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[antisocialmunky]

Mission 15 now with MORE explosions!

I check the graphs to see what the aliens are doing:


Seems most of the activity is centered around the North Pole base, no surprise.

I check out research and stuff, hire 7 more guys to fill the roster, and sell our small radar after the hyperwave decoder is done. Interceptors are ordered for our new bases and 4 plasma beams are done. I sell all but one plasma rifle and clip(we have heavy plasmas so it doesn't matter).

Hyperwave decoders are nice because they tell you all sorts of things:


A small UFO appears. It is full of mutons! Skipped right over the snakemen didn't we... unless that arctic base is full of snakemen and chryssalids (shudder).

Despite my best efforts to get some cheap swap, small UFOs are easily destroyed with not wreckage.


Not much happens for a while so I get bored and checked out how bad Cyneheard's stats really are:


Pretty meh but he has the highest Kill:Missions ratio because we keep trying to get him killed. Dazed has the most kills though:


Also flying suits came in, stats aren't that much better but the flying part is quite nice:



I order up 6. I give one to ASM so he can hide ontop of the Sky Ranger with a rocket(will be replaced by blaster) launcher. Yeah for having rank!

I see the ship that the mutons were scouting for:

So there they are. I figure since plasma beams can shoot down everything but a battleship due to range and power and it would be easier to deal with a boat load of Chryssalids in the open rather than a city to shoot it down.

However it changes direction and disappears over Russia.

I research UFO construction, Cyberdisk Corpse, and Alien Origins:



The Terrorship returns:


This time I shoot it down over Siberia, no wild goose chase this time.
I decide that since Chryssalids are so tough, I bring as many BFGs as I can:


I also decide to not equip everyone with Power Armor, only Sergeants and the most experienced get Powered Armor. Those things are expensive and Terror Ships have one of hardest to deal with layouts in the entire game so casualties are expected (plus I like to make the rookies earn their armor and its more interesting to look at).

And so we embarked on our glorious adventure:


We were fortunate enough to have a day mission. Chryssalids have nighttime camoflauge so its somewhat nice to be able to easily see them.

T1
Speaking of which, while we didn't land on the UFO, the pilot dropped the ramp in front of a Snakeman.


ASM and DazedRoyalty being at the ramp Rock Paper Scissors for the shot, Dazed wins and drops the bugger with an aimed shot. :neenernee


Gotta love being able to one shot aliens now. Not bad, the landing zone isn't a complete death trap for me for once. I drop a smoke and end turn.

Spoke too soon, between turns, something suspiciously like a crab runs by the landing gear causing ASM, frustrated with his Rock Paper Scissors loss, to reaction shoot a rocket into the side of Dazed. No one is seriously injured because rockets suck at this point in the game and everyone shares a laugh.

This is why you unload your rocket launchers when you equip them.

T2
So, I guess the landing zone is somewhat trapped, (leers at SkyRanger Pilot)...


Dazed quickly kills one smiling at him with another aimed shot.


Pling and SevenSpirits who are behind ASM and Dazed, shoot over their heads at the chryssalids and miss. ASM kills the other Chryssalid with a rocket to the back of the head. I decide to wait a turn before dealing with the Chryssalid since ASM and Dazed are blocking the ramp.

Between Turns, ASM is knocked unconscious iwth a plasma shot.

T3
SevenSpirits heals ASM. I end the turn.

ASM apparently wakes up and crawls out of the Sky Ranger. He is shot and killed.

The Chryssalid keeps wandering by the landing gear.


T4
With the Captain dead, Pling jumps out of the Sky Ranger and sees:


3 Aliens in a conga line. Dazed, now second in command passes Pling a primed grenade which she (the avatar is a she) tosses into the middle of the dancing aliens. ASM will be avenged.

She feels that she is forgetting something and turns left. Oh yeah, the giant enemy crab monster.

SevenSpirits shoots a burst it at the chryssalid's his laser rifle. It survives... Yeah, that's why I broke out 10 heavy plasmas for this mission. Meiz being better armed jumps out and kill it.


Meiz turns south and sees another snakeman. He has just enough TUs to snap shot and kills it:


I end the turn. Also BOOM!


But the chryssalid doesn't die very easily and runs into the smoke. Chryssalids in the Mist.

T5

Daze shoots and wounds another snakeman that decides to charge the SkyRanger.


SevenSpirits fires 2 full laser rifle bursts to finish it off.

Pling moves forward, sees the hiding chryssalid and shoots it in the face(didn't get a screenshot ) twice. She kills it with the 2nd shot. We can also see the UFO now:


End Turn and nothing happens.

T6[/]
Pling advances and sees another snake who was late to the conga line.


DaveV flanks it and wounds it twice. Pling exchanges fire with it, both Pling and the snake miss.

Meiz finally climbs to the top of a near by hill to kill it.

2 Snakes come into vision between turns.

[b]T7
Our formation:


Pling Grenades by the visible snake.


DaveV sees a snake and kills it.




End Turn.

One snake dead. Surviving snake throws a grenade that lands infront of SevenSpirits.

T8
SevenSpirits dies. Dazed sees the grenadier snake.

Meins shoots at the snake from the crest of the hill. This distracts it so that Dazed can kill it without taking return fire. Hey, I gotta keep the vets alive.


Storming the Ship
We finish up outside, with DaveV getting another snake kill. Amelia and Brackard scout around the edges of the map just to make sure. We have already killed a ton of aliens so hopefully there wouldn't be much inside.

The area outside the northwest entrance was especially corpsie just for the record.


Aside - The layout of the Terror Ship

The Terror Ship is a two story tall octogon. The entrances are those little boxes jutting out of the first floor on either side. The doors are 2 wide because cyberdisks, reapers, and the Sectopods are 2x2. The most striking feature of the TerrorShip though is the fact that there are two 'holding bays' right above where the rectangular entrances connect to the ship. They are located on the second floor and are open to the first. This means aliens will often jump onto of your men or shoot them from above... not fun especially the melee ones.

For more information:
http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Terror_ship

I divide the squad into two teams. Team 1 will enter through the north door, Team 2 will enter through the south door. Team 1 drew straws and Rego is volunteered to take point. He enters and sees a chryssalid wandering in the smoke caused by the destroyed engine.


He kills it with a plasma burst.

Rookies move into cover Rego.


Rego also blows a hole in a wall so we can see the center lift and the far wall. This allows Sullla and Team 2 to safely move through the south entrance with Meiz taking point.


We move towards the lift with the veterans covering the rookies. We pass under one of the bays which appear deserted. We have one of the rookies cover it just in case.


We see something in the South Bay moving around.

Everything seems safe so Rego moves forward. This successfully baits a chryssalid out from the Northern Bay:


DaveV fires a full burst instead of a careful shot. The last plasma bolt travels the length of the ship and kills Meiz. Oops. We advance to the center lift.

Brackard and Pling move out to cover the southern holding bay. Hover both freeze in panic as a chryssalid jumps down and impregnates Brackard. 1st Zombie!


A hail of plasma reaction shots kills both of the chryssalids.


Rego and Ug go up the lift. The leave the lift room. Rego coves the southern entrance. Ug leaves the lift room and sees 2 terrified snakemen who have dropped their weapons and are trying to surrender.
Ug thinks about it for a moment and burst fires both and victory is ours!


Rego is disappointed because he didn't get to use his stun rod.


Also, apparently you can only have 50 images in one post.

[haphazard1]

Getting your own avatar killed...ouch.

Mutons out and about...wonderful. And now Snakemen and Chryssalids. Still, it did seem like they were overdue by a month or so.

For Eurocom, I had another Workshop under construction. So I would add a bunch more engineers once it is ready. Check how much workshop space the Firestorm will need, then hire engineers to fill up whatever remains. The rest of the living space can go to more soldiers.

Did you transfer one interceptor, or hire new ones for both new bases? Hopefully transfer, so we have a hangar free for building a ship.

Rocket launchers...they have their uses, but you have to be careful. As you were reminded. I usually give my rocket trooper a pistol in the other hand, and activate that weapon at the end of his turn so any reaction fire will be from the pistol. It is one-handed so he does not get any penalties, and it gives him something to shoot with when a rocket is not appropriate (too close, soldiers nearby, etc.). When he needs to launch a rocket, just drop the pistol (minimal TU cost) to avoid the aiming penalty.

So far no zombie deaths...keep up the good work!

[antisocialmunky]

Full report posted.

I bought a new interceptor. Oh well, after all the plasmas we get from this mission, it doesn't really matter.

21 Corpses.

[uberfish]

Success on our first outing against chryssalids! Hmm I guess Pling might indeed be special, she seems to have gotten a lot of kills... And the friendly fire incidents were hilarious.

Alien races don't assist each other on missions, a scout not intercepted by XCOM will always be followed up by a ship of the same race. The base in the Arctic is therefore Sectoid.

[haphazard1]

Poor Brackard -- being turned into a zombie is a terrible fate.

Nice work, ASM, dealing with our first Chryssalid encounter.

If the Arctic base is known Sectoid, we could try an assault to capture a Psi alien to open up that research branch. Not sure it is worth it, we can wait for Ethereals to start showing up in UFOs and take on a small or medium more easily than attacking a base. But it is a possibility, and bases give excellent loot.

Do we want to consider additional bases? Or wait a while longer and build up the two new ones a bit more?

[antisocialmunky]

We can also just use the base to farm loot.

[dazedroyalty]

If the Arctic base is known Sectoid, we could try an assault to capture a Psi alien to open up that research branch. Not sure it is worth it, we can wait for Ethereals to start showing up in UFOs and take on a small or medium more easily than attacking a base. But it is a possibility, and bases give excellent loot.?

I have mixed feelings waiting for Ethereals. Small UFOs are easier than bases as a rule. However, Ethereals are leaps and bounds stronger in their Psi power, which means that practically every attempt at mind control will work. The upside of going after Psi now is that we would be able to train our soldiers and weed out weak Psi soldiers on future Ethereal missions. The downside is that it will probably be at a very high cost of soldiers.

For now, I suggest that we farm supply ships from the base. We actually could capture a Psi sectoid leader from the supply ship and it's easier than the base. Plus, that is an easy way to get extra Elerium since we know they'll be landing.

[dazedroyalty]

Also, ASM, great job on that mission! Hilarity and excellence. Four deaths against our first snakeman/Chryssalid encounter is excellent! You really had wave after wave coming at the Skyranger. I'm glad my avatar was able to help mow em down!

[pocketbeetle]

I haven't paid much attention to this thread, having never played the X-com series.
So imagine my surprise to randomly click on the latest post and see my name.

I should have been more careful with the buildings to the west -- the shooting of Pocketbeetle should not have happened, really.

Damn straight it shouldn't!

But it turned out well in the end, so I am not complaining.

Oh, well that's just great! I'm sooooo glad you're not complaining!
Can I get a medic over here now please?

[haphazard1]

I haven't paid much attention to this thread, having never played the X-com series.
So imagine my surprise to randomly click on the latest post and see my name.

Welcome to our little corner of RB gaming, pocketbeetle! I have really enjoyed your FFH2 PBEM1 thread.

Damn straight it shouldn't!

Night missions are tough. Even knowing aliens see much farther and using flares to reveal terrain, it can be hard to cover everything.

Oh, well that's just great! I'm sooooo glad you're not complaining!
Can I get a medic over here now please?

Hey, I made sure Sullla patched your avatar up the next round. And really, long stretches in the hospital are the best way to extend your total lifespan as an XCOM solider.

Also, two kills on the mission and not dying is pretty good for a rookie.