Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Thorondor]

Hey, we asked for the aggression level increase to "Hurt me plenty", but they still didn't really deliver in the intimidation factor, right, Loonie?

You know what that means - another episode of... Payback time!

And it's a wrap. On the way out Kret was straight out laughing at the sight of a puzzled, rambling TV, who seemed a bit aggravated how one such as he, a clearly superior war machine, might ever be confused for the likes of Kret. Bah, aliens, what do they know!

None such nonsense fazed the three elements of the squad rising through the ranks. Captain NKF in particular, was quite content to just amicably arm-wrestle his way through all challengers at the table, making a nifty sum in the process.

We'll need our full strength up alright; what with so much hostile activity around the globe demanding our attention.

Progress made in placing improved infrastructure where it needs to be affords us some greater leeway by now and, so, to allow the excess liquor to settle a little without unnecessary risk we start easy and close, going on a light cruiser romp. Saddle up!

Private log: Ever the overachiever, Commander Z. Such sheer drive is undoubtedly the reason we, here on Earth, can more confidently aspire, not just to survive, but to reach ultimate victory!

[Zombie]

Light Cruiser Part 1

We land and it's the same type of map as the last mission... how original. On our second turn we spot a Mega above us. FullAuto has a shot at the thing, but he's pretty far away so his auto shot accuracy sucks with that photon beamer. I guess it's snap shots then:

The blast is on the way and it looks like it'll be a hit:

It's a non-critical hit which deals 52 damage and kills it:

Someone's been practicing with that photon beamer between missions. Unreal. During the alien's turn we notice a Mega and a pGehe milling around kinda in the same general area:

And seconds later another identical grouping shows up to the west of us. The Mega shoots it's chem weapon at someone:

It missed and hit some trees. When it's our turn, Kret will take a snap shot at the pGehe to the north of us with U238 ammo:

It hits for 33 damage but doesn't kill it. The pGehe then fires back with it's chem weapon knowing full well that it's out of range:

NKF will now take a snap shot at it with U238 ammo:

His first three bullets really didn't do much damage but his last did 60 which finally killed it. DragonHawk will now take an auto shot at the Mega with, you guessed it, U238 ammo:

His first two bullets hit for 29 & 43 which kills it. The last would have been a hit too:

Two down, two to go. I forgot to mention in my previous post that I had the engineers manufacture a whole slug of U238 ammo so that everyone has at least one clip now. Anyway, DragonHawk still has plenty of APs left so he'll take an auto shot at the other pGehe next:

The first two bullets hit for 7 & 61 damage which kills it. He still has plenty of APs left so he'll shoot at the Mega too:

The first bullet hits for 59 and kills it:

That's some impressive shooting and damage. DragonHawk is a one man killing machine! A couple turns later and there's another pGehe to the west of us. Let's see how Knan handles shooting it:

The first bullet hits for a non-critical massive 89 damage and kills it:

Wow, just, wow. During the alien's next turn, there's more pGehe movement. DragonHawk breaks the silence with an auto shot:

The first bullet hits for 47 and kills it:

During the next alien turn, a Mega tries to sneak up on The Veteran:

It comes right up to him too, but doesn't do anything. TV doesn't have a weapon to shoot back with so we'll just move him away, shall we:

Not too far, just right around the corner. He's got backup in the name of Mouse Nightshirt who walks right up to it for an auto shot in the back:

The first bullet hits for another massive 75 damage:

Yup, this U238 stuff is where it's at folks. Join me for part two next time where we'll mop up the last few Megas and earn a couple more promotions. Then we tangle with a battlecruiser, look at research and clean up the crashed UFO backlog so we can focus on just one.

Edit: Just reached 7008 UFOs shot down today. That took me way longer than I wanted (my hope was, and is, to shoot down around 1000 UFOs in a month if possible (which is approximately 33.3/day). That would put me comfortably at #1 before Dec 31. Maybe I'll have some time to crank out some more tomorrow.

Oh, and happy belated World UFO Day which was yesterday (July 2).

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

One can't fault FullAuto for the showmanship upon arrival. Humbling the vile invaders is in his very nature.

The enemy literally spews poison at us, so they deserve no less than lethal response with discharges of our own new projectile medicine.

Not ones to sit on the sidelines, DragonHawk, Mouse Nightshirt and even Knan, all have a go at experimenting the potency of a good delivery with a complimentary grin on their faces.

There's a disease to be rid of - one that doesn't belong on this planet. Let's expedite its removal; we're pushing onwards, so check your ammo counts!

There are way more UFOs out there and I say any day of the calendar is a good one to take down those numbers, while our figures get ever bigger, in the bank and not only. Lead the way, Commander Z!!

[Zombie]

Light Cruiser Part 2

It's still the same turn and Loonie spots another Mega in the darkness. We can't really get a good read of where it's situated and nobody has a decent shot on it. What to do? Well, The Veteran wants some revenge from last mission, so he'll waste a mortar on it:

154 damage is more than sufficient TV:

A couple alien turns later and another appears in the area above TV. Accounting Troll starts reaction firing and the first bullet will be a hit:

That did 33 damage and the next bullet will be a hit as well:

Whatever damage it did, it was enough for the kill which ended the mission. EOM report:

Gimli and Kret get promoted while doing absolute diddly squat. Well, lets check out Gimli first. Since his Strength, Throwing and Shooting have all been maxed out we are going to even out Agility and Vitality.:

 Standard way of doing things I imagine. As for Kret, let's put 2 points in strength and shooting with the last going in throwing:

I think that's the best way of allocating points early in a soldier's career: incremental gains in the core abilities until those are maxed. Time to head home:

A few hours later and our radar in North America detects a battlecruiser over the Atlantic so all the Thunderstorms from that base are scrambled to engage:

15 minutes later and our research into the Rarach has just completed:

Ok, may as well take a break from this to put all the scientists on researching the Caretaker next:

And let's check out the Rarach's description:

So this thing is like a Chryssalid? Glad we didn't give these aliens a chance to use that power. I'm kinda worried it has 50 immunity to stun, but then again, when are we ever going to need to stun one of them? Back in the Geoscape and our interceptors from North and South America plus Africa have taken down that battlecruiser over water so there isn't going to be a crash site to visit for that:

But there's no way we are going to be able to visit that supply vessel and the light cruiser. It's just too far away. Let's just bombard the light cruiser to eliminate that issue and send the transport to the supply vessel:

It didn't take much to bombard that site:

So join me next time for more alien action on the same type of map again... I mean, come on, please give me randomly generated maps like in UFO:EU!

Edit: just hit 7105 UFO's shot down so now I'm back on target again. Not that I was ever behind, I'm now farther ahead of schedule.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Vaporizing, disintegrating, puncturing, are all valid methods for sanitizing the place and moving on.

Up the ladder, shoulder to shoulder go Kret and Gimli jokingly offering a deferential "after you!" to each other along the way while they pop some more of the peanuts they were having down the hatch.

For the moment more serious business is left to others, with the somber discovery that if you don't want to become the target of a hostile Rarach takeover you better be listening and watching your back.

The latest crop of interceptions yields a juicy supply vessel to plunder. Let's get to it!

[Zombie]

Supply Vessel Part 1

I try to deploy the troops from the transport but a pBoP shoots back at Crazy Gringo but luckily the damage was absorbed. Nook then took an auto shot at it hitting for 53, 2 & 25 damage which killed it. There's another pBoP that we can't shoot at so TV will mortar it:

It hits for a massive 150 damage which kills it:

 

With the landing zone cleared of enemies we can breathe a sigh of relief. It's short lived as 2 more aliens show up during their turn. The first is another pBoP which Dragon Hawk will shoot at:

The first bullet hits for 81 damage which kills it:

This U238 ammo is fantastic.The second alien is an airborne Mega which DH will shoot at too:

All the shots were either absorbed or missed completely. The Mega reaction fired back with it's AOE poison/chem weapon which catches Loonie, DH and Mouse Nightshirt in the cloud. Loonie shrugs off the damage completely but DH is hit for 6 while MN takes 4. Dragon Hawk takes one last auto shot at it and the first two bullets do 26 & 27 damage which kills it:

CG tries to get into some better cover but spots a Mega on a rooftop. I cycle through all the soldiers and find out that Pete actually has a shot on it:

The first 3 bullets only managed to damage it for 5 so he had to shoot again. The first two bullets hit for 21 & 38 which kills it:

Time for Loonie to patch up DH:

Whoopsie, we just spotted another pBoP on a rooftop. Well, nobody has a direct shot at it because of the pipe around the edge. FA pulls out his photon beamer with "heavy" ammo to shoot at the pipe. Actually, the first round took out a section of the pipe and caught the alien in the blast. It shrugged it off, but there's still 2 shots to go:

Both missed. FA still has enough APs left for one last auto shot at it:

The first shot is going to be a hit, no question about that:

That blast did 26 damage while the second did a massive 79 which killed it. We end our turn here and DH forgot to move out of the chem cloud and was injured for 6 more damage. Darnit DH! But now there's another pBoP in the same spot as before. Sorby will shoot at it this time:

His first bullet hits for 14 damage while the second is a weak spot hit for 68 damage which kills it:

It's now two days (IRL) and three turns later. A Mega shows up on the North side of the map during it's turn and shoots at CG but he absorbs the damage like a champ. He shoots back and the first bullet is going to be a hit:

It hits for 13 damage while the second was absorbed and the last missed. When it's our turn again, Knan will shoot at it:

The first bullet was absorbed while the second did 30 which finally kills it:

While spreading out some more we spot an alien cannon which TV will mortar:

The blast does a pitiful 74 damage. Well, Silencer will shoot at it now as I don't want to waste another mortar bomb on it:

His first two bullets hit for 20 & 27 damage which should've destroyed it.But it gets in one last shot before going down. The blast is shrugged off by NKF and MTR, but Silencer isn't as lucky and it damaged for 11. NKF will patch him up:

CG is caught within a chem cloud but luckily he shrugs off the damage. The next turn we spot another alien cannon and TV will again mortar it:

The blast does 96 damage but doesn't destroy it. Dummy me forgot to put him in cover so the cannon shot back at him and AT but both absorb the damage. Let's tempt fate and try that again:

This time the blast does 84 damage which is enough to destroy it:

Darnit, these low damage rolls are killing me here! Join me next time for part 2 with lots more cannon action and then the Megas come out of the woodwork.

Edit: Almost a month since my last post but I managed to stay on track with shooting down UFOs. Right now I'm sitting at 8012 UFOs shot down and #2 on the Steam global leader boards. No real movement there, but I'm staying on target even with a mini vacation and being very busy at work. I think I managed to shoot down some UFOs every day this month. And more importantly, I don't think I missed a day since the beginning of the year (I guess that depends on when Steam decides you are actually online). Still, if I can keep this up I'll be #1 soon enough. It'll be a lot of work yet obviously and an unwavering dedication.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

We were born ready... to rock and roll! From the moment of touchdown we take all comers, you poor, misguided creatures.

Well, most of the time, as Dragon Hawk is kind of all over the place with his aim and his head is not quite there once he first got patched up (Loonie must've dabbled with some opiates there) but I suppose that just happens sometimes.

In the case of Silencer, of course, he simply likes to court danger, shouting "bird is the word!" in plain sight of a UFO's cannon, and got a little sting back for his trouble.

So, mistakes were made but we're still standing. No more counting on lady luck to save your hides though - stay on your toes or get your heads blown off - your choice!

At least Commander Z is making scrap out of them flying saucers out there like it's nobody's business. Soon enough nobody will be able to compare to that kind of prowess. Talk about leading by example.

[Zombie]

Supply Vessel Part 2

It's the next turn and Accounting Troll has just spotted the scary central cannon on the UFO. The Veteran will do what he knows the best: mortaring:

The blast is a weak spot hit for a massive 171 damage which destroys it:

Three turns later during the alien's movement phase, a Mega shoots a blob of green at someone. Not sure who as it missed:

When it's our turn again, Kret finds out he can shoot at the thing which is on a balcony. His auto accuracy is pretty bad at this distance - especially with the depleted uranium ammo - so he ops for a snap shot instead:

The first hit for only 14 damage so he shoots again. This time it hits for 25 which kills it:

There's another Mega along that same side of the UFO. Dragon Hawk will try a snap shot with U238 ammo:

The bullet only does 18 damage, and then the Mega shoots a green blob at him which hits:

It only does 4 damage to him so it's not terrible. He takes another snap shot and the damage is absorbed. Really? This is U238 ammo! Ok, time to bring out the big gun. No, not the mortar, I'm talking NKF with an auto shot of "Ultra" ammo:

The damage was absorbed on the first two hits, but the last did 36 which killed it:

Time for MikeTheRed to patch up Dragon Hawk:

No harm done, he's good to go again.Two turn later Crazy Gringo teleports up to the roof of the UFO to scope things out. He sees 4 alien cannons up there yet which is concerning, but they are pretty far away and don't pose a huge threat:

Oh, what the heck! Let's have TV put a mortar between the two on the right:

The blast does a weak spot hit on the one on the left for 141 which destroys it. The other only takes 59 damage. Well, mortar ir again I guess:

It does a pitiful 69 damage, but it's still enough to take it out:

TV spends the next two rounds getting closer to the UFO and replenishing his bombs from AT. He'll send a mortar to the one on the left first:

Similar results as the last time. The blast does 143 damage to the one on the left which destroys it and only 51 damage to the other. So he'll mortar the other one directly:

Not much better in terms of damage as it only did 54 which is not enough to destroy it:

So CG teleports up there to take an auto shot at it with Ultra ammo:

The first two bullets do 8 & 37 damage which destroys it:

And he still has plenty of APs left to teleport out of there too. Four turns later during the alien movement phase we spot a Trep on the roof of the UFO as well as a Mega. Both came out of that "hole" or "door". CG is covering the far side of the rooftop and reaction fires at the Mega. The first bullet does a decent 27 damage (still with Ultra ammo) and the second is on the way (Mega is invisible for some reason):

His second hits for 22 which kills it. The last bullet is also a "hit" - it's included here so you can see the location of the Mega:

The Trep then moves closer to Pete, but CG the animal will shoot at it too:

He hits for 39 and a massive 67 which kills it:

We stay put for now but I do bring up a lot of soldiers to the close UFO side to act as cover in case things go pear-shaped. A couple rounds later the Mega Commander makes an appearance on the roof:

Pete shoots at it and all three bullets hit, but for no damage:

When it's our turn again I figure it's time to get some xp for our lower ranking team members. Kret whips out the rifle and loads the cheapest, lowest damage ammo we can get and prepares to shoot at it:

Remember, the goal isn't to damage it or kill it. We want it to shrug off all the damage and then after the training has concluded we'll finish it off by either killing it outright or stun it. So join me next time when we do a little training session with the commander, and then deal with a couple sneaky Megas who escaped our watchful eyes.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Mega nuisances are not that mega in output, which is why we're the ones making the things go kaput!

Then, coupled with a good dose of derring do and tech-enabled "blink" capability makes short work of the ominous heavy artillerly atop the UFO, another pair of interlopers soon following suit. TV and CG laugh at the sight of the smoking remains left behind, chanting in unison: "too slow, laid low!".

Time to make the new arrival, the tin can's alien Commander, dance to our benefit and enjoyment. Better follow the tune, maggot!

[Zombie]

Supply Vessel Part 3

So, let's get back to that Mega Commander! Kret took 4 auto shots at it first with el-cheapo ammo, hit every time, but none did any damage. Since nobody can get up there to shoot at it we'll just start throwing normal DG1 grenades at it. First up is MikeTheRed:

He ends up throwing 2 and both did no damage. Now it's Loonie's turn:

Same deal as MTR - he throws 2 and both hit for no damage. The Veteran isn't going to mortar this commander so he'll go next by tossing grenades:

The first actually did 9 damage (showoff) while the second was absorbed:

At this point I find out that Mouse Nightshirt actually has a shot on it if he would move one tile. He goes at it with cheap ammo and doesn't do any damage. Knan didn't have a shot so he threw a DG1 grenade which did no damage. He didn't have any more cheap grenades so he opted to throw the coveted golden pineapple grenade (DG2) which does 5 damage to it:

Suppose I could have moved some more soldiers closer to throw a grenade at it too, but I really don't want to leave an area undefended in case there are still other aliens present somewhere yet. Let's end the training session. Pete is going to teleport next to it:

He pulls out his trusty stun rod from his backpack and prepares to poke it:

It does 62 stun damage which takes it down. Nightie-night Mega Commander, you're coming home with us!

The game doesn't end so we know there are other aliens around somewhere yet. I think the UFO is clear, but we'll keep a small contingent of soldiers around there just in case. Two turns later during the alien's movement phase a Mega shows up in the mass of buildings between the transport and the UFO. It's met with reaction fire from Mouse Nightshirt, but he still has el-cheapo ammo loaded in his weapon from shooting at the commander. His first bullet hits for no damage:

The next was also absorbed but his last actually does 1 point of damage to the thing (if it bleeds we can kill it). Full Auto then starts shooting at it with his photon beamer (normal ammo):

The first blast connected but did no damage. The second is on the way and will be a hit too:

That did a decent 29 damage. His last will also be a hit:

 It does no damage. NKF then starts firing at it:

His first bullet hits for 14 damage which kills it:

During the next alien turn, Crazy Gringo reaction fires at another Mega in back of the buildings. He hits all three times for no damage (I believe he had el-cheapo ammo loaded so that would explain the no damage). Anyhow, the Mega tries to shoot back with it's green blob but misses which hits the wall in front of it:

It makes a big mistake by going in the air to end it's turn. When it's our turn, CG loads up the depleted uranium rounds and will take a snap shot at it:

The first did 32 damage while the second was absorbed:

The last killed it which ended the mission! EOM report was excellent:

A lot of our soldiers were injured multiple times but we patched them up and none needed medical attention. And we captured that Mega Commander. Not many recoverable components from the UFO, but we killed 30 aliens which was impressive.

Join me next time for a Geoscape update. Production is finished on a few items, researching continues with 2 topics completing, End of Month Report happens, I show off inventory at my main base along with it's status, then shoot down a whole bunch of UFOs. Should be a nice change of pace!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Festivities were fun, Mega C. Thanks for dropping by! Can't hear us, eh? Tsk, tsk... totally out of it. Shouldn't have come if unable to handle it, right, Pete?

The remaining Megas seem to take issue at this unfortunate development and try to cause a ruckus. One appears to have had his fill too and it shows, given the poor aim.

This is very much our party though and we'll tell you when to call it quits. Done and dusted.

Well, the limo is waiting. Nightcap back at base, people!

[Zombie]

We're back at base after that last mission and now a couple manufacturing projects just completed: another Thunderstorm and the Raven battle armor:

If you recall, the Raven is a "tank" of sorts in this game. I tried it a few times outside of this playthrough and was less than impressed. The biggest issue was the lack of armor as the normal raven falls after a couple of hits of basically anything. Here's what the normal Raven looks like along with the battle armor upgrade on the right side:

And here is the Raven after the upgrade:

That's a 33.3% increase in mechanical protection and a 62.5 % increase in chem, fire and freeze. Plus a nifty new paint job to boot. Is it better? Well, yes. But only marginally so. This should be the level the normal Raven starts with as this upgrade takes a lot of research which means it doesn't come until our soldiers have the best armor. That ultimately lessens the usability of it. Not to mention that there are no improvements to APs, Health, the rocket power or accuracy. So it always feels like I have to babysit this with other soldiers just to make sure a Bonesetter doesn't one-shot it. Anyway, three days later and our research into the Caretaker alien just completed:

Let's check out it's description next:

Not super resistant to anything except regular bullets and grenades so that's the good news. I can attest to the power of their photon weapons, you really don't want to give them a chance to shoot them. Now to figure out what we should research next... I think we'll do the Poisonous Rider next:

Not that these give anything of use, it's mostly for knowledge of the species. The next thing that happens is the End of Month Report, let's see how we did:

Everyone either thought we did a good or excellent job and all of them are giving their maximum funding levels possible. Our expenses are lower than income too. A couple days later our research into the pRider completed:

Time to check out it's description:

Since there really isn't anything else to research except the live aliens, I think we'll pull our scientists and give them a rest for the time being. Plus they will not get paid for sitting idle so we can call them back when there are other topics to research.

I figured that since all our manufacturing projects have completed that now would be a perfect time to take a closer look at that screen and the projects available to us. Here's the first screen:

We probably should manufacture another mortar at some point. And more mortar bombs. We have a decent stockpile of ammo, but I could see cranking out some more... especially the U238 stuff. We have limited use of the stun rods so there's really no reason to make any more of those (along with rockets). We do use the DG2 "golden pineapple" grenades so more of those as well as the cryo grenades would be nice. Next screen:

Ditto for the sludge grenades and incendiary grenades. As for the Medikit/Combat Medikit situation, well, we have enough Combat Medikits for now and even if those should go missing we can fall back on the normal Medikits as we have 7 spares. We could probably use more Sludge Suits of armor, but they are very expensive and take forever to manufacture. Final screen:

I suppose more personal shields would be good as our soldiers have been taking some damage recently, but we've been managing that with prompt medical treatment in the field so it's not critical. Here's what the main base looks like right now:

We have two Thunderstorms for interception duty along with a Pegasus transport along with a legacy Icarus transport just in case. Back in the Geoscape and we just detected a recon UFO as well as a battlecruiser. So the flyboys are sent out to intercept:

We take out that recon vessel easily but I don't think I want to send out the team way over there (especially with powerful UFOs on the prowl). So we are going to bombard that. Just as we do, another battlecruiser is detected:

Our normal Thunderstorms really take a beating with battlecruisers so I had to send one back to base early. And in a knee-jerk reaction sent out some reinforcements from South America. I doubt they will arrive in time though as we are making quick work of these bid UFOs:

Just as we take it out a supply vessel is detected over the Indian Ocean:

It's supposedly headed to Africa so it'll take a while to get there. We just shot down that other battlecruiser, and I think we'll keep this around so our soldiers get some xp:

If you are battling a UFO and interceptors are en-route, and then you shoot it down which creates a crash site, those other interceptors will still continue on to the crash site. So If you don't want them to do that you have to select them and do that manually. Case in point:

Had to do that with the interceptors from South America. And Antarctica too:

With those safely back at base we patiently wait (a little too long actually) for that supply UFO to get near to it's destination, then send out the interceptors:

Probably shouldn't have sent out that damaged Thunderstorm, but thankfully the UFO didn't target it. I sent it back to base manually just in case. The UFO crash lands soon enough and I think we'll keep this one around too:

We'll have to see if there's time to do all 3. If some more UFOs show up, then maybe we'll have to bombard one or two. In any case, we'll wait till it's light out at the northern battlecruiser and then send out the squad again. So join me next time for that. Should be interesting!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Raven, the "tank" that is not tanky, even after buffed?

I'll tell you where this is coming from - the same marketing department that hurried ED-209 out the door flogged this horse into the ground by imposing upon the R&D team with their penchant for "stylish designs", that look good in media presentations, instead of on the field. Scrapped!

In more useful developments, we now know how to better take care of Caretakers, all without being cooked in the process, and to stay well away from the gaze of a pRider if you don't want to be on the receiving end of a noxious chemical delivery - how rude!

Manufacturing plans have also been put in motion to ensure we remain fully operational and well supplied. Main base is looking good. Another month done we have the cash and we don't much splash, so it's all fine.

Zapping UFOs left and right like it's going out of fashion is part of what we do; it's the source of much of our satisfaction too.

Were you thinking about happy endings? Who's gonna have to mop all of that up? Good on you, geniuses, you've figured it out - now double-time it!!

[Zombie]

Battlecruiser Part 1

We start to deploy as normal and notice this is an airport map. Just so happens the control tower is right next to the transport so The Veteran is going to start off the proceedings by nuking the tower with his trusty mortar:

He kills two aliens: one takes 83 damage while the second takes 73:

That'll crimp the alien's style for sure.  During the alien's turn there is a lot of activity to the north of us. When the dust settles we count 4. There are a couple pRiders standing next to each other which screams grenade. Nook is close enough to toss a DG1 over at them:

The blast causes the helicopter to explode doing 51 which kills one. The blast only damages the other for 12 though:

Nook still has plenty of APs left so he'll toss another one:

This time the blast does 31 which kills it:

And that's how you safely deal with two pRiders when you can't shoot at them. There's another pRider near the right side of the map but we have a clear shot at it so AT will auto shoot it:

His first bullet hits for 57 damage which kills it:

Easy stuff. The last alien is a different colored Bonesetter on a roof of a building farther north. FA will shoot at it with heavy photon beamer ammo:

The first blast hits for 2 damage, the second is absorbed and the third misses. Sad panda. MTR will take a snapshot at it with depleted uranium ammo to see how that fares:

The first and second were absorbed while his last did a decent 41 damage but doesn't kill it:

Mouse Nightshirt shoots next and his first bullet hits for 23 damage which kills it:

It's at this point that I actually bother to read the combat log and find out this is no ordinary bonesetter - it's "hardened". Well, that certainly explains the difficulty we've been having. During the alien's next turn, another pRider wanders into the fire from the exploded helicopter:

It unfortunately absorbs the fire damage. But when it's our turn Mouse has moved closer and is able to throw a grenade near it:

It hits for 28 which is enough for the kill:

A couple alien turns later we spot a hardened bonesetter pacing around in the building north of us:

When it's our turn again, we don't see it anymore so we have to let it be. I do move up Pete by teleporting him closer. He checked out the pRider to see what gun it was carrying:

Positronic Beamer, eh? Looks kinda like bad news for the team as this sinister looking weapon has the potential to do a crap-ton of damage. We better be careful. Six turns later and that hardened bonsetter is back. We know that normal bonesetters don't like fire so Kret will try an Inferno grenade on it:

The blast only does 6 damage which angers the bonesetter and causes it to shoot back wildly:

Luckily the shot misses (but just barely). Nook will try another Inferno grenade on it:

This time the blast does an impressive 54 fire damage which kills it:

Well, there's the silver lining. At least these new bonesetters don't have blanket immunity to everything. In the meantime, part of the team has gained access to the lower level of the terminal by shooting out the walls. When we open the door going into the cafeteria we spot a pRider nearby which NKF will shoot at:

He hits for 20, 3 and 9 damage which finally kills it:

During the alien's next turn we spot a pRider milling around outside the terminal. When it's our turn, it's still visible, but there's a wall blocking us from shooting at it. No problem, Silencer will target the wall hoping to create a hole:

That did a great job and allows him a clear shot at it now:

The first bullet hits for 30 damage which kills it easily:

Two alien turns later another pRider appears at the hole in the wall:

NKF reaction fires at it, hits with the first bullet which does 41 damage and kills it:

Atta boy! On our next turn we have the unenviable task of trying to clear the last room of the terminal. NKF opens the door for Silencer who takes one step in and spots a hardened bonesetter in there. Time to toss an inferno grenade at it:

The blast does a decent 41 damage which isn't enough to kill it. And now it reaction fires back at Silencer. This may be bad:

It hits him for 13 damage. Ouch! The next round NKF will patch him up with a stimpack:

Ok, it's way too dangerous to send soldiers in there by walking. How about teleporting though? Pete teleports in there and will try to poke at it with his stun rod:

It's a weak spot hit for 110 stun damage which knocks it out cold:

Not ideal as it doesn't kill the alien, but it's a lot safer than other methods we've tried so far. At least stun still works on these new bonesetters. Join me next time when we deal with the alien cannons and then roast, gas and explode a couple more bonesetters exiting the UFO.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Two birds with one stone as an opener is a perfectly good way to show them thar interlopers we have a bone to pick.

Illegally trying to take possession of civilian aircraft won't be tolerated either. Nook rectifies that, exemplifying how area denial can be creatively implemented. Luckily the suits have an automated noise cancellation system to counter sudden spikes in decibels or his ears would be ringing for quite a while.

There are now some stiffer sorts amidst the bonesetter ranks, it seems, but we still know how to ventilate them nicely enough. Or, well, kill 'em with fire.

It's fine, really, so Silencer and NKF go on to play peekaboo with some pRiders, but it's not always too healthy to stick one's nose into a (certain, infamous) room in a hurry, as the former realized.

Pete comes to the rescue, near instantly delivering shocking retribution.

You know how it is, push comes to shove and all. Let's move to clarify what happens when you make us cross...

[Zombie]

Battlecruiser Part 2

After stunning that Hardened Bonesetter we just make out one of the cannons on the roof of the UFO. The Veteran will mortar it:

The blast does 111 damage which isn't enough to destroy it:

Well, it's teetering on the brink of going down so Silencer is going to risk it by shooting at it a couple turns later:

The first bullet does 40 damage which destroys it:

At least we didn't waste a mortar bomb on that. And for good reason... we just spotted the other cannon on the close side of the UFO which TV will mortar:

The blast does 112 damage which again isn't enough to destroy the cannon:

It looks like the blast was big enough to propagate through the UFO hull to cause something inside to detonate releasing some possible chemical gas. It was absorbed by one alien and another took 9 damage - let's face it, these are most likely bonesetters. Nobody is really in a good position to shoot at the cannon so TV mortars it again. This time the blast does 82 which takes it out:

With those cannons out of the way, we feel pretty confident advancing on the UFO a little the next round. NKF wanted to make a dash for the fence but was shot at by a hardened bonesetter near the doors to the UFO, but the damage was thankfully absorbed. You better stay put. Pete's going to toss an inferno grenade over the roof of the terminal to land by the thing:

It only does 20 fire damage:

We decide to stay where we are at and hope the fire will roast the bonesetter in it's hardened shell. No death sounds were heard for a couple turns so Pete teleports to the roof of the terminal to take a peek. It's still there, cooking away:

NKF will throw an incendiary grenade on it now:

The fire only did 2 damage this time. NKF then threw a normal grenade on it which does 12:

Sad damage rolls. Pete has plenty of APs left so he'll take an auto shot at it:

The first bullet hits for 71 damage which kills it:

Typical overachiever. A couple turns later we spot another hardened bonesetter sunning itself in the remnants of the fire. NKF will toss a sludge grenade on it as he's out of the lower power stuff:

It's a weak spot explosion for 73 chem damage which kills it:

Totally fine with that. Nothing really seemed to happen for the next few turns so Crazy Gringo eventually got the nerve to teleport to the top of the UFO to take a peek:

Just as he expected, there are two more cannons left. CG teleports out of there and TV will mortar the cannon on the right:

The blast does a decent 124 damage which takes it out:

TV was too far away to mortar the other one so it took him a couple turns to get into range (you can see CG is covering the UFO doors):

The first explosion did 103 damage so TV mortared it again and this time the blast did 133 which destroyed it:

That didn't seem to phase the aliens one little bit so 4 turns later MTR goes into the hangar to take a look around. He spots a hardened bonesetter camped out inside:

No way I'm letting him have a shootout with this thing so close so he withdraws. A number of soldiers spend some time shooting out the wall which gives FA a clear shot to use his photon beamer with heavy ammo:

The first blast was absorbed and the second did 70 which killed it:

Great teamwork guys! Join me for the final part where we use an unorthodox strategy to take out a hardened bonesetter and Nook and Sorby both get injured (Nook severely). But we fight back and prevail. Two more promotions after the mission and finally some new things to research before heading to the next mission.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

You're showing us yours, we're showing you ours - only, we can bring out the big guns faster!

Afterwards it's a bit of a slow burn, chipping away at the uncaringly stubborn aliens, taking on other cannons, but we're getting the hits in all the same, which is what matters.

Nooks and crannies, gents. Be mindful of them or pay the price. Now continue the sweep!

[Zombie]

Battlecruiser Part 3

After killing that last Hardened Bonesetter, all was quiet on the western front. Plenty of UFO door sounds though so everyone converges on the doors and eventually a few brave souls venture inside. Silencer is first and spots another Hardened Bonesetter which is between two power sources. Obviously, it's normal grenade time:

The normal grenade is weak, but all we need it to do is to cause both power supplies to explode. That explosion does a massive 80 damage to the thing which kills it:

Always a great feeling to use some unconventional methods to take out baddies. Silencer didn't have a lot of APs left to make it back outside so he huffed it back to the door and preyed. Yup, during the alien's turn another hardened bonesetter comes near but doesn't shoot. It would be rude not to shoot at the thing as this is almost a gimme:

The first bullet was absorbed, the second did 9 damage and the third did 30. Not dead yet so he fired again. His first bullet does 69 which kills it:

Four turns later we've basically canvassed the entire ground floor of the UFO and have soldiers everywhere. During the alien's turn there's a lot of activity going on:

The hardened bonesetter on the left shoots at Nook with it's positronic beamer and critically damages him for 23. Ouch! He shoots back with his first bullet hitting for a whole 2 damage:

His next bullet does 14 while the last was absorbed. When it's our turn again Gimli is going to patch Nook back up. First, he'll use the combat medikit to remove the critical wound in the leg:

With the critical wound gone, he can use the stimpack to recover the lost health:

And he's back up to full health again. No lasting effects either. Loonie will shoot at the bonesetter:

His first bullet does a massive 77 damage which kills it:

I move Sorby out from behind a pillar to shoot at the other bonesetter but it shoots back at him doing 4 damage.

It's just an arm wound so FA will patch it up with a stimpack:

And now he can finally shoot at the thing:

His first two bullets do 21 & 36 damage but everything else was absorbed:

Oh come now Sorby, you're capable of so much more! Well, Knan is going to have to clean up the mess:

His first bullet was absorbed, but his second is going to be a hit:

That did enough damage to kill it and also end the mission. Phew! EOM report card:

Two promotions too! Let's do The Veteran first:

His throwing wasn't maxed out yet so I put one point into that and the rest into agility and vitality. Next up is our fearless leader Pete:

Everything went into agility and vitality. What a beast! Back at base we have a number of new research projects available. I say let's work on the Positronic Beamer weapon first:

Yup, we'll put everyone on it:

Maybe it'll help with the hardened bonesetter issue. Right? Or maybe not. We have to do something though. In the meantime, we head out immediately to assault the second Battlecruiser, so stay tuned for that mess!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

At the tip of the spear Silencer takes no prisoners and ups his personal count with bravery. No less was to be expected.

There's plenty of darkness to be parted still though. The innards of these vessels are full of perils, some of which you'll be fortunate to walk away from, as Nook experienced more severely firsthand.

But we're an elite team, one that doesn't back off - you mess with one of us, you deal with us all. Our coordinated actions simply can't be matched by these foul creatures and our united response is lethal.

We come together too for the raucous celebration of two of ours reaching Captain the very same day!

Our extended team, so to speak, does not rest however. We absolutely will not stop until the secrets of our invaders can be fully turned against them.

While we dig in our heels, we'll use all our existing means and knowledge to go step on their toes.

[Zombie]

Battlecruiser Part 1

Back at it in a jungle type of map. Pete deploys first and is surprised by two pRiders standing next to each other. One shoots at him with a chem weapon but misses. CG is off the transport next and he'll toss an Inferno grenade on them:

It does 28 damage to one and 65 to the other which immediately kills both:

Fantastic! We deploy some more and barely spot a cannon on the roof of the UFO. Luckily TV still has APs left so he'll mortar it:

The blast only does 101 damage which isn't enough to take it out:

Nobody really feels like shooting at the thing so we'll let it be for now. Next turn and TV will mortar it again:

This blast did 109 damage which destroyed it:

At least we have a foothold now and can breathe a little bit easier. We can't relax too much as another pRider is spotted nestled in the corner of the UFO. Nobody really has a shot on it as there are some trees in the way. CG will shoot at the trees then:

It took two auto shots worth of bullets to destroy the trees, but his last bullet hit the pRider damaging it for 21. It then shoots back:

CG shrugs off the damage so MTR will shoot at it:

His first bullet hits for 23 damage which kills it:

We spread out some more and spot another pRider just southwest of the transport:

It's in a bad spot due to all the trees blocking our shots. Suppose TV could have mortared it, but meh, it's a pRider. We let it go. Totally forgot about the other UFO cannons and during the alien's turn, one of them shoots at Pete who wasn't in very good cover:

The first shot was absorbed, the second hit him for 18 damage while the last missed. When it's our turn again, NKF will take some wild shots at the trees providing cover for the pRider who is still milling about the same area. One bullet makes it through and does 13 damage to it:

The second hits something in the darkness for 14 damage:

I'll assume it's another pRider for now. NKF's last bullet hits the visible pRider for 25 which kills it:

Pete's pale blue crystal has absorbed 10 of the damage he took from the UFO cannon. That's the good news. We could let the crystal slowly replenish his health but that'll take a while. Or we could have Silencer patch him up now:

We eventually spot that other pRider who was hiding in the darkness and also make out another cannon which TV will mortar:

The explosion only does 88 damage:

So he mortars it again. This time the blast hits a weak spot and does 166 damage which destroys it:

Kret will now shoot at the previously hidden pRider:

His first bullet hits for a paltry 2 damage while his second hits a weak spot for 70 which kills it:

During the alien's turn the floodgates open and aliens are pouring out of every area imaginable. One pRider on the west corner of the UFO tries to shoot at one of us:

It missed thankfully. There's another pRider on the east side of the UFO too:

Two more pRiders show up on the west side:

And another showed up in the trees where the other two were. Busy turn! And we can see all 5 of them now:

So join me for part 2 where we'll whip out the ol' mortar to address the 3 pRiders in the corner of the UFO. The other two are eliminated quickly. Then we work on removing the rest of the cannons while providing counter fire to more pRiders which show up. Stay tuned for that as it'll be interesting!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Here we go, crashing another party!

As usual we like it loud, especially when we're the ones making the most noise and redoing some of the landscaping to our greater satisfaction.

Some of those in attendance try to get us into a brawl by picking a fight around the wooded area but we too know how to pacify fools fast. What's a few shots exchanged among merrymakers anyway, right?

A bit slim on the drinks front over here though, so I suppose we'll have to plow through to find where the real fun is at. Let's go mingle some more!

[Zombie]

Battlecruiser Part 2

We have these 3 pRiders clumped up by the UFO which to me just screams mortar. Get to it TV:

The blast does 82, 150 and 86 damage which kills them all:

And just like that we have two left. NKF somehow has a shot on the pRider to the northwest:

He's not using the depleted uranium bullets so his bullets hit for 13, 10 and 2 which kills it:

Which shows that pRiders have 24 or 25 health - not a lot. Knan will shoot at the last one:

His first bullet only does 5 damage but his second does a massive non-critical 85. This should mean it's dead, right? Wrong. It shoots back hitting Knan for 2 damage and then it dies. Figure that one out:

Gimli is going to patch up Knan's head wound with the stimpack:

Three turns later we finally spot an alien cannon on the east part of the UFO so TV will mortar it:

The blast kills something (which I'm assuming is another pRider) for 92 non-critical damage and only damaged the cannon for 81:

We are going to wait on nuking it again as TV needs more mortar bombs. During the alien's next turn we spot a pRider where those 3 Amigos were a few rounds ago:

When it's our turn again, Silencer will shoot at it:

He hits for 4 & 28 which kills it:

And now TV will mortar that UFO cannon again:

It's a weak spot hit for 161 damage which means it's gone:

Nothing doing during the alien's turn so CG teleports to the top of the UFO to have a look around:

He spots the last UFO cannon so TV will mortar that:

The blast does a massive 227 damage which destroys it:

A couple turns later we spot some movement on the far west side of the map where all the trees are. After a little scouting, it's another pRider. Sneaky! Silencer will shoot at it:

His first bullet hits for 57 damage which kills it:

Six turns later and we've managed to clear the map outside of the UFO with no alien activity. NKF opens a UFO door to peek inside and is promptly shot by a pRider for 1 damage. He's going to shoot back:

His first bullet does 41 damage and kills it:

A couple turns later and everyone has congregated by the UFO doors. There's another pRider inside which NKF will shoot at:

He hits for 11 & 23 which kills it:

We peek in the other UFO door and spot another pRider standing between two power sources. Sorby originally was going to toss an incendiary grenade at the closer power source:

But if he moves 2 tiles he can throw it under the pRider:

A power source explodes doing 62 damage which kills it:

Gotta love that! Pretty explosion too! A couple alien turns later and a pRider shows up on the left side and runs out of APs. NKF is more than willing to reaction fire at it:

That first bullet did 44 damage which killed it:

Don't mess with NKF. A couple alien turns later and now we see a pRider on the right side of the UFO:

DragonHawk is ready for it and reaction fires back. His first bullet hits for 7:

His next bullet hits for 2 and the last was absorbed. Hrumph! The pRider fires back with heavy ammo in it's photon beamer:

It connects with DragonHawk doing 10 damage. DH gets the last laugh as he fires back at it:

That shot connects and kills it which ends the mission. I was a little worried about DH being wounded when the mission ends, but the game brushed it off like nothing ever happened:

No promotions this time, but it went good as we killed 24 aliens. Well, technically 20 aliens and 4 cannons, but who's counting at this point? True, it was just pRiders, but there were a lot of them. It was a nice change though as we didn't have to worry about tougher aliens like hardened bonesetter. Back in the Geoscape and we complete manufacturing two hands of fate launchers for our interceptors:

And we've been cranking out mortar bombs as well as TV has been using a lot lately. After this it's right back out to visit UFO #215 which is that Supply Vessel:

So join me next time for that!

Monthly update on shooting UFOs down... I'm still #2 on the Steam leaderboards with 9098. There were a couple points during the month where I maybe only shot down 10 in a day due to being tired and wore down from work. I really put the hammer down last weekend and managed to catch back up and then some. At last calculation the number of UFOs I need to shoot down per day has dropped to just under 26.

I was trying out some of the different interceptor attack styles such as standard and cautious because the default for the game is aggressive. In fact, when you send out some interceptors to engage a UFO, there isn't an option to pick what style you want the interceptors to follow. You have to send them out, select them, pick the type and reengage the UFO. Not ideal as it adds a lot of steps.

I'm not really sure what a standard attack does as I didn't check that out, but with cautious the interceptor will keep it's distance and actually withdraw if it takes too much damage. That's interesting. Recall that with the bigger UFOs that when they spot the closest interceptor, they will target only that one. Everything else is ignored. So I've been sending out a "golden" Thunderstorm set on cautious attack to get spotted first, then send out everyone else on aggressive. It's a little better strategy as you don't have to micromanage dogfights with the larger UFOs as much. But there's an up-front price of micromanaging your interceptors when you initially send them out.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

And just like that pRiders are all over the place it seems. We don't like to feel crowded, or cheated out of the spotlight, as appears to be attempted with Knan on one occasion...

Nope, not taking that lying down - we're perfectly capable of engaging in the hot and cold treatment too - we'll have your cannons on the rocks right now, for starters...

Then it's time to go for the inner circle, where we'll have all the cool cats warm up to us, for real, and set off the pretty lights in the process.

Some hitches aside, it was a successful outing and we leave the headaches for the losers, as we walk out flush with 720k in pocket.

Ours is a life on the fast lane. We're so popular that, after a quick freshening up, we're out for a resupply, straight towards the nearest Supply Vessel.

@Commander Z: I see there's a lot going on behind the scenes. That level of fine tuning is bound to give you an edge on your steady way to claim that top spot. Play them like a fiddle, Sir!

[Zombie]

Supply Vessel Part 1

This time we are on a cityscape map. Pete and CG go down to the ground from the platform via their teleporter to have a look around and spot a caretaker along side the transport on the ground. Nook gets off with an Inferno grenade at the ready. Yo may be able to make out the caretaker's eyeballs poking up:

The Caretaker can't shoot at Nook because he's blocked by the transport so Nook feels pretty safe with tossing the grenade below:

It's a weak spot hit for a massive 94 fire damage which obviously kills it:

That's amazing! A turn later we spot a Rarach on a rooftop a couple stories above the transport. Somehow MTR has a shot on it:

All his bullets hit for great damage doing 55, 25 & 42 which kills it:

And that wasn't even the depleted uranium ammo. Down below the transport, CG spots another Rarach a fair distance away. Pete will shoot at it:

His first two bullets do 58 & 29 damage which kills it:

Again, great damage rolls. There's no stopping us this mission! That is until CG sneaks a little too close and is shot at by an alien cannon. Luckily for no damage. TV will mortar it:

The blast does 121 to the cannon which destroys it, and also deals 91 damage to something else up there which didn't die:

I'm assuming it's another cannon, so nothing to worry about yet. A couple alien turns later and there's a lot of activity we spot. First is a Rarach who is coming down a street towards CG and Pete:

That may be an issue if it doesn't stop. We also see movement in a darkened building with a door open:

That first Rarach got a little too close to CG so NKF is going to shoot at it with depleted uranium rounds just to make sure it goes down:

He hits all three times doing 65, 20 & 28 damage which kills it:

Quite impressive numbers from Mr Reliable. There's also a Rarach above that area in a glass hallway. Pete shoots out some windows so MTR who is on the platform is able to target it with U238 ammo:

His first two bullets do 69 & 100 damage which kills it:

Teamwork is the name of the game along with lucky damage rolls. Hope this keeps up! During the alien's next turn, that Rarach in the darkened building shows up at the doorway:

When it's our turn the thing is still visible. NKF has a shot on it, but his auto accuracy with the good ammo is a little low so he opts for an aimed shot:

His first shot hit for 82 damage which didn't kill it. NKF's next auto shot does 87 which kills it:

There's also an Iron Rattler to the west of us which DragonHawk will take some snap shots at with U238 ammo:

Oops, it's an Iron Rattler so it's a weakling. His first bullet does 43 damage which kills it:

During the alien's next turn we spot an airborne Trep floating around above the UFO:

DragonHawk reaction fires at it, hitting it once for 72 damage which kills it:

During the alien's next turn another Iron Rattler shows up and immediately fires at DH with it's photon beamer:

The damage was thankfully absorbed and now DH will reaction fire back at it:

His first bullet hits a weak spot for a massive 113 damage which kills it:

Join me next time for part two where we have some trouble taking care of all the UFO cannons. In the end they are all destroyed but we pay a price for it.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

It's bound to take some serious flying skills from the pilots to land a transport craft in such a tight spot like that, wouldn't you say? But, of course, silly me, this thing cost us a boatload of cash for a reason - it's the fancy auto-parking system where all the real magic happens here.

Another thing that comes to mind is, the only real reason the Pegasus needs to land at all is because it functions as a kind of APC on deployment because, otherwise, it need not even touch ground, having troops equipped with teleporters just beam themselves down once a certain proximity from the destination was reached.

It must also kind of be assumed that our transport must either:
- be considered to have always landed beyond the operational range of the UFO's cannons (which is unconvincing to me given the relative distances and the ranges at which interceptors and UFOs engage)
- that the cannons' targeting systems are being jammed (also not too plausible as our soldiers are still fair game and much smaller compared to such a vessel)
- or our craft has some cloaking device that renders it essentially invisible to their guns for the time needed to successfully land and condutct the mission (without specific mention of it on our intel brief about the transport)

But, I digress, Nook made such a spectacle of the flawless nature of the first execution that he shouldn't go without applause. Well done!

Which in turn opens the playing field for others, like MTR, Pete & Co to follow suit in their own fashion.

In this urban jungle we must bring our A Game; everybody chips in razor sharp. There's little room for error here.

Whatever else lurks in these shadows must be dealt with. Look alive, people!!