Eyes on FF Plays XCOM: Enemy Within!

[Skyblade]

Will helps prevent soldiers from panicking when things go bad, but also helps resist Psionic attacks, or boost chance to hit with a Psi-Soldiers own Psionic abilities.

-Operation Purple Hawk-
Benin City, Nigeria
2:31 PM

Our soldiers dropped outside the offices of an electronics company. The first floor lobby appeared clear, but with buildings all around and multiple floors to worry about, our soldiers were taking few chances (worth noting, apparently XCOM are the only guys who use elevators, as no maps feature them).

Iceglow immediately grappled to the roof, spotting two Floaters (who didn't spot him). Hoping to catch one off guard, he fired his pistol, but didn't manage to take one down (80% chance to crit, and it does a min damage roll). Both Floaters moved around and shot at Christmas where she was waiting at the base of the building, but both plasma rounds passed harmlessly by (likely tearing down a building a block away). Christmas finished off the one Iceglow had wounded, which was limping along the ground, while Iceglow's Sniper Rifle silenced the one which had taken the high ground.

As our forces advanced through the commercial district, they spotted two Seekers. Unfortunately overextended, only Hingle and Iceglow were able to enter Overwatch successfully, and only Iceglow had a solid line of sight to the rest of the squad. So when the first Seeker burst back onto the scene, and Iceglow's pistol shot missed, Daley was choked by the strange droid. Not letting things stymie them for long, Hingle ran up and blew the droid apart, while the rest of the squad made a more tactical advance.

Upon entering the second building, Christmas spotted two more Floaters, and managed to rip one apart with a long range plasma round, while the rest of the squad turtled up in waiting for the second Seeker. Who did not disappoint as he came back into sight, only to vanish in a volley of incoming fire so intense that BoB, Hingle, and Daley are still arguing over who killed it (and, therefore, who the other two have to buy a drink back at base).

The second building was a nice little bookstore. The remaining Floater hid behind the back wall, providing excellent cover from our soldier's rounds. Unfortunately, the building's walls did not provide much of a deterrent to Daley's Light Plasma rifle, which tore apart both the wall and the Floater with little regard for which was which.

Moving around the building side, Hingle ran into two Sectoids near the edge of the engagement zone. Iceglow sniped one, but the other managed a flanking shot on poor mister McCringleBerry, but it only managed to tear into his armor, not hurt the man himself.

Nevertheless, upset about how the plasma rounds seemed to disturb his armor's paint job, Hingle burned down the Sectoid, which had been too enthusiastic to head for cover, and brought the mission to a close.

MVP: Christmas. For excellent long range work and always being at the right place at the right time.

Wounds: None, because no damage got through the armor (kind of surprised, I expected the 4 damage crit on Hingle to have gotten at least 1 point of standard HP)

Promotions:
Loony BoB is promoted to Sergeant
Christmas is promoted to Corporal
Hingle is promoted to Sniper (again)
Iceglow is promoted to Lieutenant

Loony now gets to choose between Shredder Rockets and Suppression. He chose Shredder Rockets (not sure I've ever made that choice), so we'll put that in.

Christmas gets to choose between Tactical Sense, which increases her Defense by 5 per enemy the Squad can see, up to a max of 20 (Defense is just a reduction to enemy Aim, so it makes her 5-20% less likely to be hit), or she can choose Aggression, which increases her crit chance by 10% for each foe the squad can see, up to +30%.

Iceglow gets to choose between Disabling Shot and Battle Scanner.

Hingle gets to become another backup Sniper. Sorry.


We also got another Defender's Medal for some reason, even though no one died. What should we name it? And do we want to make it stop soldiers from panicking, or boost HP recovered by medkits?


Finally, as a reward for this abduction mission, we were gifted a Support Soldier Sergeant. So I guess Hingle is finally in his proper class.

Hingle gets Smoke Grenades, and then has two choices to make:
Sprinter, which increases movement by 3 tiles, or Covering Fire, which lets you fire reaction shots against enemies that don't move, but simply take shots of their own (standard overwatch only fires on foes that are moving).
The next choice is between Field Medic, which allows Hingle to use a Medkit he's carrying 3 times a fight instead of 1, or Smoke and Mirrors, which does the same thing for his Smoke Grenades.

Finally, Psy has made it out of the labs as a MEC soldier, and needs to choose between the Flamethrower and the Kinetic Strike Module for his first suit.

[Pheesh]

Yay! Well just guessing on what would make a better fire support I'm thinking Covering Fire and Smoke and Mirrors are the way to go. But you do whatever is best, leaving it in your capable hands.

[Psychotic]

FLAMETHROWER

I don't want to set the world on fire... things out of this world? Sure, I'll start a flame in their hearts.

[Christmas]

Yay, I am the right MVP! I choose Aggression baby. I am a wild untamed beast.

[Iceglow]

I'll go with disabling shot, it's sometimes a squad saver as it can mean the difference between an enemy getting to attack a pinned down soldier or waste their turn re-loading

[Skyblade]

Ok, so we get through the council meeting, and we then go over a week with nothing happening. Our researchers love this, as it lets them finish a ton of projects. We finally roll out Laser Weaponry for everyone (except those with the Light Plasma Rifles). We develop Railguns for our MECs. We also determine figure out the second MEC upgrade. So now our MEC Soldiers get a new choice.

Do you guys want Grenade Launchers? They throw grenades (or alien grenades, once researched) an incredibly far distance (longer than sight distance) and lets you carry 2 Grenades by default.

The other choice is Restorative Mist. This is essentially a medkit that affects everyone (including the user and other MEC soldiers) within two tiles. You can only use it once per battle by default, but since we've researched Improved Medkits, it heals for 6 HP.


We went on with some more research, finally finished researching Firestorms, and continued on a bit further, before finally spotting a contact. There was a landed UFO, classified as a Large Scout, in India. Time to saddle up.

-Operation Purple Bell-
India
9:00 AM-ish? I forgot to check the time on this one. >.<

Our troops landed in a heavily forested area. Moving north, Daley caught sight of a trio of Floaters. Christmas shot down the first one, while Daley retreated and the rest of the squad turtled up, unable to get clear shots through the trees.

The floating fiends charged at our squad, only for the first one to be torn down by BoB's heavy lasers, while Vivi's new Laser Sniper Rifle burned through the last one.

Noting a Meld canister to the squad's left, Christmas ran to get it, catching sight of two more floaters. Not to be deterred, a quick plasma shot burned through the first. Daley tried to back her up, but his shots landed amongst the trees, starting a small forest fire that will go completely unnoticed among those started by the crashing UFO. Vivi, on the other hand, was able to get a shot off at the remaining Floater, and adds its corpse to the pile.

Stepping into the UFO, our squad split up into two groups, one for each side of the vessel. Daley took point on the left flank, followed by BoB, who was lagging slightly behind. Unfortunately, Daley was also the one who first encountered a new foe. These were large, physically imposing humanoids in green armor. Daley managed to shoot the one nearest to him, but its return shot managed to do substantial damage. The other two new enemies took positions near one of the UFO's Power Sources (No! Valuable resources!). One let out a blood curdling call that seemed to sharpen the focus of the others, but the third creature's showed simply tore down the wall Daley was using for cover, rather than hurting him.

BoB rushed forward, out of cover, and burned down the wounded enemy. Hingle rushed around the rear console and managed to tear into a second, gravely wounding it. Daley then sprinted past both aliens, taking cover behind the solid outer hull of the UFO, and fired a hefty chunk of plasma straight into the untouched foe's back, almost melting it where it stood.

The gravely wounded soldier took advantage of BoB's poor positioning to lob a plasma round into him, but his armor took the brunt of the attack. Still in a good position behind the foe, Daley closed distance and let loose a discharge from his Arc Thrower, capturing the new beastie for our scientists to poke and prod a bit.

With those new foes out of the way (and the team deciding to call them Mutons), we turn our attention to the main chamber. Christmas had rushed around to the right side entrance to the main room, in order to nab the second Meld canister, but we could hear that there were two Seekers in there. We would have to be very careful with how we breached this room, or the limited sight would keep us from hurting the robotic drones. Hingle used his medkit to patch Daley back up to full, and we got in position.

Unable to get a clear rocket shot to where we heard the Seekers, BoB led our forces in a full breach of the room. Immediately going to Overwatch, as per standard protocol, only this time, almost all of our soldiers did so with their new Laser Pistols, to reduce likelihood of destroying the precious artifacts. The first foe was downed by several rounds, though Vivi apparently claimed the final blow (or at least, he got a promotion from it). Since both Meld canisters were already ours, there was no need to rush. Instead, our forces went to Overwatch again. This time, it was Christmas who walked away with a promotion as the Seeker fell from the sky (those things should really learn to attack together in the same turn, this is too easy).

With only one room, and its likely Outsider inhabitant, our squad again reloaded and got into position. As we rushed into the final room, Hingle took up a flanking position and tore down the Outsider. Dr. Vahlen scolded him for killing it instead of capturing it, apparently forgetting that we had a captured one already waiting at base.


MVP: Daley. Because I was sure he was going to die, and he used Run and Gun brilliantly to turn it around into a critical hit kill on a full health foe, and followed it up by capturing our first Muton.

Wounds: Daley Thompson, out for 5 days for treatment.

Promotions:
Vivi is promoted to Captain
Christmas is promoted to Sergeant

Vivi can now choose between Executioner, which provides +10 Aim when attacking enemies at less than 50% health, or Opportunist, which negates the Aim penalty forces suffer when going into Overwatch.

Christmas gets to choose between Lightning Reflexes, which forces the first Reaction Shot a foe takes at her each turn to miss, or Close and Personal, which lets her take a free shot if she's within 4 tiles of an enemy, although it doesn't work with Run and Gun.

Oh, and I forgot to let Psy pick his MEC abilities, since he was a Sergeant.
Advanced Fire Control (no Aim penalty to Overwatch) or Automated Threat Assessment (+15 Defense while in Overwatch)
Vital Point Targeting (+2 Damage to foes we have autopsied) or Damage Control (after you get hit, all damage for the rest of the turn is reduced by 2)

[Psychotic]

Advanced Fire Control and Vital Point Targeting. I'm going all out for the dealing of damage. I suspect my neglect of defence will lead to my untimely death, but I'll be taking down a lot of the bastards with me.

[Skyblade]

Advanced Fire Control and Vital Point Targeting. I'm going all out for the dealing of damage. I suspect my neglect of defence will lead to my untimely death, but I'll be taking down a lot of the bastards with me.

Fortunately, MECs have a ton of health.

I don't have a mission update yet, but I felt I just had to post this. Although I've researched Firestorms, I haven't gotten one built yet, nor have I quite finished EMP Cannons. Due to some bad luck with the Power Cells on missions, I was slightly more behind than I usually am when getting those out, or I'd already have them up and running.

So we got a UFO contact, our first Abductor ship. And it had to be taken on by Raven-2, which is still completely un-upgraded, except for the Aim and Dodge boosts I had built.

2014-07-19_00001.jpg

Success!

I honestly didn't even know an interceptor could survive that much damage. The interceptor model slowly goes from blue to red, and I thought once the tip went red, it was dead. One more hit would have killed it. Good job, Raven-2.

[Loony BoB]

Good to see we're still kickin' butt and taking names. And shredder rockets are great if only because MWAHAHAISDhgoa;ighds; I LIEK ROCKTZ

[Psychotic]

Grenade launcher of course! The more deaths, the better!

[Slothy]

I've always wanted to be an executioner.

[DK]

hell yes go with grenade launchers that sounds like comedy waiting to happen

[Christmas]

Lightning reflex for me!

[Skyblade]

-Operation Flying Law-
Brazil
12:35 AM

This new ship appeared to be constructed with a different style than those that we had previously faced. Eschewing the familiar disc of the scouts, this vessel was a blocky, imposing monstrosity. Raven-2 barely made it back to base.

The increased size of the vessel allowed our Skyranger pilot to pick it out with no trouble, and our forces were dropped right beyond its hull.

Hingle immediately started climbing the roof, noticing a Meld canister up there. The rest of our soldiers began a more standard infiltration, immediately spotting three Chryssalids. Ronnie lobbed a grenade into the room with the Chryssalids, and Psy followed it up by running up to the door and torching the entire room, reducing the Chryssalids to charred lumps.

Hingle grabbed the first Meld canister, spotting the second as he did so.

Our forces spotted three Thin Men who were attempting to flank Christmas. Deciding that grenades were just too much fun, Ronnie fired another one forward, eliminating the Thin Men before they could even get off a shot (or a poison cloud).

Three Floaters jump in to crash the party. Loony BoB curses that a door is blocking his rocket shot, so instead he lofts his machine gun and kills one. Psy's reaction fire kills another, and Christmas pegs the third with a well placed plasma round.

Meanwhile, Hingle drops off the roof and nabs the second Meld canister.

BoB opens the door to the final room, scaring out and Outsider. However, it failed to note Christmas sitting right behind its chosen hiding spot, and gets killed very swiftly, ending the mission.

MVP: Psy, for toasting three Chryssalids at once. It was just so pretty.

Wounds: None

Promotions:
Psy is promoted to Lieutenant
Loony BoB is promoted to Lieutenant
Christmas is promoted to Lieutenant
Hingle is promoted to Lieutenant

Ronnie is already a Lieutenant, so Lieutenancy for everyone!

This mission could also be entitle "Skyblade discovers AOE weapons". I tend to not use those, at all, because the game often warns about explosives destroying artifacts and weaponry. I can see why they try to discourage that, because they can be really, really powerful. They're also limited use. But two grenades per launcher, and two uses of the Flamethrower, just on the MECs, is pretty powerful.

Also, this mission glitched out twice on one of the turns. First Hingle moved to the Meld canister and the game just soft locked, refusing to let me do anything else. Then Psy somehow ran beyond his actual movement range while trying to toast the Chryssalids, and the game soft locked again. I was getting really worried.



Psy gets to choose between Jetboots and All For One. Do you want better mobility, or the ability to turn yourself into a lump of cover for the rest of the squad at the expense of not being able to move or attack?

BoB already chose Heat Ammo.

Christmas gets to choose between Flush, which is a high hit chance, low damage ability that makes enemies run out of cover, or Double Fire, which is a lowered hit chance attack that lets her shoot twice (works awesome with close range shotguns, or the accuracy boosted Light Plasma Rifle you've got now). Christmas also needs more names. I've got her last name, but she needs a nickname and first name!

Hingle gets to choose between Revive, which lets him get a critically wounded soldier back into the fight with a Medkit, and Suppression, which reduces enemy Aim and lets you take a reaction shot on them if they move (or fire, since you specced into Covering Fire). As a Fire Support soldier, Suppression would make the most sense, but I'll wait for confirmation.


So, yeah. Things went awesome. Because bombs. I got another Council Mission coming up in a moment, the next part of Slingshot, but I must fix dinner first, so I'll let you guys debate your upgrades.

BoB is currently out of service getting his Bioelectric Skin turned on. Which reminds me: Those of you who want gene enhancements, we now have a lot to choose from.

For Eyes, you get to choose between +10 Aim after a miss, or +5 Aim and Crit chance when on higher ground.

For Legs, we have 66% reduced time in wound recovery (which comes with hitpoint regeneration up to the max without armor), or the ability to ignore elevation.

For Skin, we have Mimetic Skin, which lets you become invisible when in high cover, and Bioelectric Skin, which lets you detect enemies beyond line of sight or sight range, and reveal cloaked enemies.

One word of warning, I've heard that having multiple soldiers with Bio skin in one mission actually makes it less effective due to a glitch, but I haven't tested it out yet.

For Heart, we have Adrenal Neurosympathy, which lets you buff yourself and all soldiers around you temporarily after you get a kill. We have not yet researched Secondary Heart, but if you want to compare, it means you can only bleed out, so you can't be killed outright, increases the bleed out timer, and negates the Will penalty to critical wounds.

[Christmas]

Double fire for me! I love shooting!

As for nickname, how about "Waldorf"? Since someone had decided it for me.

As for first name, "Santarina"?