It was a city. Then the aliens arrived. It's a village now...Originally Posted by Vivi22
All kinds of actual fishing villages in Newfoundland and they choose the city of 200,000 people. Well done Firaxis.
It was a city. Then the aliens arrived. It's a village now...All kinds of actual fishing villages in Newfoundland and they choose the city of 200,000 people. Well done Firaxis.
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
Yay, finally days off.
Ok, so we finished all the rest of our research, leaving us without much to do except assault the alien base. However, I didn't want to do that quite yet, as we've progressed really quickly so far. We haven't even seen Berserkers yet, or gotten a Colonel. So I'm just building up some resources, trying to make more Firestorms.
I decided to try this mission a bit differently. I've paired one of our Majors with one of our lower-ranked units, then given them one Squaddie of each class to fill out the roster, and I'm going to send them into the mission alone. This should provide some chance at people dying, let us get some new units in (since we might not even get a Psi soldier from our current squad, which would mean that we couldn't beat the game), and hopefully still be engaging.
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If you guys don't like the way this mission turns out, let me know, and I'll go back to standard stuff, and more progression with story objectives.
Landed UFO spotted in the UK. Classification: Small Scout
-Operation Shattered Throne-
United Kingdom
10:18 AM
BoB, Psy, and the Squaddies.
Our new Sniper, lacking both Snap Shot and Squadsight took point. Knowing she couldn't get a shot in except with her pistol anyway, she decided it would be best for her to scout, and try to get in range for a second turn.
Sure enough, she spotted a trio of Thin Men as she took cover in a rock ravine. The Thin Men retreated back, putting them out of the range of most of the squad. Psy, with his newly researched Advanced Servomotors, was the only one able to reach a position with a clear view. His shot did manage to take down one of the hiding Thin Men, though, leaving just two left to menace the team.
Our Assault decided to push it, and chose to Run and Gun up to take a long distance shotgun blast, which successfully downed a second Thin Man (low accuracy FTW in this mission).
The final Thin Man retreated more, as a second group stomped into view. A Mechtoid, flanked with two Sectoid servitors strolled out of the side of the UFO.
Our forces regrouped to try to take on the Mechtoid, but most of the firing going both ways missed. Psy's Particle Cannon managed to severely damage the Mechtoid's chassis, however.
One of the Sectoids attempted to Mind Merge with the Mechtoid, imbuing it with a strange shield of psy energy. Our Support Soldier took out the shield, while our Assault took care of the merging Sectoid. The second Sectoid was shredded by BoB.
The Mechtoid, now crippled and alone, could only look on as our Heavy approached it and tore it to shreds with a plasma volley. However, we uncovered an Outsider in doing so, and Psy's shot failed to connect with it.
The return fire from the Outsider managed to chew into our Heavy's armor, but didn't get through it.
Two Seekers came into view as the last Thin Man also strolled back onto the field. With Psy out of ammo, BoB chose to take out the Thin Man. The rest of the squad turtled up or reloaded, waiting for the inevitable Seeker revelation. Sure enough, the Assault's shotgun caught the beastie square in the faceplate, driving it down, leaving us with but one to go. BoB, who had ranged to the side to pick up the Thin Man, returned to the squad, his Mimetic Skin detecting the second Seeker, which he promptly fired at, downing the poor machine before it even knew it had been compromised.
Mission Accomplished
MVP: BoB. For solid kills and good use of Mimetic Skin.
Wounds: None.
Promotions: None.
Well, that was boring. Ok, inferior equipment is now going to be rolled out for the Squaddies. They can have the captured EXALT weapons, and probably basic armor.
My friend Delzethin is currently running a GoFundMe account to pay for some extended medical troubles he's had. He's had chronic issues and lifetime troubles that have really crippled his career opportunities, and he's trying to get enough funding to get back to a stable medical situation. If you like his content, please support his GoFundMe, or even just contribute to his Patreon.
He can really use a hand with this, and any support you can offer is appreciated.
Alien Terror Attack!
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That was much better. By far the worst I've ever done on a terror mission, yet it was totally epic. Thank goodness I was at least smart enough to bring along Christmas, or we would most likely have failed completely. Just so many Zombies and Chryssalids. It reminds me of the original XCOM.-Operation Blinding Bell-
Brisbane, Australia
9:49 AM
Christmas, Hingle, and the Squaddies.
Our Assault took lead, sprinting to the nearest civilian to get them moving to the evac point, while keeping an eye out for any oncoming foes. She spotted two Chryssalids, but her new Assault Rifle missed its reaction fire, and the beasts settled into view.
Christmas, still the queen of the Chryssalid hunt, calmly blew the closest foe away. The second, however, was out of range atop an 18 wheeler. The Chryssalid dropped down, and implanted a civilian with an egg, while a second civilian was ripped apart in the distance.
Our Heavy, taking up the left flank, tried to move into position to flank the foes, only to stumble into FIVE Chryssalids. With six foes now on the field, and a zombie on the way, things just go serious.
Christmas's next shot missed, and Hingle's failed to kill the Chryssalid. Two more civvies were killed, as was our poor Heavy, depriving us of rocket support.
Our Support finished off the foe Hingle had wounded, and our Sniper took out a second one with Hingle's support as well. Christmas tried to position between the Chryssalids and our Sniper, hoping to get Close Quarters shots before they could threaten the team, and get out of range of the Cyberdisc that had just been spotted at the edge of our soldier's view.
Sure enough, Christmas shredded a Chryssalid with Close Quarters Specialist, and tore into our poor Heavy's mangled body, wounding it as it was headed for our Sniper badly enough for our Support soldier to put the poor soldier down. Our Sniper and Assault managed to work together to down another Zombie, even as another civilian fell, taking the count to 5 killed, 5 saved, and eight left in the field of operations.
Christmas reloaded, hoping to lure in more foes for Close Quarters. The remaining Chryssalid chose to attack another civilian, but the zombie wandered right into range of her newly reloaded Alloy Cannon. The Cyberdisc came back into view, and took a flanking shot at Hingle, but managed to miss our athletic Support master.
Knowing that she had to take action fast before the squad was overwhelmed, Christmas decided to Run and Gun up to the Cyber Disc, then attempted to take it down with Rapid Fire, earning her a kill, and an impressive explosion that wiped out one of the nearby Drones as well.
Our Sniper missed against another Chryssalid, but our Assault scored a crit, grievously wounding the beast, but our Support missed the killing blow, allowing it to take down another civilian. Hingle shot down the final Drone, hoping to eliminate the need for our forces to worry about taking cover amid the melee-heavy brawl that was emerging.
Each of our Squaddies wounded another Zombie as Hingle took down the only remaining visible Chryssalid. The squad hoped that Christmas was properly positioned to finish off the Zombies with her mastery of Close Quarters fighting as they passed by her to reach the rest of the squad.
A fourth zombie rose up from the recently deceased Civilian, and all pressed forward. Right into Christmas's range. And she had spent her turn reloading again. I most humbly apologize for not being able to capture video, but I think Christmas wiping out four Zombies in one turn has taken over as the most glorious sight to come out of the new XCOM game.
Hingle finished off the remaining Chryssalid, that had just skittered back into view, while Christmas ran around the 18 wheeler and destroyed the first of three Zombies that were still on the field of battle.
However, we spotted another Chryssalid, which downed another Civilian, and yet another Chryssalid roaming the back field. Cursing their luck, our squad settled in for a grueling fight (Rescued: 5, Dead: 12, Remaining: 1).
Christmas destroyed the two remaining Zombies with Close Quarters and backup reaction fire from the Squaddies. Hingle tore into one of the Chryssalids from range, crippling it, but not yet taking it down. Our Support and Sniper teamed up to take down the last visible Zombie, while Hingle finished off the wounded Chryssalid, and Christmas shredded the final one.
Mission Accomplished.
MVP: Christmas. Because without her, Hingle and the Squaddies would most definitely not have survived.
Wounds: None
KIA: Our Heavy, Beth Lee
Promotions: Christmas is now a Colonel
Our Assault and Sniper are now Corporals
Oh, yeah. Christmas, you can choose between Resilience, which makes you immune to critical hits, and Killer Instinct, which grants you +50% Critical Damage whenever you use Run and Gun. Also, I'm thinking of changing your Callsign/Nickname to "Chryssalid Queen". Do you want any Gene Mods?
Last edited by Skyblade; 08-01-2014 at 06:32 AM.
My friend Delzethin is currently running a GoFundMe account to pay for some extended medical troubles he's had. He's had chronic issues and lifetime troubles that have really crippled his career opportunities, and he's trying to get enough funding to get back to a stable medical situation. If you like his content, please support his GoFundMe, or even just contribute to his Patreon.
He can really use a hand with this, and any support you can offer is appreciated.
Don't we also need to figure out where EXALT's base is located and destroy it, or is that not necessary to complete the game?
It's not necessary to complete the game, but I'm still going to do it. However, finding it is dependent on the number of Covert Operations we get. I'm scanning as often as I can, but I haven't found any new ones yet.
My friend Delzethin is currently running a GoFundMe account to pay for some extended medical troubles he's had. He's had chronic issues and lifetime troubles that have really crippled his career opportunities, and he's trying to get enough funding to get back to a stable medical situation. If you like his content, please support his GoFundMe, or even just contribute to his Patreon.
He can really use a hand with this, and any support you can offer is appreciated.
I am on the roll!
Killer instinct! Destruction all the way!!
Sure, change the nick then.
Mods are alway good.
Nickname doesn't fit.I am on the roll!
Killer instinct! Destruction all the way!!
Sure, change the nick then.
Mods are alway good.
So we find another EXALT cell, and send Vivi on a Covert Operation to infiltrate it. Christmas pops into the Gene Labs for 12 days to get some mods.
Then we wait, and initiate the recovery mission. On advice, I have reduced the squaddies to three.
Vivi can now choose between Double Tap, which lets him take two shots a round, or In the Zone, which lets him take an extra free action every time he kills a foe outside of cover.-Operation Demon Gaze-
India
9:51 PM
Hingle, BoB, Ronnie, and the Squaddies. Vivi (as covert operative)
Ronnie immediately moved forward, spotting three EXALT agents. They began an immediate retreat into cover, but one retreated too close to Vivi, who pulled out his buffed plasma pistol and blew the fool's head off.
Our Assault tore down the wall with a missed shot, but by so doing, eliminated the cover one of the EXALT agents were hiding in. This allowed Ronnie's Particle Cannon a free shot straight through the unlucky foe.
Three more EXALT agents broke in, and our Assault and Support soldiers continued demolishing the building rather than actually taking out the foes. Our Sniper, however, managed to line up a Headshot on one of the EXALT agents, removing another foe from the fight.
Vivi and Hingle worked together to take down another EXALT agent sitting in high cover against the wall. Ronnie put a point-blank particle beam shot into another, but BoB's rounds missed the final agent, and their hacking of our encoder continued.
Two more EXALT agents rushed the field. However, one took up a poor position, leaving himself flanked by Hingle, who wasted no time exploiting that opportunity. The other was near the rear of the building, and we lost sight as he entered the offices. Our Sniper spotted the agent while moving into position near the encoder, those the EXALT enemy seemed to miss seeing us.
Getting sick of this whole "enclosed area" thing, BoB hefts his Blaster Launcher and fires a round that takes out almost the entire rear half of the building, including the EXALT agent. Leaving us with much cleaner line of sight for future incursions.
Three more EXALT agents stroll into the operation zone. Vivi takes the opportunity to hit one of their data transmitters, temporarily disabling their weapon linkage systems, before putting some plasma rounds through the skull of another traitor to humanity. Our Assault and Support soldiers remove the remaining side wall, taking out an EXALT agent as they do so.
The final foe is massively outgunned, but Hingle and our Sniper only manage to wound him, and Ronnie's shot misses completely. The agent tries to get in to hack the encoder, but our Support soldier is blocking him, and he had no time to take a shot (not to mention, Vivi had disabled his weapon). Hingle finally finishes off that foe, but tactical command detects more incoming.
Sure enough, five more agents came into view. Two were in plain sight at the rear of the facility. One was so far towards the deployment point that we had long passed by his position. A third unfortunate soul took up cover against the wall, somehow missing the giant pink and blue MEC sitting directly next to him. And the final foe took cover near the front right corner we had yet to explore.
Hingle eliminated one of the foes. Our Sniper shot down another. Ronnie turned his head slightly and backhanded the blind EXALT agent next to him several feet away.
Vivi disabled weapons for our foes again, forcing them to close.
Unfortunately, the one near the front closed to within Ronnie's massive movement range, earning himself a massive fist to the face that actually drove him through the length of a concrete fountain wall (seriously, four tiles long, and he broke through the entire thing).
The other EXALT operative had stepped into almost the exact middle of our forces. Though reaction fire from our Squaddies missed, BoB's heavy plasma gun did not, and as the final foe fell, our mission was successful.
MVP: Vivi. For excellent map control and some brilliant kills, even restricted to a pistol.
Wounded: None.
Promotions:
Hingle is now a Major, earning himself Deep Pockets, earning an extra use for all consumable items.
BoB is now a Colonel, earning himself the Rocketeer ability, letting him fire another Blaster Bomb in a mission.
Vivi is now a Colonel.
Ronnie is now a Colonel.
Our Support is now a Corporal.
Ronnie can now choose between Absorbtion Fields, which means that no single attack can take off more than 1/3rd of his health, and Reactive Targeting Sensor, which lets him autofire back at the first foe to take a shot at him each turn.
There were some shots toward us in this mission, but Ronnie was the only one hit, and only for 4 damage. Why has EXALT not started using Gene Modded troops with Laser weapons yet?
We also got the massively helpful clue that the EXALT base is not in Japan.
With that out of the way, we proceed to the next Council Meeting, earning ourselves more funding.
My friend Delzethin is currently running a GoFundMe account to pay for some extended medical troubles he's had. He's had chronic issues and lifetime troubles that have really crippled his career opportunities, and he's trying to get enough funding to get back to a stable medical situation. If you like his content, please support his GoFundMe, or even just contribute to his Patreon.
He can really use a hand with this, and any support you can offer is appreciated.
Is in the zone when enemies are outside cover? Doesn't happen often but I could see the benefit when they're strategically exposed through the use of explosives.
I've usually taken double tap in my own games because I like the predictability of a sure thing, but I'll actually leave this choice to you. Pick whichever you think is most useful.
Outside cover or flanked.
This also means that any time you kill a Chryssalid, Berserker, Sectopod, Cyberdisc, Drone, Mechtoid, Seeker, or a Floater/Heavy Floater in the air, you get a free shot. Because flying units and bulky units can't use cover.
I tend to go with In the Zone, especially in Enemy Within. I also tend to explode cover a lot, especially with the new adjustments to weapons.
My friend Delzethin is currently running a GoFundMe account to pay for some extended medical troubles he's had. He's had chronic issues and lifetime troubles that have really crippled his career opportunities, and he's trying to get enough funding to get back to a stable medical situation. If you like his content, please support his GoFundMe, or even just contribute to his Patreon.
He can really use a hand with this, and any support you can offer is appreciated.
Right, forgot how many enemies don't use cover. Go with that then.
DOUBLE ROCKETS YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS my fave ability ever.
Bow before the mighty Javoo!
I like the sound of absorbtion fields! Ronnie seems to be enough of a death dealer. Little bit more protection can only boost that I feel.
Apparently the 27 damage punches were because the "Absolutely Critical" Second Wave option makes the punches always crit. With it turned off, they can never crit, so punch damage is restricted to 18.
We now have four Colonels, so I'm thinking about doing the alien base mission next. But we'll have the base invasion shortly after that. I was hoping to get six, but promotions are coming slow (even though I'm taking all lower-rank guys).-Operation Fading King-
Time Redacted
Egypt
Iceglow, Hingle, Psy, and the Squaddies
An Abductor class ship was found landed in Egypt. Our forces quickly gathered together to go take it down.
Iceglow and Hingle immediately took advantage of their Mimetic Skin to drop into invisibility and approach. Iceglow spotted a trio of Mutons lounging around on the landing deck of the ship. Psy and the Squaddies rolled into positions behind an outcropping, hoping to get the drop on the Mutons.
Unfortunately, the three trundled into view of Psy, and took cover. Our Support and Sniper worked to take down one of them, while our Assault wounded the other. Vivi and Psy both missed their shots, however, and Hingle decided to suppress the Muton, but when that Muton fired wildly, his reaction shot failed to hit it (seriously, guys?!).
Our Support soldier finished off the wounded Muton, but Vivi missed again on the remaining foe. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, Psy ran up and blew half the entity away entirely with his Particle Cannon (finally, a veteran hits something!).
Hingle moved up to grab the first Melding canister, and the rest of the squad continued to advance, reloading as they did so. Before they could get anywhere, however, a Cyberdisc and its drone escort appeared swinging around the side of the ship. The Cyberdisc immediately went into Overwatch just out of sight, but the Drones moved up to menace our forces from their greatly uncovered right flank.
Not to be discouraged, as he was always already in cover, Iceglow shot the first Drone out of the sky, setting an example for our younger Sniper, who soon followed suit and downed the second while getting into cover. Knowing that a Cyberdisc was on the way, the rest of our Soldiers scrambled for cover, hoping to evade the cannons, or the more likely Grenade.
Unfortunately, our team repositioning to take cover from the oncoming Cyberdisc left their left flank exposed to the two Seekers who rushed out of a rear compartment of the ship, immediately going into stealth mode. Cursing their lack of luck in this mission, our team hunkered down to weather the storm, all while hearing a strange roar and stomping in the background (crap, I've gotta find the second Meld canister).
The Cyberdisc, however, was not to be stopped by paltry cover. It roared up to the corner (not going far enough to trigger Overwatch shots) and immediately ripped apart our poor Assault. Meanwhile, a Seeker dropped out right over our Support soldier, only to have Psy burn it from the sky. Enraged by the death of his comrade, Iceglow immediately got a headshot against the...giant enemy robot with no head. Huh. Still, he downed the mechanoid disc and avenged our fallen crew member.
Hingle, meanwhile, was making good use of his Mimetic Skin to run across the top of the alien ship, scouting out new locations and trying to find the elusive Meld canister. Spotting the canister on the lower floor, Hingle dropped down, landing in cover (next to an Alien Power Cell), and spotting three grouped Mutons.
Psy, who was on a nearby balcony, was not about to let this opportunity go. Careful not to approach close enough to be seen, he dumped a Grenade right on top of the Mutons, interrupting their precious card game.
Scrambling to come to grips with this unseen assault, two of them ran to cover right below the balcony, while a third rushed up near Hingle's position.
Sensing the need for delicacy among some of the remaining equipment, Psy dropped right on top of our two unlucky Mutons and unleashed his flamethrower, bathing the two in shimmering thermogel and ensuring they would not return to the fight. Hingle, with an unsuspecting Muton mere feet away, decided to forgo grabbing the Meld canister at this time and instead just put the poor beast out of its misery, as it undoubtedly was quaking at the agonizing screams of its crisped friends.
Our forces had, unfortunately, forgotten the second Seeker, and it dropped out of stealth right on top of our oblivious Support soldier, and began choking the life out of her. Hingle reactivated his nifty cloaking skin, and rushed out of the room behind the droid, eliminating it before it could detect him, and saving our poor Support from a most inelegant demise (only 2 damage from choking, really?).
Psy then ran forward into the final room, awakening two Outsiders. He then turned around and immediately ran back out, as Hingle finally collected the Meld canister. With the Outsiders repositioning inside the room, Psy ran back in, and triggered his Electro Pulse (which has a much larger range than I suspected initially). This disintegrated the two crystalline foes, ending the mission.
MVP: Psy. For creative use of his various weapons.
Wounds: Our Support is out for four days from the choking incident.
KIA: Our Assault Soldier, Analucia Chavez.
Promotions: Psy is now a Major.
Our Sniper is now a Sergeant.
I'll probably do another mission a little later tonight, as I'm waiting up for the Hyrule Warriors Nintendo Direct.
My friend Delzethin is currently running a GoFundMe account to pay for some extended medical troubles he's had. He's had chronic issues and lifetime troubles that have really crippled his career opportunities, and he's trying to get enough funding to get back to a stable medical situation. If you like his content, please support his GoFundMe, or even just contribute to his Patreon.
He can really use a hand with this, and any support you can offer is appreciated.
Riku Kojima (gotta love the random name generator) takes over as our new Assault soldier (I didn't realize just how many of the recruits I hired were female until I was trying to find a replacement).
Our satellite in South Africa picks up a Large Scout, and Demon-5 takes it down. We grab our forces for their next mission, hoping for a few more Colonels and a Berserker to capture.
That was a close one there. I was a little too overeager with Psy. I hate losing Meld though (which is, of course, why they put it in the game).-Operation Soaring Spark-
South Africa
10:30 PM
Iceglow, Psy, Hingle, and the Squaddies
The UFO crashed down on top of a skyscraper, the building somehow surviving the encounter. Possibly some of the anti-grav thrusters managed to cushion the blow as they fired erratically due to the EMP charges that took the ship down?
Regardless, the Skyranger dropped our forces off atop the building, and we set out.
Hingle, jumping to an invisibility point as per usual (man, Mimetic Skin is so broken, I love it), immediately spots a Mechtoid and two Sectoids.
Iceglow and Psy pulled into excellent position, but our new Assault soldier got a little too far ahead, and the Mechtoid noticed him. However, the armored critter's reaction was to charge towards our Assault, which immediately exposed him to withering crossfire from Iceglow's pistol, Psy's Particle Cannon, and our Support's Assault Rifle. With the Mechanical foe all but vaporized, we turned our attention to the remaining two Sectoids, who Mind-Merged in an attempt to live longer, but which unfortunately, only resulted in Iceglow being able to kill them both with one shot.
Psy rushed too far ahead for once (trying to make up for Ronnie's lack of presence in the current missions, I assume), and stumbled into a new beast, a massive hulking Muton in red armor. Though it had no weapon, it rushed up to Psy and punched him, leaving massive dents in Psy's armor that were soon accentuated by plasma rounds from the Muton (ouchies, 10 health gone in one hit, 7 the next, bringing Psy down to 10 left).
Our Support fired on the massive Berserker, which enraged it and caused it to bear down on her. This panicked her, causing her to Hunker Down into the corner she was using for cover. Our Sniper decided to continue hitting this beast, taking a headshot at it. However, it continued unfazed, and roared at our Sniper, panicking her as well (and also causing her to Hunker Down). Hingle took a shot at the beast, but failed to bring it down as well. He, however, was unruffled by the beast's roar, realizing it was too thoughtless to pose a true threat. Our Assault then moved into place beside Hingle and zapped the Berserker with an Arc Thrower shot, capturing it for the science team.
This left Iceglow and Psy to deal with the remaining Muton. Psy cranked up his might Particle Cannon and shot apart the wall the Muton was hiding behind, ripping a few rounds into the Muton itself. Iceglow then lined up an unobstructed shot, finishing off the varmint.
With our Support and Sniper still panicked (they were Hunkered Down, which restricts vision, so they didn't actually see the way we destroyed the aliens, or they likely would have stopped panicking), the rest of our squad moved forward, pressing on to find the Meld we knew was strewn on the battlefield. Psy's handy dandy repair systems kicked in, bringing him out of the danger zone of falling to another Berserker strike should there happen to be a second deployed here.
Crossing the roof access way to the second building, Psy caught sight of two Seekers, and the alien craft itself. The rest of our team moved up in his wake, hunkering down as they prepared to fire on the cloaking foes. All save Iceglow, who merely went invisible and rushed the barely visible Meld canister.
As Iceglow grabbed the Meld canister, the first Seeker was met by a hail of gunfire. But it managed to hold on long enough to attack our Assault before our Sniper finished it off with another round.
His armor now fully repaired, Psy rushed towards the second Meld canister, hoping to reach it before it faded away. However, he spotted an Outsider, who promptly shot him, the light plasma rounds undoing all that his precious repair circuitry had just done. Realizing he wouldn't reach the canister in time, Psy instead activated his Electro Pulse, frying the foolish entity.
With the only cause to hurry lost, our forces simply gathered together and waited, knowing it was only a matter of time before the Seeker attempted to take down another soldier. Sure enough, it attacked our Sniper, only to be shredded in mid air by the combined firepower of our entire team.
MVP: Hingle, for solid battlefield control, and keeping his head under the gaze of the Berserker.
Wounded: Our Assault Soldier is out for 3 days.
Thanks to his repair servos, which healed their 6 damage before the Outsider shot at him, Psy's damage was all absorbed by his armor.
Promotions: Our Support is now a Sergeant.
My friend Delzethin is currently running a GoFundMe account to pay for some extended medical troubles he's had. He's had chronic issues and lifetime troubles that have really crippled his career opportunities, and he's trying to get enough funding to get back to a stable medical situation. If you like his content, please support his GoFundMe, or even just contribute to his Patreon.
He can really use a hand with this, and any support you can offer is appreciated.
Some resolved technical issues later, our forces decided to cut to the chase and assault the alien base.
Iceglow can now decide between In the Zone and Double Tap.-Operation Hidden Apollo-
Alien Base Assault
Africa
4:50 PM
BoB, Psy, Ronnie, Vivi, Christmas, and Iceglow
Using the Skeleton Key our engineers had developed from the remnants of the Outsider Shard, our forces managed to breach the alien base in Africa.
Iceglow immediately charges forward, spotting two Seekers. His Mimetic Skin keeps them from noticing him, and Ronnie decides to skip the whole "turtle up and wait" aspect by chucking a grenade into their midst. The grenade, a reverse engineered alien explosive, tore both of the foes to shreds, allowing the rest of our forces to move forward safely.
Moving forward again, Iceglow spots a Mechtoid with a single Sectoid follower. As the rest of the squad gets into position behind a nearby wall, the two oblivious aliens advance, straight into the grinder that is set to devour them.
Iceglow opens with a Headshot to the mech-driving Sectoid. The plasma shot rips through his armor, all but instantly destroying the foe. The Sectoid who was following behind suddenly realizes it's being attacked, and gets into cover. Only to have Ronnie's Particle Beam shot destroy the cover, vaporizing the Sectoid as well. Unable to get into cover, the Mechtoid goes into Overwatch instead. Christmas uses her Lightning Reflexes to run by and force the reaction fire to miss. Psy then closes to point blank range and demonstrates the faults in the alien armor design by blasting a hole through it with his Particle Cannon.
Vivi takes the high ground of a nearby observation platform, and spots two Drones idling among the unfamiliar machinery below. As they move into position and take a shot that scratches BoB's armor, two Floaters come into view as well.
Iceglow follows behind, pulls out his pistol, and eradicates the first Drone. BoB pulls up beside Vivi, and tears down the first Floater, which had taken up a covered position behind some of the machinery. Psy eliminates the second Floater, which was stalled out in midair. Vivi takes down the last Drone with his pistol, not wishing to waste precious Sniper Rifle ammo on such a lowly foe.
Our forces catch sight of a Muton on the other side of the laboratory they're going through, though it fails to notice them. Our forces pull in below it, reloading and going into Overwatch in case he tromps into the middle of their lineup. However, he chooses to continue along the deck, earning himself a plasma round from Vivi's Sniper Rifle in the back of his head. It was a merciful death, as the Muton likely didn't even hear the rifle's charge up before the round struck, penetrating straight through his armor and brain in a single fluid motion.
Moving further forward, Iceglow caught sight of two more Drones. Wondering if there was a nearby Cyberdisc they were escorting, Ronnie dropped a Proximity Mine around them, being careful to keep the delicate equipment outside the blast radius.
BoB, meanwhile, catches the attention of a Berserker. The unfortunate positioning of its approach leaves it in range, but obstructed by the ramp it's coming up, so no shots can be taken at it. The massive alien rushes toward the group (catching an Alloy Cannon blast from Christmas), before winding up and smashes BoB into the floor. However, his Chitinous Armor stabilizes against the blow, keeping the damage relatively minor. Iceglow's Headshot then finishes off the Berserker, saving our forces from further worry.
Ronnie, seeing that the Drones are actually flanking Iceglow, even though they haven't noticed him, decides to take action. He jumps into their range of vision and shouts "Boo". The two Drones immediately react, which proves fatal, as their movement triggers the mine he dropped earlier, blowing them to smithereens.
The remaining Muton takes a shot that starts to melt away some of Christmas's armor. Christmas's return shot misses, but BoB, who was sitting nearby resting his gun, fires his Heavy Plasma twice, the second time catching the beast in the chest and blowing it back against the wall. A second Muton was apparently partnered with the one we just killed, and it panics and rushes into view, coming too close to Ronnie's ready Particle Cannon.
As they begin to reach the rear of the base, BoB's tingling spider senses warn him of four foes directly below him. As we've been hearing the skittering of Chryssalids for some time, our foes are slightly worried, and drop into defensive positions.
The main group turns out to be three Mutons and a Berserker, though two Chryssalids are right behind. BoB fires a Blaster Bomb that takes out the Mutons, and Ronnie deals some serious damage to the Berserker with his fist of fury. Psy tosses a grenade into the Chryssalids, and the two insectoids are finished off by Vivi and Christmas, while Vivi's pistol tore down the Berserker.
Our forces spotted a second Berserker hiding directly behind the first, and Ronnie and Vivi worked together to finish it off as well.
However, we encountered a new foe. A Sectoid with a larger, pulsing head. No sooner had we engaged it, then it submitted Christmas to some form of mind-control. Attempting to get to cover, BoB caught a Close Quarters Combat blast (I'd forgotten about that). Left with no choice, Vivi and Iceglow stood their ground and took down the new threat. Upon his death, Christmas returned to her usual self. For which Iceglow was very thankful, as he preferred Christmas trying to kill him through indirect means.
Mission Accomplished
MVP: Iceglow, for some fantastic Sniper and Recon work.
Wounds: BoB - Out for 2 days suffering from Alloy Cannon wounds...
Promotions: Iceglow is now a Colonel.
I didn't get to capture the commander. Christmas had our Arc Thrower, and I was not going to try to wait out the Mind Control. She's way too powerful for that.
My friend Delzethin is currently running a GoFundMe account to pay for some extended medical troubles he's had. He's had chronic issues and lifetime troubles that have really crippled his career opportunities, and he's trying to get enough funding to get back to a stable medical situation. If you like his content, please support his GoFundMe, or even just contribute to his Patreon.
He can really use a hand with this, and any support you can offer is appreciated.
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