Eyes on FF Plays XCOM: Enemy Within!

[Skyblade]

We next get a mission from the Council. This is one of the special missions involved with the new story included in Enemy Within.

-Operation Severed Hawk-
-Portent-
Lyons, France
8:40 PM

A French military convoy was caught in an ambush. The convoy's current status is unknown. Investigate the area of operations. Locate and secure any survivors, as well as the convoy's cargo. Eliminate any remaining opposition.

With this briefing, our troops were dropped into Lyons. Arriving near some bombed out warehouses, our troops split up. Vivi climbed to the top of the nearest building, while Ronnie and Psy cleared the inside. Iceglow scoped out the far side, spotting our first foe, a lone Thin Man. With only his pistol to use, he couldn't take it down.

Ronnie burst out the side of the building and tried to reach a place where he could attack the Thin Man, but only succeeded in spotting another on the roof of the next building. Using his powerful minigun, he tore apart the cover the roof provided, and allowed Iceglow to finish it off. The first Thin Man, however, fired some plasma rounds at Ronnie, eating into his mechanical armor. The cover the Thin Man was hiding behind proved to be no match for Vivi's heightened position, and the Thin Man's life faded away at the hands of our master sniper.

Moving forward, our team encountered foes who were killed by conventional rounds, not plasma fire. Unsure of what foes they may encounter, our team prepped for anything.

Iceglow caught another Thin Man in view, too far away for him to draw a bead on with his Sniper Rifle, but Vivi's position again allowed him to splatter it before it even knew he was there. Ronnie crashed through the second building, spotting another Thin Man, but his minigun tore the creature apart in a hail of bullets despite its cover. Our forces then caught sight of a survivor. A foe in a casual suit, with a red bandana covering his lower face. Clearly not one of the French military team. Intent on getting this survivor back for questioning, Ronnie approached him. The survivor told us to kill him, but our forces nevertheless began herding him back towards the drop point.

Two more Thin Men dropped into view as we began escorting the civilian back. The first was out of sight on the second building, while Iceglow and Vivi both fought for who would get the reaction kill on the second which dropped between them, a battle Iceglow one by a mere second. Psy sprinted up to the roof of the second building, allowing Vivi another Squadsight shot. Vivi missed, however. In order to prevent the defenseless Psy from getting taken down, Ronnie fired up through the roof, destroying the air vents up there, and driving the Thin Man away. It dropped off the roof, directly in Ronnie's face, and unloaded more Plasma Rounds into his armored, hulking form. Psy jumped down and tried to take it down, but his shots tore harmlessly into the crumbled brick of the building.

With his minigun needing to cool after tearing through the roof and no other reasonable recourse, Ronnie does the only thing a sensible muscleman can do:


With that foe out of the wall, I mean, out of the way, our soldiers press on towards the departure point (sorry about the low quality, apparently YouTube doesn't recognize .avi files properly). Psy joins Vivi on the roof, and Iceglow and Ronnie advance with our escortee.

Two more enemies drop onto the roof with Psy and Vivi. A Sectoid and a Thin Man. Psy captures the Sectoid handily (apparently Psy is just the perfect anti-Sectoid soldier), while Vivi tears down the Thin Man.

As the detainee moves closer to the Skyranger, another Thin Man drops down, this one falling straight into the sights of Psy's massive gun. With that, we load the prisoners onto the Skyranger and depart back for base.

MVP: Vivi, for knowing how to maximize the use of high ground.

Wounds: None this time. Yeah, Ronnie got hit twice, but he only took 6 damage. You note that +8 next to his health in the personal picture? That's all extra health from the MEC suit, which counts as an armor bonus. Armor damage is repaired immediately, you only go to the infirmary for wounds to actual health. Which is why I have yet to wind up with a wounded MEC trooper.

Promotions:
Vivi is promoted to Sergeant.
Iceglow is promoted to Corporal.
Psychotic is promoted to Corporal.
Ronnie is promoted to Corporal.

Promotions all around, woohoo!

Vivi now has the choice between Gunslinger, offering +2 damage to Pistols, or Damn Good Ground, offering +10 Aim and Defense when in higher ground than his foe.

Iceglow can choose between Snap Shot and Squadsight.

Psychotic can choose between Bullet Swarm, which lets him fire and still take a second action, including moving or firing again. Or Holo-Targeting, which makes any soldiers who fire at a target Psychotic has shot or suppressed get a +10 Aim boost.

And lastly, Ronnie can now choose between Advanced Fire Control, which means that his Overwatch shots no longer take an Aim penalty, or Automated Threat Assessment, which gives him a +15 boost to defense while on Overwatch (handy, since MEC troops are too big to use cover). So basically, offense versus defense. I'm guessing Ronnie is an offense guy, but the choice is yours.



Our team has brought in the interloper, but we don't know much about him, or who he works for, at this point. We'll have to find out more if there is a new threat rising.

I've also started a new Foundry project that increases the force of the Kinetic Strike Module by 50%, which will make Ronnie's punches even stronger. The Foundry also completed advanced S.C.O.P.E.s (increases Crit chance by 10 with one equipped) and Tactical Rigging. Everyone can carry two items now. Take your pick!


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Squad photo. Being genetically engineered, Loony BoB gets to show off his arms.