XCOM 2 - Ironman Again

[Bobchillingworth]

One death due to poor RNG luck in a scenario where the margins were critical, a couple injuries, otherwise a successful mission.

[Fenn]

Four deaths, with the last soldier barely crawling to the finish line before the aliens kill him too.

[Old Harry]

Flawless win!

[haphazard1]

OK, I'll join the prediction fun. Two deaths, one by melee and one by a new enemy type. I would predict my avatar entering the game just in time to die but I don't think Jowy would take a rookie on a such a crucial mission. But soon enough, doom will return for me.

[Jowy]

Mission 12: Operation Doom Claw (Part 1)

Not foreboding at all.



Our objective is inside a building, far away from where we start.



The evac zone is pre-set beyond the building.



We start concealed outside a different building. Only one way to go and not much cover here.



Without even moving, we see a turret already. We could tiptoe around it.



Or we could just take it down. That broke concealment, but I think it was worth it. Now we can take the roof.



Of course there could still be a pod on the roof or inside the building, so we'll move in carefully.



We checked that the inside was clear first, so we don't get a surprise from behind once we jump down from the roof on the other side.



We could see some of the roof before climbing up, so I didn't waste a Battle Scanner on it. Roof was clear too. We heard enemies moving further ahead.



All of us couldn't reach the edge with blue moves yet, so I threw a Battle Scanner to check what we were facing.



Nothing, apparently.



Next turn we heard them again. Would be nice to fight them while we have the elevation advantage.



I stayed on the roof, but no-one patrolled into sight. I guess we'll have to leave our comfort zone



Contact made!



Only we had already sent down Fenn and Brian Shanahan, who were now flanked.



As usual we should take down the cover first to have higher odds at hitting them. This is the best I could do.



That gave Adrien a 93% shot from the roof, she did 8 damage on the closer guy.



Old Harry had no line of sight to start off, so no sniper shot this turn.



Lightning Hands did the trick though. One enemy down, one to go.



Sunrise tried to kill it, but his damage roll was 1 off. That was actually our last shot.. Old Harry and Fenn don't have the range required.



We'll have to use one of our precious flash bangs. That will slow down the Stun Lancer so he can't melee down anyone.



Unfortunately they do carry guns. The Stun Lancer took a shot at Brian Shanahan, and it's a critical hit.
Kinda thought it'd value its own life more than taking a ranged shot while disoriented. Using Aid Protocol on Brian Shanahan would have been better play in hindsight.



Brian Shanahan panicked, ran forward and hunkered down. He's damn lucky not to have activated another pod with that move.



Old Harry took down the enemy, but that was not the end of our worries. We can't afford bumping into a pod while Brian Shanahan is panicking in the open.
On top of that, he might stay panicked and move even deeper into the fog next turn. We moved the rest of our squad closer to Brian Shanahan but not past him, and went into overwatch.



Disaster avoided. I had Sunrise heal him up, then spent a few turns regrouping and reloading.



Before moving forward, we checked for another pod by the side building. Wouldn't want to get flanked a second time. Nothing there.



We were advancing, in true EU style, taking short blue moves and overwatching every turn.



It's about to pay off!



Brian Shanahan hit the Viper for max damage, killing it in one shot!



Sunrise injured one of the Sectoids, the others missed their shots.



Adrien moved in closer, then a cutscene played and scared the crap out of me. It was just a panning shot of the building.



Adrien fragged them, blowing up their cover and killing the injured one.

Old Harry had an easy shot on the other and finished it off.



We took a turn to reload.



No rest for the wicked!



Fenn landed a hit on one of the new Sectoids.



Adrien missed the Muton. That is going to be a problem.



The Muton has us flanked and all the enemies are spread out so we can only take down one at a time.



Old Harry's odds were pretty bad. We need to raise them before taking the shot.



Only one way to do that reliably. Adrien needs to run in and frag it. And if we fail to kill it, she'll be in melee range.



No fear!!



Old Harry takes the shot..



It's a crit! Muton goes down! That's the main problem gone, and we still have 3 soldiers to deal with the rabble.



Brian Shanahan moves into full cover from where he has sight on both Sectoids.



Oh fuck, there was a turret on the roof and we just activated it!!  



Out of the frying pan, into the fire! Muton's out, Turret is in. And Brian Shanahan is flanked. It's a DISASTER.

Continued in Part 2.

[Jowy]

Mission 12: Operation Doom Claw (Part 2)

Continuation from Part 1.



Tactical retreat it is! Always an option you should keep in mind.



Sunrise sent in the drone to kill the injured Sectoid. Fenn couldn't ever kill the other by herself, so she overwatched.



Fenn's overwatch never triggered. The Sectoid tried a psionic attack on Adrien but she resisted it!  



Pissed off Fenn ran in with a 100% chance to kill the Sectoid. Oh right, NSFW alien butt shot, forgot to warn ya.



We still have a turret to deal with. Adrien had a move now, so I sent her in to make it go boom. HOPEFULLY it's not overwatching in the fog.



She was safe. I couldn't get a direct hit on the turret, but that shouldn't matter, we only need to take down the floor to make it fall.



Are you fucking kidding me??  



I guess we have to take it down the hard way. Old Harry hurt it for 4.



Sunrise sent in the drone to finish it off. I think the drone might bypass armor anyway so the first shot wasn't required? Not sure about that.
In any case we had to waste our second Combat Protocol drone use, which I was saving for the MEC that WK warned me about.



I had no balls and chose to abandon the loot.



We started moving towards the ladder to the roof. I love roofs and hills if you haven't noticed.



After a few turns another group bumped into us.



Adrien, Old Harry and Brian Shanahan all ganged up on the Muton to kill it.



The two survivors were pretty far, but this was the perfect time to get a use out of Fenn's low range frag grenade.



IT WAS NOT A GOOD TIME FOR THAT. Fenn activated a second pod, one with a MEC.



And she couldn't even get them both with the grenade. I saw no other choice but to move Fenn back, but she probably can't get out of their attacking range.



First though let's take the Squadsight shot before we lose it. Try to thin their numbers. It landed, but 7 damage wasn't enough for a kill.



I moved Adrien, Sunrise and Brian Shanahan to better positions but didn't take actions yet as I was still trying to think of the best way to go about it.



I started with the action that I was pretty sure I would make no matter what. If the hit lands it's a guaranteed kill. Let's see if that works and then re-evaluate.



One down, three to go.



Turns out that she CAN get them both. Now that is great news!!
Since Sunrise doesn't have to flash bang them anymore, maybe we can use Haywire Protocol on the MEC.



74% chance for greatness, 26% chance for deaths. Let's do it.



YES!! It worked! Hell, we even would have gotten the better reward if we chose it.

Fenn fragged the duo, killing one. The other one is without cover. Adrien doesn't have a shot, BUT she will overwatch and will catch the enemy if it runs in for cover. And if it retreats back, that works for us too.



Unfortunately that still left one enemy open to fire at Fenn. She took 3 damage.



As expected Adrien got off the overwatch, but she missed!



Fenn took 5 damage, now down to 3 HP left. Gonna be a long trip to the infirmary, but at least she lived through that.



Before playing this turn I looked up how long the stun lasts, it's 2-5 turns so we have at least one free turn to deal with the other enemies before we have to kill the MEC.
Old Harry took the first shot, but missed. It still did 2 damage thanks to a weapon attachment.



Brian Shanahan moved to flank the trooper. I had faith that there wouldn't be ANOTHER group right there in the fog.



OH FOR FUCKS SAKE!!

Continued in Part 3.

[Jowy]

Mission 12: Operation Doom Claw (Part 3)

Continuation from Part 2.



Nevermind it's a cutscene  



Brian Shanahan smeared orange all over the wall.



Now Sunrise can move up to full cover and take a shot at the last one.



It's dead! Fenn and Adrien might have enough to kill the MEC too, but I chose to wait it out. Couldn't find info on whether attacking the MEC breaks the stun.
We're better off leaving it to next turn when we'll have 5 shots rather than 2.



GOOGLE LIED TO ME  



It fired rockets at Fenn and Sunrise. Fenn died. Not a great campaign for Blademasters.
We had a fucking 73% chance to kill it last turn, but I didn't take it to PLAY IT SAFE.



Let's kill the thing. Sunrise has a 93% shot (from where he's standing) to follow up with for the kill.



Except Adrien missed, and now we can't actually kill it. Old Harry has no shot and Brian Shanahan has to reload.



Sunrise retreated and used Aid Protocol on Adrien.



The MEC ran inside and went for a swim ???



Old Harry threw in a Battle Scanner to check if it was still alive. It was.
Adrien had to reload, so we took cover and overwatched with the rest.



The MEC couldn't get in range of us after one move, so it used its second action to move even closer.
We got off two overwatches, taking it down to 2 HP.



Brian Shanahan had a 76% chance to kill it, but he missed.



Sunrise didn't miss his 90% shot. The MEC is down and the fight finally ends.



The roof is very much on fire. I think we'll take the ground route this time.
That should have been the last group on the map based on audio cues.
We sadly can't take Fenn's body back with us. The fact that one of the objectives says "Escape" spells out that this isn't over yet.



MANY careful turns later (because why not), we're now sitting next to the evac zone with three of our guys. Hey, I guess we could have dragged Fenn's body here without trouble. Sorry bud.
Brian Shanahan is missing. Not because the roof fell on him and he died, but because he's chosen as the most expendable the one to get the special honor of stealing the vial.



His expression tells me that he might suspect my reasons for giving him the assignment.



Reinforcements are on their way, as expected. Though I didn't know where they would appear.
Brian Shanahan had an escape route planned: Through the pre-opened door to full cover outside.



They are here. That beefy guy is not a tiny MEC, he is a Shieldbearer.



Sunrise and Old Harry teamed up to kill one of them. Adrien's sight was blocked by trees so she didn't get a freebie.



1 tile off I didn't expect to make it anyway, but if I had counted the tiles, I could have set us up to escape this turn.



Old Harry had to move to get sight on them, then used Lightning Hands. Adrien finished it off in a spectacular fashion.



Sunrise still had a flash bang and used it to disorient the Shieldbearer so it can't flank us. Next turn we're out of here!



Or not. The enemy overwatched so we can't move without drawing fire on ourselves. We'll have to kill it and escape next turn.



Adrien used Demolition to destroy its cover.



Old Harry didn't have a shot?! Damn trees.



Next I moved up Brian Shanahan to a full cover where he'd have a great shot. If you're yelling at your monitor, that is the correct reaction.



Overwatch was on. He got hit for 5. I don't know how I forgot. Fatigue is finally kicking in after a long grueling mission, I guess.



He panicked after taking damage, but did exactly what I wanted him to do. Only it was a miss.



Sunrise took a shot at it next, but he didn't get a crit, so it wasn't enough to kill it. I chose to overwatch with Old Harry.



Oh god. Shoot, Old Harry! Shoot like your life depends on it!!







Just one problem. More reinforcements are coming and Brian Shanahan is still panicking. We can't leave yet.



That beefy guy is not a fat Shieldbearer, it is a MEC.  



This is NOT the time to be missing Adrien.



Sunrise hits one!



But Old Harry also misses.



Brian Shanahan, right about now would be a great time to stop panicking  



NEVER. A. DOUBT. IN. MY. MIND.



We took the evac and fled. Mission complete. It was just as horrifying as I had built it up to be in my mind.



Promos and a long rest for Brian Shanahan and Sunrise. Brian Shanahan got the Shredder perk, Sunrise got the Field Medic perk.
Sadly no Captain promo for our lieutenants. Captain would allow us to get Squad Size II.



We still got some loot even though I didn't grab it? Strange.



The Blacksite mission only pushed back the Avatar Project by ONE PIP!? Boy am I glad that I countered the 2 pip dark event.



Sunrise and Brian Shanahan were both "shaken" by the mission. We'll probably see some new faces in the next mission (including new enemies since it'll be a new month!).

[Brian Shanahan]

I know the real reason why I was the one to pick up the McGuffin. I was the only one hardcore enough.

[Ichabod]

Awesome reports. Congrats on the mission!

[Dp101]

Well, I'm glad I got the number of dead right at least. Thanks for the report!