XCOM 2 - War of the Chosen

[Dreylin]

Firstly, you have a small typo, you accidentally listed Mardoc as the soldier needing 9 days to heal instead of me in the paragraph under the post mission screen. Secondly, now that you have tried all of them a little, what do you think of the balance of the new classes? Personally, I think it goes Reaper > Templar > Skirmisher when not revealed, and afterwards Templar > Skirmisher > Reaper, with skirmisher below templar because of their gun having the same range penalties/bonuses as shotguns, but I'm curious what you think.

Fixed, thanks.

I think that order is broadly right, but let me sumarise my thoughts on each rather than try to compare:

I've had most experience with the Reaper and I am reasonably certain that I don't know how to use her correctly yet. The extra movement while concealed is very nice for Scouting, but I don't seem to have gone into an encounter yet where I feel confident enough to leave her concealed and fight using just the rest of the squad. Partially I think that has been our squad size verses the missions I've taken her on - primarily involving Lost - that mean we have higher enemy : XCOM ratios. Next mission I use her on I hope will be non-Lost and I can see how she works in the shadows.

Also, I keep expecting her to have Squadsight like a regular Sniper (but she doesn't) and then remembering that I can move her before firing. Her gun is crap, and I absolutely loath the screen overlay that makes everything more difficult to see. Oh, and the lack of an item slot is annoying (although coming back from playing LW2 where everyone has 2 item slots as default, I find everyone's limitations on that score to be annoying)

The Skirmisher seems like a pretty well-rounded class so far. The Grapple to add mobility is nice (I still question their decision to make Grappling a Free Action). It seems odd that he can only use the Melee attack as part of the Grapple pull - and to be honest that it is an integrated part of the Grapple pull. As I've said before, IMO the power of that move is in pulling the victim out of cover and leaving it exposed to other troops. I would separate the two components - reduce the cooldown on Justice to compensate - and then to stop them becoming another melee class, only allow us of Ripjack as an action against an adjacent target - i.e. no charge attack, you would have to be standing next to an enemy with an action in hand.

The Templar <sheesh>. The base damage on Rend is probably 2 higher than it should be; at 5-6 it's a guaranteed kill on basic Troopers which means it doesn't need any set-up to start building focus. Of course that will change as the enemies get their upgrades, but by then I presume the Templar will have her own upgrades. Either that, or I just gained access to her waaay before I was supposed to - if she's supposed to come online around 6HP Troopers then a 50/50 chance on a basic enemy makes sense. I guess there are other skills, but TBH I was never in a situation where a guaranteed melee kill and retreat to high cover seemed like a bad option. 

But there's a lot of extra development to go through, so my summary at this stage of the game:

Reaper - seems good, but I haven't figured out how to use yet
Skirmisher - solid all-rounder (could do with tweaking)
Templar - OMG Melee kills FTW

[Dreylin]

The new Engineer is set to speed up the arrival of the next:


New POI is of "Soldier", but we're going to finish setting up the new Relay first ... well maybe the next tech first:



OK, so we'll research that next then.

Oh, I go back and check and I'd mistaken the Africa bonus, it's instant completion of Ammo projects in the Proving Ground.

Then the Covert Op completes:


Ooo, bonus Alloys!

I'm a fraction of a day to complete the Relay, so I get that done before choosing the next Op:


Because before we head out I want to take a trip to the Black Market:


There's an interesting new option for the Covert Op, but we're going for the Hunt:




So I'm sending Lopez instead of Yuris since she has good Bond potential with Haphazard - and I actually switched her & Dragunova before starting the mission to give her the added Mobility for stabby death.

We head off to pick up the rest of the Supply Drop, but as that turns we get standard Ops:



I decide to take the Moderate mission for the additional Scientist (and to find out what "Beast" units are).


Kelly leads the way but she's leaving Mardoc behind since his Will is still reduced from the previous mission. Instead AdrienIer & Mox will join Khan & Kaiser - 2 Rangers for slicing Beasts, although Kaiser brings a Rifle rather than a Shotgun for range since she's not a Blademaster.

[Dreylin]

No HP visible on the device, so it'll be hard to see what's going on.

Oh, so those are the Beasts:


There's a Lancer there too and they both head off towards the Device on their turn. I motor in that direction as fast as I can:



Hmmm, now to get in position for the maximum first turn damage:



The two pods circle a bit until this opportunity:





Two down with Overwatch and Mox's shot, but we can't take the 3rd and the other pod arrives:


Flashbang to hopefully reduce the exposure:



Urg, I must not have caught him with the Flashbang.

Well let's see; start with grenade from Khan:


Mox takes out one and then is out of bullets ... ah, that works:



AdrienIer rolls max damage to take out the other:


OK, that seems good we've saved the device and ... aha, here comes the next pod:


AdrienIer and Kaiser get the kills on the Faceless, but with Mox reloading & Kelly unconcious, the Lancer is left to roam:




Oooo-Kay.


Kaiser's kill ends the mission:




I didn't much fancy random Lost turning up, even if it's theoretically possible to use them to our advantage.

Promotions:





With a stabby Templar in the mix, I send Kaiser down the left as a Phantom Scout.

Mox takes a new promo, but I'm going to hoard his extra AP for a while:


Khan & Kaiser bond in the Command Center:



(probably using the computers to play pirated copies of Civ 27 )

[shallow_thought]

(probably using the computers to play pirated copies of Civ 27   )

So long as they ditched 1UPT at some point along the way .

Really enjoying thoroughly spoiling myself for the game. Sign me up for more X-com duty if you run short.

[haphazard1]

Nice mission! Shot percentage of 100%.

And I get to do some undercover secret stuff. With my nifty hat.

[Dreylin]

Covert Action completes without incident:





That could be an interesting option later on, but I can't engage it yet. Right now I'm training up my fourth Specialist with 4 Grens, 3 Snipers & 3 Rangers up to speed (along with one of each Faction).

Couple of new options for Covert Missions:



I might have gone straight for Tier 2 hunt, but my only Lt. is injured So I'll go for some "Alien Loot" hoping to pick up some Cores to use in the Proving Ground:



And from the previous Op, we get a new Bond:


Tech completes and I get a free Autopsy:




And an Inspiration for Psionics. I had been thinking of going that way soon but was going to get Armour first ... was.

Finish this POI and the head to West Africa to complete the Continent for bonus (definitely hoping for some Cores from the Covert Op):



Sadly, I'm willing to bet that the scan will complete a few moments after the Supply Drop processes.

Especially since we're heading out to deal with this:


A squad!


Mardoc's a tick below max Will, but he'll have our brand new Mimic Beacon. Let's see how this one runs...

[Dreylin]

Here we go and ... hmmm, no target location and just 13 Civilians verses the 18 on the original:


Looks like we're back to a standard Retaliation; I wonder if the first was just part of the tutorial, or if there will now be 2 types going forward?

Kelly advances towards the visible circle and triggers the first pod:


Two heavy hitters here; let's see what we can do:



One down.

Let's see what Mardoc can do with Haywire:


I don't want to use the Mimic this early so he goes for it. It's a miss - with predictable consequences:


Destroying the tower that Yuris was planning to snipe from.

Meanwhile in the fog:



A Muton-Purifier pod nearby and a Mech, Officer, Purifier pod further on.

Goody.

First let's deal with the Mech. DP101 to open with the shred:


Oooo-kay. Also note that Dragunova is still concealed although only 2t away from the Mech. That's some good stealth!

Yuris takes aim from his horrendously exposed position and chips and then I remember Combat Protocol:


We have eyes on the next pod but they don't seem to have triggered yet. Kelly lands the Flashbang, but they are still somehow untriggered.


Dragunova advances to the next cover and reveals there's a Mech in this pod too.

IBT the far pod murders another civvy, but the near pod just patrols.


DP101 is too far back to land the Grenade so let's try out the Claymore:


Took both of Dragunova's moves to launch & explode it, but the results are well worthwhile!

The team cleans up:




We have a good location on the 3rd pod, so it's time to approach with caution:


First Dragunova grabs the Loot:


Nice!

Then Yuris helps DP101 (who had to pause to reload) get into position for next turn:


You can just about see the Sniper behind that fire at the top of the screen to get a good angle on the remaining pod.

IBT this guy pops up quite close to Kelly:


But she spends her Overwatch shot on the distant Mech when the pod patrols closer and spots her:


Fortunately the Faceless stays put and is taken out by Yuris & Dragunova (still concealed):


Leaving us with just the pod to deal with. After Mardoc shuffles out of the way, DP101 can get close enough to land the grenade on the Officer & Mech:



Mardoc can take out one or the other, but first I do something really stupid:


I shall file "don't be near a Purifier when they die" alongside "don't melee Mutons" in "things that I will occaisionally forget with painful consequences".

Fortunately she's only bleeding out, so there are 4turns to deal with these last 2. Time for that Mimic Beacon, I think:


Then it's just cleanup:




Oh right, there's another one of these guys along:



NOW it's over:




More Supplies, (maybe a second Mimic Beacon?) another Core, and a pile of Autopsies open up.

A hard mission on the squad, although now there'll be a couple more Lieutenants:




That Claymore blast was nice, so I might go back and give Dragunova the extra item slot (10AP at Corporal) before sending her on another mission.

Oh, and while we're promoting I check in on the Ranger we picked up from the POI:


Welcome shallow_thought! Given Blademaster since Kelly's in the tank for a month. Dig the spiked helmet ... only the best agents are equipped with special spiked helmets!

[yuris125]

Can confirm both old and new retaliations can pop up, seems to be random which one you get. Same with supply raids

Nice mission, that purifier explosion was nasty though.....

Proud of my snipersharpshooter skillz

[Dreylin]

Can confirm both old and new retaliations can pop up, seems to be random which one you get. Same with supply raids

Nice mission, that purifier explosion was nasty though.....

Proud of my snipersharpshooter skillz

Thanks for the confirmation.

The thing about the Purifiers is that it seems to be random(?) whether they explode or not; the first mission I had one explode to a rifle shot, but the other didn't to Mox's shot. Then neither of the ones on the Engineer rescue exploded and here the one that was shot didn't, but the melee'd one did. 

I'm starting to think I'm going to need a 3rd & 4th squads with the rate of Injuries!

Truth in advertising:
Join XCOM, fight Aliens, get shot*, enjoy fantastic new spa treatments in our luxurious Infirmary.

(* or blown up, exploded, set on fire, stabbed, or mauled by monstrous creatures)

[haphazard1]

Rough mission, but the job got done. Some useful loot, too.

And I get to try some of this cohesion/teamwork thing. Nice.