XCOM: UFF Defence

[ShadowSpectre]

Taking a different tack for showing you the name of the rescue mission: this screen comes up every time a Covert Op is nearly over, similar to the Council Mission screens. But look at that name. Operation Sacred Star. I wonder just how relevant that'll be to the mission because that's a bloody brilliant name.

Taking Ebo and Fox on this mission to get them trained up on some EXALT yobs.

Yet another hacking mission in a similar locale to last time. The relays are both on one side of the map, however, so Alex will have no trouble covering them.

Operative at the first relay almost without trouble: reinforcements have started arriving.

There's another squad of EXALT in the central alleyway.

Suppression (tm)PureQuestion XCOM: Enemy Within 2014.

Hacked relay, here come reloads aplenty.

THIS TARGET IS LITERALLY BEHIND A WALL. THERE IS GENUINELY NO WAY IN HELL THIS SHOT SHOULD WORK. BUT LO AND BEHOLD, ALEX, GOD OF SNIPERS, COULD MAKE IT WORK.

BLOWS A HOLE THROUGH THE FUCKING BUILDING. ALEX OP.

You can't hear it, but oh my God, there's actual music in here. Store music. Cheesy hiphop instrumental music befitting a fast food joint.

Fox gets another kill... but still no promotion. I'm sure he'll get one by the end of this mission.

Daft sniper tries to move and gets weakened to one health by Pure. Perfect for promotion buddies.

DrT neutralises the sniper almost out the bloody window.

DrT is saved by cover.

And MMX reports EXALT soldiers on the move on the far side of the alley. They're sparking because of the relay disabling their weapons.

Garo takes care of the soldier that attacked DrT last turn, leaving him to roam freely.

Putting Alex in the air above Ebo and DrT.

In fact, I'd say we have a pretty good ambush setup.

An even better setup now, with Pure able to fire the first shot.

Pure weakening the sniper once more.

Cheeky bastards! They ran right past our soldiers from behind us.

Fox takes a grenade kill against the sniper on the roof.

Megaman MMX has a lovely chance to kick this guy's bucket and takes it.

And from on high did the Angel bring fire.

And the Burned and the Damned did cry out, "O Sacred Star, be kind." But no such respite befell them.

I could have got Alex to pop the other guy's clogs, but two grenades later, Ebo gets some experience.

The last enemy of the second squad has shown his face.

Alex has his face in his book of things to fuck up.

But so does MMX, and of the two, MMX is the one that needs a promotion.

The ragdoll hit the wall behind him so hard that it landed further forward than the soldier was standing.

Two EXALT soldiers drop in, both in... disappointing positions. The one downstairs is being flanked by Pure, the top by Alex.

Oh man. He's gonna get shot off the roof, isn't he.

SUCCESS

Let's see if Pure gets a kill from this.

Oh, no, not at all. The legacy continues. Means another kill for DrT, though.

Mission accomplished.

FireFox and Ebo didn't get promoted, which is a shame. I am getting them some experience if it... actually, no, I want them alive. We'll keep going the way we have done.

And hey, look! MMX actually earned the highest rank! Shame about the real one.

Giving MMX the same perk I gave Garo, boosting his critical damage after Run and Gun. Also notice how MMX now has all of the abilities on the right hand side of the tree. This indicates that he is geared towards an aggressive playing style with all of the available offensive perks.

And DrT gets a promotion for his work, too.

With a helmet like that, it could only be Aggression, couldn't it?

Well, well, well. It seems the Enemy Within really is. It's in Africa, somewhere. I'm calling it now, it'll be in Nigeria. That's the closest country to XCOM's actual base.

Improving our ammo conservation in the Foundry. It's an annoyance when an Assault class runs out of shotgun shells.

We're also going to upgrade Dabir to a level three MEC. The two choices you get for the MEC-3 Paladin are Electro Pulse which is as above and Proximity Mines, which are as you'd expect. Electro Pulse is an ability centred on the MEC and also stuns robotic enemies, which isn't mentioned in the rubric. Dabir's getting this.

As if he wasn't big enough.

I'm also going to award some medals, because they're long overdue.

TO COLONEL DABIR MAN JACKSON, WE AWARD THE I'VE GOT THIS FUCKER PIN'D AND THE BETTER YOU THAN ME-DAL FOR HIS REMARKABLE WORK PUNCHING THE SHIT OUT OF ENEMY TARGETS.

TO COLONEL GRADIUSUIRAD. "O.A." MMXPERT, WE AWARD THE BETTER YOU THAN ME-DAL FOR HIS OUTSTANDING LACK OF COMPASSION FOR THE TARGETS HE TERMINATES.

:whispering:

I HAVE JUST BEEN INFORMED THAT THERE IS AN ERROR IN THE NAME OF THE SOLDIER JUST LAUDED. HOWEVER, I CAN SEE NO SUCH ERROR AND SHALL THEREFORE MOVE ON.

FOR HIS STELLAR WORK IN SUPPRESSION, WE AWARD THE I'VE GOT THIS FUCKER PIN'D TO COLONEL PURE "PS VITA" QUESTION. WE ALSO AWARD HIM THE WHO'S BEHIND THE RACIST CROSS? FOR THE SAME REASONS FOR WHICH HE ASCENDED THROUGH THE RANKS TO COLONEL: THE VERY SWEETEST FUCK ALL.

TO COLONEL FLANDRE "RICHTER" SCARLET, WE DEEM IT APPROPRIATE TO AWARD THE WHO'S BEHIND THE RACIST CROSS? FOR FITTING THE BILL FUCKING PERFECTLY.

[ShadowSpectre]

Finally, we have finished our research into heavy plasma weaponry... meaning we finally get access to two weapons.

Firstly, the Heavy Plasma rifle, the best LMG type weapon we've got.

The second is the Particle Cannon. This is the best MEC weapon we can build in the game, and it is going to get bought so hard it isn't even funny.

We can only afford to buy one Heavy Plasma in addition to the Particle Cannon, so we'll only really be able to equip one heavy soldier for a little while.

This is the Heavy Plasma gun. It's a very big gun.

But not as big as Dabir's. The Particle Cannon is a fucking beast of a weapon.

Look at Dabir checking out his gun. "This is my rifle. There are many- wait, no, there aren't. This is my gun." It's literally as big as a person.

Another satanic name. This run through really likes its religious imagery.

You're going to be wondering what we're doing. Is it an Abduction or a Terror mission or a UFO landing? It's a Council mission, and it's a very special one. It's a Site Recon, and as of writing, it's the only one of its type.

"Commander, we've been asked to investigate some unusual activity taking place near a small fishing village on the island of Newfoundland. Local government officials were responding to a mayday signal when all contact was lost...from the ship, the village, and the rescue team itself. Strike-One will need to move in and secure the area... let's see if we can find out what happened here."

You might be wondering what exactly my game is, here. Alex is on the roof of the little cabin, Pure and Dabir, the two soldiers with the highest movement both on the same side and two Assault soldiers with a heavy in reserve heading up the right flank. Well...

That's why. Zombies.

As Central says, Zombies mean Chryssalids. We've gotta be careful what we do here.

Conserving ammunition is never a problem in XCOM, but making sure we don't run out of rounds left in the clip is probably what causes the most damage facing Zombies and Chryssalids.

Hey, look: that's weird.

oh

This is the reality of this little fishing village: it's crawling with Chryssalids waiting to hatch.

"Hook, line and sinker."

Oh, God. Alex just camo moved up to a tall building but there three are making the most hideous noises.

I think we're just about ready for them.

"RRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAARRRR"

"RRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAARRRR"

Both Garo and MMX both have three 100% to hits making this a blessing.

Flan kills the last of them.

"That ship didn't just run aground... it looks like it was overrun. I'd say that's the likely source of our Chryssalid problem... I guess we should just be thankful it wasn't a cruise liner."

It's clear by now that there's no need to fear ranged units: cover stops being an issue. This is all about the lines of sight.

Zombies are going to stop turning up soon, but we're never going to run out of Chryssalids to kill, as you're going to see shortly.

I've sent Pure over to the ship because he has the biggest movement distance of any of our soldiers. He's taking a round the side and up top route to the ship while everybody else goes in on the ground.

More Chryssalids, but we're in control of this situation.

See, told you.

I'm actually going to think about moving some people back because I know this mission completely. I don't expect to lose anybody today, but at the same time, I know the risk.

Indeed, the person most in danger is Pure, but he can run out of danger the fastest.

Now, let's see just what we're dealing with...

It's a whale. A fucking whale.

FULL of Chryssalids.

"Strike-One, our sensor readings are picking up a whole lot of activity from inside the hold of that ship. I think you're about to have a lot of company headed your way, but nothing you've got on-hand is going to be enough for this one. What we need is an airstrike... if you can reactivate that ship's transponder, we can have air support pinpoint your location."

And just as before, Pure has enough spring in his step to get to that point right after Bradley shuts up. He hasn't activated it... yet.

The other Chryssalid is currently focusing on Dabir. We have people in Overwatch to take it out.

The thing is, this whale is a constant sources of Chryssalids for this mission. Had we brought a lower ranking soldier, we could have ground our way to victory. But that's a very dangerous game to play.

That said, we do have the place effectively locked down.

But I'm going to stop dicking around now. Time to get our rush on.

Because our "precision air strike" is a fucking carpet bombing of an entire village.

Our first course of action is to get Pure out of there, but dashing means he can't defend himself. That's where Dabir comes in. He can take out one Chryssalid as it pops its head round the corner and tank a hit from up two two or three of them.

Additionally, we have the Assaults on light fire support while Alex reloads to help ease the pain a little.

Flan's movement is pitiful, so she brings up the rear, which has now become the vanguard.

shit

Really? You're aiming in the WRONG FUCKING DIRECTION, you useless poof.

Garo at least lands a shot. That one is out of moves but it's right next to Dabir now.

The second manages to get out and swipes at our big pink robot, so he shoots it in the face.

Comprehensively.

But back on our side, sharks are exploding and yielding Chryssalids!

Flan's movement might be shit but her aim is off the charts.

Alex can take care of Dabir's little bug problem, meaning he's free to move up.

Flan spots another weird shark. Care should be taken.

Or not necessarily.

That's destroyed the shark, meaning it's destroyed the Chryssalid.

gottagofast

We're essentially home and dry already.

Burn it down.

All in all, a very interesting mission. It would have been more challenging if we had weaker gear or soldiers.

Panic reduction! This is a welcome reward from the Council.

We don't get any loot from this mission at all, it's all been bombed to hell and back. In the future, I believe the developers are looking into adding more Site Recon maps because I'm going to be honest, the few times I've played that map have been really, really fun.

Just before we leave, I'm checking the cost of another intel sweep, but check out that little note from Bradley. :')

[ShadowSpectre]

Within a couple of seconds of starting this post, Ammo Conservation's finished. I'll draw your attention to that massive rebate on resources. Workshops are fantastic.

I'm going to invest in the Heavy Weapons Platform, if only so I can show you what it looks like.

We've got a UFO on radar! Time to hunt it down.

We have a fighter with a plasma cannon ready to down that UFO. The difference this makes is monumental.

Barely any damage taken at all. Plasma cannons are excellent.

I'm taking TBD and Ebo on this mission to get them experience.

A dark giant summons up many, many images of huge terrors. Let's hope we don't face many.

A wide open map so far. Seems like the terrain is on our side.

However, moving sideways reveals that this was merely the antechamber of the map, so to speak; the rest of the map is over a ridge!

Luckily, Alex hasn't alerted the Mutons to his presence... yet. It's going to be hard to do very much else.

The Mutons have moved forward, revealing one standard Muton and a Berserker. Lucky we have MMX on hand.

Upon spotting Pure, the rifle-toting bastard flanks him and a berserker moves right up to say hello. Luckily Pure has one more move available, so he won't be in too much danger.

Alex has his back with the Berserker as it is, so that's okay.

Made a somewhat questionable move here, putting TBD just round the corner from the Berserker. We'll see whether this pays off.

93% to hit the fucker in the face. Let's get Alex to knock down that health first.

9 damage! Not too bad, and it'll make the Berserker move towards him. Should be enough to boost TBD's chances.

If we get Alex to chip away with his pistol, it ought to be enough to get the health down to something manageable for TBD.

... fuck. No sell. And it's moved next to TBD to try and get him next turn.

It fell to MMX to save the situation.

The other Muton fell back to a rather more questionable location: it puts him in Alex's line of sight.

Suppression and a disabling shot seals its fate next turn.

TBD throws a grenade to clear the Muton's cover, but its intimidate panics him ito hunkering down.

Ebo's chances are slim, but he makes it.

ITP: TBD is a wuss.

Alex spots some Seekers and an Outsider. They're likely to move anyway, but let's see what happens.

A seeker activates an overwatch from Alex who straight up fucking kills it. The other disappears.

A guaranteed kill from Alex means we can farm this Outsider for experience.

Ebo has a prime shot, but at a low hit chance.

But he nails it, earning a field promotion!

A quiet round leads me to hunker down everybody and put TBD on Overwatch to kill that last Seeker.

TBD misses his shot, allowing the seeker to last a hit on MMX.

Flan suppresses the Seeker, giving TBD a boost to accuracy for a shot.

Better than 50% doesn't work, TBD misses. Jesus, this has not been a good day for him.

Ebo, on the other hand, confirms yet another kill to conclude the mission.

I'm making him a Squadsight sniper, since it's worked so well for Alex.

I'm making some Chitin Plating to give our Covert Operatives some more defence when they're needed.

An intel sweep reveals the location of another cell before it can do damage.

Sending DrT again as the operative. He seems to work well with the job.

Well, see you next post.

[ShadowSpectre]

We've completed the project for the SHIV that I started last post, which has the added benefit of unlocking a few more foundry projects for us. However, I'm going to leave off building a SHIV for a while because it costs an awful lot. SHIVs are essentially ground-based drones that are equipped with heavy weapons comparable to MEC weapons. They count as soldiers and are therefore useful as a disposable unit.

However, the project has unlocked MEC Close Combat, which is a brilliant Foundry project to be completed reasonably soon when I can afford it.

We also have another abduction ready to go, and I'm going to try and get hold of another sniper. Hope they're not female, otherwise we'll have to dismiss them immediately. It is unfortunate that the demographics of the UFF is so male-oriented, but that's the roll of the dice.

Same team as last time, I think. Hope Ebo and TBD get some more experience. Note, however, I'm giving Pure an Arc Thrower, just in case. His aim is already really high as it is, but we'll see how it goes. It's not a priority.

Fading Night is a bloody trance song's title. In fact, there's one that's pretty close already out there.

A dark construction site in the middle of nowhere, I've put Alex in the sky for this mission.

Advancing on the Meld canister, Flan comes into range of a Mechtoid and Sectoid, but finds herself out of actions for the turn.

Pure helps defend both himself and Flan to hopefully alleviate the situation.

The Mechtoid moves and gets shot at by our two snipers; only the more experienced one lands a hit.

Weirdly, though, it doesn't take a shot, just moves into a flanking position.

However, a sectoid in Overwatch reveals the ploy: force Flan to move this turn into the danger of Overwatch or get fucked next turn by a Mechtoid.

Alex, however, has a different idea in mind.

Flan could take a point blank shot at the Mechtoid right now, which would boost accuracy for Ebo to take a shot. Ebo would get increased experience from such a kill.

Ebo's chances are now improved somewhat. If he misses, Alex can pop the bastard anyway.

A kill shot! Ebo's already doing very well.

I just want to draw your attention to Alex's perks for aim. In total, he has 135% chance to hit the alien, which rounds down to 100% for a normal percentage score. Look at all that fucking opportunity.

MMX's movement at the end of our turn unfortunately activated a Muton squad, meaning we're going to have to hope that we luck out this rou-

Oh. Alex could see them both. Never mind.

MMX finishes off the remaining Muton. Next turn, everyone reloads and we move forwards.

MMX's first move next turn activates two Mutons.

Alex only has a shot against one of them, the one in High Cover, which means we can have everyone else focus on the guy in half cover.

MMX managed to activate another bloody squad of Mutons in his second move to more reliable cover.

Luckily, Ebo has a shot for the Berserker, if needed. I'm unlikely to use it because it lets the beast close the distance.

Flan and Pure suppress the Muton nearest.

TBD chances a shot...

... and makes it! He can take the kill next turn.

I'm going to put Ebo on Overwatch to hit the Berserker when it inevitably moves next turn. This will solve the issue of giving it more movement.

Unfortunately, Ebo missed the target, which in turn allowed the Berserker to advance on MMX.

It attacks MMX with its signature slash, dealing eleven damage to our assault.

Meanwhile, Pure gets shot at by the Muton he's suppressing without result.

Our turn: time to clear up.

MMX can easily kill the Berserker on his own.

Flan blows up the first Muton's cover to give TBD a fighting chance at hitting it.

Alex can take the second Muton. We then have Ebo and Pure in reserve.

Let's put it into play. TBD takes the shot.

Nailed it.

MMX fires.

Target eliminated.

Going to get Alex to fire a normal shot: he has Double Tap to let us fire again if it's still alive, but I'm going to try and let Ebo kill it for an experience gain.

Absolutely perfect. The Muton's at one health.

Bingo! Ebo's been promoted!

Ebo's going to get Damn Good Ground, but, more notably, he now has his nickname: Claymore. Fantastic.

The sniper we received was indeed male, so say hello to Infinity's "Vampire" End.

[ShadowSpectre]

Time to get our game on.

Giving up with TBD for now. Fucker can't hit anything. Instead we go with Aqua and Rumia. Aqua's already got three kills under his belt, and it's likely he'll get a promotion from this mission.

Another wave defence map: this will be fun.

You'll recognise this map as the same as our very first mission, waaaay back when. How far we have come since then.

Holy shit, they're all in on it!

I think it's almost time to try a tactic I used to use a lot when I was playing a hard to defend map. Sacrificing the encoder is not a big deal, it's cash I lose, but if I can defend the transmitter, it's even better.

But first, let's give taking the point a go.

Picking off the medic is the obvious option to go with.

MMX has just flanked a medic utterly and is about to send him straight to hell.

Alex is so overpowered.

Rumia's chances of getting a shot off are slim. But let's run it anyway.

Ah, well.

EXALT's move was horrifyingly poor. Sniper stays in position and reloads, Heavy moves in the open and reloads. I suppose they've got the benefit of numbers.

DrT could steal the show right now with a kill.

... bollocks.

Aqua's about to land a kill.

HOLY SHIT

Rumia should be getting a kill out of this, but let's see what happens. The Heavy has Iron Skin, a unique genetic modification that reduces all damage taken by two points, so he might pull through.

Eat that! Rumia gets her first kill to clear the point. That was surprisingly easy.

Alex is in the air again. I know I said I wanted to take him off the Archangel armour, but fuck, he's really good at it.

"Commander! We've got a wave of new hostiles-"

"... never mind."

Pure's amazing Sentinel skills kill two EXALT soldiers in a single turn, with MMX getting an assist.

Overwatch2stronk.

So, so2stronk.

And that's where our killstreak ends, I'm afraid. Four new EXALT soldiers managed to sneak in while ours were concentrating on gangbanging one of their comrades.

They don't get away scot-free, though, Flan leaves one with a bit of a horrible laser-hickey.

First business is turning them all off.

We have a lot of choice for targeting, everyone is in a good position and we can afford to get kills from where we stand. The first order of business is killing that damn sniper. Flan is happy to oblige.

Alex softens up the Heavy for the Supports to handle.

MMX has the medic handled.

DrT takes a quick shot at a flanked operative.

Aqua finishes him off.

And Rumia takes the last kill of the map. Well done, team.

... but no promotion for Aqua? That's a bit harsh.

DrT got a promotion, however, and what a nickname to get! Dr Desperado is his new name.

As for his skill, it could only be Lightning Reflexes, couldn't it?

[ShadowSpectre]

oh my god

[ShadowSpectre]

Council report in, and we're doing pretty damn well. Africa's a little bit in the toilet, but what can you do.

Intel scan costs have reset, too, so let's see what the score is.

No new cells. Bollocks.

Time for some Foundry projects. The only thing stopping us previously was money, but we should now be plenty in the black.

We'll also build another workshop to reduce costs and improve rebates.

We're really lacking weapon fragments at this point. It'll be a while until we can do very much else in terms of Foundry projects unless we get more of those.

SCOPE and MEC Close Combat have both been completed, which is great news. The SCOPE now adds critical hit chances on top of the aim boost, and Dabir can punch for a whopping eighteen damage instead of twelve.

Trying again with EXALT...

Gotcha, fuckers.

I'm sending Aqua on this one. Hopefully it'll net him the experience he needs for a promotion. One less to worry about.

UFO contact! Send out a Raven.

Shot down after taking heavy damage. That'll take a week or so to fix up. Let's get out there.

Sending TBD and Rumia out to train today. I hope they get something out of it.

Sounds like a euphemism.

A pretty big ship, this. We'll have to clear it out room by room.

Two Outsiders spotted.

Rumia gets ready to grenade them both.

Both of the Outsiders are in terrible positions thanks to Alex blocking the doorway. This should be enough for some farming.

TBD gets ready to throw another grenade. It'll destroy the weapons totally but frankly he needs the kills.

Both down.

Stacked up. Let's see what we're looking at.

HOLY FUCKING FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

We have a situation on our hands. Rumia and Flan are facing Heavy Floaters, Floaters with armour. They are notoriously difficult to kill. We also know that there was a Mechtoid on their side of the ship, so that's something to think about, too.

The rest of the team is currently being stared down by a Mechtoid. This is going to be so shit.

Garo first unpins the majority of the squad to let us breath a little easier.

I also hope he can drop this Mechtoid to a tiny amount of health. It's too much to hope for a kill.

YES

OH MY GOD

OH MY LOOOOOOOOOORD

GARO, YOU'RE AMAZING

Next plan of action, kill a Sectoid with TBD.

Repositioned Alex to help Flan and Rumia as soon as possible.

Flan's going to launch a rocket in an attempt to damage anything hiding below.

We've apparently hit something hiding in the darkness, so that's a start.

Rumia has flanked a Sectoid, but at this moment in time, that's the least of our worries.

Kill confirmed! Excellent shooting.

Pure helps Flan and Rumia out with their defence. Now we wait.

Two shots taken at our soldiers in the smoke, neither hit. A good turn.

Rumia can cap the flanked Sectoid because it didn't think it was necessary to change cover. Poor fool.

A clean kill.

Flan weakens the Heavy Floater some more... giving us a rare opportunity to stun it.

OH MY GOD WHAT ARGH HOLY FUCK PURE WHAT THE SHIT OH MY GOD WHY IS YOUR FORGIVENESS GONE

Thank heavens, it worked and Pure's back to normal.

The battlefield is currently as shown. Yet to finish their moves are Alex and Garo. Alex has moved, so he could either fire at something or go into Overwatch. Garo has Run and Gun, so we could theoretically go for killing the Sectoid at a minimum and position Garo such that if the Floater tries moving, he has a shot at it.

Ah, fuck. Garo's in the line of fire for the fucking Mechtoid.

It's got a shield that Alex can take down with the Sectoid. Let's go for that.

I'm gonna be honest, I like those odds.

... shit. It didn't kill it. I completely forgot about Rapid Fire. My mistake might just cost us dearly.

Aliens' turn. The Heavy Floater takes a better position and misses Garo.

The Mechtoid fucking doesn't. We are so fucking lucky that Garo didn't die. It's a good job he had Tactical Sense upping his Defence. If that had been MMX, we would have lost a soldier.

Alex kills the Floater. No mistakes.

We offer the Mechtoid kill to TBD.

He takes it.

Pure medicks the fuck up.

"Hey, quiet, ya big baby, you're fine!"

Note Garo healing for six. That's his medal at work.

"Take some aspirin, you'll be fine."

The last Sectoid shows its face.

Rumia euthanises it.

Garo's been gravely wounded, and unsurprisingly. He clung on by one health. Take some well earned time off, lad.

TBD gets Holo-Targeting because if he can't hit something, someone else should.

We've also got a shitload of loot, including the captive Heavy Floater's gun. Let's see what it has to offer us.

Some interesting data, but mostly useless. Let's cut them up.

More interesting stuff here.

This gives us some valuable repair time upgrades that could increase our fighter crafts' efficacy.

That's all for this post.

[ShadowSpectre]

I'm going to start this post by declaring the augmentation of Flan. We have plenty of Meld, now, so in great armour shall I clad her and with the mightiest guns will she be armed.

I'm building a MEC for Flan as soon as she leaves the operating theatre. Instead of the Electro Pulse, I'm giving her Proximity Mines to give control of the battlefield over to someone who really shouldn't have both control and explosive ordnance.

More projects going in the meantime.

We can sell a lot of goods of no use to us for a pretty penny. That's going into satellites.

We've completed our Alien Grenades, and they're now ready to be used as standard. Alien Grenades are the same as the ones used by the invaders and do five damage each instead of the usual three.

"Oui, commandant."

Flan's proximity launcher is a brilliant weapon when when we have enemies that we don't want moving. It's bloody brilliant as a blocking technique. At Classic difficulty, the AI will avoid trying to move through proximity mined areas if the alien won't survive the 8 damage.

I've given Flan Automated Threat Assessment, giving her added defence in Overwatch. I'm also giving her Vital-Point Targeting over Damage Control. VPT adds two more damage against targets that we've autopsied. That's for any attack at all. Very useful stuff.

Jetboots and Expanded Storage give Flan mobility and extra grenades and proximity mines. Going to give Flan the Reactive Targeting Sensors like Dabir, because frankly, more gun's the way to go.

Aqua's ready to come out of hiding. Let's go get him.

This mission marks the return of Spriter and Firefox to the squad. They hope to progress in the chain of command. Fox and Rumia are both at six kills, and are hoping to acquire promotions this mission.

This mission will allow us to receive data determining which of the two countries left are harbouring EXALT. This means that this is the final covert operation mission. The last data recovery.

The Cryptic Bellend.

Ah, the garage. I have a vague memory of playing this mission once before. Let's get it done, ladies and gentlemen.

Aqua's busy making sure that EXALT is impotent.

Noises beyond indicate EXALT are on the opposite end of the map.

Additional reinforcements give rise to the likelihood of a two-pronged attack.

Aqua discovers three EXALT soldiers.

That isn't a problem for him.

Pow.

Pure's spotted three EXALT soldiers as well, however, bringing the total up to eight.

TBD has aim against one of them, and his Holo-Targeting should improve everyone else's chances.

Holy shit.

Rumia's got a good line of sight to this guy.

Holy fuck.

Alex will kill this guy.

Yep.

And this guy.

Yep.

Pure has 91% against both of the EXALT soldiers on the point.

Wow. That's... wow.

EXALT apparently does nothing during its turn, merely moving one operative to cover. Comms Hack really fucks with them.

This feels like a waste of Alex's abilities, but he has no other targets, and it's a guaranteed kill.

Killed so hard.

The Sniper in the capture area appears to be out of ammunition, so we have one turn's grace to ignore him if we so please.

The heavy hiding behind the car is not, however, so we need to take him out as soon as possible. We should also look into getting someone into the capture zone as soon as possible or risk being caught short.

I'm going to move FF aside so we can safely use explosives on the heavy. Grenades and rockets should wipe him off the board.

What skill, SK! Popped the heavy down to one health. Perfect.

Rumia makes sure the heavy's dead with a grenade.

Disgraced.

Giving TBD a go with the sniper that Pure missed.

HOLY SHIT. I LIKE NEW AND IMPROVED TBD.

I'm going to give Pure a chance with the last EXALT guy in this wave.

That isn't too bad, but it's a heavy, so damage will be reduced. Mind you, he's been comm hacked, so who knows how he'll be.

Ouch. That's not insignificant.

Firefox manages to slay him as he moves while on Overwatch, earning himself a field promotion while he's at it!

Three new EXALT contacts have moved in, one one the roof and two either side, all waiting with tissues in hand for the spunk of failure to hit them square in the face.

Let's introduce them to a world of humiliation and hurt.

Aqua's also going to blow up the Sniper's cover with a grenade.

"Ich sehe dich, Sterblicher."

"Ich bringe den Tod."

Pure acts as a safety for this last guy so we can get some more kills under someone else's belt.

Since FF already has a promotion, I gave the kill to SK.

Rumia's going to flatten this poor sod.

TBD and Pure have eyes on for this round.

A turn's grace to reload.

Aqua, FF and SK all have enough ammo to stay on Overwatch, covering the centre.

Five more EXALT soldiers, and this should be it.

Pure's literally going to fire through a forklift.

Booyah.

TBD should have no problem matching this EXALT guy with his mate over there.

Beautiful.

"Sterblicherrrr..."

"Und du, mein Freund..."

"Ihr geht zusammen."

Firefox and Rumia soften up the last soldier for Aqua.

COME ON AND SLAM

AND WELCOME TO THE JAM.

Oh man. That's an ironic nickname for a guy named after an aircraft.

Suppression for TBD, I think. His aim's improved sufficiently that I'm more clement towards him. Still, best not to tempt fate. Suppression's served us well so far.

FF and Rumia get the Sprinter and Covering Fire abilities respectively. Rumia will be the first Covering Fire Support we've had, so it'll be interesting to see her progression.

Aqua's also been promoted, finally. He also brings back the last piece of the puzzle for EXALT. We now know where their base is.

While I realise that Tactical Sense is Aqua all over, I think he has plenty enough as is. A little Aggression would complement him nicely.

Also, check out that invisible weapon glitch. Nice.

We now truly have enough intel to accuse a country of having the base. It could only be Nigeria, with everyone else off the list.

As I predicted, the EXALT base is indeed in Nigeria. We'll be paying them a visit next time. Peace out, everyone.

[ShadowSpectre]

The time has come, friends. One final push to eliminate the splinter faction known as EXALT and humiliate them in a manner that is irrevocable, a defeat so comprehensive that their vengeance cannot be feared. This must be the most Machiavellian of all bukkakes.

We send the three Covert Operatives: they shall see this through to the end. We also send three tokens of our superiority. Tonight, EXALT shall unwillingly dine on Mecha sausage and Sniper sauce.

Their base is in Nigeria, within our own home continent, truly an Enemy Within. The actual location of the base is randomised with each mission, the idea being that you can't guarantee its location as the nearest to your base. However, if you follow the Covert Operation directives, the base eventually turns out to be in your own continent.

The mission is simple: kill them all.

This mission takes place on top of a skyscraper, those oh-so-common Nigerian buildings. The layout of the map is very much symmetrical down the middle, but there's enough scope to have some interesting gunplay.

For all their inadequacies, EXALT just have cooler shit in their base than we do. I mean look at that, they have helmets and pyramids and shit in their lobby. I want a pyramid.

An EXALT squad appears and immediately allows one soldier to be dicked.

Neutralised.

DrT and Aqua have each others' backs. They will form a spearhead for the MECs and Alex to exploit.

Within moments of appearing, a second EXALT squad is down to less than 50% effectiveness. Thanks, DrT and Aqua.

Lightning is about to strike.

Over the edge with you.

Aqua's about to flatten a mook.

He's earned himself a promotion to Sergeant in the process!

Jesus Christ, look at this place!

Wow. That's... kinda sad.

We have five EXALTs inside that we know of, some have taken precautions, others have merely repositioned.

At least one of them is guaranteed to be out of his depth.

Head over heels for getting fucked up.

DrT makes a move to waste the Sniper's Overwatch.

This unwittingly activates six EXALT soldiers.

Still, at least there's one less sniper.

Alex's second shot means he could in theory knock out one of the Heavy soldiers straight off the bat.

And he does!

I'm putting MMX on the roof so he can drop down behind enemy lines and cover soon.

Now we see the value of Flan's Proximity Mines. Dealing eight damage to all within the radius, these can be the worst thing for an enemy to face. Explosives also detonate them, meaning a grenade and a mine can deal a cool thirteen damage in combination.

We're going to put Dabir on the sheer front line. His mixture of abilities mean that he will be capable of meting out hideously high levels of damage very quickly.

EXALT's turn consists of several things they probably wished could have gone better. Firstly, a sniper misses Flan.

Flan does not miss the sniper.

A second sniper fails to hit DrT.

A third sniper fails to hit Flan.

The EXALT foot soldier manages to land a measly four damage against Flan.

Their medic makes a token effort to keep them safe from harm.

And now it's our turn.

Alex has an eye on the sniper at the very back.

Flan's about to dick three EXALT soldiers far, far too hard.

Play the tape.

All that's left is a gun.

Buh bye.

DrT stands on the dais of the world, a testimony to our domination of this pitiful party of paramilitary punkasses.

Three EXALT soldiers turn up to pick up the pieces.

Fortunately for them, both our Overwatchers missed.

Unfortunately for them, Alex won't.

MMX's time to shine.

That makes two confirmed dead.

Dabir is positively threatening the last soldier. Let us observe the outcomes.

Alex slots the bastard sniper.

Thrown out.

For good measure, Alex disables the Heavy. We end the turn and the Heavy, understandably, runs.

But Dabir is on hand to introduce this man to the wonders of the power fist.

"Scrape the sky, motherfucker."

And with that, the final droplets of winner juice splatter EXALT's weathered face.

You don't know the half of it.

An excellent performance. That is an interesting nickname Aqua's got there.

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Aqua gets Lightning Reflexes on the basis of his actual abilities. Ensuring enemy fire misses is key to the structuring of the team.

DrT advances to lieutenant and earns the ability Rapid Fire. A suitable skill demonstrating that lightning can indeed strike twice.

EXALT yields a number of interesting pieces of loot, not least of which are artworks, artifacts and technologies that can be sold without consequence.

We're also informed that Covert Operations command has been dissolved. There is no more need to hunt down cells as EXALT's remaining forces have effectively fucked off. Now we focus on the alien threat.

Before we leave, let's take a look at the EXALT looted from their base.

The EXALT Artifacts are very interesting. They're ancient objects that seem genuine, meaning that EXALT has either been around for ages or they're rich enough to buy the originals. If the former, it becomes rather worrisome: have the aliens been here that long? Does this make EXALT the Illuminati? If so, just how insidious have their aims been over the last few millennia? Or do they merely support the act of ascension so much that they will gladly give themselves to the aliens to advance their goals?

The art that we recovered all seem to be high enough quality that they register on the organisational level of finances.

Lastly, the EXALT technology, jumped up financing hardware.

All in all, an interesting gathering of loot. EXALT will no longer return to the field for this game and won't be mentioned again. They've been trounced so hard they're not considered worthy of note, even in hindsight. We can safely sell all of their equipment now, too. In total, we receive a massive £343 in XCOM money, plenty enough for the rest of the satellites for Asia.

Soon, we will hunt down the aliens' base, and hopefully find a way to step into the second half of this game. Over and out.

[ShadowSpectre]

I'm going to keep doing what I was doing and avoid the Alien Base as long as I can. After that mission, the game gets a lot harder and more poignant. Instead, we'll keep on rocking 'til the sun goes down.

We'll swap out MMX for Dabir today. I hope to be able to put MAN JACKSON's huge movement range to good use in today's bomb disposal.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of the.

Back to the cemetery map. Ah, well. Let's get to it.

Okay, so the plan is this. Dabir spearheads into the mausoleum with Fox in support. Pure flanks the right while Rumia and SK flank the left. Alex watches all and when convenient, moves to the roof. Sounds simple.

Our stealthy Alex has spotted two groups of Thin Men. He's out of actions, so he can't help us out, but it gives us an idea of what to expect.

Fox accidentally activates an entirely different group of Thin Men.

A round of misses.

Heeheeheehee, I love Thin Men.

SK and Rumia still good on that flank. Should be able to neutralise the entire squad of Thin Men with a single grenade.

Pure all but guarantees us a kill.

Fox could go either way on this guy. Let's begin with him.

A kill!

Pure follows suit.

Dabir has a similarly dicey shot but misses.

He doesn't miss on the second shot, however.

We're now in a position to kill off all those Thin Men at once.

Hit it.

Double promotion power! Two new Sergeants await the end of the mission!

Another Thin Man squad on the other side of the Mausoleum; not a problem.

And we've found the bomb.

ok

Fox isn't quite in the open, but his cover is nowhere near as good as it was.

Delicious.

Super tasty. I'll have Alex take both kills and Pure move up on the bomb.

Bomb defused, now we wait for aliens.

Holy shit. Lot of 'leins to kill. Let's afraid of nothing.

IT'S FUN TO STAY AT THE

SK, go!

Are you fucking kidding.

Clean up SK's mess, Rumia.

Thank you. Fuckin' SK.

Cheers, Dab.

And Alex mops up.

Clear.

Three promotions in total! Oh man, those nicknames are chuckle-worthy.

Rumia and Fox both earned their promotions. SK's taking lessons from Pure in how to get promoted for doing nothing but making a cameo appearance in missions.

Fire Bonus Fox, of evasion fame, will receive the ability to use Smoke Grenades twice more per mission.

Rumia Axle Kuro is another medic-in-training.

Meanwhile, SK gets the Will To Survive. Kinda wish he had the Will To Kill, he can't hit shit. Look at his aim! Fucking disgusting.

Egypt's shit is no longer lost. Seems good.

Oh man. Practically perfect on the global front. And our satellites will be ready within a few days.

I think I'm going to give SK some new legs. Hopefully height advantages will improve the lack of aim. See you in three days. Fucking sharpshooter, I'd be more worried if he was aiming for the person next to me.

I'm also going to put Kin into the tanks. I intend to give her some new legs, too, as well as Depth Perception to take advantage of the jumping. See you in six days.

And see you soon.