411]

@@Phrosphor You are really good at this game. Let's hope the scaling of numbers is better with the bigger UFOs. I played hundreds of hours of original X-com and terror from the deep in the 90's , really enjoy your enthusiasm for this playthrough

[@MrsGozdzikova]

Why didn’t you use dagger to fire a rocket inside the ufo ?

[@OtterMusician]

I don’t know if it’s the same in the second game, but in the first game every device inside the UFO granted you bonus materials if it was intact by the end of the mission. Blowing up materials would be a poor choice, if it still functions that way.

[@scottycheesecake]

@@OtterMusician I'd assume it works the same way, pretty much everything else does

[@RedwoodAmaril]

28:27 when aliens finally do come, and the dumb tiktokkers gotta get in the ufo for clout

[@Phrosphor]

"HEY Guys! It's your boi Paul Jake! Commin at you from this intense firefight between these cool Aliens and a bunch of government pills! Checkit as I jump over this fence in front of the sniper! Parkour! Let's see what's in this crashed spaceship!"

[@RedwoodAmaril]

@@Phrosphor "Oh no. Not cool...these aliens are totally fake!"

[@_EVANERV_]

Mean, green and unseen.

[@MouldedSalad]

More of a *flying almond* than a flying saucer? 🤓

[@MiguelAlburquerque]

Solid tactic though

[@monkeyBEiRDdwy]

I have nothing to contribute except engagement. 🎉

[@Phrosphor]

And I appreciate that immensely, thank you!

[@monkeyBEiRDdwy]

@@Phrosphor not a problem. I love your videos, and you should get the algorithm attention you deserve.

[@antisocialmunky]

Name the North American squadron Crop Duster-1/2/3

[@Phrosphor]

This is a great suggestion. I can just imagine the hyper proficient Hitman team handing off a UFO tail to a bunch of Texans in Crop Duster squadron.

[@antisocialmunky]

@@Phrosphor May they live up to the memory of Russell Casse

[@TheKerberos84]

Is it just me, or is 125k per month for an scientist wrong? It would make sense to me if it was per year.

[@eldritchwulfe]

Snoring puppies (or kittens) never need to be apologized for

[@MouldedSalad]

If I know anything about farmers it's that they really don't like it when people (or extraterrestrials) explode their crops! 🧑‍🌾

[@antoniogonzalezperez8757]

I think this has been said before, but you crouch too much, crouching is OK when at corners or behind low cover, but it's unnecesary when your soldiers are behind walls and out of sight. Those 4 TU may well be vital when you're assaulting an alien behind the corner. You don't see special forces at CQC crouch behind a wall, preparing for a rush. I know, because I was a croucher, too, but it really hurts you when rushing a corner, or a building.

[@DebatingWombat]

Not to mention that unnecessary crouching really costs 8 TUs, because you have to spend another 4 getting up again to move. This waste really hurts assaults (and shields), who have to have to either get up close or get out of the way, as well as the heavies and snipers, because their shots cost so many TUs.

[@DepressedHandsomeSpaceCop]

Agreed. A well-played mission generally, but all the crouching is driving me nuts.

[@tripking3219]

For the algorithm

[@DebatingWombat]

When it comes to research, the general rule of thumb from X1 (and the original X-COM games) still holds: 1) The first priority should always be interceptors and especially their weaponry. If you can’t shoot down the UFOs, you’re in trouble. 2) The second priority should always be infantry weapons. Yes, armour increases soldier survivability, but what increases it even more is being able to take out aliens quickly. Since the trouble with 1) is that upgrading interceptors requires multiple research projects, you should generally always research any weapon project as soon as it’s available. Especially as it will either directly lead to better interceptor weaponry engineering projects being available (e.g. magnetic weapons) or it will open up a research project for a heavy version (e.g. lasers). A good argument for lasers is that, with the additional heavy laser research, you can also upgrade the MARS, and you really want laser MGs on your Heavies.

[@DebatingWombat]

PS. Armour is of course the third priority, after interceptors and weapons. And since it generally “branches off” from research towards better interceptor designs anyway, you typically have plenty of time and opportunity to do armour research too.

[@areallybigdwarf4560]

[@warmaster4574]

My God I know my dude like lifting weights but he need to go to the firing range those shots are terrible

[@czpiaor]

Hard to aim when carrying a shield I guess, but nah, pistols inherently have bad aim. Your dude is cool with a cool name : )

[@Phrosphor]

This is why I wanted to steal a Cleaner SMG!

[@Abband0n]

Bahahahaha that civilian was just begging to be killed by anyone. Like what kind of programming is that lmao. When a civvy gets in close prox to a soldier they should bee line it for the drop ship. I wouldn't smash up the inside of UFO's to bad cuz that's where all the good loot is. Why doesnt shield guy open the door and then smoke the ship? 2 smokes should make the aliens run out of that ship lol. I'd have 2 baton guys right next to door. 2 Smokers stacked up on their SIDE (Not behind them). 1 Baton guy would pop the door. 2 Smokers would chuck smoke into thier respective corner of the ship and then equip stun guns. Anything that comes out gets beat with stun batons and tazed, anything inside gets choked out by smoke. Research alien armor and energy ASAP. Laser weapons were nice cuz they had infinite ammo. They were only slightly better damage than starter weapons. But you can just blast through walls and cover and not have to do crap like open doors lol. Lasers wouldn't punch holes in UFOs like the good alien weapons can.

[@Festivejelly]

I really want to like this game but it looks basically the same as the first one with a few more options. Every map kinda looks the same and it feels super repetitive.

[@Trasherke]

I think it's better to wait until they are a bit deeper in their early access state. They said it would add a lot more new things but I don't know the developer well enough to trust them at their word.