Let's Play X-COM Enforcer Mission 26

This mission is probably the worst offender of the entire game as far as 'why doesn't this game have a MINIMAP', but outside that I really like it. The challenge of the game is finally ramping up, primarily because this mission introduces Sectopods.

They're not nearly as horrifying a foe as they are in the original X-COM, they're really just the highest tier of regular ranged enemy, but they're tough, they hit decently hard, and they absolutely will kick you for surprisingly good damage if you try to get in their face. The fact that they fire rockets continuously also means just keeping on the move isn't necessarily good enough protection, as you might get caught in the splash damage even though you dodged the rocket, particularly if you're hanging out near a wall. They're still fairly simple and basic enemies, but they do their job as a reasonably serious threat.

There's also weird bird-things carting around grenade launchers. They... exist? I'm honestly not sure why the game waits so long to add them to the rotation, they're really not very threatening. They're slow, their range is limited, they're not actually all that durable, and as far as I can tell their damage isn't remotely exceptional enough to justify the treatment. They really feel like they should've shown up like thirteen missions ago, not when we're about to hit the end-game stretch. Heck, if you used them as uncommon pseudo-minibosses near the beginning of the game, they'd probably still not be much of a threat.

Though this mission is also where the Blade Launcher is finally difficult to justify picking up. Part of that is that you can easily be at the point additional Data Points aren't that important by now. Most of that is that the Blade Launcher's damage isn't really competitive with enemy durability anymore, and it's just going to get worse from here. On the flipside, the Freeze Gun is starting to come into its own, as Sectopods are both ranged and durable enough that it's usually impractical to just kill them before they do anything. Freeze-locking them is a pretty good way of simplifying fighting them, and you can of course potentially be catching a bunch of other enemies in the splash radius.

I also show off the attack drone power-up. I mean, you've seen it repeatedly at this point, but now I can get it without requiring a massive Hot Streak. It... hovers nearby and fires continuously as long as you're holding the fire button. I'm not sure why it's placed so late. The only wrinkle worth keeping in mind is that it really is specifically that you holding down the fire button is what controls its fire rate -if you've got a slow-firing weapon, letting go of the button until the weapon's cooldown has finished will cause the drone to stop firing. Conversely, it will keep firing if you hold the button down even if your main weapon is not doing anything due to its cooldown. This only really matters with one weapon we haven't gotten to yet, but hey.

See you next mission.