Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Space Voyager]

15 hours ago, Zombie said:

Just "good"? I mean, I think we did a great job.

Look man, you brought this upon yourself. You're just too good and what used to be great is now just good.  

BTW, am I out of the infirmary yet?

[Thorondor]

You don't quite get it, do you, SV old chap?

We're now pretty much just a living repository of invaluable knowledge in Alpha squad's comms. Making sure they don't make the same mistakes we've witnessed in our path to greatness and impart upon them how victory must be earned.

We're the golden standard and tough as hell still but we've peaked; our on-the-field performance prime has passed. Ours is now the voice of command, that being how we best serve those presently at the tip of the spear.

Thanks to us all, together, Earth will prevail!

[Zombie]

6 hours ago, Space Voyager said:

BTW, am I out of the infirmary yet?

Just to clarify, yes you are out. The issue is that yourself and Thorondor are way too important to have out in the field all the time. You guys could get seriously injured (or worse, killed) and that wouldn't be very nice. Plus you guys are fully promoted so xp will not help anymore. I'd much rather have two new rookies in those spots earning xp just for being present. So for the foreseeable future you guys (as well as any other soldiers promoted to Colonel) will be benched for a nice long vacation. You will be back for base defense missions, alien bases, terror sites (all very unlikely as I've been good about shooting UFOs down) and if we go to a dual transport system like I did in UFO:ET. Possibly even if we get a larger transport ship.

Anyhow, we get to this new crash site and the first thing that happens is Slaughter reaction firing at a hidden Ice Queen on a rooftop. He hits twice but only damages once for 6:

It (misses?) Slaughter and instead freezes Zombie. Let's have Accounting Troll shoot at it:

His shots all connect for 11, 0 and 16 damage which doesn't kill it. She then doubly freezes AT:

Slaughter unfreezes him so AT can continue shooting at her:

This time he damages her for 21, 0 and 18 which was enough to kill her:

He's going to shoot at Zombie to unfreeze him but his accuracy is 74% for any shot type for some reason:

Maybe it's a bug from being frozen. Dunno. During the alien's turn Hobbes reaction fires at a Rider dealing 29 damage killing it:

Four turns later and JellyFishGreen also reaction fires on a Rider trying to exit a building:

It does a whopping 46 damage killing it:

Fantastic shooting! Ten turns later Zombie reaction fires at another Rider outside. His first bullet deals 22 damage, but there are two more on the way:

The next bullet does 14, killing it. Now we have to deal with this Ice Queen which is indoors. Can't shoot at it due to all the stuff in the way so we'll have The Veteran toss an incendiary grenade near it:

The damage was absorbed and it was the same for the next incendiary grenade he tossed. Tammy is his backup and will toss a golden pineapple at it:

It only does 8 damage and the photon grenade she threw next was absorbed. Blade is the last line of defense so he'll try a normal grenade (probably a dumb move, but we have to try):

It somehow does 36 damage. Not sure how that's possible but it's not enough to kill this queenie. We let it be and cross our fingers. She doesn't try to freeze us, she just runs around in the fire a bit. Well, since a normal grenade damaged her the last time we'll have The Veteran throw one at her too:

It kills her when the blast does 28 damage:

Excellent! For the next four turns Tammy and The Veteran get the job to clear out the rooms upstairs. Nothing is in them, but we do spot another queen in the connected building. TV is going to shoot at her first:

Everything was absorbed. I'm not going to risk it and bring him back into the room for cover. Now Tammy will shoot at it:

She does an incredible 55 damage with the first bullet and 8 with the second killing it:

Unreal! A couple turns later Accounting Troll reaction fires at a queen on the ground damaging her for 23 with the first bullet. More re on the way:

His next deals 25 damage but the last missed. She then fires back with a freeze weapon damaging him for 6. Somehow this is assigned to our turn even though it wasn't. AT is actually going to take a snap shot at an explosive barrel next to her to see if that does anything:

It does 8 damage. Not exceptional but at least it did damage. How about just auto shooting at her now:

The first bullet does 17 which kills her:

A turn later a queen exits the UFO and is met with reaction fire from Jman:

The first shot does 67 which kills her:

Two turns later the same deal:

That looks like it might be painful. This time it does 34 and 8 damage. The Veteran is going to take an auto shot at her:

That kills her and ends the mission:

Again, I consider this an excellent mission as nobody is hurt (except for Acoounting Troll, though we patched him up during the mission). Just for giggles, here's what Hobbes' kit looks like:

Same setup for Zombie - both get a pale blue crystal, distortion field generator, and a personal eternal shield. They also get a normal shield in case the PES becomes saturated and then the ol' cattle prod for stunning commanders. Plus a variety of grenades.

Join me next time as we deal with another small UFO with some Riders and Spitfires (haven't seen them in a very long time).

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

We're not averse to chilling out, catching a breath of fresh air and all that but this is ridiculous. Fast freeze lunatics!

Sure helps having lightning-fast reflexes to deal with such trespassers. We'll give 'em the royal treatment alright.

We're bulked up and kitted out like kings. They'll eventually realize we bow down before nobody. Until then, we welcome every opportunity to shatter their lofty pretentions...

[Zombie]

It's a slightly different polar landscape this time and it's night too so I'm very leery about spreading out too much. During the alien's first turn Hobbes reaction fires on a Spitfire damaging it for 20 but more shots are on the way:

He also hits for 19 and 48, killing it. We aren't done yet as Slaughter shoots at a Rider:

The first bullet does 33 damage which is enough to kill it:

Three turns later and a Rider comes out of the UFO but doesn't do anything. Ok, we will. Crazy Gringo is going to toss a normal grenade on it:

IT only does 17 damage so he tosses another which does a healthy 60 killing it (creating a big boom too - must be explosives nearby):

A couple turns later and now we see a Spitfire on a semi-protected rooftop. Gimli can toss a grenade on it so let's do that:

It does 26 damage which wasn't enough to kill it. All-righty, I think it's time to try out one of these new cryo grenades on it:

The thing exploded and it looked like the Spitfire was caught in the blast but no damage was assigned:

Not sure what happened there. Probably one of those glitch location aliens we've been having trouble with. It disappears during it's turn though. Five turns later and Tammy is shot for 3 damage by a Rider when she steps into view of it. Let's have Jman take a snap shot at it:

It's a critical hit for 72 damage:

Seven turns later and Tammy and Jman are slowly starting to clear that building out to the right of us when Jman hits a Spitfire with a shot that dealt 45 damage. Not sure where this other shot is going nor where it came from:

When it's our turn Jman is going to auto shoot is because his auto accuracy is 73%:

The first blast does 41 damage which kills it:

We gotta be careful now that the building's north wall is in shambles. A couple turns later and that pesky Spitfire shows up and shoots at Gimli but the damage was absorbed. He shoots back dealing 27:

The next bullet connects for 34 which means another one bites the dust. There's another Spitfire on the ground so when it's our turn again Crazy Gringo is going to take an auto shot at it with his insane firing accuracy:

He had to take a second auto shot because the second bullet only did 8, but he killed it in the end:

During the alien's turn, Jman is at it again and shoots at a Spitfire:

Looks like it might be good. Let's wait a half a second and check again:

Yup, that's one dead alien and that was also the end of the mission:

Not much to write home about, but I think we handled it great. Back in the Geoscape and our research into the Ice Queen finally finished:

Let's check out her description:

Chem (aka "Sludge") looks like the way to go for this alien, not incendiary. Well we need to research something now and I think it should be Sludge Tech:

I think that's the only way to go. Not much time goes by and our two photon defenses finish construction at the aircraft carrier (aka floating base):

Let's take a peek at the base:

Now that we have the photon defenses up and running, I think it's time to get rid of the cannon defense and build another photon defense in it's place:

That's going to take a while to build so I'm glad we are solid with defenses. There's a Recon vessel buzzing around Russia so we go to shoot it down:

Before we can send out our transport a heavy cruiser shows up over South America. Our interceptors there attempt to shoot it down but it's just too fast. No problem, our base in North America can handle it too:

Before heading out, Zombie models the new cryo armor. Plus you can see the current crew compliment:

So stay tuned for that recon vessel next!

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Time for this other recon vessel. It's a farm map of the usual type and three turns a bonesetter comes a little too close for comfort. Zombie's got this one guys:

He required two auto shots as two bullets were absorbed, two hit for low damage and the other two did decent damage. Law of averages, see:

During the alien's turn a Rider also comes right up to us so Crazy Gringo starts shooting at it:

He hits for 12 and 34 which killed it:

Three turns later and we see a Rider exiting the farmhouse. We don't really have a decent shot at it yet but Crazy Gringo can toss a grenade on it:

It does a healthy 42 damage, killing it:

During the aliens turn another Rider exits the farmhouse and starts walking up to us. Gimli's not having that and shoots at it:

He hits for 20 and 36 which kills it:

Seven turns later and Zombie decides to shoot up the toolshed. Big boom time and he kills what I assume was a bonesetter:

Four turns go by and we see a bonesetter just exited the UFO so Crazy Gringo is going to take an auto shot at it:

He only managed to damage it for 3 so Gimli is going to take an auto shot instead:

He damaged it twice for 19 and 33 but didn't kill it. Back to Crazy Gringo and he hits it for 17 which kills it:

During the alien's turn a bonesetter appears at the door to the farmhouse. Glad I pulled everyone back. Blade is going to take some snap shots at it:

He damaged it for only 21. Jman then takes a snap shot on it which deals 15 more:

His next only dealt 5 damage so now Gimli is going to toss a normal grenade on it:

It does 20 which kills it and opens up the wall too:

A bonesetter comes around the corner and shoots at Crazy Gringo with heavy photon beamer ammo damaging him for 17. Another shot is inbound:

He shoots back at it but the first bullet was absorbed and the second did 14. The final shot is on the way:

His last only deals 3 damage so when it's our turn Crazy Gringo is going to toss an incendiary grenade on it:

It does a healthy 53 damage killing it:

During the aliens turn another bonesetter comes around the corner into the fire and is met with reaction fire from Gimli:

The first bullet deals 31 and the second is on the way:

That killed it so that was the end of the mission:

Crazy Gringo is promoted to Staff Sergeant so let's allocate those points:

Normally I'd be spreading the points out more, but I decided I needed to get him caught up in the more important stats first. So 2 went into shooting to get him to 100 and 2 went into throwing to get him to 95 with the last going in throwing. In future promotions we'll be putting more in bravery, agility, vitality and throwing again. Overall though, he's a solid soldier just the way he is.

We get back to base, refuel the transport and wait a little bit till that heavy cruiser is in daylight before sending the troops out. We didn't get very far as our research into sludge tech finished already:

Let's take a look at the description first:

Frost King? I don't like the sound of that one little bit. At least we have one suit of cryo armor so if worse comes to worse we'll let Zombie deal with it. Now what to research? I think we better stay on course and go with the sludge grenade:

So join me next time when we deal with this heavy cruiser!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

We go parting the darkness, unleashing awe and thunder. We're a one-team wonder!

They like taking pot shots at us but it's them that go under. When it comes to mind games even your Ice Queen quivers before our chemicals, brothers. This is an outfit that delivers!

In the most pastoral of views, you come to defile, so we discipline and enforce our law with a smile: it's time for alien curfews.

Zombie's shooting mighty fine and you're not touching that combine. Then they tried ruining our sunshine but Crazy Gringo says "Flesh wound; never mind!".

Now that the unknown is somewhat better known your cover is blown. Ready up - we'll ask 'em again to pick their poison!

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 1

It's a cityscape this time so we deploy the usual way. No visible aliens so we wait. During the second turn Zombie checks the "car room" (or maybe flying car garage?) and there's actually a Rider in there which he'll snap shoot:

It does 24 damage killing it:

Easy stuff. The next round Zombie spots one of the UFO cannons so BB readies the mortar:

It's a weak spot hit for a massive 202 damage. And the blast also hits an alien (which I think was a Bonesetter) in a weak spot for 151 damage:

You'll see the outline of a weapon inside the UFO in a few pics. Four turns later and Zombie spots a Rider exiting the UFO during it's turn but can't shoot back. It's still there during our turn and I find out that Z can toss a grenade on it:

It does 39 damage killing it:

On our next turn Gimli is going to take a snap shot at a Rider a little farther back:

Just a snap shot, I don't want an errant shot to fly off and detonate all those cars in back of it. It does 7 damage so he takes another which again does 7 so he takes a third shot which does 15 killing it:

Three turns later and we spot the other UFO cannon on the side with the doors so BB warms up the mortar again (bonesetter weak spot weapon is visible to the right):

It does 149 damage destroying it:

Unfortunately no incidental kills or hits. The Commander usually resides in the middle so I'm thinking of trying to nuke that area multiple times over many turns to see if we can catch it "with it's pants down" so to speak. During the alien's turn a bonesetter exits from the closest UFO door and shoots at Gimli but the damage was absorbed:

He's not going down without a fight and shoots back hitting it twice, but only one shot does damage (26). When it's our turn Gimli is going to finish what he started:

Tje first bullet connects for 32 damage killing it:

Three turns later and we are ready to start breaching proceedings. Gimli notices the door to the right is open (engine room?) so he'll toss a normal grenade there hoping it'll set off the explosive things inside:

There were two aliens inside and he killed them both when those explosive things went off dealing 85 and 130 damage:

Unreal. Kinda underlines the importance of not going in there unless those engines have been destroyed first (though that omnious purple cloud doesn't look too safe to be standing in either - not visible in this instance as it's contained inside the room). We wait a a few turns to see if the kills creates a stir but nope, all quiet except for the usual sound of doors opening. When we take a peek in the engine room on the left there is a Bonesetter in there which Crazy Gringo is going to shoot at:

The first bullet does 25 damage but the next two were absorbed. Glad the alien didn't have enough AP's to shoot back as that gave CG the green light to shoot again. This time he does 4 and then 36 damage killing it:

We wait a little more and the only action is door sounds again. Zombie peeks into the far room at the northeast side and notices the door to the lift room is open so Gimli is going to toss a normal grenade there to feel things out:

It does 2 damage to a hidden unit (probably another bonesetter) so CG tosses a normal grenade there too which does 23 damage to it:

Hobbes also threw a photon grenade there but the damage was absorbed. The next turn that door is still open so let's continue with that strategy by having Zombie toss a photon grenade there:

It does 16 damage to it so Hobbes tosses another photon grenade there which deals 28, killing it:

Join me next time when we deal with some straggler bonesetters, then go upstairs to mess with the commander a bit before stunning it and ending the mission. Back in the Geoscape we'll shoot down a couple more UFOs then take a peek at the end of month summary before heading out again.

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 2

After killing that last bonesetter I thought that it would be more "wait and see". Nope, during the alien's turn another bonesetter opens the door in front of us and shoots at Zombie and Hobbes but the damage was absorbed. Crazy Gringo is going to auto shoot it:

Very, very low damage rolls so it took 3 auto shots to take it down:

So now I'm trying to figure out how that thing got past us. See, the two doors at the top are closed which meant that the alien didn't come through either during it's turn. I guess it maybe was in the lift room in the far corner or in the bigger room on the right somewhere. Or maybe it was in the center area around that wall that juts out? Surprised we didn't catch that. Anyhow, a couple turns later and we see that the left lift door is open so Crazy Gringo is going to toss a normal grenade just inside the door to feel things out:

Nothing apparently was there, but a bonesetter appeared amongst the containers in the left room after the grenade detonated. Bug? Well, he'll throw an incendiary grenade near it:

And of course he gets caught in the blast for 6 fire damage. On the positive side, at least he dealt 16 fire damage to the bonesetter. Tammy is going to shoot at it now:

The first three bullets basically did nothing but the next two dealt 30+ which finished it off:

We patched up CG and he's good to go again with no lasting ill effects. During the alien's turn another Bonesetter opens the door and shoots at CG for no damage. It looks like it was hidden in the left room somewhere. CG is going to shoot at this one too:

Almost everything was absorbed. That was probably the unluckiest damage rolls I've seen so far. Let's have Jman shoot with his photon beamer then:

Some rather low damage rolls again but he was able to slowly whittle it's health down till it died:

We plug the lift with bodies so either a Bonesetter squeezed past us or was invisible by the vats? Dunno, but Hobbes is going to shoot at this one:

He only needed one auto shot to kill it dealing 32, 21 and 5 damage:

A couple turns later and we head up the lift on the left only to spot the Commander. Let the shooting commence with Crazy Gringo:

After everyone on that side had a chance to shoot I have Hobbes go to stun it:

And that was the end of the mission:

No promotions unfortunately, but we walked away unscathed and with a live commander and a cool half million in space bucks as a bounty. Can't go wrong with that. Back in the Geoscape another heavy cruiser UFO shows up over Africa and also a recon vessel over Russia. Priority goes to the heavy cruiser so we engage it:

Unfortunately it heads North over the Mediterranean where we down it over water:

That doesn't happen very often, but I'm fine with that as we need a little time to manufacture some stuff like mortar bombs for Bomb Bloke. You know how he is. It's the end of the month though so let's check how we did this time around:

Some big increases with Asia and Australia where we maxed out funding for both places. And finally Antarctica comes around and gives us a very decent increase too. It's not maxed out yet and I want to push them over the edge this coming month. I think it may be time to build a base there. Anyhow, we sold more stuff this month while producing less big ticket items like interceptors and everything else stayed about the same. That's a huge win in my book.

Back in the Geoscape again and we still have to deal with that recon vessel over Russia, so I send 3 interceptors out from the main base to take it out:

We force it down easily and it's almost light there so the team is readied. Join me next time when we tackle that!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

We park our little plane and start dishing out the pain. Knock knock! Who's there? Come out of the UFO and find out if you dare!

They shy ones staying put can't evade our damage output. Blast, blam, blam and you go kaput.

Come out, come out, wherever you are! We'll have to come near as you're going too far.

You do not descend so must we ascend. You've opened the door to conflict but this is now our floor so consider this the very thing you've come to self-inflict.

And so the mightiest fall from on high, the leader at last relinquished of command, in a stinging fashion, finished on demand, now at our beck and call.

Such a nice way to end the month, pockets full and all. We shall rest not on our laurels, though.

[Space Voyager]

Don't worry both, I do remember being mothballed with Thor, just wanted to know whether I'm healed up and ready for the final fight (guessing here).

[Zombie]

Alien Recon Vessel Part 1

It's one of these human army base landscapes and as usual we start spreading out but what's unusual is that we don't see anything at all. Then on turn 2 we spot a Bonesetter who is in a convenient spot for Crazy Gringo to shoot at:

He takes two auto shots because he only managed to injure it twice for 28 & 22. Let's switch gears and have Gimli shoot at it now:

The first shot does 31 which kills it:

See, sometimes I switch to a different soldier just in case I can change the RNG by introducing a new seed in there. We now spot another Bonesetter on a rooftop so let's go back to CG to shoot:

He only managed to damage it for 7 with his first auto shot and then the Bonesetter shoots back but the damage was absorbed. CG's second auto shot was much better because the first bullet does a healthy 52 damage killing it:

A couple rounds later a Rider comes from the gate area and shoots at CG during it's turn, thankfully the damage was absorbed:

CG reaction fires back hitting it for 18 damage with the first bullet but there are more bullets on the way:

His next does 34 damage which kills it:

A bunch of turns go by now. The only activity we see is a Bonesetter messing around the lift area on the second floor of some structure. Nobody can shoot at it and Bomb Bloke can't find a "glitch" spot to mortar. We can't even bank a grenade in there, so we let it be:

It disappears for a while then we catch a glimpse of it again 9 turns later:

During the alien's next turn we are surprised by a different Bonesetter to the North of us:

CG is ready for it and reaction fires at it hitting for 35 & 32 killing it:

A couple turns later that Bonesetter to the east of us is back again. This time we catch a break when Slaughter starts to reaction fire at it:

The first bullet was absorbed so let's see what the next does:

It does 22 damage. And the final shot looks like it'll be a hit too. But will it do damage?

This time it hits for 24 damage which is not a kill. But when it's our turn again I find out that Gimli magically has a shot at it:

The first bullet only does 13 but that's enough for the kill:

There's going to be a second part to this where I clear out the rest of the aliens (like 5 more actually but no commander). After this we deal with the base situation, start researching a new topic and then shoot down two more UFOs. Should be action packed so stay tuned for that next.

On 6/19/2023 at 10:20 AM, Space Voyager said:

... just wanted to know whether I'm healed up and ready for the final fight (guessing here).

Oh yes, you are totally healed up. As for the final fight, we are nowhere near that yet but when the time comes you will definitely be present. And who knows, probably before that too.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Man, those aliens don't like it easy, do they? I mean, there's even a cannon up there, on the rooftop overlooking our landing site and the whole squad could have been butchered in one fell swoop. Naaaaah, let's skip that and play chicken instead, face to face, duel style for a while!!

Jolly good. But then they switch to teasing hide and seek. Sinewy contours in the dark. Now we see you, now we don't. We're coming to get you, yes we are, my lovelies!

[Zombie]

Alien Recon Vessel Part 2

It's now 6 turns later. We've been slowly expanding our presence on the postage stamp sized landing area but it's difficult as there are only so many places to exit. There's two aliens present. The first is a Rider on the ground so Jman is going to take an aimed shot at it since his accuracy is lower due to the photon beamer:

Hit hits it for 29 which is a kill:

The other alien is a Bonesetter on a rooftop. Slaughter gets into position to take an auto shot at it:

He ended up taking two auto shots and a lot of the bullets were either absorbed or did very low damage. Tammy can shoot at it, but she's pretty far away so her accuracy isn't very good for an auto shot. Let's do snaps instead:

Her first shot does 41 which kills it:

During the aliens turn a Rider comes out of the door where that other Rider was and Slaughter reaction fires on it:

He kills it when the first bullet does 47 damage. And then an airborne Bonesetter appears from the UFO and shoots at someone:

Not sure who it was shooting at since the shot went into the ground. When it's our turn Crazy Gringo is going to take some long range snap shots at it:

And he kills it with his first shot. Must've been a critical hit or something. And that's the end of the mission:

Good. Yeah, I guess so. No promotions, but nobody was wounded or killed and we recovered some UFO components and got some decent bounty too. When we gt back to base I sell some stuff and then immediately went to the globe to put in another base - in Antarctica:

It's been on my mind for the last couple months and quite honestly I should have built it at that time. But our finances have been more steady as of late probably due to not building a lot of high ticket items. As usual, the first two things we put in is the energetic center to power the place and a hangar:

Hopefully the addition of the base will strong arm Antarctica to max out their funding for us. Not only that but because this is clear across the globe from our main, most UFOs here will be shot down over water or bombed if it's on land. That'll give us some points in the area without wasting a lot of time doing missions.

Back in the Geoscape again and our research into the Sludge Grenade finished:

As usual, we'll check out it's description first:

It's a solid grenade but a tad underpowered. Dunno if the aliens have better chem grenades but I haven't seen them yet or recovered any either. Well, that next research topic sounds like might help with the low damage aspect as it's a sludge mortar bomb. We'll start researching that immediately:

In terms of production, we are currently doing a short run of incendiary grenades as we use a lot of them for Bonesetters. A heavy cruiser now shows up near our main base so I wait a little till our defenses start firing on it:

When it starts to fly near our aircraft carrier base I send out the interceptors to shoot at it:

We take it down and a little while later another recon vessel shows up over Africa so I send out the squad of 5 interceptors from Europe to deal with it:

We take it down easily and I caught it crash landing:

So stay tuned as next time we'll visit that heavy cruiser crash site!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

In case anyone needed any confirmation that we're a hard-hitting team - Jman, Slaughter and even Tammy are quick to demonstrate how it's done.

Notice how Crazy Gringo doesn't so much as bother boasting about that last kill - all in a hard day's work, fellas. That's all.

And, as if reaffirming our defensive grip on Earth, the faraway Antarctica is getting its first base too.

In other developments, aliens are going to go absolutely green, with envy this time, once they are shown our new grenades.

Reports are coming in that we have more volunteers for target practice. Let's indulge, shall we?

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 1

This time it's a train station map and as soon as we zone in we see a Bonesetter in a building. We can't shoot at it directly so how about we fix that by having Zombie open up the wall by shooting at it:

The last bullet was a little errant and destroyed the next section of wall which showed that another Bonesetter was there. Zombie has a shot at this one so let's do that first:

He hit all three times but only damaged it for 34 so he'll shoot again:

He does an additional 34 damage (popular number!) and that's one less Bonesetter:

Hobbes steps out of the transport to hopefully get a shot at that other Bonesetter and is met with a whole lot of alien threats. Let's take stock of the situation. There's a Bonesetter on the roof of the building in back of us:

There's Rider on the middle floor of the same building and another on the platform by the train:

Hobbes has a clear shot at the Bonesetter on the roof so he'll focus on that:

Some pretty bad damage rolls for Hobbes so we had Crazy Gringo shoot with nearly the same results. Gimli was finally able to take it out with a shot that did 44 damage:

I decide to let Bomb Bloke mortar the train platform to get rid of that Rider, but surprise, there's a Bonesetter in the train:

It was a weak spot kill for the Rider but did absolutely no damage to the Bonesetter. Probably should have shot out the side of the train before sending in the mortar, but it's too late for that now:

We're going to let Blade take an aimed shot at it first:

It only does 10 damage. I'm starting to worry about that Rider on the second floor of the building in back of us so I had Slaughter shoot out the wall first, and the last bullet looks like it'll hit the Rider:

It was a weak spot kill for 74 damage. Awesome! Tammy is now going to shoot at the Bonesetter in the train:

All the bullets hit and did minor damage for the first auto shot so she shot again and did an additional 6 and 25 which killed it:

One alien left and the only soldier with some APs is JFG but he can't shoot without walking a fair distance. Plus he has a photon beamer. We'll end the turn and hope for the best:

There's a problem though because there is another Bonesetter in the same room as the other one. JFG reaction fires on it with the first doing 4 damage. Another shot is on the way but it looks like it's going to miss it:

The bonesetter tries to shoot back at him but misses and hits the hedge that Jman is hiding behind. It had heavy photon beamer ammo loaded too but with the hedge out of the way Jman can reaction fire back at it. The first did 21 damage but it looks like the second is going to miss:

The last looks like it's on target though:

It does 7 damage. Not enough for the kill but the thing is wounded at least. When it's our turn Gimli knows exactly what to do - he'll toss an inferno grenade between the two:

It does 25 damage to one but doesn't damage or even hit the other Bonesetter. Slaughter is going to toss a photon grenade between them:

It does 7 damage to one and 1 damage to the other one. Not only that, but the blast opens things up inside which reveals a Rider a few tiles away. Slaughter pulls out the Golden Pineapple now:

It kills the Bonesetter on the right doing 38 damage to it while it does 18 to the other. Jman is now going to take a snap shot at that other Bonesetter:

It does 31 damage which kills it:

As for that Rider, Gimli is going to take an auto shot at it:

The first bullet does 12 but the second did 34, killing it:

Join me for the second part when we take down the last Rider, then deal with the UFO cannons. We end up killing the commander by chance and then it's a long slog to kill the remainder of the Bonesetters (I'll try to pare the screenshots down). We have a couple promotions to take care of and then it'll be back out to mess with that recon vessel.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

One of life's little ironies is how easily one finds new enemies, often without even trying. Just point yourself in whatever direction and there shall be blood!

They just can't get enough of us. They're like groupies waiting for that shot at hitting upon their idols somewhere. It's a beautiful day, it could happen, and so it did.

We, of course, never deny dispensing our own special brand of undivided attention. With scorching results. The pyrotechnics are real... and we're again ready to deal!

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 2

When it's the alien's turn we catch a glimpse of a Rider up on the platform:

I'm surprised nobody reaction fired on it, but then again, most of the team is in cover. In the end it doesn't matter because when it's our turn the thing is still there. Gimli is going to toss a normal grenade near it:

It only does 26 damage but that's still enough for the kill:

We spend the next 15 rounds systematically sweeping the buildings to the southwest. No aliens were seen except for a UFO cannon so BB will mortar it:

The blast does 95 damage to something and 104 to the cannon. At least the cannon is gone:

Four turns later and Jman kills a Rider from reaction fire on the platform. Not sure where it came from, but it's dead now Jim:

A couple turns realized that I should probably check to see if the UFO cannon on the southwest is visible - or at least the outline of it. The reason being is that the UFO is close to the platform and we can see part of the roof already. Yup, we can see a piece of it so BB will send a mortar on it:

I did a screenshot of the explosion but it took me a little to understand that the blast hit a commander for 58 (probably inside the UFO) and then did 61 to the cannon. How do I know this? Well, the commander gives 10 xp to hit it not the usual 1:

Well, if I can take out the Commander safely and without going too far inside I'm gonna do it. So BB sends another mortar in the same spot. The blast only does 1 damage to the commander but was enough to kill it (meaning that bonesetters have 58 total health) and also does 99 damage to the cannon which destroys it too:

So it's very fortunate we were able to take out the commander and a UFO cannon in the same blast:

And that also means we can probably stay outside to pick off the rest which will eventually come out now that the commander is gone. By the way, can you see the green outline of a cryo grenade the commander was carrying? Anyhow, Jman eventually spots the other cannon (which reaction fires on him for 1 damage) so I brought BB closer to mortar it:

It does 110 damage which was not enough to take it out:

So BB mortars it again and this time the blast does 114 which is enough to destroy it:

The next turn we spot the last cannon so BB sets up the mortar again:

It does 124 damage which was enough to take it out:

The next round Tammy spots a bonesetter in a building to the northeast:

We don't have a shot at it so we leave it be. During the alien's turn it opens up the door and tries to shoot at Tammy but misses with it's heavy ammo only to hit itself (sadly for no damage):

Fine, when it's our turn Tammy will auto shoot at it:

Takes a couple auto shots but she kills it eventually:

There's also a bonesetter on the northeast side of the UFO (outside) so Hobbes will shoot at it:

He does 42 total damage. BB wants some more action though so he puts the mortar in the backpack and scavenges a photon beamer off the ground to take an aimed shot at the bonesetter (the VT2000 shield in his other hand lowers his shooting accuracy):

It only does 12 so Crazy Gringo will now take over:

The damage is absorbed for the first two bullets but the last hits for 21 which kills it:

The next round we spot a bonesetter on the top of the building to the northeast of the platform so Tammy will shoot at it:

It does 22, absorbed and 22 damage. Time for another auto shot then:

It does 17 which kills the bonesetter:

The next round a bonesetter comes out of the UFO door on the northeast side. We have the thing surrounded with Zombie hiding around the corner who can stun it if need be. Let's have Gimli shoot at it:

He does 41 total damage so he has to take another. The first does 17 so the next shot that does any damage should kill it and it's on the way:

And that was the end of the mission:

Yeah, we didn't stun a commander but I'm fine with that as we have two new promotions. First is "Mortar Man" Bomb Bloke:

Two points go into agility and vitality while the last goes in throwing. I figure he needs the first two stats more to move and take damage because he only throws things rarely. And next up is Gimli:

Two points immediately go into strength to max that out at 99 (wow!) and then one into shooting to max him out at 96 (nice!) with the last two going in throwing and bravery. Solid overall. After getting back to base we wait a few hours till that Recon vessel crash site is in daylight and then send out the transport there. So stay tuned for that mission next!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

I looked under chairs
I looked under tables
I'm tryin' to find the key
To fifty million fables
They call me the seeker
I been searchin' low and high - The Who, "The Seeker", March 1970

That's a lot of quiet searching, exerting good fire discipline. The mark of a good squad.

You've gotta love the release then, when it comes thundering down, courtesy of BB's special delivery.

And those aliens should know we can "see" beyond our sight. We've got a lot of hours of combat under our belt now, the stuff we know... no freshly cloned scumbag can match our wits, no matter what juice they feed 'em.

Chop off the head, and the rest is history. It's a shooting gallery.

Give it up for Captain BB and Sergeant Gimli! Let's party now as a new plight awaits at first light. Until then...

[Zombie]

Recon Vessel Part 1

It's a farm map type so we deploy as normal but nothing happens for 3 turns. During the aliens turn, two fireballs show up: one on the ground and one in the air. The one on the ground is in cover due to the hay bales, but Crazy Gringo is able to reaction fire at the one in the air. The first bullet was absorbed, but another is on the way (you can probably make it out by the hay bale):

This bullet did 22 damage but the last was absorbed again. When it's our turn CG is going to shoot at the airborne Fireball first:

Ne needed two auto shots to take it down and all did some damage except for one (and the last which flew off). Well, let's try the one in the air next:

Still took two auto shots to kill even though it was already damaged:

During the alien's turn a Gehe shows up in the same spot. CG, get to it then:

He wasn't able to take it out so Blade and JFG took two long range aimed shots at it with mixed results. And now we've spotted another Fireball near the UFO too. Great. This Gehe needs to go first so Jman shoots at it with his photon beamer and it looks like it's a hit:

It does 27 damage, killing it finally. The Fireball is left to it's own devices as the Gehe required the efforts of nearly half the squad to take down. During the aliens turn, the Fireball came closer but didn't fire at anyone. Hobbes reaction fires at it but the first bullet was absorbed:

His next shots did 2 and 22 damage - not enough for a kill but at least it's wounded. Blade has a clear shot at it but he'll take aimed shots as his accuracy suffers with his weapon:

Both hit for minor damage and the thing was still alive so he had just enough APs left to take a snap shot and that finally took it out:

A few turns go by and I'm worried about the orchard/beehive area next to us. Gimli shoots a hole in the hedge allowing us to keep an eye on part of it at least. And then we get a nibble as a Gehe shows up. It's on the ground thankfully so Gimli is going to toss a cryo grenade on it:

It's a weak spot kill dealing an incredible 99 damage:

Unreal. It took part of the team 12 rounds to clear out the northeast side of the map and nothing was found. But the toolshed is nearby so Tammy is going to toss a grenade at the door seeing as it's open (knock, knock):

Big boom time but it was all for naught as the place was empty:

We spread out some more and then eventually spot a Gehe by the door to the UFO. JFG already took some aimed shots at it but now Gimli is going to take some rather accurate auto shots:

Single digit damage (if the shot even managed to not get absorbed) means that CG is going to shoot:

He did some decent damage at the end but couldn't string together enough to take it out. As a last ditch effort, I bring in the secret weapon... Slaughter:

And yup, he was able to take it out:

I knew I could count on him. So join me next time in part 2 for more Gehe killing, a surprise promotion, research completes, a look at our new base in Antarctica and we shoot down another heavy cruiser.

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Recon Vessel Part 2

It's the next round and two Gehe's exited the UFO and are standing outside next to each other. Seems like a perfect choice for a grenade so Blade is going to toss a golden pineapple as close to them as he can manage:

It did 26 damage to one and nothing to the other. Hrumph! Let's try a photon grenade next:

Nothing to the first and 11 to the other. Well, at least both of them are injured now. Jman thinks a cryo grenade might be in order:

It does 55 damage to the first and 86 to the second killing it. Gimli is going to shoot at it because it's not going to require much to take it out:

The first two bullets were absorbed but the last did 16 killing it:

During the alien's turn we spot a Gehe inside the UFO and someone seems to think they can hit it when it's inside the UFO hidden:

Don't know the rationale behind that as they missed. But the thing came out of the UFO at the end of it's turn anyway so Gimli is going to shoot at it - probably for multiple times:

He's on his last bullet and it looks as though it might actually hit. But will it be enough?

Yup, and that was the end of the mission:

Wasn't expecting Blade to get promoted so it's a very nice surprise. Let's allocate those points:

One point went into throwing to max that stat out at 94 and then two went into both agility and vitality. Looks good to me. Back in the Geoscape and our research into the sludge mortar bomb finally finished:

Here's it's description:

Civilians? Knock on wood, but so far I've been able to keep the aliens from starting a terror site and that makes me happy. Let's research that sludge suit then:

Hopefully that sludge suit can help protect against those nasty chem aliens. In the mean time, I'll start producing a small stockpile of the sludge mortar bombs. I'm sure they will come in handy eventually so there's no time like the present to start. Back on the globe and the energetic center for our base in Antarctica just finished construction.

Time to add a couple more modules: a detection section:

and a photon defense:

Still a few days till the first hangar is ready so we'll keep it on the down and low in the meantime. Another heavy cruiser shows up in Russia near our main base so out come the interceptors:

One golden eagle was almost destroyed in the exchange but we took it out in the end:

So join me next time as we deal with that!

- Zombie

 

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 1

It's an arctic map this time which was interesting. On our 2nd turn Zombie peeks into the building next to us and spots a bonesetter in the far doorway. Time for an auto shot:

He deals 5, 12 & 55 damage, killing it:

Just one auto shot to take down a bonesetter... unreal! Zombie backs off around the corner and during the alien's turn a Rider appears in the doorway which causes JFG to reaction fire at it:

His first shot hits for 24 damage killing it and now we see more Rider movement at the far door where the Bonesetter was before:

When one of the Riders comes around the corner, Crazy Gringo reaction fires at it:

He hits it for 22 and 32 damage, and, well, it's a weakling Rider, what do you think happened? We can't get eyes on that other Rider during our turn so we leave it be. This Rider makes the same mistake as the last one coming around the corner where everyone is looking at it. Only question is who is going to shoot first:

It's Tammy and she doesn't disappoint when her shots deal 14 and 23 damage killing it:

The last shot would've hit too but it flies off and hits that barrel causing a big boom:

It would have been really funny if that blast took out another alien but nothing was there. Oh well. But we're not done with this round yet as a Rider comes around the other side of the building and shoots at Tammy. The damage was absorbed and now Tammy takes another reaction shot at it killing it when the first bullet hit for 31 damage:

And that was finally the end of the turn. Busy! Then I made a mistake moving Hobbes too far in the upper floor of the building to the right as there was a Bonesetter hiding amongst the boxes. Hobbes backs off and hopes the thing didn't see him:

He wasn't that lucky as the Bonesetter came around the stack and shot at him for no damage:

And it shoots again with the damage being absorbed. We dodged a huge bullet here as now Hobbes can auto shoot at it with impunity at point blank range:

Yeah, it took 3 auto shots to kill it but hey, he got the job done. I also get him some help:

I have Zombie come up the other lift in the second building and he spots another Bonesetter in the building to the far north which he's going to shoot at:

Two auto shots were not enough to kill it. And now I'm worried that if he can't take it out with his last auto shot that he'll be a sitting duck:

I contemplate my options and decide that maybe if we have someone shoot out the wall that we can take it out that way. Let's have Jman do that with the heavy photon beamer ammo just to sweeten the deal even more:

His first shot missed and hit CG for 1 damage but the second hit where it should and took out the wall which allowed the final shot to enter. Looks like it's right on target too:

It dealt 30 damage killing it:

"I love it when a plan comes together"! Slaughter is going to quickly patch up CG:

During the alien's turn a Bonesetter appears out of nowhere and now Tammy starts reaction firing on it. The first bullet hit but the damage was absorbed:

The last shot hit for 36 damage and then another Bonesetter+Tammy exchange happens where it's shot was absorbed but Tammy could only damage it once more for 3. What this Bonesetter doesn't realize is that Gimli is right inside the door next to it so when it's our turn again he'll shoot at it at point blank range:

His first shot hits for 22 damage killing it:

Join me next time as there are still plenty of aliens left to kill yet. Big Booms will certainly be a feature as well as fire.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

It's all up in the air - until you bring it crashing down. So stop clowning around and make good use of your rounds, troopers!

At least Jman seemed to be listening and others followed the example. Gimli's promotion has him looking sharp and deadly and it's not all looks either. They're putting 'em on ice.

Maybe the rank up will have the same effect on our pal Blade here.

In the smarts department we're giving BB bomblets? Come and get a good serving of our special batch of rotten eggs, critters! Should prove tasty.

Until then, though, them aliens are experiencing some brain freeze out there already. Turning corners blindly sure is good for venting your innards and help warm the air a little.

Tammy's performance is hot stuff for a while there too. Meanwhile CG may be thinking things can get too steamy sometimes...

Leave it to us to turn up the heat!

[Zombie]

Heavy Cruiser Part 2

After killing that last Bonesetter, we continue to hear movement sounds of another Bonesetter nearby. The only place that fits would be up above. Zombie sneaks into the room and spots it hiding in a corner so he'll start this out by tossing an inferno grenade on it:

"I WANT FLAMES!" as Photonicinduction so eloquently put it:

It does 48 fire damage to it which was about 10 points shy of killing it. Blade is going to just blast it with his photon beamer:

The first blast does 37 damage which kills it:

During the alien's turn a Rider is spotted on the ground by Tammy who reaction fires at it (btw, check out the cool shadow of the rider on the snow):

This bullet did 39 damage which killed it:

It's nice having soldiers that get the job done easily and Tammy is one of those. About 5 turns later and Zombie and Blade have come down the lift after turning up nothing upstairs. There's a door open downstairs leading outside though:

Zombie takes cover behind some machinery while Blade readies an incendiary grenade:

I totally didn't realize that there were multiple explosive objects there which caused a nice "little" explosion hurting a Bonesetter which is now visible:

A secondary explosion dealt an additional 37 damage ensuring a kill, except the Bonesetter gets off a shot in garbage time luckily for no damage to Blade:

I think that machinery was blocking our view of the alien initially which is why Zombie couldn't see it. But throwing that incendiary grenade outside by the explosive barrels was a stroke of luck as it caused the most "bang for the buck". And it also created a big hole in the side of the building allowing Blade to get eyes on the far UFO cannon. BB is all too happy to mortar it:

The first blast eliminated what I assume was a Bonesetter doing 156 damage to it and also 96 to the cannon. Just barely not enough damage so BB sends in another bomb which does 78 and that's one down:

During the alien's next turn a Bonesetter surprises Tammy who reaction fires back at it wildly:

Everything misses this time unfortunately. If you are wondering what caused the flames - it was an alien cannon shooting (randomly?). It's possible that the cannon just "panicked" and took some wild shots in our general direction but it's a little too concerning to gloss over this so we'll need to deal with that soon. Right now our priority is to take out this Bonesetter which Tammy is going to take some auto shots at:

Her first auto shot dealt a whole 2 damage but the second did the majority killing it:

Gimli sneaks forward just enough to get eyes on the UFO cannon on the corner closest to us. As usual, BB and the mortar:

Big Boom time:

Pretty, eh? See the outline of a photon beamer inside the UFO? That's the result of BB's last foray. This time the blast only took out the cannon for 129 damage. During the alien's turn a Bonesetter exits the UFO. No reaction fire from us but Gimli is going to shoot at it on our turn:

The first bullet did 26 damage while the second was absorbed. Here's the last shot on it's way:

It did 46 damage which means one less threat to worry about:

The next turn we spot the UFO cannon on the southwest side. BB was too far away so he ran a little closer to get into range. Should be good to go now:

The blast does 132 damage taking it out:

The cannon in the far corner isn't a threat so we aren't going to mess with it. Join me next time when we have a nasty encounter with the commander which caused some major injuries to BB and CG. We prevail of course. Back in the Geoscape we build more facilities at our new base, complete research on one project and start another and shoot down yet another heavy cruiser UFO.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Your shadow looms large... in your own imaginations, varmints!

We are the bringers of light and brightly shall we cast away your darkness. Except, sometimes things shine a little too brightly and eyebrows get singed. It's quite the light show all the same.

Take care not to bite off more than you can chew, lads. The farther we get the higher the stakes. Stay sharp!