Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Thorondor]

It's an average everyday airport terminal. As you traverse its grounds nothing seems out of the ordinary. Yet, there is a room that is anything but. For it connects you directly to... The Twilight Zone! *crazed screams!!* ?

A trying experience every time but you can't be blamed for being careless in your approach to it. It's just the luck of the draw, seemingly always positioning the pesky alien initially away from harm, luring us in closer.

But the buggers are going to have a harder time of evading our ire once Fire Arrow Launchers enter active service.

Handy in the sky; still, we have a more hands-on approach, don't we, lads? Time to get 'em dirty again!

[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"!

Apologies, my answer in my last post was wrong. Thorondor and Space Voyager are already Lieutenants so they have two promotions left. They got to their current level with an end of mission xp of 1422-23. The actual xp for Lieutenant is a little bit difficult to nail down to an exact value as I don't have enough data points to draw from. I went back to the mission where Thorondor was promoted and he had an ending xp of 1423 while not doing anything. For my game, soldiers gain 30xp per mission flat regardless of activity so subtract that and you have 1393. Closest number is 1400 so that's my guess.

Compare that to 1880xp in Gold for Lieutenant and it's pretty obvious that the devs monkeyed with the min xp necessary for at least the last 4 ranks. A good theory may be due to the change they made for killing aliens. In UFO2 it's been 5xp (so far) while in Gold it varied due to alien type. Or maybe it was game balance due to player feedback (Colonel required 5200xp which if you remember is a real slog even with the higher xp aliens). And if the next two promotions follow the same theory they will be lower than in Gold too. So that's the long winded answer.

Anyhow it's time to go to the crashed patrol vessel we shot down. It's a train station landscape again, so not my favorite map type but it's certainly better than the cityscape (in terms of killing aliens not aesthetics). I'm a little worried we'd be facing fire aliens again, but nope, just Bonesetters and BoP. We can handle that. First alien turn and Blade reaction fires at a BoP over the train:

Not very exciting damage for the first two shots, but he saved the best till last and killed it. Still the same alien turn and Silencer catches another BoP snooping around in back of the transport:

Just like Blade, Silencer saved the best till last with a 40 point hit:

This was a kill, but for some reason the combat log didn't catch it. Oh well. Three turns later Space Voyager reaction fires at a Bonesetter up on a roof. First shot hit and damaged for 24 but the second missed badly and hit the wall in the balcony below. I caught the third shot on it's way to the target:

It connected thankfully with a satisfying amber bloom of photons:

That was enough for a kill. I'm starting to relax a bit by this point as we are mopping stuff up with just reaction fire. Doesn't last as we spot another Bonesetter over the train so Space Voyager takes a long range aimed shot at it:

It did 40 damage but the next shot missed. Nobody else has a clear shot at it so we all stay put and wait it out. The thing didn't shoot back but instead came closer. Now Space Voyager has a more accurate aimed shot:

First shot only did 8 damage but the second dealt 40 which was a kill shot:

Five turns were spent spreading out and organizing the troops to get some soldiers up to the passenger level. Blade and Silencer enter the train and post up by a door because we spotted movement in the next car - a Bonesetter cowering behind some seats:

During the aliens turn another Bonestter opened the door and shot at Blade for minor damage, then ran out of APs standing right in front of him. FA also hit another BoP over the train with reaction fire but the first shot only did 3 damage:

The next two shots also connected for better damage but not enough for a kill. During our turn Space Voyager is still in his previous spot and was able to take an aimed shot at the BoP:

The first shot did 27 which wasn't enough for a kill. The second did 15 which was enough though. Nice shooting there SV! Silencer decides to auto shoot that Bonesetter right in front of him inside the train:

He just has the normal AK1 ammo but dealt some impressive damage:

Enough for a kill, and still enough APs to heal up Blade too so we are good to go again. These two then decide to withdraw to below as the activity above is too rich for my blood (we also have to worry about those turrets which have been awfully quiet). A couple turns go by and we see a Bonesetter on the platform so let's go with Mr Reliable, Space Voyager:

First shot did minor damage and the second was absorbed. Wha? You were doing so good before, what happened? FA was a little closer to it outside but he only has a normal rifle. May as well take some shots at it:

That was enough for a kill, but there's another Bonesetter up there yet. Silencer comes up the lift from below and takes an auto shot at it:

And that was a kill, and the end of the mission. Here's the report:

Good. I call it great. No turret trouble at all and we didn't have to waste any mortar bombs on them either. We had some minor injuries which were patched up on the battlefield so that was nice too. Well, with all the cash we've been making lately and increase in alien toughness I decided to purchase a Raven "tank" (recall I sold the one we were provided initially as we were low in cash):

It's going to be mainly used for base defense missions, can never be too prepared for those as we can't use the mortar indoors. Oh, and we started producing some incendiary rockets too. Back on the globe and we detect a light cruiser in Russia so some interceptors engage and drag it back to base:

Once it is in range of our defenses it's all over for that UFO:

And before I forget, here's what our two fearless leaders have for kit (both have two VT3000 shields now). First up is Thorondor:

Whenever he gets promoted again I need to give him more agility and vitality (probably two points in each of those) and then a point in throwing to get him to 91. Here's Space Voyager:

I'm thinking at least one point in agility and throwing and maybe two in vitality and who knows, maybe the last in bravery? I'm kinda leaning to more agility now all of a sudden. Dunno why, it's just nice to be able to get these soldiers where they are needed in a hurry.

Before we can go on that light cruiser mission, we have to shoot down a recon vessel in South America:

We are going to be busy this month, that's for sure. So stay tuned!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

You can feel free to just call me eXPerienced. I've been around and never an alien there was that felt glad when I'm found.

Me and "Old Reliable" SV here are still sowewhat pliable and if things escalate to the nth degree, downright dependable, whenever need be. That describes us, to a T. ?

Hey, look at that junk. This planet is a no parking zone for you lot; no more fines - time to deliver another eviction notice, effective immediately!

[Zombie]

Let's take care of this recon vessel first. It's on a polar base landscape so at least we have a little cover from the aliens. We spread out a little bit but not too much - where ever we can get to that has some cover. First alien round and FullAuto reaction shoots at a Spitfire but for the first shot the damage was absorbed. The second shot is on the way though:

This time it does 37. And here's the 3rd shot:

It does 22 which is enough for a kill. That's not the end of the round though because a Fireball shows up close to the Spitfire. This time Blade gets off a snap reaction shot:

It only did 10 but that means it's pre-damaged for FullAuto to shoot at during our turn:

Well, make that two auto-shots worth. Damage was ok but inconsistent:

We can calculate a min vitality for the Fireball from this which comes to 59 (10 from Blade+7+27+14+1). [Max would be 10 from Blade+7+27+14+29-1 = 87] It's probably a nice even number like 60, 70 or 80. That's not taking into account any armor. A couple turns later Thorondor spots another Fireball. His snap shot accuracy isn't too bad so he starts with that:

He took 3 shots which did inconsistent damage too. Luckily he has exactly enough APs for a last redeeming shot:

Which of course was absorbed again. Zombie's there to continue on where Mr T left off, though he had to move a couple tiles and kneel down to get a clear shot:

First shot didn't do a heck of a lot of damage but the second was very nice which was the kill shot:

Which left him with no APs either. So let's hope no aliens show up there. I thought I could narrow the Fireball's min vitality with this set but it still comes to 59. Oh well. Thankfully nothing happens, and we don't move either because it's too dangerous to go head-to-head with these aliens and no hellfire suits of armor (the pale blue crystals can only go so far too but that's only true for FA and Silencer). Six turns later and we see a Fireball on top of a building so FA is going to start with an auto shot:

Let's make that 3 auto shots. It's still alive and he has one bullet left in the clip. I don't want to waste this clip so he just takes a snap shot to use it up:

Not enough for a kill. I forget if this was all the damage he did due to the combat log only showing 7 lines at a time but we can still calculate a min vitality again (4+35+17+3+8+1) = 68. Remember that number. Blade is going to have to shoot at this thing first:

Which did 12 damage and killed it:

Adding these numbers up and subtracting 1 gives a max vitality of 78. So it's somewhere between 68-78. Maybe 70, or 75? Still need more data points but we are narrowing it down! Now that we whittled the aliens down it's probably time to slowly start exploring the upper levels of these buildings. Jman and Silencer are selected for this dangerous job. Jman eventually spots a Spitfire but he only has 14 APs left:

Well, that's not good. It didn't reaction fire though which gives me a little hope. He withdraws as far as he could so let's see if Silencer can toss a grenade near it without catching Jman in the blast:

He tossed two DG1 grenades at it but wasn't enough for a kill. Those explosions took out the walls around it which was very fortunate. Mr T is down below but can't get a shot at it (neither could Zombie), but it looks like he can get a grenade on it:

Boom! And it was enough to kill it:

Unknown weapon? Ah, there was a barrel at the corner of the room which exploded. Now I was worried that Jman would get shot at during the aliens turn as he's not in cover anymore. The aliens ignored him. A couple turns later we spot another Spitfire by the UFO door but nobody has a clear shot at it. Can't chuck a grenade that far either so we have to let it be:

Finally on turn 23 Jman can shoot at it:

Three snap shots later and it's still alive (one shot was absorbed). But now we have Blade in a position to shoot at it. He's clear across the map though (look for the yellow dot on the mini-map):

It only took that one aimed shot to kill it:

That's better. One less alien to deal with. The next round Space Voyager sees a Spitfire inside the small building with the three doors and starts shooting:

Everything missed. Useless. FullAuto spots another Spitfire on the other side of the building and starts reaction shooting:

He has a little better luck as two shots hit for damage. Wasn't enough for a kill though. And then to top it all off another Spitfire shows up on the roof of the building too:

Busy place! These things all have to go this round. FA's been getting most of the action lately so let's try to get some kills for Silencer. He took an auto shot at the Spitfire on the roof first because he's on the same level:

Which killed the thing. He doesn't have any more clear shots he can take but he does have APs left so how about tossing a grenade at the one SV tried shooting at:

There must be explosive stuff inside there because BOOM! It took out the closest Spitfire and damaged the other one too. Before the "dead" Spitfire collapsed it was able to get off a shot that hit Silencer for minor fire damage:

Who should get the last alien? It's pre-damaged from FA already so should go down with very little effort. Before I could ask, Thorondor steps forward with a grenade in his hand:

No need to kneel down for him as it's 99% accurate. That was enough for the kill and that was it for the mission. EOM:

Keep the cash coming! Though, easier aliens next time please. Here's the first part of the sell screen back at our main base:

We have 30 mortar bombs which is never enough, but at least we have 10 cryo rockets and 5 incendiary rockets (plus I increased our stockpile of explosive rockets as they can be purchased for dirt cheap).

I could probably sell some more photon beamers and some ammo for it too, but for now I think it's wise to hold on to those 300 clips as better weapons aren't on the horizon. That's what sucks about this game, you are perpetually stuck with regular rifles (which deal mechanical damage) or photon beamers (which also deal mechanical damage). And you are facing tougher aliens with high armor against mechanical damage. Go figure. The only "new" things you get to combat the threat (which don't deal mechanical damage) are cryo or incendiary rockets or incendiary grenades. That's it. No shoot-y ammo upgrades and no new weapons either. Fair?

Anyway we'll do a quick turnaround back at base and then head out to the other UFO. Stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

What a lovely sight, mostly fit for sleighing, but we're here for a fight and we'll do all the slaying.

It's nothing out of spite, so quit your baying because even if it's trite, to the end our fire upon thee we shall be laying.

What lovely flames. Smoked. Light up those engines - we've got some more sightseeing to do!

[Zombie]

Alien Recon Vessel

Yup, I'm sorta breaking this apart as I also want to fit in some Geoscape things too. This will just be the mission itself. Lots of stuff happened so let's get underway. We land on an airport map. Fitting, isn't it? As always priority #1 is to find the control tower which isn't too hard as it's right next to our transport. After deploying some soldiers Kret comes out to nuke the tower

I'm hoping it'll catch an alien napping up there. It does more than that as it wounds another unit too:

Not sure how we would know one of the aliens was a Fireball as we never spotted it. But we dealt some good damage to whatever the other alien was too. I'm not going to press my luck and send another mortar bomb up there, I'll bring out the dream team of Thorondor, Space Voyager and Zombie to cover Kret. During the aliens turn that alien we hit with the mortar made itself visible. It was a Bonesetter and Zombie reaction fires at it. The first was a hit for only 2 damage:

Hands down my favorite screenshot of the game so far. Love the trail from the photon beamer heading up and hitting the Bonesetter. The next shot dealt 43 which was enough to kill it:

At our turn FA spots another Bonesetter on the lift in the lower level:

Dunno why I wanted FA to shoot at it so bad, but he did. All the shots were absorbed (as always, sigh) and now he's out of APs and can't move. Well, crap. SV shoots through the open door at the hedge and then at the glass to destroy those obstacles. Thorondor comes in line with the door and takes an auto shot first:

Only one shot hit for 13 damage. That's not going to do it. Ok you have enough APs left for a snap shot, make it count:

It hit for 5 damage. Oh come on now. Now we are in some serious trouble - three guys are sitting ducks. You will not see this too often but I pull Kret over there. He drops his mortar and is going to toss an incendiary grenade on it:

It only did 18 damage. Some times things just will not go your way. During the aliens turn, the Bonesetter shot at FA twice for 5 total damage and at the end of the turn it took 4 area fire damage. That's something at least. Let's check out FA to see how bad it is:

Right, he has a pale blue crystal so it auto healed him. (As an aside, I'd like to test out what would happen if you have multiple pale blue crystals equipped. Will 2 of them heal 10 damage? Probably), Now that the Bonesetter is injured FA tosses a DG1 grenade at it and kills it:

Well, it worked out in the end. The next turn we spot a Fireball on the roof of the terminal. Zombie is in a good spot so he takes a snap shot:

The first did 3 damage and the second did 2. Really? Ok, I send FA out there to take some auto shots at it:

Took two full auto shots to take it down:

Because of the low damage rolls I can recalculate the Fireballs vitality. The min is 74 (3+2+5+15+32+5+11+1) while the max is 77 (3+2+5+15+32+5+11+4-1). So it's gotta be 75. Hopefully I'll get a kill of this alien with one point of damage, as that would solve it completely. Anyhow, next round Thorondor takes a peek at that infamous room in the terminal and sees that the door is open. So he tosses a grenade in there somehow:

The combat log didn't indicate an alien was caught in the blast so it's gotta be in there yet. The next round we see another Fireball just outside the terminal. I quickly get everyone into cover as best as I can:

The next round FA destroys the door leading outside by shooting at it. And then gets ready to take an auto shot at the Fireball:

Unsurprisingly it took a second auto shot to kill the thing:

With that threat gone, Thorondor carefully peeks into the room next round but doesn't see anything in there. Might as well toss an incendiary grenade in there, if it doesn't catch anything in the initial blast maybe the area damage will alert us:

Yes indeed, there's an alien back there and I'm pretty sure it's a Bonesetter because a Fireball would absorb fire damage. Did a fair whack to the thing, but it's still alive and we still can't see it so Thorondor tries a photon grenade next:

That was enough to take it out thankfully:

Finally we cleared this room without anyone getting shot! I wouldn't say this was the best way to do it, but it's a starting point to refine. We've had a lot of activity on this part of the map and I was starting to wonder if there was anything on the north side. There sure was. A Bonesetter comes out of the hangar and blasts both Silencer and Blade with an AOE photon beamer (turns out this is a new ammo called heavy photon beamer ammo - you can load it directly into the regular photon beamer too, there isn't another weapon type). Blade shoots back with reaction fire and damages it for 56:

Not a kill, but wow! Silencer then shot at it and killed it with a hit for 23. Not bad. Still during the aliens turn a Bonesetter comes into view of Zombie who is in the terminal and he takes a shot at it:

My second favorite screenshot by the way. His shot hit but was absorbed. Thorondor is close to it so during our turn he opts for a photon grenade first. Maybe it'll soften it up:

Absorbed again. Time to get serious, he kneels down and takes an auto shot:

First shot was absorbed but the next two connected for decent damage. Thorondor withdraws a little bit and Zombie takes over with a snap shot:

That dealt 52 which killed it:

Phew! Another busy round. Silencer was auto healed by his pale blue crystal but he has to go heal Blade:

Easily patched him up. But now Blade is down a shield:

He's gonna have to be careful for the rest of the round. Space Voyager is covering the north side of the hangar so once we clear that SV can backup Silencer and Blade. A couple turns go by and Thorondor spots a Bonesetter that came out of the UFO. Try a normal DG1 grenade this time? Sure, let's see how it does:

It only did 8 damage. We'll stop messing around now and have Thorondor take an auto shot:

Not good accuracy but he was able to kill it. And that was the end of the mission. Stay tuned as next post will be the EOM, promotions, research, manufacturing, base module construction, equipping interceptors and updating the away team. Busy, busy, busy!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Hey, Bonesetter - say cheeeesse!! Direct hit confirmed!

Tough as nails, the bastards that next came for revenge. It could have been dream to nightmare on this one at the flip of a coin but victory goes to those that so dare. Even The Nameless Room was vanquished at last.

Blood, sweat and no tears, that's how we serve!

Did someone say something about promotions?

[Zombie]

2 hours ago, Thorondor said:

Did someone say something about promotions?

Don't get your hopes up, Thorondor was just promoted and I'm not sure when his next will be either. It'll be a surprise for both of us.

So here's the EOM from the last mission:

The promotions are for Zombie and Kret. Total surprise for me as I wasn't looking at their xp for a while. Well, let's allocate the points for Zombie first:

He was low on agility and vitality so I put two points into each of those and the last in throwing. Honestly, his next promotions may be exactly like this. At least he can keep up with his teammates now. And here's FullAuto:

Kind of a no brainer, max out strength first which took 4 points and the last goes in agility. This shows he has 99 strength but in the geoscape it's listed as 97. Not sure what's up with this but it may be an issue between the actual value and trying to display it (could be with the mod that gives soldiers higher stats). Back in the Geoscape and our research into the Heavy Rocket Defense finally finished:

Let's see it's description:

It's good, but if you compare it to the regular rocket defense it's a lot better:

With that complete we need to research something else. There's still a number of topics available including some aliens, the alien patrol vessel, hibernation and heavy photon beamer ammo. I think we'll go with the latter:

We don't have a lot of these clips yet but I'm sure that's going to change eventually. It's better to have it researched and not have any clips at base than to not have it researched. We can always scavenge them off the battlescape and use them if necessary as they slot right into the regular photon beamer weapon. Oh and another fire arrow launcher completed so transferred that to Russia and equipped that on another golden eagle:

I think all the golden eagles at my main base are fully upgraded now which is good. Now we can focus on Europe, North America and South America. Europe isn't going to take too much time as I have manufacturing facilities there. When all the interceptors are upgraded there, I'll start transferring more fire arrow launchers to probably North America as they don't have any workshops (South America eventually will so they can help with this too).

Since we have the heavy rocket defense topic researched, it's time to start upgrading our normal missile defenses to these. At my main base in Russia I didn't remove the regular rocket defenses first, I just added two new heavy rockets in the last two open spots:

After these are completely built I might still keep the regular ones for a little bit just in case we have a surprise attack by something big or (heaven forbid) a swarm. At my other bases I just removed one of the regular rocket defenses first and built the heavy in its footprint:

When that's built I'll do the same to the other regular rocket defense. So we are making great strides in being able to shoot down UFOs which I'm thrilled about.

With that taken care of we need to muck around with our away team as we have plenty of soldiers that need to get to warrant officer yet. Since Zombie and FA have just been promoted let's swap them out for, say, JFG and Pete. I think I'll make Pete the dedicated protector/mule for "Mortar Man" Kret and JFG is going to be the new front-line trooper:

JFG is sorta like Zombie: maxed out shooting and strength, bravery is mostly set, throwing is usable but vitality and agility are a little low yet. In the Geoscape our 3 workshops finally completed in South America:

So the first priority is to get those engineers to produce fire arrow launchers.for our interceptors there and in North America. A day after this and another alien patrol vessel is detected over the Atlantic heading to Europe? Russia? Arctic? Somewhere up there. I wait till it gets near land then send out the interceptors:

The patrol vessel was shooting it's purple cannons at us but nothing was hitting our planes for some reason. Bad accuracy rolls or a glitch, I'll take it. As soon as it got near Russia our base defenses there started to fire and then we had it in a crossfire situation. It was all downhill from there for the UFO as it crashed:

And it's going to be daylight soon too. We'll wait till midday then send out the new team to clean this up. I wonder what aliens we'll have? Stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Heavy Rocket Defense facilities under construction. Heavy Photon Beamer ammo research now underway, Commander.

Light Rocket Defense facility decommissioning advised due to cummulative monthly expense.

Fire Arrow technology deployment increase - In progress. Tracking: ▓▓▓▓▓▓▒▒▒

Aerial threat: Intercepted. Ground team readiness: Verified. Dispatch to crash site: Imminent.

[Zombie]

We land on a farm map this time. Well, that's ok. Plenty of stuff to hide behind for cover and we'll need it with those UFO cannons. On round one a Rider is spotted on the roof of the farmhouse so JFG auto shoots it:

It was an immediate kill. During the aliens turn a Bonesetter got up close and personal with our team, but Thorondor wasn't interested in chatting - only shooting:

It wasn't very good damage but at least none of the shots were absorbed. JFG needs xp so he peeks out from the hedge to be shot by the Bonesetter for no damage. Since he's face to face it's time for an auto shot:

He killed it with the first shot. The next turn we spot another Bonesetter on the roof of the farmhouse too so JFG starts with an auto shot:

Make that two auto shots. Three shots were absorbed and the other three did minor damage. So maybe Pete can do something:

He killed it in two shots:

The Bonesetter's vitality is somewhere between 54 and 57. A Rider ran near us during the aliens turn so when it was our turn JFG comes out of hiding for a snap shot:

A couple turns after that and another Rider comes out of the farmhouse so JFG snap shoots it:

There's another alien on the roof of the farmhouse again and it's a Bonesetter. JFG has APs left so he auto shoots it:

It did very little damage and the Bonesetter shot back and hit him for 3. No big deal, the pale blue crystal will heal him up. Pete is next and as usual it'll be an auto shot:

It absorbed a lot of the shots so Pete had to take 2 more auto shots and that finally killed it:

On second thought, I'll have Silencer heal up JFG with the stimpack:

That area requires immediate attention. A couple rounds later and we spot another Rider exiting the farmhouse. JFG didn't want to risk getting more medical attention in his private parts so he'll stay in back of the hedge and toss a grenade on it instead:

It only did 11 damage so he has to toss another one:

That was enough for the kill. The blasts have also cleared away the hedge and actually removed a chunk of wall next to the door which turned out to be very fortunate because we can now see further inside. That's important because a bunch of turns later we spot a Bonesetter at the doorway. Silencer has advanced to another hedge and is a position to throw an incendiary grenade on it:

Which was enough for an immediate kill. It also destroyed more of the wall of the farmhouse too:

The next round we spot two Bonesetters together which aren't near the farmhouse. Unfortunately they are both in the air so that means we can't use the mortar on them or incendiary grenades either. Well, let's start with Space Voyager. He shoots at the Bonesetter on the right first:

It did 3 damage. So instead of shooting at the same alien he shoots at the one on the left and deals 54. Go figure:

Pete had to use some APs to get into a position to shoot, but he was able to take an auto shot at the one on the right:

One of the shots connected and dealt 53. Well, that's good. See, we just found out the Bonesetters probably have 55 vitality so the 53 damage plus the 3 from before is 56. It's still alive though so vitality is probably 56 or 57? Maybe the combat log is wrong. Whatever the case, these things are teetering on the edge of death and should go down with any shot that does damage. JFG needs XP so he auto shoots at the one on the left:

It damaged for 23 which was way more than enough for the kill. So he'll take a snap shot at the one on the right:

Which killed it ending the mission. Nice! The UFO cannons never came into play, but I found out they would have if we didn't end it when we did. EOM:

I consider that excellent. It keeps the money rolling in and we walked away with 11 heavy photon beamer clips! That's enough to start carrying one clip around for emergencies or for cases when aliens are bunched together in the air. Sounds familiar? Back in the Geoscape and we shoot down yet another patrol vessel between Europe and Russia:

It's near night so we are going to wait to head over there. Before we could leave our research into the heavy photon beamer ammo finished:

So let's take a look at the description:

It does great damage but only has 10 shots and is really, really heavy. Luckily most of my soldiers have maxed out strength so this will not be a major issue. I immediately equip Thorondor and Space Voyager with a clip of this too. Now we have to decide what to research next. I'm leaning to Hibernation:

For the main reason that it leads to the stun rod. And we'll need that for stunning commanders. No commanders yet thankfully, but we need time to manufacture these things. Yup, add another thing to the manufacturing queue at the main base. That settles it, I'm building two more workshops when the two heavy missile defense modules finish construction. We need to get caught up.

So stay tuned for the next patrol vessel!

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

15 hours ago, Zombie said:

Thorondor wasn't interested in chatting - only shooting

 

Space Voyager. He shoots at the Bonesetter on the right first:It did 3 damage. So instead of shooting at the same alien he shoots at the one on the left and deals 54. Go figure

Yep, that's the Thorondor we know and love.

Sorry for being so inconsistent with dealing hurt.  Weird though that the damage can vary so wildly. 

[Thorondor]

"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk." - Tuco, 'The good, the bad and the ugly' motion pitcture

Actions speak louder than words. Especially when the buggers understand you so much better this way.

There will be no contemplations - particularly when they're none too fussy about trying to outright neuter elements of our squad. *yikes!*

HPB Ammo, you couldn't come soon enough. We've got a score to settle with these here varmints!

[Space Voyager]

14 minutes ago, Thorondor said:

"When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk." - Tuco, 'The good, the bad and the ugly' motion pitcture

A sharp contrast to most movies, where the antagonist feels he has to tell everything to the protagonist before shooting him, leading to the antagonist being either killed or apprehended with his confession on tape or witnessed.  

[Zombie]

Alien Patrol Vessel Part 1

I'm breaking this mission into two parts again. We deploy on a non-maze desert map. (Actually, I don't think a maze desert map could even happen with a patrol vessel due to the size of the UFO). A round later and the first aliens we see is a Rider and a Spitfire next to each other by the fuel truck. So Kret gets out the mortar:

I probably could have just shot at the fuel truck or pump instead as the explosion is so big. During the aliens turn a Rider hits Blade for no damage and then Blade reaction fires on the Rider with an auto shot and kills the thing in one shot. The next shot flies off to the left and kills a Spitfire hiding in the darkness! Gotta love that. And then another Rider appears from amongst the walls. Thorondor has a clear line of fire so let's do an aimed shot:

After the next round we spot a turret so Kret readies the mortar again:

It didn't destroy it unfortunately. The combat log said I also hit a hidden unit which I assumed to be the main central turret. I didn't see this at the time, but there are actually two turrets next to each other. I'm not sending another bomb over there so I have Pete take some auto shots at it:

He destroyed it. The next round another Rider shows up in the walls so Silencer throws a grenade on it:

He got caught in the blast too, but the damage was absorbed. The rider is dead and that's all that matters. The bodies are starting to pile up though:

This is when I noticed there was a second UFO turret so Kret got the mortar ready again:

I'm feeling a little bit better now due to the number of aliens we killed and the destruction of the two turrets because now we can use this zone as a "killing field". During the aliens turn a couple rounds later JFG spots a Rider moving around in the walls by Silencer so Silencer decides to blindly toss a grenade in there:

Nothing there. Hmmm, we better keep a close eye on this area. During the aliens turn Space Voyager shoots and hits a Trep but then all the other shots miss and fly off the map. Hrumph!

That's actually fine because it's now pre-wounded for Jman who needs the xp more:

He misses wildly with a 99% accurate aimed shot. The writing is on the wall so I go back to SV. His first shot hit for 7. Whoop-di-do. Well take another one then:

This shot hit for 16. Luckily it was enough for the kill. During the aliens turn and that slippery rider shows up again. This time Silencer uses a DG2 grenade on it:

These DG2's make a nice snappy and sharp bang when they explode which is kinda cool. Add more bodies to the alien graveyard:

After the aliens turn we see an Iron Rattler in the usual location so Thorondor prepares an aimed shot for it:

It dealt good damage but not enough for the kill. Time for a second shot:

That was enough to polish it off. The mass grave is getting more bodies every round it seems. A bunch of rounds go by with little happening on either side. We did eventually spot a Spitfire milling around on the roof of the UFO but only during the aliens turn. Kret decides to do an exploratory mortar shot to see if he can catch it napping:

It dealt 113 damage to? It couldn't be a spitfire, that's for sure as they don't have that much vitality. It must just be the central UFO turret:

Well, now that it's aware of us we have to finish it off with another mortar or face a barrage of purple AOE during it's turn. Kret loads another mortar and puts it a tile closer to the center which was more than enough to take it out:

With that gone I feel it's pretty safe to start expanding into the walls. There can't be any aliens in there anymore as we have a whole pile of them in front of us. This side of the UFO has a door and the next round we see a spitfire just inside the door because it was left open. Blade decides to take an aimed shot at it:

The first shot was absorbed. He took a second which dealt 8. Not good. Can't really send a mortar in there now either as the explosion would hit Blade. So I move up Silencer to help on the next round. Besides, the spitfire can't hit us as we are too far away, right? Wrong! And it wasn't just one spitfire, it was two. Needless to say we had to take some fire damage on this round. Blade can get a DG2 grenade close to the two spitfires which are conveniently right next to each other:

It does fair damage to them, but not enough for a kill. Silencer can toss a photon grenade close to them without exposing himself though:

That did decent damage and killed them both:

Next time it's the rest of the mission, EOM, plus some promotions again and a refresh on the squad with the return of some new, old faces. Stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Put 'em up and we'll take 'em down!

I say, this is mighty busy for a desert, chaps. But these fellows provided some right ol' sport for us, didn't they?

Just mind your step, as we don't want any unseen turrets spoiling our day out here. Carry on!

[Zombie]

Alien Patrol Vessel Part 2

After that Spitfire fiasco I was very reluctant to move anyone. There's still aliens left as we hear them opening doors endlessly during their turn. At one point I hear what sounds like a Trep moving around. If that's the case we'll be better off camping outside and waiting. We wait 13 rounds till we see movement and are surprised to find two Treps outside next to each other. Silencer gets ready to toss a normal DG1 grenade from behind the wall:

The blast dealt good damage. From the combat log there's actually three aliens there: 2 Treps and something else (probably another Trep):

Since the aliens are weakened now, maybe we should try a photon grenade next:

It did fantastic damage to all of them which was the easiest 3 kills ever:

I think I finally can start to relax a little bit. We have the North side of the UFO locked down so as long as we stay in the vicinity and out of view of the turrets (and aliens) we should be good. Thorondor moves up to where the mass grave is at hoping to lay down some cover fire. Or reaction fire at a Spitfire on the roof of the UFO:

Another favorite pic! All three shots dealt great damage which was enough to kill:

During the next alien round it almost was more of the same thing except Thorondor missed:

Not one shot, he missed all three. It looked like the shots were connecting though, but the combat log doesn't lie. And now there's two Spitfires visible. Normally this would be Kret's territory but maybe it's time to let someone else do the shooting like Space Voyager. He's halfway across the map with an itchy trigger finger:

The first shot dealt a respectable 44 damage:

That was so good, let's tempt fate and try that again:

Atta boy! He's out of APs so JFG goes after the other Spitfire:

He's dealing very little damage but at least all the shots are connecting. His next auto shot was starting to look like the first except his second bullet dealt a monstrous 51 damage:

The last alien was killed by Jman with an auto reaction shot - the thing landed directly in front of him. You can probably make out his bluish head sticking up in a corner next to the smaller left turret. Unfortunately I couldn't get a screenshot in time. That was it. EOM:

That's what we've been looking for: more promotions. This time it's Kret and Silencer. Kret is first:

I put one point in agility and two in vitality to make those more or less equal and the last two points went into throwing to get him to 86. He's shaping up nicely. Silencer is next and he certainly earned every last point this past mission:

Pretty simple: dump everything into strength to max that stat out. A maxed out strength is almost a necessity in this game as everything weighs so much. Eventually they may need to use better armor so it's better to have that option available instead of sticking with legacy suits which are lighter. Yeah, he needs some help in throwing and agility and vitality and heck, another point in bravery would be welcomed too.

Back in the Geoscape and it's time to swap out Kret and Silencer for two lower ranked soldiers. There's some pretty big shoes to fill for the "Mortar Man" job and the stat in highest demand is, you guessed it, strength. And lots of it. Nook has maxed out strength so he gets the job:

There's also some pretty big shoes to fill for a "kill" soldier. Slaughter looks like a good choice because he's maxed out in firing accuracy, has decent throwing and excellent agility:

Need I mention he's only 80 xp away from his next promotion? I figure he's a good candidate to quickly get promoted so that we can get some fresh blood up front again. And we'll have a decent soldier back at base in case it gets attacked. (Can you see I'm worried about this)?

It's now Christmas Eve 2108, minutes before Christmas Day and a light cruiser lands in Madagascar:

All my soldiers want is a day off to relax and celebrate. Well, no reason to get the guys out of bed special for this, we'll let them sleep in a little bit then sound the alarm bells. So stay tuned for a Christmas "Miracle in Madagascar" next time!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

*Pew, pew, pew!*

Still standing?! This thing busted or what? Darnation! I was pretty sure I had the thing dead to rights. Well, smoke got in my eyes with all that mortaring. That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Now, Nook, don't you know that thing is loaded? Stop polishing off that trigger you blasted fool!

Slaughter, my man, good to have you back. They can show us all the figures they want, there ain't nobody like you to tag along with for breaching doors!

Fun in the sun on an island, for Christmas - what more could we ask for? ?

[Zombie]

"Miracle In Madagascar" Part 1

I'm breaking this mission up into two posts, the first being the outside of the UFO and the first alien inside. The second part will be the remainder of the aliens, EOM and interceptions in the Geoscape (being vague so as not to ruin any surprises).

This time we zone into a cityscape, so I do the usual protocol: move the 4 "kill team" soldiers (Slaughter, Jman, Blade and JFG) out of the transport and into the room to the right. For safety's sake and to create a crossfire kill zone. Pete is going to be our spotter as he's now the first person near the exit. Anyhow, he steps off and takes a quick peek around and spots a Rider down below. He can't shoot it, so I think you know what my usual response is:

Yup, grenade time. From my screenshot it looks like he has a red alien spotted icon so it's possible he may have had a shot on it, but grenades are so much easier. Needless to say it dealt some very decent damage:

He didn't have many APs left so I kept him kneeling by the exit and moved out Nook in back of the right engine. Thorondor and Space Voyager are the only two left in the transport just in case an alien shows up which needs to be reaction fired at. Three turns later a Rider comes up the lift at the end of the platform. Normally I'd let the kill team take care of this, but SV is behind in xp from Mr T so let's get him some more experience by taking an aimed shot at it:

It did 10 damage. Oh come on, really SV? You can do better than that. Take another aimed shot:

Luckily that shot killed. Up to this point I'm thinking: "oh this is pretty easy so far, where are the Bonesetters"? Nope there aren't Bonesetters, because a Gehe comes up the lift from below during it's turn. Oh boy. SV and Thorondor are too close to start shooting at it as that would almost certainly precipitate reaction fire (literally) from the Gehe. Pete wisely backs off too. We'll let Slaughter deal with this as he's 9 tiles away:

That auto shot dealt some decent damage actually. It did provoke a reaction from the Gehe: it turned to face Slaughter but didn't fire at him. So it's too far away to do anything. Glad I let SV and Mr T wait this out. Slaughter is doing a good job, so more of that please:

It took two more auto shots, but even though some shots were absorbed, the ones that hit did good damage and ultimately killed it:

Since we know that Gehe's are present, I think we'll just stay put for the time being and just whittle the numbers down as best we can. During the aliens turn a Rider is seen in a tower next to us. SV has full APs and reaction fires at it:

Another one of my favorite screenshots so far. The first shot hit for 22 but the second hit for a massive non-critical 63. Wow. That's one dead alien:

See why I like reaction fire so much? A couple turns later and another Rider comes up the lift from below. SV needs some xp so how about a grenade this time:

31 isn't incredible damage by any means, but it's enough for a kill against a weakling Rider:

Happy about that as it's one less alien we'll have to deal with down below. Nothing much happens for a while. I hear a crap ton of doors opening in the UFO though and that has me really worried. Eventually we get tired of waiting and start to spread out a little bit. SV, Mr T,  Pete and Nook are taking their ever loving time though. Glad they were so reluctant to move because Mr T spotted a Gehe by the door to the UFO. Nobody really has a good shot at it due to the railing, so let's have Nook mortar it:

Critical hit for some massive damage:

Who knows, maybe the AOE fire that's burning from the destroyed barrel will soften up any more Gehe's that come out before we get there. Too bad we don't have cryo grenades yet, those would probably help. Anyhow, it takes a while for us to clear at least part of the map and then make our way to the UFO. We then take up positions around the door as another "kill zone" to see if anything pops out. Nope, but there's still a concerning number of doors opening every round.

Eventually I run everyone up to the door and send Slaughter (and only him) into the anteroom. At least he has a pale blue crystal to prevent critical hits and give him a little auto healing potential. Against Gehe's that's a real concern. He eventually opens the door into the main area of the UFO and sees a Gehe in the right room. Photon grenade time:

It did some decent damage but not enough for a kill. But now the Gehe (wisely) refused to come out of his room. We wait it out and Slaughter eventually kills it with an auto shot, then withdraws outside:

There may have been another Gehe he killed that I didn't show as a lot of screenshots I took from this mission ended up on the cutting room floor for brevity. See the smaller door open to the right room? Keep that in mind. But to preface this next encounter I kept everything in to show what may happen to you when fighting this type of alien. Gehe's are tough and possibly extraordinarily so. So Slaughter goes in there to investigate the open door and finds a Gehe there, so he prepares to take an auto shot:

One shot missed and the other two were absorbed. So now what would you do? Keep shooting and hope for a hit that does damage or withdraw and get someone else to shoot? I chose the latter, bringing JFG in there:

All the shots were absorbed. Time to withdraw. The next round Slaughter cautiously enters and sees the Gehe is in the same spot. Well, okay, if you aren't going to move and can't shoot back we are just going to keep coming back round after round slowly whittling away at your health until you are gone. How about that? Slaughter takes another auto shot. Two shots hit for fair damage while the other one did 1. Somehow the shot caused the Gehe to jump one tile away though:

And now we can't shoot at it anymore because it's in cover due to the alien "furniture". You wanna play games with me? Slaughter withdraws and JFG goes in there and gets ready to toss a grenade near it:

The blast was absorbed. That's fine as I'm happy to trade el-cheapo grenades for xp. The next round Slaughter comes back in there to find the Gehe still rooted to it's new spot. How about a nice photon grenade:

The blast was again absorbed. Only difference is that it destroyed the alien furniture and now it's not in cover anymore. JFG goes in there for an auto shot:

Two shots were absorbed and the other shot missed. I even brought Space Voyager in there for a quickie snap shot with his photon beamer but the damage was absorbed too. The next round Slaughter comes in there to find the Gehe in the same spot again so he takes an auto shot:

The first did 19 damage, the second 1 damage and the last was absorbed. JFG is now up:

Two shots were absorbed and the third did 7 damage. Little by little we are pecking away at it. The next round I sent JFG in there first to take another auto shot. Thorondor is covering the main door to the UFO while Nook is hiding by the lift and Pete is covering him:

That shot finally, finally killed the thing. Wow. (Sorry no screenshot). It seemed like this Gehe was indestructible but we were getting a lot of misses and a lot of absorbed shots too, so that's why it took so many turns to kill. It didn't help that we could only take one auto shot per soldier per round either.

Part two is coming up next, this is where things start to get hairy and ramp up so stay tuned for that.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

It's true that speed can be heady. I prefer slow and steady but ever ready.

We're a different breed, we show don't tell, and when they don't heed - what the hell - we make 'em bleed.

Those who scorched the Earth of our birth, shall in turn be torched, mercy at a dearth.

I see a path of hate is in our fate. No time to hesitate!

[Space Voyager]

15 hours ago, Zombie said:

It did 10 damage. Oh come on, really SV? You can do better than that.

Well, sorry man, SUE ME! I did my best but he alien moved in our turn, I tell you!  

[Zombie]

"Miracle In Madagascar" Part 2

I have since pared the screenshots down even more but I think it's still enough to cover everything that happened. As you recall, the team has been dealing with Gehe's. From a distance they aren't too bad but in the close confines of a UFO they are a real handful requiring lots of shots to kill because they absorb so much damage. We just finished killing a Gehe from part 1 that required 5 auto shots from the rifle, 1 snap shot from a photon beamer and 2 grenades to kill.

Anyhow after that last alien I got a little cocky and pulled some troops into the UFO so they wouldn't have to move so much to shoot. I knew there were probably 2 more Gehe's left and usually the last alien stays put until you kill the second to last alien at which time it'll come after you. What I found next round was horrifying, 2 Gehe's. SV started shooting at the closest one:

Luckily they both have moved a fair distance to reach this location so they must be almost out of APs to reaction fire back at us. Trouble is, if you can't kill them both you're asking to get bathed in fire during their turn. In hindsight I probably should have tactically withdrew outside the UFO and let Mr T, Pete and Kret deal with them from a distance, but now we're stuck because SV already fired at a Gehe. I think we're committed at this point to seeing this through so SV takes another auto shot at the closest Gehe and then Blade readies a photon grenade to hopefully hit both:

The blast killed the farther Gehe which was awesome but wait a minute, there's a hidden unit there too? Crap, now we are really in trouble! Blade decides to take an auto shot at the closest Gehe:

It damaged twice for 7 each time. Since he's out of APs, JFG opens the door to the room on the right and spots the hidden Gehe. Since we now know where it is he decides to toss a photon grenade:

Actually he threw a 2nd photon grenade after this as one of the Gehe's absorbed the damage. That 2nd grenade did good damage but not enough to kill anything. At this point I'm seriously contemplating reloading as I should have withdrew in the first place, but Slaughter still has APs so lets at least try. He takes an auto shot at the closest Gehe and kills it with the first bullet:

Well, that's better. As you can see, he's preparing to take an auto shot at the 3rd Gehe. Two shots hit for decent damage but the third shot was absorbed. One more auto shot left in him:

And that finally polished it off! It really was a miracle in Madagascar! EOM:

Thrilled to say the least and we nabbed a couple more clips of heavy beamer ammo to boot. But no photon beamers were recovered? That's odd. Back in the Geoscape the transport was just starting back to base when:

Oh boy. It's an alien patrol vessel heading away from Africa going over the Atlantic:

Fingers crossed it comes near our base there. It does, and it also helped I sent out the interceptors to pique it's interest as it didn't want to have anything to do with our defenses. Eventually we shot it down and then another patrol vessel is detected:

So technically we could maybe nuke the crash site with the rare earth launcher and the governments would still pay us the bonus because the site is neutralized, right? The only issue with that is you aren't getting xp for your soldiers and you may lose out on recovering the rare items. I need both more than just the cash so we are going to send out the transport again. We can't until the other patrol vessel is eliminated though. Let's watch it to see where it's going:

It looks to be heading to South America too. That could be a problem as our interceptors there have just finished shooting down the "swarm" leader. I'm going to send everything we have from across the globe to help with this:

We engage from South America first, but one of the golden eagles is being targeted by the ufo so I withdraw it hoping the UFO will follow back to base. Nope, but now our golden eagles from Europe have arrived to help:

Boom! I normally would have liked to down this UFO over land too, but in this case I think it's a blessing in disguise that it's gone. If we need a lot of mortar bombs for the swarm leader mission what happens if we don't have enough for this second patrol vessel (for the turrets). I suppose we could shoot at the turrets or toss grenades on them when we get close, but is that practical? What if we have more Gehe's? Those may need mortar bombs too. No, I think this is fortunate.

So stay tuned for the swarm leader. I'll try to pare it down a little bit but it's still probably going to be a two-parter.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

After the miracle storm(ing of the UFO) comes the swarm!

What? Came for the funeral? It may well turn out to be yours, invading scum.

A gaggle of interceptors greet you with joy, and when we meet find we shall who comes to toy.

Such a treat, that leader crash. Another feat a patrol vessel made to splash.

We're smooth operators, all's rolling well, we make it look easy to deal with perpetrators. Just count down from three and we're taking that LZ.

[Zombie]

Patrol Vessel Swarm Part 1

So we zone into a farm map and the first soldiers deploy as usual but then we spot two aliens. The first is a Fireball on the ground. Have no idea how everyone missed that but Pete's gonna risk an auto shot:

All the shots hit and two for decent damage. The other alien is a Gehe on the roof of the farmhouse. We don't have a lot of soldiers to deal with it as half the squad is low on APs so Kret is going to mortar it:

Luckily the bomb killed it. The other issue is that Pete tried (and failed) to withdraw and is now blocking the other team members from shooting the fireball. JFG immediately thinks grenade:

It killed it. Unfortunately the blast destroyed a piece of the hedge we needed for cover from thee UFO cannons (and aliens too). Might be able to salvage this mission though if the aliens are killed quick enough. The next round was almost identical to the first. There's another Gehe on the farmhouse roof again (same spot as the other one) so Kret is going to nuke it:

It didn't kill this one though. We have a bigger threat to deal with and that's a Gehe on the ground near where the Fireball was. JFG tosses a couple grenades first but the damage was absorbed both times. Pete only had to kneel down and take two auto shots - all but one bullet was absorbed the last dealing 38. Hopefully his next auto shot is better:

The first bullet did 1 damage and the other two were absorbed. Jeez! I was able to get him out of the way finally and have Jman take some snap shots at it with his photon beamer:

The first two shots did 3 and 47 damage. Not bad. He takes one more:

Absorbed unfortunately. That other Gehe needs to be dealt with yet as it's only partially injured. JFG takes a bunch of auto shots at it but most bullets were either absorbed or did minor damage. It must have been enough to kill it though:

Phew! Now to finish off the one on the ground. Let's get Mr T in on the action with some snap shots with his photon beamer:

He's normally pretty reliable but in this case he did 4 damage and the other was absorbed. Probably should have taken an auto shot instead. We'll have Space Voyager do that:

His first dealt 7 which was barely enough to kill it:

Everyone's APs have been depleted now except for Slaughter and SV. Hopefully they can hold off any aliens during their turn. The next round SV spots a Fireball near the hedge surrounding the farmhouse. Since Slaughter didn't get in on the action last turn, he'll start us off:

Only minor damage unfortunately. He needed time to get back into cover so now it's Jman's chance to shoot:

One shot hit for 5 damage and the other missed and hit the hedge destroying a piece of it. Guess we are now the landscaping crew. Space Voyager was next:

He did ok, but low damage for his two shots. Mr T time then:

He did about the same as SV in terms of damage. We've been through half the team so far and only did minor damage to this thing. Pete, can you help us out please:

Again, about the same damage but it was enough for the kill:

Unreal how these aliens shrug off hits with mechanical damage. Might have to get the rocket launcher involved with the cryo rockets eventually. I've been saving them for base defense missions though as I can't produce enough of them quick enough. The next round we see two fireballs in the air near the roof of the farmhouse again (busy place). Jman is going to start us off with some snap shots:

It only took 3 shots and the thing was dead. Good job! Pete is going after the other fireball with auto shots:

No complaints really as all the shots hit, it's just that not enough dealt damage. It's now Blade's turn:

The first shot did 4 but the second did 53 which was enough for the kill:

We have a little reprieve from the action for 4 turns or so. Just enough to readjust our positing, but not moving at all as we want to keep a low profile from the turrets. This time we spot another two airborne Fireballs northwest of us. That's Slaughter's side so he starts us off with an auto shot against the closest:

He was somehow able to take it out with a few auto shots. Most did decent damage too. JFG gets into position to take some auto shots at the other fireball:

About half did decent damage while the other half were absorbed. Not enough for a kill obviously. Maybe Pete will have better luck:

He was able to kill it finally. Some more breathing room for the team as nothing was going on for a bunch of turns. There's gotta be more aliens so eventually I have a skeleton group expand our defensive perimeter. Jman and Slaughter kneel down behind some hay bales and are able to safely spot a turret on the UFO. Kret is going to nuke it:

One shot was not enough so he nuked it again which destroyed it:

Feeling a little bit better now. But there's still the big central turret we have to be careful of. At least we have a little more room to spread out and explore. I don't want to push my luck though. That farmhouse is still worrying me as I hear a Gehe somewhere in there. Probably is upstairs, but we need to clear the ground floor first and there's no way I'm sending anyone over there alone and I'm certainly not going to risk sending a sweep team over there all bunched up. That's just asking for an AOE fire attack from a Gehe or the central UFO turret taking out the explosive barrels in there. The next best thing? Let's shoot some holes in the hedge and the wall of the farmhouse so we can check inside:

Doesn't look like there's anything in there so SV took a peek and verifies. Good to know. So if there's nothing downstairs that means there's something upstairs. Now the issue is how are we going to get eyes up there? We'll deal with this in the next part so stay tuned!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Gehes and Fireballs, some to stop us cold, others to make us sweat.

Trying to make us hop into the frying pan of lethal turrets was a flop, forget that, and now they're the ones dying.

Fear isn't taking a hold, we're just being methodical - there's a time to be bold and the maggots will be seeing it. Just you wait, there's more to be told!

[Zombie]

Patrol Vessel Swarm Part 2

Ok, I pared my screenshots down a bit. Unfortunately, there's a crap ton of aliens on this mission so there's only so many frames I can delete before it becomes hard to follow. So this is going to be part 2 and then my next post will be part 3 along with some Geoscape stuff.

Where were we? Ah yes, that farmhouse. From the alien movement sounds during their turn it sounds like there's a Gehe in the upstairs somewhere. Where exactly, I can't tell. So I have Nook mortar the closest window which damages an alien for only 41. Maybe we should send another mortar over there again:

That dealt 37 and no death sounds either. The nice thing is that part of the facade of the farmhouse is completely gone now. That should make it easier for everyone else to help shoot at it. We need eyes on it first so Pete moves out of cover and the Gehe "reaction fires" back at him with it's fire weapon. The range on that weapon isn't very far so it's now a sitting duck. Pete starts off the shooting with auto shots:

He couldn't kill it so JFG took over and now it's dead. During the alien's turn we see a Iron Rattler moving around by the corner of the farmhouse along with a Trep somewhere there too. When it was our turn there wasn't an alien sighted icon but we could still see the Iron Rattler. Don't know what's up with that glitch.

In any event, it's in cover and I don't think it's such a good idea to start shooting away stuff that may block alien turret fire so we leave it be. Maybe it'll come closer. It does, shoots at Slaughter which conveniently deals 5 damage (which the pale blue crystal heals) and then he kills it with a reaction fire auto shot:

You may see there's a Trep behind the hedge there. Well, it comes closer which gives JFG a clear shot at it during our turn:

He took it down in two shots.There's another alien visible by the hay bales and combine so Slaughter is going to auto shoot it:

It was a weak spot critical hit for 68 damage. Good job Slaughter!

Three turns later and an Iron Rattler comes crawling out of the woodwork, um hay bales, near where Slaughter is. He can't shoot at it but can throw a grenade:

It only dealt 37 damage but Iron Rattlers are mostly weaklings anyway:

We wait a few turns and don't hear or see anything nearby so Slaughter and Jman advance just a little bit and see the door is open to the tool shed. Did one of these aliens we killed come out of there? Or is there an alien still in there? Only one way to find out safely, Slaughter is going to toss a normal grenade in there to set off the explosive drums and maybe catch some aliens napping:

Boom! The combat log says the explosion hit 3 units with no death screams:

Since nothing died, I'm thinking it's either Fireballs (best case) or Gehes (worst case). We can't see what's in there without getting closer and that's just not an option with fire aliens. May as well have Slaughter toss a photon grenade in there to feel things out:

It hit two aliens but the damage was absorbed for both. The combat log says that one of them for sure is a Gehe though. I slowly bring up Thorondor as backup, if there are 3 Gehe's camped out in there we are going to need all the help we can get. The next round I decide that since there are aliens clumped together it's time for Nook to mortar the area:

The first didn't really do much damage so he shot off another bomb in a slightly different place with better results:

One is down, two left. We wait to see what the Gehe's do in their turn. They smartly stay put. We see one Gehe through the smoke and fire so Slaughter is going to toss a normal grenade on it:

It actually did 20 damage! Slaughter falls back just in case and Thorondor moves up. On the way there he spots the other Gehe, but he's going to toss a normal grenade on the first one:

Absorbed. Broken, Thorondor pulls back in disgrace. Jman thinks he can do better so he tosses a normal grenade on the newly spotted Gehe for 1 damage. For some reason the Gehe moved a little bit during it's turn so when Thorondor advanced on our turn he surprisingly had a clear line of fire:

He had to take two auto shots and actually killed the thing with the last shot:

Good boy! We aren't doing anything else this turn just in case. There's another Gehe on the right somewhere which we can't see now. The next round Jman advances and spots the thing now that the smoke and fire have dissipated so he takes an auto shot:

Only one shot hit and was absorbed. Mr T advances again and decides to throw a photon grenade on it:

It did 16 damage which wasn't enough for a kill either. I didn't want to move Slaughter up and fall into a trap, so I started to think how we could kill this thing safely without wasting another mortar bomb on it. Space Voyager has moved up closer to the farmhouse so I checked to see if he had a shot on it. Sure could, but he was so far away he could only take two aimed shots at it. One hit for 17 and the other for 20. Not bad, but this Gehe still isn't dead:

Well, Pete can move out a little bit and take an auto shot at it:

One shot missed, one was absorbed and the last did 20 which finally killed it:

Phew, that was hairy but we did it somehow. The door to the UFO is now fully visible so if need be we could maybe take some long range shots at aliens there. Turns out there aren't any aliens inside the UFO anymore. We flushed them all out. Trouble is, they are all in the farmhouse so stay tuned for that mess next time!

- Zombie