XCOM 2 - Ironman Again

[BRickAstley]

[Dreylin]

We didn't get the intel reward nor did we counter the dark event that'll reduce our monthly supplies to half next month, but we at least got some corpses.

And, none of them were your own soldiers...

But that's tough, are you going to have time / resources to get to the next Blacksite before the Avatar launches?

[Dp101]

You take pips off the doom clock by doing the story, so once you get the skulljack you don't have to worry about getting to the next region.

[WarriorKnight]

Ugh, what a horrible mission. Objects inside trucks are incredibly vulnerable to being blown up, as you witnessed firsthand.

Enemies will always hit mimic beacons, that was one of the nerfs they got. They are still very worthwhile though.

Acid and Gas grenades don't destroy cover IIRC. I think Acid grenades deal more damage then any other grenade (plus acid burns, which hits every enemy save 1) while Gas grenades poison targets which provide some nice side effects.

[haphazard1]

Glad to see I am back on the roster. Probably will die horribly again....

Tough mission, but nice work avoiding losing anyone. Thanks again for doing all this, Jowy!

[RefSteel]

It's really fun to read these, Jowy, thanks!

Wait and I get my own drone now? SWEEEEET! I'll bet that means I can be a totally safe support trooper who helps from the back and doesn't get into any troub...

:sees dronemaster Sunrise rolling into the infirmary on a stretcher:

...le?

Ulp!

[Jowy]

Played the next mission. Image host is lagging like hell so have some teasers for now:

[Jowy]

Base Management: Rage

So we have some injuries to recover from. I staffed an engineer to AWC to double their healing rate.



We finished the Radio Tower in Western Europe. Then started contacting Eastern Europe for 40 intel.
Now we're out of intel, out of supplies, and we'll be maxed on contacts so we have to upgrade our comms even if we had all the other stuff.
Since we're getting up there in pips and there are two Alien Facilities running to add more (I believe each adds 1 pip a month), the campaign is still very much in danger.



Completed the Skulljack. I've been told that progressing the story also slows down the Avatar Project, so maybe that'll be our lifeline.
Next up I started the project that became available from the Berserker Queen autopsy. I'm favoring projects which don't cost supplies since we are low on em.



We finished research on one of the items we looted at some point, it gave us 71 intel!! That is a lot, and exactly what we needed.



We grabbed enough corpses last mission to complete two research projects immediately. They gave us the ability to build a Plasma Grenade (improved frag) and an Advanced Grenade Launcher. Both pretty useful, but will cost supplies.
I queued up another Alien Data Cache Encryption for more intel. We have 76, and we need 80 to contact the next region without a radio tower (which we might have to do if we run out of time).



The game is being too nice  



We finished contacting Eastern Europe and got the continent bonus. It's pretty nice, I already had an engineer permanently staffed in the Proving Ground to get those projects done faster.



I took a detour to the Black Market and sold some corpses that they wanted from me. Then I did something that I wouldn't necessarily want to do, but felt that I had to: I bought 126 supplies for 30 intel.



Now we had enough supplies to upgrade the comms, which will raise our contact cap and allow us to get to the next Alien Facility if we just have the intel.



Finished the RAGE suit (picture with stats included later) and started working on the EXO suit.



It's a raid! Good news is that everyone except Sunrise are back up on their feet.



Compared to Predator Armor, the RAGE Suit gives 2 extra HP, 1 extra mobility, 1 extra armor, a fucking rocket launcher, and a special "free action" Rage Strike melee attack.



I caved in and upgraded our Grenade Launchers because I'm scared. That's 75 supplies gone, but increased range makes a big difference when trying to take down cover from as many enemies as possible.



David Corperial has the Skulljack. Brian Shanahan is back for his third mission, and you know something big is about to go down when he comes along.

[Dp101]

Just so you know, the 1 armour and rocket are properties of an EXO suit, so you can get those on anyone. I think the melee attack is the only unique part of the armour.

[Jkaen]

It also sometimes makes Mutons afraid of you