First mission is from the council. I have to go escort a member of a criminal organization called The Triad to our base, so we can investigate his claim to have a piece of "unique" technology.
Ok, let's bring Merckie, my only remaining Specialist engineer, and Be Lindaros, my remaining Specialist Gunner. The rest of the squad will be at least Lieutenant Corporals, and I think I'll have Lord 'Hazard' Belros lead the team as my highest ranked infantry. Gifted will be my assault, Aeril my rocketeer, and Aster my medic. Gnife Gnife is my only uninjured scout, so he's in. And Hat 'Emo' Stand will provide long range support as my sniper. Ok, let's get to work.
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| I've been messing with colors, so Belros is now Teal, gunners are Purple, and Assaults are orange. |
We start out at the rendezvous and have to make our way back to the extraction point. We get a cutscene first, where we just walk up to the guy and he's like "you must be my contacts. No-one who feared reprisal would make an entrance like that."
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| We're color coded for your convenience! |
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| Well, you're pretty brazenly just standing in the open yourself... and we're not going anywhere without our armor! |
Then he shoots a sectoid that scurries behind us, and says that while it won't take long for them to realize he's missing, especially with the tech he's brought, but if we protect him the tech is ours. Sure thing.
We start in a graveyard, because of course we do. And the extraction point looks to be a shop? Interesting.
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| On sale today only, soda, bread, and escape routes! |
Two more Thin Men drop down behind our positions and go on instant overwatch, although one is killed by my own overwatch fire. The second one goes down to a precision shot from Hat Stand, so my flanks are clear. Just that Seeker and original Thin Man to worry about for now. Let's see if I can deal with the threat without activating any more pods though... The answer, of course, is no. Gnife Gnife tries to get sight on the Thin Man and activates two more Seekers and another Thin Man.
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| This is always good news! |
Aster takes an acid grenade from the first Thin Man, and will have to hunker for a few turns until it wears off, but at least my medic isn't primarily around for the shooting anyway. And my caution pays off, as the cloaked Seeker decloaks in an attempt to strangle Merckie but is shot down by Gifted and Aeril.
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| Good shot! |
The second Thin Man misses his shot, but the Seeker flies right up and shoots Gnife Gnife in the face. That wasn't nice. Two more Thin Men drop down from the sky, one of them right in the middle of my position, next to Aeril. Great. Aeril and Be Lindaros combine fire to take out the Thin Man in my ranks, and Gnife Gnife takes his point blank shot to kill the Seeker, but I'll need to get him to a medic soon, he only has 2 HP remaining. Merckie tries to root out the troublesome flanking Thin Man with a grenade, but it does nothing. I need to do something, but I'm out of options... so I run Gifted forward to take a blast at the first Thin Man. And of course he activates another pod of 3 more Thin Men. And then he doesn't even kill the target! Come on game! At least Hat Stand has line of sight on two of the newly activated Thin Men, but while her shot connects it also leaves the Thin Man on a single HP. I need better weapons or something.
Of course Gifted's Thin Man then flanks him and hits him for a whopping 8 damage. He somehow survives the critical hit. Then one of the new Thin Men kills Gnife Gnife, and another one kills Gifted. This is... I mean, seriously, I can handle a group, even two at a time, but once this many of them start shooting at me, with my limited sight and apparent inability to kill anything... gaaaahhh!
Wait, was that a Crysalid that just dropped in? Are you kidding me? I didn't think those started showing up until Terror missions later on!
Ok, let's try again. New strategy, don't move. I guess?
Gnife Gnife moves down the stairs and immediately activates two pods, so I have 4 Thin Men and a cloaked Seeker already. Lovely. Pull back Gnife Gnife. Yes, we're actually going to just not move. Everyone takes cover on our starting raised position, near some komainu statues and the fancier gravestones and behind a low wall at the top of the steps.
I am amused that Gifted is apparently Australian, and mocks the Thin Man who misses him; "That all you got?"
Aster kills a Thin Man as the Thin Man attempts to move closer. Good reaction shot Aster!
As per last attempts, two more Thin Men drop down, one in front of us and one behind. It's all randomized... Belros is suppressed by one of the Thin Men from the first pod.
Be Lindaros misses the Thin Man who dropped into a flanking position, and Hat Stand hits but fails to kill. Damn and blast! Aeril fires a rocket trying to hit two Thin Men, but it goes off target and only wounds one.
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| At least I can blow stuff up. |
Third try's the charm? Or can I just not do this one? Maybe I should reload and take only my highest ranked people? This is frustrating.
Ok, I don't activate anyone on my first turn, but a pod of Thin Men patrols into me immediately. That's the 3 Thin Men pod. So I know there's also a pod of 2 Seekers 1 Thin Man, and 1 Seeker 1 Thin Man out there... All my overwatch gets wasted on the first Thin Man, but at least ONE of my people hits and kills it. Aster manages a hit on a second Thin Man, and then the two remaining Thin Men pull back. At least they didn't shoot me. The two that drop down also do so in front of my positions for a change. Out of line of sight, all four enemies... I may have to make them come to me. Everyone pulls back along the low wall and hits overwatch again. I seem to have the best luck killing them when I get off overwatch shots... Yep, one Thin Man runs forward, sees the gun line, and starts to run away again. Aster wings him, so two of the four out there are injured at least. A second one runs forward, the one I wounded last turn, and dies to overwatch fire from Belros and Merckie. One that dropped down moves up the flanks and misses its shot at Gifted, and Gnife Gnife misses his reaction on the second dropper as it moves to a better position. Then Be Lindaros also misses his shot on the same target. Luck of the Thin Man? Damn their acid spit is long ranged, the thing is halfway across the graveyard and hits my line with acid. No fair, my grenades don't go nearly that far.
Aster is my star so far, he hits yet another shot on the Thin Man who spit on us, though again fails to kill. I belatedly remember Gnife Gnife has holo-targeting, and take a shot. Even though he misses, at least the holo-targeting will help the rest of the team make their mark... maybe. Yes! Aeril kills the marked foe. And Hat Stand, my other MVP, takes out the flanker in one shot. So that's one active Thin Man still out there? My acidified people hunker down again, we're just going to wait this out...
The remaining active Thin Man dashes into another cover location, avoiding Be Lindaros's flurry of reaction fire, but falls prey to Hat Stand's deadly aim. Ok, all active foes down! ... now what? Well, the acidified people hunker again, the acid cloud is gone but they're still suffering the effects. Let's also reload some people, so we're not all reloading at the same time. And see if some more enemies will oblige us and move into our guns. And they do! Two Seekers and a Thin Man, and Be Lindaros hits one of the Seekers with his overwatch for a change. Well done!
Gnife Gnife hits the uninjured Seeker, applying holo-targeting and chipping away 2 HP, while Aster finishes the first. Aeril hits the second Seeker but only does one damage, and Be Lindaros goes back to his missing streak, so Hat Stand has to finish it off. That leaves the Seeker, who unfortunately has full cover behind a large gravestone. That Thin Man then runs away. Interesting. Fine then, we will all overwatch and reload!
And the last pod I know about from my failed attempts shows up, one Seeker and one Thin Man. The Seeker goes down to overwatch fire, but the Thin Man makes it to cover. One more Thin Man drops in from above, but at least does not land behind my forces. Belros takes his two shots of the turn (Infantry can be so great) and manages to hit both times, killing the only visible enemy. The Thin Man that dropped down runs forward and dies to a hail of reaction fire. I spend the turn reloading and overmatching again, and Gnife Gnife gets a sound ping ahead of him. It may be time to move forward... I've dealt with all the pods I know about, and I DO need to get to the extraction point... ok, I move slightly forward, but only to the first line of gravestones.
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| Slowly I advanced, step by step, gravestone by gravestone... |
The remaining Thin Man moves into sight, but Aeril misses her overwatch shot. Let's see if I can take him out despite his full cover... Fortunately he's on the same side as Gnife Gnife, who hits! The Thin Man is wounded AND targeted. Finish him! That's why you're here Hat Stand, nice shot!
I move up at a snail's pace. Two more Thin Men drop on my left flank, but one immediately dies to reaction fire from Aeril and Be Lindaros. (I'm pretty sure I killed the second one too on my turn, but I had a to take a bit of a break to deal with house stuff and forgot to write it down...)
I move forward, around the central garden structure in the graveyard. I decide instead of splitting around it, it will be best if I can keep together, so we all go around the left.
Then, a Crysalid drops in. I live in fear of these things, having seen them in the Let's Play I watched. They are fast, and close combat oriented, and basically if they hit one of my people, my person is dead. And worse, they will implant an egg in my person, raise the person as a zombie, and if I don't kill the zombie a new Crysalid bursts out a few turns later. Absolutely plays on some of my own personal biggest fears (zombies, parasites...) It drops to the right, so I have some time at least. And this is why Gifted is here, that shotgun may be the best thing I brought along.
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| KILL IT WITH FIRE! |
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| WE KILLED IT WITH BULLETS! |
A Thin Man drops directly in front of Gifted, which was a mistake, because Gifted blows him away. A Sectoid also drops, but survives the reaction fire (we had to miss sometime, and I'd rather deal with a Sectoid than anything else...) Hat Stand lands a hit on the Sectoid but only takes off 3 of its 4 HP, but then Merckie impresses me with the kill!
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| Destination in sight! |
I continue to creep forward, but no more enemies appear. Victory! Slow and Steady wins the race!
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| Well done surviving. |
And that was Operation Twisted Blade. Let's handle the promotions. Gifted, Hat Stand and Aster did not gain enough XP to level up, but everyone else gets a promotion. Oh, and the guy we rescued joins us as a recruit! Welcome Zhang! He starts as a corporal already, that's handy. And he gets Lone Wolf for free? Awesome. (He had a lot of dialogue during the mission about his boss looking to sell the alien technology, but Zhang learning about the tech and the threat the aliens pose leading him to look to us, but I didn't pay much attention since I was fighting for my life...)
Belros becomes my first Sergeant. At that level as Infantry, his options are Deadeye (better aim against fliers), Suppression (lets him use suppression fire) or Ranger (+1 damage on all his attacks). I think Ranger is what I'm going with, we need the extra damage output, and I have a few scouts and snipers with Deadeye.
Gnife Gnife becomes my second Sergeant. As a scout, he has access to a free Battle Scanner (tempting, it would free up an equipment slot and still give me that battle scanner...) Aggression, better critical chance based on how many enemies he personally can see, or Flush, which is a high hit chance shot that makes an enemy move from one bit of cover to another. Hmm, Aggression I could see, but I think as a scout his main job is to let me SEE WHERE THE FOE IS, and Battle Scanners help with that the most, if I can use them properly. So let's do that one.
Be Lindaros gets his first real skill as a gunner. Looking at my other gunners, it looks like I've basically gone with Covering Fire (reaction shots on enemy actions other than movement) and Misty has Flush. I think I may give him Holo-Targeting, as my only holo-targeting gunner... Yeah, let's do that.
Merckie... I think I'll give him a free smoke grenade. It makes him more of a defensive build than some of my other engineers, but I think it might be good to have that in my pocket.
Aeril's choices are: Rapid-Reaction, which gives her extra reaction shots (up to three shots) per turn; or Fire in the Hole, which gives bonus aim for her rockets if she hasn't moved; or Snap Shot, which reduces her aim penalty for firing a rocket after movement. I will consult aproustian about it. We discuss it, and decide that because I do so much overwatch, Rapid Reaction makes the most sense.
Now, Zhang, my new soldier. What will you be? I'm actually short on Scouts and Medics due to injuries, having half of each class out for a few more weeks... and both my uninjured scouts AND both my uninjured medics are fatigued. Hmm, I think Medic then. I can get by better without a scout, I'd feel much less comfortable going into a mission without a medic. I'll go standard field medic, revive for his promotion abilities. That will be good. I think my medics are basically there for one purpose, and it's keeping my people in the fight.
A little time goes by, and we finish our first laboratory! This should help speed the research along.
And then, before I can finish my autopsy of the Thin Man, I get a cut scene. Alien ships bombard various cities.
Central, Dr. Shen and Dr. Vahlen discuss the images on the news. Dr. Shen notes the aliens have changed their tactics. They are no longer sneaking about, but openly attacking world capitals, and wonders at the timing. Central is angry. They're sending a message, that nothing can stop them.
The cutscene switches views, instead of a camera shot we are now on scene, as civilians flee in panic we follow one man. He runs, but stops to help an injured man. They take shelter in an alley, but then a noise behind him... it is a pair of Crysalids. And we see him die in shadow play on the brick wall.
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| Gruesome and horrific. |
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