Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Zombie]

Supply Vessel Part 2

It's now three turns later and we've just spotted an alien cannon on the roof of the UFO. The Veteran goes up a lift in order to mortar it:

It only hits for 97 damage though:

And now that cannon fires back at TV. Looks like it's going to be a hit unfortunately:

Somehow it only damages him for 1 point. Very lucky! He mortars the cannon again and this time the blast does 137 damage which destroys it:

On our next turn we spot the scary central cannon. TV will again mortar it:

The blast does an impressive 157 damage which destroys it:

Next turn we spot that other cannon on the south east side. Same as before... TV, mortar, blah, blah, blah:

The blast only did 53 damage but because he previously damaged it, the thing is destroyed:

Next turn our fearless leader Pete teleports to the top of the UFO to check out our progress and get eyes on the remaining cannons up there:

Three left. Pete teleports back out of there as it's time to split the difference between the two cannons on the west side with a mortar:

The blast does 145 damage to the farthest one which destroys it, but only does 85 to the other one:

The cannon then fires back. Our three intrepid soldiers shrugged off the damage from the first blast, but on the second one FA takes 2 damage, AT takes 1 and MTR shrugs off the damage completely:

That's not so bad, right? Ordinarily yes, but the cannon has one more shot and this time it hits AT for 9, MTR for 2 and FA escapes. Nobody has critical wounds though so it's more of a formality at this point to cure the damage. FA is going to patch up AT with a stimpack:

Since he has the stimpack out, he may as well heal MTR too:

MTR returns the favor and heals up FA:

Teamwork! Silencer is going to shoot at the offending cannon:

His first bullet is absorbed, but his second does 46 which destroys it:

MTR ran out of APs trying to escape the blaze the cannon created and has to tough it out in the flames during the alien's turn. He takes 3 fire damage so FA will patch him up again:

Now TV will mortar the last cannon:

The first blast only did 38 damage. TV inspects the mortar, shrugs , and fires it again. This blast does another 75 damage, but that's still not enough to destroy it:

TV doesn't have enough APs to fire it again so we'll have to wait. On our next turn NKF tries to take a peek along the south side of the UFO but a Caretaker reaction fires at him, luckily for no damage. DragonHawk will shoot at it:

His first bullet hits for an impressive 87 damage which kills it:

And that's what makes the U238 ammo so nice. There's also a Trep on the roof of the UFO. DH still has plenty of APs left so he'll take a snap shot at it:

It hits for 57 damage which kills it:

Easiest xp ever. It's like taking candy from a baby. TV will now mortar that last cannon on the roof of the UFO:

The blast does a pitiful 69 damage, but it was enough to destroy the cannon:

Finally! Join me next time for part three where we deal with 5 Caretakers (luckily not at the same time). The we sell some stuff for extra $$$, equip our transport with weaponry, manufacture some more ship weapons and shoot down a pesky Battlecruiser which was getting a little too close for comfort.

I had some time the last few days and was able to shoot down a bunch more UFOs. Right now I'm sitting at 9382 UFOs shot down which is a good start for the month. I had a little bit of a headache with one tough swarm that showed up. The game always spawns 6 UFOs for a swarm. What sizes of UFOs are in the swarm is kinda random but as you get farther in the game it switches mostly to Battlecruisers and Massive Patrol Vessels. For my swarm event I got 3 Battlecruisers and 2 Massive Patrol Vessels over Australia and a Medium Cruiser over the Pacific heading to North America.

The part of the swarm over Australia quickly headed out over the Pacific and refused to come near any of my bases before disappearing. So my initial strategy was to send out the interceptors from Australia and Antarctica to maybe take one out or draw it back to a base to allow the defenses to help down it. Trouble was, all those UFOs swarmed the interceptors and would almost always down one or two. So then I switched my focus to that medium cruiser over the Pacific... sent the interceptors from North America to engage it. They were able to down it over land just before the rest of the swarm backups arrived. Then I let the base defenses in North America shoot at them for a while until they wandered off. I enticed them back by sending out an interceptor to bombard the medium cruiser with one bomb. Worked pretty good.

I guess the moral of the story is not to focus on the group first. Pick out any outliers, then go after any single UFO which is being fired on by the base defenses. Leave everything else because they will probably head to your activity.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

You lot - you can say it: It is but a flesh wound!

What's a few scrapes and bruises when going toe to toe with massive cannons, and still finding yourself coming out well on top in terms of the give and take of it?

These are nonetheless very noisy affairs and gives other creatures time to creep up. Caretakers, Treps, don't be shy, it's your turn... to kick the bucket. We're not giving you the initiative; remember, this is very much our turf and you're going to learn it the hard way. Squad, resume sweep!

@Commander Z: Enemy vessel kill count updated. Expert bait and switch interception maneuver acknowledged. Your finest hour shall yet come!

[Zombie]

Supply Vessel Part 3

It's the next turn and a Caretaker has appeared at the corner of the UFO. Sitting duck right there folks. DragonHawk comes around a corner to shoot at it with U238 ammo:

His first bullet hits for an impressive 51 while the second does an incredible 89 damage which kills it:

Five turns later, an invisible Caretaker shoots at Pete who is trying to set up an ambush:

The blast is absorbed by Pete's armor and shielding. The Caretaker isn't as lucky and kills itself when the blast does 80 damage. Dummy:

Normally I'd reload the game because I want my soldiers to get the kills, but this was too funny so I continued on. A little bit of wonkyness went on after this but I think the dead Caretaker's "explosion" animation was run which caused that small building to explode and do no damage to Pete again:

Pete's Pete, explosions like that are meaningless to him. Shrug it off and move on, right? He'll take a couple steps because he wants to check the UFO door. As expected, a Caretaker inside the UFO shoots at him, but he absorbs the damage no problem. He'll shoot back then:

The first two bullets do 27 & 56 damage which kills it:

This guy is unstoppable. One little problem though, there is another Caretaker hidden in the darkness outside the door. Nobody really has a good shot on it, or heck, toss a grenade on it either, so TV will mortar it:

It's a weak spot hit for a massive 180 damage:

During the alien's turn a Caretaker comes up to the roof via the trap door. When it's our turn, Silencer will shoot at it:

his first two bullets do 37 & 66 damage which kills it:

Love that U238 ammo, it's a game-changer. During the alien's next turn, a Caretaker who is inside the closer UFO door to us becomes visible and shoots at Pete. He absorbs the damage and shoots back showing where it actually is:

Not sure how much damage he inflicted, but it was enough to kill it which ended the mission. EOM report:

33 aliens killed and nearly $1million in bounty too. No promotions, but no serious injuries either. Back at base we sell the recovered components and weapons:

Nearly $300k from that. We recently manufactured some weapons for our new Pagasus transport ship so let's get rid of that antiquated Fire Arrow Launcher and swap that bad boy out for the Long Spear:

And we may as well install a hand of fate launcher too:

There, all upgraded:

Meanwhile, our engineers have been busy building another Thunderstorm to replace our aging fleet of Golden Eagles along with a Long Spear launcher:

Our base in Antarctica is coming along nicely now as we have a full squadron of Thunderstorms, one's even upgraded:

Same deal in Europe, but we need to upgrade the fire arrow launchers to long spears sometime soon:

At the main base, the thing we need the most is more U238 ammo. Before we can complete that, a Battlecruiser shows up over Africa headed to Asia. Interceptors from all over are scrambled to shoot it down, but the ones in Africa are doing most of the heavy lifting:

Or shooting. Take your pick.The stupid UFO makes a huge mistake and heads right into the mouth of the beast:

One of the normal Thunderstorms is getting pretty beat up in this fight so we'll send it back to base. Just in time as the rest of the Thunderstorms shoot it down:

Of course, we are going to visit this baby as it's going to have plenty of loot and xp for the soldiers. Let's get everything back to base first:

When the crash site is in daylight the transport is sent out:

So join me next time for that. Should be interesing... and probably long.

-Zombie

[Zombie]

Battlecruiser Part 1

So this time we are on a desert map. Haven't seen that in a while so it's a good change. During the alien's first turn we spot a Mega floating around above the walled in area next to our transport:

When it's finally our turn, it's gone. In it's place is a pGehe. Silencer is going to take some snapshots at it with U238 ammo:

His bullets hit for 6, 12 and 1 damage. One? Really? Kret's going to try the same thing:

His first bullet hit for a minuscule 8 but his second hit for a decent 41 which killed it:

There was a lot of activity during the alien's next turn. When we can go again, Silencer is going to shoot at a Mega who is floating above a tanker truck:

He hits for 16 & 40 which kills it:

The other alien we can see is another pGehe which AT will take an auto shot at:

It was hit or miss every other bullet so he had to shoot again. His second to last shot hit for 50 which killed it:

After a quick peek, we now can see two Megas at the front of the transport. AT will take some snap shots at the one in the air by the flagpole:

The damage was absorbed so now Silencer will do the same thing:

His first bullet hits a weak spot for a massive 107 damage which equals a dead mega:

MTR now spots another mega near the edge of the map. Nook will utilize aimed shots:

His first was absorbed but his second hit for 33. Still not dead so now Sorby will do the same thing:

It hits for a decent 39 damage which kills it:

As for the Mega on the ground, Pete will toss an Inferno Grenade on it:

It's a weak spot hit for a nice even 100 damage which kills it obviously:

What's this? There's another pGehe in the air near Pete. Kret will take some snap shots at it:

He hits for 12, 6 & 73 which kills it:

DragonHawk now spots a Mega near Pete. He somehow has a shot at it. Aimed so it's a guarantee hit:

It only does 18 damage. Luckily he has just enough AP's left for one more aimed shot:

It hits for an identical 18 damage, but that's enough to kill it:

We don't see any more aliens so that's the good news. 8 in one turn, I'm sure the aliens are reeling after that performance. Nope, during the alien's next turn a pGehe appears by Pete:

It shoots it's chem weapon at Pete in close range, but you know Pete, he just shrugs it off like it was nothing.

Pete shoots back at it, hits all three times but only manages to damage it once for 13 damage. It's now our turn again and Pete is going to try and finish it off with an auto shot:

His first auto shot does a total of 28 damage which isn't enough to kill it. On his second auto shot his first bullet hits for 18 which kills it:

Join me for part two where we deal with a few more pGehe's outside and then focus on taking out those pesky cannons on the roof of the UFO.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

An invisible Caretaker drunk with power blows itself up? We're up with that!

And, Pete, being himself, unflinchingly just went on downright demoralising the opposition all the way through to the end of the affair. How do you like them apples?

HQ sure knows how to express appreciation too, kitting out our transport vessel with the latest and greatest weaponry. Upgrades even extend to the new interceptors being made available in a number of our bases.

On our way back out we're told packing some sunscreen would be adviseable. You know what that means...

It's nice and toasty alright with the alien reception committee intent on a very warm welcome wherever we look; one might go so far as to say suffocating and a little toxic behaviour overall.

So what do you say we start venting?

[Space Voyager]

Drunk Caretaker... I mean, we have all the powers needed to fend off an alien invasion in our hands today! Introduce them to alcohol and BAM, they won't know what hit them! Now excuse me while I train my body to deal with this poison.

[Zombie]

Battlecruiser Part 2

During the alien's next turn a pGehe shows up where Pete is. He's in cover and can't reaction fire at it, but DragonHawk has a clear shot and takes it. The first bullet hits a weak spot for a massive 107 damage which kills it:

You can probably make out where the shot connected as it's just below the gas cloud and to the right of the fire. A couple turns later and we just spotted the close cannon on the roof of the UFO. TV will mortar it:

The blast only does 52 damage. We may as well nuke it again:

This time it hits a weak spot for 163 damage which destroys it:

Such inconsistent damage rolls. There was some activity during the alien's turn and we now see two pGehes. First up is one by the flagpole again. Silencer will take some snap shots at it:

His first bullet hits for an unlucky 13, but his next connects for 81 which kills it:

The other pGehe is above the tanker truck and DragonHawk will take some snap shots at it too:

His first hits for 16 and his next hits for 65 which kills it:

Nothing really happens for 3 turns so Pete's going to find some work for TV. Mainly cannons. He teleports to the center of the roof and spots all of them:

TV will mortar the one on the right first:

The blast does a very decent 143 damage which destroys it. Next up is the cannon on the left:

This blast also does a decent 137 damage which destroys it. That same blast also set something off inside the UFO which damages one alien for 4 but the other shrugs it off:

Gotta love that. TV barely has enough APs left to mortar the last one:

This blast does 147 and destroys it:

Kind of an impressive weapon if you just look at it from the last three bombs. We know better though. Three alien turns later and we spot a Mega by both doors of the UFO:

The closest one to us moves closer to it's friend:

TV pulls out his mortar during our turn to put one between the two:

The one on the right takes 38 damage and is killed while the other only takes 19:

Really? 19? At least this alien is closer to the action so CG will auto shoot at it:

His first bullet was absorbed, but the second did 41 which kills it:

Five turns later and we've uncovered most of the map with no sightings. Everyone converges on the doors to the UFO. DragonHawk walks to the close door and is immediately met with reaction fire from a trigger happy Mega which injures him for 1 in his right leg. He makes a hasty retreat and Kret will patch him up with a Stimpack:

MTR will throw a normal grenade at this pesky Mega:

The damage is absorbed, so he steps it up with a Cryo grenade. This blast does an impressive 85 which kills it:

Yeah, these cryo grenades is where it's at folks. And we can manufacture these babies instead of only recovering them from the battlescape so I think we may need to make some more of them the first chance we get. Join me next time where it's more Mega action, and even two Commanders come out to play which we stun, but not before we train up some soldiers by shooting at one with el-cheapo ammo.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

After slapping around a few pGehes we follow up with TV's drumming session, laying waste to the cannons up above. Totally tubular, dude!

DragonHawk's encounter with the Mega was of a rather unsavoury nature but he managed to leg it out of there, if a bit hopscotch. Apparently these aliens need to chill if we're going to get this done the right way.

Let's not leave room for any further surprises - from here on in they dance to _our_ tune!

[Zombie]

Battlecruiser Part 3

It's four turns later and now everyone has made their way to cover both doors to the UFO. Pete goes inside and spots a Mega by two power sources so he'll toss a photon grenade between the two hoping that the explosion will be decent:

Very pretty explosion but it only did 18 damage to the thing:

During the alien's turn the Mega smartly books it outta there, but we still have eyes on it:

DragonHawk is planning on tossing an Inferno grenade near it:

But if he steps inside the door he can toss it directly on it:

That's the better strategy, maximize damage. It does 53 fire damage which kills it:

Nothing happens for a very long time. After 11 turns of that the team is getting very restless. Luckily we spot a Mega in a corner of the ship and this time Kret will toss an Inferno grenade on it:

The fire hits a weak spot dealing 77 damage which kills it:

During the alien's next turn a apparent Mega sneaks up on NKF and shoots him with it's chem weapon. He shrugs off the damage like Pete and fires back at the invisible alien:

He hits for 25 & 87 which kills it. When it's our turn, Pete spots a Mega Commander at the door to the central room. CG is going to attempt to stun it:

The poke does 79 stun which knocks it out cold. During the alien's next turn, another Mega Commander shows up:

It shoots it's chem weapon at Pete which does 3 damage. You're slacking Pete, normally that kind of damage rolls off your back. When it's our turn the Mega is right in front of some team members so they load up el-cheapo ammo. Sorby will shoot first:

Any damage was absorbed so now it's time for NKF to get some revenge (and xp):

After NKF, Mouse and Knan shoot at it too. Everything was absorbed. Before we go too far, Silencer will patch up Pete with the Stimpack:

And now you can shoot at the commander too Silencer:

After Silencer. Kret even gets in on the action. Not a single bullet from anyone damaged the commander. That's as far as I want to push it so now Pete pulls out the stun rod and gets ready to poke it:

It must've did enough stun damage to knock it out because the mission ended. EOM report:

Three promotions! Time to allocate Knan's points first:

That's right, max out strength and shooting. 9 missions and only 3 kills and he's kicking butt and taking names. Mouse is next:

His strength is kinda low at 90 but that stat is maxed out already. Let's max out Shooting first, then dump the rest in throwing. He's gotta have something to fall back on. Finally we have Kret:

One point goes in Strength to max that out, one goes into shooting to max that out too. I tossed one point into agility to make that kinda even with vitality then put the last two points into throwing. He's a real beast. As far as loot, we are selling some more and will make an additional $473k:

Join me next time for an all-Geoscape episode where we mostly crank out some research projects in the downtime, and eventually shoot down a few more UFOs. Should be interesting!

- Zombie