Let's Play UFO2:Extraterrestrials

[Thorondor]

That tanker truck's tires alone would be reason enough for smoke to linger for quite a long time. But I'll let you try pyrotechnics when you see fit to verify if smoke is always this lacking.

Meanwhile, us big boys with the big toys are content with levelling the playfield. Right, FullAuto?

[Zombie]

Point allocation time! First up is MikeTheRed:

Two points went directly into bravery to get him to 70. Good enough. Then one point into strength and shooting to get him to a solid 80 with the remainder going in vitality. Next up is Slaughter:

One point immediately went into bravery to get him to 71 (remember that my min comfort level for bravery is 70 or more). Two went into strength to get him to 79. Wish this was more, but there are more promotions to fix that. One point went into throwing to get him to 78 and the last point went into agility because that was lagging behind vitality. Finally, here's NoX:

He seems awfully low in stats for some reason so we have to plug the holes before we can diversify. Two points went into both strength and shooting while the last point went into bravery to get him to 66. Still low, but I think 1 promotion point = 3 ability points so with another promotion that would mean he'd be at 69 for bravery with one point which might still be okay. I'm finding that strength is vastly more important in this game than in UFO:Et Gold so we may have to bite the bullet and max that stat out before putting more points into throwing.

Back in the Geoscape and we have a message:

Fantastic! Who to give it to though. We're going to have to look at everyone's strength and give it to the strongest person first. Before we do that, let's take a look at our European base:

Our last hangar has been built and an interceptor is on the way. Still 22 days to build the photon defenses but we should be able to hold our own. As for the armor, I made the executive decision to give it to Thorondor first even though his strength isn't the highest. He's the guy I don't want to lose and is probably going to be the head honcho soldier too:

Oh, and we have a couple recent recruits which will join the team next mission:

Meet Sorbicol and Nook. I also have a couple of brand new recruits sitting back at base by the name of Kret and of course, Zombie:

Kret and Zombie aren't going to be going anywhere in the near future until Sorbicol and Nook have a few promotions in though.

"Why acquire new recruits at this time?" you may ask. Well, we have to prepare for the possibility that our current squad of soldiers are either going to or coming back from a mission and the aliens suddenly attack our main base. We need to have enough people there to defend the place. And greenhorns don't cut it, we need soldiers with decent accuracy and strength to get the job done. Might as well start slowly training a couple at a time so we are ready. And who knows, we may eventually start running two transports.

Just in time and we produced another suit of photon armor. This one goes to Space Voyager:

I don't want him feeling left behind or that I'm playing favorites. I decided that the most senior soldiers are going to be the medics so they need the best armor to run up to the wounded and patch them up. And I'm sure they will be getting in on the action too.

Back in the Geoscape and our main base interceptors shoot down another recon vessel in Thailand maybe? Hard to tell, but we are going there next!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Check it out, SV, we've been assigned to Trauma Team. Niiiice suits and we get to deliver with blunt force. Sounds good to me!

Sorbicol and Nook are going to need a lot of patching up aren't they? Poor greenhorns.

As they say in Thailand, Gan wy dtee gwaa gae - preventive measures are better than the need for a cure. Lucky for you we're in the capable hands of Commander Zombie!

[Zombie]

On 11/2/2022 at 7:51 AM, Thorondor said:

Sorbicol and Nook are going to need a lot of patching up aren't they? Poor greenhorns.

I'm hoping they will not, though you never know. My original intention was to just keep them in the back of the transport safe and sound while everyone else does the killing, But promotions come quicker with active participation which also carries risk. To mitigate that, I did give them both shielding and decided to move them only when the coast is clear and try to put them in positions for a kill where they can't be shot at. And have a vet nearby as backup.

First round we disembark and fan out to our normal locations in a farm map. Sorbicol and Nook hang out at the door of the transport. The next round Space Voyager tries to move and is shot by a Nh'Teol on the roof:

Since the alien has depleted action points from firing it's weapon it should be pretty safe to let Sorby take an aimed shot. Kill. During the aliens turn FA and NoX see some activity near them in the beehive area? It's a Nh'Teol so FA readies a grenade:

Probably shouldn't have done that as the blast propagated through the hedge (did no damage though). It also destroyed the hedge leaving FA exposed and opening a new can of worms:

FA throws another grenade on the new Nh'Teol killing it and NoX takes out the Trep with a snap shot:

Threats eliminated, but now they are both exposed and out of action points. Fingers crossed and luckily nothing happens. A bunch of turns pass as we spread out to explore the map. NoX spots a Trep upstairs in the main building:

Since we know something is up there, I carefully send Thorondor inside. During the aliens turn Pete takes out a Trep on the roof of the building:

Is it the same one from the 2nd floor we saw before? Probably not as it wouldn't have enough action points to cover all that distance. Thorondor, you still have to go up there, sorry! Next round he finds it:

He kills it then stands by the wall for cover. Meanwhile, Nook is downstairs and comes across a Nh'Teol in a doorway:

Aimed shot and it was dead. During the aliens turn Thorondor sees activity upstairs yet and finds out what that was:

The Nh'Teol must've been in the room by Thorondor and then tried to escape. Mr T took it out though. The next round FA spots a Nh'Teol by the UFO and Sorby was in a perfect position to throw a grenade on it:

Perfect! EOM:

Good job you two are now privates. Point allocation was exactly the same for both:

Their shooting was garbage (which was why I made them take aimed shots) so I put 3 points into that to get them in the 60's, and then 2 points in strength to help them carry more stuff. It's only the first promotion so you have to be patient with these two. I'm sure they will be looking at another promotion after the next mission.

In the Geoscape, it's the end of the month so let's see how we fared this time around:

All in all, pretty good. I'm surprised Europe reduced funding even with our new base. Then again, we kept our heads down there until it was up and running so it's understandable. I look at our funding and consistently see that South America isn't happy, and then I look at our cash and then back and forth a few times and decide it's time to build a base there too. At the very least we'll have some mutual support between our base in North America. I'll be going over that next time.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Privates Nook and Sorbicol have drawn their first blood. Join us warriors, heed the call!

We haven't yet impressed the European Union much but that shall change before long, as we start fully laying down the law throughout that airspace.

Ambitions of South American expansion speak well of our resolve. There are mountains to climb still and climb them we will!

[Zombie]

So here's the location of our new base under construction in South America:

And here's the layout with my "new" base building strategy:

Prioritize the photon defenses and the detection station because they take the longest to build and plop another hangar underneath. When the top hangar completes build two new hangars on either side:

Just north our base in North America shoots down a light alien scout near the pole:

It'll stay light there for a little bit so the transport is sent immediately. Four rounds into the mission and Sorby sees a Trep in the distance but can't shoot at it due to obstructions.

No problem, Treps only have melee so we'll allow it to get closer. It does and so does a Nh'Teol:

Sorbicol has "his" work cut out for him. A grenade for the Nh'Teol and a snap shot for the Trep:

All clear for the time being. A couple rounds later and he peeks around the corner to see a Nh'Teol. He couldn't throw the grenade exactly to the alien, but one tile away should be sufficient:

We heard some doors opening nearby so Nook goes inside the building to see a Trep trying to set a trap:

A bunch of turns later after we clear the inside of the building Nook ventures outside and sees a Trep in the air.

A snap accuracy of 82% isn't bad so he takes a shot and kills it. Five turns later Nook gets close to the UFO and sees a Nh'Teol:

Another snap, another kill. The next turn FullAuto (who is on the roof of the building) sees a Nh'Teol.

Nook needs the kill so he peeks around the corner and gets blasted. Luckily no damage so he was able to take it out. NoX was guarding the door to the next building and was able to kill a Trep who was trying to exit:

Progress is being made now. A Nh'Teol suddenly appears from along the side of the UFO and shoots at Nook.

No damage again, so he was able to snap shot it. During the alien's turn a Nh'Teol exits the UFO but didn't realize it was under the watchful "eye in the sky" FullAuto who shot it dead:

FullAuto was in the perfect sniping spot so he just stayed in place and took out the last Nh'Teol. EOM:

This time 3 promotions: the expected Sorbicol and Nook and a surprise showing by FullAuto. Atta guy! Sorbicol and Nook were double promotions so we have 10 points to spend this time:

Three points go into shooting and strength right off the bat. Then it's one point into Agility, Vitality, Bravery and Throwing to get him to 60 in all of those. Solid. Ditto for Nook except he's lower in those last stats:

Lastly here's FA:

He immediately got one point into bravery so he's 70 or more, then one point in agility, vitality, strength and throwing. Maybe should have put more points into strength so that it's easier carrying the mortar and 5 bombs (instead of 4), but mortar soldiers need to be protected by a soldier with an actual gun and that guy can carry more bombs too.

Back in the Geoscape I was looking at my bases and noticed I could build workshops in them (unlike UFO:ET)! So I started construction on a couple of them in Europe:

Hopefully we can use this base to crank out some more photon armor or shields for my troops. Heck, if the base can construct the new interceptors (when they become available) that would be prime as that wouldn't leave my main base constantly short-handed. The photon defenses are finally operational in Europe too so that's kinda exciting.

And here's what the new base in South America looks like:

Two interceptors are there plus two more on the way. And then our defensive systems come on line starting with the cannon, the radar  (another hangar) and then the rocket defenses thereafter. Nice! And we finally shoot down a recon vessel over... Manchuria? Mongolia? Somewhere there:

That's for tomorrow though as it's dark there (and here too).

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

The South American base is coming along nicely. Development almost feels faster than prior ones. Smack dab in the middle of the landmass - come at us, aliens, and you shall be intercepted, eventually.

What's this then? A mission in a nameless place. Nothing is beneath us that forwards our cause. All aboard!

[Zombie]

15 hours ago, Thorondor said:

The South American base is coming along nicely. Development almost feels faster than prior ones.

Well, I optimized the build a bit to make it slightly more efficient and also there wasn't much alien activity which makes it seem slower due to more missions happening. So it's probably only slightly faster.

So this mission was an airport map. On the second round we see the typical Nh'Teol in the control tower strategy which the aliens love to use. Sure, I could shoot out the glass and furniture to get at the thing but that takes a lot of shooting. How about a one shot one kill scenario? For giggles I checked to see if the mortar could get close. It was better than that even, you can mortar the inside of the control tower:

No ceiling? WAI? Dunno, but let's fire the thing off just to make sure:

Yes indeed it certainly works! So that's actually a viable strategy on an airport map: mortar the control tower on round one and you will not have to manually huff it over there and risk getting a soldier hurt. Nice to know. Okay enough fooling around, we have 2 new rookies along with the names of Kret and Zombie who need experience points. Zombie kills a Nh'Teol with reaction fire (wow) and then sees a Trep:

Here again, it's aimed shots as it's the most accurate. Took two of them but it's dead. Kret gets an opportunity to take a long range shot at a Nh'Teol by the UFO:

An aimed shot is only 59% though. Hmmm. I didn't need to worry one little bit as Kret took it out easily. Sorbicol then sees a Trep on his side of the fence so he lines up his shot:

No problem for him as it goes down in one shot. During the alien's turn a Nh'Teol opened the door where Kret was kneeling and shot him for 8 damage. Kret got his revenge with a monstrous critical hit dealing 95 damage:

Mr T was there to patch him up and all was fine again. A Trep tried to come after these two but was met with immediate reaction fire from Thorondor and his photon bearmer:

The combat log shows the thing died during the player's turn but I can assure you it died during the alien's turn (if it didn't die, Kret needed the xp). A round later and we spot a Nh'Teol by the UFO so it was time for Kret to try his hand at sniping:

He killed it, though the shot only did 19 damage. These Nh'Teol's must be glass cannons or something as I'm thinking they only have 15 hit points. The next turn a Nh'Teol took a shot at Nook who was now guarding the fenceline. No damage:

He finished it off with a snap which ended the mission. EOM:

Love to see promotions! Something was wonky as it says Kret was promoted to private when in fact he was promoted to private first class (maybe due to the EOM xp)? Ten points to spend on him:

I poured a whole promotion's worth of points into shooting to get him to a tolerable 70 and then dumped nearly that much into strength as well. One point went into throwing. As for Zombie is was the usual:

He has some decent stats so he might be end game material. Here's what the base in South America looks like now:

The last interceptor is on the way and our light rocket defense finished building so the only thing left is the photon defense which is going to take 18 more days. A little while later and our two workshops finished construction at our European base:

Unfortunately I can't produce armor at this base, nor any other soldier items like shields or ammo. So that really sucks. The only things it can produce are interception-related such as airplanes/helicopters and photon cannons. I'm not going to deconstruct the workshops so let's build some photon cannons for profit then. I'll keep a few of the cannons around just in case an interceptor gets destroyed or we build another base, but that isn't going to happen for a while.

Then the crap hits the fan as we get our first swarm alert:

Thank the stars above that it spawned near our main base so we were able to shoot it down (with help from the interceptors in Europe):

Two more UFO's inbound so we back off a little bit to draw them in, then let loose with the base defenses and all 8 interceptors:

Not too bad. Normally I'd head straight for the swarm leader to get that over with, but I'm currently training up Kret, Zombie, Sorbicol and Nook and I'm too lazy to take them all off the transport only to put them all back on after. So we are going to do this in reverse order. We'll visit the two non-swarm leader UFOs in the dark to train up the soldiers, and after that they should have improved so we can tackle the leader in daylight. That''s the plan.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Why not mortar the control tower? I like the way you think! Blasted the bugger into oblivion with a complimentary shower of glass shards to liven up the proceedings.

Most everybody got in on the fun this mission. I certainly enjoyed my retaliatory zapping.

A little band-aid took care of Kret's scratch, but we're still seeing a tad too many hits and if the aliens came packing something better on that swarm leader UFO we better be on our toes...

Sychronize your watches, troopers - we've got a whole lot of cleaning by the numbers to do if we want to secure that special reward in time!

[Zombie]

21 hours ago, Thorondor said:

A little band-aid took care of Kret's scratch, but we're still seeing a tad too many hits and if the aliens came packing something better on that swarm leader UFO we better be on our toes...

The aliens are always trying to shoot you and they have good accuracy too so it's unavoidable most times. It's a fact that hits are going to happen, the best thing to do is be prepared. All my soldiers carry a stimpack and usually are supported by another person to get patched up. And if someone really gets hurt (which really hasn't happened yet), Thorondor and Space Voyager have the medikits. It's not that the aliens will get better weapons (they will eventually) it's that we will be seeing different aliens with integrated weapons that do AOE.

Let's hit up that light scout UFO of the swarm first. Sorby rolls out of the transport and is immediately shot by a Nh'Teol:

The damage was absorbed by his shields which is good. And he has a 98% accurate snap shot too. After killing that a limited number of soldiers deploy from the transport and take defensive positions. A Trep tried sneaking up on us a couple turns later but Mr T took it down with reaction fire:

Some hefty hits there! A couple rounds later and another Trep comes close. Mr T was slow on the draw so Zombie comes out of cover to blast it:

Took 2 snap shots but that's kinda normal for Treps. Just in case anybody is wondering, Space Voyager is the soldier standing next to the transport - he's there to pick off any aliens that get past our first line of defense which is Zombie and Nook (and to provide emergency heals if the need arises). The next round a Nh'Teol appears and looks to be trying to get past so Zombie readies a grenade:

Which unfortunately does a whole 8 damage to it:

The second grenade killed it thankfully. Since Zombie was getting low on grenades I had Space Voyager huff it over there to resupply, then huffed it back. Then nothing happened for about 7 rounds or so. Everyone continued to hold their positions as there were certainly more aliens around. Eventually a Trep shows up which gave Zombie a chance to fire his weapons for once:

Only took one shot too which was nice. The aliens bodies are starting to pile up on one tile:

After a few more rounds without hearing any alien movement sounds nearby (except for UFO doors opening) we slowly start to spread out with Zombie leading the push. Mostly we head south west as we need to clear that area out first before heading to the UFO. Zombie spots a Nh'Teol but can't shoot at it because a tree is in the way. A grenade gets around that issue, but Zombie isn't strong enough yet to throw it directly on the alien's tile. He can get it close though:

And that was good enough to kill the thing. Now some of the team make a mad dash to get to the UFO while others do some exploring. FullAuto can always mortar something if we get ourselves into a jam as long as he isn't too far away. Zombie killed a Nh'Teol which ran out of the UFO, then Nook kills a Trep which peeked it's head out of the door during the alien's turn. Th e door stayed open which revealed another Nh'Teol inside:

Zombie killed it with a snap shot. The breach team then huffs it over to the UFO door knowing there's more inside. Door opening sounds are heard during the alien's round so we open the door to reveal another Nh'Teol ripe for shooting by Zombie:

Auto shot this time as we don't want to trigger reaction fire and get hurt this late in the mission. More rounds pass without activity. No alien footsteps are heard & no doors opening either. By this point the majority of the map has been explored and there's just 3-4 soldiers on overwatch duty outside just to make sure there isn't a hidden Trep that comes out of nowhere. The breach team had entered the UFO and Zombie took his position behind that piece of alien "furniture" as cover. Before long 2 Nh'Teols show up at the same time:

Why do they constantly do this to themselves? If you bunch up I'm going to toss a grenade on you. Anyway, Zombie throws the grenade and kills them both ending the mission. EOM:

Yup, it was mostly Zombie this mission but Sorby and Nook also got promotions with their limited involvement (nothing for Mr T, sorry). At least the rating was "very good" this time. While looking at the "Items Gained" heading we got 5 photon beamers and only 2 clips, which leads me to believe the "recover partial clips after combat" mod only applies to human weapons. More of a reason to hold on to every last photon beamer clip you recover. So here's what I did with the points from Zombie's double promotion:

Two points went into bravery and strength while three went into throwing and shooting. Probably should have put 2 points into throwing and 3 into strength but there are still plenty of promotions ahead. Here's how the points were allocated for Nook:

He needed 2 points in bravery as I was ignoring this stat. The rest went into shooting, throwing and strength (the Big 3). Here's Sorbicol:

A little bit different for him as I bumped up shooting with 2 points then tossed one into vitality, strength and throwing. He's coming along nicely. Zombie is actually pretty close to another promotion so if I can get him at least another couple kills in the next mission he'll be set. Kret isn't too far off either so we're going to ensure he has chances to kill stuff. Next mission is the recon vessel from the swarm which we'll be doing in the dark again.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Such a warm welcome from the aliens. All you have to do is step off the transport to be greeted with potentially face-melting energy weapon fire.

Saves time and doesn't allow any build-up of rookie anxiety. It's kerblam and right back atcha, wretched bugs.

Buckle up, Dorothy, we're going back out again. Flips on the radio on comms:

"Exit light,
Enter night,
Take my hand,
We're off to Never -, Neverland".

[Space Voyager]

On 11/2/2022 at 1:51 PM, Thorondor said:

Check it out, SV, we've been assigned to Trauma Team. Niiiice suits and we get to deliver with blunt force. Sounds good to me!

Niiiiice, we look menacing as hell - if I was an alien, I'd haul ass!

[Zombie]

This next mission was the 2nd UFO in the swarm which is a recon vessel. We zone into a farm map this time and the first encounter we had was Thorondor taking out a Trep on a roof:

Space Voyager is kneeling down by the hole in the hedge making sure there aren't any more surprises. As you can see, there are two aliens spotted. One is upstairs in the farm house:

Not sure how we got line of sight on this thing, but we can't shoot it. Or can we? There's a flat spot right outside of the window so maybe we can mortar the thing? Will the blast take down the wall or propagate through it? Let's try:

It's green, so it's doable. Here's the result:

Now, that's the safest way to take care of the farmhouse! It doesn't destroy the wall, but the windows are gone and everything inside is destroyed too. Interesting! Zombie killed a Trep inside the farmhouse and then found a Nh'Teol. Can't shoot it, but he can throw a grenade close by:

After killing it, the sweep team occupies the first floor with Zombie heading upstairs to check out our handiwork with the mortar.

During the alien's turn a Nh'Teol appears upstairs. I don't particularly want Zombie walking up there to shoot it so grenade it is:

Just had the angle to toss the grenade up there perfectly. Zombie then went upstairs to look around. During the alien's turn a Trep shows up which Thorondor shoots but doesn't kill. So maybe Zombie can get a shot off if he steps out on to the ledge outside the window:

It works and Zombie gets a super easy kill:

The next turn two Nh'Teols come out of the UFO and stand right next to each other:

Super stupid AI choice there as Kret can just throw a grenade on them. The last Nh'Teol was kinda glitched out because we couldn't initially see it. But it became visible the next turn:

Sorby (who is standing in the corner of the hedge) tried shooting out the hedge with an auto shot to kill the thing, but it took 2 shots to destroy the hedge and the 3rd shot hit the box, destroying it. With a clear shot now, Kret killed it with a snap shot. EOM:

Awesome, two promotions again! First up is Kret:

Two points went in shooting and then one point into bravery, strength and throwing. Here's Zombie:

Basically one point into everything important. The next mission is going to be the swarm leader which is a light alien cruiser. Maybe new aliens? We better give everyone the photon beamers now that their strength is sufficient. We'll be doing this next time, hopefully in daylight!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Mortar field testing continues successfully. A tidy 140 mechanical damage delivered with curiously well contained directionality. One more for the books.

Overall a very smooth operation with nobody being hit for a change and a couple more promotions rolling in.

It's the real deal coming up next, so put your game faces on!

[Zombie]

Okay, so we zone into a desert landscape this time and for the first turn I carefully deploy only a few soldiers until I see what types of aliens are present. Second turn Thorondor sees a Trep:

Guess I didn't need to load the photon beamers after all. Anyway, Zombie is eager to get in on the killing action so he advances and spots yet another Trep:

He only had enough action points for a snap shot. It hit but didn't kill, so Kret finished it off:

We gotta get rid of the other Trep so Space Voyager steps in:

Thorondor thinks the worst of it has passed, but oh no, he spots another Trep:

NKF advances a little to get a better shot at it and spots yet another Trep:

He killed it with a critical hit. Space Voyager had just enough action points to take a shot at the other Trep which he killed too:

Busy round! The next round FullAuto spots a Nh'Teol and gets ready to toss a grenade on it:

Totally didn't realize the truck itself is super explosive so when the grenade went off it triggered the truck to explode too:

Big boom! The next round all hell breaks loose as we spot 3 Nh'Teols clumped together and a lone one nearby. That's a job for the mortar:

Just to note, I unlocked the "Multi Kill" Steam achievement by killing 3 aliens on one "shoot". So if you want to do that the mortar is probably the best at it followed closely by the rocket launcher:

As for the other Nh'Teol, Kret threw a grenade at it and missed but he hit with a snap shot:

The next turn a Nh'Teol shows up and seriously injures FullAuto. The thing was hunkered down amongst some walls so FA really didn't have a shot. Mortar time:

After it died, Thorondor rushed over to FA and patched him up completely as if nothing ever happened:

Good job! A couple turns later and most of the map has been searched. A Trep was spotted on top of the UFO in a far corner:

Yup, mortar time again:

Critical hit too. Gotta love overkill! A couple turns later and Zombie was just itching for some kills so he opened the door to the UFO and prepared  to toss a grenade on a Nh'Teol:

I didn't realize it at the time, but he also hit a Trep with the blast too. And himself too, though no damage. The combat log caught all of it:

During the alien's turn, the Trep tries to slice 'n dice Zombie with it's Edward Scissorhands:

So now what Trep? You are stuck with a whole squad of angered soldiers looking at you. Zombie kills it no problem and Thorondor does another quick patch job to get him back up to speed. A few turns later and Kret decides to do a little exploring inside the UFO but triggers reaction fire from a Nh'Teol when he opened a door:

Grenade time. The blast must've set off some alien equipment too as there was an ominous cloud of gas in the room. Didn't seem to hurt but we kinda kept our distance. Zombie made his way into the second area and faced the door where Kret and NKF were stationed. During the alien's turn a Nh'Teol showed up but Zombie killed it with reaction fire:

The last alien was a Nh'Teol which kret killed with reaction fire too. That was it, EOM:

16 aliens on this craft and more promotions for Kret and Zombie! Kret first:

Two points went into shooting to get him to 86 and then the last 3 points went into bravery, strength and throwing. Here's Zombie:

Same exact points allocation strategy. Zombie's stats are a little better than Kret's, but Kret is behind Zombie in promotions so it's basically identical. Back in the Geoscape and we get our swarm message:

Jet pack, eh? We'll see about that! I reloaded a bunch of times but that's the only reward it seems. Crap. Might come in handy but it weighs quite a bit and can only fit in the backpack:

While looking at other items I noticed that the VT2000 Personal Shield has no weight listed:

But when I equip it, there's a 8 point increase in encumbrance so this must be an oversight. Too bad it isn't weightless. A couple days later and there's a light alien cruiser inbound. I checked to see what it would do if I ignored it and it wanted to take over our European base. That ain't happening, scramble all interceptors:

Because it was dark at the crash site I waited till it got brighter but another light cruiser showed up so we had to address that first:

Not really sure what mission this UFO was on, but it sure looked like it was heading to the base in Europe too. Luckily our defenses were spot on and we shot it down before anything else could happen:

We'll be doing the one in Jordan (Syria?) first.

Just a note about aliens: I reloaded the swarm leader mission from the Geoscape and this time it was Giant Birds of Prey and maybe Bonesetters? I didn't get too far into the mission to find out what the other alien was. So eventually we'll be seeing them, but for for now it looks like we're still in Treps and Nh'Teols.

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Playing with 'pineapples' can prove hazardous to one's health. Fortunately no harm came of it and Zombie still got promoted to Sergeant. Go figure. 😋

Plenty of cash earned for what was a pretty standard mission but, as you determined, we could have been facing other odds if the die hadn't been rolled the way they did.

Alien aggression increases, yet our flyboys made them bite the dust. Ready to get boots on the ground and finish the job, Sir!

[Zombie]

Farm map again, and on round 2 Sorbicol enters the building and it shot for no damage. The Nh'Teol was in back of the door hiding so Sorby kills it:

As you can see, Thorondor is nearby to keep a watchful eye on the rag-tag group of soldiers and is ready to step in if needed (like heals or killing an alien). During the alien's turn a Trep came downstairs and stood right in front of our firing line. Kret does the honors:

I'm still worried there might be a Nh'Teol upstairs so MTR preemptively strikes with a mortar and finds a hidden one:

See? This is a legit strategy to deal with the upstairs with almost no risk. Note: this is true at least for pushover aliens, but even if the blast doesn't kill the tougher aliens, the combat log can give you an idea of how many might be up there and you can always mortar it a couple more times if need be. Anyhow, during the aliens next turn we hear leathery walking sounds from a Nh'Teol along the other side of the map so Nook peeked out of cover to check:

A snap shot killed it so he went back into cover. During the alien's turn a Trep came floating by heading to Mr T:

But Nook was right there so he killed it with a couple snap shots. Some rounds go by and they were spent exploring and eventually converging on the UFO. There didn't seem to be anything outside anymore so I even moved up MikeTheRed (Mortarman) and Pete (mule and cover). Pete was stationed a fair distance away from the UFO door but was still able to kill a Trep with reaction fire when it exited:

The door stays open and there was a Nh'Teol inside. Space Voyager was hiding inside the small building so he comes out to shoot at the alien:

It went down easily and during the next two rounds part of the team heads to the main door:

Pete eventually covered the southeast of the UFO while Space Voyager covered the southwest. Thorondor covered the door (and provided backup/heals) and MTR was hiding close by behind a pile of wood. There isn't much room inside this UFO anyway so it makes sense to not put all your eggs in one basket. A couple turns later and Kret finds a Trep inside:

Auto shot it dead. A few turns later and we hear doors opening and a Nh'Teol moving around so Sorby takes a peek and is shot for no damage:

A snap shot killed it and then during the alien's turn two Nh'Teols try a pincer attack on us:

We have entrenched positions with backup though. Kret comes out of the room to the right and shoots the closest alien in the back with a snap shot, killing it:

And Sorbicol took a couple snap shots at the other one:

Sorby heard a door opening to the north of him and it sure looks like the door was still open in the darkness:

Zombie went inside the room to investigate and nothing was there. Odd. I think what happened was the Nh'Teol was initially inside the room, then exited, because the next round it returned and shot at Zombie:

Auto shot for the win! EOM:

Wow, Thorondor, Nook and Sorby all got promotions! Let's do Mr T first:

One point immediately went into bravery to get him above 70. With that stat kinda finished for the foreseeable future we can concentrate on the other ones. Two went into strength because it's such a huge part of the game and then one into throwing to get him to 80 and the last into vitality (con is not a dump stat). So happy for him as he's been quietly leading the team for many missions now and unselfishly letting the newbies get the kills. Speaking of newbies, here's Nook and Sorbicol:

Exact same point allocation strategy again. Two into strength, one in bravery, one in throwing and shooting. Out of these two Sorbicol is technically has the potential to be a better soldier than Nook, but when everyone has been fully promoted I think those differences will have been ironed out.

Next up is that other light alien cruiser in the daytime!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

*knock, knock* Who's there?

It's the Warrant Officer and you've been served!! 😎

May my service help reclaim Earth and keep you careless youngsters alive - here's to you, Nook and Sorby!

Pete, the old reliable. Come here and explain that fast draw technique to the noobs. 😀

MTR, stop it. We're not playing "dodge this!" with you now. You're lucky to be able to hit the broad side of a barn with that thing anyway. Behave or I'll show you what real collateral damage is, runt.

You stay strong, my brothers in arms and we'll give 'em a good lickin' yet again next round!

[Zombie]

Airport map this time, so I employ the usual strategy of nuking the control tower as soon as it's partially visible:

Doesn't get easier than that - and much safer too! The next round we spot a Trep on the ground floor of the control tower complex and Zombie is in a great position to attempt an auto shot:

The next round another Trep shows up in the same building, this time closer. Zombie can't get all the kills here so we'll let Nook auto shoot it as he needs the xp:

Perfect! The next round I made a grave mistake and got Thorondor into a real pickle:

The thing only connected once and the damage was absorbed. The other shots hit the countertop, a piece of furniture and the floor. Talk about not being able to hit the broad side of a barn! Instead of taking it out, Thorondor withdrew so that hopefully Nook could get a chance:

A couple rounds later and Kret downs a Trep with reaction fire during the alien's turn:

Good boy! Meanwhile, Nook and Throndor both head over to the room where the Nh'Teol was in and hide behind the door. During the alien's turn another Nh'Teol entered the building but didn't know we were there. Surprise mutha-flocker:

No need to push the envelope so we close the door and hunker down to take the alien next round:

99% auto shot accuracy so might as well do that to guarantee a kill. Kret moved along the building to the door and peeked inside and found a Nh'Teol in there. He didn't have a shot though:

MTR was probably trigger happy by this point so let's nuke the ground outside the alien to see if the blast will cut through. It does:

A couple turns later and a Trep ventures out of the UFO and Kret was still in a good spot to take it out:

During the alien's turn another Trep came out and this time Zombie killed it with reaction fire:

Sorbicol opens the door to the UFO and steps inside only to be met by photon beamer shots from a Nh'Teol (no damage though):

We thought the room was clear, but next round a shot hits Zombie:

Perfect situation for Sorbicol because he could shoot it in the back. The next turn we open the next door to see this:

Sorbicol takes out the closest one with an auto shot hoping he could get a two-fer but no dice:

Zombie took out the other one and that was it. EOM:

Go Kret! Let's allocate his points:

Two points went into shooting to max that stat out. Then it was one point in bravery, strength and throwing. He's improving nicely. One more point into bravery should round that stat out and then we can focus more on strength, throwing and vitality.

Back in the Geoscape and we finally finish another suit of photon armor! Nook looks to be a good candidate for it as his strength is 83:

Much better. We have some suits of VT2000 armor sitting around doing nothing and selling some net us some decent space bucks:

A cool $10+ million in the bank now. It's the end of the month though so let's see how we did this time around:

Not bad all things considered. North America was a little unhappy due to the flyovers but we saw major improvements in Asia and the Polar league. Our scientists were idle this entire month so we didn't have to pay them squat We have 2 UFO's to research but I didn't want to start those topics in case it triggered bigger ships or tougher aliens - so far we've been very lucky with seeing only Treps and Nh'Teol's.

Speaking of bigger UFO's, a medium cruiser showed up in North America:

I don't think it was expecting that welcome, but we need some decent xp in this area to hopefully encourage them to increase funding this month. So that'll be next time!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Way to make my heart race there, Zombie. As luck would have it your mistake didn't take me to my grave.

Besides, I have enough of an intimidating effect on aliens by now that they can scarcely shoot straight with all that trembling.

The buggers are still very rude in their reception to our entry into their craft though. They're on our planet so we're not invading anything here; it's the other way around. They just have no manners, so I guess we'll have to go on teaching them some.

We're getting there with the funding too. Time to calm some nerves in North America - therapeutic shooting they call it!

[Space Voyager]

21 hours ago, Zombie said:

This is a legit strategy to deal with the upstairs with almost no risk. Note: this is true at least for pushover aliens, but even if the blast doesn't kill the tougher aliens, the combat log can give you an idea of how many might be up there and you can always mortar it a couple more times if need be.

Hmmmm, I'm ok with mortars doing their job but combat log seems a bit too revealing...

[Zombie]

13 hours ago, Space Voyager said:

Hmmmm, I'm ok with mortars doing their job but combat log seems a bit too revealing...

It can be I guess. Thing is, we don't have alien life scanners (maybe later) so it's hard to know whether there's an alien nearby. The log gives you a hint but not an exact location of alien(s). So in practice it's kinda like a motion scanner in UFO:EU. And I like having the log for this playthrough as it helps me to remember how the mission went - I may play 3, 4, or more ground missions in a day on the weekend in order to have updates during the week when my time is limited. I'm finally getting caught up!

This time it was a farm mission, and the landing zone was sorta hot as we see a Nh'Teol:

Nook has a 99% accurate standing snap shot at this distance so he takes it out. A couple rounds later and Nook sees a Trep on the ground nearby which means grenade time:

It went down easily, but during the alien's turn they send 3 more Treps:

Sorbicol kills the one at the top and Kret has two one-shot-one-kill scenarios:

Awesome! A few turns go by and we hear the sound of a Nh'Teol walking around to the right somewhere. Thorondor blasts a hole in the hedge and peeks in to find it camped out in a corner:

I wanna leave the hedge in place as much as possible to use as cover so no grenade use here. We wait till the next round, then check again:

Out of action points yet again. Those Nh'Teols are slippery things. There's a Trep by the door to the UFO so Kret took it out with an auto shot this time:

The next round Thorondor checks up on our buddy and finds it, so he backs away and let's Sorbicol toss a grenade on it:

A couple rounds later and Pete gets shot by a Nh'Teol camped out in the small barn, but we have guys to patch him up and close the door:

Sorbicol is finally able to toss a grenade close by to finish it off:

Doesn't look like anything is happening outside the UFO so the breach team takes it's position and Sorby gets another chance to throw a grenade on a Nh'Teol inside:

The grenade didn't do much damage so the Nh'Teol shot back but the damage was absorbed. This time Sorbicol used a snap shot to kill it.

Then all went quiet. No UFO door opening sounds, no alien footsteps, nothing. Really odd. We slowly start to spread out and Kret finally spots a Nh'Teol in the room to the north west:

Grenade time obviously. And the next round Sorbicol sees a Nh'Teol coming to ambush Kret so he lines up a snap shot:

Can't be too many aliens left now. Nook finds one in the lift room, so he takes an auto shot:

The mission didn't end. We start frantically searching the UFO for stragglers but it looks pretty quiet. A couple rounds later during the aliens turn two shots rang out from outside the UFO and both hit MikeTheRed doing serious damage. Knew I should have brought him into the UFO. Oh well. Since he has the mortar we might as well nuke the thing:

And that was it. EOM:

MTR wasn't listed as wounded so we dodged a bullet there, and Space Voyager is promoted too! Let's allocate his points:

One point went into bravery to get him to 73 which should close out that stat for a little bit. Obviously two went into strength to get him to 85, then one point into throwing and vitality. He's great now. It looks like it'll take 2 more points to max out strength so we'll probably do that and then toss a point into throwing and agility and vitality.

Back in the Geoscape and MikeTheRed was still fine so that was a big relief. We shot down a recon vessel over Asia too:

It'll be daylight so we'll be leaving for that next time!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

Well, well - if my eyes aren't deceiving me this here is the bulked up new Warrant Officer on the block. Congrats, SV!

Hey, MTR, good to see you walking about. Patched you up great, didn't we? Sweet vengeance is the fine mist of a mortared alien. Show them no mercy!

Grab your kit, pack your bags, we're going sightseeing again.

[Zombie]

9 hours ago, Thorondor said:

Hey, MTR, good to see you walking about. Patched you up great, didn't we?

Thing is, nobody got a chance to heal him before he nuked the Nh'Teol which ended the mission. So he maybe patched himself up?

Farm mission this time. First round we spot a Nh'Teol:

Zombie took the thing out and as we continue to search a Trep is spotted on a rooftop. We really didn't have a clear shot at it, so MTR decided to just nuke the thing:

Next round and Zombie spots another airborne Trep but doesn't have a shot:

I thought the thing would come closer but it disappeared for a couple turns only to reappear during the aliens round. Not sure how Thorondor was able to see the thing much less shoot it dead as he was pretty far away:

Then Sorbicol stumbles upon a Nh'Teol:

Easy snap shot kill right there folks. Thorondor heads to the south side of the building to cover that area and manages to reaction shoot a Trep dead:

You aliens best not mess with this guy as he's a beast with reaction fire! Kret and Zombie are investigating a small barn because the doors were open and Kret is shot for 2 damage. Zombie just decides to make sure it dies and uses the auto shot:

Finished it off with a big critical hit too! Sorbicol is heading to the hedge which circles part of the UFO and spots a Nh'Teol through an opening:

Not a good shot so he hides behind the hedge hoping to catch it off guard during the aliens turn. He doesn't but Thorondor does. Then a Nh'Teol comes out of the small building and shoots Mr. T:

Nook's close by so he auto shoots the thing dead:

With the threat out of the way he then patches up Thorondor with the stimpack:

The last alien was reaction shot by Sorbicol and that was the end of the mission:

Oh wow, all the newbs get promoted at the same time! Nook is first:

One point immediately went into bravery to get him to 70. He would need 3 points to max out shooting which was too rich for my blood so I only put 2 in that then one in throwing and strength. Decent strength now and it can't come soon enough because better armor will eventually be here and that weighs a lot. Sorby is next:

I splurged and put 2 points into shooting to max him out at 95 then tossed a point into bravery, strength and throwing. Bravery will need another point yet, strength would need 2 points to max that out and then the last could go in throwing or agility. I'm leaning to agility, but it's still too early to make that decision. Kret, you are next:

His shooting is maxed out already so I pumped him up in strength with 2 points to get him to an astonishing 90! Then gave him a point in throwing and finally one in agility and vitality. Beast mode activated! Probably could use another point in bravery at some point too. Last is Zombie:

I settled on 2 points in shooting to max him out at 97, then dumped 2 in strength and one in agility as he was pretty slow. Strength, bravery, agility and vitality are the stats we need to increase yet and maybe a point in throwing too. Still 2 promotions yet and they are a ways off so no need to worry about that yet.

Back in the Geoscape and our European base has been quietly pumping out photon cannons for profit. Let's see how many we have and how much we can get:

674k isn't chump change by any means. Besides, a single suit of photon armor costs 433k so this covers one of those. On the globe a medium cruiser comes to south america but we are ready:

Before we could head to the crash site another medium cruiser shows up in africa:

I scramble all the interceptors from Europe and Russia to attack it:

So I guess we'll be heading to South America next!

- Zombie

[Thorondor]

A view to a kill is all I ever ask for. And most days Deadeye is my middle name, alien fools!

That's the ticket, Zombie - hit 'em where it hurts, finding the chinks in their armor and bringing on the pain.

Them critters are dang frisky so the new armor is a sound investment I feel.

A touch hot wearing the thing in tropical climates but we're ever ready to tango!