XCOM 2 - Ironman Again

[RefSteel]

Sweet! Tossing mimic beacons left and right, hacking the Advent network to get a lead so useful we're almost guaranteed to never bother following up on it, and a promotion to Major! That was ... almost ... my kind of mssion!

...

So, like, retraining for a different perk is totally a thing now, right? Once I get out of the burn ward again, I mean?

[AdrienIer]

The ever vigilant perk is one of my favorites, but it depends on playstyles I guess

[Dreylin]

The ever vigilant perk is one of my favorites, but it depends on playstyles I guess

Agreed. I find it especially useful on timed missions when you need to aggressively push across the map to reach the objective.

OTOH, I've been playing Long War 2 where there are a lot more running missions and it's a lot earlier in the perk tree for you to build around rather than an endgame bonus.

Also, AWC re-speccing is a thing that can be done if you can spare the soldier for 5(?)days.

[Whosit]

The Avenger Defense missions can be brutal depending on alien tech level, map layout, and alien spawn points. Something to note is that Advent reinforcements increase over time, to the point where they eventually land 4 new units every turn. If you aren't able to destroy the spike quickly, you can get overwhelmed. I think these missions are hardest when they happen early in the game, before you have veteran soldiers with a lot of tactical options. High level troops like you have, with (what I see as) OP armor and equipment, makes it a lot easier.

One time, I was given an Avenger defense mission where my landing pad was literally surrounded by 6 pods. Unwinnable.

Also, for Council missions, you don't get a choice. It's only Guerrilla Ops that you can pick and choose.

And I prefer Guardian over Ever Vigilant. Even on timed missions, I rarely move in such a way that it's useful, while I've had Guardian Specialists "one-shot" Berserkers with the free overwatch shots. Combos well with a second specialist who has Threat Assessment.

[Jowy]

Alright, I'll give Ever Vigilant a chance to shine. If I remember that she has it

Ah, Council Missions exist! I think we've gotten Supply Raids so often that I forgot we might get something else too.

Next time:



Chrysalid phone home.

Wait, what?

[Whosit]

Either that's a remarkable glitch, or.... I don't know. If those damage boxes could be edited out, it'd make a great wallpaper.

[Jowy]

Base Management:

More facility leads? Alright then. We're going to ignore it for now and finish contacting a region.

Research finished on Storm Gun. It's the top tier shotgun.

With all the relevant research done, we're swapping back to the Shadow Chamber. I upgraded it to be able to fit in the Psionic Gate we recovered. 5 days to get that done.

Molach learned Solace. I had our other Psi Operative continue on his Domination training. Also noticed that I can upgrade the Psi Lab to include a second training cell, but I need more power first.



We killed it this month.



Not really concerned about the Dark Events. The upcoming retaliation mission is making me nervous though. Those have been tough.

We collected the Supply Drop, then back to scanning for contact.

Completed a WAR Suit. It's an upgraded version of the heavy suits we have. This also unlocked "Experimental Powered Weapon" in Proving Grounds. I ordered one up.

After we made contact with the region, we flew to the Black Market. Sold some more corpses and bought a PCS that boosts aim (hit chance). We also bought an Engineer to speed up the last few builds (Power Supply and then Resistance Comms in the last spot).

Then I visited the HQ and found something very interesting. A Colonel rank soldier for just 255 supplies? Yes please!



Welcome to the squad Novice! I just had to make use of the newly unlocked cigar prop.



She was all maxed out so I got to choose everything at once. Went with what I think is the best build for a Grenadier. She also got Guardian as the AWC perk.



We got the Psionic Gate working and tried to send a drone through, but you need a second key.



This unlocked what is possibly the final research project, Avatar Autopsy. I'm guessing we'll go through the gate and wreck their base up as the final mission.



Before that, one more Retaliation. Only 11 enemies so my plan is to blitz through it instead of saving individual civilians.



Brian Shanahan in his new WAR suit. Apart from stat increases and the eventual top tier heavy weaponry (when we finish em in the Proving Grounds), the suit has a Shieldwall ability that makes the soldier into High Cover for other soldiers.
Might be useful if the alien base is anything like the alien ships in EU.



David finally gets a shotgun. We need to get him some better mods though. I also upgrade the melee weapon into a Fusion Blade, though not sure if we'll ever use it. Melee is a bit too weak at this stage.



Rolling out with our best non-maxed units and two maxed snipers who bring in the firepower.

[Jowy]

Mission 34: Operation Cold Engine

Cliff starts are nice. David spotted some Chrysalids with this move.



I triggered them by moving Brian Shanahan forward. No time to wait for a perfect engagement.



Our Grenadiers softened them up. One of the Chrysalids was floating on top of a rock.. not sure if that's intended behavior.
Anyway Brick finished them off with Lightning Hands + Faceoff.



Trying to kill the last one was a challenge. We couldn't get shots on it. I had RefSteel and OH (pistol) OW.
I didn't really want to break David's concealment, but figured that we should play it safe and get some extra damage in.



Damn, missed it. Well, we all know what's going to happen next, it'll go and melee crit someone to death. Truly, you are a predictable game, XCOM.





The Chrysalid jumps up to the cliff.



Except it keeps going, high into the air...



And higher...



And now it's also on fire...



This is art.



Wait, did it just dodge mid-air?!



And finally, he falls back down to earth. He sticks the landing!!



Oh yea, then we killed it. It didn't have enough movement to attack anyone. Moving on.



We sent David down, everyone else stayed on the cliff. Found no enemies.



We saw the aliens shooting civs in the fog, so Brian is going to go trigger them to shoot at us instead. If we fail to clear them, anyway.



Heavy MEC and some ADVENT. We are a bit far away with most of our squad.



David's new shotgun can't even reach, but he used the rocket launcher instead.



Brick had a 100% chance to hit and a damage range of 24-33. Fan Fire with Bluescreen Rounds. Not too shabby.



RefSteel had decent odds as well and managed to kill the lancer. One enemy left.



Old Harry took the shot at the last one, but rolled low on damage, then rolled low on the fire damage. Oh well. Since it was burning to death, it was too preoccupied to attack us back.



Let's keep moving. Brian is sent ahead and triggers a Sectopod and some more ADVENT.



First things first, we need to get rid of the armor. At the same time we can eliminate cover from the ADVENT guys.



Lewwyn fired the EMP at it. It does a little less damage in his hands due to missing one of the perks.



Both Brick and RefSteel had to fire at the Sectopod to get it low enough, luckily both had 100% chance to hit.



And now it's clean up time!



First he killed the burning man, just to be sure.



Then the Sectopod goes down!



Next we finally make use of the Icarus Jump to get him in range of the last two enemies.
Cool animation, but he flies off screen, so not so great for screenshots.



With some help from Lightning Hands, he picks up kills number 3 and 4.
Without Serial and Icarus Armor that fight could have gone really badly.



When our turn ends, a Faceless pops out and rushes us. It gets hit by Old Harry's OW (sadly just pistol due to reloading).



It ran right next to Brick, but did not attack. Brick killed it on her turn.



We sent some guys up ahead but didn't spot any enemies. The Sectopod dropped loot: A Superior Scope and an Advanced Repeater. Well there's some mods for David's shotgun.



They ran into us first and got greeted by some OW shots.



Curious about the damage it could cause to the building, I had Brian use the Shredder Gun on them. There's definitely a hole through that building now.



We killed them both pretty easily. The mission didn't end, so some Faceless are going to pop up when we end turn.



There was only one left, and it did not have great path-finding.



Mission complete! No promotions this time.

Next.. We might go for (presumably) the final mission, or we might wait to prepare a bit more. I haven't decided yet.

[haphazard1]

Nice work! Retaliation missions can be nasty sometimes.

No idea what the weirdness with the aerial chryssalid was.

[RefSteel]

Both Brick and RefSteel had to fire at the Sectopod to get it low enough, luckily both had 100% chance to hit.

...unlike some Ref clones I could name! I am starting to wonder about my medic build though. Lately, I'm the only one who even gets hurt! And really only by accidentally getting set on fire.

On the other hand, if their 'lids can fly now, maybe we're gonna be in for a rocky ride!