Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Thorondor]

Our mystery room never disappoints with its ever elusive occupant, so light the way we did for a good kill.

On we went to Bonesetter town, rowdy bunch that we are, making them properly frown but we took 'em down. Saved us the trouble of going into their tin can too.

And what do you know - The Veteran actually gained some veterancy out of the deal, alongside Accounting Troll of course, but who's counting Corporals anyway; not Colonels that's for sure.

Marching orders: form a nice conga line as we're heading out to free the DRC of alien marauders!

[Zombie]

Medium Cruiser Part 1

This time it's a train station map and I really didn't want to deal with it so I reloaded a bunch of times. Everytime it was a train station. Ok, guess we are going to have to do this. We deploy the usual way for this map and a couple rounds in a BoP is spotted over the train. Standard operating procedure dictates Space Voyager gets first crack at it with some snap shots:

First shot missed, second hit for 5 and the same for the third. Not impressive as usual. The only place we can shoot at the BoP is in the line between it and SV, so FullAuto has to kneel in front of SV to take an auto shoot:

His first three bullets didn't do much damage so he shot again and the first bullet did 48 killing it:

There's another BoP inside the train but we don't have a shot at it and let it be. During the alien's turn the BoP conveniently opens the door to the train and peeks out only to be met by reaction fire from Blade:

He kills it easily. A couple turns later and there's yet another BoP above the platform so SV is going to take a 90% accurate snap shot at it:

And he kills it with a critical hit dealing 78 damage:

All or nothing with this soldier. Eight turns later and now there's a BoP where the first one was. SV is going to start off with aimed shots:

He hits for 36 and 42 killing it:

See, that's what I want: consistent damage! Four turns later and we see a BoP deploy a Sentinel over the platform. FullAuto has a shot at the Sentinel so he'll auto shoot at it:

It took a couple auto shots to kill it and he still has APs left so he'll shoot at the BoP next:

The first bullet did 1 damage, the second did 34 and the last was a critical hit for 67 damage which spelled instant death for it:

Four turns later and there's another BoP above the train. As usual, SV will try some aimed shots:

He hits for 22 and then 5. Time for FullAuto to mop up the mess with an auto shot:

The first bullet hit for 58 killing it:

Now a bunch of turns go by (26 actually) before we see anything. We've been busy clearing the the part of the map up to the train. NoX steps out the back side of the train and sees our first non-BoP/Sentinel this mission: a Bonesetter. So the Veteran is going to take an auto shot at it:

He hits for 3, 24 and 19. Not enough for a kill and then the Bonesetter shot back for no damage. TV shot again dealing 7 and 35 killing it:

Then everything goes quiet for another 17 turns. We've been trying to clear the inside of the building where the Bonesetter was. On the ground floor we spot a Bonesetter by the doors so Blade is going to take a snap shot at it with his photon beamer:

It only hits for 5 damage. The Veteran is his backup but because his strength and throwing stats are low he has to move up quite a bit to be able to toss an incendiary grenade:

It does 56 damage which kills it:

There's another Bonesetter nearby as we can hear it moving around. We think it's in this building somewhere, but where? We're going to need to do a proper sweep of the place next time. After that, it's time to clear the UFO and when we get back to the Geoscape there are going to be some changes made in soldier kit (I think you can guess what and whom I'm referring to). So stay tuned for that next time!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

There are some futures you can escape and some others you just can't shake.

In a myriad of possible scenarios we are faced with there's a tiny sliver of opportunity for decision. Both action and inaction interleaved constitute our taken choices.

You get to see the less accomplished, the average and the most achieved, as exemplified by SV's different attempts.

Somewhere in between we deal with the odds and the outcome - that's our job.

As one door closes another opens. We're coming through and whatever faces us here won't be outstaying its welcome. Let's play this out!

[Zombie]

Medium Cruiser Part 2

Three rounds later and JFG musters the courage to go up the lift to the second floor where he spots the elusive Bonesetter. He's going to toss an inferno grenade... wait, scratch that he doesn't have enough APs anymore:

Well, hmmm. What am I going to do now? On a whim I have SV shoot at the outside of the wall and is able to punch a hole through it. And he even has a shot at it (auto shot):

He hits for 4 and 26. Time for another auto shot:

Only one of the bullets hit but for no damage. Somehow FullAuto was able to make his way next to SV to take a shot:

He damaged it one time for 13 - still not enough. This thing needs to die NOW so I send Slaughter over there too to take a shot:

Absorbed, absorbed and the last did 25 which killed it:

We are pretty sure that's it for the aliens outside the UFO so we slowly start to make our way over to the door. NoX and Thorondor pick the short straws and get "door duty" while two other soldiers keep their distance as backup. NoX opens the door and Thorondor sees a Bonesetter close by so he readies an incendiary grenade:

Critical hit for 68 fire damage = death:

Atta boy! A few rounds later a Bonesetter shoots at NoX during it's turn and damages him for 5 - could be a lot worse. But NoX shoots back hitting for no damage and then 24. Another shot is on the way though - how much damage will that deal:

It hits for no damage. Bummer. But it's now our turn so NoX allows The Veteran to take an auto shot at it:

his first bullet was a miss, the second was absorbed and the last did 29 damage. That precipitated reaction fire from the Bonesetter it's shot completely missed TV and hit Accounting Troll instead for 5 damage. TV is going to continue shooting:

He kills it dealing 38 damage. There's another Bonesetter just inside the UFO so Accounting Troll goes in there (after getting patched up) and takes an auto shot at it:

Missed, absorbed and absorbed. But we have an ace in the hole so to speak as NoX is right next to it with a stun rod. Zappy-zappy time:

It's a critical hit for 120 stun damage. Wow! Unfortunately, AT is a sitting duck as he's out of APs and can't withdraw. Fingers crossed. A Bonesetter shows up and shoots at him but luckily the damage was absorbed. Since he's right there it makes sense to shoot at it at near point blank range:

He kills it and that was the end of the mission:

Yup, we knew TV was going to get promoted so let's allocate the points:

His throwing was lacking so he got two points into that and then one point into Bravery, Strength and Shooting. Pretty straightforward really.

Back at base and the first thing on the agenda is to deal with Space Voyager. He's a great soldier, don't get me wrong. But his shots with the photon beamer hardy ever do decent damage. Not sure if this is a function of shooting accuracy (his is low-ish at 92) so I'm going to switch him back over to the standard rifle with ultra AP ammo:

Your guess is as good as mine if this will help, but he will have better accuracy with the rifle and that's a given. Now the issue is who is going to get his photon beamer? I'm still thinking low accuracy is to blame for low damage rolls so I go through the soldier roster and compare everyone's shooting. Slaughter is a solid 98 shooting so I think that in conjunction with his high 97 strength is a perfect combo:

Even loaded to the brim he still isn't encumbered so I think that's a win. Heck, he even gets a very heavy clip of heavy photon beamer ammo to round it all out. And he's wearing the inferno armor too. Not sure if this is how it's going to stay forever as we have a cyclic turnover rate of soldiers leaving for vacation after a promotion and new soldiers being called up to fill the vacated spot but we are going to stick with this strategy.

Stay tuned as we are going to do that Medium Cruiser in Sweden next!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds".

Well, all in the interest of saving our own, naturally. So much satisfaction in such a little package...

AT was in hot water there for a sec but, like I said, playing the percentages is our meat and potatoes. There are many ways to fry an invader and, this time, we went for the two birds with one stone option - nullify threat and take for frying later. Well done!

Sting like a bumblebee indeed. TV, I like what I see, Slaughter, SV, on me; let's set this planet free, compadres.

[Zombie]

Medium Cruiser Part 1

Lots of shooting on this mission so it's going to be longer. I left almost all of the screenshots in just to show how bad it can be sometimes (I suppose it didn't help I have a couple "rookies" along either). This first part will be most of the action outside the UFO. Part 2 will be a straggler outside and then clearing the inside. The last "part" is technically not part of the mission so I'm just going to lump all the Geoscape stuff together (EOM, promotion, interceptions, research and manufacturing).

First round we start to deploy and The Veteran spots a Gehe at the front of the transport. He'll only take a single auto shot as I want to pull him back to keep him safe:

He didn't do bad damage as the first bullet hit for 39 and the last for 12. Ok, time for Accounting Troll to take an auto shot:

Again, not terrible damage as he hit for 23 on the first and 1 on the last. NoX is up next:

Missed, 14 damage and absorbed. That's not too good. How about we Have JFG shoot at it:

He killed it thankfully. A couple turns later and we have deployed as the LZ is clear. During the alien's turn an airborne Gehe shows up and Thorondor reaction fires at it. First shot was absorbed but the second is on the way:

That was absorbed too. His last did 21 damage though. When it's our turn AT takes some auto shots at it:

He missed a lot but at the end hit for decent damage. TV is next and his shooting accuracy isn't much better:

His missed once, but then hit for 2 and 34 which killed it:

We spot a Fireball during the alien's turn, but nobody reaction fires at it. No problem, AT is going to shoot at it first:

He missed twice, then hit for 5, 2, 23 & 38 which was not enough for the kill. TV is next:

He hit for 7 and then 6 which killed it:

During the alien's turn another Fireball shows up in almost the same spot but Slaughter is on overwatch and reaction fires at it with his photon beamer. The first shot was a critical hit for 71 damage:

There's two more shots on the way though. Those both hit for 3 and 10 which killed it:

You rock! During the alien's next turn an airborne Gehe shows up at the front of the transport. Blade reaction fires at it with the first hitting for 5 damage:

He hits again for 11 but misses the last. Time for TV to shoot at it:

He hit with every bullet but only one did 28 damage while everything else was absorbed. AT is up next and he's going to take snap shots instead as his auto accuracy sucks:

He hit for 2, 7, absorbed, 1 and 28. Not enough for the kill. Okay, how about we let Space Voyager shoot at it with his AK rifle:

Absorbed and hit for 38 killing it:

Needs more testing, but I'm impressed so far. Three turns later and there is another Gehe at the front of the transport again but off to the other side this time. TV is going to take some snap shots as his auto accuracy sucks at this range:

Three shots were absorbed while 2 did damage for 37 and 31. Not bad. At is going to do the same thing:

Absorbed, absorbed and killed it with a shot dealing 31:

It does seem like snap shots are the better choice for soldiers with lower accuracy as they will hit more and may damage more too. A bunch of turns go by as we slowly sweep through the walls on the right side of the map. We get our sweep team situated in cover except for JFG who is going to cover the bottom of the map. Normally this is Thorondor's job, but JFG needs some experience. He reaction fires at a Fireball hitting for 38 with his first:

There's another on the way which hits for 48 killing it:

That's awesome! Mr T is the soldier standing by the wall closest to JFG. He'll come into play in the next part of the mission so stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Catching them on the fly appeals to me, but no matter, all shall be done in this effort of do or die we go as one.

Slaughter too has had his fun, now quick as can be, we need you at your best with that gun, SV.

Yes, siree, not bad all around. JFG - well done, lad; still, stay chill as there's more to be found and don't you let 'em flee!

[Zombie]

Medium Cruiser Part 2

So three turns later and a Fireball comes bursting out of the UFO only to be met with reaction fire from Thorondor who was on overwatch to allow the team to get closer. His first shot hit for a whopping 50 damage:

And his second hit for 34 killing it:

Atta boy! Standing, kneeling, lying down, doing jumping jacks - it doesn't affect his shooting one little bit. After bringing everyone up, NoX goes inside and spots a Gehe inside the second set of doors. Needless to say he booked it out of there. JFG is going to throw a photon grenade near it:

That did 13 so he threw a DG1 grenade next but that was absorbed. The Veteran throws a DG1 at it too and that does 42 damage. Go figure. Might as well toss another then:

That was absorbed. So Accounting Troll is going to throw a photon grenade next:

Absorbed too. So he throws a DG1 grenade and it does 18. Slaughter the comes up and tosses a DG1 on it too. That does 19 but it's still not enough to kill this tough-as-nails Gehe. I think we pressed our luck as the Gehe shot back at us bathing a few soldiers in some nice warm flames. Mr T shuts the door in his face and proceeds to patch up the wounded with a stim pack:

The Gehe just stays put during it's turn so Slaughter goes in there to shoot at it with his photon beamer:

He kills it thankfully. But during the alien's turn another Gehe comes into the anteroom to play. Slaughter isn't having any of that and shoots instead:

And the result is? A living Gehe. He hit for 55 damage all together but that's not enough. Accounting Troll is next:

Almost all his shots were absorbed, but he managed to get in a couple damaging hits for 23. Let's have FullAuto shoot next:

He eventually was able to take it down and everyone can sigh in relief:

Maybe we should have poked it with a stun rod instead, but at leas we got some free xp. During the aliens turn a Gehe comes outside and it met with reaction fire from SV this time. His first shot was absorbed, but more are on the way:

He then does 40 and the last was absorbed too:

But that's not it for this round as the Gehe shoots back. But misses? I mean, we are in fire but nobody was damaged or even hit by it. Didn't matter really as it's a sitting duck for SV the next round as he blasts it into oblivion. We open the anteroom door and there's another Gehe in there:

Accounting Troll is going to shoot first:

His first was absorbed, but then he deals 23 and 36 to it. More please:

Everything was absorbed. The Veteran is next:

He dealt 15 on his first shot but then the damage trickled off to one or two points per hit. I guess it falls on Slaughter then:

And he killed it ending the mission. EOM report:

Lots of shooting for our rookies but few kills. We'll allocate their points next post along with a bunch of other developments so stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Hehe, feels good to make a move and find a groove. Even if in steaming hot pressure sometimes.

That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger, aliens. 'Bout time you caught on, but nope!

Sergeants, come over here and help us count how many bottles of beer are on that wall before we ship out again.

[Space Voyager]

16 hours ago, Thorondor said:

Slaughter too has had his fun, now quick as can be, we need you at your best with that gun, SV.

I'm trying, I'm TRYING! Am I finally git gud? 

[Zombie]

Time to allocate promotion points. Let's start with The Veteran first:

I figured I'd spread the wealth around a bit for this promotion as I wanted to get a point into bravery just in case we encounter psionic aliens. So I put one point into that to get him to 65. That's a start at least. Then one point went into Shooting, Throwing and Strength (kinda obvious at this point what the 3 most important stats are). There was one point left so I put that inot agility as TV lacks in movement. And here's Accounting Troll:

Almost the same allocation except that AT was a little low in Vitality so I put the last point into that. Solid soldiers overall but I think AT is going to turn out a little bit better as his shooting potential is higher. I'm going to need to put some more points into agility and vitality at some point because he's a little low in those.

Back at base and our research into the CAF Ship (mobile base) has finally finished:

Let's check out it's description:

Well, we are going to need some of these ASAP as larger UFOs are becoming more frequent. Right now we are producing soldier shields so I'm not stopping production of those for the base. Priorities see. We have some choices for research and I decide to go with the Hand Of Fate Launcher (ship bomb):

That should make nuking downed UFOs a little quicker. Speaking of UFOs, we just shot down another Medium Cruiser but this time it was over the Mediterranean Sea:

I almost reloaded as I wanted another mission to train up TV and AT, but then again we need more soldier shields badly as all we have is a small stockpile of legacy VT2000's which I've been slowly folding into the mix just to use them up. Some soldiers don't need the best shielding anyway (like Bomb Bloke with his mortar, and Thorondor and Space Voyager as these two normally hang back and only engage when necessary). As soon as the VT3000's finished production it was time to start production on the "aircraft carrier":

Seven days and seven hours with 40 engineers on the job. That's going to take some time produce so we may have to switch out to something else (like AK1 Ultra ammo) for a short time. We'll see though. This thing is crazy expensive too (~$2million space bucks) but luckily we've been saving up. In the mean time we've been manufacturing golden eagle interceptors at our other production bases as we are going to need some for the mobile base. Soon enough our research into the hand of fate launcher finished:

We may as well check out it's description:

I think we need to compare it to the roaring earth launcher though:

Okay, so the hand of fate is more accurate, deals more damage and is quicker to reload. Best part is: it costs the same to produce as the roaring earth so this is kinda a no-brainer. We can sell off the roaring earths to fund the production of it's replacement. And it'll give our engineers something to do. We can now research something again. The Spitfire doesn't really lead to anything if I remember correctly so let's go with the Gehe:

We are slowly making some progress on researching now. Back in the Geoscape and another Medium Cruiser spawns in but this time it's almost directly over our main base:

No reason to get excited about this so we just send out our 3 golden eagles from our main base out. That in combination with the base defenses make short work of this UFO:

We'll wait a little bit till the crash site is in daylight then head out to that. So stay tuned for that next.

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

4 hours ago, Zombie said:

Some soldiers don't need the best shielding anyway (like Bomb Bloke with his mortar, and Thorondor and Space Voyager as these two normally hang back and only engage when necessary).

Oh, OH, this is a clear provocation! One that I can not agree with and protest against! ?

 

Hanging back Triarii-like is good, VERY good even, but you know, backup units need the best armour available as we jump in when times are dire and all. I hope I made a good case and you will reconsider this potentially fatal (for me and Thor) mistake.

[Thorondor]

Top brass sure are thinking big with that new CAF Ship business. I can see its use as a platform for pojecting power. Not exactly very fast though.

Hand of Fate launcher? Weaksauce, eggheads. I'm officially naming it Death Hand launcher. We can't leave it all to fate now, can we? Confirmed kill is where it's at.

Says right there on the description: "kills all living or injured aliens". Who writes these things?

Well, look at that - another downed UFO. Let's do the honours, shall we?

[Zombie]

18 hours ago, Space Voyager said:

.. backup units need the best armour available as we jump in when times are dire and all. I hope I made a good case and you will reconsider this potentially fatal (for me and Thor) mistake.

Very weak argument for two reasons:

1. You two are already wearing Hellfire suits of armor while the trainees are in photon. So you already have a leg up in that department. The shields just soak up whatever gets through the armor.
2. By the time I get down the line of available soldiers to shoot there's a really good chance that the alien will be heavily damaged. And all the other soldiers would have triggered whatever reaction fire the alien had banked. It's going to be safe for you two to shoot in most instances.

Medium Cruiser Part 1

This is another desert map, but this time it's a maze type. First round and there's nothing visible around the transport so we stay put. Second round Accounting Troll spots a Bonesetter so he'll toss an incendiary grenade on it:

It deals 46 damage which wasn't enough for the kill. He only has 7 AP left and can't get back into cover now.

Not sure why I decided not to move anyone else out. I think I was worried about grenades being thrown if we were all clumped together. During the alien's turn, the Bonesetter shot at AT hitting for 2 damage. Not a big deal. Another Bonesetter shows up to the right but doesn't come closer. At the beginning of our turn the game runs the AOE damage calculation and kills off the Bonestter in fire dealing 42 more damage. Nice! Since AT is kneeling and has a shot at the other Bonesetter he'll auto shoot it:

He takes two auto shots and everything hit but only did 46 damage. Time for The Veteran to shoot as it should be weakened:

Yup, first shot hits for 22 killing it:

Three turns later and a Bonesetter shows up at the entrance to the maze so The Veteran is going to shoot at it first:

He takes three auto shots at it and kills it on his last bullet:

Awesome! The next turn NoX moves closer to the maze and is shot by a Bonesetter who is camped out in there hitting for 5 damage. Somehow Accounting Troll has a shot at it so he'll shoot:

And he obliterates the thing with his first auto shot dealing damage every hit:

Gotta love it when you can kill a tough alien in one auto shot as that means you have APs left for reaction fire (if necessary). During the alien's turn a Rider comes charging out of the maze but is killed by The Veteran with reaction fire dealing a critical hit:

About 5 turns later another Rider comes out of the maze and stops right in front of The Veteran. He doesn't reaction fire for some reason, but he'll shoot at it:

And he kills it easily:

Exact same thing happens the next round as another Rider stops in front of TV but he doesn't reaction fire. Time to shoot:

And he kills it with the first bullet dealing 45 damage:

Keep 'em coming is what I say. TV can shoot at these poor saps all day long. Fifteen turns go by and yet another Rider shows up in the maze. It shoots at AT hitting him for 6 damage, but he's going to shoot back:

No problem killing it as he didn't even need all three bullets to take it down:

The bodies are really starting to pile up now. Join me next time when we move into the maze and clear the outside and then make a rare visit inside the bowels of the UFO to take out the last cowering Bonesetter.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

The writing is on the wall (or the maze I should say), dear Bonesetters and Riders: "Speed kills. This is no place for quick thrills".

Too late for reading it now, fools.

Let's show 'em how it's done. Move in!

[Zombie]

Medium Cruiser Part 2

It's 5 turns later and we are still in the maze area. NoX moved forward into the maze itself and spotted a Bonesetter. JFG moves ahead and decides to toss an incendiary grenade on it:

It does 48 damage but doesn't kill it. Well, JFG and NoX are out of APs sp they are going to have to hope the alien doesn't come closer:

For some reason it doesn't follow and the next round when NoX peeks out he sees it and another Bonesetter farther away. JFG is going to toss an inferno grenade on this one:

It hits for 62 damage killing it:

Amazing! Since NoX is next to the other Bonesetter he's going to shoot at it:

The first bullet does 45 killing it:

Can't complain about that. Three turns later and there's another Bonesetter farther back so JFG is going to toss an incendiary grenade on it:

It only does 17 damage. Oh well. We aren't going to do anything else this turn as JFG is out of incendiary/inferno grenades and I need NoX to cover in case it comes closer. I do bring up FullAuto though so at least he can get in on the action:

We observe the thing coming closer during the aliens turn but it stops short. Kind of a bad idea as FullAuto can shoot at it with his 98% accurate auto shot:

He hits it all three times and damages it all three times killing it:

Now nothing happens. We can hear a Bonesetter milling around in the UFO both from it's movement sounds and also from it opening doors. But no sign of it anywhere. I bring everyone up and camp the lower floor hoping it'll come down to investigate. Nope. Reluctantly I send everyone to plug the lifts and then start to bring them upstairs to check the upper floor. Eventually we find it in the room farthest from the lift. Normally I'd dump some grenades on it and finish it off with shooting but for this time NoX is going in there where he'll poke it with the stun rod:

It was stunned and that was the end of the mission:

I'll let the boys back at base kill the thing, right? No promotions, but we did get some good XP for the trainees again. And $330k more space bucks.

I'm going to mention something I've been encountering lately. It doesn't happen on every mission or anything, it's probably closer to 1 in 10. After killing a bunch of aliens I sometimes hear the aliens firing their weapons off in the distance. Not sure why they start doing that but I have a sneaking suspicion that they are panicking/going berserk. Heck, I've heard the alien cannons do the same thing - my men could be hidden behind three levels of cover and the UFO itself and the turret will start shooting sometimes too. So it's possible I'm just reducing the alien's morale/bravery to a panic level.

Back in the Geoscape and we shot down a recon vessel near our main base again:

It'll be daylight there soon so we'll wait a couple hours till the transport is fully fueled up and then head out. Stay tuned for this as I'm pretty sure I can do it in one post. And there will be promotions, production completions and a serious bug too.

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

Promotions, you say, nice, nice!  Man, these missions look time consuming AF... BTW, I started playing The Witcher 3, really cool game! Also time consuming, but because there's so much to do. I have to be careful when children are nearby, there is mature content. Which is an extra bonus I wasn't aware of when I bought the game. ?

[Thorondor]

@SV: A creature hunter even during your free time. Talk about professionalism! Just don't stay up too late engaging in those other more pleasurable exploits, loverboy...

In this darned heat that last bastard still made us go the distance. Don't know why NoX decided to go the charitable route and simply stun rod it after all that.

Think about it - a puny little jolt and never regaining consciousness, only to obliviously be put out of its misery. Now compare that to the fate of its last peers, coming out and facing the music as they did, being slowly burnt while being peppered with bullets.

Talk about rewarding cowardice. Well, I guess we saved some lead and it might have prevented some (unlikely) reaction fire.

Word on comms is we've got more fish to fry, so head on out!

[Zombie]

On 4/3/2023 at 3:23 AM, Space Voyager said:

 Man, these missions look time consuming AF...

Some are very time consuming, true. Others go like clockwork and you can knock them out in a few minutes. It depends on the size of the UFO, the types of aliens present and the map type. Desert maps are my favorite because there aren't many cubbyholes where the aliens can hide in - so you don't need to do a comprehensive sweep. Cityscapes are pretty bad because there are multiple levels and plenty of buildings the aliens can hide in. I tend to let the aliens come to me on this type of map as I can whittle the numbers down somewhat safely. And if there are Gehe's, you can almost guarantee it'll take a while to complete.

Let's do this recon vessel next. It's a non-maze desert map so I'm hopeful we can crank this mission out quick. During the first alien's turn something shoots at NoX - we caught a glimpse and it was a Minol. Wow, haven't seen this alien in a long time. When I moved Accounting Troll during our turn a Minol killed one of his buddies trying to shoot. Poor sap. We can see two right now so AT is going to throw a grenade at the closest one:

He killed it easily as it dealt 59 damage. When I tried to move NoX off the transport a BoP shot at him with it's AOE weapon and connects damaging him and Slaughter. Bugger! JFG is going to shoot at it:

Damage started off low but ended high leading to one dead BoP:

Meanwhile, on the other area we now can see a BoP hiding amongst the walls - Blade is going to shoot at it:

His bullets dealt great damage killing it:

The still-injured NoX is going to shoot at that last Minol:

Again, great damage was dealt which was a kill:

So we patch NoX and Slaughter up and we're back in business again. During the aliens turn all hell breaks loose as we now can see 4 aliens. The first is a BoP so Slaughter is going to shoot it:

He was blessed with good damage rolls and killed the thing easily:

The other aliens we see is a BoP and it's two Sentinels. JFG is going to try to shoot at one of the Sentinels first:

He used up all his APs with auto shots and finally took it down:

The Veteran is going to shoot at the BoP first:

And kills it with a massive critical hit dealing 80 damage! Since he has plenty of APs left he'll shoot at the other Sentinel:

It took all his APs doing auto shots to kill it and as usual the combat log tries to make sense of it all and fails miserably:

During the alien's turn a Minol exited the UFO, shot, hit and damaged TV for only 2. I'll take that as his pale blue crystal heals him up instantly. He'll shoot at it then:

Mediocre damage but it was enough to kill this pushover:

During the alien's 7th turn a Minol appeared from the walls on the left and shot at FA for no damage. But there's also another Minol which came out of the UFO which TV is going to shoot at:

He killed it with his last shot dealing a non-critical 60 damage:

JFG is going to shoot at the other Minol:

He kills it and that's the end of the mission (took only 8 turns). EOM:

Yeah I think we knew TV and AT would get promoted. Let's allocate TV's points first:

I put one point in Bravery to get him to 69. Didn't make sense to put two in that to get him above 70 when there are other stats that need help, so 2 went into Strength and the last two going in throwing and shooting. Solid soldier overall. AT is next:

Similar deal as TV but I put two points into shooting instead of strength. Oh, and take a look at AT's kills with TV's: AT has half of TV's in the same number of missions. Of course AT started with more xp so that is playing a role too. All in all a quick mission with pushover aliens - gotta love it.

Join me next time when I'll deal with mostly Geoscape stuff: production, base facilities, more manufacturing, research and shooting down another UFO.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Aggressive buggers. Excessive confidence.

A first-class performance all around. Every alien met put to ground!

Solid work, TV and AT. Take it easy for a minute, gents, while to do so we're free.

[Zombie]

So we get back to base and nothing happens in terms of alien activity. That's fine, our guys need a break every once and a while to relax. Two items finished construction in this time: a photon cannon (we are making some more of these to equip other interceptors when we build them) and (surprise, surprise) our aircraft carrier - aka "floating base":

It comes with 3 hangars already constructed (see why we are manufacturing interceptors and craft weapons)? But that's it - the rest of it is for us to decide. That equates to 8 1x1 modules. We are going to need a detection section in there probably so let's put that in the upper left and below that I'll chuck in a normal cannon defense as it's quick to build:

Next to that are 2 heavy rocket defenses:

Next to that is 2 light rocket defenses (again, cheap & quick to build):

And finally, 2 photon defenses:

That should be good enough. We'll transfer a golden eagle interceptor from one of our manufacturing bases to here and then start cranking more interceptors out. And here's where the game put our aircraft carrier on the globe:

That's right, the Caspian Sea. The trouble is, you can't move the aircraft carrier anywhere if it's landlocked.

So maybe when the game asks you if you want to change the starting location of your base, you don't do that. Or (at your own risk) place the base closer to water? Dunno if that would work either. To make a long story short, we're stuck. It's not "game over" or anything we may just have to tweak our long-term strategy a bit. Anyway, not too long after and our research into the Gehe completes:

As always, let's check out it's description:

80 armor against mechanical damage, eh? No wonder why most of our shots with the Ultra AK ammo is absorbed! No doubt, this is one tough alien MOFO (and to @Thorondor this means "motherflocker", not Portuguese mofo or mold). What to manufacture now? The writing is on the wall, the Tundra Walker personal armor:

Like we'll ever get around to making these, but you never know. It might lead to a better research project too. Back in the Geoscape and our whole compliment of interceptors from Europe, Russia and the Caspian Sea are taking down a medium cruiser over Africa:

That's not it though. A little while later and our interceptors are taking down a patrol vessel in North America:

I think we'll be going to the medium cruiser first, so stay tuned for that next time!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Oh, goodness me, what fine sailors they be!

It's like playing with a rubber ducky in your tub, while wearing an admiral's cap.

Well, that was a bust. The silver lining is we shall have even better defense there, in a way that will make it virtually impossible for aliens to ever invade those nearby bases at least.

And what's in this report about Gehes - slavery and surgical butchering no less. No respect for life checks out.

Alright, shake a leg. New assignment just in. Let's show them what we're made of!

[Zombie]

Medium Cruiser Part 1

Ok, let's get after this medium cruiser. It's a farm map this time and as Accounting Troll is exiting the transport he sees a Spitfire on the roof of the farmhouse which he'll shoot at:

And kills it with his first auto shot dealing decent damage on every hit:

Can't complain because he has APs left to move around and get into cover. Everyone else stages around the transport and the next round there are two Fireballs North of the transport. NoX has a clear shot at one so he'll shoot first:

It took 4 auto shots worth of hits to kill it unfortunately, and now Blade is going to shoot at the other one:

The first bullet was absorbed, the second was a big critical hit for 72 damage (which didn't kill it), and the final was for 12 which was enough:

I don't recall ever seeing the photon beamer doing critical hits against a fireball before so this was a nice surprise. During the aliens turn there's still some movement north of us and when Blade goes to check, he finds a Spitfire in the beehive/orchard area:

And he kills it with only two bullets dealing decent damage:

Five turns later and we've been moving to the south east as that farmhouse needs to be cleared out. The Veteran advances a bit to reveal the ledges under the windows of the upper floors so that Bomb Bloke can mortar it to "feel things out":

Unfortunately, there were no aliens that got caught up in the blast. A couple turns later and now there's a fireball on the roof of the farmhouse. We must've spooked it out with the mortar so Blade is going to take some very long range aimed shots at it:

He hit both times and dealt decent damage but it just wasn't enough for the kill so JFG is going to shoot next:

And kills it easily with the first bullet. Since no aliens were uncovered upstairs from Bomb Bloke's exploratory "mortaring", The Veteran shoots a hole in the side of the building on the first floor and spots two aliens inside:

For a half second he entertained the thought of throwing a grenade on the Fireball and Spitfire, but he couldn't throw it there, and besides, with all the explosive stuff inside it would just be a hot mess. He rethinks this and wisely retreats. During the aliens turn a spitfire appears from the second floor which Thorondor reaction fires at hitting for 19 and 13 damage. Not enough for a kill obviously:

Since it's pre-damaged, let's have The Veteran shoot at it as he needs the xp more:

All the bullets hit and did damage with the last dealing 47 which killed it:

And you guessed it, during the next aliens turn the Fireball shows up too. Thorondor is going to take some snap shots at it:

He missed twice and hits twice for 60 damage total. Not mad about him not killing it though, as that means The Veteran can come out of hiding and shoot at it:

And he kills it easily:

So glad I had him retreat when he did as we were able to get rid of these two aliens without them even firing a shot at us. Not sure if these were the actual two TV spotted through the wall so we still have to be careful yet. Join me next time as we clear out the rest of the baddies, allocate points in a surprise promotion and shoot down more UFOs in the Geoscape.

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Medium Cruiser Part 2

It's lucky turn #13 and there's a Spitfire along the close side of the farm house. Thorondor is going to take some snap shots at it:

He only damaged it for 33 points so now JFG is going to shoot at it:

First bullet does 49 which kills the thing:

Funny how under powered the photon beamer is sometimes when compared to the Ultra AK ammo. The only good part of the photon beamer is the heavy ammo as it does decent AOE damage, but because of the AOE it's situational in usage. Anyhow, the next turn we see a Fireball along the front side of the farm house. Since Thorondor is kneeling right there he's going to take some snaps at it first:

His first two shots do 41 damage total. He's going to stop and let FullAuto take some auto shots at it:

He kills it easily and still has APs left too:

Ten turns later and I get The Veteran on the roof of the farmhouse as an "eye in the sky" where he spots a Spitfire by the door to the UFO. Nobody really has a good shot at it so it's time for Bomb Bloke to mortar it:

It's a weak spot kill for a massive 171 damage:

Gotta love the mortar. Accounting Troll is lagging behind a little bit so he's still on the second floor of the farmhouse. During the alien's turn a Spitfire appears out of nowhere (glitch?) on the roof, fires at TV and misses and then FullAuto starts reaction firing at it. The first bullet only does 6 damage:

There's more shots on the way though and he hits for 37 and 42 damage killing it. We don't see anything else on our turn, but when it's the alien's turn a Spitfire appears from the door of the UFO and hits TV for 4 fire damage. He starts reaction firing at it:

He hits for 50 and 12 which kills it. Time for Accounting Troll to patch him up:

Five turns later and another Spitfire appears in the doorway of the UFO. I have a couple soldiers nearby who could toss grenades on it but AT needs the xp more so he'll toss one from his perch on the roof:

He kills it and that was the end of the mission:

JFG is promoted! Unfortunately I forgot to take a screenshot of allocating the points but I think you know my normal strategy: 1 in throwing, 2 in strength and 2 in shooting. Back in the Geoscape and that Patrol Vessel which was in North America evaded my interceptors and headed to Russia. Before it gets near my main base we have to go after another medium cruiser:

Didn't really stand a chance with my main base defenses getting in on the action too. It finally crashed nearly on my base:

Might as well send everyone over to shoot at the patrol vessel, and we down it in a big fireball:

That's one hell of an explosion. Well, since the Patrol vessel crash site is almost in daylight, we'll wait a little bit and then send the team to that first. Stay tuned for that the next time!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Always glad to be of use softening up your targets, boys. You put the final nail in their coffins nicely enough.

Oh, and great shot you landed on that Spitfire, BB. Even managed to spare the big yellow reservoirs from becoming collateral pyrotechnics. You're really working on that self-control business.

Speaking of which, did you see the footage our flyboys were showing of that patrol vessel getting blown up? You mark my words, those aliens are smuggling moonshine on those things. Their own homebrew self-destruct mechanism.

Well, we're perfectly content to go on dampening their spirits. Enough cheap talk, get ready to rumble!