since not being allowed to use mind controlled enemies would really detract from what psi operatives can do, i think its completely fair to use mind controlled enemies in combat
Exactly, I think he is being too hard on himself trying to play by rules he made for the other classes. Using mind control is my favorite part of this class.
I have a dream. A dream where you start with psi ops. With only mind control. Or alternatively. Mind control and pistols. You must finish the campaign with pistol swinging mind controlling gunslingers alone. Because who doesn't like a good old Western! Befriend some folks along the way and rally the troops to steal the Alien Swag. Troops who fail missions go home to retire in shame. Or do we retire wounded troops because they took a bullet to their shin. Hmmm they have a mind control to bait out damage but slow leveling process would suck, and it would punish the high level troops who got unlucky enough to stand near the assassin... Maybe knockout level injuries force retirement.
IF he's only to allowed to use Psi-Ops AND Psi-Ops can use Mind Control Mind Control is fine to use END IF It's part of the class' skillset and the game is 'balanced' around it. There is always the opportunity for a "pure" run and another video.
100 % MC. To me it's the same case as using the Templar body double. If you can't use MC you shouldn't be able to use that Templar clone ability either, which would be stupid.
My theory for the mind controlled codex not spawning clones: While mind controlled, the codex wants to help out xcom team by any means necessary. However, it understands that any clones of itself that would be made wouldn't be under the mind control and thus wouldn't have the same obligations. As such it purposely disables the cloning ability so as to not hamper the team. It's trying its best to help!
So a codex, archon, and a viper walk into a bar. The Commander buys all of them a round. The codex takes a single drink and disintegrates. Being a machine, the liquid destroyed it. The archon holds out for a few drinks before dying. Being a mix of machine and organics, it died only after it's machinery bits failed. The viper, however, lasts the whole round, hardly even buzzed. The Commander asks how they managed this. "That's easy, Great Commandy One!" It hisses. "I'm immune to poison damage." P.S. Apologies for formatting, typed this on mobile. Also, 1:43:50
I would have expected the alcohol to do one damage a round splitting the codex into 20 of them and summoning a Gatekeeper to investigate why the social drinking account was emptying out 😋
Using mind-controlled units is totally legit in this runthrough. It’s a psi-op ability. If you can use a hacked unit in the specialists only, then it’s all good.
If I recall correctly he DIDN'T use the hacked mechs in his specialist run, or at least didn't attack with them. I thought that was unfortunate, I'm glad he used the mind control in this run as it's such a core part of the class
@@exantiuse497 Oh shoot, I thought he had used the hacked units. But I still share your opinion on this. There's a real risk with getting too comfortable with hacked/controlled units. If the controller gets put in a stasis field, and you've been doing all your positioning based on that stun lancer being a friendly, guess who's about to flank the heck out of you?
I see the comparison you're making, let's also compare it to just shooting a gun, using a damaging psi op ability, and using a grenade. Hacking has a chance to fail, and depending upon the option it can buff the enemy instead. Has a cool down, or limited uses if using a skulljack. A successful hack adds many tactical options, most notably having a sacrificial target, most hacked enemies don't have useful offensive options. Shooting a gun has a chance to fail. Consumes ammo and needs reloading. Using a grenade is guaranteed damage, and also opens up many tactical options, most notably destroying cover/walls and doing area damage. Sometimes used for armor shredding. Limited uses. Mind controlling an enemy is either guaranteed or they're immune, or they panic instead of being controlled. Same benefits as hacking for having another unit, though in general bio units are more valuable to remove and have than robotic units. Has a cool down. Using a damaging psi op ability is also guaranteed damage, but it doesn't give you a damage sponge. Has cool downs and limited uses. Only psi ops can mind control, only specialists can hack (with skulljack exception). So the issue with mind control is the combination of 1. Being spammable with no risk 2. Generally targets the most dangerous enemies 3. Has guaranteed effects that are impractical 4. Psi Ops as a class have lots of great other abilities, Specialists as a class kind of suck outside of dealing with mechs. I could see setting a rule where you can only mind control one enemy at a time, but it makes the challenge more interesting to just ban it entirely. Especially considering that mind control is the unique thing that psi ops being. Sharpshooters have high acc and damage, grenadiers and gunners do area damage and status effects, specialists help with healing and defense, etc.
So...Red Devil is highly favorable for bonding with Satan...makes sense. Also, 54:00 I agree with you about being able to use mind controlled units as that is part of the Psi Ops weapons. 1:50:00 - I do not count that as breaking Honest Man. You thought it was a glitch but didn't realize that it wasn't until it was too late. It happens when you use things that you are not used to.
And it’s not like the specialist where if you hack an enemy you can either choose to shutdown the enemy or control them with Psy Ops it’s either you control them or you don’t
I think "honestman" would allow you to use mods so troopers work as intended. For example: the training of psi troops counting towards squad size. Having all psi troops have atleast one ability. Things like that. Either way it was entertaining to watch you overcome the ods and win
Starting ops without abilities is a huge mod problem. When you train soldier it gets 1 random ability. Its like getting reaper without shadow. Psi operative without psi abilities (at least random one) just nonsense
These disadvantages are too big, it causes this run to be uncompareble to the other challenges... I would consider it fair to use mods to fix the squad size issue, and have the psi building available at the start
I just imagine the whole ass psi gang appearing infront of the warlock while just tposing around ot it while it lays down in the fetal position in absolute fear at the true psionic power humanity holds... And in the background a couple of archons just float around and obliterate everything
This challenge gives a ton of Ufo Defense vibes (xcom 1994) Early to mid game, Aliens win all the time, soldiers are glorified bags of meat (no abilities), lots of losses/evacs/dead soldiers, always short on cash Late game, when the power curve inverts and you stomp, it's due to an overuse of psi and specifically mind control
Honestly, to be fair, the latter part of the video was our purple bois just fucking dropkicking advent into submission and then having their own goons kick them while they're down
This was an epic run, and congratulations on grinding through all of that mess and rng in the early game. I'm sure finally reaching the endgame and experiencing that feeling of "Alright Advent bitches, now *I* am the master!" was really fun. One small note, 1:27:14 - that's actually not quite true. The Warlock *will* come out of his bubble after a certain number of turns (I forget if it's 2 or 3) even if the Spectral Lancers aren't all dead yet. Oh, and about Solace: it will *block* soldiers within its aura from *becoming* unconscious, but it won't remove the unconscious effect from soldiers that already have it the way it will with any other mental effect. Very weird exception.
It is getting really funny seeing all the classes' names get crossed out and written over on the rules screen. All base classes are done! "Season 1" in my eyes, is finished! How do you feel, Drifter? On to modded content! Or not, there's some interesting ideas you've got for base X2 yet on the second channel.
I caught the streams on your second channel and watching you play with what were essentially rookies for ages looked like pure hell. Thanks for the content as always!
1:51:50 No way. No freaking way. That’s gonna be so satisfying to watch. I’m so excited now. Also, sorry if this run was torture. This was some of the most engaging content so far due to the raw strategy and luck of countering some insane drawbacks. I was mind-controlled from start to finish. Thank you for sticking this one out for us and making XCOM an even more insane game.
Watching you going to the bottom left corner to press back arrow when you're checking PSI abilities available for training made me tell you: *Right mouse click is "back" in all menus.*
So I guess this means that the only one left to do is “Can you beat XCOM2 War of the Chosen with only ROOKIES”. I think that we might finally kill the Drifter with this one, folks…
@@LOVEMUFFIN_official It would be alot easier in xcom 2. Much fairer game. It would be more an issue of supplies I think. Don't think I'd be able to pull it off either.
I'm not very up to date with XCOM 2 lore, so it was one hell of a mental flashbang to be casually reading the ingame dialogue and see that Vahlen works for the aliens now.
XCOM lore really is wild, especially when you factor in the Bureau. I'm definitely curious to see what XCOM 3 brings to the table, what with the Terror From The Deep teases and other references to the old lore like the Kiryu-Kai in this game.
Not being able to use mind-controlled enemies means you might as well not use any other powers, and that would be pure absurdity. You made the right call
I really like the Psi-Operatives, they remind me of the Mass Effect Series' biotic classes. I always used the biotic abilities instead of using the weapon you usually have, I even made it like a challenge to myself to finish Mass Effect 2 using only Biotic powers and I really loved every second of it, it was so cool. This reminded of that and how much I enjoy classes like that in games, just in general. Great video! :)
I expected you to use a certain mod that uses trainable psychic units, where they don't need the chamber, and gain xp and abilities normally, but in effect can't gain every ability available. When you said that you wouldn't have any way if training until you got the psy lab, I knew I was wrong, and that you would be in for a world of hurt. Congratulations on the outcome, of fulfilling every power gamers dream of being able to basically alter reality with 9 maxed level psyonic troops.
I'd love to see a run where you can ONLY deal damage in the final mission by using the Commander's Avatar. It might honestly be impossible, that's a tall order for one character no matter how powerful they might be. But it would be fun to see how it works!
Future challenge idea, "Can you beat xcom 2 as the soviet union" Play with a mod that increases the number of troops you can bring greatly then play the game with only rookies where your allowed to only equip half the squad with good equipment
That sounds very possible. If I remember correctly there are a few mods on the workshop that allows you to customize squad sizes. I think the mod developer is named Robojumper
I love how when you're talking about the amount of people with a high bond with Satan at 27:00, you can see that your character is the only one who dislikes him.
i've been looking forward to this since he finished the War of the Chosen resistance classes. in my first playthrough of xcom 2 wotc i never even touched the psi labs so this will be teaching me a lot about them.
I was already losing my mind and planning on rewatching them all over again. It's funny because I was thinking about the PSI run while I was brushing my teeth.
Fantastic episode as usual! As a meme run it would be funny to see a full squad of Avatars dominate the campaign but I’m excited to see what you do in the meantime
If you lost this, I was going to approve the use of 1 single templar in a Psionics Run part 2 to allow you access to increased squad size, at the caveat that the templar must be a caster rather than a melee templar.
@@lowcalibremine3004 I would have approved the use of the Auto Pistol and melee attacks, but he would not be allowed to specifically build for Melee Templar.
Domination is a key mechanic of the Psi Op and one of the most important. I'm sure everyone'll have stories about how a clutch domination of a Gatekeeper in particular saved a run. So my take is yes, using the MC'd units is an A-Ok.
Frankly this is the best kind of challenge run, one where the difficulty is so daunting I would never attempt it myself, but I also don't have to because I can watch some other madlad put themself through the suffering. Congratulations on this massive accomplishment!
Wow this video is truly insane. Even more insane that you have the 30+ hour stream on your second channel. You're crazy, Xcom is crazy, and I'm here for all of it. You have a new fan!
Nope. But there is the "Highlander" Challenge run coming up. It means there is ONLY ONE. One of each class. Only one utility item or ammo of each kind. Same goes for Weapon- and armor mods. On this run the commander is going to be used, cause there is only one Commander/Avater Unit.
On the topic of 'disorientation leads to crits' there is actually a reason for that. In xcom 2 for some reason the game uses the same roll to determine if a hit is a crit. This means that if a shot has a 50% chance to hit and a 20% chance to crit, it will miss 50% of the time, be a normal hit 30% of the time and crit 20% of the time. As such, since disorientation doesn't effect crit chance, when a disorientated enemy does hit it's very likely to be a crit. Why they decided to make it work this way is beyond me, but it is what it is I guess.
So with 50% hit chance and 50% crit chance normal hits are impossible? It's been years since I played, but this seems highly unlikely given what I remember from the game. I have heard before that XCOM uses a single roll to determine hit/miss and crits, but the people I heard it from insisted that XCOM knows its math well enough that the right probabilities come out at the end.
@@franzluggin398 If your crit chance is as high or higher then your hit chance then yes normal hits are impossible. I'm not sure how dodge works in the base game so that might have an effect but barely anything has dodge anyway. There are mods that change it to be 2 separate rolls And I I'm pretty sure the long war mod has 3 rolls for hit, crit and dodge chance, but in the base game it is 1 roll. It's worth noting that enemy unknown had 2 rolls and as such didn't have this "problem"
Excellent job! Your tenacity and patience knows no bounds. I am incredibly impressed with your game knowledge and skill once again. Thank you for the incredible video. I am also incredibly curious for when you mod the game to start with 12 avatars so that the commander can finally be used in combat.
The one thing that always makes me fear the Assassin, is that the game had, or might even still have a bug, where the game sometimes spawn her with her endgame setup immediatly!
Congrats, man. That was one hell of a run. It was all the pain you told us it'd be, and more :p As for your next run ideas, if you want something that's a bit more casual how about using only 1 of each class max in the roster at any one time? Thanks to fatigue, you'll rarely be able to get a perfect composition, and also might have to run fewer soldiers on missions to conserve will. I doubt it'd be a big challenge, but still shouldn't be a total cakewalk.
Another great video edit from my favourite Aussie streamer! :) I had a chance to watch them on Twitch (at least partially) and it was a hard, hard fight. After most of the guys where leveled and with abilities, it became one-sided battle. XCOM just crushed Advent.
Today's fun facts: While it's good to get multiple story objectives done in one mission (Jacking the Officer on the Blacksite), with so few ways to reduce Avatar Progress (since we can't contact regions easily) it might be better to hold them. That way, if you get to the Doomsday Clock, you can either do the Blacksite or Jack an Officer. And *then* if you hit doomsday again, you can do the opposite one. Not relevant to the episode, but Priests actually have a slightly different version of Stasis to the XCOM version. Priest Stasis ends the turn, while XCOM's won't. Only when taken as the first action though! The reason (I believe) you lost control of the Andromedon is defintely because of the Clone having Solace. One of those neat interactions, and just another reason Spectres are so annoying. I love the glowy purple Space Magic lines going across the map when you dominate so many things at once, it's hilarious to me. Not really a fun fact but eh
Congrats on the win, Drifter. When you return to custom classes, I'd really recommend a stormrider only challenge. They're an extremely fun class and restricted to melee only, with some exceptions
The mind control is simple. From the games perspective: Mind control is an ability just as fire rifle is ability. And if you can't use mind control, then you can't use insanity or void rift (since they both can cause mind control as well).
I went into this thinking it would be stupidly easy, but then I remembered you need the psylab and you can't get a sergeant / captain for squad size. Edit: lmfao I've never seen one squadmember be that compatible with so many others.
I have no problem with using the mind controlled units. It is one of the tools in psy soldier toolkit. It is super powerful thus the 1/mission. It is the same with specislists who can control mechanical units as a part of their toolkit. Less powerful than mind control but still controlling.
@ 57:00 after that long winded reasoning, I do agree that since your op has the ability to mind control, not using it would be like no using gernades on a specialist because they are hacker/healers or not using mindsheild because grenadiers are heavy weapon guys. also I hope you do use the avatar as I would extend Psi op to include any psionic soldiers you bring into a mission, commander included
You should do a redemption run for the psi’s as well drifter. I think a run where you mod in psi lab from start, with every other condition remaining the same, it would still be an interesting run, to see how the psi’s develop over a full playthrough of training.
Thank you for your service! That was a rough one and I have been looking forward to it. Maybe you could do a FAQ video, what have you learned follow up. Now that you are so intimately knowledgeable about every class, what would you use as your preferred mix of soldiers? What are your favorite mods?
How about all units & leveling, but~ only basic equipment? Would be rough, but might have some interesting twists. Congratulations on All Psi, though! Genuinely wasn't sure if that one was possible, but you did it!
A somewhat old video, I know, but I think a big help to this run's early game could be the relic weapons research for the sole reason of acquiring the bolt caster. I have found that, despite the fact that it can only load 1 bolt at a time, its sneaky aim bonus and considerably higher damage output warrant using it over a rifle.
I would allow Mind Control on a run like this, too. It's a part of the PsiOp's kit, ergo it's valid. And, personally, I would have allowed the Commander's Avatar to be used. While it's "technically" not a PsiOp by class, it acts basically the same. Like, a special "one mission only" PsiOp.
Technically, you could get the squad upgrade, if you rescue the soldiers of the right rank, as long as he was not used in battle it would be a work around(after you buy the upgrade you can dismiss him. Lol
I got a good chuckle out of the surgical sitrep. I had a mission wipe once to low profile. I only had 3 rookies able to go on it, and it was at a point in the game with Andromedons... and the Warlock showed up and was just summoning 2 troops every 3 rounds. It was utter BS :P
This is literally as easy as the final mission can get. There is just nothing that can stand in the way of 6 dominations, 6 stasis uses, and 6 null lances. The early game however, that...that is pain.
A "Legacy XCOM" run might be pretty interesting, perhaps not super hard, but interesting. So no alien hunter weapons, no alien ruler equipment, no chosen weapons, no resistance orders, no breakthroughs, no hero classes, no sparks, no ability point use, covert ops only to hunt the chosen. Those things all help you out quite a bit usually and sometimes save your playthrough, would be interesting to see one without them.
I just saw how psi soldiers work in long war (eu) , and I think that it's the best way possible. (You unlock new psi abilities only by interrogating new aliens, for example, you only unlock psi panic if you capture a berserker ) And another thing I like more about Eu is psi not being a separate class, it's more like an upgrade, like gen mods. In Xcom 2 you build the psi lab, you train a random rookie and after a month he's a super-soldier in Eu there is the whole gifted/not gifted thing that makes those psi soldiers even more special. Another thing about Xcom 2 psi ops is their lack of identity they don't do anything special Null lanse? you mean the plasma blaster, Void rift? You mean the grenade. I hope in Xcom 3 they will be just like In Lw .
Void rift with upgrades actually has a chance to bestow rupture/insanity and mind control IIRC. Templars still seem way cooler, flavor-wise and otherwise but that's just me.
Also they're all the same; two fully-trained psi ops are essentially identical, which I always found boring. I suppose with the way you can only train them up by spending time, and the entire game pushes you to rush as fast as you can handle, the intended variance is that you'll never have two fully-trained ones and they'll be differentiated by which random assortment of abilities you get to draw from each level up. But turtlelords like me who enjoy drawing out the game to 2038+ just to show dominance don't really stay at that level.
Definetly use mind controlled units, even if this wasnt one of the hardest runs, your units made that happen thus you can use them, something like an extra soldier in a rescue mission or the commanders avatar are both things that your units didnt do, so they arent allowed, i'd say thats a pretty clear line, if your unit made that happen, you good
i got a challenge for you: legendary+beta strike on iron man, no magnetic or powered weapons, standard armor for all soldier classes incl spark and hero. (you can do the research on everything, but dont bring it to battle) all utility items except mimic beacon are allowed. You can bring any soldier class, any rank, use all res. orders, all PCS, all weapon mods, you can even use sparks. psi ops or specialists are limited to 1 per mission... but you can bring both on the same mission. Banish ability of the Reaper is only allowed to be used on Chosen, Alien rulers, Avatars, Gatekeepers, Sectopods, Julian (or any enemy unit i forgot with 45+ HP and armor) You are allowed to use banish annihilation also, but target one of the above mentioned units first. Good luck.....
since not being allowed to use mind controlled enemies would really detract from what psi operatives can do, i think its completely fair to use mind controlled enemies in combat
i would have to second this. It's a tool in the psi operatives toolkit and being mind controlled is simply obeying that tool of the psi operative.
Exactly, I think he is being too hard on himself trying to play by rules he made for the other classes. Using mind control is my favorite part of this class.
I have a dream. A dream where you start with psi ops. With only mind control.
Or alternatively.
Mind control and pistols.
You must finish the campaign with pistol swinging mind controlling gunslingers alone.
Because who doesn't like a good old Western! Befriend some folks along the way and rally the troops to steal the Alien Swag.
Troops who fail missions go home to retire in shame.
Or do we retire wounded troops because they took a bullet to their shin. Hmmm they have a mind control to bait out damage but slow leveling process would suck, and it would punish the high level troops who got unlucky enough to stand near the assassin... Maybe knockout level injuries force retirement.
IF he's only to allowed to use Psi-Ops
AND Psi-Ops can use Mind Control
Mind Control is fine to use
END IF
It's part of the class' skillset and the game is 'balanced' around it. There is always the opportunity for a "pure" run and another video.
100 % MC. To me it's the same case as using the Templar body double. If you can't use MC you shouldn't be able to use that Templar clone ability either, which would be stupid.
Seeing all those Psi Ops daisy chaining an Inspire ability means you can say you beat XCOM 2 with the power of friendship.
Or a good ol' morale boostin' speech
And this gun we found!
@@nomad2639 nah friendship plasma laser go
My theory for the mind controlled codex not spawning clones:
While mind controlled, the codex wants to help out xcom team by any means necessary. However, it understands that any clones of itself that would be made wouldn't be under the mind control and thus wouldn't have the same obligations. As such it purposely disables the cloning ability so as to not hamper the team.
It's trying its best to help!
I like that theory lol
Though sadly an actual reason would probably be because the unit would stay friendly after mind control ends or it would spawn as an enemy
It might have caused performance issues or might have been to powerful or both.
So a codex, archon, and a viper walk into a bar.
The Commander buys all of them a round.
The codex takes a single drink and disintegrates. Being a machine, the liquid destroyed it.
The archon holds out for a few drinks before dying. Being a mix of machine and organics, it died only after it's machinery bits failed.
The viper, however, lasts the whole round, hardly even buzzed. The Commander asks how they managed this.
"That's easy, Great Commandy One!" It hisses. "I'm immune to poison damage."
P.S. Apologies for formatting, typed this on mobile. Also, 1:43:50
good one
No no. A codex viper and archon walk into a bar. It misses and only does dodge grazing damage
Lmao, wasnt expecting that, loved it, thx!!
@@christophervanoster The advent troops have dodge 100 and xcom troops have luck 0
I would have expected the alcohol to do one damage a round splitting the codex into 20 of them and summoning a Gatekeeper to investigate why the social drinking account was emptying out 😋
*Most Xcom soldiers have a high bond level with Satan*
The Hunter: "What is it about Psionic power that drives people so completely mad?"
Using mind-controlled units is totally legit in this runthrough. It’s a psi-op ability. If you can use a hacked unit in the specialists only, then it’s all good.
If I recall correctly he DIDN'T use the hacked mechs in his specialist run, or at least didn't attack with them. I thought that was unfortunate, I'm glad he used the mind control in this run as it's such a core part of the class
@@exantiuse497 Oh shoot, I thought he had used the hacked units. But I still share your opinion on this.
There's a real risk with getting too comfortable with hacked/controlled units. If the controller gets put in a stasis field, and you've been doing all your positioning based on that stun lancer being a friendly, guess who's about to flank the heck out of you?
And it's also more fun in my opinion
@@ethangarofolo8170I physically winced imagining the last part
I see the comparison you're making, let's also compare it to just shooting a gun, using a damaging psi op ability, and using a grenade.
Hacking has a chance to fail, and depending upon the option it can buff the enemy instead. Has a cool down, or limited uses if using a skulljack. A successful hack adds many tactical options, most notably having a sacrificial target, most hacked enemies don't have useful offensive options.
Shooting a gun has a chance to fail. Consumes ammo and needs reloading.
Using a grenade is guaranteed damage, and also opens up many tactical options, most notably destroying cover/walls and doing area damage. Sometimes used for armor shredding. Limited uses.
Mind controlling an enemy is either guaranteed or they're immune, or they panic instead of being controlled. Same benefits as hacking for having another unit, though in general bio units are more valuable to remove and have than robotic units. Has a cool down.
Using a damaging psi op ability is also guaranteed damage, but it doesn't give you a damage sponge. Has cool downs and limited uses.
Only psi ops can mind control, only specialists can hack (with skulljack exception).
So the issue with mind control is the combination of 1. Being spammable with no risk 2. Generally targets the most dangerous enemies 3. Has guaranteed effects that are impractical 4. Psi Ops as a class have lots of great other abilities, Specialists as a class kind of suck outside of dealing with mechs.
I could see setting a rule where you can only mind control one enemy at a time, but it makes the challenge more interesting to just ban it entirely. Especially considering that mind control is the unique thing that psi ops being. Sharpshooters have high acc and damage, grenadiers and gunners do area damage and status effects, specialists help with healing and defense, etc.
So...Red Devil is highly favorable for bonding with Satan...makes sense.
Also, 54:00 I agree with you about being able to use mind controlled units as that is part of the Psi Ops weapons.
1:50:00 - I do not count that as breaking Honest Man. You thought it was a glitch but didn't realize that it wasn't until it was too late. It happens when you use things that you are not used to.
Agreed, it would be like saying the specialist shouldn't be using their Gremlin. Mind control is simply part of their powerset.
And it’s not like the specialist where if you hack an enemy you can either choose to shutdown the enemy or control them with Psy Ops it’s either you control them or you don’t
I for one, welcome our new satanic overlord. Hail Satan!
Agreed. Mistakes are not lies. Honestman holds
I think "honestman" would allow you to use mods so troopers work as intended.
For example: the training of psi troops counting towards squad size.
Having all psi troops have atleast one ability.
Things like that. Either way it was entertaining to watch you overcome the ods and win
Starting ops without abilities is a huge mod problem. When you train soldier it gets 1 random ability. Its like getting reaper without shadow. Psi operative without psi abilities (at least random one) just nonsense
Thats the same i commented on drifter second channel
Honestly the inability to get squad size upgrades is equally awful. It's obviously an oversight, but not one they'd ever have expected to be an issue.
This would make the run too easy
@@alessandrocanale6189 Lol. thats kinda unbelievable. It is obvious problem tho
These disadvantages are too big, it causes this run to be uncompareble to the other challenges...
I would consider it fair to use mods to fix the squad size issue, and have the psi building available at the start
I just imagine the whole ass psi gang appearing infront of the warlock while just tposing around ot it while it lays down in the fetal position in absolute fear at the true psionic power humanity holds...
And in the background a couple of archons just float around and obliterate everything
This challenge gives a ton of Ufo Defense vibes (xcom 1994)
Early to mid game, Aliens win all the time, soldiers are glorified bags of meat (no abilities), lots of losses/evacs/dead soldiers, always short on cash
Late game, when the power curve inverts and you stomp, it's due to an overuse of psi and specifically mind control
"If you can't defeat them make them Join you"
Fully upgraded Psi-Ops are sadistically powerful. I expect this to be the ultimate snowballing campaign
1:20: oh no.
2:43: OH NO.
Honestly man I had the same reaction XD
I played with a mod that lets them level up normaly for so long, i completly forgot that this isn't the case in vanilla :D Like you said, *OH NO* :P
Honestly, to be fair, the latter part of the video was our purple bois just fucking dropkicking advent into submission and then having their own goons kick them while they're down
OH YEAH
omg exactly
Oh lords, I thought you would get one starting ability which would be hard enough. But starting with nothing is beyond brutal
This was an epic run, and congratulations on grinding through all of that mess and rng in the early game. I'm sure finally reaching the endgame and experiencing that feeling of "Alright Advent bitches, now *I* am the master!" was really fun.
One small note, 1:27:14 - that's actually not quite true. The Warlock *will* come out of his bubble after a certain number of turns (I forget if it's 2 or 3) even if the Spectral Lancers aren't all dead yet. Oh, and about Solace: it will *block* soldiers within its aura from *becoming* unconscious, but it won't remove the unconscious effect from soldiers that already have it the way it will with any other mental effect. Very weird exception.
46:25
The game basically outright says "you WILL research" and gives you a breakthrough once you exhaust everything available.
Also happens in late game after researching everything
29:42 You know it's bad when Task Manager stops responding
It is getting really funny seeing all the classes' names get crossed out and written over on the rules screen. All base classes are done! "Season 1" in my eyes, is finished! How do you feel, Drifter? On to modded content! Or not, there's some interesting ideas you've got for base X2 yet on the second channel.
He said on stream he was thinking about lwotc
I think you forgot a class
The commander is pouting right now
@@matril328 rookies only
I caught the streams on your second channel and watching you play with what were essentially rookies for ages looked like pure hell. Thanks for the content as always!
1:51:50 No way. No freaking way. That’s gonna be so satisfying to watch. I’m so excited now.
Also, sorry if this run was torture. This was some of the most engaging content so far due to the raw strategy and luck of countering some insane drawbacks. I was mind-controlled from start to finish. Thank you for sticking this one out for us and making XCOM an even more insane game.
LMAO Red Devil and Satan being bond mates is just too perfect. I am wheezing in pain!
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Well that was fun while it lasted. RIP.
Watching you going to the bottom left corner to press back arrow when you're checking PSI abilities available for training made me tell you:
*Right mouse click is "back" in all menus.*
So I guess this means that the only one left to do is “Can you beat XCOM2 War of the Chosen with only ROOKIES”. I think that we might finally kill the Drifter with this one, folks…
Atleast they're easily replaced. Issue being they might need replaced every mission with no mods
@@craigbolton2231 I think it’s possible to just not promote them, but I’m not sure.
@@LOVEMUFFIN_official good point. Not sure. Haven't tried to see what happens.
@@craigbolton2231 I’m not nearly good enough to attempt it, by some considerable margin…
@@LOVEMUFFIN_official It would be alot easier in xcom 2. Much fairer game. It would be more an issue of supplies I think. Don't think I'd be able to pull it off either.
Really is a “You made this? We made this.” kind of deal with the Psi Ops against Advent, with the dominating and grenade detonations.
I'm not very up to date with XCOM 2 lore, so it was one hell of a mental flashbang to be casually reading the ingame dialogue and see that Vahlen works for the aliens now.
She's not really working for them. She created the rulers in a lab and then the rulers escaped her custody and joined ADVENT.
XCOM lore really is wild, especially when you factor in the Bureau. I'm definitely curious to see what XCOM 3 brings to the table, what with the Terror From The Deep teases and other references to the old lore like the Kiryu-Kai in this game.
Not being able to use mind-controlled enemies means you might as well not use any other powers, and that would be pure absurdity. You made the right call
I really like the Psi-Operatives, they remind me of the Mass Effect Series' biotic classes. I always used the biotic abilities instead of using the weapon you usually have, I even made it like a challenge to myself to finish Mass Effect 2 using only Biotic powers and I really loved every second of it, it was so cool. This reminded of that and how much I enjoy classes like that in games, just in general. Great video! :)
I expected you to use a certain mod that uses trainable psychic units, where they don't need the chamber, and gain xp and abilities normally, but in effect can't gain every ability available. When you said that you wouldn't have any way if training until you got the psy lab, I knew I was wrong, and that you would be in for a world of hurt. Congratulations on the outcome, of fulfilling every power gamers dream of being able to basically alter reality with 9 maxed level psyonic troops.
Been watching Odd's runs for the past two seasons. Going to be different seeing vanilla psi. Looking forward to the video :)
I'd love to see a run where you can ONLY deal damage in the final mission by using the Commander's Avatar. It might honestly be impossible, that's a tall order for one character no matter how powerful they might be. But it would be fun to see how it works!
I am so looking forward to seeing how the RNG strikes in this run…
Now I just need a Michael Jackson popcorn GIF!
Future challenge idea, "Can you beat xcom 2 as the soviet union"
Play with a mod that increases the number of troops you can bring greatly then play the game with only rookies where your allowed to only equip half the squad with good equipment
Could just rename the run to can you beat it as Russia
That sounds very possible. If I remember correctly there are a few mods on the workshop that allows you to customize squad sizes. I think the mod developer is named Robojumper
Red Devil had to die because there can only be one devil in this torturous run.
Psy soldiers are really OP... when you have an entire team of them fully trained with the best gear in the game
I love how when you're talking about the amount of people with a high bond with Satan at 27:00, you can see that your character is the only one who dislikes him.
Drifty is a good boy.
Saw this in my feed
Figured why not.
Why shouldn't i rewatch this 2 hour video.
i've been looking forward to this since he finished the War of the Chosen resistance classes. in my first playthrough of xcom 2 wotc i never even touched the psi labs so this will be teaching me a lot about them.
I absolutely love the Psi ops. Oh and 6 dominations in one mission, so if theres only 7 enemies in one level you can dominate all but one of them.
“He will get a chance, just not today”
You have my full-attention now.
I was about 35 min in when I realized Drifter has the weapon mods named differently. "Very Triggy" for hair triggers, "Loady" for autoloaders! 🤣🤣
I was already losing my mind and planning on rewatching them all over again.
It's funny because I was thinking about the PSI run while I was brushing my teeth.
Fantastic episode as usual! As a meme run it would be funny to see a full squad of Avatars dominate the campaign but I’m excited to see what you do in the meantime
Another outstanding video, I love your dedication against all odds. Everytime i watch your episode I want to start a new campain
Out of all your X-com runs so far this one is my favorite.
If you lost this, I was going to approve the use of 1 single templar in a Psionics Run part 2 to allow you access to increased squad size, at the caveat that the templar must be a caster rather than a melee templar.
But how would he get focus?
The upgrade that makes enemies have a chance to drop focus
@@lowcalibremine3004 I would have approved the use of the Auto Pistol and melee attacks, but he would not be allowed to specifically build for Melee Templar.
Domination is a key mechanic of the Psi Op and one of the most important. I'm sure everyone'll have stories about how a clutch domination of a Gatekeeper in particular saved a run.
So my take is yes, using the MC'd units is an A-Ok.
Frankly this is the best kind of challenge run, one where the difficulty is so daunting I would never attempt it myself, but I also don't have to because I can watch some other madlad put themself through the suffering. Congratulations on this massive accomplishment!
I've been going back through all your WOTC videos. Your content is addictive.
Wow this video is truly insane. Even more insane that you have the 30+ hour stream on your second channel. You're crazy, Xcom is crazy, and I'm here for all of it. You have a new fan!
“The commander will have its time”
are we getting a commander only run?
Avatar only to be precise..
Nope. But there is the "Highlander" Challenge run coming up. It means there is ONLY ONE. One of each class. Only one utility item or ammo of each kind. Same goes for Weapon- and armor mods. On this run the commander is going to be used, cause there is only one Commander/Avater Unit.
Maybe a no primary weapon run? You can win Gatecrasher with just nades given it's not Legend.
On the topic of 'disorientation leads to crits' there is actually a reason for that. In xcom 2 for some reason the game uses the same roll to determine if a hit is a crit. This means that if a shot has a 50% chance to hit and a 20% chance to crit, it will miss 50% of the time, be a normal hit 30% of the time and crit 20% of the time. As such, since disorientation doesn't effect crit chance, when a disorientated enemy does hit it's very likely to be a crit. Why they decided to make it work this way is beyond me, but it is what it is I guess.
So with 50% hit chance and 50% crit chance normal hits are impossible? It's been years since I played, but this seems highly unlikely given what I remember from the game.
I have heard before that XCOM uses a single roll to determine hit/miss and crits, but the people I heard it from insisted that XCOM knows its math well enough that the right probabilities come out at the end.
@@franzluggin398 If your crit chance is as high or higher then your hit chance then yes normal hits are impossible. I'm not sure how dodge works in the base game so that might have an effect but barely anything has dodge anyway. There are mods that change it to be 2 separate rolls And I I'm pretty sure the long war mod has 3 rolls for hit, crit and dodge chance, but in the base game it is 1 roll. It's worth noting that enemy unknown had 2 rolls and as such didn't have this "problem"
If there's one thing your videos have taught me, it's that NEFFEX played a crucial role in the liberation of Earth.
Excellent job! Your tenacity and patience knows no bounds. I am incredibly impressed with your game knowledge and skill once again. Thank you for the incredible video. I am also incredibly curious for when you mod the game to start with 12 avatars so that the commander can finally be used in combat.
Bro you just saved me about half an hour's worth of mindless browsing for a movie or show to watch.
Hah! I just finished watching the rangers only run only 30 minutes ago, and now I just catch this uploaded 7 minutes ago! This gon' be good.
The one thing that always makes me fear the Assassin, is that the game had, or might even still have a bug, where the game sometimes spawn her with her endgame setup immediatly!
Congrats, man. That was one hell of a run. It was all the pain you told us it'd be, and more :p
As for your next run ideas, if you want something that's a bit more casual how about using only 1 of each class max in the roster at any one time? Thanks to fatigue, you'll rarely be able to get a perfect composition, and also might have to run fewer soldiers on missions to conserve will. I doubt it'd be a big challenge, but still shouldn't be a total cakewalk.
That you had to justify your use of mind control is, uh, mind blowing to me.
I think a rookie run allowing the resistance orders that give troopers and soldiers would be kinda interesting. I may do one myself.
Another great video edit from my favourite Aussie streamer! :) I had a chance to watch them on Twitch (at least partially) and it was a hard, hard fight. After most of the guys where leveled and with abilities, it became one-sided battle. XCOM just crushed Advent.
Today's fun facts:
While it's good to get multiple story objectives done in one mission (Jacking the Officer on the Blacksite), with so few ways to reduce Avatar Progress (since we can't contact regions easily) it might be better to hold them. That way, if you get to the Doomsday Clock, you can either do the Blacksite or Jack an Officer. And *then* if you hit doomsday again, you can do the opposite one.
Not relevant to the episode, but Priests actually have a slightly different version of Stasis to the XCOM version. Priest Stasis ends the turn, while XCOM's won't. Only when taken as the first action though!
The reason (I believe) you lost control of the Andromedon is defintely because of the Clone having Solace. One of those neat interactions, and just another reason Spectres are so annoying.
I love the glowy purple Space Magic lines going across the map when you dominate so many things at once, it's hilarious to me. Not really a fun fact but eh
Finally the one I was waiting for.
I haven't watched it yet but I'm already liking it.
Congrats on the win, Drifter. When you return to custom classes, I'd really recommend a stormrider only challenge. They're an extremely fun class and restricted to melee only, with some exceptions
As I was watching this video, I had a skirmisher overwatch with an advanced repeater, and executed the berserker queen immediately. That's XCOM baby!!
31:32 I now just imagine drifter screaming as he's sent to the shadow realm, and the fact this happened 2-3 times just makes it funnier.
The mind control is simple. From the games perspective: Mind control is an ability just as fire rifle is ability. And if you can't use mind control, then you can't use insanity or void rift (since they both can cause mind control as well).
I went into this thinking it would be stupidly easy, but then I remembered you need the psylab and you can't get a sergeant / captain for squad size.
Edit: lmfao I've never seen one squadmember be that compatible with so many others.
Lucifer is a charming, persuasive guy
What class was your favorite to do a play through with? What class was your least favorite?
Favourite would be Skirmishers, as it gave me a new appreciation for the class. Least favourite is Psionics for obvious reasons haha.
Drifter, you deserve a vacation after this. Or a very easy challenge run.
I have no problem with using the mind controlled units. It is one of the tools in psy soldier toolkit. It is super powerful thus the 1/mission.
It is the same with specislists who can control mechanical units as a part of their toolkit. Less powerful than mind control but still controlling.
Was refreshing your channel all day waiting for this, ty for this on Monday
I just realized this is a 2 hour video and I'm hyped. This is why I leave Watch History on; so it's easier to pick up where I left off.
You're awesome
Thanks!
Ever since I caught some of the steams on the archive channel, I've been waiting for this vid. So hyped
I can already tell this will be a great video as usual Drifter!
@ 57:00 after that long winded reasoning, I do agree that since your op has the ability to mind control, not using it would be like no using gernades on a specialist because they are hacker/healers or not using mindsheild because grenadiers are heavy weapon guys. also I hope you do use the avatar as I would extend Psi op to include any psionic soldiers you bring into a mission, commander included
Is it finally time to see you do the “trigger all pods (when concealment break)”, perhaps with any 12 starters as wished for?
I really wanted this video and I thought it would be bad but not this bad !! Well done for dealing with it all , love your vids
You should do a redemption run for the psi’s as well drifter. I think a run where you mod in psi lab from start, with every other condition remaining the same, it would still be an interesting run, to see how the psi’s develop over a full playthrough of training.
Thank you for your service! That was a rough one and I have been looking forward to it. Maybe you could do a FAQ video, what have you learned follow up. Now that you are so intimately knowledgeable about every class, what would you use as your preferred mix of soldiers? What are your favorite mods?
How about all units & leveling, but~ only basic equipment? Would be rough, but might have some interesting twists.
Congratulations on All Psi, though! Genuinely wasn't sure if that one was possible, but you did it!
Since psi ops normally start with a random ability, it would be perfectly reasonable for them to start with a random psi ability for this challenge.
A somewhat old video, I know, but I think a big help to this run's early game could be the relic weapons research for the sole reason of acquiring the bolt caster. I have found that, despite the fact that it can only load 1 bolt at a time, its sneaky aim bonus and considerably higher damage output warrant using it over a rifle.
Great content as always :D, excited to see what else you got in store!
I would allow Mind Control on a run like this, too. It's a part of the PsiOp's kit, ergo it's valid.
And, personally, I would have allowed the Commander's Avatar to be used. While it's "technically" not a PsiOp by class, it acts basically the same. Like, a special "one mission only" PsiOp.
Technically, you could get the squad upgrade, if you rescue the soldiers of the right rank, as long as he was not used in battle it would be a work around(after you buy the upgrade you can dismiss him. Lol
The amount of bs XCOM2 pulled in this one was insane, amazing challenge & video!
I got a good chuckle out of the surgical sitrep. I had a mission wipe once to low profile. I only had 3 rookies able to go on it, and it was at a point in the game with Andromedons... and the Warlock showed up and was just summoning 2 troops every 3 rounds. It was utter BS :P
This is literally as easy as the final mission can get. There is just nothing that can stand in the way of 6 dominations, 6 stasis uses, and 6 null lances. The early game however, that...that is pain.
I definitely expect this one to be hard just bc you can only train one up at a time, and don’t unlock the psi lab for a hot second
if the commander's avatar is a class obviously you should do all avatars.
can any of the alien units beat the campaign?
Oh god that would be painful
Glad to see this finally out! Glad this run pulled through, watching it live was so fun!
1:13:55
Drifter: This should pretty cool to see
sectopod and ADVENT soldiers: It's cool yes, but reckless at the same time
Been waiting for this run, happy to see it finally came out
I appreciate the vanilla WOTC content. I always prefer this over heavily modded playthroughs
A "Legacy XCOM" run might be pretty interesting, perhaps not super hard, but interesting. So no alien hunter weapons, no alien ruler equipment, no chosen weapons, no resistance orders, no breakthroughs, no hero classes, no sparks, no ability point use, covert ops only to hunt the chosen. Those things all help you out quite a bit usually and sometimes save your playthrough, would be interesting to see one without them.
Thank you for scribbling out all the other classes you use this one was the best.
Later half of the video be like:
"We dominated one of their troopers and his name is Billy."
It's somewhat fitting that the winning run of this challenge had you deal with the Devil.
I just saw how psi soldiers work in long war (eu) , and I think that it's the best way possible. (You unlock new psi abilities only by interrogating new aliens, for example, you only unlock psi panic if you capture a berserker ) And another thing I like more about Eu is psi not being a separate class, it's more like an upgrade, like gen mods. In Xcom 2 you build the psi lab, you train a random rookie and after a month he's a super-soldier in Eu there is the whole gifted/not gifted thing that makes those psi soldiers even more special. Another thing about Xcom 2 psi ops is their lack of identity they don't do anything special Null lanse? you mean the plasma blaster, Void rift? You mean the grenade. I hope in Xcom 3 they will be just like In Lw .
Void rift with upgrades actually has a chance to bestow rupture/insanity and mind control IIRC.
Templars still seem way cooler, flavor-wise and otherwise but that's just me.
Also they're all the same; two fully-trained psi ops are essentially identical, which I always found boring.
I suppose with the way you can only train them up by spending time, and the entire game pushes you to rush as fast as you can handle, the intended variance is that you'll never have two fully-trained ones and they'll be differentiated by which random assortment of abilities you get to draw from each level up.
But turtlelords like me who enjoy drawing out the game to 2038+ just to show dominance don't really stay at that level.
Definetly use mind controlled units, even if this wasnt one of the hardest runs, your units made that happen thus you can use them, something like an extra soldier in a rescue mission or the commanders avatar are both things that your units didnt do, so they arent allowed, i'd say thats a pretty clear line, if your unit made that happen, you good
i got a challenge for you:
legendary+beta strike on iron man, no magnetic or powered weapons, standard armor for all soldier classes incl spark and hero.
(you can do the research on everything, but dont bring it to battle) all utility items except mimic beacon are allowed.
You can bring any soldier class, any rank, use all res. orders, all PCS, all weapon mods, you can even use sparks.
psi ops or specialists are limited to 1 per mission... but you can bring both on the same mission.
Banish ability of the Reaper is only allowed to be used on Chosen, Alien rulers, Avatars, Gatekeepers, Sectopods, Julian (or any enemy unit i forgot with 45+ HP and armor)
You are allowed to use banish annihilation also, but target one of the above mentioned units first.
Good luck.....