XCOM 2 - Ironman Again

[Jowy]

Base Management: More Tech!

New rumor with a reward "Avenger Power" ???



A "Spy Ring" appeared. I think we need to build a radio relay in Western US, Eastern US and New Mexico to get the bonus.



Another room cleared for a 57 supply reward. We have three engineers doing work. On the third level down we could staff two in one room to clear it faster.
We'll eventually build stuff in these rooms.. When we can afford to!

I scanned our Supply Drop for 272 supplies. Then something was confirmed to me: The rumor with the "Soldier" reward disappeared, proving that they are timed.



We went back to the Black Market to grab Rush Research: Plated Armor. It's expensive but getting it down from 28 days to 14 is worth it.



Research on Gauss Weapons finished. I started the Plated Armor research right away. Only takes 10 days instead of 14 since we have a Scientist.



We burned 300 supplies and 20 alien alloys on Mag Cannons and Gauss Rifles for our snipers and grenadiers.



New Guerrilla Ops missions popped up before the Retaliation strike deadline. This is Option 1.



Option 2.



And Option 3.

I went with the first one, Eastern US. It has the best reward, the most annoying Dark Event, and a mission type that is new to me.



Welcome to the team Brian Shanahan. With Krill dead, you are now our third Grenadier.



And welcome to the team Bobchillingworth. I couldn't fit all of your name in the last name box, so I had to compromise and split it up.
Also just noticed when writing this that you two look almost identical, I'll give you new hair or a hat next time I play lol.



Updated full roster. In 5 days we'll have 3 of each class. Maybe.

I distributed our goodies:
- Dreylin got the +25 dodge enhancement.
- Dreylin also got an Advanced Laser Sight as his second weapon upgrade (+10% crit chance, more when closer)
- Old Harry's sniper was upgraded with an Advanced Stock (missed shots will still do 2 damage). Sadly I couldn't attach that to his pistol, would have been nice to have a free action with 2 guaranteed damage.
- Adrien was given a Hair Trigger (5% chance that a shot will not cost an action)
- Jkaen received an Expanded Magazine (increases clip size by 1) since he's a grenadier and they have a small clip.



We rolled out with the A team (Welcome back Dreylin!), plus Jkaen. I want that Shredder perk.
Also when I went to build items, I noticed that we DID have two flash bangs. So we did get one back from when Krill died, but we had to press the Make Utility Items Available button first.

[Dp101]

FYI, the avenger power bonus is literally power to run buildings beyond the power generation from generators. At least that's what it was last time I played.

[Dreylin]

Glad you didn't pick Option 2. The Mission name "Death Wheel" just boded ill on so many levels.

[Jowy]

Mission 8: Operation Demon Mother (someone had a family visit!)

We must destroy the dong before it climaxes in 8 turns.



We started concealed on the bottom right corner of the map.
My plan is to hug the wall all the way to the objective. This way we can only trigger engagements from two directions.



There was some confusion with the 2x2 square between the truck and the wall. It's impassable, yet nothing is there.
What happened, I think, was that something was supposed to spawn there when the map was generated, but we can't see it visually.



We didn't have an awful lot of cover so I sent a few soldiers on the roof. They didn't spot any enemies.
Note to self: Getting a Battle Scanner researched and built might be a good idea.



We heard a pod ahead during enemy turn.



Couldn't locate them so we took blue moves and overwatched. Heard them again..



Adrien took this full cover and spotted them..



Three ADVENT by the door. They couldn't see Adrien. This is perfect for us, we can set everyone up and start off the fight by fragging all three.



We set everyone up to overwatch except Old Harry who didn't have a shot but does have a flash bang. Adrien then did her thing.



One.



Two.



Three.



That was brutal. Sareln, Dreylin and Jkaen got a kill each.



There was now a huge hole in the wall for us to shoot through, but it wasn't needed.
Adrien moved to full cover and had a guaranteed kill on it through the windows. She destroyed it, objective complete!



That activated a new pod from the right.



They both took full cover. I had already moved Jkaen closer to the objective to check for a pod inside the building. Luckily I anticipated that we'd probably find one to the right of us so he had half cover to that direction.



He couldn't reach both with the frag, but one is better than nothing. He damaged the Sectoid for 3 and took down all of its cover.



Old Harry would have had a long range sniper shot, but I decided that he's better off moving closer and taking two flanked pistol shots at the Sectoid.



Critical Hit! Now we can guarantee its death with Combat Protocol if nothing else.



Next I sent in Dreylin to kill the Stun Lancer, but she didn't roll high damage. I actually misread her damage range, I thought she'd have the kill guaranteed.
It was also fairly reckless to send her over there because she might trigger another pod. It's very unlikely that there would be another pod and it would be over there, but taking these risks will sometimes come back to haunt us.



Critical Hit! Again! Old Harry used his second shot to save Dreylin's ass. Well, the Sectoid probably wouldn't kill her, but I know Dreylin wouldn't enjoy another month in the infirmary.



Sareln sent in the drone to kill the Stun Lancer. The mission didn't end yet, so one more pod left.



Adrien immediately bumped into it next turn. She's in half cover and most of our team is far away..



Well, offense is the best defense. Maybe.



Couldn't get the Sectoid in there, but we could at least expose it by breaking the wall. Rolled low on the trooper hit, would have been nice to kill it.



Jkaen hit the MEC, but rolled low on damage, so it lived with 1 HP. Friendly Fire with gunshots is fortunately not a thing  



Old Harry took a shot at the Sectoid, and not only hit it, but also killed it by rolling high on damage.
I'm not sure why I took this shot.. It seems pretty stupid in hindsight. I know we had Combat Protocol to kill the MEC 100% of the time, but this shot was so unlikely to kill the Sectoid that it would have been better to try and kill the MEC and let the drone kill the injured trooper.
Stupid or not, we did come off better than we would have with the objectively stronger plan.



Sareln sent in the drone to kill the MEC. It dropped some loot. Only the trooper left alive.



It took a shot at Adrien and did 3 damage in total, 1 of which was blocked by the armor from Blast Padding.



Adrien used Demolition to destroy its cover and improve our hit chances. Except she missed.



Jkaen moved as close as he could to take the shot.



And he missed.



I guess we have to give the kill to Sareln who already had a promotion.
He was out of Combat Protocol drone uses, but had a 69% shot. Which he whiffed on.



Old Harry didn't have a shot, so I moved him as close as I could with a blue move and tried to flash bang the trooper. Couldn't reach it.

Well, fuck. That's all we had.



It moved closer and took a shot at Adrien again. This time it missed. Whew.



I flanked the trooper and let Adrien take her revenge on it.  



That was the last of em, which I suppose is why the injured trooper didn't try to escape and regroup.



Adrien was gravely wounded, but at least she (literally) dodged a bullet. Sareln had a promotion and became our first Lieutenant. When you can do guaranteed 2 damage, you end up with a lot of kills.



Sareln was given the Field Medic perk. We haven't had to use medikits much yet, but it's a future-proofing move. Once we have better armor and higher HP, we can tank some shots without dying and heal up between battles.
Scanning Protocol could potentially be very useful as well. It's a free Combat Scanner from what I can tell. Apart from scanning fog of war, there might be an enemy type that can go into "stealth" like Seekers in EU.

What loot did we get from the drop? Two Advanced Scopes, which increase aim by 10%. They are amazing.

[Jowy]

FYI, the avenger power bonus is literally power to run buildings beyond the power generation from generators. At least that's what it was last time I played.

Thanks. That is absolutely perfect for us. I'll be sure to grab it next.

[WarriorKnight]

When do you think we should attempt the Blacksite mission?

Since you've delayed it until magnetic weapons, you can probably go whenever you want. I go to blacksite almost ASAP because with two exceptions, the enemies are only as strong as ones you would normally encounter. So if you go early enough there won't be any vipers or stun lancers (which is huge on an endurance mission since both are tough enemies to fight early on). The 2 guaranteed enemies are a MEC and 2-3 turrets, mag weapons shouldn't have any problems with them though.

In your case though I'd wait until after the next retaliation mission, just in case something goes wrong there.

A "Spy Ring" appeared. I think we need to build a radio relay in Western US, Eastern US and New Mexico to get the bonus.

You only need 2 radio relays in North America to get that continent bonus, and since your HQ counts as one you only need 1 more. Definitely get it up, +25% intel is a pretty good bonus to get early. See if any other continent bonuses are worth going after.

We'll eventually build stuff in these rooms.. When we can afford to!

I haven't been following your playthrough closely but I think you should really be prioritizing building rooms more. To give you a rough idea of what some of the rooms can do:

• Advanced Warfare Center can give your soldiers random promotions from other classes. This is amazing if you manage to get a Colonel skill really early, but has a quirk where the longer you wait to build it each soldier is less likely to receive the promotion. It can do other things as well but that was the big one.
  
• Proving Grounds can upgrade grenades and medkits, and you can also build experimental grenades/weapons/ammo/armor for fun and profit. Skulljacks are fun to play around with too (you need one to complete the story anyway).
  
• Resistance Communications facilities allows you to contact more regions, which is pretty much the primary goal of the mid/late game.
  

I didn't mention power relays but they are needed too since they let you build more buildings. Not to mention labs or workshops can be useful although not critical. I haven't mentioned rooms that you haven't unlocked yet but needless to say you may want some of them too. Mag weapons are better then any individual room though, and the same probably goes for plated armor so

Definitely go after the rumor that gives avenger power, that will let you build another room before you have to build a power relay.

[haphazard1]

Definitely going better this time. Really enjoying this so far, can't wait to show up (and immediately die) again.

[Jowy]

Base Management: Race Against Time

New goal before the next mission pop: Get a Battle Scanner. We need to research ADVENT Officer Autopsy and ADVENT Trooper Autopsy to get it.

New rumor with a Scientist reward.

Cleared another room for 50 supplies.

Officer Autopsy done. Got a new story goal: Build Proving Grounds -> Complete Skulljack project -> Use it on an Officer

ADVENT Stun Lancer autopsy was instant, so I did that. We can build a new sword: The Arc Blade.

We finished scanning the Avenger Power rumor and received +3 power. That's enough to support one building.

New rumor with a Supplies reward. I chose to go for the Scientist before the Supplies.

ADVENT Officer autopsy completed. We made it in time. I built a Battle Scanner. It's for the retaliation mission.

Another room cleared for 80 supplies.



We started building an Advanced Warfare Center as per WK's suggestion. We'll also need Proving Grounds and Resistance Radio ASAP.



Changed Bob's hair as promised.



Welcome to the team Quagma Blast. You are our third Sharpshooter.



We now have 3 of each class.



The Aliens made two breakthroughs, one I think happens every month automatically and the other was the Dark Event we didn't counter.
We're at 7 pips out of 12.



It's Retaliation time.



Adrien is still injured and that scares the shit out of me. We rolled out with double assaults, hoping to use Dp as a scout effectively.

[Jowy]

Mission 9: Operation Outer Mist

Here we go. It's the true test of strength. We will likely meet MEC's, Mutons and Faceless all in one mission.



Sareln was the only one who could reach the far out cover spot, so I moved her first.
I know I said I wanted Dp to scout, but he couldn't reach any cover that would reveal anything, and if we get into a fight here I want him to shoot rather than having to make an orange move to get to cover.



Sareln's move triggered a pod on the roof of the building.



They both jumped down and got close to us. This is probably the ideal encounter in a mission where we don't start concealed.



With Adrien in the infirmary, it's now Jkaen's job to start our encounters. He moved next to Sareln and launched a frag grenade at our opposition.



Rolled low against both, but all the cover is now gone.



Dreylin can't quite finish it yet. She'll deal minimum of 4 damage. The Muton has 8 HP left, so we need to weaken it by at least 4 first.



Sareln landed his 92% shot and that would always weaken it enough for Dreylin to finish it off. Time to send in the blademaster!



She had a 94% chance to hit and... She missed!?



Nope, she didn't miss. She fucking DIED. These fuckers can negate your attack and then counter-attack, which was a critical hit and killed Dreylin  
I could have just shot the Muton. But there was no way for me to know they can do this shit. The joys of playing blind.



Okay, that fucking sucked, but the fight is still going. Dp101 and Old Harry haven't moved yet so we can recover and kill both enemies this turn.



He fucking missed his 75% shot.



Old Harry to the rescue! From this spot he can kill both enemies with a Lightning Hands + Normal Pistol shot.



Except he rolled low on damage, so the Muton lives. Fuck. One shot left.
The Muton worries me more, it'll probably melee someone to death if it gets a turn, so let's kill it and hope the trooper doesn't kill anyone.



It's a miss. To summarize, we not only managed to kill one of our own guys on our own fucking turn, but also left both enemies alive at 1 HP in close proximity to our entire squad.



The Muton kicked the shit out of Sareln. Our two strongest soldiers died before Turn 1 had ended.



Jkaen panicked and I can't even blame the guy. I was panicking IRL by the first death, even though at the time the odds were still strongly in our favor.



Jkaen works well under pressure. He ran to full cover and tried to shoot the trooper, but he missed.



The trooper flanked us and attacked Old Harry. Finally something lucky happened: He missed the shot!



Dp ran in first to kill the Muton. HE'S RIGHT THERE, HOW CAN YOU MISS?  



Finally the fucker is dead when Old Harry landed a 87% shot. Of course this leaves the trooper still alive.



The trooper shot at Dp but didn't kill him. The only way the trooper COULD kill him is if he had a flank and could crit.



Dp of course panicked and ran behind a tree. But from there, he took a shot at his attacker!



Naturally, he missed.



We might need to take more of these shots. I still half-expected something to go wrong.



Old Harry with his second kill. At least someone's doing work.



We got some loot.

Okay. That all happened.

Now what?

We have three Soldiers left. Old Harry (Sharpshooter), Jkaen (Grenadier) and Dp101 (Assault) who's down to 3 HP.

At this point I saved and closed the game. I need time to think, and I want opinions from the lurkers. Should we keep going, or evacuate the survivors?

[Jkaen]

assuming no surprises like bladeproof mutons, that leader reappearing etc can those 3 people take down a single pod efficiently say 90% of the time?