XCOM: The Long War Part 9: Overcoming Fear

In which the team takes on its first Terror Mission.




So time for my first Terror Mission of the campaign. No half measures, no training for this one, I need the best chance of survival. So I'll take the highest ranked people I have.

Cpl. Cold "Pigeon" Run as an assault.
Cpl. Warlock "Pebbles" Misty as a gunner.
Cpl. Stand "Baffling" Von Hats as my rocketeer.
Our new friend Cpl. Zhang as my medic.
Cpl. Enhara "Crash" Lavellan as a second gunner.
Lcpl. Almaeron Sianna as infantry (looks like I'm mostly out of corporals at this point. I have Hetad Adar as a corporal ranked sniper, but I think I want more mobility this fight and snipers tend to need to stand still...)
Lcpl. Ezri Blackmoon, a second rocketeer
Finally Lcpl. Titan Ephrael as an engineer for some variety and also more grenades. I want lots of explosive options in case large groups of Chryssalids come at me...

Ok, let's see how this goes. If it goes poorly I am not opposed to starting over from the save and picking some different people if I feel I need to. I'm taking this one seriously.

I may be nervous about this...

Starting position is in a graveyard. Oh joy, the graveyard map. I've had bad experiences on this one already...

The two figures with blue circles in the top middle are civilians. If I move next to them, they escape. The aliens of course can just shoot them.

And my second move activates a pod of 4 Chryssalids, right next to 2 civilians... great. Alright, they need to die yesterday. But they have 9 or more HP each, and my guns only do like 4! Uuuuugggghhhh!

AAAAHHHH KILL KILL KILL DON'T LET THEM NEAR US!

Oh nice, Misty has shredder ammo! Yes! That means the first target takes extra damage, and it had the extra HP! That caused Almaeron's shot to deal 7 damage and finish the leader off, excellent! 1 down, 3 to go. 2 down, but only two shots remaining... a rocket shot kills one civilian but fails to kill either remaining Chryssalid. I suspect I'm starting over. Cold Run finishes one of them with a run and gun move... but I have no overwatch. Oh, the Chryssalid ran away? Probably going to kill Civilians, because they cheat. At least Cold Run's move saved one civilian.

Oh, and floaters move in on our opposite flank. Wonderful. Two civilians died off screen there, so that's 1 safe, 3 dead, 14 unaccounted for. I don't want to split the squad up, and the floaters are an immediate threat, so let's reposition to shoot at them next. I take out three of the four floaters with no problems, and as I move Ephrael into better position, she gets an eye on the remaining Chryssalid and finishes it off. So far so good, but one floater remains and they have a nasty habit of flying past my lines and flanking us. I move Cold Run into position to cover our backs with an overwatch, but Misty gets a final shot off and manages to take out the final floater in one go.

The civilian killed by the Chryssalid gets back up as a zombie and shambles towards us. I hate zombies, the very thought tends to give me nightmares... A fourth civilian dies off camera.

*shudder*

Almaeron and Cold Run combine fire and take out the zombie. That should stop a new Chryssalid from spawning from it at least... I spend my turn reloading and overmatching, I don't want to rush into more than I can handle unprepared. Well, I don't want to rush into more than I can handle period, but hopefully being prepared will mean I can handle more... Two more civilians die on the alien turn. It's hard to move fast enough to save people, but better my team survives than I save 2 extra civilians and lose the squad.

I move very slightly forward, keeping at least two squad members together at all times. Zhang is able to rescue another civilian. Cold Run hears something from the northeast of the map, and we see another pod of floaters in that direction shortly thereafter. But only a single civilian dies.

Cold Run moves to the next corner of the central mausoleum, and activates the four floaters we saw in the shadows during the alien turn. They move towards us, one of them flying right into Cold Run's shotgun blast. Three to go. Von Hats and Almaeron are able to take out a second, and fortunately give me eyes on the fourth which has gone on overwatch. I'll need to be careful not to get shot as I move around. I reposition the rest of the team to cover the exposed three in case a floater tries to flank. One does, but neither it nor my team has a shot. However, it lands right next to Almaeron, who blows it up on my turn. The final remaining floater kills another civilian. Ephrael misses her shot on the last floater, but gives my squad holo targeting, which Misty then takes advantage of, blasting it from the sky.

And that was it! Only one pod of Chryssalids. We saved 10 civilians, and lost 8. Acceptable, according to Central. Whew! Made it through my first terror mission. Operation Defiant Hammer indeed!

Whew, we made it!

Ephrael, Almaeron, Ezri and Cold Run all got promotions from the effort too, so that's good.

Now, can I get a break for 3 days? I only have 4 people on active duty who aren't raw recruits, and I don't fancy sending cannon fodder into battle right now. And my least fatigued member becomes ready in 3 days. I suppose I can start sending fatigued people out if I need to...

Promotions, promotions, let's see.

Ezri is going to take Fire in the Hole to make her rocket shots more accurate. It just seems the sort of thing Ezri Blackmoon would take. Also, although Breaker is a great nickname for Ezri, I know my cousin. I can't quite fit Winged Death into the character limits, but Death Wings works. So it is now Ezri "Death Wings" Blackmoon.

Almaeron has also hit corporal. The random nickname is Smash, but he's always been an archer in my head, so I change it to Longshot. He took covering fire at lance corporal, so I give him Opportunist. This combination allows him to make reaction shots on more than just enemy movement, eliminates the aim penalty on reaction shots, and allows reaction shots to cause critical hits. And as he's an Infantry, if he doesn't move he can shoot on his turn and still go on overwatch. I like that flexibility.

Cold Run is my first assault sergeant. His options are Close Encounters, which says the first standard shot made within 4 tiles of the target does not cost an action, but does not combine with Run and Gun. So if Cold Run moves up within 4 tiles of an enemy, he could take two shots at them? That's what I want my assaults doing... Rapid Fire allows him to take two shots as one action, but at -15 aim on each shot. At close range with a shotgun, the aim penalty won't be too bad, but at that point I may as well take Close Encounters? I'm not sure if I can activate Rapid Fire and Run and Gun in the same turn. If I can use both I feel Rapid Fire may be slightly better for an assault. Final option is Hit and Run, which allows the first standard shot of each turn against an uncovered or flanked enemy to not cost an action. So rather than needing to be close, as long as he's flanking or the enemy is in the open, Cold Run gets two shots. The range penalty on shotguns is pretty steep though, so this still won't be super useful unless he's either not using a shotgun or is really close... hmm. I feel like all three of these could have their place. You know, I think I'm going to go with Hit and Run this time. It occurs to me there may be times I want to run an assault with a regular rifle, and then being able to double shot flanked enemies at range will be better than just being able to double shot nearby enemies. Although I guess it's not guaranteed he will flank the nearby enemies for the shotgun. Ah, tough decisions. Well played, mod developers, well played. Ok, actually, I know Cold Run asked me to make him a class that runs into combat (and possibly gets killed) so I'll go Close Encounters for him. When Gifted gets this far, Gifted will get Hit and Run. Just for variety.

Titan Ephrael has also leveled up. I give her the "Smash" nickname I took off of Almaeron, because "Loca" seems an off nickname for a French soldier. Ephrael has holo-targeting, which means I generally want her shooting first, before the rest of the squad. I'm debating between the +1 damage of Ranger and the HEAT warheads making her grenades better... but since I didn't take the "grenades blow up cover" option, I think Ranger makes more sense. She'll be more of a shooting engineer.

Ok, let's see how long I can pass time before the aliens attack again.

Yay, we build a suit of Phalanx armor! That should help I assume, since I ordered it built in a previous session. We also finish our Thin Man autopsy, which should make killing those annoying beings easier.

Phalanx armor gives +2 mobility and +3 HP, so definite improvement over +1 mobility, +2 HP from Tac armor. Can I afford any more Phalanx armor? Yes, it's 35 monies, and I have 65 monies. I'll order one more. Ready in a week, but this will be good for my rocketeers and/or assaults and scouts.

And then alien abductions in Japan. Here we go again! I have 5 promoted people ready to go. Do I dare bring rookies on this? It's heavy activity, but then again theoretically abduction missions should be almost the easiest missions...

Heavy activity means lots of aliens. Not the best time to train rookies...

Ok, I'll risk some rookies. I'll use some names from my weekly D&D group for inspiration, so welcome Goblin Gilligan! Hetad, Mahariel, Aproustian, Chill Walk and Abasa are the readied promoted units, so that's a sniper, an assault, a rocketeer, a scout, and an engineer. Welcome also, Barbarian Azog and Evil Balasar, my other two recruits. Each rookie will get a medkit, to cover my lack of a dedicated medic... And if Balasar dies, it will only be in character I guess.

I gave Gilligan green hair. The mustache was already on the figure and I liked it so I kept it green.

Ok, good luck everybody!

We start next to a store of some kind. Or maybe an office building?

Anyway, there are cars and walls to take cover behind. Let's get to it. Chill Walk moves in a casual way up to the building and immediately activate 3 floaters. Off to a great start! One of the floaters moved directly into a flanking position, flanking Chill Walk. Of course, Chill Walk also flanks the floater, and kills it immediately. Actually that is a great start!

You flank me, I flank you, I get the first and last shot of the exchange...

The rest of the team takes cover except for Hetad, who takes a shot but misses. On the alien turn, one floater moves into our overwatch and explodes. The other retreats out of our sight.

There's the fire.

There's a really pretty fountain outside this building...

Sometimes I have to admire the art design for the game.

Chill Walk moves to the corner of the building and activates three Thin Men next. One after another!

I can't catch a break.

Chill Walk is the only one with a shot, and he misses, but the rest of the team moves up behind him and goes on overwatch. On the alien turn, three drones fly out of a building across from the fountain. Potentially dangerous if they flank us, but I'm more concerned about the floater and Thin Men. Speaking of, the Floater comes back, but takes no shots. It seems confused, the poor angry pile of twisted flesh and metal. The Thin Men move forward, two of them going on overwatch and the third putting suppression fire on Mira.

On my turn, Chill Walk finds himself with a flank shot on the confused floater, and puts it out of its misery. Hetad takes a shot at one of the overwatch Thin Men, and takes off 4 of its 5 HP. I really need better guns... Balasar tries to reposition, and draws reaction shots from both Thin Men. One misses, but the other hits for a massive 6 damage, leaving Balasar on a single HP.  I go ahead and use his medkit instead of taking the 59% shot he now has. Mahariel takes the chance and moves forward... but activates a pod of floaters hiding inside the office building. Shoot. Mahariel pulls back to not be flanked. Aproustian moves to where Mahariel was, and destroys the fountain with a rocket, exposing the Thin Man behind it and burning him out of his suppression fire.

This is why we can't have nice things.

On their turn, the drones prove why I should not underestimate them when one hits Chill Walk despite his full cover. The other two fly up to the roof to be irritating. Mahariel takes a hit from a Thin Man, but gets lucky when a floater and second Thin Man both flank her and then miss their shots.

Aproustian shoots down the flanking Thin Man. The rest of my turn is largely ineffectual, pinging a few HP from a floater or two. Chill Walk falls back, drawing an overwatch shot which misses thanks to his Lightning Reflexes and allows Mira Abasa to reposition so she is no longer flanked, and then toss a grenade that finishes off a second Thin Man and removes more of the aliens' cover. Unfortunately, a drone then floats behind Mira, shoots her for critical damage, and panics her. Balasar also panics at the sight. Gilligan takes a critical flanking shot from the remaining Thin Man but maintains his nerve. A floater hops over the building and flanks Hetad, who fails to kill it on his turn. Aproustian kills the offending drone. Chill Walk backs Head up and finishes off the flanking floater. Gilligan gets revenge on the floater that shot Mahariel, blowing it to pieces, and Azog takes out a second drone. One Thin Man, one floater and one drone remain... can we make this? The drone flies up to the panicking Abasa and critically wounds her, but she's not killed outright. I can stabilize her... but then the floater kills Mahariel. Hmm. I don't know that I can afford to lose my promoted characters like this. I'm struggling as it is to keep up with the number of soldiers I need. Let's try this again and see if I can maybe not activate every enemy on the map all at once...

Take 2!

This time we start on the other side of the building.

No aliens activate as the squad moves into cover. Better, I don't like it when the enemy gets to start shooting before we've even been able to find cover. We start to move into the building proper this time. Through the lobby even!

Looks almost like my old office, except with more windows. A lot more windows.

Chill walk is the first to find the enemy, 3 floaters hiding in the office side of the building. He kills one immediately. Unfortunately, nobody else is close enough to take a shot. I settle for attempting to give Chill Walk plenty of covering overwatch in case they try to flank him. Indeed, one floater flies out the door, and takes a hit from Balasar. Sadly, the floater survives. And kills Chill Walk. Damnit.

Third time's the charm?

Take 3

Same starting location as in Take 2. I'd say I should skirt the outside of the building, but there's better cover inside usually... hmm. Again we get away with finding cover without activating aliens, so that's good. This time I move a little faster and dash the squad into the building's lobby area. Let's try not to get too split up.

Here they come!

The floaters patrol into me this time! And I get two reaction shots. One floater down before it's even my turn, and the other two have no cover and are flanked by pretty much the whole squad. Mahariel guns down one that landed right behind her. Mira and Azog take out the other. On my next turn, Azog moves into the next room and finds three more floaters.

That's a bad position Azog, best back out of there...

One flies near Mahariel and Chill Walk, and between them they kill it. Two more remain, but I can't get sight on them so the rest of the team goes to overwatch.

The drones wander into our area on the alien's turn. One floater suppresses Chill Walk, and I lose track of the second one.

Mahariel kills a drone. Azog runs into the next room to get sight on the suppressing floater, and takes a reaction shot from the second floater I'd lost track of. He survives on a single HP, but cannot kill the floater. Aproustian runs in after him and finishes it off. Unable to take off the suppression fire, Chill Walk hunkers down, while my remaining squad members attempt to provide overwatch cover. Seriously, I don't want that "I come through the door and kill Chill Walk" shenanigans again.

One drone tries just those shenanigans with Azog, but Azog weathers the damage like a professional, and does not panic. Unfortunately, Balasar and Azog only manage 1 damage each on the drone, and Aproustian has to finish it off. Chill Walk also has bad luck, only damaging the remaining drone for 2 points. It flies off, dodging the bullets from Gilligan's overwatch. Then flies back. The aliens are being smart, drawing overwatch with the drone before the floater moves... And the floater lays out Azog, critical wound. Once again, Gilligan and Chill Walk miss the remaining drone, and Aproustian has to run up and finish the job. Mahariel, having reloaded last turn, runs up and blasts the floater through the cubical wall.

Not my best screenshot, but she literally shot it through that flimsy cubicle wall.

Balasar uses his medkit to stabilize Azog, so at least he'll live out the battle. I spend the rest of the turn reloading. Chill Walk hears movement from the final unopened room, or just beyond it. Hopefully that is the last of the aliens... And then three Thin Men run through the door. I like when they patrol into me at least. Mira, my only soldier on overwatch, hits one Thin Man as they run past and out the next door, leaving it on a single HP.

Mira then tosses a grenade, destroying the wall of the building but giving me a flanking shot on the exposed Thin Man, and leaving a second on 3 HP. Aproustian takes out the former, and Hetad kills the latter.

At least it wasn't the fountain this time

One Thin Man to go, and it HAS to go... Run and Gun? Run and Gun.

When I'm confident in spawning no more enemies, Run and Gun is amazing. She runs all that way and still gets a kill.

Point blank shotgun blast.

Operation Secret Moon is a success.

Poor Azog is out for 51 days with his injury, but everyone on the team save Mira got a promotion. Also, I got 200 monies from the operation! I need the cash. I need more soldiers too! I only have 6 active, and they're all rookies. 8 of my people are wounded in some way, and the other 30 are fatigued. This campaign is relentless. I'll need to hire a few more I think.

Azog will be a scout, it seems appropriate and was one of his default options. Gilligan will be my sixth medic, because apparently I desperately need more medics. And Balasar will be a gunner, because I like gunners. That's 4 snipers, 5 scouts, 4 rocketeers, 5 gunners, 6 medics, 5 engineers, 4 assault and 5 infantry. Not a bad spread, all told.

Hetad becomes my first Sniper sergeant. His options are as follows: Damn Good Ground gives +10 aim and +10 defense against enemies at lower elevations, in addition to normal height advantages; Ranger is the +1 damage and eliminates range penalties for sidearms... that's really handy for snipers; and finally Sharpshooter gives +10 critical chance at all times, and +10 aim against enemies in full cover. These are all good options. For Hetad, I go Sharpshooter. He has snap shot so he can shoot after moving, and I feel like the extra aim vs. full cover will work well for him.

Cereth "Cobra" Mahariel. That seems appropriate as a nickname for an assault. I give her Ranger, for the extra guaranteed damage and to mix it up a bit from my aggression assault soldiers.

Aproustian gets the nickname "Chuckles". We can't come up with anything better, so we'll keep it for now. She takes Rapid Reaction, for another overwatch rocketeer.

Chill Walk gets the nickname "Walker" and I can't not keep that. He takes Ranger as well, though I toyed with Low Profile. I think I need the damage output right now.

I order the construction of a new satellite which uses all the money I just got. Then I go to the "Grey Market" and sell some alien corpses to get more cash, and put in an order for 4 more soldiers.

Is it the Grey Market because it's for the Little Grey Men?

Please please please give me two days off, I'm not sending an undersized team of rookies into the field, so I may need to skip a mission or two here if they don't lay off a bit.

Ok, enough time passes that Bigg Nife and Valris return to active duty... and an alien scout is sighted over Russia. I shoot it down, but the crew are still alive. Small UFO? I guess I could send a team... It doesn't expire for 36 hours, and I have Gnife Gnife and Lord Belros, and a few others recovering in 1 day. I may wait a few hours and see if I can't get a better team than all rookies, although a small scout would be good to train up a few more people since I'm having such shortages.

Next time, I decide if I'm sending a team!