Eyes on FF Plays XCOM: Enemy Within!

[Skyblade]

Before we can even get Ronnie back on the field, we get another UFO contact (seriously, one day left, WTF XCOM?!). This one is a larger contact in Canada, and Raven-1 only barely manages to shoot it down (one more hit and Raven-1 would have been vanquished).

With four of our troopers out of commission for injuries (either inflicted by enemies or by our doctors), and Daley dead, we're force to ready a new squad.

Vivi 22, as the only Corporal on the team, takes the Squad leader position, having recently acquired his precious Squadsight (worth noting, you can no longer crit an enemy targeted with Squadsight unless you're using Headshot, which makes Squadsight slightly less useful, but basically just serves to make sure Headshot actually gets used, since Snipers can crit a ton anyway).
Iceglow, as the only Squaddie ready to fight, is up next.
Daley Thompson is brought back, this time bearing his proper British Union Jack (hey, I had a British male soldier in my recent recruit shipment, so might as well try him out until he promotes to the wrong class)
Hingle McCringleBerry takes the third slot (I think he came out rather well, though there is no red and white customization, only red and yellow or red and black).

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The new team.

Both the Rookies are taking Arc Throwers, because I want to catch me some Sectoids. Let's go!

-Operation Unceasing Knife-
Canada
6:04 PM

Finally, an evening mission!

Our troops, well rested and refreshed since they finally get to sleep in before the mission, begin exploring the Canadian wilderness, looking for a U.F.O. shot down by Raven-1 (I believe we can rename Interceptors too, we need to give these guys some names).

Several hours later (Canada has a lot of wilderness, ok?) they actually make it to the engagement zone, and our mission begins.

When we finally stumble upon the crash, we encounter a new foe. A tall, thin entity that looks for all the world like your typically G-Man. Pressed suit, arrogant demeanor, sunglasses, and a plasma rifle.

Never liking the feds, Vivi puts a bullet into the first one, which explodes into a cloud of vapors. The second poisons Hingle and runs away. Hingle and Daley then chase it all over the crash site, intent on capturing this new foe for our scientists.

Right as they finally lock down its position, however, we encounter more new foes. This time we're facing flying enemies with a very emaciated physical form, but with engines and armor grafted right into their bodies. These new "Floaters" move to back up the Thin Man left. Not to be discouraged, Daley stuns the Thin Man, while Hingle, not wanting to go back empty-handed, stuns the first Floater.

The second Floater, discouraged by watching its buddies fall, waffles around it's position, instead of taking the clear shot it had at Hingle, who wasn't in cover and was already half dead from the poison. Vivi moves forward and grabs a Meld canister, while Iceglow moved back towards the Rookies, hoping to give them some support with the Floater.

Iceglow's pistol and Hingle's Assault Rifle both rip into the beast, but fail to bring it down. The beast fires at Daley, bringing our poor Brit down to his last HP, but leaving him in the fight, and Iceglow unlimbers his Sniper Rifle to shoot the Floater clear off the UFO, where it had been resting.

As this fight is going on, Vivi nabs the second Meld canister, but two more Floaters are seen exploring the edge of the crash site. Unsure if they have been spotted or not, Daley and Hingle try to move to better cover. The two hadn't spotted the team, but it wasn't long before they came into view. Vivi had not yet had time to regroup, and Iceglow was restricted to a pistol shot, but still managed to ding one of the two Floaters. Daley, sick of these aliens moving around so much, decides to show why hanging in midair with no cover is a bad idea, and burns the second Floater from the sky, while Hingle finishes off the one which was in cover that Iceglow had wounded.

With the team reunited, nothing seemed to remain except the crashed ship itself. The two Rookies took point over the Snipers, hoping to get a third capture if this ship also contained an Outsider the way the last one had. As our forces trek through the craft, they spot both a working flight terminal (woohoo, second one, time for Satellite Nexuses!), and a working power source for the alien vessel. When then spot and Outsider, who tries to duck into cover, but stays a little too close to Daley, who just strolls around the corner and stuns it.

To his shock, however, it doesn't collapse to the ground, but instead breaks apart and vanishes, leaving only a crystal behind. Which our team collects to present to the Science Team.

MVP: Daley, with 2 stuns and a kill, despite being down to 1 HP.

Wounds: Hingle McCringleBerry, out for 6 days as the scientists try to work out what the poison is doing to his system. Daley Thompson is out for a massive FIFTEEN days, definitely the longest time I've ever had a soldier out, as the doctors attempt to repair his body from the massive damage that had been done it by the alien plasma rounds.

Promotions: Hingle and Daley are both promoted to Squaddie, and both take up Assault weapons. So Daley is finally in his proper position, but we'll need a new Hingle, as the current one is cycled into a backup Assault position (should we lose another soldier).

We also get a third Urban Combat Badge to award to one of our survivors.


Finally, Ronnie comes out of the MEC Lab, ready for a new suit of armor. So I get to explain MEC suits. By giving up his limbs, Ronnie gains the ability to equip a MEC suit, which serves as the only equipment he can carry. Each MEC suit must be built, costing extra Meld, but no extra time. Once built, it can be upgraded twice as we unlock the further upgrades. Each level of MEC suit adds an additional ability choice.

The first ability choice we get is between the Flamethrower, and the Kinetic Strike Module. The Flamethrower I have honestly never used (though I have a few suits equipped with one). It's a medium range weapon that does damage in an arc. The Kinetic Strike Module, however, is the most powerful weapon in the game. A melee hit, it never misses, and seems to do a consistent 27 damage, enough to one shot anything (even a frelling Sectopod, which it has a unique animation for). It also increases the MEC soldier's range, so that it can close easier with foes (or outflank them easier). That massive damage might be only for a third-tier suit though, I haven't used any lower level suits yet, Ronnie will be my first.

All MEC troops also come equipped with a weapon. Essentially, they use a tier higher than the current tech level. Right now, they're equipped with a minigun, which does Laser-tier damage. When we research Lasers, they get a Railgun, which does Plasma-tier damage. And their final weapon, the Particle Cannon, is simply more powerful than even our Plasma weapons, much like the SHIV's weaponry (only way more awesome).

MEC troops also get their own ability tree. As a Squaddie, Ronnie immediately gets the Collateral Damage ability, an ability which uses a lot of ammunition, but tears down all cover in an area and does a consistent 3 damage to any enemies within that area.

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The new Ronnie.

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Ronnie in his new suit. I gave him a KSM, because he wanted to punch things across rooms. There are some customization options for paint patterns. We can cut the blue out completely, make blue camo patches across the armor, or have a different geometric pattern for it, if you want. Once we get Tier 3 MEC suits we can make pink and blue zebra pattern, which will just be eye-searing.