Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Zombie]

Farm mission this time. For the first round nothing happens as we just deploy into cover. JFG starts looking around when he sees an airborne Trep over the toolshed building so Jman takes a snap shot:

Only took one shot as it dealt decent damage. Tammy and Blade are a little further South and during the aliens round Blade spots a Trep floating around nearby:

Auto shot this time, but a snap would have been sufficient as it dealt almost the same damage as before. Down South we aren't messing around anymore as Thorondor blasts a hole in the hegderow to give Temmy easy access to the orchard/beehive area beyond:

We gotta take control of this because it's a nice killing area (sorry bees)! More Trep activity just north of the beehive area during the aliens round. Space Voyager needs the points for a promotion so he takes two aimed shots with his photon beamer:

Up north, JFG uses the haybales as cover and sneaks ahead to just get visibility on the door to the toolshed, then backs off a bit and readies a grenade:

The door was open but I didn't know if the Trep we saw on the second round was in there previously. I guessed it probably wasn't as Treps don't normally spawn in there which meant there was a Nh'Teol milling around. That assumption was correct as we could see the photon beamer it was carrying laying on the ground just outside the door:

Kinda got lucky there as it could have turned out much worse if we guessed the building was empty and then the Nh'Teol surprise attacked us through the haybales. But in the end those explosive drums did their job and dealt massive damage (almost as much as a mortar!) to the thing. Down South and Tammy got up the courage to peek into the orchard/bee husbandry area and sees there's a Nh'Teol waiting for a grenade:

Perfect! Those beehive boxes provide good cover while still allowing visibility and the ability to throw grenades over them. The explosion was very damaging to say the least. Tammy stayed put and just knelt behind a box as cover. During the alien's turn she spots a Nh'Teol in the area just north of her. That's Blade's territory so he readies a grenade:

Didn't deal exceptional damage but it was enough for a kill. Tammy moves closer after the explosion to cover that area while Thorondor takes point along the edge of the map using the boxes as cover. During the alien's turn he spots a Nh'Teol exiting the building and then stopping (probably because it saw it's dead buddy laying on the ground). This gave Tammy an opportunity to take an auto shot at it:

There's a second Nh'Teol that moved in on Blade's location during the aliens previous turn so he takes an auto shot at it:

A turn later and someone spots a Nh'Teol exiting the UFO so Zombie runs over there and spots it amongst some pine trees. Blade, how about tossing a grenade over there? Sure:

And that was the end of the mission. Another quick one as I only had time to explore 2/3 of the map. EOM:

Congrats Space Voyager! Let's allocate those points:

Three points went into strength to max him out at 97 (wow), then one point into throwing to get him to 88 (wow) and the last point into agility to allow him to move more (wow). It looks like he needs one point into throwing to max that out (91-ish). After that we can start beefing up agility and vitality and like Thorondor, maybe toss a point or two into reactions and/or bravery. Maybe not as good as Thorondor in shooting but SV is a real beast in the other stats. I'm glad his strength is so high as that allows him to use basically any armor and weapon he wants. Might have to beef up his grenades and possibly carry another clip of photon beamer ammo for other soldiers.

At our main base we started to manufacture some ultra ak1 ammo for our rifles. We had about 40 clips left so it's time to increase the stockpile of that due to seeing larger ships and tougher aliens (glances over at the bonesetter). Some soldiers are still going to be carrying the normal rifles yet (Blade, Tammy, Jman and JFG) but I think I should probably give everyone else the photon beamers as their shooting accuracy and strength are maxed out. With that said though, we have a bunch of soldiers back at base that need another promotion badly to help max out strength so after a few more missions I'm going to be giving our new rookies a vacation for a while. We have two new recruits back at base (names pending) that I kept for when this switchover happens. May only load them on the transport for recon vessel missions.

At our satellite base in Europe we are continuing to manufacture the new VT3000 fighter shields. A fair whack of interceptors have been upgraded with them but there's more that haven't. Luckily the old VT2000 shields fetch a decent sum on the black market so that offsets the cost of the newer variants a little. After the shields, we may build some roaring earth launchers so we have a little stockpile of them when we get around to manufacturing more golden eagle interceptors.

Other than that we just shot down another recon vessel in North America - northern Mississippi or possibly southern Tennessee (Memphis area):

We'll wait a little bit till its light out then head over there. Who knows, if the mission is successful we might pop over to see Graceland.

- Zombie

[Zombie]

So we zone into a desert "maze" landscape and for the first round we spread out a little as usual. During the alien's turn a Trep appears and Tammy had a few APs left for a reaction shot. It didn't kill but did damage it a bit. Blade needs the xp so he tosses a grenade on it:

Same turn, JFG finds a Nh'Teol and tosses a grenade on it too:

See why throwing is so important? The next turn we are faced with no less than three airborne Treps:

JFG goes after the farthest Trep with an auto shot:

Blade goes after the one on the right with an auto shot too:

And Tammy takes out the last one... with an auto shot:

The aliens should be reeling by now as I killed 5 bugs in 3 turns. They seemed rather unimpressed. A couple turns later and JFG spots a Nh'Teol just outside the exit to the maze, Jman is right there to throw a grenade on it:

A couple turns later and we are mostly getting ready to clear out the UFO. During the alien's turn JFG shoots and kills a Nh'Teol, however the last shot missed and hit Jman by mistake:

Crap, sorry man! A colleague gets ready to patch him up and finds out he's hurt in the groin. Ouch:

We fix him back up, good as new. No harm no foul. A couple turns later and Blade is hit for no damage from a Nh'Teol down the hallway in the UFO so he retaliates with an auto shot:

I withdraw him and send in Jman. He opens the door to the side room, but as he's turning around he spots a Nh'Teol a couple tiles away from where the other one was. Furniture was in the way, but he's able to toss a grenade on it:

And that was it. EOM:

No promotions - all quiet. At least we got some more cash: about half the cost of a golden eagle interceptor though. Back in the Geoscape and a medium cruiser wanted to visit our base in South America, I sent our interceptors over from North America to greet it:

Once it gets close enough for the base defenses to start firing, the interceptors are scrambled from that base too:

With it crashed we get the following pop-up:

And this is what we'll have to deal with after every UFO shot down. Well, we are obviously are going to visit it. But hold on, another medium cruiser spawns in near our main base... just to note, our transport is still heading back to base so if this UFO makes it through our defenses we'll have to use the soldiers back at base to defend. I send out my interceptors from my base in Europe to help and we are barely able to down it:

Hmmm, since it's daylight and right next to our main base, let's take care of this UFO first. That'll be next post though.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

*Prior farm mission highlight*

Hit 'em where it hurts, JFG!

Don't know where the Nh'Teol got struck but it seems the battle log had trouble naming the specific culprit. "Unknown weapon" therefore indeed places the blame on those touchy fuel drums and not on the grenade itself.

Ah, by the way, looking handsome in that new uniform, Lieutenant SV! ?

*Fast forward to latest outing*

Opening massacre doesn't much phase the remaining aliens because: a) they're not that smart b) morale is for the weak c) they don't really exist, what were you expecting?

These are dangerous questions to ask of course and you know such things are beyond your rookies when they just get bored and start trying to shoot each other in the family jewels for fun.

Fortunately all ended well and our interceptors just got us more fresh extraterrestrial scumbag meat to grind. Come get some!

[Zombie]

This mission was an airport map. It wasn't dark or light so let's call it dusk. We do the normal spreading out routine and spot the control tower. Well Kret, how would you like to test out that mortar? Send one right into the tower:

Didn't look like there was anything in there, but the combat log and alien screams indicated otherwise:

I think it was a Trep and a Nh'Teol (in that order). That was a good start to the mission! We start to advance to the UFO, but before we could get anywhere Blade kills a Nh'Teol with reaction fire:

You stay right there Blade, we have to check out the room next to you. Thorondor and Zombie get the honors (I think this is the first time I worked side-by-side with Mr T). Zombie blasts a hole in the wall to the cafeteria then heads to the door. When we opened it we didn't see anything inside but you never know so Zombie tossed a grenade to the far wall. Nothing. Mr T goes in there to take a peek and yup, nothing. As he turned around to leave he was hit:

Dang it all! Luckily he has enough APs for an auto shot. I have the most trouble with this particular room out of all the maps and am still trying to figure out a non-mortar strategy. Maybe the trick is to open the door, then back off and toss a grenade just inside. If the blast doesn't destroy the wall then go over there and toss another grenade further inside. Or maybe rockets? So many tests, so little time.

On the other side of the map Jman enters the hanger through the big doors and spots a Nh'Teol trying to flank us. That ain't happening:

After killing it, he withdraws completely out of the hangar. I'm worried there are aliens still inside there so I'm hoping they will get inquisitive and try to follow him, so I'm going to send JFG to the small door on the side to catch them off guard. Let's see if the aliens fall for my little trap. Hook, line and sinker:

"Gotta love it when a plan comes together" as Hannibal always said in The A-Team. By this point it was looking pretty quiet around the map so everyone hightails it over to the UFO and we set up the breaching squad. Blade spots a Trep down the left hallway and takes an auto shot:

That didn't kill it so JFG finished it off. A couple turns later and Blade spots a Nh'Teol down the same hallway and shoots:

A couple turns later and during the alien's turn a Trep tries to slice up JFG who was in the room to the right. He killed it, then another Trep tried to do the same. He wasn't able to kill it, but now it's a sitting duck:

Good try but not smart. Three turns later and Zombie and Jman go into the room on the left. I was hoping for a Jman kill but the last Trep came running right up to Zombie. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth as they say:

And that was it. EOM:

Pretty quiet again. Well this seems short so let's do a double header and visit that other medium cruiser. It's a non-maze desert landscape and Jman walks only three steps and spots a Trep close by. Might as well auto shoot it:

The next round Zombie goes out looking for trouble and finds it: a Nh'Teol. He has enough APs for an auto shot:

First shot misses, sails off and kills another alien (hidden, probably a Nh'Teol again) then the second shot kills the Nh'Teol:

Hehe, gotta love two-fers! Three more turns go by and Blade nestles in amongst some walls praying he'll see some action. It comes in the form of a Trep who popped out of a break in the wall and then ran out of APs:

He kills it (takes all three shots though) and then decides to go hide behind the cactus for cover. There's a break in the wall there and he spots a Nh'Teol back there. Grenade?

Nope, took two. More xp is how I see that. The next round Space Voyager spots a Trep by the tanker truck and takes some snap shots at it:

A few rounds go by as we make our way over to the UFO. We opened the door and something shot at Tammy for no damage but we couldn't see it. We wait a couple turns before investigating and Tammy is shot again. This time she sees a Nh'Teol hiding in the anteroom:

Cunning! Probably should have tossed some grenades in there to probe it out, but it's dead so... the next round Blade kills a Trep in the left hallway:

Jman goes through the door into the room on the right and is shot by a Nh'Teol which he sees and kills with an auto shot:

We better explore the rest of the room to make sure nothing else is in there. It's empty, but during the aliens turn a Nh'Teol opens the door and walks right in, ripe for a killing by Jman's auto shot:

Blade is covering the hallways and during the aliens turn kills a Nh'Teol trying to make it into the room Jman is still in:

The last alien was a Nh'Teol who was killed with reaction fire by someone. EOM:

Awsome, Tammy got promoted! Let's allocate the points:

It'll take quite a few points to max out her strength so I put two in that to get her to 88, then two points in throwing and one in agility. Solid soldier so far. Once we beef up her strength she'll be a force to be reckoned with.

Back in the Geoscape we are producing fighter shields in Europe and at our main base it's all about personal shields as they are really needed. We just shot down a recon vessel just south of the main base:

That'll be next, stay tuned!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

A pleasure going shoulder to shoulder with you for once, Zombie!

With company like that there's no task too big, no order that tall, 'cause us winners shall take all.

That little room we went into is ever full of surprises. Fire probably can't spread in such a place, but if so I'd suggest tossing a couple of incendiary grenades towards each division to smoke out whatever's in there. Or we could just holler "come out, come out, wherever you are!". ?

When all else fails we're no pushovers - we can take the hits. Right, Staff Seargeant Tammy? Here's to you - bottoms up!!

It's out the door with y'all now. Us singers will make 'em critters dance to our tune again!

[Zombie]

Let's do this! We zone into a non-maze desert map again. Jman gets off the transport and is immediately hit for no damage by a BoP:

Takes a couple auto shots but he kills it. Everyone can finally disembark and spread out. Three turns later and a BoP is spotted in the other direction. Space Voyager is kneeling nearby and takes an auto shot with his photon beamer:

He kills it in two hits, but that isn't it this round as we spotted a Minol on the other side. JFG decides to just take a snap shot:

Kills it in one shot luckily. The next round a two BoP are spotted. There's one sorta in the same spot Space Voyager killed one. Zombie decides to start shooting at it for some experience:

Ok damage rolls and he was actually able to kill it with two auto shots. The other BoP was on the opposite side again so Blade starts shooting:

He took a couple auto shots at it and was able to slowly whittle away it's health until it died:

A coupe turns later and Tammy spots a Minol lurking by the semi truck. She didn't have a clear shot at it so time for the grenade:

Easy kill. She stayed put after the kill for a number of turns to provide cover fire for any newcomers. The South side of the map is where all the action is at - we've been slowly advancing around the walls until Thorondor spotted a Minol. Jman didn't want to come out of cover so he decided to just toss a grenade on it instead. Couldn't throw it to the exact tile it was standing on but this should be close enough:

It was. For the next couple rounds the guys to the south take control of that corner of the map. We're still dug in to the Northwest and we need to do something to start the advance there so Kret fires off his mortar hoping there was an alien amongst the walls:

Nope, nothing. All clear it seems, so we can safely advance. And boy we sure did - all the way to the UFO doors (not in one turn obviously). We gather outside the door and when it was opened a Minol was standing in back of some alien "furniture" in the anteroom. Grenades would usually be the answer for this but I didn't want to alert the thing so Blade was told to just shoot at the furniture till it was gone:

With the junk out of the way he had a green light for an auto shot:

No problem at all. The next round JFG enters the UFO inner door and trades shots with a Minol (no damage from the alien). Issue though: he had 26 APs left. Do you risk it and take another auto shot which would probably kill it but leave you exposed, or do you withdraw knowing that takes 20 APs? Play it safe and withdraw is the obvious answer (at least to me it is):

The Minol was pretty close to us so how about if Jman tosses a grenade near it from the safety of the anteroom:

Easy kill, how about that strategy, huh? About 6 turns later we are playing it safe and waiting in ambush. Jman is camped out in the right room while JFG is covering the anteroom door. JFG is surprised to see a Minol wander to where Jman is. Before JFG shoots, Jman opens the door to see if there are any more aliens present. There are:

JFG kills his alien and Jman closes his door after finding out that the alien is in some pretty good cover as grenades and shots wouldn't reach it. He stays put and the alien comes to him which he kills with reaction fire. That was it, EOM:

Unreal, three promotions! They all got the same treatment: 2 points in throwing, 2 in strength and 1 in bravery.

While JFG and Blade are maxed out in strength, Jman is lagging behind and will need two more points into that next time he's promoted. Not the worst thing to happen but not ideal either. Hopefully his strength will not be a hindrance. In the Geoscape it's the end of the month again so time to check out the report card:

Overall, not that bad. Yeah, Australia and Asia are a little unhappy as they had some UFO flyovers. Not sure about Polar as we didn't have many UFOs pass through there. Maybe a UFO spawned in at the edge of that zone and ticked them off? Whatever.

We sold a lot of photon beamers, ran a bunch of missions and have nearly $30 million of cash so that's the good news. The bad news is that the aliens just will not give up sending UFOs. Two alien recon vessels show up: one in Asia and the other in South America and for the first time ever we are coordinating dual shootdowns:

I wanted to visit the crash site in Asia first so we had our transport in the air already at a "safe" distance. Once it crashed we were ready to head over there:

At least we'll be able to run the next mission during the day, that's the main thing.

By the way, I now have 133 hours on this game while on UFO:ET Gold I have 266. Halfway mark? We shall see. I think I may be a little faster on this playthrough because I kinda know what to expect. I mean, I'm not training up useless soldiers and we have a decent squad of them too so in that respect we aren't spinning our wheels aimlessly. Interceptors are still slow to upgrade and we've only had two swarms (only one "real" swarm though - the first one doesn't count).

Other than that, I'm almost depleted on missions "in the bank" so to speak (missions I documented but haven't posted yet) so I'm trying to knock out a few missions when I get the time. It's hard during Christmas because I'm so busy at work, but after I'll have a month to recover so all is good. I can guarantee the next few missions are going to be interesting though so you'll want to check back soon!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

I say well played, Zombie.

Careful use of your forces on the tactical side, good troop rotation and steady upgrade for suitable redundancy, adequate base setup in both offensive and defensive capability, carefully curated research progression and sound financial management.

You're probably not yet midway through exactly but you do have some control over that as well (when you eventually ramp up your research).

Take your time when you need to. We shall have to nail these aliens to the wall just right! ?

[Zombie]

So we zone into a non-maze desert landscape again. Leading the charge is FullAuto and Silencer. FullAuto tries to get into some cover but something shoots at him (but misses badly) with some sort of fire weapon. We finally get eyes on the thing:

What the hell is this?! Kinda wishing I brought more Photon Beamers along but we'll have to make do with what we've got. At least we have a mortar as backup. We may as well let Silencer take some shots first to see how resistant it is to our ammo:

He did some fantastic damage which killed it in two shots, They call this alien a Spitfire - appropriate. Anyhow, Silencer tries to get into some cover by a cactus and spots another Spitfire so Jman gets the honors:

During the aliens turn Blade shoots another Spitfire with an auto reaction shot and kills it:

Nice! In the pic you can see Space Voyager and Thorondor just chilling out in the transport until the LZ is clear for them to join in. During the aliens turn we see some movement where the second alien was on the South side of the map. The person with the best line of fire is Zombie so go get it:

Decent damage so no complaints there. Anyhow, Jman advances into the sandbag area to take some cover only to spot a Rider. He was out of action points to do anything so this time it was up to Thorondor to take it out. Might as well try a DG2 grenade to see how they fare:

I like the smirk on his face, so confident in what he does, because you know what's next. Boom!

Poop, forgot about the truck again. Oh well, more testing is in order. One thing is for sure - there aren't going to be any more aliens down there after that explosion. During the alien's turn a rider comes charging out of the UFO straight to Jman but runs out of APs. It also seemed to have ignored Silencer who was camped out along the side of the UFO. He had a clear shot:

Easy kill. During the alien's turn a Rider pops out of the UFO to hit Silencer for 10 fire damage. And then a Spitfire comes out to see what the fuss was all about. It forgot about Jman who started to reaction fire. First shot:

Second shot didn't do much damage so the Spitfire survived. Now we have two aliens near Silencer, one is weaksauce and the other is pre-damaged. Sounds like grenade time, no?

Another two easy kills:

Notice anything about Silencer? Completely unhurt. He was just shot for 10 fire damage and now he's fine. We can thank the pale blue crystal for that. It's an immediate 10 hit points healed. Well, the healing code probably only runs during the aliens turn but that's a nice feature. During the aliens turn a Spitfire exits the UFO and shoots at Silencer but misses badly. It's close by so he tossed a grenade on it first:

Didn't quite kill the thing though (we can assume it has 55+ vitality). Might as well toss another one on it. This one killed and that was it. EOM:

Pretty good overall. At least the aliens didn't absorb all our damage so killing them was easy. We can probably stick with the normal rifles for now. Here's what Silencer and FullAuto's loadout looks like:

Now they both have two VT3000 shields and a legacy VT2000 shield as "backup". It's not really a backup per-se, it just absorbs damage first, before getting destroyed which then the excess goes to the 3000's. I'm still producing the VT3000 shields though, so eventually the 2000's will be phased out and sold for profit. But not for a while - we need to have plenty of shields on hand in case we have to defend our base.

Next up is that other mission in South America. We shall see what types of aliens are present on this one. Stay tuned!

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

I definitely agree with Thor, don't rush anything, we can wait.

BTW, love the blue crystals. Can I have some?  Oh, and what a blunder, not bringing the Beavers Beamers!  A blunder I regularely commited in the days of X-COM...

[Thorondor]

There's nothing quite like the smell of vaporised new alien life forms in the morning!

This is the best, most honest, form of greeting we could possibly deliver. Yet, somehow, I don't think they got the message right just yet. ?

Doused Spitfires with lead and Riders we stormed, none have fled.

What further joys are there to be had? It's what we'll find in the mission ahead!

[Zombie]

Unfortunately we couldn't do this mission during the day as I had hoped due to it disappearing, so night time it is! We start spreading out on this farm map and don't see any activity. No doors opening, no squishy alien walking sounds (Nh'Teol) and no skittering walking sounds (Nh'Minol). It's all quiet. Eventually Jman spots a Minol in the upper floor of the farmhouse.

I didn't really plan on using a mortar this mission, but ok I can't pass this up:

It dealt massive damage so yeah that's satisfying. A turn later and the Minols start crawling out of the woodwork:

Seems I have their attention now. So the first thing you need to do is determine the biggest threats and then figure out who is in the best (and least "hot") location to take it out. In this case, Zombie has a clear shot at a Minol who was behind a hay bale and he's sorta in cover to boot so let's start with that:

One shot was all that took. The other Minol on the ground needs to go now. I have multiple soldiers who could do it, but I decide on Blade as he's in cover behind a hay bale himself and he's also being covered by other soldiers (like Space Voyager):

I think it glitched out (the game has trouble handling kill shots sometimes) because after all 3 shots registered and the kill notification showed up in the combat log the Minol still was able to fire off a shot before collapsing dead:

One point of damage is nothing so he's fine. The last Minol is upstairs in the farmhouse again. I sequentially went through all my soldiers to see if any of them had a clear shot at it. Nope. Ok, if I can't shoot it, and the windows are gone can I at least lob a grenade in there? Silencer can get it close but not exactly under it so let's go for broke and toss a photon grenade in there:

No damage done. Ok, you twisted my arm, Kret please nuke it:

It killed it obviously. Just so you know, the upper walls in the farmhouse are destructible assuming you get enough explosive power behind it:

During the aliens turn a Minol came out from behind a hedge and shot twice at Thorondor for no damage both times. Have no idea why he didn't reaction fire, usually I need to physically restrain him from killing everything with reaction fire. With that said, we'll let Jman take it out with a DG2 grenade:

And this was the result: 12 stinking damage from a DG2. Oh come on now game, that's not fair! Jman, go toss a DG1 grenade on it now:

No problem killing it this time. These things certainly aren't very impressive. The next turn, Blade sees that the door to the toolshed is open so he readies a grenade:

Um, a DG1 grenade, I'm not taking any chances. So was there a Minol inside?

You bet there was. The explosion only did 26 damage but still killed. Go figure. Same round and Jman spots a Minol on the roof of the farmhouse so he takes an auto shot:

A few turns later a Minol came out of the trees by the UFO but Blade killed it with a reaction shot and then another Minol showed up nearby:

Not sure how it got so close unseen, but FullAuto is right there ready to take it out with an auto shot:

And that was it. EOM:

Keep the cash coming aliens! We need it badly for all the new golden eagles we've been making. Back in the Geoscape a cruiser pops in unannounced at our base in North America so we greet it with just base defensive fire:

Take that! Just after we shot it down another UFO message appears:

Oh boy, these are tough ships to handle. Lets wait to see where it goes. Maybe it'll come near a base:

 

It wanted to run away when just the base defenses fired on it, but I lured it back with my fighters. I think we'll head out to the cruiser in North America first so stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Why didn't I react? Just didn't want to steal anyone's thunder. Others badly need the pratice it turns out. *glances Jman's way with a grin*

Some very erratic results from hits have been happening. Even aliens that should already be dead can momentarily seemingly cheat death for a final, if pitiful, hurrah.

Just be careful with reloads. We don't want any major jams to sabotage us.

Alright. Done talking. Mosey on over to the transport. We have fancier fish to fry!

[Zombie]

Another nighttime mission unfortunately. We zone in to find a different landscape (maybe cityscape is a better word) for once:

FullAuto takes maybe two steps and he already sees two aliens. The alien closest to him is a BoP so let's start sending some lead in it's direction:

It only took one auto shot to kill the thing which was very impressive:

Where's the other alien though? It's a BoP on top of a roof nearby, so Silencer tries an auto shot:

Another impressive show of shooting as it only required one auto shot to kill:

We start spreading out to create some sort of a perimeter (the edge of the map is right in back of the transport). Eventually Blade spots a BoP on the ground. He can't get a clear shot at it due to a pod(?) or vehicle in the way so he tossed a grenade on it doing minor damage. Time for a second:

The second did better damage but it wasn't enough for a kill. Jman was his backup so let's have him toss a grenade too:

I was starting to worry because if Jman couldn't kill it we would be sitting ducks but it died:

Big sigh of relief. FullAuto is upstairs yet using the upper level as a lookout as the walls there are like swiss cheese. During the aliens turn he kills a Minol (after getting fired upon) at the corner of the UFO and then spots another one nearby:

Not sure who spotted this alien as everyones icon was grey but at least FullAuto had a clear shot on it:

Meanwhile our trusty Mr T is up in the clouds using his keen eyesight to spot aliens from a rooftop. This time it was another BoP. He didn't have a shot on it due to the railing in front of him, but somehow, someway, Jman could:

It almost took two full auto shots to kill it, but I was just impressed he even had a shot on it in the first place:

About 5 turns go by with nothing happening outside. By this point most of the map has been explored and I'm fairly convinced everything is inside the UFO so we start converging on it (safely of course). We spot a Minol just outside the main doors so FA thinks a grenade is the best choice from behind his cover:

The grenade went straight up into the air and had so much hang time it made Michael Jordan look weak. When it finally came down and exploded it killed the thing. Then more of nothing. We hear doors opening so there's more Minols inside for sure. After entering the anteroom we start to get into position with FA camping out in the right room. One round he peeks out and is shot for no damage by a Minol on overwatch. Default reaction for him is to pull out a grenade and throw it:

The next round Silencer spots a Minol who was trying to sneak up on us so he takes a close range auto shot at it:

When he comes around the corner to inspect the quality of his work he sees another Minol next to him so another auto shot is necessary:

The next round Silencer peeks around the corner again and spots yet another Minol so FullAuto comes out of hiding to shoot it:

And that was it for the mission. EOM:

No more promotions to speak of, no stunned aliens, nobody hurt or killed. I consider that a success. I'm glad we're getting another $330k bounty for it though and we'll have some more photon beamers to sell along with the flight controls, fibers and gravity engines which I've been stockpiling.

Next will be that patrol vessel UFO mission. This will be in daylight and because there was a ton of stuff going on I'll be breaking this into a two-parter. Stay tuned!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

A rather atmospheric night mission this was, even the HUD helping with immersion given its greenish neon hues.

Most certainly a cityscape, even if there were some small areas with trees, but a deserted one at the present time.

And, if you look at the image capture before EOM, that UFO must have managed a straight down vertical landing because there are things all around it that couldn't possibly remain there if it had crashed landed in a skidding sort of way.

Well, all the better for our scavenging of their tech...

We're done here in paradise city, pilgrims. Nothing more to see in this freak show. Reconvene on exit coordinates and off we go to greener pastures!

[Zombie]

Patrol Vessel Part 1

We zone into a different landscape again, this time it's a train station. And it's during the day too so we can see stuff better. I'm glad for that as I remember these patrol vessels have some seriously dangerous turrets mounted on their roof. We gotta be really careful about those. They can be damaged and destroyed if you get enough firepower on them, but if you don't destroy them they have near-unlimited AOE reaction shots. Oh, and need I mention that if an alien spots anyone from your squad, it'll transmit the coordinates to the turrets and they will start firing at your location endlessly until all the cover between it and you has been destroyed at which point you're a sitting duck.

So we start to spread out a little bit as best as we can. Nothing happening though. During the alien's turn we see some movement and during our turn see a new alien a couple levels above. FullAuto has a decent chance at hitting so he prepares an auto shot to see what type of alien we are dealing with:

It's called a Fireball and required almost two full auto shots to kill with our ultra ak1 ammo:

That damage is on par with the BoP. Luckily these things don't have auxiliary Sentinels they can deploy, but we have very little resistance to block fire right now (photon armor has a little and our photon shields offer some protection too and the pale blue crystals prevent criticals so it's not 0 but really low). If it was only this type of alien we would probably handle stuff easily. But during the aliens turn a new alien type appears inside the train and tries to shoot at Space Voyager (maybe?) but forgets that there's a glass door in the way. It hurts itself a little with the fire, then Space Voyager stars reaction firing upon it:

Be careful SV, we don't want a friendly fire accident with FullAuto! This alien is called a Gehennae (from now on called "Gehe" as it's too time consuming and difficult to type accurately). SV's photon beamer shots didn't kill it, but Zombie is nearby and starts firing too. His shots were all absorbed so for our turn SV is going to shoot first:

It does little damage too. And now there's another alien visible. Oh boy, we might be in trouble. Zombie unloads on the thing and eventually is able to take it down:

These Gehe's just soak up damage like you wouldn't believe. I thought that photon beamers would be better at damaging but that doesn't seem to be the case at all. Maybe that's a good thing as 5 of the squad have normal rifles equipped (Zombie, FA, Blade, Silencer and Jman). Well, what's this other alien? It's another Gehe sorta where the Fireball was before. I'm officially crapping my pants. Let's have Kret nuke the thing with a mortar, maybe that'll do something:

The mortar didn't kill either, but did hit for 63 which isn't bad:

Nobody else has a clear shot and I didn't want to waste another mortar bomb on it so we wait it out. Thankfully it just sat there for it's turn and didn't move much. This time we have soldiers who have a shot at it. Blade is in a pretty good position so he goes first:

First shot was absorbed but the second was a kill shot:

Thankfully that worked out. During the alien's turn we spot a Fireball come into view floating way above the train. Nobody could reaction shoot it so the first order of business is to snap shoot it with Space Voyager. As the first shot was on it's way I took a screencap, it looks like the shot is going to hit the car:

Nope, it hit for some decent damage (42). That's a good start, do that again SV:

It only did 10. And his next shot also did 10. Well, at least it's taking some damage. Trouble is, SV can't send enough shots downrange with snap shots. Auto shots would help, but not at 49% accurate. Let's have Jman take some 86% accurate auto shots with his AK rifle:

He was able to kill it which was nice. That other alien spotted icon is a Fireball we can see through the glass doors of the train but can't take a shot at. I leave it be until I can get some soldiers on the lift below. Eventually we lost sight of it so I brought up Silencer and had him kneel down and cover the door just in case the thing came back. It did, conveniently opened the door and then stood there looking stupid. Silencer unloaded on it with reaction fire which killed it:

For a number of turns we are carefully searching out the building on the lower left of the map (I'm guessing it's a terminal of some sort). We get upstairs and wander out on the deck in back and notice a new type of alien across the tracks. We couldn't get a shot at it due to the railing but I did find out that Jman could toss a grenade on it:

That's fortunate! It didn't do much damage but we found out this alien was called an Iron Rattler (known as a "Rattler" from now on). Space Voyager was up on the deck so he tried to get in on the action by tossing another grenade on it but he was two ap's short:

Oh well, it was a good thought. During the alien's turn this rattler walked away somewhere out of view and disappeared. But Blade reaction kills a rattler trying to come through the doors into the train:

I don't think this was the same rattler because when I sent Blade to the railing of the deck he spotted a rattler below the spot the previous one was before. Keen eyes will see there is a lift nearby so it probably tried to huff it out of there but ran out of APs. Makes sense. This time Jman is ready to toss another grenade:

It did fair damage, but didn't kill. The rattler then reaction fired on him and the damage was absorbed. He tossed another grenade on it which finally killed:

Good job! Meanwhile, our fearless leader named Thorondor was investigating the area by the railroad "tracks" and spots another rattler. He's out of APs so we need this thing dead N-O-W! I remembered Space Voyager was still on the deck above, could he maybe toss a grenade on it? Oh yes he can:

Fantastic! During our turn we did see the outline of a turret on corner of the roof of the UFO. The game didn't give us an alien spotted icon so I thought it would be pretty safe to mortar it when it was our turn again:

The explosion thankfully took it out dealing some non-critical hit massive damage:

By this point I'm feeling we can handle this. We still have to be really careful though. The aliens we've been dealing with are tough but not impossible to kill, but all it takes is for an alien to spot us for a full turn and it'll relay our location to the turrets and then they will rain down blow upon blow on us. We've eliminated a closer turret though so that's one less thing which will fire at us. The more cover between us and the UFO the better. There's still another corner turret near to us to worry about and then there's the frighteningly huge turret in the center too. Once those are gone, the other two corner turrets on the other side of the UFO will not be an issue because the UFO itself will be in the way of it's weapons.

Stay tuned for part 2, it should be exciting!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

You sure have a way of breaking out the bad news, Zombie, what with the novelty roof turrets and all. Still, better to be told upfront that we're in hot water.

Fireball, Iron Rattler and Gehennae make their showy debut too but their intimidation tactics are not working.

We'll be sending you back to HQ in body bags - if there's anything left of you maggots to send that is.

Now put your game faces on; we've got cleanup on aisle 3!

[Zombie]

Patrol Vessel Part 2

A couple turns after destroying the turret we spot a lone Trep floating around. Hey buddy, are you lost? Oh, what I wouldn't give for a mission with Treps and Nh'Teols right about now. Blade, you can do the honors and get some free xp:

No time to relax though as we spot a Gehe in the building where the Trep was:

No way we have anyone in a good position to fire on it - at least not enough. Kret could probably get a nuke close, but here again, they aren't causing insta-kills with Gehe's and we need the bombs for the turrets. It's a good distance away so we will let it be, but keep a close watch on the area. The next turn we get close enough to the UFO to spot the scary main turret. Kret's going to send a nuke it's way:

This was a tough nut to crack as one bomb wasn't enough. Kret sent another one and this time it destroyed the turret:

Feeling better now that the main turret is gone. The other alien spotted icon is for the Gehe who we see, it's just sitting there inside the building not doing much. We back off a little to make sure we don't accidentally give away our location to it. For 5 turns we keep checking up on it occasionally and eventually it disappears. Now we see a Gehe on the roof of the building though. Let's soften it up with a mortar first:

It also destroys the solar panels and a communication dish so we have clear shots at it:

I don't know, it kinda looks angry now. FullAuto has a good shot on it once he gets out of cover so let's try an auto shot:

Every shot hit and all the damage was absorbed. Well, crap. Jman, why don't you send some shots at it:

One shot missed, the other two hit but were absorbed again. Send another volley then:

I think we have it's attention now as it tried shooting back with it's fire weapons but was way too far away. The fire ended up on the roof instead. Poor thing! Jman still has enough APs for another auto shot:

One shot hit, but was absorbed yet again. How about Zombie, let's have him shoot at it. Took two auto shots but he was eventually able to take it down:

I don't think this was the Gehe that was inside the building though - it would have taken too many APs to get up there and my soldiers were watching that area pretty close. We gotta assume there's another one in there. The next round it comes out and stands there. Blade is gonna try a photon grenade on it first:

It did 10 damage so not a whole lot. Thorondor is nearby so he's going to try a DG2 instead:

Totally absorbed. What a waste:

Space Voyager is a little closer so he's going to use another photon grenade on it because maybe we were unlucky with Mr T's damage roll. It was absorbed. Out of the usual options we decide to reset. These grenades aren't doing much and we are wasting too much time. Jman goes back to basics and start shooting. He was finally able to kill the thing. A couple turns go by and we see another Gehe in the same area:

Thorondor stepped out of the doors to the train intending to shoot the thing but there's another Gehe below. No shot on it due to the railing but he can heave a photon grenade on it:

Make that two photon grenades - the first did 17 damage and the second was absorbed. Well, it was some damage at least. Blade was right next to him so he tossed two DG1 grenades on it. Minimal damage both times. That's it, time for the mortar, maybe it's softened up enough:

Kret couldn't get it directly under the thing but a tile away should be sufficient. Luckily the blast killed it:

Now we don't have a mortar backup in case things go pear shaped when attacking the other Gehe. Best course of action is a localized tactical withdrawal. The troops closest to it will withdraw to the other side of the train while everyone else holds their ground. It only moved a little to the side of the train, so during our turn Thorondor hit it three times with his photon beamer and Blade hit three times with his normal rifle. Total damage dealt was 93 and it's still alive. Space Voyager's going out there to show the guys how it's done with a snap shot:

Dead, and that was the end of the mission thankfully. We used up a lot of mortars on this mission so manufacturing more of these will be highest priority when we get back. EOM:

Ho hum, though we did recover an advanced alien flight control, a hibernation and some inferno grenades. Not that these inferno grenades are going to help with fire aliens, but against Bonesetters it will be. We need to test out our incendiary grenades on them first. Back at base we have a whole list of items to research now:

I kinda have an idea what some of these topics do so I think the best one for us is to research the Rider:

It'll take a while for that to finish though. We did finish production of another golden eagle interceptor at our EU base so that's going to our main base in Russia so that we have a full compliment of them:

I'm really tempted to sell off one of our Laboratories to make room for another workshop. Because our other bases cannot produce any soldier-related items, we're stuck making them only at our main base. I don't have any Hellfire suits of armor yet, no inferno rockets, only a handful of incendiary grenades and DG2's, we're behind on upgrading soldier shields to VT3000's and now we need more mortar bombs. We have a lot of topics on the research list yet so maybe I'll hold off a little on knee-jerk reactions and just focus on the essentials. Mortar bombs are the most needed so we'll start making those, then go shields and after that maybe the inferno rockets. I guess another option would be to temporarily build two workshops just to get caught up, then remove them. Seems like that might be expensive though.

Meanwhile our radar picks up a recon vessel over the Pacific so I send some interceptors out there from South America to engage, then drag the thing back to base to let our defenses shoot at it and down it over land:

Not sure why it was such a big explosion, but it's down. We are going to wait to go to this mission till it's light out. We need all the help we can get right now. That's up next so stay tuned!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Those Gehes are tough as nails and require a little too much chipping away at, with our current arsenal at least.

We'll need more effective weaponry soon. Meanwhile it wouldn't hurt to have either someone carrying extra mortar bombs to keep Kret fed or one more bloke with a mortar. *wink, wink*

The patrol vessel yielded some nice cash, so it's not all bad.

Shake a leg, people. We've got another catch to deal with!

[Zombie]

Our team heads out to that crash site in South America. It's a pseudo-daytime mission in the desert (non-maze). FullAuto gets off the transport and immediately spots a Bonesetter:

Sure, he could start shooting and possibly kill it, but I want to test out the new incendiary grenades on the thing first. In order to prevent reaction fire and to get a more accurate throw, FA moves along the side of the transport so he's at the back of the engine and readies the grenade:

Not expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised as it killed the Bonesetter outright:

It dealt decent damage which was nice. Thing is, Bonesetters can also fly so for the odd time you find them on the ground these are an option. But if they are in the air the only option is the incendiary rocket or taking your chances and shooting at it with ultra ak1 ammo or photon beamers. Neither of those are insta-kill options either. To finish the round part of the team comes out of the transport and take up defensive positions. Silencer takes up a position behind a sandbag wall and during the aliens turn a Bonesetter tries shooting at him but misses, but now it's in full view in the air. Zombie is kneeling behind the other engine of the transport and decides to auto shoot it:

It took 3 full auto shots to kill the thing, but at least it's dead and Zombie has some experience:

FA moves forward and kneels down behind some sandbags, but he needs backup so Jman stays a little further away and Space Voyager takes up the rear. During the aliens turn a Bonesetter shows up near FA but Jman kills it with an auto shot:

His photon beamer did really good damage too. Now it starts getting busy on the other side of the transport. During the aliens turn a Bonesetter appears in the air in front of the tanker truck so Blade starts by taking an aimed shot with his photon beamer:

Two shots did decent damage again and killed the thing:

A couple turns go by and yet another Bonesetter shows up in almost the same spot again so Blade starts with a snap shot this time:

He took 3 shots but it dealt less than impressive damage. Thorondor luckily is in a good position so he starts in with a snap shot:

Initially it wasn't very impressive either but his last two shots finally killed it:

Not much happens for a few turns so we start advancing on the far side of the craft. Eventually a Bonestter appears near FA and Jman who were both kneeling behind the sandbag wall. It was on the ground so an incendiary grenade was an option but I was worried about it destroying our cover so Silencer takes a 99% accurate auto shot:

And killed it with only that auto shot:

Probably lucky damage rolls but that was certainly worth it. A number of turns go by again and another Bonesetter shows up in the same spot in front of the tanker truck this time on the ground. Blade starts it off with a snap shot:

He took 4 snap shots, all hit and 3 did damage but it wasn't enough for a kill. Zombie can shoot so he starts with an auto shot:

I knew right away I should have opted for snap shots instead as the first shot killed the thing but then the next shot flew off on an odd angle and hit the tanker truck causing a big boom:

Now we don't have that as a free explosion and it removes our cover too. Thorondor had some issue with standing in fire but his armor absorbed the damage and then during the alien's turn a Bonesetter appears in the air by FA and Jman which Silencer shot at but didn't kill. He still has a shot on it during our turn so he tries an auto shot:

And killed it. Now, you have to realize that during the last 5-6 aliens turns a Bonesetter was constantly firing it's weapon and not as us either (as far as I could tell). Not sure if this happened because I killed too many aliens causing it to go berserk but it didn't clear up after a couple rounds. The other option could have been a game bug or AI issue. It was just really strange. I was contemplating pulling back and allowing it to deplete it's ammo but Thorondor was just too inquisitive and had to investigate. He found it and Blade tries an aimed shot:

The first did decent damage but the second failed to kill so now it's up to Zombie:

He killed it with a couple snap shots and that was it. EOM:

Keep it coming. Bonesetters aren't too bad if you double/triple team them. I just wish these tougher aliens gave you more xp for killing them. Wonder if this is a bug, WAI, or an issue with the mods? Seems odd when UFO:ET Gold had different xp for killing different aliens. Back in the Geoscape and a medium cruiser UFO shows up near our main base. I wait till it gets close and the defensive systems start firing, then send out the interceptors:

It didn't take much and the thing crash lands:

We are going to wait till it's in full daylight in order to visit it. Before we can go another golden interceptor finished construction which we immediately equipped with the good stuff:

Going to keep this in Europe as we don't have one there yet. Things are looking up but we need more of these. Lots more. The medium cruisers are ok to deal with as long as it isn't a one-on-one scenario, but the patrol vessels are a beast to deal with even with multiple interceptors.

Anyhow, stay tuned for that next mission.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

You can feel it in your bones when a contention will be heated but this was a truly scorching test of our resolve.

We're getting very variable damage output on our auto shots in particular. Far from an even distribution (and things almost got too toasty with that stray shot).

As for Silencer, I'm thinking he just spends too much time fondling his weapon and modifying his ammo. Not sure it's even legal, but it explains some things. ?

It's all up in the air out there and word is it's hard to maintain a no fly zone.

You know who's going to be picking up the pieces, so look alive!

[Zombie]

On 12/26/2022 at 5:43 AM, Thorondor said:

We'll need more effective weaponry soon. Meanwhile it wouldn't hurt to have either someone carrying extra mortar bombs to keep Kret fed or one more bloke with a mortar. *wink, wink*

I don't have enough mortar bombs to supply two people nuking every mission. Not to mention that "Mortar Men" can't protect themselves so they need a "protector" to help keep them safe. Here's how many bombs I carry in every mission:

• The person carrying the mortar has 5 bombs total - 3 in the backpack, 1 in the belt, 1 loaded in the mortar
• The dedicated protector is also the mule who carries 3 bombs in the backpack
• The vets (Thorondor and Space Voyager) carry 1 bomb each in their backpacks
• The two soldiers who are backup for the two trainees each carry 1 bomb in the backpack

So that comes to 12 bombs total. I think that's sufficient for any mission. 12 bombs take 3 days and 18 hours to manufacture with 20 engineers working on it which isn't exactly fast either. I find it's best to use the mortar sparingly and as a last resort. I should also mention that the bombs destroy cover which may leave your troops without anything to hide behind.

Part 1 of the Medium Cruiser

I'm going to start off by saying that for this mission I did things a little bit differently and showed all (or at least most) of the shooting the soldiers were doing just to give an idea of what to expect yourself. For this reason I broke the mission into two parts: the first is clearing the landing zone and the second will be clearing the map and inside of the UFO. I also mistakenly thought the medium cruiser on this map had turrets (it does not, only patrol vessels and bigger do) so that's the reason for being ultra careful.

This is a city landscape where the transport is on an elevated platform. The two trainees and backups immediately head into the room with the doors on the right. We don't see anything. The next round FA opens the door to see a BoP way up in the air near the front of the transport. (Sorry, forgot to take a screenshot of this). He takes an auto shot and kills it:

The next round Zombie (who is the protector of Mortar Man Kret) looks around the South side of the transport and is shot for no damage by something up high and on the other side of the transport in the front:

I assume it's a Bonesetter so he huffs it back into the craft for some cover. Too rich for my blood, we'll wait it out. The next round Blade opens the door and Silencer spots a Bonesetter right where Zombie was last round so he takes an auto shot:

Only needed two shots which was really impressive:

A couple rounds go by with little activity. Jman (who is inside the building with Blade, FA and Silencer) goes down the lift in that room to the room below - I don't want a Bonesetter sneaking up on us from behind. Zombie comes out of the transport and sees an airborne BoP a ways off so he takes a snap shot at it with his photon beamer:

Damage was low so we need to shoot at it more with someone else, say Thorondor:

He did a little bit more damage than Zombie so he takes another snap shot:

About the same damage again. Time for someone else like Space Voyager to take a shot:

He hit for only 12 damage which isn't good, so take another shot:

Only 8 damage this time and now we have a problem because Space Voyager is out of APs and can't get back into the transport for cover. The BoP needs to die now, this round. A mortar is out of the question due to the alien being in the air. Maybe another soldier has a shot? I try FA and he surprisingly does:

He only needed one shot as it did a massive 39 non-critical damage. Go figure, the ultra ak1 ammo out performed all the shots we took with photon beamers:

Then nothing happens for 5 turns. Zombie constantly checks outside the transport every round and so does FA and Silencer - nothing is going on upstairs. Down below Jman opens the door and spots a BoP on the ground:

He could immediately shoot, sure. But he's all alone down there so let's see if FA or Silencer can peek over the railing upstairs and shoot at it. Silencer can so he starts off with a 99% accurate auto shot:

All three shots hit for some decent damage too. Might as well take another auto shot at it:

Only took two shots with the first dealing 2 damage and the second a whopping 41:

With the BoP dead, Jman closes the door and he's safely back in cover for the turn. Next turn Zombie finally spots that Bonesetter that shot at him during turn 3 (it is now turn 16):

Again, I don't want to start the shooting with Zombie as he's exposed and if he can't get back into the transport it might be a bad day for him. Well, we have 2 soldiers in the door yet with full APs so FA comes out and kneels for an auto shot:

All three hit for low damage so time for a second auto shot:

This time the first two shots were absorbed and the last did 28 which killed the thing:

8 rounds go by. Recall that I'm expecting turret fire from the UFO on us any round now so I'm being conservative in how far we move and where. Space Voyager is on the third floor of the building on the right (which has walls like swiss cheese so you can see out) and he sees a BoP one level above. He isn't too far away so he opts for a kneeling auto shot with his photon beamer:

Well, make that two auto shots. It did some decent damage when it hit but two shots missed. The BoP was still alive so SV went down the lift and hid behind a wall. Silencer made his way into the room SV was just in as backup. The BoP actually followed SV down to the ground so Silencer went down the lift to shoot at it:

The first two shots did low damage again, but was enough for a kill:

Silencer went back upstairs for cover and SV held his ground.

This is the end of the "clearing the landing zone" part 1. While almost all the aliens outside the map are dead (so we are really past the LZ thing) there is still one alien left. I'm going to include that with the UFO as we spotted it on the way there. So stay tuned for Part 2!

- Zombie

[Zombie]

Part 2 of the Medium Cruiser

After killing that BoP we wait in ambush. As time went on it became more apparent that there wasn't any aliens out in the open anymore. We start to come out of hiding and spread out just to make sure we don't miss anything. Eventually Thorondor spots another BoP inside a building to the Southwest. It appeared to be on the top floor so on a whim I had Kret check to see if he could mortar it in place. You betcha:

It only did 59 damage which wasn't enough for a kill. I started going through my troops that haven't moved yet hoping someone had a shot at it. Turns out, Silencer was on the top of the building where the last BoP was right at the corner of the building (you might be able to see the blue arrow in the above pic). That particular spot was blocked with the buildings, but he was able to move a few tiles to the south to get a better vantage point and a clear shot. Let's try a 93% accurate auto shot:

Two bullets were enough to kill and now everyone can sigh with relief:

I'm pretty confident that was the last alien outside so we hastily uncover the rest of the map and then start converging on the UFO. We keep hearing a lot of door opening sounds inside the UFO and see that the inner door is open so there must be something nearby. We open the door from the side and shoot at a conveniently placed explosive barrel hoping the fire would reveal the location of the Bonesetter(s) in there. No deal, so Jman opens the outer door and finds a Bonesetter. Let's try an auto shot with the photon beamer:

It was an easy kill (missed the screenshot of this) so now it was time to get everyone to the UFO to clear it out. Four turns later and Silencer enters the craft to check around for enemies and spots a Bonesetter down the left hallway. Maybe try a DG1 grenade this time:

The damage was absorbed (duh, but you never know if you'll get lucky) so he had to withdraw and wait till the next turn. When Silencer went back in to check, the Bonesetter shot at him but the damage was absorbed too. Time for an auto shot then:

First shot was 43 damage, second was absorbed and the third was for 43 damage again and a kill shot too:

With that alien out of the way it's time to try and take over the room on the right. Blade goes in there alone as I don't want to invite grenades. During the alien's turn he shoots at a Bonesetter dealing 43 damage (popular number). The Bonesetter shot back but the damage was absorbed. When it's our turn he auto shoots it:

The first bullet dealt 50 damage (why not 43?) and the Bonesetter was dead. Now that the room is ours, Blade hunkers down near the door. FA moved into the UFO to keep an eye on the door just in case. Yup, a Bonesetter shows up, opens the door and runs out of APs. Dummy. Now FA can take an auto shot at you at near point blank range:

It took two auto shots worth of hits dealing mediocre damage at best to kill the thing. Usually when you kill the second to last alien the last one comes charging over to you so we take the hint and withdraw everyone into the anteroom, no exceptions. Heck, even Kret and Thorondor get chummy together outside the main doors just in case their services are required:

Sometime I want to check out if a mortar bomb detonated outside the UFO will have a blast that propagates through the hull. I doubt it's possible, but could be really useful if it is. Anyway, nothing happens during the aliens round. So being the dummy I am, bring Blade into the right room again. During the aliens turn a Bonesetter opens the door to that room and again runs out of APs to shoot or move. Freebie for FA so he enters the UFO and auto shoots it dead:

And that was it. EOM:

Pretty good if you ask me. No promotions but Thorondor and Space Voyager are only a couple hundred xp away. I'll try and get them some kills in the next few missions but I can't make any promises. They will still get 30xp/mission no matter what happens though. Back in the Geoscape and our research into the Rider finished which opened up a couple new projects:

Before we get into that we have to check out the description of this alien:

Mostly pushovers as we already knew. Now we have to decide what to research next. While I'd love to get the heavy photon beamer ammo going, we only have one clip of that available. Until we get more it'll be a waste of research power so let's go with the fire arrow launcher:

All our interceptors still have the original stingrays so this is a necessary upgrade. It'll certainly help against those nasty patrol vessels. In terms of bases, I've finally made the decision to build some workshops at our base in South America:

We need to upgrade our interceptors and now we will need to manufacture fire arrow launchers when that is finished being researched. I'd like to do all the interceptor related manufacturing off-main base because those engineers are going to be very busy manufacturing ammo, grenades, mortar bombs, incendiary rockets, hellfire armor, soldier shields, etc, etc, etc.

Now there's a small cruiser buzzing around Europe so we need to take that down:

We shot it down quickly. It'll be dark if we leave now so it's going to sit till it's daytime out then we'll mop it up. Stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

14 hours ago, Zombie said:

Only 8 damage this time and now we have a problem because Space Voyager is out of APs and can't get back into the transport for cover.

I was sweating like a PIG at this point, I tell you! Don't let this happen again... Luckily Silencer was there to cover your mistakes, man!  

 

Thor and me still have promotions to look forward to? How far can you get promoted? By now we were promoted so many times I thought we were all "Commanders of Earth, nothing above"!

[Thorondor]

While briefly conversing with Kret just outside the UFO he conveyed his frustration at not being more actively safeguarding other squad members. This while juggling a couple of mortar bombs. ?

People are in the frontlines more than it's either necessary or "healthy", I hear. Close quarters are also great to channel the blasts.

So, when I tell him he has an expensive, potentially deadly habit himself he surprisingly seems to take in he isn't the only adrenaline junkie of the bunch and settles down.

These cityscapes sort of remind me of Apocalypse. The density and verticality of the spaces make it full of possibility - for disaster. Best take it slow and steady indeed so you're good and ready for the threats.

Speaking of which, some aliens were cruisin' now they're about to be schooled in losin'. Mount up!

[Zombie]

On 12/29/2022 at 12:26 AM, Space Voyager said:

Thor and me still have promotions to look forward to? How far can you get promoted? By now we were promoted so many times I thought we were all "Commanders of Earth, nothing above"!

I'll preface this by saying I'm going off the xp values from UFO:ET Gold and up to this point has been ok from what I've seen except for Warrant Officer. To get to that level in Gold it required 1100xp, but for UFO2 I think it's 950xp. So I'm not positive if the future promotion levels are the same or even present. With that said, the next promotion for Thorondor and Space Voyager should be Lieutenant at 1880xp (they are ~ 1700 xp right now) and after that is Captain (3060?) and finally Colonel (5200?). If I get them up this high then they will really be gods.

It's small cruiser time and when we spawn in it's an airport map. As usual, Job #1 is to get eyes on the control tower and mortar it. We spot it and a Minol is up there too so Kret's going to mortar it:

Dead obviously. Turn #2 and FA spots a BoP a couple levels above and it's blocked from us by the terminal so it's Kret time again:

This time it was a weak spot kill which was nice to see as the BoP is toast:

Because the map is ultra small we need to deal with the small room in the terminal - the one that gives me trouble almost every time. I hate that room with a passion. We shoot a hole in the wall instead of going through the door as that can lead to reaction fire. After that we toss a couple grenades in there and see nothing dead. Maybe it's empty? Oh no, there's a Minol behind the door. You just can't win. And when SV tries to shoot at it, he hits FA twice (at least the damage was absorbed). Luckily Thorondor was in a better position:

It still took two shots to kill. At least it's dead:

I might try just sending a mortar over there next time to open everything up - maybe that's the trick. During the next turn we spot a BoP in back of the terminal outside in the air. So FA shoots out some of the walls in the cafeteria/break room so everyone else can get a shot at it:

During the aliens turn this BoP deploys a Sentinel then tries shooting at FA. It has an AoE weapon so when it fired and missed but connected with the Sentinel it also hurt itself too. Funny stuff. We also spot another BoP to the right of this hot mess:

Let's deal with the one to the right first. Zombie and SV are at the corner of the building already and it should be pretty safe to shoot at this thing because it moved during it's turn. So Zombie takes an auto shot at it with his photon beamer:

It did some decent damage and killed it. In a bad lapse of strategy FA shot at - and hit - the other BoP which when shot and hit multiple soldiers with it's AoE weapon doing only minor damage. He may as well continue shooting at it:

I probably should have had him shoot at the Sentinel initially for a couple of reasons: 1, because they don't have a weapon to fire back with and 2, they explode when killed which would have damaged or even killed the parent BoP. Too late now. FA eventually kills it and now it's time to deal with the Sentinel. Jmans shots just didn't do much damage so now it's up to Thorondor to clean up this mess:

Luckily he killed it so we can breathe easier and heal each other up. It takes us a while to do that and make sure the terminal is clear from other aliens. Most of this team meet up by the fence with the door in it next to the UFO. Not Mr T though, he is covering the end of the fence by the edge of the map. Anyhow, we open the door to the fence and see a Minol by the door of the UFO so FA throws a grenade at it:

It hit for only minor damage. I immediately realize I made a boo-boo by throwing the grenade with the door to the fence open. I should be throwing it with the door closed so as not to precipitate reaction fire. So I fix that and FA throws another grenade at the Minol:

He is somehow able to kill it even though the grenade dealt 17 damage this time. So with the 9 damage from before these Minols probably only have 25 hit points (vitality). Wow. The next round Blade and Silencer are covering the hangar and a Minol pops out. Blade moves away and Silencer throws a high arcing grenade at it over the corner of the building:

I love exploiting that feature of the game. Though it's really not much of an exploit as it would make sense that you could throw around a corner. The next round I have Mr T huff it over to the far corner of the UFO. Jman comes along for the ride, but he's lagging a bit because he was farther away. During the aliens turn a Minol appears and Mr T kills it with reaction fire:

And during the next turn Jman kills a Minol in the same spot via reaction fire too:

And that was it. EOM:

Keep that cash coming! Oh, and before I forget I took a screenshot of Zombie to show what he carries being the mule and protector of Kret:

He's also nearing another promotion as is FA. Here's what his (and Silencer's) loadout looks like:

FA needs some more points in strength yet as he's a little weak and some points in throwing too, but overall he's a great soldier. And here's a pic of what Thorondor and Space Voyager carry

He may be a little low in max strength, but he more than makes up for that with 100 shooting and a throwing potential of probably the same. SV has lower stats and is more of a well rounded soldier. You need these non-specialist types of soldiers on your team as you never know who is going to need some help. As you can see, Mr T is about 150xp away from a promotion (if the xp levels are the same as Gold), SV is about 250xp away (so maybe 3-4 missions behind Mr T).

In the globe a Patrol vessel shows up near our main base so I send out the 3 golden eagles from there and one from Europe to draw some fire from it and drag it back to our bases. Before we can get to that our research into the fire arrow launcher finished:

Seems I forgot to take a screenshot of that so I grabbed one just now:

We need this like right now to deal with this patrol vessel. Oh well. Now we need to research something, and I'm thinking the heavy rocket defense is just the ticket:

It's gotta be better than the rocket defenses we have now. Not sure on the cost of this either, but I'm hoping it isn't too expensive as we have a lot of rocket defenses at our bases we need to switch over. Anyway, we finally were able to shoot down that patrol vessel near our EU base with one golden eagle taking some damage:

That's not critical as it'll probably be fixed by the time we come back from this mission. We are obviously going to wait till it's daylight over the crash site to visit because this mission will have UFO turrets which we have to be wary of. That's up next so stay tuned!

- Zombie