Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Thorondor]

That's how it plays, they think us embattled, then they get rattled only to die. Slaughtering the competition is always enjoyable. ?

Nice tool shed explosion capture by the way, Zombie. Billowing smoke and all! ?

Now it's time for a hoedown in the farmhouse? The fun never ends...

[Zombie]

Patrol Vessel Swarm Part 3

After Pete killed the last Gehe in the tool shed it was the aliens turn. It looked like there were three Gehe's in the farm house. One of them shot something at BFL but the damage was absorbed. I say something because it sounded like a photon beamer but there was no bullet trail visible and Gehe's shouldn't be able to carry handheld weapons due to their integrated flame throwers. The combat log didn't know what it was either. Strange. It was at this point that BFL went crazy and started shooting at a Gehe:

Are you done yet Blade? Nope, he hit for two more times. And then then JFG starts in:

His last three shots connected but were all absorbed. Too bad he didn't get a kill out of it, but at least the reaction fire kept the aliens at arms length. Now we can shoot back with whoever we want. I wanna get this over with so let's get Nook involved with his mortar:

The blast killed the one on the left, but only dealt 17 to the one on the right. Slaughter wants to take an auto shot at this one:

Two of the shots did damage to it for 24 and 20 which was good:

Well, don't just sit there, keep on shooting soldier!  Two more auto shots and he finally killed it:

About time! Where's that other Gehe though? We saw it moving around and now it isn't visible anymore. SV spots it basically right across the hedge from him. He backs off quite a distance. If the thing wants to move during it's turn, fine. But now we know where it is:

It comes out into the open during the aliens turn and hits Nook with an unknown weapon for 10 damage. Again, it sounded like a photon beamer but there was no bullet trace and no shooting animation. JFG reaction fires back hitting it for 22 damage with his first bullet:

His last two shots were both absorbed. But here again, the reaction fire maybe kept it from coming closer and now it's out in the open. Thorondor is going to take an aimed shot at it:

It killed the Gehe and that was it for the mission! (I went back later and was fooling around a bit. If I hadn't killed the Gehe and let it live another round the main UFO turret would have fired upon us so I'm glad we finished the mission when we did). Anyhow here's the EOM report:

Well, congrats Slaughter on your promotion! And wow, we killed 25 aliens. We also picked up 7 more inferno grenades and were awarded 750k space bucks. Let's allocate those points for Slaughter:

He needed 5 points to max out strength so I dumped everything into that. Too bad it wasn't 4 points because then I could have put one into throwing. Ah well, strength is far more important at this stage of the game due to a lot of stuff weighing a lot: armor, photon beamers, photon beamer ammo (both normal and especially heavy), the mortar, mortar bombs, shielding, etc. It all adds up. At least he can fill any role now instead of pigeon holed into a grunt/cannon fodder.

Back in the Geoscape and we were awarded an additional 3.92 million space bucks for taking care of the site and my initial rare reward was 1 personal eternal shield and 1 distortion field generator:

I'm not settling for that. We want more pale blue crystals! I reloaded a bunch more times and never even saw a PBC on the reward list, so I'm not sure if it was just bad rolls or that they aren't on the list anymore. Who knows. The best I was able to get was 2 personal eternal shields:

As much as I would have liked two more pale blue crystals, the eternal shields are very good too because it takes some of the heat off our engineers who've been trying to keep up on producing VT3000 soldier shielding. Back at base and Slaughter has earned himself another vacation. Tammy is going in his place, and she's getting the best kit I have:

She's set with Photon armor, 3 VT3000 shields, a pale blue crystal, 1 personal eternal shield, 2 incendiary grenades, 3 DG1 grenades, 2 DG2 grenades and even a photon grenade. You can see that I have 50 explosive rockets for the rocket launcher now as well as 10 incendiary rockets and 10 cryo rockets. Should probably start making more of the incendiary and cryo rockets but we're kinda stuck producing soldiers shields until we have enough to equip another team for base defense missions. Oh, Pete and Blade are really, really close to getting promoted so you can bet I'll be trying to get them some xp next mission.

It's December 28th now and the radar picks up an alien recon vessel near our base in North America. I send out some interceptors to greet it and drag it back so our base defenses can help shoot it down. Before we can get to that point our research into alien hibernation finished:

Stunning rod, eh? Before we get to that let's check out the entry:

Ah! That's what these things were in the patrol vessel! I have since found out that Iron Rattlers come out of these if the mission drags on for a while (and possibly even Treps too). That would explain why we see these alien types on a mission with say, Gehe's or Bonesetters. Interesting. Now that we are done with this topic, let's put everyone on that stun rod:

Not that we are going to need this anytime soon since we haven't even seen a commander yet, but it's nice to get this out of the way so we have time to produce some. I really want a stunning grenade though because with that you don't need to get face to face with a commander. Knowing the devs, it's probably not in the game anymore. Our base defenses finally shot down that recon vessel:

I wish I could say it's in Area 51, but sadly it looks to be in Arizona somewhere. It's north of Flagstaff, that's for sure, the only thing there is the Grand Canyon National Park so we'll call it there. Stay tuned for the Companions in the Canyon next time!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

A bountiful mission without a doubt. Slaughter being bulked up is a good boon as well, but Tammy is a lot easier on the eyes, if you catch my drift, so I'm not gonna complain about the swap.

Speaking of stunners, it's good to see we're not sleeping on the subject of research.

Well, you heard the man, the stage is set. Armed to the teeth and in fine company for a good romp; let's hit it!

[Zombie]

This mission was in another farm type landscape. We don't spot anything when deploying but during the aliens turn there was some movement just north of us. Tammy goes to investigate and finds an airborne fireball. Should be pretty safe to auto shoot at since we didn't see it last turn:

It took her 3 full auto shots to kill the thing. Damage was low-to-absorbed which is understandable. Luckily she had just enough APs to get back into cover a little bit. After the aliens turn we start spreading out a little more when Blade spots an airborne Bonestter. Might as well take a snap shot at it:

It dealt a monster hit of 61 non-critical damage which was insane:

Unreal. During the aliens turn we now see movement south of us. Space Voyager sees another airborne Fireball and prepares to take some snap shots:

It took 3 shots which dealt 18, 32 & 34 damage to kill it.

Very impressed with you SV, especially after your previous missions were lackluster at best. For the next 6 turns we don't spot any aliens at all as we continue to spread out. That is until we spot another airborne Fireball. Space Voyager is in a good position to take some fairly accurate snap shots at it:

He took 3 shots for 9, 14 and the last was absorbed. Ok, I take it back! Pete moves a little closer to get a clear auto shot at it:

He dealt 50 for the first shot, the 2nd was absorbed and the killing shot was 28:

Five more turns go by and nothing is going on again. Just... silence. (As Jeremy Irons so eloquently put in Margin Call). Some of the team is close enough to get eyes on the UFO door and we spot a Bonesetter just outside sitting there. We can't shoot at it due to all the hedges and trees so Blade is going to throw a photon grenade nearby:

It did 20 damage which was disappointing. Then I remember he has an incendiary grenade:

Critical hit for 62 fire damage:

That's the stuff! Not overpowered, just effective. Four more turns go by and it's still quiet. I have a sneaking suspicion there's something in that tool shed though as we've been hearing little blurbs of alien movement sounds during their turn coming from that direction. Instead of physically going around the building to peek in the door I have Space Voyager shoot a hole in the back wall to get eyes. The Bonesetter in there immediately fires back but the damage was absorbed by SV. He's got plenty of APs left. Suppose we could shoot at the barrels in there to set fire to the place, but SV has an incendiary grenade:

Fingers crossed it doesn't set off the barrels in there as I'd like the building intact for cover. It doesn't and kills the Bonesetter with 66 critical damage! Nice! the next round we spot another Bonesetter but this time Tammy is going to take some auto shots at it first:

Make that a single auto shot:

That's fantastic! Pete comes a little closer to check the UFO as we heard a lot of doors opening in there. He found 2 Bonesetters outside yet so he gets out his incendiary grenade:

For some reason it only hit one of them for 32 damage even though there was fire beneath both. Blade tosses another incendiary grenade and his hits only the other one for 42 damage:

We aren't in trouble per se, but we don't have a lot of options left on the table. I move everyone as far away as I could and let Nook mortar these Bonesetters:

And that was enough to kill both which ended the mission:

There we go! Both Pete and Blade got their promotion. Let's allocate the points for Pete first:

Three points went into strength to max that stat out, then I put one in bravery for some reason (probably because he was at exactly 70 before) and the last went into throwing to gt him to 84. Not bad at all. Needs more points in agility, vitality and throwing yet obviously. Let's do Blade next:

His strength was already maxed out so I had a little more freedom to spend points. I put 1 point in throwing to get him above 80, then 2 in agility as he was slow and one in vitality. I almost put the last point in vitality again, but decided on bravery at the last second. I'm not sure if/when we'll encounter psionic aliens but I want everyone to have some level of resistance just to be safe.

Normally I'd include everything up till we are ready to go on another mission but there's quite a bit that happened between so I'll make that a separate shorter post. Mostly it'll be adjusting the away team members, research, bases and shooting down multiple UFOs so stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Blade, no matter how we slice it, it's hard to be critical of your non-critical, so let's just agree you actually made the cut on that one.

Being consistently inconsistent just happens when you're insistent. From barn-missing bereavement to towering achievement seemingly takes but an instant.

Even though a situation may be dire somehow then we're on fire. We're not self-promoting, someone else did the voting; it's only our due, and we knew it required no gloating.

Listen up now, incoming transmission!

[Zombie]

So before we could even get back to base from our previous mission, the aliens showed up with a medium cruiser over China-ish. I send out my 3 golden eagles from my main base to drag it back there so the defenses can help shoot it down. But I have a nasty surprise waiting for it as all my interceptors from EU are at the ready:

As soon as the base defenses get up to speed and my EU interceptors start firing I engage with the golden eagles:

You might be able to make out our transport over the north pole. There's no need for worry though as we did a ton of damage to this UFO in no time:

We can't go to this site yet as our transport needs to go back to base first. And in addition, I'm going to wait till it's light out. When the transport finally makes it back to base we need to update the crew a little bit. Since Pete and Blade were just promoted, it's time for some fresh blood. Nook's dedicated protector (Pete) is gone, therefore we need someone else with decent shooting and very high strength to carry the spare mortar bombs. Jman, you are assigned this new role. I know, it's not a very glamorous position but I can guarantee you'll see some action.

Our frontline troops are Tammy (as before) and now Hobbes. Our backup troops are JFG (as before) and now MTR. So welcome back guys! Looks like a bang up squad so far:

Oh, and before I forget, I gave Thorondor and Space Voyager one clip of heavy photon beamer ammo so now they have a little AOE capability too:

It does some good damage too so this should help with groups of aliens. JFG and MTR also have photon beamers with a clip of the heavy ammo too just in case. Jman, Hobbes and Tammy get the normal rifles as nothing beats them for quick and accurate shooting.

Just before we start to head out to that medium cruiser, our Heavy Rocket defenses finish at our main base (and at our other bases soon thereafter):

So here's what my main base looks like:

The 2 heavy rocket defenses are at the lower right. The 2 light rocket defenses are going to be sold. I need more manufacturing capability badly as I'm getting really far behind in equipping my soldiers with the best gear. So for this reason I'm building two more workshops in the light rocket defenses spots:

Hopefully this will get the ball rolling on stuff we need (like the inferno armor which we don't have any yet). Cost is really not a huge concern anymore as we have $36 million space bucks. So we can produce as much as we want. And of course, our other bases now have a heavy rocket defense module too:

At some point I may remove the cannon defenses and start building a photon defense in it's spot. That way we'll have two photon cannon modules at each base and if/when another defensive cannon module becomes available we can remove one photon defense and still be in good shape.

Back in the Geoscape and a patrol vessel shows up over the north pole heading to Europe. I wait till my defenses start firing then send only the golden eagles to intercept. They then drag the thing closer to my base for the universal sign of greeting. Just as we shoot it down we have two more UFOs that spawn in: a light cruiser over China and a recon vessel in the Atlantic heading to South America:

No problem for the fly boys in South America - they shoot it down over land:

For the light cruiser, I send out the 2 golden eagles from my EU base to intercept and then when they reach my main base I send out the other 3 golden eagles from there too. Everything arrives at the same time and the UFO doesn't stand a chance:

Now we are behind though as I wanted to get to that medium cruiser near my main base at daybreak but couldn't due to UFO activity in the area. So we gotta rush over there to knock this mission out, head back to base for a quick recharge and head back out for the light cruiser, then back to base again and head out to the patrol vessel. I don't think there's any way we'll be able to make it to South America yet too, so we may have to bombard it instead. Too soon to tell though. Stay tuned for the medium cruiser next time!

- Zombie

[Zombie]

We zone into a cityscape this time and do the usual deployment strategy. For the first couple turns we don't see anything but we do hear some Rider movement sounds close by. When we looked on round 3 there were two riders visible. The first is standing by some "cars" so Tammy decides to toss a normal grenade on the rider:

Boom! And dead too. The other is just south west of the first so Hobbes is going to toss a normal grenade on it too:

I didn't see this at the time but there were actually two aliens there: a rider and either another rider or spitfire (not sure). Here's the aftermath:

So why not just shoot these riders instead of tossing grenades? Well, the railing around our landing zone is iffy to shoot through sometimes. And if there's a choice between taking an auto shot with bullets that you need to manufacture or tossing a grenade you can just purchase off the black market, I'll pick the latter every time. Anyhow, during the aliens turn a rider is seen moving into the blaze created from the exploding "cars" which takes 12 damage from standing in it (not an insignificant amount either). And a spitfire show up out of nowhere on our landing zone. Tammy is going to shoot first as she has a pale blue crystal to mitigate the damage in case if fires back:

She kills it with two auto shots:

Now there's the matter of the rider below. Hobbes tosses a grenade on it for an easy kill:

During the alien's 8th turn another rider appears below and Jman somehow finds an angle to reaction shoot it:

He killed it with his subsequent shots so that was very nice. You may notice a soldier on the lift pad to the left. That's Thorondor, blazing a trail as we have started to spread out. A couple rounds later he hits a spitfire near the door of the UFO for some serious damage but can't get any other shots to connect:

A valiant effort nonetheless. Even with his perfect 100 base shooting accuracy that's still not enough to overcome the inaccurate auto shot of the photon beamer. It is what it is. Tammy is downstairs too and needs the xp more so she's going to take an auto shot at it. Should go down easily as it has 51 damage already:

One shot missed, another hit but the damage was absorbed and the third did 1 damage. The spitfire was not impressed (and neither was I) and reaction fired back at her hitting for 6 damage. The writing is on the wall, I can take a hint and have Mr T take a snap shot at it which did 63 and killed it:

In retrospect, it was probably a bad idea to have Tammy take that shot in the first place as she didn't kneel down first - that extra shot would have probably hit for something. Or had Mt T or that other soldier to the right of Tammy taken the shot and triggered the reaction fire maybe the aliens shot would have sailed off into the distance instead of hitting. Or maybe I could have found a way to toss a grenade at it from above or shoot through the walls. But she only took 6 damage which was almost instantly healed and she at least got some xp out of it. A couple turns later a rider opens the UFO door and shoots at Mr T for no damage, but he was quick on the trigger and reaction fired back:

Which killed it. Meanwhile, part of my team was clearing the rest of the map (not completely, just making sure there wasn't anything camped out in a cubby upstairs in the various rooms). When we were convinced there wasn't anything outside anymore everyone converged on the UFO again. The breach team enters the anteroom and eventually the UFO itself. Hobbes spots a spitfire in the left hallway and prepares to take an auto shot:

It only took two shots to kill:

Four or five turns go by with nothing showing up. We've been hearing alien movement sounds coming from the room on the right though and it isn't a rider. With all the "furniture" in there blocking us from seeing anything Space Voyager goes to the door and tosses a DG2 grenade in there:

Probably not a good idea either as he got caught in the blast (for no damage though) but it did prove there was a spitfire in there from the combat log. MTR is going to throw a normal grenade in there this time:

That killed the spitfire which was awesome. Hobbes checks the left hallway and sees a spitfire at the end. Might as well auto shoot it:

The first volley did ok damage but not enough for a kill. He takes a second auto shot then:

A couple turns later a spitfire appears from the left hallway but JFG's reactions kick in. His first shot was absorbed:

His next two shots did decent damage and was able to kill the thing. But the aliens weren't finished that round yet. Another spitfire appears from the right hallway, shoots and hits Jman for 11 damage but his reactions kick in too and his first shot hits for 57 damage:

His next shot did 15 which was enough for the kill. Oh, but the aliens still aren't done yet. They send another spitfire down the left hallway which ends up right in front of the team. On our turn JFG tries to kneel down to get some better accuracy for his auto shot but was instead reaction shot by the spitfire (damage was absorbed thankfully). It was funny that the spitfire hit "himself" for 2 AOE fire damage. Fine, we'll have Tammy take an auto shot then:

And that was it as she polished it off, finishing the mission:

All in all a very good mission. Not perfect, but nobody is coming home hurt and Jman even got promoted! Let's allocate his points:

Two points immediately went into strength to max that out at 96. I put 2 into agility and the last into vitality. He's an excellent soldier no doubt (he's averaging 2 kills per mission which is insane). Good enough to make the cut for the final missions in the game? Quite possibly. Depends if we can get him two more promotions. Back home at our main base it's time to give Jman a much needed vacation for a little while. We need someone else to fill the role of dedicated protector and mule of "mortar man" Nook. I think we'll go with Sorbicol for this:

Don't think we'll be seeing another promotion for a while unless someone has an epic mission. That's okay, right now there's quite a few warrant officers in our soldier pool which means we are doing something right. Before our transport reaches the next mission I decide to bombard the crash site in South America:

There's just no way we are going to get to this with our current schedule. We'll have our work cut out for us dealing with the next two UFO's, that's for sure. The next one will be that light cruiser:

So stay tuned for this one, should be interesting!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

I'm all for going heavy, so the Heavy photon beamer ammo and Heavy Rocket defenses are very welcome additions to our active duty arsenal.

Exemplary management of aerial threats, as usual, it must be said, Zombie.

This last mission a spitfire made me snap and a rider then paid the price. Aliens should have learnt not to take me for a sap, as that little display was not a mishap and they'll just end up on ice.

Case at hand though saw us sort of finishing on the toasty side.

Alright, guys, cool it! We're going from medium to light so let's get primed to make it extra-rare for the bogeys in this next cruiser. Booyah!!

[Zombie]

This is yet another cityscape map so we deploy the usual way. This time though I keep a couple soldiers outside to maybe catch sight of an alien. Plus we spawned in at the corner of the map so we can afford to be a little more aggressive. We get lucky when a Bonesetter shows up. Mr Reliable (aka Thorondor) reaction fires but doesn't kill it. Tammy isn't going to let that go by so she starts reaction firing on it too:

You can probably see the red bullet hitting the thing. Luckily her last shot connected and did just enough damage to kill the thing:

Is it just me or does Tammy look a little smug here? During the aliens turn a BoP appears down below and Mr T reaction fires on it:

His next two shots also connect and do damage. The combat log claims his last shot hit during our turn but it's clearly wrong as Mr T has all his APs yet. Sometimes the game is glitchy when it comes to hits with reaction fire. Anyhow the thing is still alive so Mr T attempts some 99% accurate snap shots:

It only took one shot and now Mr T looks a little smug himself:

Meanwhile, inside the building JFG spots a BoP through the support girders and it isn't too far away to take an auto shot:

His first volley all hit and did damage so he prepares a second:

It only took one bullet and the thing died. JFG backs off as far as he can just in case something else shows up:

Over the next couple turns Tammy moves over there to give JFG a hand just in case things get busy as she needs the xp more. Eventually she spots a BoP through the girders launching it's Sentinels during it's turn. Well, that's not good. At least it's on the other side of the wall. She can get a shot on them though:

She takes out one of them which causes it to explode which takes out the other one too:

Now where's that BoP? JFG went down the lift on the left of the building and spots it. MTR is in a position to auto shoot it:

Had to take two auto shots and even then some low damage rolls, but it's dead:

It took the team about 10 rounds to mostly explore the map to see if there are any stragglers. Nope, so we converge on the UFO. We open the door and see a Bonesetter so Tammy gets ready to auto shoot it:

Something wonky happened as the Bonesetter reaction shoots back a couple times within Tammy's auto shot and then appears to move:

Tammy and the alien mostly traded absorbed shots which was a wash. I messed around a little bit and eventually found the Bonesetter was actually in it's normal spot so Hobbes decides to auto shoot it:

He killed it so it's all good:

Luckily we solved this issue as it could have turned out much worse if the thing survived. Six rounds go by and we've been checking the inside for aliens but not much activity except for the usual door opening sounds. Eventually we spot a Bonesetter at the far end so Hobbes takes an auto shot at it:

Two were absorbed and one did decent damage so Tammy gets in there for an auto shot herself:

Which she killed with decent damage :

We want to take control of the room on the right as it's a good ambush spot, but you need to commit the necessary resources to make this work. The main issue is the room tends to have an alien in there and also has alien "furniture" which prevents you from getting to the other door from inside. First things first, Tammy is going to throw a DG2 grenade in there to remove the furniture and "feel out" the area for aliens:

Nothing was inside so we moved 4 soldiers in there: 2 by each door. A couple turns later and a Bonesetter shoots at Sorbicol (for no damage) during it's turn, then Sorbicol starts shooting at? Nothing's there, but the combat log states the Bonesetter is (it looks like a Bonesetter is in the room straight ahead):

Oh, but now the Bonesetter magically appears in front of him:

Really strange. The Bonesetter shoots back for 8 damage this time, but Sorbicol gets to shoot back too which he kills. Also another Bonesetter (maybe the one from straight ahead) opened the door to the right room:

Sorbicol shot at it too, but the first two shots the damage was absorbed:

But the third did 27 which was nice. Then the Bonesetter shot at JFG (damage was absorbed):

JFG shoots back and kills it with a shot dealing 44. Good job! But now there's another Bonesetter visible:

It shot at JFG and hit him for 6 damage. And that was then end of this very busy turn. When it was our turn Hobbes takes an auto shot at it:

First shot hit for 45 and the next two were absorbed. Let's have Sorbicol take an auto shot at it too:

And he killed it which ended the mission. EOM:

Keep that money rolling in! And after we get back to base I've been selling the excess photon beamers we recover as well as the 1 alien fibers, flight control and gravity engine for about the same amount so there's no issue with cashflow right now.  I have about 50 of each of those things stockpiled away for some emergency funding if there's something really expensive we need. Looks like that patrol vessel will be next so stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

The urban jungle can get to you if you let it. You lose it here, you're in a world of hurt.

Sometimes it seems like your eyes are playing tricks on you. A Bonesetter was there, then isn't again. Maybe it's another one. Or was anything there in the first place? That's why you can't blink out here.

Our lives are on the line and we've got to have each other's back all along.

Nothing wrong with looking good doing it, though, so line up for some more patrol duty! ?

[Zombie]

Patrol Vessel Part 1

As before, I'm breaking this apart due to the sheer number of aliens present. We zone into another cityscape map and nothing happens for about 6 turns. That's never happened to me before - usually we spot something in the first few turns. The first thing we see is an iron rattler (which is also strange as it isn't a primary race) and MikeTheRed can shoot at it:

It did 34 damage which was enough for a kill:

Can't complain about that. Because nothing was going on we spread out a little hoping to get a nibble somewhere. During the alien's turn Space Voyager starts shooting at a BoP:

Only took two shots to kill because he was hitting for some decent damage for once. But that's not it for activity as we spot another BoP deploying a sentinel:

When it was our turn we see it actually deployed both of it's sentinels. Space Voyager has a clear line of fire so he starts taking some snap shots at the sentinels alternating between the two after each shot:

He's back to his bad habit of dealing crap damage as usual. Maybe Hobbes can do better:

It took him all three shots to kill it - don't know why the last shot registered after the sentinel was gone, maybe it's just a combat log issue, but I have a sneaking suspicion this is a bug that runs far deeper than surface level reporting. Hobbes still has plenty of APs left so he's going after the other sentinel now:

His first two bullets did ok damage but not enough for a kill. And the last bullet's damage was absorbed which hampers our ability to kill these things efficiently. Might as well take another auto shot at the sentinel:

More wonkiness in the combat log as it looks like he killed two sentinels even though there was only one. And it looks like he hit the BoP too, but can this really be trusted? JFG gets in on the action by taking a snap shot at the BoP:

Took a couple low damage hits to kill it so the log must be correct:

Took a lot of work for some reason, normally when you kill a sentinel it damages/destroys other stuff nearby but I didn't see that happen here. Anyhow, four turns later and we see yet another BoP on the ground deploying a sentinel. Sorby is in the perfect spot to take an auto shot at the sentinel first:

His first auto shot didn't do a heck of a lot of damage so he took another and this time he was able to kill it:

He still had lots of AP left so he took some more auto shots at the BoP and was able to kill that eventually too:

I don't know what prompted me to check that area for more aliens but MTR comes out of the room with the lift and spots a Minol near to him and yet another BoP. Might as well take a snap shot at the Minol first:

He killed it easily, and has just enough APs left to auto shoot at the BoP. Should he go for it or back off? I go for broke and have him shoot at it:

All his shots hit and did decent damage but it just wasn't enough for a kill. No biggie, Tammy is nearby to help mop up the mess:

Her first bullet deals a massive (non-critical) hit of 60 which killed the thing:

Amazing! Another round goes by and Hobbes starts reaction firing upon an airborne Trep (might be able to make out the red bullet hitting it:

He killed it easily. Now nothing happens for about 19 turns. We haven't been moving any as I was hoping to take out a few more aliens first. But we spot another Trep, this time on the ground. Tammy is in the best position to shoot at it:

Easy kill for a soldier like her. It was again quiet for a few turns and now we spot yet another Trep on the ground in a spot where Sorby can auto shoot it:

His first bullet was a critical hit for 79 damage, and then the last shot took out a floating "car" causing it to explode:

The next part we'll be dealing with some Iron Rattlers, Minols and the alien cannons on the roof of the UFO as well as quite a bit of Geoscape related stuff. Should be pretty interesting so stay tuned for that soon!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Tammy, my gal, you sure do hit like a ton of bricks when you want to. Keep it up! ?

And, Sorby, whatever vitamins you're taking, they seem to be doing the job.

So, we've splattered a few for good measure but we're not quite half done here. Stick with the tag teaming and keep your eyes open. Remember - we're operating on a strictly zero tolerance policy: squelch all comers on sight!

[Zombie]

Patrol Vessel Part 2

A few rounds go by since we killed that Trep, and we've been busy trying to clear the map while staying in cover to prevent aliens from spotting us. There's plenty of cover due to all the buildings but that's a double edged sword because that means we have to search through a lot of them to make sure there aren't any camped out aliens inside. The only thing we spot is an Iron Rattler. MTR comes out of cover to take a snap shot at it:

He took 2 snap shots and both did crap damage plus he's out of APs and can't get back into cover this turn. That's a mistake on my part, but we also have Tammy who is nearby. I don't want to risk taking her out of cover too, so maybe a grenade will work? Turns out she can do that:

It was a high arcing throw which took 5 seconds to come back down but it was on target and killed the thing:

It blew up a floating car too so we have a nice fire to deal with. You can see there's a lone soldier just north of Tammy. That's Thorondor and he's itchy for action so next round he peeks out and sees a Minol. 100 for shooting means he's got a mean auto shot at that range:

After killing it, he peeks out and sees the corner alien cannon. Nook, this is up to you:

Unfortunately the first bomb only did a paltry 37 damage (must've been a bad damage roll) so he took another which did a respectable 129:

Now we have to worry about that central cannon. It's hard trying to get a good look at it which takes us a few turns. Nook time again:

This time the bomb did 141 damage and now we have clear sailing:

Sorta. There are still aliens present somewhere and due to the map being mostly cleared they must be inside the UFO. We have like zero experience with the inside of this UFO craft because so far we've never had a reason to go inside. Trouble is, the aliens aren't coming out for us for some reason so we are forced into a breach setup. This UFO has 2 exterior doors too which means we can't concentrate our efforts in one spot. There's a lift on the left side which is close to the door so JFG goes up there and sees a Minol. Time for an auto shot:

After killing it, JFG goes back down and now Thorondor comes up to check the upstairs hallway. He finds another Minol. He's going to auto shoot it:

He kills it so no big deal. What I really should have done at this point is to back off a bit and let the dust settle for a few turns. Usually the death of an alien or two will encourage the remaining aliens to become more bold and attack. Maybe I was just trying to get the mission done ASAP but I didn't do this and during the aliens turn a Minol and an Iron Rattler ambush Tammy. Only one shot did damage and the rest were either absorbed or missed. Tammy got the last laugh as she had just enough APs left to auto shoot the Minol which killed it:

Hobbes is solo guarding a lift by himself and is surprised to see a Minol that came down the lift but didn't do anything. He's going to auto shoot it first:

He easily killed it even though the shot did 36 damage. Tammy is going to auto shoot the Iron Rattler:

And that was it. EOM:

I'm happy about this. We got some more UFO components and 5 more inferno grenades we can use on Bonesetters but we need to research these first. The biggest plus is the bounty. Back in the Goescape we've been manufacturing mortar bombs at the main base to replenish our stockpile and a fire arrow launcher in Europe for our interceptors. And then our fourth workshop at South America finished construction:

This is what the base currently looks like:

The module with 9 days left on it is the heavy rocket defense. But with the addition of the extra workshop we can now produce golden eagles and interceptor weapons in a reasonable amount of time. Eventually we'll be switching over to exclusively use the golden eagles but our primary focus is getting the fire arrow launchers on everything. Not too long after and our research on the Stunning Rod finished:

Let's take a look at it's description:

Wait, it can only be used 5 times in a mission? Well, that kinda sucks. I wonder what happens if you use up the charges though. Will the "ammo" get auto replenished or will you have to manufacture another stunning rod? We'll have to check this out at some point. What to research next is the big question. I think we'll do the fireball:

I know this leads to researching the inferno grenade so this is the next logical step. Our manufactured incendiary grenades can fill the gap in the meantime. As the year comes to a close it's time to see how good we did:

All in all, not bad at all. Yeah, Australia is still not happy and neither is Antarctic, but we've managed to max out funding in all the other "states". On New Years Day we shot down another alien patrol vessel near our main base:

There's no way I'm sending out the troops in the dark to clean this site while they are still hung over from last night's celebration. We'll do that in the morning. While we are waiting for that, our engineers finished topping off our mortar bombs so I think it's time to manufacture one of these new Hellfire suits of armor:

It's gonna take a really long time but at least we can get a start on it until the other workshops are up and running. So stay tuned for that patrol vessel mission next (probably going to have to split this up into parts again)!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

When they look downstairs from up on high, I imagine our dear researchers find developing a proper Stunning Rod is always a good claim to fame. On the report card they even have a laugh at the expense of our engineers, whom they'll no doubt fail to impress by qualifying the production difficulty as "Doable".

Science first indeed. As for us lowly boots on the ground, we're of a mind of showing them eggheads just where to shove it. You know, to really test those success rates for such a harsh mistress and all...

Fortunately, somebody upstairs has got it together enough - without letting it go to their precious heads - and as a result it looks like we're going to be well supplied at the start of this new year. Not that we were ever undersupplied where it matters. *colourful departure sign language*

Right. We're shoving off again, for the greater glory of Earth!

[Space Voyager]

On 1/29/2023 at 4:19 AM, Zombie said:

Only took two shots to kill because he was hitting for some decent damage for once.

 HE HE HE, I might yet learn!

[Zombie]

This is yet another cityscape map and we deploy in the usual manner. During the alien's first turn we heard something moving nearby which turned out to be a Rider down below. Thorondor was covering that side of the transport and since he couldn't shoot at the alien due to the railing he's going to toss a normal grenade:

This should cause a nice boom due to the floating car, right? Yup, and it kills the Rider:

Mr T looks pretty happy after that. During the next alien's turn we again hear more movement sounds of a Rider. When Thorondor goes to investigate he finds another Rider in almost the same spot as before. Let's throw another grenade on it:

Unfortunately it only dealt 15 damage. We'll let Space Voyager handle the situation with a grenade:

His grenade did even less damage but at least it was enough to finish the thing off:

During the alien's next turn it was more of the same: movement sounds nearby but this time it was an Iron Rattler. Mr T is going to use a DG2 grenade this time:

The blast was pretty big and actually set off the car next to the Rattler killing it:

Gotta love big booms! More of the same in the next alien's turn and it was another Iron Rattler. Mr T was running out of grenades to throw at this point but he had a couple photon grenades yet so he tosses one of those first:

It only did 20 damage. Well, toss that other photon grenade then:

Again, even less damage than the first but enough for the kill:

Same turn and our soldiers in the building next to the transport open the doors to find a Gehe floating right there. We didn't hear any Gehe movement sounds so maybe it came down from above or (most likely) came up from below. Space Voyager is already kneeling by the transport so he's going to start shooting at the thing:

His first salvo was piss poor in terms of damage (as usual it seems). Well, don't just kneel there, shoot again:

More of the same crap damage. Let's get Tammy some experience since shes so close:

Most shots were either absorbed or hit for minimal damage at best. How about Hobbes then:

He had to take a few auto shots and everything but the last shot was absorbed but it was enough for the kill:

Lots of alien activity sounds during their next turn and when Space Voyager checks he sees two Riders below. He's going to toss a normal DG1 grenade on the closest one first:

It's near to some cars so I'm expecting a big boom and it didn't disappoint either:

 

That other Rider was too far away to throw a grenade at and we couldn't get an angle to shoot through the railing so we'll let it be. Next round it comes closer. Dummy. Space Voyager is right above with a nice golden pineapple for you to play with:

Another big boom as it took out some more cars below. And the blast reveled another Rider a little further back:

Space Voyager is completely out of weak grenades at this point so he resorts to a photon grenade even though it's weak too:

Unfortunately he is one AP short of being able to toss it. While looking for other options I found out he actually had a clear shot at the thing so he'll do that instead (snap as it's more accurate):

It does a massive 62 damage which kills it:

I really don't understand why he's ice cold on most damage rolls and then turns around and hits for great damage. It's all or nothing with him I guess. With that side of the transport cleared our soldiers inside the building open the doors and spot a Trep floating in the air peacefully and another one down below. Hobbes breaks the tranquility with an auto shot at the airborne Trep:

He killed it with only one shot. Good job:

How are we going to deal with the Trep below? Sorby has been camped out in a room below waiting for an occasion just like this ready to take an auto shot:

All his shots connected and did decent damage too which means one less alien to deal with:

Meanwhile, Thorondor is admiring the carnage in the killing field below:

Lots of quick easy kills for quick xp - just what we like. But we know that Riders aren't the primary race on this UFO... it's Gehe's and we've only met one so far. So next time we'll be dealing with mostly those and the alien UFO turrets. Stay tuned for that!

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

Seems I am good with grenades... and abysmal with shooting damage. Encumber me with them 'nades!

[Thorondor]

I looooves me some exploooody bits!!

Alien mince meat always brightens my day but there's something to be said about unbridled chain combustion.

Simply fragtastic extravaganza of a mission so far. Who wants some more pineapples then?

[Zombie]

7 hours ago, Space Voyager said:

Seems I am good with grenades... and abysmal with shooting damage. Encumber me with them 'nades!

I'm going to address this issue very soon. Because the low damage rolls thing has been going on for a while, it may be due to his low-ish firing accuracy. He's probably going to get the normal rifle to see if that makes it better. There's only so many grenades a soldier can carry, but if he doesn't carry a spare mortar bomb that'll free up three more spots for grenades.

So after Thorondor finished admiring the dead alien bodies Tammy went up the lift in the building next to the transport and spots a Gehe camped out on the roof of the UFO near one of the side turrets:

Nook decides to just mortar it:

The blast didn't kill anything but did damage two other things besides the Gehe (one is the small turret so the other thing would be another Gehe). So I apparently ignored this and decided to have Nook mortar the big central turret instead:

It was a massive critical hit dealing 238 damage:

Don't ask me why I didn't just send another mortar over to the Gehe since that would guarantee 2 aliens would die and the smaller turret would be destroyed in one go. Nope, I had to go after the big turret instead. So don't fall into this trap of trying to get rid of absolutely everything every turn. Focus on the threats and prioritize them to get the most bang for the buck. I guess another strategy in this instance would be to have the "mortar man" drop the mortar after shooting and then have the "dedicated protector" pick it up and fire off another mortar if necessary. Long story short, we have a visible Gehe that's still alive who needs to die ASAP. MTR had a few APs left so he took a long range snap shot at it which did 24 damage:

That's a start. Sorbicol still had a few APs left as well so he took an auto shot wich killed it:

When it was our turn again Nook is going to mortar the smaller turret:

It destroyed the turret but something else was caught in the blast. Did I see this in the combat log? Nope. A couple turns later and we spot an Iron Rattler which came around the north corner of the UFO. JFG takes an aimed shot at it with his photon beamer:

It only did 18 damage and failed to kill the rattler so he took another aimed shot which dealt 45 which was enough for the kill:

Not bad. During the alien's turn another Iron Rattler shows up in the same spot, shoots at SV (the damage was absorbed) so he shoots back and kills it:

I hate to jinx it, but good job SV! We also see a Trep floating around where the big central turret was so Sorby is going to auto shoot it:

He missed with one bullet so he had to take another auto shot which hit for a massive 61 non-crit damage:

During the alien's turn another Iron Rattler comes out of the UFO, shoots and hits Hobbes (damage was absorbed both times) so he shoots back (the red bullet is seen heading to it's target in the next screenshot):

He wouldn't have needed to shoot any more bullets as the first killed it dealing 50 damage. During our turn we spot a Gehe and MTR hit it with an aimed shot for a paltry 6 damage:

His next aimed shot was absorbed so JFG is going to auto shoot it:

He wasted all his APs with auto shots and missed every time except for one which did 7 damage. Sad. Tammy (who is still on top of the building and our "eye in the sky") is going to toss a normal grenade near it:

The damage was absorbed and her second normal grenade was also absorbed too. Hobbes is going to take an auto shot at it to test the waters:

His first auto shot failed to kill but his second polished it off with decent damage:

During the alien's turn a Gehe appears where the smaller turret was. Sorbicol was ready for it and starts reaction firing. The first bullet was absorbed and the second is inbound:

That was absorbed too. His third shot also hit but dealt 16 damage killing it:

So this must've been one of the aliens that was caught in the previous mortar bombing from Nook. I guess it worked out doing it this way as we can get some experience for some other soldiers, but it would have been far more efficient to just send another mortar bomb there. Oh well. Part three is going to be lots more Gehe action and then the conclusion with some exciting surprise promotions. You don't want to miss this!

- Zombie

[Space Voyager]

He he he, please don't make it a habit of me soaking up damage...  But nice to see some praise.

[Thorondor]

Playing with fire usually leads to... further playing with fire, as evidenced in this latest daring stay of execution of some of the pesky aliens of yours for extra excitement.

Incidental quick note: JFG needs spectacles. ?

Further note: we better have some more stopping power left on inventory or this little outing is going to get too hot to handle.

Look alive, people!

[Zombie]

Continuing on, 3 rounds later and Sorbicol gets ready to auto shoot at a Gehe where the small turret was:

Missed, absorbed and 14 damage. Not spectacular:

So he takes more auto shots and eventually kills it with additional damage of 2 and 18:

Needless to say, this was one of the Gehe's Nook injured with the mortar. During the alien's round another Gehe comes out of the UFO and Space Voyager reaction fires on it. First hit did 7 damage but there's more shots on the way:

 

This shot was absorbed and the next hit for 9. That's not enough to kill one of these SV. More alien activity during the same alien turn as JFG starts shooting at another Gehe where the small turret was again:

You may be able to see that there's yet another Gehe around the corner on the north east of the UFO on the ground. Anyway, JFG does 20, 13 and 9 damage with his shots. Well, at least they all did damage instead of being absorbed. During our turn, Sorby is going to auto shott at the middle Gehe:

He does 6, absorbed and 29 which kills the thing:

Well, that was surprising. It's almost like the normal rifles are doing more damage than the photon beamers. MTR is going to auto shoot at the Gehe on the right with his photon beamer (twice since he didn't kill it with the first salvo):

One third of the shots did damage for 8 and 29. So yeah, these photon beamers really suck sometimes. So now Hobbes is going to shoot at it with his normal rifle instead:

One bullet missed, another was absorbed and the rest did low damage. But at least they did damage. Sorby is going to shoot at it now:

His first bullet did 26 and killed the thing. Well, that's good news:

Space Voyager is going to risk it and try shooting at the Gehe on the left with some aimed shots. This time he loads up the heavy photon beamer ammo, maybe that'll help:

The first hit for 53 damage! The second shot is on the way let's see what that does:

It only did 9 damage, but maybe it was a low damage roll. We need more data to make a better decision on this. JFG is going to take an aimed shot at it with normal photon beamer ammo:

His first shot hit for 26 but the second was absorbed and the Gehe survived. All our soldiers which are in a position to shoot are out of APs so we have to end the turn and hope for the best. The thing only moved a little bit closer to us so MTR is going to take some snap shots at it:

And he kills it. EOM:

Awesome! Thorondor and SV both were promoted to Captain! Let's allocate Mr T's points:

Two points immediately went into throwing to max that stat out at 96, then one point into agility and vitality and the last went into perception (reactions) so maybe that'll improve his reaction shooting. This guy is a real beast now. On to SV who got the same treatment:

Very similar to Thorondor but you gotta love those 97 APs. Back at base and we start to sell some of the stuff we recovered during the past mission:

1.431 million space bucks! That'll help. And gets us above 40 million now. On the globe our flyboys in South America are shooting down a light cruiser:

So we'll be going to that when the crash site is in daylight. Stay tuned!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Finally - some heavy photon beamer ammo action. The jury's still out but guess who's going to hate becoming the test subjects for a change.

Well, well... Captain SV - those brand new stripes are looking mighty dashing, right next to mine. And don't we make 'em shine!

Drinks are on us. Enjoy tonight, folks, and we'll make the buggers rue the day tomorrow anew. Cheers!!

[Space Voyager]

On 2/3/2023 at 8:25 PM, Thorondor said:

Well, well... Captain SV - those brand new stripes are looking mighty dashing, right next to mine. And don't we make 'em shine!

Drinks are on us. Enjoy tonight, folks, and we'll make the buggers rue the day tomorrow anew. Cheers!!

Hear, hear!

[Zombie]

We deploy into a farm landscape this time and for the first few turns nothing happens but I do hear an alien moving east of the transport somewhere. Sorby shoots a hole in the hedge to take a peek and spots a Rider. Time for an auto shot:

The next round Hobbes spots a Rider exiting the beehive/orchard area just south from where Sorby shot the other one. MTR is in a good spot to throw a normal grenade on it:

With that gone, Sorby decides he's gonna peek into the hole he created in the hedge. Mr T has joined him just in case and when Sorby looks in there a Gehe reaction fires and injures both. Might as well shoot back with some auto shots since he's nearly in point blank range:

All the shots were absorbed except for the last couple which dealt minor damage. And now he's out of APs and kneeling in fire too. Well Mr T, it's up to you:

He doesn't disappoint and kills the thing. Sorby gets injured by the fire again (at the beginning of our turn) so him and Mr T exchange heals from stimpacks then get back into cover. During the next alien turn a Gehe and a Rider exit the UFO. MTR doesn't have a shot on the Gehe but he reaction fires on the Rider:

And kills it. Now what are we going to do with the Gehe? Well, Hobbes is kneeling in the UFO cutout so he decides to toss a photon grenade on it:

The damage was absorbed so he tossed a DG2 "golden pineapple" grenade on it too dealing 9. MTR comes out of cover to toss a photon grenade on it too:

The damage was absorbed again. Can someone please explain why I'm still using these, because they seem to be rather worthless in terms of dealing actual damage? Meanwhile, Sorby has crept forward into the orchard (might be able to make him out in the screenshot above) so he gets into position to take an auto shot at this thing:

His last shot did 14 damage. I move up Thorondor to provide backup. During the alien's turn a Rider shot at Thorondor for no damage but he kills it with reaction fire:

That Gehe is still standing outside but we can somehow see another Gehe just inside the door. When Thorondor shoots at the Gehe outside it missed and flew into the UFO hitting an alien inside (I think it's another Gehe which you might be able to see in the darkness). His second shot hit for 29. MTR starts shooting at the Gehe outside too:

He deals 38 for his first shot and the damage was absorbed for his second (his third missed completely). Then the Gehe outside moved closer to Sorby and Mr T and as usual Mr T reaction fires on it:

Tammy tosses a photon grenade on it which deals 10 but it also sets off an explosive barrel which takes out the entire toolshed. Luckily nobody was hurt in the blast, but there's an alien in there. MTR shoots and kills the Gehe but there's a second right behind so he shoots at it too:

One shot missed and the other two hit but were absorbed. Well, we gotta take out the other Gehe in the toolshed so Sorby starts shooting at it:

He was finally able to kill it:

Good job Sorbicol! This other Gehe has to go too so Mr T is going to try out that heavy photon beamer ammo against it with an auto shot:

One shot was absorbed, but the second killed the Gehe dealing an incredible 59 damage. Not bad at all:

On one hand, I'd like more heavy beamer ammo, but that means killing aliens who are shooting back at you with this so it's a double edged sword. JFG has been patiently been watching the orchard because we heard a Gehe inside the nearby barn. We've been shooting out the walls trying to get eyes on it during our turn but it keeps retreating into the darkness. Eventually it comes out to play and JFG is going to auto shoot it:

It was mostly alternating good and bad damage rolls but on his last shot he was able to string together a couple good hits in a row to take it down:

During the aliens turn two Gehe's exit the UFO and Sorby reaction fires at the closest one:

Some low damage rolls again. But now Space Voyager gets into the scrum with some super long range reaction shots:

He actually hit for okay damage but it wasn't enough to kill. It's finally our turn now. There's two aliens standing near each other and what do we do in these circumstances? That's right, Tammy is going to toss a golden pineapple to see who flinches first:

The aliens didn't flinch and seemed unimpressed as the grenade's damage was absorbed. Hobbes needs some XP so he starts shooting at the closest Gehe and was eventually able to kill it:

MTR is going to auto shoot at the other Gehe with his photon beamer to use up the ammo:

He only managed to hit it twice out of 6 shots. Not impressive, but he does only have a 61% accurate auto shot so it's understandable. On his last auto shot, the first "bullet" looked to be heading to it's target:

Which killed it thankfully. And that was it for the mission:

MTR got promoted! Let's allocate his points:

Everything went into strength until it was maxed out at 96 and the last point went into agility so that he can keep up with the rest of us. Back in the Geoscape our interceptors shoot down a medium cruiser near our main base:

We are going to wait till it's light out to go after this UFO. In the meantime our research into the Fireball completed:

Let's check out it's description:

No cold weapons to deal with these yet other than cryo rockets but those are pricey. At least we can start researching the inferno grenades as those can help with bonesetters:

We have a small stockpile of them already. Not enough to give everyone 3 but definitely 1 each to supplement the incendiary grenades. Stay tuned though as the next mission is that medium cruiser!

- Zombie