Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Thorondor]

Can't the creatures recognize a killzone when they happen to be in one? Apparently not. Too bad, so sad...

And, poking Tammy again? Guess what Gimli and his short fuse have to further convey about that going forward, varmints: bang, bang!

Time to take the fight to them right in there with our little engine of destruction of a squad.

That's the way you do it. Ground floor cleared. Goin' up!!

[Zombie]

Swarm Leader Part 3

It takes us about 4 turns to clear the central room and the hallway in the back of the UFO. Zombie just opened the door to the vat room to the left of the hallway and noticed the door to the left lift room was open. JFG tossed a normal grenade in the vat room to start clearing out that mess and what do you know, the explosion from one of the vats hit an alien (for no damage unfortunately):

Now that we know something is in there, NKF breaks out the Golden Pineapple (DG2):

It damaged something for 3 damage and something else for no damage. (Let's get real for a second, we know these unseen aliens are Bonesetters):

Oh, and there was another Bonesetter caught in the blast too. Dunno why I didn't bathe the place in fire with inferno/incendiary grenades. At least the blasts revealed the location of one of the Bonesetters so Gimli will auto shoot it:

He did three auto shots as the damage was all over the place and still wasn't able to take it out. Figures. He even shot NKF in the ass (luckily no damage). In a somewhat rare moment, Bomb Bloke picks up a photon beamer and decides to shoot at it:

The first blast was absorbed, but the second did 6 damage which killed it:

The next round Pete starts us off by tossing a grenade into the room to the right of the hallway, but there were no aliens present:

A least it removed the "furniture" in there so aliens can't hide. Five turn later and finally the whole team is ready. When we open the door on the left there is a Bonesetter inside so Pete's going to auto shoot it:

He kills it easily as all the bullets did decent damage. A couple rounds later and Pete is first up the lift on the left and comes face-to-face with a Bonesetter. Well, not exactly face-to-face as the Bonesetter was looking away from him, but that's even better as he's going to shoot it point blank:

Inconsistent damage prevented him from killing it with three bullets. And of course, the Bonesetter had to shoot back a couple times injuring Pete for 4 once, but he was able to kill it when the last bullet did 49 damage:

We patched Pete up and then two turns later NKF spots a Bonesetter by the hallway leading to the bridge. Tammy comes out of her hiding spot to throw a photon grenade at it:

She ended up tossing two photon grenades and both did crap for damage (8 & 5). Pete tossed a normal grenade next to it but the damage was absorbed:

We make a little mistake by not blocking the door completely to the lift room and that Bonesetter comes inside during it's turn. It shot at Zombie for no damage and Zombie shot back also for no damage. Well, it's right next to Pete now, so when it's our turn again he'll auto shoot it:

He hits for 4 & 48 damage, killing it:

During the aliens next turn the Bonesetter Commander and Zombie trade shots for no damage on either side. Zombie can "tank" the commander as his tundra armor blocks everything but the most damaging cold attacks. When it's our turn, Tammy is going to shoot at it for some xp:

Blade and Jman also shoot at it but for little-to-no damage:

His last blast does 23 damage though. I think it's time for Zombie to stun the thing and end this:

And that was the end of the mission. EOM report was good:

We recovered a lot of heavy photon beamer ammo which was awesome. And to address that big pink elephant in the room, Tammy and Blade both get fully promoted to Colonel! Here's Tammy's point allocation:

Pretty simple, I put 3 points into agility to max that stat out and then 2 into vitality. It was a pleasure fighting alongside Tammy as she was always so reliable. Zombie will miss her as everyone else will too. Well, here's Blade's final stats:

Same point allocation as Tammy. I initially put 4 points into agility to max that out at 94 but at the last minute changed my mind and decided vitality might be more helpful. The first swarm reward I got was 3 advanced ship parts:

Not really interested in geoscape stuff I reloaded and got 2 advanced ship parts and a personal teleporter:

Well, that's better I guess. And I'm pretty sure 2 is the most of any soldier only rare item you can recover from a swarm reward. There aren't any alien life scanners anymore so there are actually fewer useful items than UFO:ET. I mean, the personal teleporter is nice and all, but is it necessary or useful for everyone? No. The personal eternal shields, distortion field generators and pale blue crystals are the best for soldier "survivability".

With Blade and Tammy "soft retired", we need two more soldiers to fill their shoes (like that's even possible). I get Full Auto back on the team as well as Crazy Gringo. I gave one teleporter to CG as his throwing is 97:

I gave the other to Gimli "just because":

Well, it wasn't completely random. I wanted a soldier on each of our breach teams to have one and because CG and Gimli are close in xp I figured they were good choices. Not like I've been using the teleporters much anyway. Back in the Geoscape and I just sent out all my interceptors from Europe, Russia and the aircraft carrier to engage an alien supply vessel headed to Africa:

I thought one of the golden eagle interceptors would get really damaged, but the UFO seemed rather disinterested in us or had weak weapons. Everyone engaged it at close range and at this point it's pretty much downhill for the UFO:

After we down it I wait a couple hours till the crash site is in daylight and send out the transport. Before we could get there the game informs me that our photon defense finished construction in Antarctica:

Let's check that base out again:

Still 16 more days till the other photon defense is completed so we aren't out of the woods yet so to speak. But at least we have a couple golden eagle interceptors stationed there. It'll be a little while till we finish building all the weapons+shields+missiles+bombs necessary to equip a new fleet. And then a little more time to build the planes themselves. Thankfully though, there hasn't been much action down here yet.

So join me next time when we deal with that patrol vessel.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Our squad is giving the concept of 'blind fire' renewed and improved practical uses. Then moving on to some more 'smoking them out' manoeuvers.

It's round after round of no-damage slapping contests but with bullets and guess who's left standing. We never back down from a fight.

Colonels Tammy and Blade - it is now your solemn duty to attempt to drink everyone under the table - and fail miserably of course. Bottoms up!

Well, to the victors go the spoils and all that, but somebody's gotta be out there doing the heavy lifting, so you're up again, FA and Crazy Gringo.

Just in time too, as there are some fresh alien wares to rifle through. Load up!

[Space Voyager]

On 10/6/2023 at 3:52 PM, Zombie said:

"ducks aren't in a row"

Ha, that's a new one for me, thanks!

On 10/6/2023 at 3:52 PM, Zombie said:

Thorondor and yourself will be making guest appearances before end game

Alright! No matter what the role is, naturally - you're the mastermind, I place my bad aiming into your tactical hands.

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 1

Like clockwork, this is a cityscape map (again). We sorta deploy in the usual way as we have to be careful from the alien cannons. During the aliens first turn a Rider comes out of the room from the "parking garage" (?) in the building next to the transport. It just stops there like a dummy so Gimli is going to shoot at it when it's our turn:

The first bullet hits for 18 and the second is a weak spot kill for 70 damage:

Can't get much easier than this. Still the same round and Pete sees another Rider below the transport. It's grenade time as he can't shoot down there and be prepared for a big boom:

The explosion does 37 damage. killing it:

During the alien's next turn a Rider shows up in a tower in back of the transport. It shot at CG but the damage was absorbed. He shoots back with his trusty photon beamer and the first blast looks like it'll be a hit:

It does 20 damage while the next does 3 and the last is a monstrous 42:

There are also some Bonesetters which are poking around our areas during the remainder of their turn. The first is where that first Rider was: at the door to the "parking garage". And as before, Gimli will shoot at it "point blank" style:

Low damage rolls meant a little back and forth between them. Gimli was hurt for 2 damage when the Bonesetter shot at him, but he finished it off with a final damage roll of 51:

The other Bonesetter is 2 levels above and in the air. Full Auto is going to shoot at it from the ramp of the transport:

The first bullet does a healthy 43 damage. The second was absorbed and the last did 20 which killed it:

I think you can probably see that part of an alien cannon is visible in the darkness. BB wants to mortar it so bad this round but I have to reel him back:

We really don't have a clear "lay of the land" in order to use the bomb to it's full potential. In other words, we can't see where the other cannons are... yet. Gimli is recruited for this dangerous job the next round. He makes it out unscathed while also uncovering another cannon. Okay BB, you are clear to put one between them:

One was unfortunately not enough as he managed to damage the one on the right for 94 and the other for a paltry 27. The second bomb did 87 damage to the one on the right, destroying it. As for the left cannon, it remains up as the blast only did 68.

We are going to wait till our next round to do anything else, who knows, maybe a Bonesetter will go up there yet. During the aliens next turn another Rider peeks it's head in the door from the "parking garage". When it's our turn again, it's Gimli to the rescue:

He hits for 18 & 69 (critical hit) killing it. And now BB is going to mortar that other UFO cannon:

The blast does a pi$$ poor 41 but it was enough to take the cannon out... finally:

On our next turn Gimli goes up the lift to take a peek and is shot at by a hidden Bonesetter. He's able to spot it and since nobody has a clear shot at it BB will mortar it:

The blast does a massive 176 critical damage to the visible bonesetter killing it and also hits another alien for 101 killing it too:

During the aliens turn, FA shoots and kills a Rider below for 30 damage:

Awesome! When it's our turn again, Gimli takes the unenviable job of scouting for more UFO cannon targets. He just barely can see a little bit of the scary central turret so BB will send a mortar there:

Do you see that odd looking tile on the roof of the UFO? We'll be getting to that more at a later mission. Anyhow, the blast did 150 damage which destroyed it:

We spread out little by little but haven't seen any alien activity in a long time. But we did hear hibernation pods opening so Treps and Iron Rattlers will be on the menu soon. On cue, we see two Iron Rattlers. One shoots at Jman for no damage and he shoots back at it. Looks like it'll be a hit:

It does 20 damage but doesn't kill it. All his other shots miss. We've got bigger problems now as a Bonesetter appears out of nowhere at the corner notch of the UFO:

Zombie is ready for it and hits for 6 & 9 damage so far:

The last bullet does 4 damage. Meh, he tried at least. The Bonesetter shoots back and hits him but the damage was absorbed:

This triggers him to take another auto-reaction shot which does 5, 27 & 37 which kills it:

Lucky. Spifficate the Swines though? Is that really necessary? Come on guys, we're above these aliens. Well, NKF is going to toss a grenade on the two Iron Rattlers:

It only does 11 damage to one but it's still a kill somehow. The other one takes 39 which is also a kill:

I'll stop here as there is another part to this mission yet. You'll want to stay tuned for this one as there's a ton of action left!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

It's hot in the city tonight, and about to get even hotter if we have anything to say about it. *guns get cocked and grenade pins pulled*

We're going to mingle and see the sights, and no matter the allure, nobody going single when picking our fights.

For the alienated, we're keen to remind, this to be a no parking zone and failure to comply, asking why, won't have us being kind, our ire unabated.

Those who made us go looking, lacking the nerve to come forth, will end up cooking or fiercely be sent packing under the weight of our full force!

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 2

Still the same turn as before. Hobbes is upstairs in a building next to the UFO trying to get eyes on that other UFO cannon on the near side and it met with a couple blasts from the cannon. The first leveled the floor he was on and the second hit him but thankfully the damage was absorbed:

And I think we all know what the next step is at this point - BB will mortar it:

The blast hits a hidden unit for 79 and does 92 to the cannon. Neither were kills. And let's face it, there aren't any aliens in the game which can take 79 damage and remain alive so it's another cannon. Well, we can't let either stay so BB readies another mortar:

This time the blast does 82 to the hidden cannon and 106 to the other, destroying both:

A couple turns later and the first Trep spawns wanders out to see what all the commotion was about. Hobbes still has the high ground so he'll toss a normal grenade near it:

It does 45 damage which somehow isn't a kill. That's okay, I want NKF to get some xp so he'll shoot at it next:

His first bullet does a massive non-critical 61 damage which kills it:

Four turns later and another Trep comes out in the same spot. This time Jman is going to take a long range aimed shot with his trusty photon beamer:

It does a whole 20 damage. Time for NKF to do his magic again:

The first bullet does 28 damage, killing it:

Two alien turns later and a Bonesetter comes out of the other door and is met with reaction fire from Full Auto:

The damage was absorbed unfortunately. But his second is going to be a hit too:

It does a decent 32 damage. His last shot will also be a hit:

His last does 18 which isn't a kill. We've got bigger problems now as an Iron Rattler comes out of the other door:

It shoots at FA and the damage is absorbed. He shoots back and hits for 44 damage, killing it:

Even worse, another Bonesetter comes out of the same door and shoots at JFG for 5 damage. He shoots back:

He does 42 damage on this shot and 9 on the second but the damage was absorbed for the last. When it's our turn again, Hobbes is going to toss an inferno grenade next to that last Bonesetter:

It does 50 damage, killing it:

It also creates a nice kill zone for any aliens that venture out into the flames. Anyhow, JFG is going to try and auto shoot the other Bonesetter with his photon beamer:

The first blast does 1 stinking damage but the second does 37 which kills it:

During the aliens turn a Bonesetter comes out but runs straight through the fire into the open. Good tactic but it isn't going to help any:

It moves a little more to the right and now is in Pete's sight cone. He reaction fires at it with the first bullet doing 11 damage. The second will also be a hit:

The second does 37 damage:

His last shot missed unfortunately. It's our turn now so NKF will shoot at it:

The first bullet hits for 24 damage, killing it:

We've been doing good up to this point, but I made a huge mistake in thinking there were no aliens outside of the UFO yet. I gave up on searching the rest of the map for the sake of brevity which is a lapse in better judgement for me. Anyhow the commander comes out of nowhere and shot at Hobbes for 3 freeze damage. Then another Bonesetter and then came down to the ground from a lift to the north of us. Luckily it's in an area where none of my soldiers are so BB will just mortar it:

Big boom time, especially with the 4 explosive barrels nearby. Two of the barrels did 40 and 33 damage which killed it:

That commander is on the ground in a good area so JFG will start us off by shooting at it:

His shots do very good damage somehow and he manages to kill the thing ending the mission. I was kinda hoping to get some other soldiers involved in the shooting spree for some quick xp, but that isn't happening now. And I'm not going to reload to do this part over either. So join me next time when we check out the EOM report and allocate points to two soldiers who were promoted. On the Geoscape we go through a lot of research and manufacturing changes and shoot down another supply vessel. There's a lot of stuff to go over and I'll cover all of that and probably more.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Make it extra crispy, BB - these things like to zap us and we enjoy levelling the playing field; like, reeaaally level it.

Come out here for a little meet & greet, why won't you? How sweet, thinking you can trade blows. Not what the record shows.

The fires of our discontent keep on burning but it doesn't look like you're learning to the right extent.

So, a Commander with a big ego at last had a go - only to be made to eat crow.

That's the ticket for our crew. We're rotating back to HQ!

[Zombie]

So here's the EOM report from the last mission:

Solid performance overall which is probably an understatement. Love that bounty and the UFO  components to sell. So we have two promotions this mission: Bomb Bloke which is his last and the new and improved Pete 2.0. Starting with BB of course:

There were a number of ways I could have did this but decided that maxing out throwing with 2 points to an even 100 was the most worthwhile. Even if he can't use the mortar he can always throw a grenade or something, right? Then I put 2 points into agility and the last in vitality. Simple. Since BB will be taking a nice vacation for the foreseeable future we need someone else to take his place (again, like that's even possible). I think Full Auto is a perfect choice so he gets the nod.

Then I started to wonder if maxing out shooting was even necessary for a soldier that exclusively uses a mortar? I suppose it's useful early on when mortaring isn't necessary and you need consistent xp to level up. But with the blanket +30xp mission completion bonus you technically could leave them at the back of the transport for a while mooching off of the hard work of others. Okay, let's do Peetie next:

That's right, max out strength first at a nice even 100 then one point in agility, vitality, bravery and throwing. He's basically set for all the usual important stats so now we can focus on agility and vitality with maybe a few points into bravery. We shall see. I'm kinda getting antsy for that new combat medkit, lets check up on our scientists:

Not too long to go actually. In the meantime the last workshop at my main base finished construction (finally):

I immediately put the extra engineers on manufacturing mortar bombs:

We're gonna need them. Eventually I'd like to finish up that sludge suit, but we also need more incendiary grenades and sludge grenades too. The work just never ends! So after the mortar bombs finish we put the team on cranking out a run of 8 incendiary grenades and then on sludge grenades:

Not long after our research into the combat medikit finished:

As is customary, let's look at it's description:

It's very heavy, but is able to heal more damage per tile of size. Just for comparison, here's the normal Medikit description:

Both can remove critical hits so the only difference is damage healing capacity. And the most potent healing item in the game is still the stimpack which can heal 70 damage, occupies 1 tile, weighs only 3 and can be purchased off the market instead of manufactured. So it's not incredibly useful but if you need a medikit for healing critical hits you may as well use the one with more healing capacity. As for what we are going to research next, I think it has to be the Thunderstorm interceptor:

We need better interceptors badly as the UFOs have been steadily getting bigger and badder. Speaking of such, another supply vessel UFO just showed up over India and it's heading straight to Russia somewhere:

When it saw my birds in the air, it's focus shifted on them instead:

And with the addition of the base defenses we were able to take it down easily. This is UFO #180 by the way:

We have to wait till the crash site is in daylight so while we are putzing around we may as well put the engineers on manufacturing a combat medikit:

It'll take a while though.

You know, I've been playing the game on a fairly regular basis this year and the one thing I noticed recently is the sudden drop of recovered alien weapons/clips/grenades. Seems like a good chunk of the later aliens have integrated weapon systems and thus do not need a hand-held gun. Nor do they use or even have grenades. And to think I've been using the inferno grenades like candy against Bonesetters.

So I think the trick is to stockpile the inferno grenades for later and just use the lower power incendiary grenades instead. Same deal with the heavy photon beamer ammo though the aliens do seem to carry them sometimes. And if you need to use a better grenade to take down a particularly tough alien try a cryo or sludge grenade as you can manufacture those. Just some food for thought.

As an aside, right now I'm #112 on the Steam leaderboards for UFO's shot down (954). If I down 25 more I'll be #105 and about 50 more it would be #100 or so. Once you get into the sub 1100 level, it becomes way easier to jump higher. In terms of aliens killed I'm a solid #20 with 7572 kills. And I'll probably be at this level for quite a while.

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

Poor aliens... By now they must be thinking only about how to get away from Earth without losing face...

[Thorondor]

So, BB, are you ready to check out some of the other bombshells we've got over here?

FA, looks like you need to bulk up, man; you'll be carrying a real deal weapon from now on. We're counting on you to have our backs!

But just in the off chance things might go south with a snappy UFO cannon or whatnot, our brainiacs have put their heads together to devise a new and improved combat medikit that will do away with the sting pronto.

Of course, we'll be the ones bringing on the hurt time and again, starting right up in the sky, as we've got a nasty new interceptor on the drawing board. Can't wait to see what those beauties will be capable of.

Meanwhile, let's seek some more thrills and rack up the kills! ?

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 1

It's a farm map this time. Well, that's better as we are more comfortable in this environment due to running so many missions on this map type. We just started deploying when Crazy Gringo spots a Rider. Time to auto shoot it with his photon beamer:

He hits for 2 & 22 killing it with the last shot flying off map:

During the aliens turn a Bonesetter shows up near the tool shed to the north of us. When it's our turn Hobbes will take an auto shot at it (well, let's face it, it'll probably take two):

Highly inconsistent damage led him to take a second where his last bullet did 42 killing it:

Two turns later and we've been hearing some movement near where the first Rider was. Gimli shoots a hole in the hedge and Crazy Gringo pokes his head in there where he spots another Rider:

"Don't just stand there, do something!" yells Gimli. So CG is going to take an auto shot at it:

His first blast hits for 43 killing it and revealing a Bonesetter behind it:

Needless to say, he tries to get the heck out of there. He doesn't get far as he runs out of APs before he can get into cover. Ok, now we are committed to do something to get rid of the threat. JFG is nearby and he's in throwing distance of the thing so how about an incendiary grenade to start us off:

It does a decent 45 damage. Not enough for the kill but the Bonesetter is severely injured now. And aware of the throw too, but it can't shoot at what it can't see:

Zombie is also in throwing range and he'll toss a normal DG1 grenade at it:

The damage is absorbed unfortunately. And the Bonesetter looks his way menacingly:

Whats good for the goose is good for the gander so Hobbes will also toss a normal grenade at it:

The blast does a massive 65 damage killing it:

Great job guys! We saved CG. He's not out of the woods yet as a Bonesetter appears above the orchard during the alien's turn. It doesn't shoot at him though so when it's our turn Gimli will take a 90% accurate auto shot at it:

His three bullets do 31, 16 & 13 killing it:

I bring CG and AT into the orchard to start expanding our coverage a bit. Probably should have let the dust settle before doing that as during the alien's turn a Iron Rattler hits CG for 2 damage in the breast plate. But he's gonna shoot back:

His first shot is a hit for 55 damage which technically is a kill shot. However, as a last-dying-gasp strategy the Iron Rattler shoots him in the head for 3 damage. When it's our turn again, Gimli is going to patch him up with the stim pack:

No big deal, he's back up and running at full strength again. On our next turn NKF manages to spot one of the UFO cannons so BB will mortar it:

The first bomb only does 69 damage to a hidden cannon and 26 to the visible one. Sad. Time for another bomb then:

This time the bomb does 70 & 107 damage,  destroying both:

During the alien's turn, there is a lot of activity north of the main orchard as we see a Rider and two Iron Rattlers:

NKF manages to reaction fire at it:

Unfortunately one bullet hit and only did 2 damage. JFG is going to toss an inferno grenade in between all of them:

It kills the Rider when the blast does 50 fire damage to it and it also kills the closer Iron Rattler for 51 damage:

Probably should have threw the grenade closer to the Iron Rattler as one came out of it unscathed. No matter, JFG will throw a normal grenade on it:

The blast does 29 damage killing it:

Join me next time for more of the same!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Ah, another relaxing trip to the countryside with exotic hunting thrown in for good measure. Simply splendid, old sport!

Not even Crazy Gringo can escape a little spell of honey gluttony there for a moment. Fortunately master Gimli brought him back to his senses in time.

A little roasting ensues, and a sweet smell fills the air, from the melting beehives no doubt.

The hunted here mistakenly believe they are the hunters; the unfortunate creatures just don't know any better and converge on us.

Outstanding marksmen and gentlemen of fine breeding that we are, we don't let them entertain such folly for long.

There are more trophies to gather, so come along chaps!

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 2

It's now the next turn and there's an Iron Rattler by the UFO. NKF will auto shoot it, no need to kneel, he's a professional:

His first bullet does 25 and the second did 1 point while the last missed completely. You fool, you should have knelt! This time he'll just pick a snap shot which is a lot more accurate:

It does 30 damage which kills it:

A couple turns later and we strategically destroyed a section of the wall to the tool shed in order to get a glimpse inside. Nothing doing so Accounting Troll ventures inside only to be met with two photon beamer hits to the face from a Bonesetter at the door. Luckily the damage was absorbed and now he'll take a near point blank auto shot at it:

It's a glitchy back and forth affair where the first two bullets do damage, but not enough for a kill, then the Bonesetter reaction fires and finally his last bullet does enough damage for the kill:

Wish there was a way to turn this mechanic off, or maybe it's not coded correctly in the first place. Eventually I'll get fed up with it and just reload. Don't really like doing that either as it clears the combat log, but sometimes it's unavoidable. I bite the bullet and reload just to be on the safe side. Three turns later and NKF opens the door to the barn and spots an alien cannon and a Bonesetter inside:

I don't want to risk reaction fire from the cannon so let's have Full Auto mortar it:

The blast does 146 damage to the visible cannon destroying it. It also does 75 damage to a hidden cannon:

With that out of the way it's a green light for NKF to toss an incendiary grenade on the Bonesetter:

It does 58 damage which was enough for the kill:

The next round JFG spots the big, scary central cannon on the UFO so FA will mortar it:

The blast does 39 damage to a hidden cannon and 124 to the central one which destroys it:

Zombie takes one step and spots a Rider in that orchard area between himself and the UFO. Auto shot time, and again, no need to kneel as he's also a professional:

The first bullet does 24 damage killing it:

See, Zombie really is a professional! The next turn there's an Iron Rattler in the same area. FA drops his mortar in order to toss a photon grenade on it:

It does a massive 62 damage which kills it and destroys part of the barn's wall:

The next round JFG manages to spot that last pesky cannon on the UFO. It reaction fires at him but he tanks the damage which allows FA to mortar it:

The blast does a pitiful 64 damage but thankfully all the previous mortaring softened it up enough to destroy it:

The next round there's a Bonesetter by the doors to the UFO. Zombie is going to take an auto shot at it:

He hits it twice with one bullet doing 38 damage:

I wasn't expecting a kill from him here, it was just to pre-damage the Bonesetter for NKF who is going to shoot at it now:

The first bullet does 37 damage which kills it:

The death aurora is at no charge. Join me next time for part 3 where it's one last Iron Rattler, a lone Trep, a couple more Bonestters and then the Commander.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

- Kock knock.
- Who's there?
- It's me, open the door if you dare.

Tool shed, barn, what have you. We're coming in, you're going out. For good.

Say, FA, you're really getting the hang of it, man - high five!

No need to ask for their papers and to exit the vehicle. They're in violation of every nation's rule, so, you in there, prepare for instant termination. Let's rock and roll!

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 3

It's now the aliens turn. They send out an Iron Rattler which JFG responds to with auto fire from his photon beamer. The first blast is going to miss right:

And the second takes out a tree:

The last missed too. We'll let that pass as NKF needs the xp more so he'll toss a grenade on it:

It's a weak spot kill for a massive 77 damage:

In the meantime I accidentally reloaded the game from a previous save instead of saving the game as I wanted to. So the tree is back and I killed the Iron Rattler. The aliens step up their assault by sending out a Bonesetter next. We don't have anyone on overwatch duty so when it's our turn again Gimli is going to toss an inferno grenade on it:

The blast did a decent 42 damage and now Gimli has it's attention. With the bonesetter's attention focused elsewhere, NKF will shoot at it:

The damage from the first bullet was absorbed but then he hit for 14 & 12 damage which killed it:

A few aliens turns later and a Trep comes out of nowhere only to be met with reaction fire from Gimli. The first shot looks like it'll be a hit:

It does a decent 30 damage and the next bullet is also going to be a hit:

It does 20 damage which kills it. A couple turns later and the Bonesetter commander makes an appearance outside:

Not sure why the aliens thought this was a good idea. The commander's strength comes from close quarters combat in confined spaces not "Into Great Wide Open". Gimli reaction fires at it with his first bullet getting absorbed. The next is also going to be a hit:

Oh, and there's another normal Bonesetter who just exited the door to the UFO. Anyhow, this bullet actually does 9 damage. Then that other Bonesetter comes closer to us which causes Gimli to shoot at it too. Looks like the first bullet will be a hit:

Unfortunately the damage was absorbed:

His next bullet does a decent 46 damage though:

The last bullet misses (of course). When it's our turn I move Pete to get into a better position to shoot at the commander but it reaction fires back at him doing 6 freeze damage. Are you done yet? Ok, Pete will shoot at it:

Everything was absorbed as expected and then the commander reaction fires back at him for an additional 6 freeze damage. I'm fine with this as now the commander is a sitting duck and we have only one damaged soldier. Priority number 1 is actually to get rid of this normal bonesetter. Accounting Troll is next to it for nearly a point blank shot:

The damage from the first bullet was absorbed but he killed it with the next when it did 20:

Since Accounting Troll is right there, he shot at the commander too right away for some xp. Jman also shot at it with his last doing 10 damage. Before we go any farther I have Full Auto patch Pete up with a stimpack:

NKF wants in on this action so when he peeks out from around the corner he's surprised to see a couple Treps inside the door to the UFO. He's going to toss a sludge grenade right in the center of that hot mess:

The blast gasses out the commander for 35 damage, killing it. The Treps faired much better with one taking no damage and the other taking 2:

He'll shoot at the first one:

He hits all three times doing 13, 12 & 36 damage which kills it:

He has exactly enough APs left for one auto shot so he'll shoot at that other Trep too:

He kills it easily and that was the end of the mission. Next time I'll cover the EOM report and then allocate some points to Gimli who was promoted. We sell some stuff for quick cash, then equip JFG and Jman with spiffy new combat medkits. And then shoot down a heavy cruiser.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

JFG, that energy drink bingeing needs to stop, dude. You're way too jittery and reality gets all altered for you.

Look at Gimli, steady as a rock and laying down the law downrange.

Pete, don't overdo it - that's too still. Snap out of it.

Fortunately NKF isn't kidding around either, going for the immediate dissolution of the alien threat. All wrapped up? You bet!

[Zombie]

Time for that EOM report:

Awesome, a promotion for Gimli! Let's allocate his points:

I immediately put one point into throwing to max that out at 95, then it was two points in agility and one in vitality and bravery. His shooting is a little low, but I can't do anything about that now. His strength is great though so he can be a mule for someone if the need arises.

Back at base and I was looking to sell something when I noticed we have 666 photon beamer ammo clips:

We can't let that stand, so I sold 166 clips for a nice even 500:

I also sold some photon beamers to get us to 30. I doubt we are even going to need half that many but it's  better to be prepared just in case of a base attack. Same for the UFO components - lets sell one each to get us to even numbers:

And that's an extra $500k+ cash for the bank. A little while later and we get a notification that our first combat medkit has finished production:

I immediately started production on another one and it was so quiet on the globe that we finished that one too. Time to equip Jellyfish Green and Jman:

These guys are really similar in terms of stats so having two soldiers like this is really nice. Pretty soon they are going to be fully promoted so we have to start thinking of replacements. Eventually I wanna start using the Jet Pack, but haven't thought of a good use for it... yet.

Three days later on the globe and we're manufacturing a whole raft of mortar bombs. May as well, we always need them. And then a heavy cruiser UFO shows up heading to Africa for base construction I assume:

Kinda dumb that the UFO is heading there when it spawned in at the north pole. And then it comes right into our little kill zone too:

That's no problem, our soldiers need the experience and we need the cash too. So join me next time when we visit that.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Bulking up in style there, Lieutenant Gimli! ?

Yo, Jays, here's some more juice for you guys to pack. If anyone stubs a toe you know what to do.

Listen up, no time to party. We just had a Heavy downed. Let's go say hello - on the double!

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 1

This time it's an arctic base landscape, a map I'm very familiar with by now as you might imagine. Zombie is the first soldier at the door of the transport and he sees a Poisonous BoP (I'll call it PBoP from now on) so he'll shoot at it:

All three bullets hit their mark with the first and the last doing decent damage which kills it:

I kinda forgot to take a screenshot of the next part, but during the alien's turn another BoP makes itself seen on top of the roof next to us. It deployed one of it's PSentinel drones too, but none of them did anything to us. NKF took an auto shot at the PBoP and killed it with the first two bullets doing 31 & 24 damage. The explosion caught the PSentinel off guard doing 46 damage to it (the game didn't allocate the damage correctly and thought NKF's last bullet hit it, but no):

Time for NKF to shoot at the PSentinel now:

He kills it, but the game is completely confused in the combat log. You are welcome to try and make sense of it yourself, but it's too much for my feeble brain to figure out:

During the alien's next turn Zombie shoots at a Mega. The first bullet is absorbed but the second is on it's way:

The damage was absorbed too. The last did 5. Whoop-di-doo! In the meantime another PBoP is spotted by Hobbes who reaction fires at it. The first bullet does a whole 2 damage. Wow! The next bullet looks like it's going to go straight down it's throat though:

Force feeding bullets down a PBoP's throat is always so satisfying as the last two bullets do 49 & 28 damage killing it:

You can probably just make out another PBoP at the lower left of the screen. When it's our turn again Hobbes will auto shoot it:

The first two bullets do 24 & 30 damage with the last on the way (it's there somewhere, trust me):

The last does 47 which kills it. With that out of the way NKF is going to shoot at the Mega Zombie couldn't kill:

The first bullet was absorbed, but the second did 35 which killed it:

Not much happens after this but we do hear alien movement sounds from the building next to us again. (Busy place!) Crazy Gringo shoots a hole in the wall and spots a Mega. There's some equipment in the way but he can toss a cryo grenade over it:

The blast does 61 freeze damage which kills it:

I'm really liking these cryo grenades so far. During the alien's next turn another Mega shows up on the ground to the right of the building which Zombie reaction fires at. The first bullet is absorbed with the second on it's way:

It does a healthy 53 damage which kills it:

After this all goes quiet for a time. We spread out a little bit, but not too much as there are UFO cannons to worry about. e finally spot one of them so FA will mortar it:

The blast does 105 damage which doesn't destroy it. It's gotta be close though so Hobbes will shoot at it:

The first two shots really don't do much damage but the last hits for 27 which takes it out:

The next round CG spots another PBoP by the UFO door so Zombie will take a long range auto shot at it:

The first two bullets do 51 & 31 damage which kills it. The third bullet is on it's way just for giggles:

A couple rounds later and we spot a Mega between the buildings to the west of us. Gimli is going to dump an inferno grenade on it:

It's a weak spot kill for 112 damage:

Awesome stuff! Two rounds later and there is another Mega in the building next to the transport in one of the lift rooms. Accounting Troll is going to shoot at it:

The first bullet is absorbed and the next two do 29 & 31 which kills it. But you know the game loves to cheese-fest it and allows the thing to take a dying shot at AT which does 9 chem damage:

JFG is waiting in the wings to patch him up:

Join me for part two where we do more cannon hunting, then get really lucky with some kills and end it off with killing the Mega commander. We have a promotion to deal with and then back in the Geoscape we shoot down a bunch more UFOs.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

A poisonous reception deserves a viperine reaction. How much of a sting it really had is debatable of course.

We know how to be cold as well, dispassionately dispatching our attackers with lead, deep freezing them for good or burning them to the ground.

We're versatile and we slap back a heck of a lot harder. So, keep it up, you alien cheats. We'll show you which side is the best at staying frosty when all is said and done!

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 2

It's now ten turns later. I know, I'm slow, but I'm also methodical. Our first priority in expansion is to try to clear the two buildings to the west of us. Each have a couple levels, a lift and multiple rooms which is a painstaking process to clear. While doing this we spot another alien cannon which FA is going to mortar:

The blast does 116 damage - not enough to destroy it. And it reaction fires back at FA, luckily for no damage. We need to take this cannon out to set up a kill zone around the two UFO doors so Zombie is going to shoot at it:

His first bullet hits for 40 damage which destroys it:

It's about four turns later and we've finally cleared most of the buildings to the west of us. I have a sneaking suspicion that the small building to the north of us has an alien camped out inside. Gimli is going to shoot at the wall to hopefully get eyes on it:

The next round JFG shoots blindly inside. He hits something inside for no damage but then he misses and hits an explosive barrel which sets off a nice sized chain reaction which does 53 damage, killing it:

With that out of the way, NKF moves forward to spot the alien cannon which FA is eager to mortar:

The blast only does 84 damage so Zombie again gets the job of cleaning up the mess:

On second thought, let's not do that. There's a significant risk in shooting at it and not destroying it as it'll reaction fire back. Instead, NKF heads over there where he can toss a grenade at it without risking reaction fire:

The damage was absorbed so the next round NKF will toss another:

It only did 9 damage. Out of DG1 grenades he tosses a photon grenade on it which does 32 damage and takes it out:

Six turns later and one of our breach teams has entered the UFO on the left side and takes refuge in the engine room. The door to the right engine room is open though and inside is a Mega. Jman is going to try and shoot it but the first shot misses wildly:

The second shot also misses badly, but it's heading to one of the engines:

The exploding engines do 113 damage which kills it:

Now that's how to clear a room in style! During the aliens turn another Mega is seen by the door leading to the rest of the UFO. When it's our turn, Pete is going to throw an incendiary grenade next to it:

It's a weak spot kill for 77 fire damage:

It's more of the same the next round. This time Hobbes is going to toss a normal DG1 grenade next to it:

The blast only does 8 damage so Pete breaks out the coveted golden pineapple (DG2):

This blast does 32 damage which kills it:

Not sure why it's considered hidden as we can see it plain as day. Probably a glitch so I'm hoping we end this mission soon. During the alien's turn the Mega commander pays us a visit but runs out of APs and is stuck in the center area. Pete's going to shoot at it:

And he kills it which ends the mission. EOM:

NKF had 4 kills which earned himself a promotion. Let's allocate those points:

Basically, a "one in everything" distribution which makes things easy. Gotta love that 101 strength! It looks like he can take two more points in throwing which should bump him up to a nice even 100 in that stat at which time he'll be a beast. Back in the Geoscape and we have a lot of UFO activity to deal with. There's a heavy cruiser looking to do some mining in South America:

There's also a patrol vessel over North America and a recon vessel headed to Russia:

We didn't have to do anything to that recon vessel as our defensive systems in the aircraft carrier took it out easily. And then another recon vessel shows up over the Pacific Ocean:

I normally don't send out the transport with threats still in the air, but the UFOs are so far away I'm confident we can make it there and back:

So join me next time when we visit that recon vessel.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

FA, put some extra shrapnel in that tube if you need to but get us some one-hit kills already, unless you really want to get zapped real good. And I don't mean by the cannon!

JFG and Jman, you're gonna tell me those weren't lucky shots, right? It's called aiming, so don't blame the rifling either, hotshots...

Just take a look at Hobbes, Pete and freshly minted Warrant Officer NKF; now those are legit performances!

Listen up - amateur hour is over. We're dealing with a surge of targets up on high. I've got the popcorn, so give me a great show!!

[Zombie]

Recon Vessel

It's a farm map this time. On our second turn Hobbes did a little scouting and spotted a Mega in the beehive/orchard area. NKF is in cover but can toss a grenade there:

He ends up tossing two normal grenades but both times the damage was absorbed. CG breaks out the golden pineapple, maybe that will fare better:

The damage was absorbed too:

Tough aliens! Since everyone close by can't do anything more we'll let it be. There's another alien visible to us - it's a Poisonous Gehe (pGehe). JFG is going to take some snap shots at it with his photon beamer:

The first blast was absorbed, but the next two do 30 & 23 damage which kills it:

Wait, what just happened to that Mega we were tossing grenades on? Did it transport? This actually works in our favor as Pete can toss an inferno grenade near it:

The explosion does 37 fire damage which kills it:

Not sure if I should save and reload due to randomly teleporting aliens, but I just forge ahead. During the aliens turn another pGehe shows up which causes Jman to shoot at it with his photon beamer:

He hits for 36 & 25 damage which kills it:

Good shootin, soldier! Two rounds later and there's another Mega at the edge of the orchard area. NKF has a clear line to auto shoot it:

The first bullet does 42 damage which kills it:

Five turns later and you guessed it, another pGehe is in the air where the other two were before. Pete is going to risk it and take an auto shot:

He ended up taking another auto shot as there were a few misses. In the end he managed to hit twice for 23 & 20 damage which killed it:

We wait around for 8 rounds but nothing seems to be going on in terms of alien activity. Zombie does spot the door to the farmhouse is open, so maybe a well-placed grenade will reveal something:

Nope, nothing. Who knows, it might have been one of those previous pGehe's which opened it up earlier. I'm not totally convinced of this and a couple rounds later FA is going to do some exploratory surgery on the upper floor of the farmhouse with the mortar:

The blast propagated through the window and killed something inside when it did 57 damage. The death scream sounded like a pGehe so we'll go with that:

The next round we spot movement in the beehive/orchard area again which turns out to be a Mega. NKF will toss an incendiary grenade on it:

The blast does 41 fire damage which kills it:

About 7 turns later and something shot at us with a poisonous weapon a couple times to the right of the beehive/orchard area (probably a Mega). NKF is going to toss a golden pineapple into the darkness to see if it's still there:

It hits the Mega in there for 1 point of stinking damage:

Let's see how it likes an inferno grenade:

The blast does 44 damage which kills it:

It s 10 turns later. the team did a little exploring but not much as we were hearing alien movement sounds somewhere. Turns out it was a Mega as it shows up in the air above the hedge surrounding what's left of the orchard/beehive area. Pete's going to take an auto shot at it:

He hit all 6 times but only managed to damage it twice for a total of 22 damage. NKF is going to shoot at it next:

The first bullet was absorbed and the second did a whole 4 damage:

The next bullet killed it though so the mission was over. EOM report:

Just "Good"? I thought I did a pretty good job of keeping everyone safe and uninjured. Sure, it took a while, but we came out of it unscathed and recovered the UFO components and got some xp for our soldiers. I call that excellent, thank you. Join me next time when I go over the UFO activity on the globe, manufacturing, and a small update on our soldiers.

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

You've spoilt the game!