Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Thorondor]

Landing only to find ourselves immediately dealing with Mega resistance.

Once we've burnt through that, the clearly inspired Jman and NKF take care of business without even blinking. That's the spirit!

Scorched earth tactics? "Don't mind if we do indulge", says FA.

Sweeping like clockwork. Nothing left standing. Grab yourselves some free apples on your way out - you deserve 'em!

[Zombie]

Our soldiers haven't even made it back to base from the last mission and all of a sudden there's a lot of alien activity. First up was an alien patrol vessel that we shot down near our main base:

Luckily it preferred to battle that instead of mess with the transport. Though, if it would somehow come down to that I'd get all my birds in the air. The Icarus does have decent damage potential as compared to the golden eagle interceptors (about 2.6 times more) so really we would be pretty safe. It's still something I frequently think about and prepare for which is why I try to down all the UFOs on the globe before sending out the transport.

There is also a heavy cruiser that our golden eagles in South America have been shooting at. The UFO just doesn't seem to be interested in us and lands instead:

Now what am I going to do? It would take a while for the Icarus to refuel and get the troops out here and by then it would be a night mission. While I'm not against that, we also have that patrol vessel near the main base which needs to be assaulted yet and that's so much quicker to visit. On a whim, I sent my interceptors over there to try and bombard it:

Well, they are lining up like they want to, and then they fire their roaring earth launchers at it destroying it:

Thankfully that worked as now we only need to focus on that tiny recon vessel. The golden eagles from our main base caught up with it over the arctic and shot it down there:

No, I'm not bombing this site. We'll do this mission after the patrol vessel. While waiting for the sun to shed some light on the sites, our engineers finished constructing a Sludge Suit of armor:

Just in time! Since we are going to visit the patrol vessel next, I think the engineers need to make more mortar bombs:

It's not critical, but we use a lot of the bombs on the UFO cannons and in certain situations where there are multiple aliens clumped together. And with the mortars not seeming to do as much damage anymore we sometimes need multiple bombs to take out the cannons.

Since we have a Sludge Suit available, I think I'll give it to Zombie as he's currently a front-line trooper with the stun rod:

I'll give the cryo armor to Hobbes as he's the leader of our second team and also a front-line trooper:

And with that, I send the transport out to deal with that patrol vessel. Normally I'd stop here, but let's get a start on this mission as it's going to be longer.

Patrol Vessel Part 1

This mission is on a middle-eastern (?) or Arab arid landscape (the one with the fuel tanker truck). We deploy in the usual way and nothing much happens for the first two rounds. During the alien's turn, an Ice Queen shows herself and NKF reaction fires at her with the first bullet getting absorbed:

The next bullet will also be a hit:

That does 18 damage:

The damage was absorbed unfortunately. But then JFG starts shooting at her with his photon beamer. The first damages her for 33 and another blast is en route:

It was way off unfortunately so not even a hit. But his last is on the way now and this looks accurate:

This time it damages her for a healthy 57 which is a kill:

I think you can probably see there's another Ice Queen on the ground so when it's our turn again I have Zombie toss an inferno grenade on her from the safety of cover:

It does a decent 32 damage but isn't enough for the kill:

So I have Zombie toss a sludge grenade. The blast does 36 damage which kills her:

During the alien's turn a normal Rider must've wandered into the cloud and suffered a massive 30 chem damage which killed it:

I almost reloaded here as nobody got the xp for it, but in the end I figured it wasn't worth the hassle. Besides, we can see another alien now. It's only a Trep so NKF is going to take a long range auto shot at it:

The first two bullets hit for 19 & 34 damage which kills it:

A couple rounds later and another Ice Queen shows up only to freeze JFG twice (). There's also a Rider that shows up near the semi truck:

Gimli reaction fires at it with the first bullet missing. The second hits for 12:

And the last only does a pitiful 7 damage:

In the meantime, an airborne Trep shows up and Gimli reaction fires at it too:

The first bullet hits for a massive 59 damage killing it:

Excellent! We'll let the Rider mishap pass. Stay tuned for part two where I'll try to cobble together the remnants of a deleted save with the screenshots I recovered from my recycle bin. Should be nice and confusing so stay on your toes, though I will try my best to make it somewhat understandable.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Alright, triage done, all geoscape targets accounted for, gear set. We have Go for the drop!

Forcing Ice Queens to set foot in the desert, how about that. You'll melt one way or the other - as Zombie clearly demonstrated.

Sometimes the heat also takes its toll on us of course, but don't fret, Gimli, we'll make 'em sweat the most for sure.

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

[Zombie]

On 11/12/2023 at 10:37 AM, Zombie said:

Stay tuned for part two where I'll try to cobble together the remnants of a deleted save with the screenshots I recovered from my recycle bin. Should be nice and confusing so stay on your toes, though I will try my best to make it somewhat understandable.

You know what? Instead of trying to make sense of it, I'll just skip ahead. It's for the best anyway as the last part of the mission is more or less chronological. Nothing really affects the outcome either.

As a small recap, we killed that Ice Queen and a few Riders, FA was injured for 5 damage by an Iron Rattler which we killed and then patched up Mr Mortar Man. After that it was spreading out and trying to hold the area to the South of the transport. On turn 18 we finally spotted the scary central cannon on top of the UFO. FA was ready to nuke it:

It's a weak spot kill for 197 damage:

So close. I really wanted a nice even 200 damage to post a screenshot on Steam. A couple turns later and Pete just spotted a Rider amongst the walls. Time for an auto shot:

The first bullet does 34 which kills it:

Zombie does a little scouting and spots one of the corner cannons on the UFO so FA readies the mortar again:

He hits something up there for a critical 171 damage. Not sure what it is yet, but the blast also damages the cannon for a weak 65 damage:

FA still has plenty APs left so he'll nuke it again:

This time the blast does a nice even 100 damage which destroys the cannon:

A couple turns later an Ice Queen freezes Zombie, then disappears into the darkness:

With Zombie out of commission for a little bit we'll have Team 2's leader Hobbes shoot at it from the edge of the edge of the map:

He hits for 28 & 6 damage and the last shot is absorbed:

The next auto shot was all absorbed too. The last bullet on his third finally damages for 16 but doesn't kill:

Well, that's unfortunate. NKF unfreezes Zombie by shooting at him, then decides to shoot at the Ice Queen:

He has to take another auto shot because, well, you probably know the deal (he missed twice and the other shots were absorbed). JFG is going to try a rather inaccurate auto shot with his photon beamer now:

The first blast missed but the second did 14 damage which killed her. Good thing as the last shot would have missed too:

During the alien's turn another Ice Queen freezes Zombie again as he's still out of APs from that last freeze. When it's our turn, JFG is going to take the same inaccurate auto shot at the thing hoping he can damage it a little:

He ended up taking 3 auto shots with the usual excuses (3 blasts missed, 4 were absorbed) with the last two dealing 14 & 12. Hobbes will try now:

The first bullet does 48 damage which kills her:

Gimli tries to move up to help out but he is also frozen by another Ice Queen. CG to the rescue though:

Once he's unfrozen he'll shoot at this pesky Ice Queen (oh, and by the way, that unknown alien FA killed with the mortar was an Ice Queen too as the body is visible now):

The first bullet was absorbed, but the second hit for 18 damage and the last will also be a hit:

It damages her for 13 damage which isn't enough for the kill. And like clockwork, she refreezes him again - twice:

I honestly do not like this type of mechanic at all. I guess it's understandable as it's her only "attack", but still, the shoot at her, frozen, unfrozen thing gets old fast. CG saves the day and unfreezes him again. He takes another auto shot with the first bullet doing 25 damage and the second doing 40 which kills her finally:

Before we end the turn, NKF unfreezes Zombie again. During the aliens turn another Ice Queen freezes Gimli twice. So thanks for that. This time Zombie is going to shoot at her:

The first and last bullets were absorbed with the middle one doing 24 damage. And now he's refrozen twice again:

CG is going to take a long range aimed shot at her with his photon beamer:

It hits and damages her enough to kill her and end the mission (I was a little worried about Zombie and Gimli as they were still frozen when the mission ended, but according to the EOM everyone is fine):

So thankfully it all turned out.

As for the Ice Queens, they are mostly just annoying to deal with. Her AP cost for the freeze attack must be ridiculously low and her Perception (aka Reactions) must be super high to allow multiple uses per round. I wish we knew what her stats are as that would shed some light on the subject. It's fortunate that she almost exclusively prefers to use the freeze attack rather than shooting (or throwing stuff) at us as that combo would be formidable.

The other thing that makes her annoying is the 70 damage reduction for armor piercing. So that means our usual rifles are barely effective which opens up the freeze attacks. Same deal for the photon beamers as they confusingly have armor piercing blasts. She can be damaged by fire or sludge but the only weapon that can do that is the rocket launcher. Well, that's not entirely true as the mortar can launch sludge bombs, and I guess even though the normal mortar bombs are classified as AP for some dumb reason, at least they are powerful enough to be useful at range (not up close though).

There's nothing new on the Geoscape so when we get back to base it's a quick turn-around as we need to visit that recon vessel next. So join me next time for that mission - should be pretty short too.

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

2 hours ago, Zombie said:

As for the Ice Queens, ... It's fortunate that she almost exclusively prefers to use the freeze attack rather than shooting (or throwing stuff) at us as that combo would be formidable.

I'm sure this was balanced out at some point, when the enemies are TOO GOOD it can ruin the game - especially a game that revolves around soldier progression.

 

Good call on skipping ahead.

[Thorondor]

FA pisses off the Queens with his deadly, loud delivery of explosive ordnance and it's Zombie that gets repeatedly zapped, then Gimli. Misplaced rage. Happens all the time out here.

Fortunately, as a team, we've got our own ways of dealing with such a royal pain in the behind, even without specialized gear.

We could sure use some sludge grenades though, as resorting to sludge bombs just seems wastefully costly.

But I've heard there are more visitors in need of a warm reception. Let's not disappoint them!

[Zombie]

50 minutes ago, Thorondor said:

We could sure use some sludge grenades though, as resorting to sludge bombs just seems wastefully costly.

Sludge grenades are only useful when the Ice Queen is on the ground or near to a building. Sludge bombs cost about $4k more than the explosive counterparts but mortars suffer from hitting stuff in the air. And I misspoke about the rocket launcher, it doesn't have sludge rockets, but does have incendiary with the biggest issue being that the Ice Queens absorb the first 60 damage from fire. So nothing is really ideal. Probably the best would be the "heavy" photon beamer ammo as it's pretty powerful and does AOE.

Alien Recon Vessel Part 1

It's our favorite arctic map again. We deploy sorta the usual way, except I keep a few soldiers on the transport as I have no idea what aliens we are up against yet. Better to be safe than sorry. Nothing is spotted but during the aliens turn the floodgates open. CG reaction fires at an invisible poisonous Gehe (pGehe) with his first blast doing 21 damage. More is on the way:

They both miss, but do you see the two Megas in the building to the north of us? Yeah, I did. Now Pete reaction fires at a pGehe by the UFO:

He hits once but the damage is absorbed. And that's the end of the aliens turn. We have 5 targets to deal with now. First up, let's have CG shoot at the closest pGehe with his photon beamer (this is the one he damaged before):

Missed shots along with low-to-no damage plagued him which forced a second shot. This time he dealt 21 which killed it:

That's one down. AT moves up in the transport to get a better shot at that pGehe Pete hit earlier:

He hits for 21, absorbed and 26 which kills it:

That's two down. Pete thinks it's a good idea to throw an incendiary grenade on the other pGehe:

It does a decent 37 damage. Not bad at all, good choice. NKF is going to shoot at it now:

The first three shots really didn't do much at all:

Nor did a long string of shots afterwards... everything was absorbed. On the last bullet hr finally hits for 13 damage which kills it:

Those other two Mega's are inside and really don't pose a threat to us this round so we'll leave them be. A little more exploring revealed another Mega in the building near Pete:

I don't think this will cause us any trouble yet so we leave it be too. During the alien's turn a Mega shoots at Jman damaging him for 7. I think this was one of the Megas from in the building. You live, you learn. Pete is going to shoot at this one:

Four auto shots later and the thing is finally dead:

The other alien is a Mega by the UFO so CG is going to shoot at it:

He only managed to damage it once for 12 so now NKF is going to try:

His first auto shot really didn't do much so he ended up taking another where he managed to damage it for 25 which killed it:

JFG is going to patch up Jman now:

After he is patched up and ready to go we end the round. Two turns go by and it's at this point that I realize that NKF's last bullet flew off and damaged something for 29. We look around and spot another Mega by the UFO door. CG will shoot at it:

Absorbed twice and missed isn't showing much confidence in your skills CG. We'll let AT shoot at it:

The last bullet in the volley did 5 which killed it:

During the aliens next turn a Mega comes out of the building to the left and ends up with not enough APs to do anything. It's open hunting season for Gimli:

It was a lot of shooting but the last bullet did 35 which killed it:

Join me for part two where we finish off the stragglers, then do a lot of stuff in the Geoscape.

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Alien Recon Vessel Part 2

It's now the alien's turn and NKF reaction fires at a Mega next to the small building in back of the transport. The damage was absorbed for the first bullet:

His next shot connected for 13 damage and the last shot missed. Then the Mega shot back at him doing 8 chem damage:

Why you little...! NKF shot back again, but the first two bullets were absorbed while the last did a measly 7 damage. Another Mega appears from the UFO and shoots at AT doing 2 chem damage. When it's our turn CG will shoot at it (I know, the combat log isn't correct):

Oh, and he's using the heavy photon beamer ammo as I'm sick of getting hurt constantly:

The first blast is a direct hit. Gotta love the explosion animation:

Unfortunately this blast was absorbed, but the next did 42 damage which killed it:

As for the other pesky Mega, Gimli has a shot on it:

The first bullet was absorbed unfortunately:

I mashed the F12 key hoping to get the kill shot damage to show in the combat log but I was just too slow. In my defense however, I will say that I can sometimes see the damage number in the combat log for the last kill shot but for some reason Steam can't capture it. Maybe I'll try the print screen button sometime to see if I can do it that way. Anyhow, that was the end of the mission. EOM report:

A promotion for Hobbes! Let's allocate his last 5 points:

Seemed like the obvious choice was to put 3 into agility and one in vitality. I almost put 4 in agility as that would have maxed that stat out, but I figured the extra health was more important than movement. And since he's fully promoted now, he'll join our ever-growing group of soldiers on a semi-permanent vacation. I'm gonna miss Hobbes - I could always trust him and his super accurate shooting to get the job done. When we get back to base I'll need to figure out a good replacement for him. Before I could do that, our research into the Thunderstorm interceptor finally completed:

About time! Let's check out it's description and stats:

It has about 88% more armor than the Golden Eagle which is nice, plus it's 37% quicker and has 16% more fuel. Wish those last two numbers were higher, but we'll have to live with this as there isn't anything better (except upgrading it with ship parts). Now we need to research something new. I think the best choice is to research the Alien Supply Vessel next:

The alien topics really don't offer anything of significance so I'll leave them be for now. The Supply Vessel does though so we'll stick with that. Time to start constructing some of these Thunderstorms, first up is Antarctica where 40 engineers will complete one in 5 days and 5 hours:

Do you see why I manufactured a couple photon cannons, fire arrow launchers, VT3000 shields and hand of fate launchers for my ship manufacturing bases? Because when the Thunderstorm is completed we can immediately equip them and they'll be ready to go in a few hours rather than waiting a few days for all the components to be manufactured. Let's manufacture another Thunderstorm in South America and Europe too:

We are good to go in these bases too so when the Thunderstorms complete we'll be ready for any bigger UFOs. Not that I want that to happen, I'd prefer some smaller craft to start things out. You may be wondering why I'm not building a Thunderstorm at my base in North America... well, it's because I didn't have any workshops there. I change that right now and build 3, but they will take 10 days to complete construction:

Kinda overlooked this earlier. I'd recommend giving all your land-based satellite bases manufacturing capabilities well before doing any interceptor upgrading program. Figure out how long it'll take and then make sure you have the components ready and the necessary cash reserves available before you start. Sell stuff if you need to. I manage my funds pretty close so it's not a worry for me personally. Remember that you will recoup your original investment if you sell a Golden Eagle to free up a hangar for the Thunderstorm, so the cost will be manageable.

Anyhow, I did a little organizing of my team. Jman has the Inferno Armor now along with the combat medkit and photon beamer:

With that out of the way I need someone to lead my second sweep&breach team now that Hobbes is on vacation. I could pull from the lower ranks to fill the spot but I think we need someone with combat experience (and maxed out shooting and strength) in order to lead properly. I give the job to Crazy Gringo as he's been pulling his weight around nicely:

It's at this point when I give my team leads (Zombie and Crazy Gringo) the whole gamut of alien equipment: a personal eternal shield, distortion field generator, pale blue crystal and the personal teleporter. I figure having the teleporter will help them to get up close and personal to commanders in order to stun them safely. The tundra armor is to protect from the Bonesetter Commander's cold attacks/grenades. It wasn't an obvious choice to me at the time, but I've grown to think the teleporter is a necessary tool for the stunners after using it for many missions. I'll get into this in future posts, but for now it's just a curiosity. Since I've promoted from within so to speak, we need someone else to fill CG's old spot. And that person is The Veteran as he's a solid soldier.

And it couldn't be a better time as our golden eagles in the americas have just shot down a supply vessel in... northern Alabama somewhere? Maybe Huntsville? Or southern Tennessee? Not many big towns down there, but maybe Fayetteville? Hard to say, but it's here:

Yeah, it's Alabama for sure. So stay tuned as next time we head south for some down home creole cookin with Bonesetter brisket and barbecue Rider ribs.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

You've gotta give it up for CG though - from the get-go he can even accurately reaction fire at invisible targets when the need arises; it's just crazy!

When you mix fire and poison interesting things happen. At least visually it's undeniably striking, particularly against a crisp white backdrop.

Even virtually surrounded by the enemy on multiples sides, attrition doesn't work in their favor. Maybe they were dabbling with chemicals a little too much for their own good...

In any case, we traded blows and yet came out clearly on top. Survival of the fittest. That should tell you something, maggots!

Colonel Hobbes certainly agrees and he's off to celebrate in style.

And what better to further cement our position than a superior supersonic aircraft like the Thunderstorm. Our top flyboys are going to go nuts with this thing.

Now we're all geared up and with team dynamics refreshed it's time to go dig out some Alabama ticks. Move out!

[Zombie]

On 12/7/2023 at 3:47 PM, Thorondor said:

Now we're all geared up and with team dynamics refreshed it's time to go dig out some Alabama ticks. Move out!

I read that as "hicks" not "ticks", but sadly there aren't any local civvies present so you're right.

Alien Supply Vessel Part 1

This is a big UFO with lots and lots of aliens present (including a raft of hibernation spawns which I allowed to happen because my team needs xp) so I might end up breaking this mission into 4 parts (depends how much more I cut it down). This first part will be clearing the immediate landing zone. Anyhow, this is a train station map... not my favorite but it seems like this was the only map type the game was willing to create so we'll go with it. There's a Rider on the roof a building nearby on turn 2 so The Veteran is going to shoot at it:

He hits for 11 and 39 damage, killing it. During the alien's turn a Bonesetter appears on the ground floor of the same building. When it's our turn JFG is going to shoot at the glass with heavy photon beamer ammo hoping to catch it in the blast:

No incidental damage unfortunately, so now he'll take a snap shot at it:

The first shot missed and sailed off... somewhere. His second shot looks to be a hit though:

It does a decent 43 damage, just not enough for the kill. Gimli is going to auto shoot it now:

He hits all three times for 14 damage, absorbed and 12 damage which kills it:

During the alien's turn a Rider on the ground floor of the same building shot at AT twice for 6 total damage, he reaction fires back, hits it for 38 damage which kills it:

And there are two more visible aliens now. The first is a Bonesetter right above us over the platform. NKF is in a perfect position to shoot at it:

He took two auto shots but only damaged it twice for 17 and 49 which was enough for the kill:

And the other alien is also a Bonesetter who is on the roof of the usual building. JFG still has heavy ammo loaded in his photon beamer so he'll take an aimed shot at it:

The first shot looks like its going to be a hit:

The blast looks a little lethargic, but it damages the thing for 35. It shoots back and hits him but the damage was absorbed. His second shot only did 5 damage though. He's nearly out of APs so The Veteran is going to shoot at it next:

He ended up taking two auto shots as half were absorbed while the other half did little damage. In the end it was enough for the kill:

Well, that was fortunate to say the least. Around this time I also patched up AT so he was back up to full health again. CG goes up the lift by the platform and kneels down alongside the train. During the alien's turn a Bonesetter shoots at him with heavy ammo but the blast only manages to damage the train. When it's our turn CG will auto shoot it:

Actually, let's make that three auto shots with the usual excuses in effect. But he manages to kill it:

A couple turns later and we see some movement on the upper floor of the usual building, and it's a Bonesetter:

It's gone during our turn though. We had other trouble as there's a Rider inside the train. AT gets into a position to shoot at it:

His first bullet does 43 damage which kills it:

A bunch of turns go by as we slowly make our way over to the "busy" building. We know there's a Bonesetter on the upper floor so we have to get enough people to cover all possible ways the thing could ambush us. Eventually NKF makes his way up there and spots it on the porch right where we spotted it before. He'll take an auto shot at it as he's close enough:

The first salvo really didn't do much to it so he had to take a second auto shot and all those bullets did decent damage which killed it:

During the alien's turn a Trep exits the train right in front of CG. He reaction fires at it hitting it for 31 damage with the first bullet:

The second does 35 damage which kills it:

Join me next time for part two where we nuke some alien cannon in order to take and hold the platform and train from a multitude of Treps and Iron Rattler alien hibernation spawns.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Next stop... is your last, if we have anything to say about it.

Luckily all the commuters seem to have scampered away in time, as otherwise these cowardly interlopers would have had a veritable field day.

And, boy, did they miscalculate when trying their scare tactics on AT. Swift lesson delivered there!

Leveraging quantity will only get you so far. We're the very definition of hardened by now and when we start chugging along you might as well get out of our way.

But we're no fools; we're still doing this by the numbers. Check your ammo and your corners, people. We're moving up the grid!

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 2

We just spotted an alien cannon on the roof of the UFO so FA is going to mortar it:

The blast did a pitiful 62 damage so he ended up nuking it again and this time it did 91 which destroyed the cannon:

We've been hearing aliens coming out of hibernation the last couple rounds so it wasn't unexpected to see a Trep floating above the train the next round. Pete comes up a lift to shoot at it:

31 + 26 damage = one dead Trep and one happy Pete:

The next round we see an Iron Rattler inside the train so Zombie's going to shoot at it:

22 + 10 damage is surprisingly enough for the kill:

The next round there's a Trep above the train platform. TV is on the roof of the building to the North and is in a perfect position to shoot at it:

This time it took 28 & 31 damage to take it out. It's a kill no matter what:

When AT takes a peek inside the train he almost comes face-to,well, face with another Trep. Time to shoot at it:

Took him a couple auto shots to take it out due to some low damage rolls:

Not an issue for him, he's trading bullets for XP which he'll do all day. Five turns later and NKF (who's in the building to the North of us) is spotted by another alien cannon which shoots and damages him for 5 damage. He then kills a Trep with some well-placed shots (not shown):

He's nearly out of APs so FA is going to nuke the cannon with his mortar:

This side of the UFO is doubly protected by 2 alien cannons as the doors are below so his first mortar blast does 97 damage to one and 112 to the other. It's not enough to take either out so FA blasts them again doing 116 and 85 which destroys them both:

The next round Jman rushes over to NKF to patch him up:

Still more sounds of aliens coming out of hibernation and the next round there's another Trep near the front of the train so NKF will shoot at it:

He needed the full auto shot to kill it, but it's gone now:

During the alien's next turn, the flood gates open and 4 Treps show up right in front of the train all in a tight little grouping. I mean, this just screams mortar doesn't it?

FA could only get it close as all the Treps are in the air, but he managed to kill 3 of them:

I have no clue why one of the Treps only took 18 damage from the blast, but I guess it was just barely inside the damage zone. No worries, NKF will handle this:

49 damage from the first shot was enough to kill it:

During the alien's turn an Iron Rattler shoots at Pete from inside the train:

The damage was absorbed so when it's our turn again Pete will shoot at it:

His first bullet did 32 damage which kills it:

Four turns later and we finally spot the scary central cannon on top of the UFO. FA will mortar it:

It's a weak spot kill for 149 damage:

Go figure, the damage numbers for the mortar are all over the board so you never know if you need to take multiple shots at cannons. With this cannon out of the way we now have a little more breathing room to spread out some more.

Join me next time as we try to start clearing the other side of the train of aliens. It's not easy as there are still lots of aliens present, and they are hiding all over the place yet. Hmmm, this might be a 5 or 6 part mission so I guess be patient.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

FA, there are these things called 'weak spots' in a target, you know? Drop 'em heavy pills right!

Great, we take a thing down and all the others want to come out for the funeral. Treps, Iron Rattlers, here they are - let them have it, boys.

NKF, you're not meant to taunt those cannons quite as much as all that. They can make you dance; or have you go very still in a hurry...

Now would you look at that - that - is how you do it, and again: juicy group kills, big cannon in one hit. When we get our act together things truly sing.

The show's not yet over though. Let's go see about that proverbial fat lady, shall we?

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 3

It's a couple rounds later and a few select members of the team have made it through the train and are hoping to make it safely below on the other side. Pete checks it out first and finds a Rider down there but he only has enough APs for one auto shot. Attack or retreat? Pete's going to shoot man:

And he takes it out as the first bullet does 40 damage:

Five turns later and NKF comes up the lift only to see a Trep in the air. Time to shoot at it then:

The first bullet does a decent 34 damage, not enough for the kill but it's a good start. More bullets are on the way and this shot looks like it'll hit:

It does 24 additional damage which means one dead Trep:

A couple turns later and an Iron Rattler shoots at him during it's turn for no damage. Pete shoots back and his first bullet only does 2 damage, but more are on the way:

The second does 38 damage which kills it:

Four turns later and there was a lot of alien activity. We currently see three, but the one of importance is to the left of Pete in a building. It's only a Trep though so CG gets right into it's face to shoot:

It took all three bullets to kill but, hey, it's the end result that matters:

We can't do anything about the other two aliens as they are Bonesetters directly above in the building. Doesn't make sense to mortar the building either as that would remove valuable cover for the team. We'll leave them be. During the alien's turn one of the Bonesetters tries shooting at us with it's photon beamer (w/heavy ammo) but only manages to kill his buddy:

Dummy. But that's not it for idiotic AI, no sir. There's another Bonesetter on the roof of the same building and it tries shooting at us but only manages to damage itself in the process:

It's final blast does get through and hit AT but the damage was absorbed:

AT isn't going to kneel there and take it. Nope, he shoots back but the first bullet only does 3 damage:

His next two bullets were absorbed unfortunately. When it's our turn TV is going to shoot at the Bonesetter inside the building:

His first bullet does 24 damage which kills it:

Simple stuff when the aliens pre-damage themselves first. TV still has plenty of APs left and needs the xp so he'll shoot at the Bonesetter on the roof too:

There must've been another Bonesetter up there as his last shot hits it and kills it too:

I'll take that. Didn't seem to be a game glitch either - just a fortunate lucky shot. So no need to restart... yet. Three turns later and we managed to sweep the entire lowest floor of the building with nothing to show for it. But CG spots a Trep just outside which he'll shoot at:

It took all three shots to take it down but I was very impressed by the damage numbers overall:

It's the same round and FA is somehow able to make out the outline of another alien cannon so he'll mortar it:

The blast does a healthy 130 which destroys it:

Nice explosion. A couple turns later and an Iron Rattler shoots at Gimli but it only does 1 damage. When it's our turn NKF will shoot at it:

His first two bullets do 17& 53 which kills it:

He's all business and means it. Glad he's on our team. After a little more exploring we spot a Bonesetter just outside from where that Iron Rattler was. JFG is going to shoot at it with his photon beamer with normal ammo:

When he couldn't kill it, Gimli steps in to take over:

And he manages to kill it when the first bullet does 32 damage:

Join me next time for part... what is it now? 4? It's mostly all Treps and Iron Rattler hibernation spawns, but our guys don't mind as it's good xp training!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Restoring safety means safety is off, as Pete exemplified.

And he's in good company, as we seek to demonstrate how boundaries need to be respected, in no uncertain terms, to the "illegals" swarming our public transportation facilities.

Reckless, life-endangering behavior by those creatures extends past all reason, even resulting in self-harm. Well, we won't object to that last part.

What was I saying? FA always breaks my train of thought with those mortars.

Despite all this entertainment, it appears we haven't yet filled our quota. Who wants fourths or fifths? I'm game!

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 4

During the enemy's turn an Iron Rattler shoots at JFG and hurts him for 2 damage and then withdraws a little. When it's our turn NKF is going to shoot at it since he has a clear shot:

There were a lot of low damage rolls on the first auto shot so NKF had to shoot again. The first bullet did 30 damage which killed it:

For the next few rounds we hear UFO doors opening and finally NKF spots an Iron Rattler on the North side of the UFO. When it's our turn again, Zombie comes out of his cubby hiding spot and rounds the corner. I imagine him saying:

Anyway, time to shoot this thing:

The first bullet does 39 which kills it. A couple turns later and an Iron Rattler sneaks past our defenses somehow and makes it down below where the kill team is staging. Kinda a bad move on it's part as it's now out of APs and is a sitting duck. Pete will shoot this one:

The first bullet does 47 damage which means another Iron Rattler bites the dust:

The next round our "eye in the sky", The Veteran, gets into position to shoot at a Trep on the roof of the UFO:

All three shots hit and did decent damage for once:

I think you can probably see we've uncovered another alien cannon too. Trouble is, our mortar man is still too far away due to all the aliens currently pouring out of the UFO. No sense in getting him involved in that scruff as that cannon is in a bad position to hit anyone. During the aliens turn an Iron Rattler shoots at NKF for no damage. He shoots back with the first bullet doing 18 damage:

The next bullet kills it (sorry, no screenshot, the game doesn't give you a lot of time to capture one before it switches to the "alien movement" screen). Nothing much happens during the next few turns so I bring FA up to get into a position to use the mortar on the cannons. But then another Iron Rattler appears so Pete will shoot at it:

The first bullet does 40 damage which kills it:

The dropped photon beamers are starting to pile up now. During the alien's turn, another Iron Rattler shows up on the other side of the UFO. The Veteran is up on the platform and is able to reaction fire at it with the first bullet doing 17 damage:

The next only deals 1 damage, but the last hit for 39 which killed it. Also spotted during the alien's turn was another Trep on the roof of the UFO. When it's our turn again, TV is going to shoot at it:

The first two bullets hit for 18 & 62 which kills it:

Down below, NKF spots another Iron Rattler which he'll shoot at:

He hits all three times for 20, 7 and 49 which kills it:

Right about this point I start to worry that maybe I didn't bring enough ammo for this assault. Then I remember that we have all these dropped photon beamers which can be used in a pinch. A couple turns later and an Iron Rattler shoots at TV twice. Only one does 2 damage to him. He's obviously not happy about this and shoots back:

The first hit for 17 damage and the second will also be a hit too:

This time the bullet dealt 22 damage which killed it. Accounting Troll runs over to The Veteran to patch him up quick:

Six turns go by with no sign of any aliens so FA thinks it's a good time to come up the lift to mortar those alien cannons:

He was able to take it out thankfully, but he also hit 3 other things. One of them is obviously a cannon as it took 105 damage. The other two? Who knows. Possibly Bonesetters. But both of them are damaged now:

Join me shortly when we deal with the last cannon and a ton more Iron Rattler alien hibernation spawns, then deal with a Trep and the Bonesetter Commander, and then even more Iron Rattlers.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

When it comes to being surprisingly effective, Zombie will do it for you nicely and politeness need not apply to interloper scum.

Rattlers proceed to rattle our cages and we respond as we should to re-establish some... deathly peace.

Unfailingly, FA is the one who breaks the silence, with oomph. Facing the still smouldering UFO he taunts: "Come get some, alien trash, we're right here!"

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 5

It's the next round so Full Auto comes up the lift again to mortar that other cannon and maybe catch other aliens in the blast like last time. Unfortunately, I don't think the game allows a blast to propagate through the hull of the UFO after the first time. But the mortar hits the cannon in a weak spot for 176 damage, destroying it:

During the alien's round, two more Iron Rattlers appear down below. Pete will shoot at the closest one:

All the bullets hit with the last doing 41 damage which took it out. Well, Pete, since you are at it, you may as well shoot at the other one too:

Again, all the bullets hit. One was absorbed but the other two did 14 & 36 damage which killed it too:

It's the next round and yet another Iron Rattler appears below. FA goes up the lift to toss a photon grenade down on it. The blast does 22 damage so NKF takes a snap shot at it hitting for 7. The Iron Rattler shoots back but the damage was absorbed thankfully. Well, Pete, do your thing:

The first bullet only did 7 damage but was enough to kill it:

Two rounds later another Iron Rattler shoots at Pete but the damage was absorbed again:

He takes an auto shot with the first bullet doing 38 which kills it:

The alien spotted icon has a border around it which means the Bonesetter commander has come out to pay us a visit. It's on the roof of the UFO along with a Trep. Full Auto is going to mortar them with a sludge bomb as we want to see what it does against a couple alien types:

I was not impressed. It did 7 chem damage to the commander while the Trep shrugged it off like a champ. Ok, let's see how you two like an explosive mortar. This time the blast did 118 damage to the commander, killing it and also did 75 to the Trep killing it too:

Granted, I knew that Treps had 110 armor against chem so it really was no surprise it shrugged the chem mortar off. But you never know, a blast may be a weak spot hit in which case it could have killed it. But the Bonesetter only taking 7 was suspect as they have no armor against chem. Well, that's the normal bonesetter types, maybe a commander does have some protection from it. The mission didn't end so apparently there are more aliens we need to kill yet. A couple rounds later (and I know I sound like a broken record at this point) another Iron Rattler shows up below and Pete will again shoot at it:

The first bullet does 40 which kills it:

Pete's been really racking up the kills this mission. During the alien's turn, another Iron Rattler shows up on the other side of the UFO:

It walks closer to us so when it's our turn again AT finds out it is just in range for a photon grenade:

The blast looks nice:

But it only does 6 damage:

So he threw a normal DG1 grenade which did 26 damage and killed it:

Go figure that the normal human developed grenades do more damage than an alien type. It's now turn 89 and we see another Iron Rattler below which Pete will shoot at again:

The first bullet does 22 damage which isn't enough to kill it:

But the next did enough and that was the end of the mission. Finally! Did Pete earn enough XP for a promotion? Join me again where I'll cover the aftermath of this looong mission.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Unable to resist their primal instincts, bugs of all stripes come crawling out of seemingly every nook and cranny.

Pete is (figuratively) on fire, mercilessly dropping enemies left and right, and FA is the gift that keeps on giving, doling out his payloads with zest.

You could say we've got an axe to grind; or three. Alpha team delivers once again!

[Zombie]

So how did we do this last mission? Let's check out the End of Mission Report:

Obviously, Jman did nothing and was promoted to Colonel while Pete did the brunt of the killing and was ignored. The big takeaway from this mission was the sheer number of Iron Rattler alien hibernation spawns that happened. All those spawns came with weapons too which meant we recovered a lot of stuff. Ten heavy photon beamer ammo was big news as was the 31 photon beamers.

I counted 60 total units killed so maybe those units damaged from the mortaring of the cannons died but didn't show up in the combat log. There were also some "unfriendly" fire kills too with the Bonesetters getting trigger happy with heavy photon ammo. Here's my breakdown:

• 7 Alien Cannons
• 5 Riders
• 11 Bonesetters (including the commander)
• 16 Treps
• 19 Iron Rattlers

I will mention that this number of units is very unusual. Granted, I did poke around and let the hibernation spawns happen just so my team could get some xp quickly (in terms of fuss, not time invested). And the bounty was a great payout as well. Let's allocate Jman's points:

Two in agility and vitality with a token point in perception just in case seemed like a good idea. He was a great addition to the team, even though the last missions were as a backup medic role. He'll be taking his vacation now.

Back in the Geoscape and another Alien Supply Vessel shows up over China/East Russia:

It's headed our way though so we wait patiently till it's near our main base and the defenses start firing:

Our defenses took it out easily and then a heavy cruiser UFO is detected over Africa headed to Australia on a mining mission:

Here's the supply vessel crash landing:

Quite the explosion. Well, that heavy cruiser is taking it's ever loving time heading to Australia so I figure it's probably pretty safe to send out the transport to that supply vessel nearby. We need to make some changes to personnel now that Jman is gone. JFG is going to remain in the rear commander/medic role with his usual loadout:

Zombie has nearly the same xp so I made him the other rear commander/medic for our second team:

This opens up another spot on the team for someone else with less experience. I really wanted to add two new recruits but I guess we'll just add one for now, mainly MikeTheRed 2.0:

He's pretty weak and doesn't have great throwing accuracy right now so I'll make him more of a "Shooter McGavin" type.

Photon armor is the best he can handle, but he has a full compliment of grenades to choose from as well as three clips for his weapon and a couple shields. I don't expect he'll be joining in on the action on the first mission, but you never know. So stay tuned for the next supply vessel mission, hopefully it isn't as long.

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 1

Back to the supply vessels again. This time it's on a arctic base landscape which makes things a little bit easier (at least, I think so). One thing about this map is that depending on the transport orientation, there really is no good place to take cover initially. So some bunching up tends to happen around the ramp. Anyhow, during the alien's first turn they open a door and we spot a pBoP (poisonous Bird of Prey) and a Mega inside:

The Veteran reaction fires at the pBoP and manages to hit once for a decent 48 damage. When it's our turn again MTR is going to try shooting at the pBoP:

The first bullet hits for 38 damage killing it:

He still has APs left so he'll try shooting at the Mega too. Th first bullet is right on target:

It deals a decent 32 damage but the next two shots were absorbed. Darn, I was hoping he could get a couple easy kills out of the way. AT is going to shoot next:

The first two bullets were absorbed while the last did 21 which killed it:

The next round we spot another pBoP on the roof of that building. MTR could've maybe took a couple aimed shots at it but I didn't want to risk him getting hurt with return fire so I'll have the ever-reliable NKF shoot at it:

The first two bullets do 56 & 16. The last is on the way and will be a hit too:

It does a low 13 damage but that was still enough to kill it:

Four turns later and there's another pBoP on the roof of the building just northwest of the other one. NKF has a very accurate shot lined up so he gets the green light to shoot:

He hits for 37, 2 and 44 damage which kills it:

Four turns later during the aliens movement phase we spot another pBoP in almost the exact same area. Crazy Gringo reaction fires at it dealing 16, 12 & 37 damage, and then the pBoP deploys it's two Sentinels:

This makes it a little bit interesting. NKF is going to shoot at the Sentinel on the left first:

The first bullet does 34 damage while the second is a weak spot hit for 79 while the last does 20. The thing didn't die from that barrage so now NKF will shoot the Sentinel on the right:

The first hit a weak spot for an unreal 95 damage:

His second did 26 and the last did a decent 42. Not enough for the kill either. He still has plenty of APs left so he'll turn his attention back to the Sentinel on the left again:

He hits for 24 and 64 which was enough to kill the Sentinel and start the confusing chem damage allocation from it's destruction sequence:

The last shot flies off and hits (I think) the pBoP from earlier dealing 24 and killing it too:

I took a screenshot just after this accidentally as my finger was mashing the F12 button so quick. Looks pretty confusing so instead of trying to figure it out postmortem we'll leave it in as a curiosity:

Pretty explosion though. Join me for the second part where we deal with a lot more Megas (including the commander), AT is injured twice, we mortar two cannons, nuke a group of Iron Rattler spawns and kill the last lone Trep.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Take a moment to appreciate the mighty power of, shall we say, commanding from the rear exhibited by our very own Colonel Jman! Keeping danger at bay, let's hear it for the resident alien whisperer!!

Did I mention we got nearly a cool 2 million from that little spawn-happy escapade? Oh yeah - eeeeeaasy money!

As usual, there's no rest for the wicked though, and warming up to the second coming of MikeTheRed is done right away in a little raid for more supplies at a cool location. Talk about starting off with the right foot too with a fresh kill.

Everyone pulls their own weight one way or the other here and it doesn't take much to show how well-oiled a machine of execution we are.

The aliens did bring plenty of their poison to our planet but we're downing them with some viperine rapid fire of our own.

All weapons hot; let's put the rest of these critters in the cooler for good!

[Zombie]

Alien Supply Vessel Part 2

Accounting Troll came up the lift in the building closest to the transport and found two Megas up there. He took an auto shot at the one farther away but didn't do much damage. The Mega then shot back with it's chem weapon and damaged him for 2. He shot back and eventually was able to kill it:

With all that shooting, AT doesn't have enough APs left to shoot at the other Mega so The Veteran comes up to try:

It also took him two auto shots to kill it:

With those aliens out of the way they can come back down to safety. TV still has some APs left so he can patch up AT's legs:

No biggie, rub a little dirt on it and you'll be fine. A bunch of turns go by as we carefully come back up to clear the upper floors. AT and TV make their way over to the far building on the northeast where a camped out Mega reaction fires at him doing 4 chem damage. He's gonna shoot back though:

He again needs to fire off two auto shots, but was eventually able to kill it without it firing back:

His buddy TV is going to patch him up again:

During the alien's turn another Mega comes up there and greets AT with two shots that damage him for 3 points. He's going to shoot back when it's our turn again:

Broken record but AT couldn't kill it in two auto shots so TV will fill in:

He managed to damage it for 30 points which killed it:

TV will patch up AT again:

The next turn the Mega commander pays a visit to AT and TV (sorry, no screenshots of the action). TV tossed a sludge grenade on it for giggles as the damage will most likely be absorbed (it was). But it was an easy 10 xp for him. Nobody is close enough to stun the commander so AT tossed a cryo grenade on it which hit a weak spot for 99 damage and killed it:

Gimli was also injured by a mega somewhere too for 4 damage. I thought it maybe it was the commander but it came from a different area. I brought Pete over to cover for him and during the next alien turn a mega shot at him but the damage was absorbed. He reactions fires back hitting it for no damage:

When it's our turn again, Pete manages to damage it twice for 24 & 5. Since the Mega was now preinjured, I let MikeTheRed shoot at it and he was able to kill it. We also spotted an alien cannon so FA will mortar it:

The blast only damages it for 75. Nobody is in a good position to shoot at it so FA will send another mortar over:

He managed to destroy it (sorry no screenshot as I logged off because I had a short phone call). It's a couple turns later and we spot a group of 3 Iron Rattlers bunched up together. Again, nobody is in a great position to shoot at any of them and this just screams mortar so that's what FA will do:

He killed them all doing 85, 80 and 139 damage:

We also see another alien cannon. FA has plenty of APs left so he'll mortar that too:

The blast did a decent 122 damage but it wasn't enough. Oh what the heck, Full Auto still has enough APs left so he let another one rip which did 57 damage and destroyed the cannon:

We did a little more searching and AT found a lone Trep on the roof of the UFO which he'll shoot at:

He killed it and that was the end of the mission. Hurray!

Compared to last mission, this was a cakewalk. Well, we had some issues with Megas but at least it wasn't Bonesetters. Anyway, join me next time for the EOM report, we allocate points for a couple promotions (I think you can probably guess who), then shoot down that heavy cruiser that was trying to head to Australia. Finally I show the soldier kit for the team leaders/stunners.

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Ok, here's the EOM report:

Yup, "excellent" pretty much sums it all up. We get two promotions out of it too, MTR 2.0 and AT. Even though MikeTheRed only got two kills, he also shot a few times and and was a late campaign recruit which helped him to achieve a quintuple promotion. Let's see how I allocated the points:

Six points went into Strength and Shooting with 4 points going in Throwing and Bravery with 3 going in Agility and 2 in Vitality. Looking back on this, I probably should have min-maxed him putting all the points into shooting and strength with anything leftover going in throwing. But, I was worried about Psi/bravery issues so it seemed like a good idea to get him something in all the stats to make him more rounded. AT only had one promotion and here's his allocation:

Two points immediately went into throwing to max that stat out. Then two went into Agility with the last in Vitality. Totally solid soldier overall. Granted, his Agility and Vitality are a little low yet, but he has two more promotions left to beef those up.

Back in the Geoscape, I send out some flyboys to engage that heavy cruiser:

There were a lot of shots in the air yet, and it just got worse for the UFO when the golden eagles all got into a perfect formation and opened up:

A few shots later and it was all over:

Good job guys! Before sending out the transport, I took a hard look at the team and decided to make dedicated H2H/stunning/run 'n gun/mobility team leaders. Here's Pete as an example:

The theory is simple. Because you can only ever recover 2 pale blue crystals, distortion field generators, eternal shields and personal teleporters, that lends itself to two soldiers carrying one of each thing. Give them a weapon for killing and a stun rod for stunning along with a small selection of grenades and they can handle just about everything themselves.

No need for a dedicated medic, that's what the pale blue crystals are for. The personal eternal shield sops up more damage, weighs less and takes up less room than a normal shield while the distortion field generator makes them harder to get hit. The addition of the teleporter allows them to teleport into a location, stun, then teleport out safely. Plus they can get into high ground locations for spotting/overwatch.

Weight is a concern obviously as these soldiers need to be ultra mobile but you also need to think about armor. The photon armor is decent as it offers some protection against all attacks and is pretty light. But I haven't really encountered many aliens where I exclusively needed protection from fire or freezing for everyone. Chem/sludge is different though as we've been seeing a lot of this alien type recently so for this reason I gave these guys the sludge suits of armor. Better protection against chem damage and even if something gets through, all those other pieces of kit should eliminate/minimize the rest. So Pete and Crazy Gringo will be the two team leaders from now on.

As of this post I'm #18 on the Steam global leaderboards for aliens killed at 8246. I did jump a little ahead and shot down a bunch of UFOs to sneak me into #100 for UFOs shot down at 1040. But I can tell you this: I have a pretty solid lineup of interceptors along with bases and base defenses so if I would decide to focus on UFOs shot down I could jump ahead a lot farther pretty quick. I mean, I'd only need to get to 3000 UFOs shot down to get to #15 globally. That's certainly doable assuming I don't need to run any ground missions (aka, Terror Sites... which I haven't had yet, or Base Defense missions... also haven't had any of these either, or alien bases... likewise).

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

AT and TV double-team the opposition spending some mags on the Megas to good effect.

Having had enough with the pleasantries when he comes across the Mega commander, AT shows the blasted thing just how to chill, permanently.

Seeing a civilian sprawling in his own pool of blood, face down in the snow sent FA on a little rampage of retribution, heavy-handedly too.

All told, a nice mop-up with no need to even enter the wretched UFO...

Lieutenant AT and the incredible upstart Sergeant MTR. Come join the party! You know the deal - you're paying the whole team a round each!

Pete and Crazy Gringo, come here a sec and listen up: you take it easy here as we'll need you to be right fine and snappy shortly - we're kitting you out with the snazzy stuff so you can wreak some proper havok, up close and personal with the enemy if need be.

Hey, they bring their heavy cruisers - we amp up the body count! I can guarantee you top brass is counting; counting on us to bring in the big numbers where it matters.

And, you may not believe me now, but when we're done with these filthy invaders, bragging rights in terms of figures will show thousands to one in our kill ratio. I'll drink to that!!