Gentlesophs, I am your host, the Kid With A Pen, and welcome to XCOM:
War Interminable - my playthrough of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, with the
Enemy Within expansion, the Operation Slingshot DLC, and most
importantly the Long War mod. Links to all of these can be found on the
"What is XCOM: War Interminable?" page below this post.
Today, we're going to a Russian army base near Volgograd that's been the site of the latest alien abductions. No, this doesn't mean that we have backup on this one, or that we get to drive the tanks parked all over the place.
That said, I wonder if the name Bradford picked for this operation isn't a commentary on modern Russia...
Anyways, on to the mission! Our team today is:
Our squad leader, medic and Patreon contributor Vixen
Our infantry D.O.A.
Our engineer, Sikafuo
Our scout, Alpha
Our other infantry, Trips
Our assault, Cervantes
Our other engineer, Ahonen
And our sniper and special contributor, Lady Grey
The squad moves up towards the warehouse. Lady Grey takes cover behind a shipping container and steadies aim.
The rest of the squad overwatches.
Next turn! Vixen and Trips prepare to breach the warehouse. Trips throws the door...
...and no contact. All clear.
Lady Grey takes the corner of the warehouse and prepares to go up to the roof next turn. She steadies aim just in case we get jumped by a pod in the meantime.
The rest of the squad overwatches.
Alpha hears movement coming from the motor pool.
Trips and Vixen sweep the warehouse, but still no contact yet.
Lady Grey is now on the roof where she belongs.
The rest of the squad overwatches.
Trips and Vixen continue to sweep the warehouse.
Lady Grey takes the ledge and gets into position to rain death upon the aliens from high ground.
The rest of the squad overwatches.
D.O.A. also hears movement coming from the motor pool.
Contact left! One Muton, two Floaters!
Vixen scores a hit on a Floater.
Ahonen grenades it in an attempt to give Trips a clear shot.
Sikafuo draws contact with a combined Drone/Seeker pod. Most of them immediately cloak, but the Drone gets holo-targeting on Sikafuo.
Sikafuo responds with a grenade.
Alpha sheds some light on the situation with a battle scanner, revealing the cloaked Seekers.
D.O.A. misses a Seeker.
Cervantes runs up to the Seeker and crits it but does not kill.
Lady Grey, however, just coolly blows it away from high ground.
Trips still can't draw line of sight to the Floater, and so he overwatches.
The Drone advances and shoots Cervantes, making him panic.
The two Floaters switch places - the wounded one launches, and a fresh one drops down in its place.
The Seeker takes a shot at Alpha and misses despite having him flanked with a height advantage.
Vixen misses the Floater.
Alpha hits the Seeker, but more importantly gets holo-targeting up...
...allowing Lady Grey to get the kill.
Ahonen misses the Floater.
D.O.A. kills the Drone, finishing off that pod.
D.O.A. overwatches, in case that other Floater shows its face.
Meanwhile, the Floater hits Trips something nasty.
However, Vixen gets a good hit in return.
On the other side of the building, Alpha gets a flank on the Muton and takes his shot...
...dodging the Muton's Covering Fire shot...
...and getting holo-targeting up on it. Now, all we need is someone to kill it with.
Ahonen finishes off the Floater.
D.O.A. flanks the Muton and finishes it off.
Lady Grey steadies aim.
The rest of the squad overwatches. There's still one Floater out there somewhere, and I doubt that these were the only aliens on the map.
Contact! Two Thin Men and a Sectoid!
And right on cue, the second Floater comes swooping in from the rear. Trips misses his overwatch shot, but apparently it made a double move and didn't get to shoot that turn...
...which was quite the miscalculation, as Ahonen finished that one off as well.
D.O.A. needs to reload.
Alpha was able to get a hit on a Thin Man. More importantly, he got holo-targeting up...
...giving Lady Grey the kill! Brilliant!
Vixen finally gets up to Trips and patches him up.
And, thanks to Paramedic, she's still got an action free to reload.
Trips moves up to the door, preparing to breach out into the yard.
Cervantes pops Run and Gun...
...and flanks and kills the other Thin Man.
Hilariously, the Thin Man's acid cloud got the Sectoid standing right next to it, making escaping a nitrocellulose-fueled demise a risky venture at best.
That said, it's not about to stop the Sectoid from running away like the coward it is.
Alpha gets holo-targeting up on the Sectoid...
...but Lady Grey disappoints for the first time this mission and misses it. To be fair, it is hiding behind a tank. These things happen.
Ahonen needs to reload.
D.O.A. moves up on the Sectoid and gets the kill.
Contact! Three Sectoids!
Lady Grey makes quick work of one.
Trips suppresses the one furthest out.
Alpha moves up and reloads his SMG.
In the aliens' turn, the suppressed Sectoid shoots back at Trips, missing completely.
The other Sectoid overwatches.
Alpha runs the overwatch, with the results you would expect from a Sectoid shooting at a scout.
Alpha also gets holo-targeting up on the Sectoid.
Cervantes tries to take it out, but misses.
D.O.A. breaks out her laser pistol and misses one Sectoid.
She does not, however, miss the second one, putting it in a good spot for a capture.
Vixen orders Sikafuo to move in closer for a capture next turn.
Lady Grey reloads.
Sikafuo runs up to the crates in front of the Sectoids.
The Sectoids retreat, and the second one overwatches.
Alpha runs the Sectoid's overwatch shot again, and fails to die as a result.
Sikafuo successfully stuns the Sectoid! Sectoid get!
Cervantes pops Run and Gun again...
...and gets the kill.
Op success!
Promotions for most of you! Welcome back!
Vixen made Captain 2, and gained Combat Drugs. If I ever give her a smoke grenade, she'll give us all sorts of buffs.
Lady Grey made Sergeant, and gained Sharpshooter. Anything that improves crit chance is good, and anything that mitigates the defense bonus offered by high cover is also good. Sharpshooter does both.
Ahonen made Lance Corporal and gained Smoke Grenade.
Alpha made Sergeant and gained Battle Scanner.
Sikafuo made Lance Corporal and gained Smoke Grenade.
Cervantes made Lance Corporal and gained CCS.
Not a bad haul for an Abduction mission. I approve.
Russia is grateful for our efforts.
We need another Arc Thrower.
Back to the Hologlobe!
Carrot tries to shoot down a Fighter UFO, but fails.
So, Tarheel is next!
However, the UFO got away.
Alien Biocybernetics research is complete. We're within spitting distance of MECs, and we already have volunteers lined up, starting with J.R. Klein.
However, Dr. Vahlen is more interested in the medical applications of this technology, specifically by using it to replace damaged nerves and organs. Sergeant Luther "Bull" Steiner has been in a coma ever since Operation Slingshot, and the medical team is uncertain if he will ever awaken.
Unfortunately, Bull's condition prevents him from consenting to a potentially life-saving medical treatment, and so Dr. Vahlen requires consent from his next-of-kin, who according to XCOM's records is his sister, Felicie. Dr. Vahlen drafted a letter to this effect right away, neatly avoiding the disclosure of classified information by sending it from XCOM's official office in the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations.
"Sehr geehrte Frau Felicie Steiner-Weiss,
Ich bedauere, Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass Ihr Bruder, Oberfeldwebel Luther Steiner, verwundet worden ist. Wegen der klassifizierten Natur seiner Arbeit kann ich Ihnen nicht erzählen, wie er verwundet wurde oder wann, aber ich kann sagen, dass er gegenwärtig komatös und auf lebenslange Unterstützung ist, und während er nicht in Gefahr ist zu sterben, Es ist meine medizinische Meinung, dass keine konventionelle Behandlung seinen Zustand verbessern wird.
Zu diesem Thema möchte ich Euch ansprechen. Eine experimentelle Behandlung existiert, die ihn theoretisch zu fast voller Gesundheit wiederherstellen kann. Allerdings erfordert es die Implantation von fortgeschrittenen kybernetischen Prothesen, um die beschädigten Teile seines zentralen Nervensystems zu umgehen und ersetzen diejenigen Gliedmaßen und inneren Organe beschädigt über jede Hoffnung der Wiederherstellung. Dieses Verfahren ist sehr invasiv, und wurde nicht von einer medizinischen Behörde in der Welt genehmigt. Selbst wenn es gelingt, wird es erhebliche Änderungen an seinen körperlichen Fähigkeiten und vielleicht sogar seine Persönlichkeit. Allerdings glaube ich, dass es seine beste Chance für die Genesung ist, und weil er nicht in der Lage ist, es zu geben, brauche ich Ihre Zustimmung, bevor mein Team fortfahren kann.
Wie für die Langzeitpflege, kann ich Ihnen versichern, dass die Kosten für die Aufrechterhaltung seiner Implantate in vollem Umfang abgedeckt werden, obwohl er von der Heer wegen des Ausmaßes seiner Verletzungen zurückziehen muss.
Wenn Sie irgendwelche Fragen haben, würde ich glücklich sein, ihnen zu antworten, wie ich fähig bin.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen, Ursula Vahlen, M.D. Leiter Forschung, Erweiterte Sicherheitsforschung Institut Abteilung der Friedenssicherungseinsätze der Vereinten Nationen"
Let's interrogate one of our Sectoid captives, shall we?
It's probably for the best that the interrogation is done behind closed blast doors.
In the meantime, we need more interceptors over Asia. They're a lot cheaper with the North America continental bonus.
Mexico wants Elerium? Feel free!
And the latest addition to XCOM's interceptor wing is Flight Officer "Rocky" Falkowski. Welcome to Asia Base, Rocky.
Our second Arc Thrower is complete!
Egypt wants flight computers? Sure!
The Research team has finished interrogating the Sectoid. Dr. Vahlen reports her unusual and disturbing findings:
Well. I now officially do not want to know what Dr. Vahlen did to the thing in order to learn what she did.
So, we have a new objective: We need to capture an Outsider. This will be difficult.
Anyway, we need better body armor. Vahlen, focus your team's efforts on making actual armor suits from alien alloys.
Russia wants weapon fragments? Go ahead!
UFO sighted low over Canada! Let slip the dogs of war! Hound, bring it down!
Hound, you're an embarrassment to the program.
Another interception paid off - the UFO was flat-out destroyed.
Egype wants Sectoid corpses? Take 'em!
Our second Thermo Generator is online!
Nigeria wants Sectoid corpses? Well, they don't have any medicinal value, but okay!
Vahlen's team has figured out how to make actual body armor out of alloy plates.
In the meantime, we should get started on some of these autopsies. Begin with the Mutons.
We have a Council mission. Dr. Marazuki, a foreign astronomer doing research at the University of Shanghai for Science and technology, has been tracking UFO activity over China, and Dr. Vahlen's report has led the Council to believe that his life and research are in danger of alien attack. Strike One needs to go retrieve him so that he can continue his work at XCOM HQ, where he'll have the full resources of the Council at his disposal.
Leading this squad is our medic and Patreon contributor Vixen, with the standard loadout.
The observatory map is really good for snipers, so we're bringing special contributor Lady Grey along.
We're taking Klein as our Assault for this mission.
Banzai and Rascal are our infantry.
Alpha is our scout, with the standard loadout.
Ahonen's our engineer.
And finally, Prototype is our Rocketeer.
Touching down at the mission site. Strike One, you are clear to secure the package.
And that's where we'll leave this update for today! Join us Friday
for Operation Secret Pyre! Remember, you too can join the fight by
going to https://www.patreon.com/user?u=177434 and subscribe today! Every subscriber gets to have a rookie named after them!
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