03-16-2018, 02:26 AM
Back again for day two of "Groo's Big Damn XCOM Blitz"!
I've set up a squad to send to the Alien Retaliation mission... I'm going with two snipers again, anchoring the team with Lt Tombstone (leaving the re-christened Major Lucky at home this time) and filling the rest of the slots with Sergeants, Corporals and one Squaddie. A great tip I read online pointed out that one shouldn't base your entire game on just a handful of veterans. It doesn't take much for a mission to turn sour, and recovering from the loss of a ranked officer without any viable back-ups could take weeks. Anyway, all the gear is equipped and the team is ready to go. I'm field-testing a newly-minted Incendiary Grenade that I made in the Proving Ground facility, so I'll see how that plays out. One final overview of the troops: Tombstone has the "Covering Fire" perk, making her especially deadly on overwatch. Corporal Nabil (my Ranger) is Shaken, but also has the "Serial" perk - for every kill she makes with her shotgun, she gets a free action... That information makes we want to go back and re-tool weapon perks (I have the ability to re-use weapon add-ons from a map bonus I got this game) to give her an extended magazine. That's it for soldier specials, so off to save the camp!
I did just remember: these are the kind of missions where Faceless aliens show up, so I'll make sure to deploy my Battle Scanner as usual. Also, with my Shadow Chamber built, I know there are eleven aliens on this mission, mostly "organics" with one Unknown type I haven't faced yet.
Right! To the mission!
...
Off the bat, I deployed on the high ground. Nice! I spread the troops out and spotted an enemy MEC and Shield Bearer right away... clipped them both, but no kills. The turn ends, and I "see" a Muton taking out a civilian. Boo! I advance the Grenadier to the edge of the cliff I started on, and trigger another squad of three aliens: a second Shield Bearer, a second MEC, and a Berserker... I'm going to focus all fire on that Berserker because they can chew through my soldier really quickly.
...
It took both snipers and one of the specialists connecting, but the Berserker fell. Next, I used the Incendiary Grenade on the wounded Shield Bearer and a regular Trooper. They're not dead, but they're burning (which might mean they die at the beginning of their turn). A shotgun blast to the wounded MEC takes him down to one health... I've got one specialist left to move... Her shot percentage against the second Shieldbearer is poor, so I decide to set her to overwatch instead, ending my turn.
The first Shieldbearer succumbs to the fire damage, but the Trooper is still alive. He flanks my Ranger and scores a hit. The injured MEC moves and also takes a shot at the Ranger, but misses. The second Shieldbearer falls back, triggering the overwatch shot, but I miss by a mile. My turn again...
The first thing I do is send my medic to heal the Ranger, then I have my a-ha! moment... I activate the Serial ability on the Ranger and move in fairly close to the Trooper and MEC who shot her. The MEC is badly damaged, so I shoot at it first. CONNECT AND KILL! *free action* I turn my attention to the wounded trooper... CONNECT AND KILL! *free action* Well, I've got line-of-sight on the last Shieldbearer... lousy percentages, but it's still the beginning of my turn, so I chance it and CONNECT AND KILL! Man, that's one powerful ability!
I deploy a Battle Scanner to make sure I won't get surprised by a Faceless, then spend the rest of my turn rescuing civilians. Another turn, another friendly killed by the Muton... I spot a clutch of four civilians and deploy my second Battle Scanner - spotting the hidden Faceless! If I can take it out and rescue those civilians, the "urgent" element of the mission will be satisfied, and I can return to my slower pace where I've had so much success lately.
I take out the Faceless and advance my right flank to save those civilians. My left flank is approaching the roaming "kill squad", but unfortunately I don't find them until my last move (meaning I can't respond to them this turn). It's the bothersome Muton accompanied by two Sectoids. The final action I've got is my Grenadier, who can either shoot (poor percentages), launch a grenade, or go on overwatch. I'm leaning towards the grenade option: the machine gun tech I have won't drop any of my targets, and the Sectoids could very well pull a mind-control trick which would eliminate the reaction fire. Yes, grenade is the way to go.
... or we could go with the fourth option: having a "mis-click" going from this window back to the game, and firing the grenade harmlessly into empty space. Rats. The Muton moves forward and connects a long shot to an exposed sniper (wounded but still shooting), and the Sectoids both "re-animate" dead aliens. The little one is starting to stir, so I'll check back later.
I've set up a squad to send to the Alien Retaliation mission... I'm going with two snipers again, anchoring the team with Lt Tombstone (leaving the re-christened Major Lucky at home this time) and filling the rest of the slots with Sergeants, Corporals and one Squaddie. A great tip I read online pointed out that one shouldn't base your entire game on just a handful of veterans. It doesn't take much for a mission to turn sour, and recovering from the loss of a ranked officer without any viable back-ups could take weeks. Anyway, all the gear is equipped and the team is ready to go. I'm field-testing a newly-minted Incendiary Grenade that I made in the Proving Ground facility, so I'll see how that plays out. One final overview of the troops: Tombstone has the "Covering Fire" perk, making her especially deadly on overwatch. Corporal Nabil (my Ranger) is Shaken, but also has the "Serial" perk - for every kill she makes with her shotgun, she gets a free action... That information makes we want to go back and re-tool weapon perks (I have the ability to re-use weapon add-ons from a map bonus I got this game) to give her an extended magazine. That's it for soldier specials, so off to save the camp!
I did just remember: these are the kind of missions where Faceless aliens show up, so I'll make sure to deploy my Battle Scanner as usual. Also, with my Shadow Chamber built, I know there are eleven aliens on this mission, mostly "organics" with one Unknown type I haven't faced yet.
Right! To the mission!
...
Off the bat, I deployed on the high ground. Nice! I spread the troops out and spotted an enemy MEC and Shield Bearer right away... clipped them both, but no kills. The turn ends, and I "see" a Muton taking out a civilian. Boo! I advance the Grenadier to the edge of the cliff I started on, and trigger another squad of three aliens: a second Shield Bearer, a second MEC, and a Berserker... I'm going to focus all fire on that Berserker because they can chew through my soldier really quickly.
...
It took both snipers and one of the specialists connecting, but the Berserker fell. Next, I used the Incendiary Grenade on the wounded Shield Bearer and a regular Trooper. They're not dead, but they're burning (which might mean they die at the beginning of their turn). A shotgun blast to the wounded MEC takes him down to one health... I've got one specialist left to move... Her shot percentage against the second Shieldbearer is poor, so I decide to set her to overwatch instead, ending my turn.
The first Shieldbearer succumbs to the fire damage, but the Trooper is still alive. He flanks my Ranger and scores a hit. The injured MEC moves and also takes a shot at the Ranger, but misses. The second Shieldbearer falls back, triggering the overwatch shot, but I miss by a mile. My turn again...
The first thing I do is send my medic to heal the Ranger, then I have my a-ha! moment... I activate the Serial ability on the Ranger and move in fairly close to the Trooper and MEC who shot her. The MEC is badly damaged, so I shoot at it first. CONNECT AND KILL! *free action* I turn my attention to the wounded trooper... CONNECT AND KILL! *free action* Well, I've got line-of-sight on the last Shieldbearer... lousy percentages, but it's still the beginning of my turn, so I chance it and CONNECT AND KILL! Man, that's one powerful ability!
I deploy a Battle Scanner to make sure I won't get surprised by a Faceless, then spend the rest of my turn rescuing civilians. Another turn, another friendly killed by the Muton... I spot a clutch of four civilians and deploy my second Battle Scanner - spotting the hidden Faceless! If I can take it out and rescue those civilians, the "urgent" element of the mission will be satisfied, and I can return to my slower pace where I've had so much success lately.
I take out the Faceless and advance my right flank to save those civilians. My left flank is approaching the roaming "kill squad", but unfortunately I don't find them until my last move (meaning I can't respond to them this turn). It's the bothersome Muton accompanied by two Sectoids. The final action I've got is my Grenadier, who can either shoot (poor percentages), launch a grenade, or go on overwatch. I'm leaning towards the grenade option: the machine gun tech I have won't drop any of my targets, and the Sectoids could very well pull a mind-control trick which would eliminate the reaction fire. Yes, grenade is the way to go.
... or we could go with the fourth option: having a "mis-click" going from this window back to the game, and firing the grenade harmlessly into empty space. Rats. The Muton moves forward and connects a long shot to an exposed sniper (wounded but still shooting), and the Sectoids both "re-animate" dead aliens. The little one is starting to stir, so I'll check back later.
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.