In which we take some serious wounds but stop an alien abduction attempt, and get some research done.
I'm naming some more rookies, I want to try and have about 30 or 40 soldiers ready to go in case we get a mission every day for a month at some point.
Today we get:
Ezri Blackmoon – named for my cousin
Tebiq Bal – commander of my Warhammer Lizardman army from some years ago
Tak Dun – a Dungeons and Dragons character I played in college
Be Lindaros – my Tau commander from Warhammer 40,000 from even longer ago that Tebiq
Belendithas Uth Droma – my character from Knights of the Old Republic
Shankar Belarius – another D&D character I think
Sclenk Seesil – my current lizardman druid character in D&D
I was trying to come up with as many names for men as I could since that's most of what I have left for rookies right now. I may have to hire some more at some point, we'll see how this goes.
On to the abductions!
I'm bringing all the rookies as well as Chill Walk as my scout.
We start out in front of some storefronts. It looks like these abductions are taking place in the daytime for a change, so maybe the screen shots will be better.
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| As it turns out, this was the only screenshot I liked from the mission. I was slow on the uptake with my screenshot button |
Belarius moves first, up to the wall of the building... and spawns a pod of Sectoids AND a pod of drones. I'm not too worried about the aliens themselves, but it's unnerving to have the enemy so close to my start positions. I'll have to pull Belarius back into better cover immediately, and hope there's enough for everyone else. Fortunately, Chill Walk is a good shot and takes out one of the sectoids with the first shots fired. Ezri and Be Lindaros are able to take the other sectoid out with combined fire.
The drones are proving harder to hit despite a higher hit chance. The other 5 squad members all fire at the drones (with 57% hit chances) and all we manage is to take chunks out of the building walls and break some windows.
As the team on the right manages to take out 2 of the 3 drones (missing am 88% hit chance on the final one even) Chill Walk runs forward and finds three more sectoids in the garage, as well as a meld canister. We regret the miss on that last drone immediately, as it flanks and critically wounds Tak Dun, although he remains standing with one HP remaining. The sectoids run up, flank Chill Walk, and take him down with a critical hit. We have 3 turns to get a medkit to him, or Specialist Walk will bleed out and die. Fortunately, Lindaros has a medkit... but it's not a good position for him to heal in. I'll have to try and take out the sectoids first if I can.
Tak Dun takes his revenge on the drone, gunning it down finally. Ezri and Lindaros flank two sectoids and murder them in revenge for Chill Walk, but the rest of the squad is out of range to help this turn. Hang on Chill, we'll get to you soon!
The Sectoid takes cover and goes on overwatch, and Lindaros misses it, but Seesil runs up with a second medkit and stabilizes Chill Walk. On its turn, the Sectoid breaks cover and dies under a hail of bullets from half the squad I had left on overwatch. Bad move Sectoid. Vengeance is ours! And also victory, that was the last alien. You're welcome Mexico!
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| That was a rough mission for so few aliens, but they basically ambushed us if I'm fair. |
Promotions for everyone! But Tak Dun is out for almost 30 days, and Chill Walk is out for 40 due to their wounds.
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| Operation Shattered Shroud, costly but successful. |
Chill Walk is going to take Damn Good Ground for his level up, and I'll try to keep him higher than the aliens when possible for increased defense, he'll maybe learn from his wound and be more cautious in the future.
Be Lindaros becomes my third gunner, and Shankar Belaris becomes my third sniper. Seesil will be a medic, and Tak Dun will round out my assaults. Ezri becomes a rocketeer, Belendithas an engineer, and Tabiq Bal becomes my fourth infantry.
A few hours pass, and our Sectoid Autopsy is research is completed. Every sectoid appears to be genetically identical, with overlarge brains further augmented by cybernetic implants. Dr. Shen is coming up with ways to use the implants for our own ends. Dr. Vahlen is disturbed by the genetic and cybernetic engineering the aliens exhibit, with regards to their intentions for us...
It's time to start researching their weapons, which will only take 12 days.
And we make it through the first month! XCOM's shadowy council awards us an A rating, and gives us our monthly funding as well as some new scientists. I use $400 to order two new interceptors, one on each continent we have satellite coverage for, and start excavating some more ground to build more facilities. I'll also start work on another satellite, as we have two launched and we have room for 3 of them.
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| Yay money! |
The aliens leave us alone this month long enough to complete our research on the alien weapon fragments we have gathered. Although it shows the aliens have very advanced technology, our labs are making great progress at figuring them out. We already have some better targeting equipment, and some new research paths to pursue as well. We'll do some research on the alien materials used in their drones and spacecraft, this may help us design better body armor for our own soldiers. It's also the next fasted research for me at only 10 days.
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| They let me get two whole researches done in one session? |
Egypt offers us an engineer for our foundry in exchange for some weapons fragments. I think I'll be getting lots of those, so I'll send the items out. Besides, we need the engineers.
Soon after we get our next mission. More abductions, this time in France. Let's do that next time!
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