XCOM 2 SG - It Continues?

[Dreylin]

OK, I've got it.

Posting for reference:

Lurkers, we need you!

<Insert Sam the Eagle>

Able bodied cannon fodder volunteers to join the Resistance. Enjoy your "Alien encounters" in a new way and earn medals!

Current sign-ups:

haphazard1
Sareln
DaveV
Dantski
Mardoc
RefSteel
...
...

I'll add names as the Injured recover; no fun giving a name to someone sitting in the infirmary for 20days!

[Dreylin]

Base & Squad Maintenance:

OK, boot up the game and what do we have:


AWC due soon, OK. Power Coil - useful, and some promos pending. I wonder what that "Force Understrength" means ... Holy Crap:


OK, so we don't even have a full, healthy squad!? I spend a few of our meager Supplies on another Rookie. Lucia comes out a Grenadier and the new one goes in to be a Specialist.

I go to hunt a Supplies rumour, since we're desperate.

Magnetic Weapons research comes in:


But we can't afford to upgrade anything.

Tygan sets up a free Sectoid carvery autopsy: 


And I dial up Resistance Comms.

Supply rumour is just about to complete when we get a mission:


Oh thank goodness, we need it. I finish the rumour for 56Supplies and then we're off to East Asia.

The game helpfully lets me know that the SPARK can be taken while damaged:


Good to know, but fortunately we can (just) field a full health squad. AWC finished and I stuffed the Engineer in the Med slot, so we can field these guys:



Welcome to the team Sareln, you'll be our Medic ... because I completely forgot that haphazard1 was next in line! 

[Dreylin]

Operation Glass Knife:

We start in an abandoned Petrol Station along the Supply line:


First pod is spotted to the East across a pond.


They patrol away so we take a turn to set up and then hit them; DP101 gets in a Sniper shot, Sareln Overwatches the other while I completely forget about Phantom on Lewwyn. Fortunately the two injured Advent shelter near enough together that WK can Grenade them both to death.

Advancing forward Lewwyn spots the next pod:  


Once again forgetting about Phantom (Look at the icon, it's RIGHT THERE at the top of the screen), I get halfway through setting up an Overwatch trap, but them move DP101 too close and trigger them:


Our first Viper.

Jowy take a reaction on one of the Stun Lancers, who shelters too close to the Viper; WK kills the former & uncovers the latter allowing Sareln to take down the Viper:


Lewwyn throws his Axe & scores a crit to take out the other Lancer!

We score some sweet Loot:


The final pod is found a little to the North; it activates on Enemy phase:


WK, Sareln & Jowy team up to take down the Viper:


Lewwyn flanks & murderises one Trooper, then Jowy gets a clean kill on the other.

Walk in the park!


Promos pending:


& some much needed loot:


Infactthe whole team looks a lot healthier:


Ready to come off the bench, Boss!


Next up:
1) Fire the Engineer in the AWC & set them on something else
2) Promos
3) Spend Supplies
3a) SS2?
3b) Weapons Upgrades?
3c) Resistance Comms?
3d) Proving Ground?
(we probably want the 2nd level Centre slot for a Workshop to propagate Gremlins)

[Dp101]

What promos are actually available at this tier for each one? I can't remember if the interface shows the rank of the soldier before or after the promotion, so I'm not sure what the choices are. I think weapon upgrades take priority over the other options, but after we have them then definitly SS2 next.

[Dreylin]

It displays rank pre-promo.

I was taking Sareln down the Medic side, Jowy down the Hacker (I think Haywire is next), you went down the Pistol side, & not sure about WK.

Of course now we've got the AWC, we can always spend 5days resetting someone's promos if we're not happy with something.

[Dp101]

Right, but past general concepts some ranks one of the trees is just better, for example long watch vs return fire for the sharpshooter, so promotions aren't always clear-cut. I will look at the wiki and then formulate opinions.

[Dreylin]

Well, you might need retraining then; I think I gave you Return Fire...

[Dp101]

Honestly, it is such a small benefit either way for a pistol specced sharpshooter that I don't think it's worth spending 5 days out of action to swap over. Much better to use the retrain for more important abilities. Edit: For promotions, everyone you mentioned who is going down a specific side should just get the next in line, and I vote for suppression for WK.

[WarriorKnight]

Choosing Return Fire over Long watch isn't a big deal, neither is spectacular on a pistol user. Might not be a bad idea to retrain though, it's not like we have anyone else waiting to be retrained.

As for the promos. Jowy gets Threat assessment, Sareln get Medical Protocol, Dp101 gets Lightning hands and WK can have either (I never use Demolition or Suppression tbh, although Suppression is more situationally useful). Agree with Dp101 that promotions aren't as easy as picking down a specific line, but it's not a pain to retrain either since missions have a fixed schedule.

The supply situation is a very interesting conundrum. As awesome as mag weapons are, the whole set is expensive and with SS2 available this early (after the first supply raid!) I think we can afford to delay them. I would get SS2 and build a power relay on the power coil (once the room is cleared) to enable resistance comms/proving ground. After that we can get some mag weaponry.

[Jkaen]

Do remember that we have a whole bunch of items building up we could sell off in the black market