XCOM 2 - War of the Chosen

[yuris125]

Yeah, really like this, there's not reason why you wouldn't be able to evac from the first level if things got really hairy

[Dreylin]

OK let's keep the train rolling; first we'll check out the Assassin's gear:


6Days for that, but 7days on Plasma ... sticking with Plasma here for sure.

OK, now looking at the Barracks:


A lot of injuries, but I've got a squad available. Guerilla Ops are probably due soon though, so I can't plan on hitting the Blacksite yet.

Actually, I'll take a look and see whether I can spare an Engineer for the Infirmary:


I decided I could pull the excavator for that, since I'm not in a rush to fill that gap. I can get +4 contacts from filling the second slot in the existing Comms, which should get me most places I need if I'm careful. The other potential at this point may be a Labratory since there's still quite a lot to research and it's not going very fast, but hitting the Blacksite and starting on the Golden Path is probably more important.

Hitting the Geoscape gives me a cutscene:




Seems the Elders are upset that we killed a Chosen ... aw.

I start to work on a Supply POI, but am quickly interrupted:


Ah, he's found a location we've contacted this time!

Then almost immediately after:




Hrm, plenty of Intel again, so we'll check the Hidden:


Not great, but since it's the most recently added, I should get another opportunity to stop it next month. In the end I target the General in Eastern US because the reward will be more useful (Supplies for imminent Plasma), and the Facility acceleration could be a real pain if it triggers the countdown while my squad's injuries are so heavy.

Here's who we're taking:


Kelly & Mardoc will lead - she gets a new Mind Shield as we know there's psionic enemies, she's most likely to be in the front, and she has a comparably low Will - Kaiser & Khan are the only other Bonded pair available and add Kaboom & Crit, while Dreylin & Alhambram's partners are in the Infirmary, but they both fill missing niches.

[Dreylin]

Operation Blood Soaked Skies (or maybe more appropriately, Sewers):


We're in the center of one side of the map; I don't think there'll be anyone behind us, but could be enemies to either side.

Kaiser starts with a Battle Scanner ahead-left, while Mardoc moves off right to clear the side with Scanning Protocol:


Dreylin stays in the high ground while the rest of the squad advance in cover.



The pair of Codex patrol past us ahead and out of sight; we slowly move up and they return from the left:


We shuffle and overwatch and they patrol in:


Not quite sure who they spotted; perhaps Alhambram:


Or maybe Kaiser?


Al gets the kill after Kelly softened one up, but no-one else's Overwatch triggered.

We've got all 6 available to get one Codex, so I'm not too worried about Cloning; Dreylin starts with Lightning Hands:


The Clone tries to hide, but Mardoc is well-positioned to counter:



Dreylin advances for the Pistol shot:


But he misses so Alhambram tidies up:


Continuing the forward advance we get long eyes on the General in the next room:



Khan advancecs, but the entryway is awkward for us; Kelly Runs & Guns to the far side of the door and:



Ugh, that's a Priest's legs.

At least they're all Tactically impaired! All I can muster is an Acid bomb and the Mimic:


Mimic does its job:





Khan moves up and tries for the Trooper:


Dreylin has similar results at long range verses the General:


OK, if that won't work, we'll try something else:


A helper is much appreciated.

Kaiser clones the Codex:


The Clone is quickly dispatched by Kelly's Axe:


And our pet Trooper deals with the Codex Brain:


That leaves the General and the Priest running free and Mardoc still moving up from the rear; he moves closer and applies Aid Protocol to Khan:


Alien turn sees the Priest apply Stasis to Kaiser:


And the General moves towards his evac zone and executes our traitor:


Dreylin gives us line-of-sight


Kaboom!

Khan can't get eyes, but Kelly can flank:


Alhambram could take a shot:


But the Priest inspired an alternative:


This way he'll still be exposed and vulnerable to Kelly next turn. :nods:

Priest retreats through Khan's fire (a miss) and ... uh-oh:

[Dreylin]

I'd be happy to see her, but she brought 3 friends with her....

Khan starts with an Acid bomb catching the General and one of the Mutons as well:



Ouch! And the General is still up.

Kaiser aims for the crit to bring her closer in:


Dreylin sets her on Fire (and suffers for it):



So it falls to Mardoc to end her once and for all:


And what do you know, a Hair Trigger free action! He moves up next to Alhambram to see if the MedKit can help, but he doesn't have the right skills. Overwatch it is.

Kelly OTOH deploys the Axe to deal with the General:


Just clean-up to go and we'll let them come to us:



Priest targets Kelly('s Mind Shield).

But then the Mutons move on her as well:



That's less of a problem than this though:


Cover is blown in the middle, and Khan is still stunned.

At least Alhambram is up and about now, but most importantly Mardoc listened to haphazard's fevered ravings and knows how to deal with the Priest quickly and easily:



With a bonus!

Dreylin takes care of one of the Mutons:



1hp and Burning; but I can't land a shot on the other one so it's Flashbang and pray he doesn't target Khan:


It's a miss!

Dreylin moves to set it on fire:


But it's Khan that does the damage:


Before Mardoc pops up from behind for the guaranteed kill:




I'm not sure if the injury ratio is better or worse than the last mission:


5/6 out, but for a max of 6 days (after Infirmary reduction).

Although that /does/ leave me rather short of active-duty soldiers for a few days at least:


With the Ops over for the month and Retaliation 2wks off we /should/ be OK as long as the Council doesn't show up in the next 2days...

Oh, and we have even more unique toys to research:


When we can find the time!

[haphazard1]

Lot of red and yellow on that roster. Good luck with keeping things under control until more people are healthy and available again.

Edit: Crossposted with another mission! Even more people wounded. But a successful mission, and a ruler killed. Nice work!

[shallow_thought]

Great reports - but it's obviously tough out there. Just hoping the next generation of weapons puts you back ahead of the curve!

[Whosit]

Whoo! Finally caught up! Hey, I don't think I died yet? But guess I'm C team material at the moment. Guess I'll still have to fill in with so many injuries.

[Dreylin]

Blasting through the healing, but the Aliens have other plans:


Just one pip added, leaving just 2 spaces. I have a Retaliation due in about a week, so I need to wait until I have a second squad available before running the Backsite mission - should be an OK mission now though with the Assassin gone and no Rulers on the rampage at the moment.

They also finish this:


So we'll be taking extra care on the next few missions...

Covert Op comes back:




Hunter a notch closer and we'll get an extra Order slot at the next switch. That new one doesn't look much good though as I only have a handful of PCS in the first place.

Whosit, you are getting some time out, but also suffering for being one of the last fresh recruits to join before the hiring freeze.

For the next covert op I look at a couple of options:



The first I skip because the only Specialist I have available right now is AdrienIer, and she's due to lead the next mission with Mox. The second is also skipped until I have a good candidate for a free Promotion.

Instead I go with the Templar version:


A worse reward and a higher chance for an injury, but I think I need to hedge incase I can't run the Blacksite for a while.

As soon as Dreylin is out of the Infirmary, he & RefSteel head off for some intensive one-on-one time:


Meanwhile Old Harry & Alhambram have both finished learning a new skill and moved onto the next (here's the most exciting):


On the Engineering side, Advanced Explosives completes and upgrades the EMP and Acid bombs as well as the Smoke Grenade:



I think I started a new Grenade.

Then:



Lots of individual purchases to make; I take the Rifle and the Bullpup:


Both will be well-used on the next mission. Later I also take the Shadowkeeper upgrade since that will see near constant use.

I go hunting for Supplies:




I'm down to 3 left in the Infirmary (although most of the Assassin squad are still Tired), so switch the Engineer back to the last excavation; I've decided that needs to be a Labratory since there's lots still to research - including in the Shadow Chamber.

Oh, I almost forgot that I got distracted again:


Just as I'm starting to think I might have a team to take on the Blacksite before the Retaliation....


Ah well, what delights has Riker in store for me:


<cough> 25!? ... oh that must be the Lost (I hope). It's also Warlock territory, so he might try to get in on the party. Lots on offer, though I do hope the two Captains aren't knocked out like last time!

I seem to have failed to take a "Suit up!" shot for this one, so you get one in-transit:


Two pairs that are working on their first-level Bonds; shallow_thought & Alhambram, and Molach & Jowy (with the "Lost" Rifle, of course). Off camera at the near end are Mox & AdrienIer, who will lead the mission.

[Dreylin]

We're dropped in concealment and it looks like we'll be heading NE:



Engineer is on the second floor of this building, which suits me nicely.

I also spot some blue bars in the fog:


They seem to be between the Engineer and the evac point, so we shouldn't have to detour much to grab them.

shallow_thought advances to the car and throws a scanner:


No contacts, so we're clear to advance across to the building. Mox leads the way:



Next turn the whole team is there:


Turn after that we move up to meet the VIP and ... hello!



Well, um that's not good for her ... unless she's invisible until contacted. At least we know where that pod is hanging out.

Jowy advances to a vantage overlooking the new Sharpshooter and:


Cover blown.

Pair of Brutes, two Spectres' legs & an Archon's jets. They take up position, and no-one can get in range, but at least Tactical Analysis is in play:


Blazing Pinions



The Spectres both shoot a Brute and then take a shot at Jowy, with the second nicking him.

A complicated turn here. Jowy starts us off with a revenge hit against the Spectre:


Alhambram gets some target practice against a Dasher that made it in through the window:


So the odd thing here is the Archon is not visible from the room the team is in, but he is from the corridor between rooms (where the VIP was hiding).

See:


Maybe this is a better view:


Mox uses his Whiplash attack (free action), and then finishes it off:


Adrien deals with the first Spectre:


Molach lands a shot on the remaining Spectre:


Alhambram checks the odds:



Funny thing is that I don't think I'd ever used Stasis before the playthrough and now it's been very useful 2 missions in a row!

And the Pinions hit:


It seems I may have /slightly/ misjudged the blast radius. Add in 2 storeys of falling damage and shallow_thought & Molach are pretty banged up.

Oh, and some friends come to investigate the Kaboom:



Hmmm, levitating Zombies:


And is seems Molach managed to fall down inside one of the support columns:


I have a mild panic, but it seems there's a long way up and out:


AdrienIer & Alhambram drop down and patch up the fallen pair:



Perhaps you're wondering what happened to the Lost horde that was waiting outside?

Well, it was Jowy of course; he took out 10 with his Pistol, then moved to the balcony:


3 more down, oh and the Spectre to cap it off:


Mox bunches with the rest and Overwatches:


A few more Lost show up:



Mox misses, but Molach makes contact.

Then Jowy cleans up again:


It seems that the other soldiers are immune until contacted:


So there's no rush to meet the Sharpshooter and I can move up slowly. shallow_thought passes on hiding behind this fine, full-cover drumkit:



Jowy moves up to contact the Sharpshooter:


Then they both climb up that ladder into the far side of next building. The rest of the squad moves into the same building through the near side, except Molach & shallow_thought who keep the low ground.


More visitors on the way.

Next turn I shuffle the snipers on their balcony and trigger the Andromedan pod:

[Dreylin]

Molach starts off with the frost bomb on the Andromedan to give us time with the Sectoids:


Alhambram tries out his new Rift:


Adrien rolls high to take out the far Sectoid:


Jowy deals with the closer:


The rest dent the Andromedan:




A quiet inter-turn, and Molach deals with the first half:


I've got everyone else with a shot on it, so I may as well try the Hack:


We have a pet to scout out the route to the evac zone!

It's out of actions / frozen, so I'll reload and hunker for a turn.

Some Lost arrive to keep us occupied:


This time it's Alhambram's turn to take them out; all six:


No sign of a pod between us at the evac:


We start to advance and chip away at the Shell's health reserves. The trail starts to get in the way a bit, but it seems that we can use it to meet Jkaen:


shallow_thought deals the final blow:


The team advances fairly slowly in fear of the missing Advent pod, but evac is accomplished without incident:


Well a few more Lost show up, but that's it.


Jowy lead from top to bottom and may be the first XCOM officer to pass 100 kills!



More injuries mean I should consider re-staffing the Infirmary, but a pair of new Captains will certainly help:


Adrien & Jowy take their promotions:




And more Bonds available ... when everyone gets out of the Infirmary!