Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Thorondor]

Trying to crowd us right out of the gate, full tilt, no punches pulled? I like that they had the nerve to test our mettle.

A full clip and one in the hole. We're about to make some bodies turn cold. Now they're droppin' and yellin', it's a tad bit late, we just had to regulate.

Don't mind trading some blows. Front-loading a bunch of meat that we turn it into bones.

Watch your corners. This fight ain't over!

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 2

It's a couple turns later and we just caught a glimpse of a Bonesetter entering a small building across from the closest UFO door. Hobbes shoots a hole in the side of the building to get a peek, but it's hidden somewhere:

I see that barrel directly inside the door and a strategy starts forming in my head... how about we have Hobbes toss a grenade next to the barrel:

Of course, it's "big boom" time:

With all that junk out of the way, Thorondor moves forward a bit and spots the Bonesetter in the far corner. Cravy Gringo wants to shoot at it but there's a piece of equipment in the way. You know what that means - he'll shoot at the equipment:

As usual, the first bullet takes out the equipment, the second bullet is absorbed by the equipment (even though it's gone) and then the final bullet can continue on which hits the Bonesetter for 12 damage, not bad:

It then reaction fires back at him with heavy photon beamer ammo. The aoe hits for only 1 damage but does take out the wall and causes an explosion with the barrels behind it:

Cravy Gringo shoots at it and kills it when the first bullet does 51 damage:

Sigh of relief here, that could have been bad. A couple turns later we move forward and spot the other turret on that side of the UFO. You know the drill, BB is going to mortar it:

The obligatory "big boom" as it's a weak spot kill for 193 damage:

So satisfying! We aren't going to mess around with destroying the other turret on the far side of the UFO. About 4 turns later and we are mostly ready to start the assault on the inside. Thorondor enters along with Crazy Gringo and Gimli as backup (or more like to observe as Mr T trains them). A Bonesetter exits the room on the left and Mr T shoots back, hitting for 38 and 5, but there's another shot on the way:

He misses somehow and that was it for the alien's turn. It's clean up time for Gimli:

He hits for 21 killing it. There's another Bonesetter which came out of the right room and Gimli can take a shot at it when Thorondor moves a little:

And he kills it when the first two bullets deal 37 and 21 damage:

Our soldiers on the right finally enter the UFO and during the alien's turn a Bonesetter enters the main room and is met with reaction fire from Space Voyager who hit for 24, but more shots are on the way:

One shot hit for no damage and the other missed. The Bonesetter shot back, damaging him for 1. No big deal. It's our turn now and Gimli (recall he's at the bottom of the screen) starts shooting at it hitting the first time for 19 damage and more bullets are on the way:

The next bullet hits for 30, killing it:

Yup, garbage time kills for Gimli, but it's easy XP which he needs. Well, the middle area is now clear so we start to file into the hallway in the back. When we open the door on the left a Bonesetter shoots at Zombie for no damage and Gimli for 5 with heavy photon ammo. It conveniently disappears but we know where it is so Gimli is going to shoot at it:

All his shots were absorbed, so he took a second auto shot and hits for 37 and 45, killing it:

Now our other team heads to the lift room on the right. The Bonesetter Commander comes down and starts going berserk tossing cryo grenades and firing at us with it's cold weapon. Space Voyager is critically injured in the mess:

Me thinks it's time to withdraw. Everyone pulls back to the main room where Thorondor patches up Space Voyager the best he can with the stim pack and now will cure the critical damage with the med kit:

I save the game here. During the aliens turn the Bonesetter comes over by us and disappears after messing more soldiers up. Ok, that's enough. Time to reload as things are getting pretty wonky ever since the commander shows up. We wait a couple turns as we hear the Commander moving around. We eventually find it on the left side but it's invisible again. At least we can target it, so Crazy Gringo is going to shoot at it:

Now Gimli starts shooting:

At this point I'm afraid the game might crash so I just decide to have Hobbes stun it while we still have the chance:

That was the end of the mission and it couldn't come soon enough. EOM:

Three promotions and Space Voyager will be in the hospital for 4 days. Let's start with CG's point allocation. It's a double promotion so there's 10 points this time:

Three points go into Shooting, Throwing and Strength while the last goes into bravery. Same deal for Gimli:

And now for Hobbes:

I figured 3 points into Throwing to get him to 91 would be good so the last two points went into Agility and Vitality. Back at base and SV is in the hospital:

The writing is on the wall. There's no sense putting Space Voyager and Thorondor in harms way when they are fully promoted and can't improve anymore. Not only that, but they are taking xp away from other soldiers that need it more. So I'm sorry to say these two will be sitting it out for the rest of the campaign unless we get another transport or our base is attacked. The two soldiers I pick for rear commander duty are JellyFishGreen and Jman. This is what the away team looks like now:

Stay tuned as next time we'll be heading out to that smaller Recon UFO.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Darn Bonesetter; the son of a b**** was dug in like an Alabama tick!

No "faulty" equipment will save your behind. We've got massive firepower on our side, right, BB?

Pay attention, kids. Pest control mode and into the nest.

Blasted Commander, running amok was a sour spot but we showed 'em where we stand. And don't you worry, SV, I'll be right here by your side. You'll be back on your feet in no time. No clown gets us down!

We're passing the baton for now. JellyFishGreen and Jman, front and center!

This is it, prepare to redeploy. Make us proud, Alpha Team!

[Space Voyager]

12 hours ago, Thorondor said:

And don't you worry, SV, I'll be right here by your side. You'll be back on your feet in no time. No clown gets us down!

As long as you don't interfere with my quality nurse time!  

[Zombie]

Back to the usual military base battlescape. A couple turns in and we finally spot our first alien - an airborne Ice Creep. Zombie somehow has a shot on it so he'll go first:

His first bullet hits for 39, killing it:

Very happy about that to say the least. During the alien's turn Jman spots another Ice Creep West of Zombie and starts reaction firing hitting for 5 damage but more shots are on the way:

As you can see, he missed the second shot but hit on the third for 27 (I will mention that the Ice Creep looks like it was inside the building so there was some wonkyness going on). We lose track of it but now there's a Rider on the ground so Gimli is going to throw a normal grenade on it:

He kills it when the grenade does 37 damage:

The next turn there's an Ice Creep where the other one previously was. Not sure if it's the same one so Zombie figures... ice alien + inferno grenade = quick death:

It does 31 damage killing the Creep:

A couple turns later and now there's an Ice Creep the next level higher on a rooftop. There's a convenient area where the roof juts out allowing Crazy Gringo to toss an incendiary grenade up there:

It does 30 but that's not enough for a kill mister:

Well, the thing doesn't have much health left so CG decides to toss a normal grenade up there next:

It only does 3 damage. Still not enough for the kill:

We let this one go as nobody else wants to steal the kill form CG even though he really isn't earning it. Jman fixes the problem by shooting at it during the alien's turn killing it with a shot that does 59:

A couple turns later and there's an airborne Ice Creep Northwest of the previous one. CG is going to take an auto shot at it:

All the bullets hit for damage: 13, 17 & 34 which kills it:

Not bad. It's 9 turns later and we finally decide to start spreading out a little. Tammy is first. She walks a couple steps along the right edge of the map South of us and spots a Rider above amongst the walkways and such. She finds a nice spot to throw a grenade at it where the Rider can't reaction fire back at her:

It only does 20. Not enough for a kill so she leaves it alone:

When she checks the next round it's still up there so time for another grenade it seems:

It does 49 damage which was a kill:

Really happy about that as I later found out it had heavy photon beamer ammo loaded. We spend the next 13 rounds searching the the rooms on this side of the map just to make sure nothing will sneak up on us. The upper area is clear so Gimli exits a door and spots another Ice Creep nearby. Auto shot time even though he has 80% accuracy on this shot:

No worries, he hits for 8 and 42 killing it:

There are more rooms to search in this complex. Blade finds another Ice Creep below in a hallway of sorts and calls down Gimli to toss an Incendiary grenade on it:

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

Awesome, three promotions this time! Let's allocate the points for Tammy first:

Three points went into throwing to get her to 94 and then the last two went into agility and vitality. Time for Gimli next:

Two points went into Shooting to get him to 92. We'll max that stat out next promotion with one point. I figured a point in strength and throwing was sufficient for now so the last went into Agility to round it out. And finally, Zombie:

Same deal as Tammy with three points going into throwing with the last two going in agility and vitality. Only difference is that Zombie isn't maxed out in throwing yet. That'll get him up too a nice even 100 in that stat. He's a little low in agility and vitality too, but we can fix that in his next promotions when those happen.

Not much going on back at base except we finished production on another hand of fate launcher. In the Geoscape it's a different story as we shot down a medium cruiser over North America. We also took down a heavy cruiser in South America with one interceptor almost getting destroyed:

I think we'll be going to the medium cruiser first so join me next time when we deal with more riders and a terrifying new alien type.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Way to open the festivities, Zombie. One shot one kill, either shooting or throwing! ?

You're making it hard for others to follow suit like that. Look how wasteful CG looks by comparison.

Ice Creeps were maybe thinking they were on vacation in the fairer regions, but that notion was one our new Lieutenants and first rate Sergeant quickly dispelled for them.

Hear that? An update over comms says you've got more alien sludge to dispose off. Go get 'em!

[Zombie]

This is going to be a longer recap so strap yourselves in and grab a beer. With that said, it's more of the same landscape we've been having lately and it's not exactly bright out either as I had to leave when I did or end up nuking it. During the alien's second turn they throw me a loop as we see a new alien type. It looks sorta like an Ice Creep but "beefier":

There's also a Rider that appeared at the other side of the map which Jman starts reaction firing at:

And he kills it when the shot hits for 29 damage. When it's our turn again Tammy is going to test the waters of this new alien by shooting at it:

The first two bullets were absorbed while the last only did 27 damage. This Ice Queen then proceeds to reaction fire back and freezes Tammy solid - twice:

Now I'm starting to get worried. What happens if everyone gets frozen? Tammy can't move an inch, she's stuck. I move Hobbes out of cover to shoot at the thing but it freezes him solid too. JellyFishGreen is going to try a longer range snap shot on it:

The damage is absorbed. Well, crap. Time to bring out the "big guns", aka Slaughter, to auto shoot at it:

His first bullet is also absorbed, but his next shots do 5, 15 & 35 which finally kills it:

Tammy and Hobbes are still frozen solid though. Wonder how I get them back? During the alien's turn another Ice Queen shows up. She's airborne and you guessed it, our two closest soldiers are frozen. Can Bomb Bloke maybe mortar her? I let him investigate and he diligently finds a nearby spot that he can target:

Can't ask for a better spot. And when the blast goes off he kills it along with injuring another one somewhere in the darkness:

I'm feeling better now. These queens can be killed at least. Five turns later and we spot another Ice Queen in roughly the same area. I wonder if this is the one BB injured? It's hard to say for sure but Gimli is going to shoot at it:

He used up almost all of his APs shooting at the thing but his last bullet hit for a decent 49 damage which took it out:

About three turns later and I decide I need to do something to get Tammy and Hobbes back. So I had Crazy Gringo take a snap shot at Tammy which unfreezes her:

Ah-ha! Get it! So I send Zombie over to take a snap shot at his buddy Hobbes:

With the team back to full strength and a strategy to unfreeze them I'm feeling a lot better about it. A couple turns later and we now spot a Rider on a rooftop which Crazy Gringo is going to shoot at:

The first bullet hits for 32 killing it:

It's about 14 turns later and we see an Ice Queen stuck in a wall? Not sure, but CG is going to shoot at it:

The first two bullets were absorbed while the last hit for 30. The queen then doubly-freezes him (sound familiar?):

Tammy fixes him up and he's ready to auto shoot at it again:

The first bullet does 37 killing it:

About 7 turns later a Rider peeks out of the room the Queen was in before. It shoots at Blade but the damage was absorbed. He reaction fires back hitting it for 26 damage, killing it:

Good boy! It's now around 18 turns later and Zombie sees an Ice Queen at the door of the UFO so he's going to toss an inferno grenade on it:

The damage was absorbed. Really? Okay, JFG is going to do the same thing:

It only did 24 damage? Well, that sucks:

Just for giggles he throws a normal grenade at it but the damage was absorbed:

Blade thinks he can fool the RNG and gets ready to toss another inferno grenade at it:

It does 22 damage. Well, that's better, but the thing is still alive:

That's all we can do this turn. Luckily the thing didn't move during the alien's turn so Zombie is going to toss a photon grenade on it:

As expected, the damage is absorbed. Gimli is going to toss an incendiary grenade on it now:

Absorbed again:

The thing must've had enough of all this tickling and huffed it back into the UFO. Three turns later and the door is open. Gimli is ready for it and gets ready to bounce a grenade in there to test the waters:

It deals 30 damage to something and kills it:

A couple turns later and now there's an Ice Queen on the roof of the UFO so CG is going to toss an inferno grenade on it:

It does 1 stinking damage. ONE! So he tosses a photon grenade on it which does 2 damage. TWO!

JFG tosses a normal grenade on it which does 5 damage. FIVE! Then tosses a photon grenade but the damage was absorbed. ZERO! And then he gets frozen (here is Sub Zero, now plain Zero to quote Arnie in Running Man). Enough of this grenade business, Gimli is going to shoot at it instead:

Hit or miss, but he eventually takes it out:

The next turn there's another Ice Queen that came out of the UFO and is now right where most of the team is. CG is going to throw an incendiary grenade on it:

The damage is absorbed so he throws a normal grenade up there which does 35 damage, go figure. Gimli is going to shoot at it then:

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

That went better than I initially thought it would go. I'm starting to think we need better weapons and better grenades though as our normal stuff really isn't doing much damage at times. Oh well. So we go back to base, get cleaned up and head out to that heavy cruiser mission next so stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Yo VIP, let's kick it
Ice, ice baby
Ice, ice baby

Alright stop, collaborate and listen
Ice is back with my brand new invention
Something grabs a hold of me tightly
Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly
Will it ever stop? Yo, I don't know
Turn off the lights, and I'll glow - Vanilla Ice, 1990

I'm feeling the chill even from here. What a scare. But Slaughter's right there to end the early nightmare.

The secret to de-icing found we manage to stick around and ultimately win the day.

What the hay is up with grenade damage? It's all over the place and even Inferno variants seem largely, and puzzlingly, ineffective. I'd put more trust in shooting as the more reliable (not to mention less expensive) alternative.

Hope our eggheads can cook up something to better counter these new unwanted guests. Though zapping one of these close range is going to be a sticky proposition.

Well it's go heavy or go home, as always. We'll send them packing!

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 1

This time we are on a train station map. While not my favorite, it's at least something a little different. We spread out as normal and on the alien's first turn a Rider pops out of a door and is met with reaction fire from Gimli who kills it:

I even caught the screenshot before the body dropped to the ground or the red arrow disappeared. Two turns later and we see two Riders on a balcony to the South of us. That's Jman and JFG's territory so JFG is going to take a 58% accurate auto shot at the closest one:

And he kills it easily when the second bullet does an incredible 62 damage. Wow!

As for this other Rider, Jman is going to take a snap shot at it cause his auto accuracy isn't that good at this distance (and I don't want to play craps with the game's RND):

And he kills it when the shot did 41 damage:

There's another alien spotted icon because there's a bonesetter in the train behind a door. I want to test out if a closed door will block fire so I have CG toss an inferno grenade there:

As I kinda expected, it does block fire, but the fire also destroyed the door so... well, let's have CG toss an incendiary grenade up there now that the door is gone:

It does a respectable 52 damage but doesn't kill the thing:

It's teetering on the brink of death though so it's not going to take much. I have Gimli come out of hiding below to toss a normal grenade up there:

It only does 14 damage but that's enough for the kill:

The next round we can see a Bonesetter on the edge of the roof above the balcony to the south. So JFG is going to take some snap shots at it:

Absorbed, 10 & absorbed isn't what I was looking for there JFG. Disappointing. So I have Jman take a snap shot which is also absorbed. Okay, enough with this snap stuff, I'm going to give him a green light for an auto shot now:

All the shots hit and did damage (23, 4 & 10). Not enough for the kill but it's really close so I'm going to have Blade come out hiding to take a snap shot at it:

It does 49 which kills it:

Three turns later now and we can see there's a Rider at the door on the other side of the train. Gimli can't throw a grenade directly on the Rider but he can get it close:

It does 56 damage which kills the Rider:

Not sure if this is going to haunt me later as now we don't have much protection to spot the UFO cannons. Not much time to think about that as during the alien's turn a Bonesetter shows up on the rooftop to the south of us. Jman starts reaction firing at it with the first hitting for 32 damage but there are more on the way:

His next was absorbed, but his last does a decent 45 damage which was enough to take it down:

Gotta love reaction fire. Seven turns later and we have finally started to spread out a little more. Zombie is upstairs on the platform and spots a Rider outside the far door. He opens the closest door so that when CG comes up the lift he can start shooting at the far door:

With the door out of the way he can now shoot at it if he want's to:

He kills it with no problem (sorry lost the screenie). About 10 turns later and our Southern crew is starting to head to the building with the balcony to clear that out. Jman comes around a light post and spots a Bonesetter in the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. I figure he can shoot out the window to get a shot at the alien:

Jman was only able to hit it once for 31 damage so I bring out Slaughter to clean up the situation. Mr Reliable hits for 35 killing it:

About 6 turns later and Zombie has edged forward into the train enough to spot the closest UFO cannon. Bomb Bloke was below in the lift so he came up to ready the mortar:

It only did 53 damage. Really? Um, okay fire off another one then:

This time it does 153 damage which was way more than enough to take it out:

Three turns later and Hobbes is trying to make his way over to the building to the north of the train when the far UFO cannon spots him and shoots. Luckily it was only for 2 damage so I have Bomb Bloke get out the mortar again:

First bomb did 106 damage so he fired off another one which dealt 107 which took it out:

Join me next time when Blade is surprised by a hiding Bonesetter, we get into a scrum with a few more Bonesetters downstairs, have to deal with another UFO cannon and get very surprised with a bold Bonesetter Commander.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Some fast reflexes there, Gimli & Co.

Keep it up and no shade shall be cast upon us by the alien scum!

Plenty of nooks and crannies in this place despite the sleek appearance and the things were able to spread out quite a bit. We need to work on our arrival times to see if that helps containment in any way.

We're not done here, not by a longshot. Keep your heads low and let's make 'em bleed!

[Space Voyager]

I want some pics from the infirmary! Please cover the nude bits.  

[Thorondor]

@SV: Loud, certainly, but whatever happened to proud then?

[Space Voyager]

Dead as a dodo.  

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 2

With the two main UFO cannons destroyed along the northeast side I can now start clearing out the building on that side. Blade is upstairs and runs out of APs standing in a doorway. The next round he decides to close the door to check behind it and low and behold there was a Bonesetter there! The funny thing was it didn't move at all or even attempt to close the door. Blade's gonna take an auto shot at it:

He was interrupted a couple times when the Bonesetter reaction fired back, injuring him once for 2 damage. Time to take another auto shot then:

The first was absorbed, but the second hit for 20 killing it:

Jman was fairly close by but it still required some running by Blade to get near to him to get patched up:

And now we spot the last UFO cannon on the southwest side so Bomb Bloke is going to do what he does best:

It only does 108 damage so BB sends in another bomb:

It hits for 51 destroying it. A couple rounds later and we have cleared the upper floors of the building Blade is in. When Jman goes down the lift to check things out, he finds a Bonesetter. So he decides to toss an Inferno grenade on it:

The damage was absorbed and then the Bonesetter magically teleported over to Jman and shot at him (for no damage luckily). But it's really not next to him, it's still kinda in the same spot as he finds out when trying to shoot at it:

He hit once for 30 damage but the thing is still alive so he made a hasty retreat to the top floor via the lift:

The next turn Gimli is going to go down there and try an incendiary grenade rather:

It does 22 damage which kills it:

We made a mess of the place, hope the civvies don't mind. A couple turns later and we see a Bonesetter where that last UFO cannon was on the SW side so Hobbes is going to take an auto shot at it:

Absorbed, absorbed and 25 damage isn't enough. Better take another:

The first was absorbed again, but the second did 33 which killed it:

The next round a Bonesetter tries to come down the lift where a lot of the team is congregating for the final push. CG comes up from below to take a point blank auto shot at it:

He kills it when the first two shots deal 42 and 38 damage:

Awesome job Crazy Gringo! He goes back down the lift and when it's the alien's turn the Bonesetter Commander comes out of nowhere and tosses a cryo grenade at him doing 30 critical freeze damage:

At this point I almost reloaded as we had an issue before with a buggy bonesetter but I tough it out. First JFG is gonna patch CG up:

It's bad, but not terrible as there were only two criticals in his right leg. We have a lot of the soldiers down there shoot at the commander for XP and JFG gets in on the action but forgets he has heavy photon beamer ammo loaded which wasn't very good. But Zombie is down there at the ready with the ol' prod:

And that was the end of the mission:

CG is going to be out for 4 days now. Well, at least Space Voyager has someone to talk to. Jman got promoted to Lieutenant with only 2 kills so let's allocate his points:

Two points went into throwing to get him to 91 in that stat. That should help his accuracy with tossing grenades. Then I put 2 points in vitality because con is not a dump stat and the last went into agility. Easy. Back in the Geoscape our scientists have been researching the heavy cruiser which is still going to take a while so I decide I should probably change gears a bit and start up with the Ice Queen:

I'm not sure where each of these topics lead to, but I'm hoping the Queen has a better chance of getting something for our soldiers. So all the scientists go on this topic:

We start producing some more mortar bombs to replenish our stockpile and then go on to some personal shields. In the meantime a heavy cruiser UFO is heading to Africa for base building so all the interceptors are deployed to shoot at it:

We take it out with a nice big boom at the end. I manually send the interceptor the UFO was shooting at back to base just to make sure it gets back safely:

We wait a few hours till the crash site is in daylight, then send out the troops. Just as we get there another heavy cruiser shows up over the north pole:

I'm going to risk it and start the mission. It would take a while for the transport to get back to base and I'd still need so give it an interceptor escort so we may as well do the ground mission first and when we are done with that I can send out the interceptors to draw fire away from it. Sounds like a plan, so join me next time when we do that.

- Zombie

 

[Thorondor]

Playing hide and seek all by yourself with aliens can get you in a lot of trouble, Blade. You should know this by now...

They're tricky critters and sometimes seem to fool your very senses even. Here or there? Near or far? Of course, delivering a special pineapple or two does tend to dispell such doubts in a hurry.

Look at BB - not much mistaking in his art. There's gone and then really darn gone!

CG was starting to pick up the slack too, when he got the surprise of his life. Got out of it alive to tell the story, fortunately.

At least some good came out of this mess. While we're at it: welcome Lieutenant Jman!

The maggots are playing colonization games out there but we're not having it. Get ready to redeploy right now.

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 1

It's a cityscape this time, we deploy as usual and on our second turn Blade is going to shoot at a Rider down below:

It does 13 damage. Not enough for a kill. Before he could continue shooting, we find another Rider that came into the "explosive room" where some of us are. I send The Veteran over there to take a point blank shot at it:

His shots deal 14, 3 and 33 which killed it. That's the stuff! With that gone, Blade is going to shoot at the Rider below again:

It's a monster critical hit for 95 damage!

It's the next round and we see a Rider below so Accounting Troll is going to leisurely plop a grenade there:

It only did 21 damage so he had to throw a second which did a much better 61 damage this time, killing it:

The next turn we see another Rider in the same spot so AT gets the nod to throw another grenade down there. This one does 31 damage, killing it:

Same round and The Veteran opens up the door leading to the "car room" and there's a Rider right in front of him. Time for an auto shot at point blank range:

First bullet does 24 which kills it. That's not it for this turn though. There's an airborne Bonesetter next to the transport so Hobbes is going to auto shoot it:

His shots deal 30 total damage. Now that the thing is weakened, Accounting Troll is going to shoot at it:

He kills it when the first two bullets do 20 damage each:

About 4 turns later and a couple soldiers downstairs have been surprised by a Bonesetter and a Rider nearby. Slaughter is going after the Bonesetter first:

It takes a few auto shots to kill and now Blade is going to shoot at that Rider:

And he kills it when it does 29 damage:

That looked painful, but hey, we have to protect Earth at all costs. A couple turns later and it's alien cannon time. Bomb Bloke is going to mortar the one on the left:

It does 210 which destroys it. A turn later and I decide to have a little fun with the other cannon. The Veteran is going to toss a normal grenade on it (from the rooftop above):

The damage is absorbed. But he has more grenades to use so the next one will be another normal grenade too:

This time it does 21 damage. The next round he tossed an incendiary grenade on it to check fire resistance. It does a measly 5. And the next round a photon grenade does 24:

The next turn Accounting Troll wants to get in on the action so he tosses a normal grenade on it but doing no damage. Unfortunately he's on a bad lift tile as the cannon is able to shoot him for 3 damage. Time for the Veteran to toss one of those golden pineapples on it:

That does 27 damage which takes it out:

I'm looking at the damages and seems to me the cheapest solution is the normal grenade. You can buy them for cheap off the open market for only $500. A mortar bomb costs $3500 ignoring the cost of engineers and workshop space and it normally takes two bombs to destroy a cannon - so $7000. You could toss 14 normal grenades for that price and you wouldn't be tying up manufacturing time on bombs. But there are other benefits to the mortar due to it's AOE which is a lot more powerful.

Join me next time as we try to clear out the inside of the UFO of all these Bonesetters (including that pesky commander), then get a promotion (I think you know who) and shoot down another heavy crusier on the Geoscape.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

"Step right through our reception area and please don't mind the mess."

Talk about a deathtrap. Blade and AT get right down to retribution in turn, as well they should. All the squad joins in the killing.

This place is a maze but experience leads us to where we need to be before long. And we rattle their cage with an onslaught of explosives.

Come and get us if you can, alien filth!

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 2

Time to get the breach teams ready to assault the inside of the UFO. When everyone is ready we open the left door first and find a Bonesetter there. The Veteran is going to take some auto shots at it:

Mostly low damage numbers but his last dealt 52 which was the killing shot:

We notice the door to the right room is open so 3 turns later The Veteran wanders over there and opens the door. He's met with immediate reaction fire from a Bonesetter with heavy photon beamer ammo. It hurts TV for 4 but deals 60 to itself committing suicide:

Sure, take the easy way out. Four turns later and we've just opened the top right door to spot a Bonesetter so Accounting Troll is going to toss one of those Inferno grenades on it:

It hits two things but doesn't kill either. But some wonkiness is going on as the Bonesetter appears closer to us. According to Zombie it's in the same spot as before so he'll shoot it:

The first auto shot all the bullets were absorbed so he had to take a second shot which killed it:

The next turn we can see that side door is open so there must be an alien inside that room somewhere. Accounting Troll finds a Bonesetter and prepares an incendiary grenade:

The damage was absorbed. The Bonesetter shot back but AT's armor absorbed the damage too. Time to pull back:

Three turns later and Accounting Troll goes up the right lift to find a Bonesetter at the top. Time for an auto shot:

He only managed to damage it for 39 with one bullet so he took another auto shot which took it down:

Five turns later and Zombie pokes his head into the bridge and is damaged for 3 when the Bonesetter Commander shot at him. He's going to toss an inferno grenade next to it:

It only does 8 damage. And the commander appears to have moved a tile. Don't care as Hobbes is going to toss another inferno grenade on it (or next to it):

It does 20 damage. Well, that's better but nowhere near enough to kill it. Hobbes backs out:

Accounting Troll finds another Bonesetter is there. Not sure how Zombie and Hobbes both couldn't see it nor did they damage it with the fire. So AT is going to toss a plasma grenade on it:

The blast damage is absorbed by the commander, but the other one was killed when it was dealt 34:

We back off till the next round. When Zombie enters again he is hit with a cryo grenade for 9 freeze damage. I think we'll have Accounting Troll take some auto shots at it for some xp:

Surprise, surprise, he kills it and that was the end of the mission:

TV is now a warrant officer so time to allocate the points:

His shooting was maxed out so I started it off by putting one into strength to max him out at 99. As for the last four points, I put one into agility, vitality, bravery and throwing. Overall, very solid. Could be a candidate for the mortar at some point but non-mortar soldiers gain xp at a greater rate so we shall see. Back in the Geoscape and that other heavy cruiser was headed to North America. It got a little too close to our base there and then we downed it with the help of the interceptors there. No, I don't want to bombard it, I want to visit it:

Everyone can return to base, ok?

Well, I think we can pretty much visit this crash site right away so stay tuned for that next time.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

It's the butler at the entrance, finally; sure took some knocking to get basic service!

The next hired hand in line evidences lousy etiquette at the door too but that sorted itself out rather quickly.

Such an intractable reception deserves serious rebuke so we make it a point to complain to management directly. You won't be stopping us at the lift. No, Sir.

But example, it seems, came from the top. We won't be taking any more excuses - termination of contract. The penalty is death!

Some satisfaction is had at last and The Veteran deserves commendation. Good show, old sport.

You've heard the heralding. Others demand our visitation. We shall indulge.

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 1

This is a farm map mission which is actually a nice change even though it's way too prevalent. We deploy as usual and during the alien's first turn The Veteran reaction fires at a Rider killing it with the first bullet dealing 45 damage:

The observant of you may see there's an alien spotted icon yet as a Rider just became visible between the hedgerows. It didn't move so when it's our turn Accounting Troll bounds around the hedge to shoot at it:

First bullet does a massive (non-critical) 64 damage killing it:

Love to see that. Slaughter moves next as he wants to check out the beehive+orchard area. He doesn't get far as he spots a Bonesetter in there:

He can't toss a grenade in there decently so we'll let it go and maybe it'll come closer next turn:

During the aliens turn we can hear the thing moving around so when it's our turn again Slaughter finds it. This time it's in a better location so Accounting Troll is going to toss an incendiary grenade on it:

It hits for a decent 42 damage but doesn't kill. Since the thing is already injured he's going to toss a normal grenade on it:

It only does 19 damage, but that's enough to kill it:

There's another Bonesetter to the Southwest of us in the air, but nobody can get a good shot at it so we leave it be. When it's our turn again, Blade is comes around the hedge and can finally shoot at it unobstructed:

His first two shots do 48 and 27 damage, killing it:

Easy stuff for this seasoned vet. When Slaughter comes out of his hiding spot to look around he spots a Rider just North of Blade. Accounting Troll comes around the far corner of the hedge to take a long range auto shot at it:

He hits for 14 and 40 killing it:

Nothing much happens the next round, but the one after that AT reaction fires at a Rider in the same spot killing it when the shot deals 40:

Gotta hand it to the guys this mission so far they've all been killing stuff quick. Hopefully that will continue. Six turns later and Blade spots an airborne Bonesetter East of him so he'll take a 64% accurate auto shot at it:

The first shot is on the way and it looks like it'll be a "hit":

The bonesetter doesn't have much time to be impressed as the shot deals 69 damage, killing it:

I'm still very impressed though. The next round we decide to deal with that toolshed to the South of us. Hobbes is going to shoot at the wall closest to us so hopefully someone can get eyes in there:

We uncover an engine or machinery in there so The Veteran is going to toss a normal grenade to hopefully catch something off guard:

"Big Boom" time, and TV hits something in there for 31 damage:

And then another auxiliary explosion does an additional 17. We can't see squat where the alien might be so I send Blade over there where he spots a bonesetter there and another farther away. The one farther away reaction fires back but the damage was absorbed. Accounting Troll will try to toss an incendiary grenade at the closer one from the safety of cover:

Nope, it's not gonna happen - at least from that spot. So he moves out of cover which causes the bonesetter to reaction fire back at him. Luckily the damage was absorbed and the incendiary grenade did a nice 43 damage killing it:

As for that other Bonesetter, Tammy can get a couple auto shots off so she'll try that:

Two shots both did 22 damage, two more the damage was absorbed and two more missed. Well, let's have Zombie fix this with an auto shot:

His first bullet deals 19 damage, killing it:

What's that other alien spotted icon though? It's the UFO cannon closest to us which Bomb Bloke will mortar:

Another "Bib Boom" time as the blast deals 139 damage, destroying it:

Busy round! Join me next time when we deal with a Bonesetter in the stable to the North, more UFO cannons, a couple more bonesetters that came out of the UFO... and the commander too. We have two more promotions and then back in the Geoscape we deal with 4 smaller UFOs. Should be interesting!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Ah, the scent of freshly trimmed hedges as you land. Invigorating!

Let's cleanse the impure who loiter about the place, polluting it with the otherworldly. For instance, with fire there is renewal, even if the bees could do without the momentary added distress.

Best not stand in our way much as we go looking for some apples. Yet they can't seem to be able to help themselves, unable to avoid running interference.

We can get louder if you want. At your own peril. A little razing can be well justified. A good mortaring too.

Escalation, we live for it!

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 2

To the North of us are the stables and by the sounds of it there's a Bonesetter in there. Where exactly, we don't know, but Hobbes is going to toss a photon grenade by the door hoping it'll open the place up a little more:

When that didn't reveal anything, Accounting Troll is going to toss another one just inside the door:

Still nothing. We aren't going to advance to look either. Everyone is content to just keep a watchful eye on it. During the alien's turn the Bonesetter makes itself seen and Accounting Troll shoots at it dealing 18 and 6 fir the first two bullets:

More shots are on the way: for two the damage was absorbed but the last did 52 killing it:

And that's how it's done folks. A couple turns later Blade is injured for 2 when the other UFO cannon on the near side spots him. That's fine, we'll patch him up and BB will mortar the cannon:

The first bomb only did 81 damage so he mortared it again and this time the blast did 128 which destroyed it:

The next round we cleared the stables and caught a glimpse of the UFO cannon on the north west side. Should I waste a bomb on it? May as well, as that means we would be completely safe from the cannons going berserk and hitting someone. Bomb Bloke had to walk a fair distance to get into range so he's only able to bomb it once this turn:

It does a pitiful 63 damage. During the alien's turn a Rider appears at the left UFO door and is met with reaction from JFG:

The first blast does 50 damage killing it. When it's our turn again BB is going to mortar that cannon again:

This time the blast did a respectable 115 damage destroying it:

A couple turns later The Veteran reaction fires at a Bonesetter who is at the left UFO door:

His first two bullets do 28 and 33 damage killing it. Unfazed, another Bonesetter appears and now Accounting Troll gets in on the action dealing 34 on the first bullet:

His next bullet does 35 killing it:

Damn, these guys are putting on a shooting clinic today. During the alien's next turn the Commander shows up and is greeted by JFG and his photon beamer:

All his shots hit and one actually did 18 damage too which was very surprising:

When it's our turn TV uses up all his APs shooting at the commander and all the damage was absorbed. Time for Accounting Troll to do the same:

I do this for a bunch more soldiers. A couple of JFG's snap shots did some minor damage and now Jman hits for 23. His last is on the way:

That last one was absorbed. So now we have 4 soldiers left that could shoot at the commander. I wanna keep Hobbes on standby in case we need to stun the thing (he's in the photon armor to the left of the door). Zombie too. BB doesn't have a gun so he's out. That leaves our buddy Slaughter:

He actually kills the thing with a good damage roll and that was the end of the mission:

Slaughter and Accounting Troll were promoted! Let's do Slaughter first:

I put one point in throwing to max that out at 94 then put 2 points into agility and vitality. He's a beast, no doubt about it. Glad he's on our side, that's for sure. And he still can be promoted another time yet, but that's off on the horizon somewhere. Next up is AT:

His shooting was already maxed out at 98 so I put two points into strength to max him out at an incredible 99, then tossed a point into throwing getting him to 91 - it looks like he can take two more points into that which would max that out at 97. The last two points went into agility and bravery. Another beast and he still needs 3 promotions yet.

Back in the Geoscape our fly boys are out shooting down UFO's all over the globe:

After we take out all the UFOs its time to visit some of them. I think we'll do the light cruiser in Russia next as it's close by and in daylight:

So we'll be doing that next so stay tuned!

Btw, this weekend I cleaned up exactly one crash site. Nothing else, it was an on-and-off marathon all weekend long. Why did it take so long? Well, we killed 65 units. Granted, it was a supply vessel which is pretty big but it isn't gigantic or anything. I think there were so many aliens because there were a lot of Iron Rattlers and Treps coming out of their hibernation pods. I never went inside as we were set up in a good location outside with pincer attack opportunities which worked out well all things considered. That might be a historic 4-parter when I get to that - probably in a month or two.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Minding one's step goes a long way towards a longer life expectancy. We don't need to stick our noses too far in when our weaponry does that job just fine.

Something the aliens generally fail to appreciate when coming to play peekaboo with us. Not great at learning from example either, consistently repeating their peers' mistakes right after seeing a kill.

At least the Commander saved itself for last, serving as the proverbial cherry on the XP cake.

Congrats to Captain Slaughter and Warrant Officer AT for ranking up and looking good doing so!

Did I mention we don't mind more alien cannon fodder? Grab your cold weather gear. We're icing some more!

[Zombie]

1 hour ago, Thorondor said:

Did I mention we don't mind more alien cannon fodder? Grab your cold weather gear. We're icing some more!

How did you know it's a polar base landscape? Cheater! Not only that but we are dealing with Ice Creeps too! First round we spot an Ice Creep to the left of us and since Hobbes is the first one he'll shoot first:

He had a couple low damage rolls and was unable to kill it with the first auto shot so he took another and the first bullet does 62 damage killing it:

During the alien's turn a couple Riders come out and shoot at The Veteran and Blade but the damage was absorbed for both. The Rider to the north of us is just a little too far away to grenade so Blade is going to take a snap shot at it with his photon beamer:

It's a weak spot hit for 78 damage! Accounting Troll thinks he can match that against the other Rider and uses a snap shot with his normal rifle:

He hits it for only 7 damage which causes it to fire back. It missed AT but hit Zombie instead for no damage. Well, AT takes another snap shot and kills it with a hit for 40:

Probably not a good idea to use snap shots against weakling aliens especially if we have rifles. Not only that but if this Rider had AOE heavy photon ammo loaded up it could have been a bad day for three guys. Lesson maybe learned. The next turn Zombie shoots a hole in a building to the east of us so Blade could take a peek inside. He can't see much in there, but dies spot an Ice Creep outside at the door:

No way anyone can shoot at it yet and I'm not going to risk mortaring it as that would destroy our valuable cover so we leave it be. During it's turn the creep comes out into the open which allows AT to come from around the side of the transport to take an auto shot at it:

He does 20 and 39 damage killing it:

Atta boy! About 3 turns later a Rider comes out of the UFO and is met with reaction fire from Blade:

First blast connects for 41 damage which takes it out:

There's also an airborne creep nearby so AT is going to take an auto shot at it:

Not very good initial damage so he took another and killed it when the last bullet dealt 36 damage:

As you can probably see, we've opened up the side of the building by another tile to make it easier for everyone to keep an eye inside. Nine turns later and a Rider exits the UFO only to shoot at Blade:

It doesn't do any damage and Blade reaction fires back killing it with one shot doing 24:

I'll spare you the long arduous task of clearing the map to make sure there aren't any lone holdouts camped out somewhere. It's time to breach the UFO then. We've been hearing a door opening on the right so when Hobbes goes in there to investigate he comes face to face with a creep. Auto shot time at point blank range:

First bullet does 56 damage killing it:

Nothing much is going on after that so we start to file in to occupy all the rooms in the center area. We open the door to the bridge area and think it's probably a good idea for TV to toss a grenade in the section closest to us to make sure there aren't any aliens hiding in there:

Nope, nothing. But it gives us a foothold in there at least. A couple turns later and Accounting Troll goes deeper inside only to spot a creep camped out in a corner. He's nearly out of APs so hunkers down in a corner and prays nothing comes out of the door to that small room:

Nothing comes out and the creep never came out of hiding either, so he'll toss an incendiary grenade close to where it is:

It does 31 but it's not a kill. Maybe a normal grenade to finish it off? Let's try that:

Nope, the damage was absorbed. So TV comes around the corner for a cleanup kill:

Yeah, 59 damage is way overkill but at least the thing is gone:

Now we have to worry about that center room. Whatever is inside (I can only assume it's another creep) it's not too enthused about showing itself. How about we open the door so that TV can toss an incendiary grenade in there:

It only does 19 damage to it:

Okay, how about we have AT toss another one in there too:

I caught the explosion in a screenshot before the damage could be applied:

But it killed the thing and that's the end of the mission. How did we do?

Just "good"? I mean, I think we did a great job. Sure there was a little collateral damage but it's nothing a sheet of plywood can't fix. Back in the Geoscape and it goes from bad to worse as a heavy cruiser show up over the Atlantic. The fighters are scrambled yet again:

It's a tough dogfight and one of my interceptors is getting pummeled by the UFO's superior weaponry so I send it back to base:

But luckily there are more interceptors on the way to take the thing down. There's still a UFO shot heading to the damaged interceptor though. Luckily the interceptor gets out of the range of it and our squad take the thing out over water so no crash site to deal with:

We can't deal with visiting 3 crash sites especially one in South America so I decide to bomb the one there:

And it's gone leaving us with two crash sites closer to the main base:

As you can see, my transport is already heading to the recon vessel so stay tuned for that one next!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Russia equals warmth. Everybody knows that, right?

There will be shots to compensate for that, naturally, and I don't mean Vodka.

Our crew weathers the usual effusive (ambush) welcome without much issue and then it's on to knocking on doors and bringing down walls. After a bit of search and destroy with deft performaces from Blade and AT and a few jogs in the cold to ensure safety as well as nice blood flow, it was decided to check out how was the air conditioning in the UFO.

Dubious air quality at best. Those things have been holing up in there far too long. Playing with pineapples tends to improve temps - so that's a go. Eat crow, scum!

Feel free to rate it ho-hum but in the end we gave 'em a solid kick in the bum. We're running out of chewing gum again, so guess what: we're flying out for some more ass-whoopin'! ?