XCOM [spoilers]

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Jonathan
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XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

Alright, I'm doing an Ironman Classic run. It is 26 May 2015 and I'm using carapace armor and lasers, but I don't have the full set.

The A team for this bomb disposal mission:
Lt. J B - Assault
Lt. L B - Support
Cpt. D Lung - Assault
Cpt. N Martin - Sniper
Maj. C Lin - Heavy
Cpl. E Lung - Support

Normally, I'd have another sniper (VLSmooth), but bombs, yo.

I was trying to get Christine promoted, so she got half her health knocked off for no reason. Other than that, though, I didn't take any hits.

I haven't assaulted the enemy base nor even built the containment unit, so I'm slow-rolling this particular run.

Dave dies during a routine abduction on 6/8. I pushed Joe up into a Cyberdisc's face so I could Rapid Fire him to death in one round. It worked, but I pulled a pod of Mutons and a pod of Floaters. In the resulting firefight, I left a Muton and a Thin Man with 1 HP apiece double team Dave to death.

Now Japan is at 5 panic because I elected to get Cpt. Alex 'AK' K. from Canada and prevent Mexico from going into panic. Unless I get the containment field up and assault the base before the end of the month, which seems unlikely. Got a large UFO touchdown to do first.

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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

June 13, I just finished the large UFO with 1 point of damage. Was a Outsider, 2x Muton packs, Cyberdisc, and Thin Men/Floaters. I am ready for the base assault, but I need to do the right captures so I'm guessing in July?

Officer lineup is:
Snipers - both squadsight
Maj Skanks
Cpt VLSmooth

Assault
Maj Quantus - lightning reflexes
Cpt AK - crits

Support - always Medic
Lt Erin
Cpt LM(wounded)
Sgt Peijen

Heavy
Col Christine(wounded) - Bulletswarm/HEAT
Sq Alan

Chuck, Jason, and George are still rookies!

Peijen
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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Peijen »

how many time has each person died?

Jonathan
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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

Hehe. I lost one Ironman Classic game prior to coming up with this idea, and didn't think to do this until May as indicated above. So, I lost three soldiers ---in this game--- before the first Schlag2b soldier died. My goal is to not reuse any names; we'll see how far I get! ;)

Peijen
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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Peijen »

man you are making me addicted to this game again. Do you know if there is a screen to see the past events? Like when a research or construction is done?

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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

Just to recap the pre-Schlag-2B action:

I started in Japan on Classic difficulty with New Economy (random funding per nation), The Greater Good (have to interrogate to get psionics), and Ironman. I lost a soldier to the first terror mission due to Floaters, but I tanked the Chryssalids like a boss with nanofiber+carapace.

The heavy bench concerns me; Christine gets hurt a lot which really leaves me with no way to destroy cover effectively. Having a 6 man squad out early due to Advanced Combat is very helpful in destroying pods before they can act; my previous start had been in Europe to interrogate early for the bonus to beam research and teching up to lasers ASAP. I'm super concerned about finishing this month and taking on the base assault. I have no Foundry and no Alien Containment. These have been blocked on getting some power.

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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

I've lost two countries and will most likely lose Japan at the end of the month.

Jonathan
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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

Peijen wrote:man you are making me addicted to this game again. Do you know if there is a screen to see the past events? Like when a research or construction is done?
No, I don't think so.

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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Peijen »

I think I am going to start a new game. Lost one classic due to 8 countries leaving and the current classic ironman is tanking after I lost 4 soldiers in one mission and 2 more in the same month (FEB). No money for new soldier and don't have anything to sell.

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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

Yeah, if I lose more than one soldier in a given mission before the first terror I just concede the game. If I lose the terror mission, I concede the game. 1 soldier lost per mission in the first month is OK, but it's quite difficult to do the first terror without a couple vets at least.

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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

2015-June AAR

Casualties: AK was gunned down.
Countries: No members of the Council decided to leave this month. :twisted:

I completely bungled everything in the ant farm. I captured a Muton before I had the alien containment finished, so I can't interrogate him. I took so much time to get the right number of engineers and power out that my satellite uplink is going to be done July 7. I did kick ass and take names on the battlefield, though, including a crucial terror mission in Japan which saved Japan and China from leaving the Council. Just plain dumb luck that it cropped up where and when I needed it most.

First, I splashed a large UFO and pulled a Cyberdisc pod plus a Thin Man pod together, with a wounded Muton just beyond my range of vision. There was a glorious failure cascade as just about everybody missed the stupid Cyberdisc. I had AK hunkered down in smoke and still the Cyberdisc flanked him and criticaled him in one shot. TANJ

I stunned that hurt Muton and the Outsider, not realizing that I had only just initiated containment construction and wouldn't have a place to keep the Muton. I do get the research lines, which is important. The Alien Grenade doesn't hurt, either. Still, I need to advance the plot now.

After that was a routine abduction in Brazil where Christine basically blew the ever-living fuck out of the entire first building and eliminated lots of Mutons and Floaters. I let the final Cyberdisc come to me. It was a hard choice going to Brazil, because it meant I was going to lose China. The Chinese mission was very difficult, though, and I wanted the engineers from Brazil so I could build an uplink. In retrospect, perhaps that wasn't the smartest since it takes 14 days to get the uplink in place and I only had 8 left in the month.

With literally three days left to go in the month, the second terror mission popped. The terror mission was that cafe sort of one, where you barely have to move. I don't think Skanks moved one square. Colonel Christine is a double-rocket colonel. She only connected with her gun once, but she killed all four drones and knocked both Cyberdiscs down to size with a pair of rockets. The panic reduction saved China and Japan, both. XCOM regrets the civilians who got in Christine's way. Next life, try a little harder, guys.

Skanks made Colonel. I decided to do Double Tap. I'll probably make VLSmooth In The Zone.

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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

Officer lineup is:
Snipers - both squadsight
Col Skanks - double tap
Maj VLSmooth

Assault
Maj Quantus - lightning reflexes

Support - always Medic
Cpt Erin
Cpt LM
Lt Peijen

Heavy
Col Christine - Bulletswarm/HEAT/Rocketeer
Sq Alan

Chuck, Jason, and George remain rookies.

Jonathan
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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

2015-July/August/September AAR

Casualties: Peijen will be remembered for his contributions to the art of extraterrestrial distilling.
Countries: No members of the Council decided to leave during this period.
Achievements: Assaulted the Alien Base, Constructed the Hyperwave Relay; Destroyed the Overseer.

The primary complication is that I am playing The Greater Good and failed to capture the sectoid commander in the alien base. Skanks took one shot to bring him down to reasonable health. Instead, he criticaled and one-shotted him. I finished the Psi Lab construction right after destroying the overseer. I don't even know if I have any gifted soldiers yet!

Peijen died on an escort mission in July trying to stun a Thin Man for the research bonus. He ran out of cover and failed the stun. Thin Men coverged on his location and that was that. I never did interrogate a Thin Man.

LM got chewed up attacking Overseer. I injected her with combat stims and sent her in to draw the Ethereal out to where my snipers could hit him. She did not resist the mind control, unfortunately. I took a disabling shot and then withdrew to let the mind control wear off. Of course, she was sent directly into my line of Overwatch fire and every single member of my squad took a shot. She tanked it all due to the 50% damage resistance from the combat stim. Like a boss. Still, I got her out of there and Erin patched her up. Later, LM even took a shot from an Elite Muton during the mop-up.

I got the council mission for the truck convoy and sent all my colonels in, like an idiot.

My plasma research is complete and all continents are covered by a Firestorm. I have Titan/Archangel on all my soldiers. I just finished Ghost.

Psi Lab testing is underway for Jason, George, and Erin.

Officers (all Colonels):
Snipers
VLSmooth - In the Zone
Skanks - Double Tap

Assault
Quantus - Resilience

Support
LM - Savior
Erin - Savior

Heavy
Christine - Rocketeer

Lightning 1

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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Dave »

Rez me, i wanna be a zombie!
It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face.

Jonathan
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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

Victory!

Casualties: None
Countries: I had full satellite coverage (only 2 council members gave up the whole game).
Achievements: Built the Gollop Chamber and completed the final mission.

Erin was the volunteer. LM was my other gifted soldier.

159 days to assault the alien base (average).
205 days to recover the ethereal device (75 days early).
214 days to discover the psionic soldier (average).
182 days to first Firestorm (average).

6 soldiers lost. Dave, Peijen, AK, and three scrubs.
I lost 1 battle. It must have been an early escort mission.

No labs built. Only interrogations were Muton and Sectoid Commander.

Days to first satellite: 22
Days until third satellite: 52
Days to first continent: 87

I got Erin gifted on my first round of testing. She went on all subsequent missions to rank up her psionic abilities. Next round of testing determined LM was gifted. She missed a mission so she didn't have the final rank of psi ability.

I took down a supply barge and a battleship in October. I determined I wanted to use the alien rockets in the final fight, so I waited until November before entering the Gollop Chamber, though I had it ready a few hours before the end of the month.

Final fight I got super unlucky with my overwatch the entire ship. I used my scanner and mind-controlled enemies to pull new pods, and I kept missing and getting struck. Fortunately, I brought both LM and Erin with Savior, so I had 60 total HP to heal with my medkits. I used all 6 charges.

In the final fight, I brought the uber ethereal to about half HP in the first round (and killed one of the elite mutons). Christine got in a blow with the alien rocket launcher, and one sniper landed a non-crit. The far ethereal tried to mind control LM and failed. The near Ethereal mind-controlled LM and succeeded. The uber mind-controlled Joe. The remaining elite muton didn't have anyone to shoot since everyone in his vision was mind-controlled.

In the second round, I tried a Vortex, which only did 4 damage. Then I nailed the uber with my snipers and that was it.

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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

Wrap up notes:

[SPOILER] Like I said, I used carapace+nanofiber to tank the Chryssalids in the first terror mission. Having 5 soldiers and at least one with that much armor was key to getting past the first terror for me. I have successfully done it by teching up using the beam weapons research credit from interrogating a sectoid, but nanofiber+carapace is way more reliable. I didn't know that was even possible until I looked up the wiki on Chryssalid damage on Classic difficulty; for a while I thought it was an insta-kill.

I didn't have the will bonus from the officer training school, since everyone leveled up before I could buy it. Didn't seem to matter.

I bought a second hover SHIV just in case. Never used it, but it was a good buy.

I used two Chitin Platings. Never got hit in melee. I think I never got below 5 (to where the Plating would have helped) but I can't swear to it. Still a good investment.

I never use shotguns. The critical chance isn't worth the poor accuracy at range. I also never research pistols.

I got laser rifles and laser sniper rifles, but not heavy lasers.

Jonathan
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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

Until Sectapods come out, Heavies don't really need guns. Their purpose is to produce explosions so the snipers can get line of sight.

I really like the big explosion ability!

Even with Sectapods, shooting them with a Heavy w/HEAT should be your last line of defense.

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Re: XCOM [spoilers]

Post by Jonathan »

Should mention I researched but did not use Goat armor. Ghost on a support or assault is fantastic for Squadsight snipers. I didn't research it until just before the final fight, though. I knew from my previous win that I could not use that trick effectively on the double Sectapod room, so I decided against bringing Ghost at all. I mind-controlled a Muton and let him eat the hits.

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