Skyblade's Eyes on XCOM Signups

[Skyblade]

Works for me, and I'm sorry we didn't get another male assault at all. Did you want to change the name?

[Slothy]

MVP goes to Vivi. Like, hands down. 5 kills out of 8 aliens. He was just chain lightning. He had a shot on every alien group we saw, and every one hit. It was awesome. Good job, Vivi. Pat yourself on the back.

/smug

[Jiro]

Don't get cocky old man, I'll show you what I'm made of in France!

[Iceglow]

Works for me, and I'm sorry we didn't get another male assault at all. Did you want to change the name?

Balls MacGyver as a chick would be smurfing great

[Loony BoB]

Snipers will always be boss in this game. Rather ironically, despite being an Assault player in this thread, it's the class I like least. I'm playing my current Ironman game (the most successful to date) with 1x Support, 2x Sniper, 3x Heavy.

[Skyblade]

-Operation Final Throne-
France

The first message we get after we touch down is "Lieutenant 22 has earned a promotion", right before the message that the Thin Man's Plasma Rifle exploded into fragments.

Our force deployed forward. Once the majority had gotten into position, I set Vivi in Overwatch. Our last soldier to move was Sergeant MacLeod. And, as he moved into position, what did he see but three Thin Men? As the group broke up and scattered, Vivi nailed one in the head from the same spot he'd started the mission, earning a move up to Captain after this mission was over. A second Thin Man moved out of visibility, and Loony BoB's reaction shot took out the last.

The Thin Man who had escaped was not one of the particularly bright ones. Perhaps he was panicked by the sudden death of his fellows, but his behaviour was suicidal. Upon reentering our field of view, he suddenly cowered against a log. Not realizing that he was on the wrong side of the log to get any protection from it.

Finally getting a chance to take a shot at a foe after so many unlucky missions, Jiro lines up a 94% chance Flanked shot... And misses. Sergeant MacLeod quickly moves up and eliminated the Thin Man, as our force's radio is suddenly flooded with the sound of Vivi's laughter.


Our troops moved closer to the UFO, encountering a group of Sectoids who quickly flee beyond our troops line of sight. Loony BoB once again demonstrates his mastery of the Assault Rifle, firing another perfectly accurate burst into the eyes of the first foe. Vivi lines up a 44% chance on the furthest foe still visible, hiding behind the Full Cover of the upright tree. Once again, his bullet hits home, and another Sectoid is eliminated. And the third skitters back into line of sight just fast enough to run into the reaction fire from Psy's LMG.

A group of Floaters caught us by surprise, flying over the top of the UFO as we got into position to breach us. Due to the unexpected nature of the shot, both Vivi and Psy's reaction fire missed. However, our fanned out formation meant that one of them could not get to adequete cover, and was left being flanked by Loony while his compatriots retreated back far enough over the top of the UFO to break line of sight. Once again, BoB's Assault Rifle sang. Psy, who was in the most vulnerable position to the Floater's attack, quickly found better cover, and discovered a view of one of the other Floaters while he was at it. With 50-50 being "good odds" to the crazy Heavy, he unloaded his LMG into it, and kicked another alien scumbag off our planet, permanently.

Our soldiers, not wanting to charge into the UFO with at least one known threat outside it, shifted positions a little and camped out. When the final Floater rushed over the UFO, MacLeod and Vivi were ready. MacLeod was a bit more ready, however, and his Assault Rifle blew the Floater right out of the sky while Vivi was still expertly lining up his shot. Not wanting to waste such a good shot, Vivi proceeded to fire, his bullet passing through the air where the Floater was moments ago, with his expression telling everyone that that shot would have been a hit if the Floater had still been alive.

Free to approach the UFO, our squad split up. MacLeod moved for a breach from the south, while Psy, Jiro, and BoB approached from the west. MacLeod actually performed the breach, spotting the Outsider in the middle of the ship. The Outsider, unfortunately, seemed to spot the rest of our squad (even though they weren't able to awaken him earlier), or maybe he just got lucky. Either way, he moved to a position which granted him cover from both MacLeod and the rest of our team.

Moving into the UFO, Jiro tried to get a shot off, but missed again, with it glancing off the side of the console. With MacLeod stuck with a choice of shooting where he was, leaving him flanked, or running somewhere safe but giving the foe a chance to escape, Loony BoB decided to save him the trouble and unleashed a final stream of bullets into the foe's delicate crystal matrix, ending the foe and the final threat of the mission.

MVP: Loony BoB.

Promotions: Vivi, Jiro, and BoB.

Casualties: None. Even MacLeod was unscathed.

Sorry, Jiro. I am trying to use your soldier as best I can. But this is why I love Squad Sight so much. I tend to fan out as I uncover terrain, keeping split up to detect enemies easier, and ensure no untimely grenades wipe out the squad. When enemies retreat with their free move upon discovery, the odds of any soldier except the one who discovered them getting in to kill them is slim. I couldn't even get you in range of the second Sectoid. Add to that the fact you're taking an Aim penalty by moving, and a further Aim penalty if I put you in Overwatch (since you are avoiding Opportunist), and your odds of getting good shots is just way too low.

While all Vivi needs to do is stand in place, Overwatch at the end of the turn (although, again, no Opportunist? You guys are silly. ), and just wait for something to stumble into the field of view. He only needs to move if Terrain obstacles start to get in the way, or if he lags too far behind, because I don't want to leave him vulnerable. Especially on open maps like the Scout Ship missions, Squad Sight is just way too powerful.

Honestly, I think Squad Sight should be the basic Sniper power, instead of Headshot. Make Head Shot pair off against Snap Shot, and remove Snap Shot's Aim penalty, and then you have a viable comparison.

Maybe I'm using Snap Shot wrong, but I'm trying my best. You said you always played Snap Shot, so can you offer any advice?




The force so far:
Captain Vivi "Azz Kickr" 22
Captain Jiro "The Wish" Stark
Lieutenant Psy "Psychotic" Chotic
Sergeant Ronnie "Meaty Thigh" Coleman
Sergeant Connor "Sigma" MacLeod
Corporal Balls MacGuyver

We have one Squaddie level Assault female, and five lady Recruits.

World situation is thus:
Our base is in the US (I believe it's the best starting location. Good initial funds, plus reduced cost/maintenance for interceptors, which makes for easy expansion).

United States, Canada, and Mexico are all panic free. US (base location) has a sat.

Argentina is at 3 while Brazil is at 2.

Egypt and Nigeria are at 3, South Africa is at 4! South Africa and Nigeria have sats. Hoping to put one in Egypt shortly to secure the "All In" funding bonus and eliminate our chances of an abduction mission ruining South Africa.

United Kingdom is at 4, Russia is at 3, Germany and France are at 2. Germany and France have sats. Getting the UK set is our next priority goal, and then probably sealing the continent bonus.

China is at 2, Japan is at 3, and India and Australia are both at 1.

This is actually a pretty good setup, despite the numbers. I won't have to drop another sat in North America for a long time, and since I already have its continent bonus, that's a good thing. Asia also can be left relatively alone, with Japan being the only real hotspot. By dropping my next three sats in to seal UK and Africa, I pick up extra bonuses, and ensure that they won't get hit by abductions, and I can then turn my focus to South America, and I should be able to keep the rest of the sattellites relatively free to serve as emergency panic reducers until I can get global coverage. As long as we don't get shafted by a bunch of abduction missions, we should be good to get full coverage without losing a country, at which point panic management just comes down to completing the missions.

Now for the bad news. We have a council report coming in 7 days, our next Sattelite Uplink comes in 13 days, well after that, and our next 3 Sattelites are coming 19 and 20 days after that. This means we'll get no new sats up until the next month, prolonging the vulnerable period (abduction missions don't stop until the month after the sats are launched). We're also down to 2 Credits, after selling some Sectoid corpses to ensure that the money keeps flowing and we could get the sats built as quickly as possible.

The income from the Council meeting should give us enough to get another Power Generator up (I think I can get a Thermo one in), and from there we should have the power for the rest of our Sat Uplinks, and the money to start on them as soon as we have the power.

It's basically luck at this point. As long as we don't get too many abductions, we're golden.

[Skyblade]

And, immediately, disaster on the world map. Just after the council report, we get shafted by the abductions. One in Egypt, one in the UK, and one in India. Since UK is at 4, I have to grab it or lose it. However, ignoring Egypt means that it jumps to 5. I have to dump a sat there pretty or we lose it, and I do not want to lose Africa. Stupid game.

-Operation Sacred Mother-
Birmingham, United Kingdom
3:52 PM

Loony BoB, wanting to break his perfect record, decides to move to the wrong space right out of the gate. When he takes his second move to get into cover (1 square over, where I meant him to go before the misclick), he uncovers two Floaters and is unable to shoot at them. Vivi takes a shot at one, but the high cover of the gravestones thwarts him. Psy remembers he has a grenade, and blows the gravestones away, reducing the Floaters to 1 HP apiece. MacGuyver ran up and blasted one in the face. Fortunately, the other fled, but then Launched itself behind our troops.

Not wanting it to last, Psy ran around the wall of the graveyard and blasted it point blank, while the rest moved forward, and we eventually regrouped.

Shortly thereafter, we encountered three more Floaters. Two went into Overwatch, while the third Launched itself into a flanking position. With no chance of moving without getting hit, each soldier tried to get shots at the flanking Floater. BoB's shot missed, as did MacLeod's. Psy's shot missed as well, but then MacGuyver was able to eliminate it with a lucky shotgun blast. Vivi then took out another of the two. And Psy, realizing he had a second shot because he hadn't moved, got lucky with a 50% shot and eliminated a third, earning a promotion.

Our next move encountered three Thin Men near the end of our turn, and then two Floaters joined them on the other side of the map, one of which was promptly eliminated by MacLeod's reaction fire. Vivi took a clean shot to eliminate the other. It was an easy shot, but with so many enemies on the map at once, he knew to take the guaranteed kills first.

Finally remember he was an Assault for the first time, Loony Run and Gunned up near the central monument, and nailed a Thin Man in the head. Psy unleashed a shot at the other in view, a 36% chance to hit, planning on using both shots to eliminate it, only to remember that Hit Percentages were for losers, and just wiping it out on the first shot and still having leftover time to enter Overwatch. Unfortunately, three (or maybe four, not sure, it's hard to keep track) Overwatch shots all missed on the final Thin Man, who fired a few rounds at Balls MacGuyver, hitting her and ruining our perfect record. Vivi ended it, and the mission.

This mission was screwy as hell. We got royally shafted with intelligent aliens in good positions, yet got extremely lucky on hit percentages, which kind of balanced out to about average.

MVP is Psy, who made excellent use of Bullet Storm (the first good use I've gotten out of that skill, and prompting me to actually reconsider it over Holo Targeting somewhat).

Promotions are Psy and MacLeod. Woohoo!

Casualties: Balls MacGuyver was wounded and will be out for 10 days.

I had been planning on taking some Rookies on this, but decided against it when I was left with a "Very Hard" as the mission it made the best sense to take. I probably could have pulled through with a Rookie (although that first misclick brings it into question), given the foe lineup, but the messups and good enemy placement make me fairly glad I didn't. I promise, I'm working on a B-Squad, I just don't want to lose while doing so.

Fortunately, I got a sattellite up over Egypt, so as long as we don't get any more abductions there this month, we should be good. Finishing the Very Hard mission dropped UK to zero, allowing me to postpone the satellite to there (think I'm going to drop it in Russia instead, worth more money and will eliminate that panic), but I'm currently saving it as Asia has gotten more tense.

Carapace Armor is now availible (well, researched, I don't have the funds to build it quite yet)! Don't forget to mention if you want particular gear. Currently I'm just following my best judgement.

-Operation Glass Dream-
Nigeria
May 14th, 1:47 PM

Our forces landed extremely close to the UFO, far too close for comfort. Usually they cut like a buzz saw through enemy forces to get to the UFO, then eliminate the Outsider. Starting this close, there was no telling where they'd encounter what.

As such, they stayed close together as they moved. Soon, they were set up against the UFO. And then, they spotted a new foe. A hulking beast, covered in green armor. These new enemies ran out of the UFO, with Psy being the only one overcoming his surprise at the new enemies enough to hit one with his reaction fire. Our new Rookie then eliminated the weakened foe.

Loony Run and Gunned to a flanking position near the second Muton, only to get his Assault Rifle mostly deflected by its thick armor (2 damage, AR's minimum). Clearly, he'd have to learn its weak points and focus fire better. Psy took two shots at it, hitting with his second one, weakening the beast enough for Vivi to eliminate it. MacLeod Suppressed the third, which decided not to take a shot during its turn, but to just stand there looking stupid to avoid MacLeod's wrath. It did not, however, stop three Floaters from joining in the fray.

The Muton's armor continued to thwart our forces, allowing it to survive its attacks with one hit point remaining, and to throw a grenade to damage BoB and the Rookie, and eliminate their cover. A Floater then proceeded to fire on our Rookie and miss, while another splattered our lovely Rookie's brains all over the floor. BoB, not liking to see a pretty lady die, panicked, but made the smart decision to run to cover which I couldn't even see through the bloody alien forcefield (had I, I would have moved him there last turn, and probably kept the Muton from using the grenade). Vivi managed to cap the Muton with his shot, and Psy took two shots to eliminate a Floater while MacLeod reloaded. BoB, finally faced with a familiar foe, managed to put his Assault Rifle to it full use and eliminated a Floater immediately, leaving just one more somewhere in the ship. It played Hide and Seek for a bit, coming out, evading an Overwatch shot, and retreating again. MacLeod moved to heal BoB while we waited it out.

Unfortunately, the sounds we heard made it seem as though it was not coming out, but rather circling the UFO. With little choice, our forces split up. Vivi and Psy secured the exit and flank, while MacLeod and BoB started to explore inside. Soon enough, BoB found the alien, and quickly eliminated it while MacLeod was covering a side path. Our forces regrouped, and breached the inner chamber of the UFO, discovering the Outsider, who fled deep into a corner. Psy ran to better cover while MacLeod shot and missed. Vivi moved into a good cover position and unleashed a pistol shot at the foe, wounding but not killing it. Finally, BoB decided to show them how it was done, and Run and Gunned into a flanking position to eliminate the foe. But not the final threat...

As they exited the UFO, our forces encountered two Thin Men. Vivi, behind the door quickly eliminated one, while Psy stepped forward to blast the other, the last foes killed before they could attempt to bring harm to our forces.

MVP: Loony BoB, excellent kill rate, if only he hadn't been shafted on damage numbers against the Muton, he'd have rocked this mission solo.

Promotions: Loony BoB is now a Lieutenant

Casualties: Loony BoB got wounded for 7 days by the Alien Grenade. Kim Cook, a Canadian Rookie who was, as yet, completely uncustomized, is KIA.



And our next mission is in Moscow, Russia. Operation Red Line, a bomb disposal mission for the Council. Glad I held that sattellite in reserve. With two wounded troops, our lineup for this mission is Psy, Jiro, Ronnie, Connor, and a Rookie (who will hopefully fair better against Thin Men).

[Loony BoB]

Hell yeah, MVP'ing it up. But oh man am I getting the impression I'm going to die soon with all these death runs I go on.

What's been going on with research etc, out of curiosity?

[Skyblade]

You shouldn't have to fear that, BoB. I'm actually rather conservative about Run & Gun. I only ever leave an Assault vulnerable if it is a definite elimination of the only remaining enemy. Otherwise, I always Run & Gun into cover, and usually wind up just as safe as a standard move, only with a better flanking chance. Your rifle just really only wanted to do minimum damage to Mutons.

I'm currently researching Beam Weapons, so Laser Weaponry will be out in about two days. I've already researched Carapace Armor (choice for you all to make there, Weapons or Armor). I've researched UFO Flight Computers, though I can't take advantage of it in this due to the engineer and time cost, will be faster to just rush two more Uplinks, rather than a Nexus.

My next research will be for UFO Power Sources, and then Firestorms, which I need to get up ASAP because I kind of never bother with other Interceptor upgrades...

[Loony BoB]

When I researched on my current so-far successful Ironman run (got all research done before the base assault), I did it something like this...

Laser Rifle, Carapace, Heavy Laser, Plasma Rifle, Titan, Plasma Sniper, Heavy Plasma.

With how often Snipers hit for critical damage, I jumped straight to Plasma Sniper rather than doing Laser Sniper at all (I did it much later on when I had nothing else to research). I think it largely depends on what bonuses you get from capturing enemies, though. If you can capture a Sectoid (they never came up for me for some reason) then you're pretty much good to go with all Laser gear.

EDIT: Regarding the choice of weapons or armour, surely we can have both? Unless you mean what kind of item we would like, in which case I'll opt for additional armour (so Nanovest or Chitin Plating).

[Skyblade]

Actually, right now it's either-or, due to restricted funding. But later it will be which type do you want.

On my first playthrough, I actually skipped all laser weapons entirely, and jumped straight to plasma from captured Light Plasma Rifles (which are the best weapon for Rookies).

[Elite Lord Sigma]

Sheesh, I died again? More importantly, getting smacked by a zombie does not make me optimistic about how I'll fare in the game of Humans vs. Zombies I'm participating in at college. Anyway, just give me whatever will maximize my defense.

[Skyblade]

Sheesh, I died again? More importantly, getting smacked by a zombie does not make me optimistic about how I'll fare in the game of Humans vs. Zombies I'm participating in at college. Anyway, just give me whatever will maximize my defense.

You've only died twice. I was able to get you right back into gear with a Sergeant Support mission reward, and you've been doing awesome since then. And now you've picked up Suppression, so you're going to be one of the most useful members of the team.

But, yeah, more armor for you, you'll probably be the first person with Carapace.

[Jiro]

So after experimenting with my own playthroughs, I realise now that my character is practically as nerfed as I could have made him. I can't believe he'd miss a 94% shot... Feel free to give me a grenade and a pistol and just charge in there alongside Loony BoB. If I die, the Stark legacy will live on in another, I'm sure

[Skyblade]

So after experimenting with my own playthroughs, I realise now that my character is practically as nerfed as I could have made him. I can't believe he'd miss a 94% shot... Feel free to give me a grenade and a pistol and just charge in there alongside Loony BoB. If I die, the Stark legacy will live on in another, I'm sure

If you wish to submit an alternate setup, it will be taken into account should you die.

Sorry your character didn't wind up great. But, yeah, I really think they messed up with Snap Shot.