04-08-2018, 11:31 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-08-2018, 01:21 PM by Groo The Wanderer.)
Back in the fight... Pretty worn out (rampaging toddler can sap your drive pretty quick), but I somehow managed to find budget money for beer, and the wife has stepped up and gave me some free time... I know this goes against my current ethos of playing well-rested and, y'know, *sober*, but it's Saturday night and I just want to game for a bit.
I sloppily re-engage where I left you last, managing to finish off the Codex and Archon. Claymore takes another point of poison damage, but sucks it up and is no longer afflicted (saving me a heal from the medic). My immediate plan is to regroup, reload, and relax. By my count, there are still five targets to take out, only two of which I have ID'd.
Noisemaker broke cover to assist in the last firefight, so my second order of business is to stealth her back up. Everyone is more or less reloaded and close enough for mutual support... I would've liked to move Lucky over to the second cottage structure (it was slightly closer to the Alien Facility I want to eventually blow up, and had better angles), but the building is currently on fire, so I'm going to wait a turn or two... insert clever frying pan / fire metaphor that a more well-rested Groo would surely come up with.
***
Still no sign of my Muton / Viper patrol, but Noisemaker detected movement ahead. The cottage is still on fire, but it appears to be dying down... again, once it's safe, Lucky will grapple over to use that as the next sniping position (why grapple? because it cost's no movement... I can zip around the battlefield - with a small recharge time - and still have full movement, aka all my actions to shoot and stuff, after I arrive... nice piece of kit, the Spider suit). Anyway, everyone else is staying well back so they don't accidentally aggro anyone, and Noisemaker continues to hop from cover to cover until I can spot these jerks...
***
Noisemaker discovers a turret... not sure if that is included in my total bad-guy count, but I'm just going to sit back and let Lucky (via Sqaud Sight) hammer away over a couple of turns until it's out of commission... really miss that second sniper now, but slow and steady will win the race. First round: good hit, second round: missed, but punched a hole in the building that the turret apparently fell through... a kill by any other name is just as sweet! The fire's out on the cottage, but it's been a couple rounds, so I think I'll shift Paladin over to scout the area... I don't want to grapple Lucky to the roof only to aggro the missing patrol with no immediate support.
***
Just as I have the 4 of my 5 soldiers shifted to the right flank, the Viper and Muton come ambling in on the left, with only Noisemaker around. She wasn't spotted, and technically the squad hadn't aggro'd yet, so I quickly shift everyone back to the left flank. So good uses of a grenade to destroy cover and a Run and Gun (combined with a Stock upgrade for guaranteed damage) I take out the Viper and bring the Muton down to one health... Noisemaker is still hidden. I could've easily taken out the Muton, but I can only put Noisemaker back into concealment once. She's my ace in the hole. The severely wounded Muton backs off, and I hear the distinctive clanking of a MEC unit, so I think I'll deploy another Battle Scanner and see if any new information comes up.
***
Once again, when things go wrong... boy do they go wrong... I inched Noisemaker up in cover, no problem, but then Claymore moved too far and spotted / was spotted by the last squad... TWO MEC's, a Lancer and the wounded Muton. They do that "we're spotted, deploy" trick, but catch Noisemaker out in the open. I'm able to take the Lancer out pretty quickly, and Noisemaker even one-shots a MEC, but the freakin' Muton moves in to melee range and takes out my trusty stealth specialist. Rats. Also, the second MEC unleashes a grenade volley on Shifter, so he's wounded now... rats. I'm going to mop up these two targets, but losing Noisemaker really sucks. She was such an important element in this mission.
***
I take them out, but reinforcements are coming in. I'm going to try to position myself around the red flare and swat as many as I can once they land.
***
A basic trooper, an advanced MEC and a Lancer land. The Lancer (thank God) is taken out, but the MEC and trooper are basically untouched and Lucky and Paladin are both out of ammo... I reload Lucky, and deploy my Mimic Beacon to buy some time. The plan works well... all targets are down and no further damage to my team. My final act is to make sure I collect the bodies of Noisemaker and the deceased sniper so I don't lose their gear after I plant the explosives, but with all enemies dead I can do this at my leisure.
Still stings about losing Noisemaker, but she went down in a blaze of glory!
I sloppily re-engage where I left you last, managing to finish off the Codex and Archon. Claymore takes another point of poison damage, but sucks it up and is no longer afflicted (saving me a heal from the medic). My immediate plan is to regroup, reload, and relax. By my count, there are still five targets to take out, only two of which I have ID'd.
Noisemaker broke cover to assist in the last firefight, so my second order of business is to stealth her back up. Everyone is more or less reloaded and close enough for mutual support... I would've liked to move Lucky over to the second cottage structure (it was slightly closer to the Alien Facility I want to eventually blow up, and had better angles), but the building is currently on fire, so I'm going to wait a turn or two... insert clever frying pan / fire metaphor that a more well-rested Groo would surely come up with.
***
Still no sign of my Muton / Viper patrol, but Noisemaker detected movement ahead. The cottage is still on fire, but it appears to be dying down... again, once it's safe, Lucky will grapple over to use that as the next sniping position (why grapple? because it cost's no movement... I can zip around the battlefield - with a small recharge time - and still have full movement, aka all my actions to shoot and stuff, after I arrive... nice piece of kit, the Spider suit). Anyway, everyone else is staying well back so they don't accidentally aggro anyone, and Noisemaker continues to hop from cover to cover until I can spot these jerks...
***
Noisemaker discovers a turret... not sure if that is included in my total bad-guy count, but I'm just going to sit back and let Lucky (via Sqaud Sight) hammer away over a couple of turns until it's out of commission... really miss that second sniper now, but slow and steady will win the race. First round: good hit, second round: missed, but punched a hole in the building that the turret apparently fell through... a kill by any other name is just as sweet! The fire's out on the cottage, but it's been a couple rounds, so I think I'll shift Paladin over to scout the area... I don't want to grapple Lucky to the roof only to aggro the missing patrol with no immediate support.
***
Just as I have the 4 of my 5 soldiers shifted to the right flank, the Viper and Muton come ambling in on the left, with only Noisemaker around. She wasn't spotted, and technically the squad hadn't aggro'd yet, so I quickly shift everyone back to the left flank. So good uses of a grenade to destroy cover and a Run and Gun (combined with a Stock upgrade for guaranteed damage) I take out the Viper and bring the Muton down to one health... Noisemaker is still hidden. I could've easily taken out the Muton, but I can only put Noisemaker back into concealment once. She's my ace in the hole. The severely wounded Muton backs off, and I hear the distinctive clanking of a MEC unit, so I think I'll deploy another Battle Scanner and see if any new information comes up.
***
Once again, when things go wrong... boy do they go wrong... I inched Noisemaker up in cover, no problem, but then Claymore moved too far and spotted / was spotted by the last squad... TWO MEC's, a Lancer and the wounded Muton. They do that "we're spotted, deploy" trick, but catch Noisemaker out in the open. I'm able to take the Lancer out pretty quickly, and Noisemaker even one-shots a MEC, but the freakin' Muton moves in to melee range and takes out my trusty stealth specialist. Rats. Also, the second MEC unleashes a grenade volley on Shifter, so he's wounded now... rats. I'm going to mop up these two targets, but losing Noisemaker really sucks. She was such an important element in this mission.
***
I take them out, but reinforcements are coming in. I'm going to try to position myself around the red flare and swat as many as I can once they land.
***
A basic trooper, an advanced MEC and a Lancer land. The Lancer (thank God) is taken out, but the MEC and trooper are basically untouched and Lucky and Paladin are both out of ammo... I reload Lucky, and deploy my Mimic Beacon to buy some time. The plan works well... all targets are down and no further damage to my team. My final act is to make sure I collect the bodies of Noisemaker and the deceased sniper so I don't lose their gear after I plant the explosives, but with all enemies dead I can do this at my leisure.
Still stings about losing Noisemaker, but she went down in a blaze of glory!
They say Hitler loved dogs; that doesn't mean I want to travel back in time and discuss the merits of the Border Collie with the guy. He's still an a-hole.