Fenn Vs X-COM

[Mardoc]

Wow, apparently that still qualifies as 'excellent'. High command is happy to trade two dead operatives for every captured alien?

[haphazard1]

Wow, apparently that still qualifies as 'excellent'.  High command is happy to trade two dead operatives for every captured alien?

Battleships have a ton of recoverable loot, especially when taken intact as this one was. So I am not surprised by the positive score, even with the many deaths.

Landed battleships are pretty much the toughest missions, either than base fights. They have very large crews, all of whom are alive since the UFO was not shot down. They have terror units (thankfully only reapers since this was a floater battleship). And the entry point and central elevator/lift shaft are both complete death traps due to the geometry.

Nice work to complete the mission, Fenn! And capturing a leader and a commander is a major milestone -- as you noted this will fulfill the requirements for the research to unlock the final mission of the game. That is still a good ways off, but this is a crucial step -- trying to take a sectoid or ethereal commander
 alive later is almost always incredibly difficult.

[Whosit]

I can't believe I died like that! So much for becoming the next super-soldier, huh? Well, 3rd time's the charm, right guys? Right...?

Oh, and if poor Whosit III gets sent on another Snakeman mission, can you pack him with an extra grenade? I think I'd rather blow myself up than get zombified.

[Fenn]

Wow, apparently that still qualifies as 'excellent'.  High command is happy to trade two dead operatives for every captured alien?

Soldiers are cheap in the X-COM world! So long as you accomplish the objective it's hard to get a negative score on these bigger missions. Even highly decorated soldiers like DaveV are only incrementally better than your average rookie, and it's expected that you lose some people now and then.

It is a bit strange how you can get an 'excellent' on a terror mission even if all the civilians die, but if they made the criteria more harsh they'd have to make civvies easier to save too or it would always be a disaster  

Interlude 1

Though one Battleship has been cleaned out, there's still a Supply Ship flying around. Interceptors from Canada and Crete converge on it, but lack enough firepower to bring it down; both are equipped with an Avalanche Launcher and a Laser Cannon, which I'm beginning to consider a weak setup; even after firing all their missiles, they weren't able to stay in Laser Cannon range long enough to shoot down the UFO and had to retreat.


At any rate, here's what the typical haul from a Battleship is worth: almost six million, and that's without selling any Alien Entertainment or Navigation!

Note also the alien prisoners in storage. They'll have their day eventually.


The Supply Ship lands at London; this time I send a crew of unnamed agents to storm it.


It was not as dramatic as the last mission.


Though there were about five Floaters hiding in this house for some reason.


And this clever guy gave me trouble firing out of nowhere before I figured out where he was shooting from.


And that's all there is to say about that. Another ~3 million in the bank.


About a day later, a Medium Scout appears, looking for our base in Europe. If it flies near enough to Crete it may detect our base and call in a Battleship for a base assault, so let's shoot it down before it can do that.


I do have plans for this UFO, so I wait until it flies over solid ground before intercepting.


Like this.


This mission is going to have a very special crew. Remember how Colonel RefSteel brazenly shot a comrade in the back a while ago? That's a very serious offence.


It's his chance to redeem himself. He's kitted out for any situation.


This is because he'll conquer this crashed UFO on his own or die trying. The two agents in the back are there only to fly the Skyranger out if he falls in battle.

-THE TRIAL OF REFSTEEL-

RefSteel spends the first turn sitting in the craft, waiting for the aliens to move around and spend their TUs.


Then it's off to the races. He lays down a smokescreen to his west to block alien vision and sits around a corner.


Turn 3: There's a Floater already. This should be easy.


True to his nature, RefSteel's plasma barrage misses the Floater completely, revealing the crashed UFO in the process.


His second burst hits home, and he ducks back into cover.


Turn 4: The second Floater is in a great place to be shot. RefSteel manages to land two plasma bolts, but even so the Floater remains alive.


Then the next turn, RefSteel rounds the corner to come face-to-face with an alien! Quickly, he fires an auto burst which misses completely, but the Floater is slow to react and a second burst does it in.

During the interturn, the second Floater from before expires somewhere in the fog.


Turn 6: Two more Floaters have arrived, searching for the one that shot at their friends.


RefSteel sends them along with one plasma burst each.

Turn 7: All's quiet now. RefSteel tiptoes forward, but only makes it a few feet before a plasma bolt whizzes past his ears.


Turning to the right, RefSteel finds the shooter.


Luckily for him, his aim is on target this time. With that, the last Floater falls and the mission is over.


Congratulations on your acquittal, RefSteel! Hopefully you've learned a valuable lesson in aiming your weapon.

[novice]

Maybe fill the access lift with proximity grenades and wait for turn 20?

Great play and reporting.

[RefSteel]

<Live Ref Diary audio recording initiated>
Dear Diary,
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
AAAAAaaaaaaaaaAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa!
AaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
Hnnnnn ... hnnnnnnn ... phew.....
uhhhhhhhhhhhh....
pheeeeeeeeeeew.
...
Shoulda sent command that gift basket.
Yours always,
Colonel RefSteel (Clone #3)

[Dreylin]

Maybe they can't afford another Base, and were running the ground invasion from that undercover farmhouse ... would explain why they keep landing Supply ships there!

[Mardoc]

Awesome touch!

Edit: How likely was it that RefSteel III was going to be able to pull that off, anyway?

[Dp101]

That is the best mission of all. I propose that every agent who kills a teammate gets put through a similar ordeal.

[RefSteel]

Awesome touch!

Edit: How likely was it that RefSteel III was going to be able to pull that off, anyway?

On the one hand, I feel like my clone got pretty lucky: The one shot the aliens actually took during the mission missed, and there were two or three times when they could have taken reaction shots with better die rolls but didn't. Landing in the bottom corner with good cover close to the Skyranger was also a good break.

On the other hand, Fenn can pull off miracles sometimes when the going gets tough (see also that first terror mission and the most recent battleship) ... and on a solo mission where you don't try to use explosives, at least you don't have to worry about friendly fire!