Operation Silent Fear, Part Two (Alien Abduction - Cairns, Australia)

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.

Last time on XCOM:  War Interminable:

Strike One responded to an alien abduction attempt at a dockhouse in Cairns, Australia.  Engagement with enemy forces proved difficult due to the limitations of the terrain, but Vita panicked while engaging the enemy Berserkers, and the destruction of her cover left her exposed to Thin Man fire.

And now, the thrilling conclusion.

Banzai takes both of his shots at the last Berserker - a hit and a miss.  The Berserker is right on top of Plunder.

Prototype runs a Thin Man's overwatch to get a better position on the Berserker.  No damage.

 

However, Prototype misses the Berserker entirely.

 

Plunder takes her shot and hits.

Plunder overwatches.  I have a plan that involves Sentinel.

Bull puts himself between Vita and harm, uses One For All, and reloads.

Forrughi steps around the corner and shoots the Berserker.

 

Because Forrughi made the Berserker mad, Plunder gets an overwatch shot on the Berserker as it moves towards Forrughi.  Plunder gets two shots because of Sentinel, and both of them hit.

However, that's not enough to bring the Berserker down!  Scooby orders Plunder to fire again, and she gets another hit, but the Berserker is still standing!

Lady Grey misses the Berserker!  Probably should have switched to her laser pistol...

In the aliens' turn, the Thin Men take ineffectual potshots at Bull.

The Berserker beats Plunder into the ground!  At least she's not dead.

Banzai, Plunder, and Scooby all reload.

Banzai goes on overwatch, because I plan to draw aggro again.

This time, with Lady Grey getting the Berserker's attention with her laser pistol.  It's a hit, but unfortunately the Berserker's Intimidate ability freaks her out.

That's all right, shieldmaiden, you stay down.  Banzai's got your back.  And a Berserker kill.

At least there wasn't a panic chain.

Forrughi reloads.

Bull takes the opportunity to shoot at a Thin Man.  He misses.

He then uses One For All and reloads again.

This is the nice thing about Valkyries.  Because they start with Light 'Em Up, you can use them to both attack and defend at the same time.  Use your first action to shoot the enemy, and use the second to One For All and reload.  That way, whoever you're defending always has cover, and the Valkyrie can still contribute to the fight.

Speaking of the fight, Prototype is trying to get back into it.  He gets onto the fishing boat and reloads.

Fortunately, Vita's no longer panicked, and she can now contribute to her own defense by popping her last smoke grenade to cover herself and Bull.

Because the Smoke Grenade perk also makes using a smoke grenade a free action, Vita goes on overwatch.

The Thin Men spit acid on Bull and hit him.

Banzai misses a Thin Man.

Prototype moves up and gets a hit on it.

Scooby patches up Plunder.

Scooby then runs a Thin Man's overwatch to get to Bull next turn.

She got hit, but thankfully, she's the medic - she has medkits for exactly this occasion.

Bull misses a Thin Man.

He then does the same One For All + reload trick to keep Vita alive.

Plunder moves up and misses a Thin Man.

Vita hunkers down to avoid acid damage.

Forrughi kills a Thin Man.  On the aliens' turn, the Thin Men go on overwatch.

Forrughi runs a Thin Man's overwatch, without so much as a scratch.

Forrughi somehow misses a flank shot.

Scooby gets up to Bull and patches him up.

Bull misses a Thin Man again.

Bull does his One For All trick again.

Banzai takes his two shots:  A miss and a hit.

Prototype moves up and gets a hit.

Plunder gets the kill.

Lady Grey goes to the roof and reloads.

However, her efforts are unnecessary, as Scooby gets the last Thin Man kill.

Op Success.

Plunder and Vita are going to be out for a while, but other than that, that was a good mission.

Banzai makes Gunnery Sergeant and gets Sentinel.

Prototype makes Tech Sergeant and gains Mayhem.

Forrughi makes Lance Corporal and gains Holo-Targeting.

Bull makes Tech Sergeant and gains Opportunist.

The haul we got from this mission wasn't bad, either.

Australia is grateful for our efforts.

Looks like Scooby's alloy plating inserts need to be repaired.

Let's get some Foundry projects started!  Shaped armor sounds good.

So does advanced surgery.

And the Super Skyranger.

And UFO scanners.

And Van Doorn has finally worked out a security division training regimen for laser weapons.

Back to the Hologlobe!

Security training has been implemented.  Should the base be attacked, our security teams will equip any laser rifles and suits of Phalanx armor not used by Strike One.

Our alloy bipods are finished.  That should make our snipers better at their jobs.

Our next lot of satellites is complete.

So, let's quickly give coverage to all of Europe.

We'll need interceptors in Europe to protect its airspace.

Meanwhile, we have a Scout UFO flying low over China.  Rocky, take it down!

Rocky didn't make it.

Another interceptor (either Carrot or Tarheel, I don't recall) goes in for the kill...

...and blows it out of the sky.  Nothing but burning wreckage survives.

Modifications to the Skyranger are complete.  On Base Assaults, we can bring up to 10 troops on a mission, and on the Temple Ship Assault at the end of the game, we can bring 12.

XCOM Europe's air wing has arrived.  We have "Buckeye" Ingram...

..."Nosedive" is back.  Apparently he managed to bail out in time, and has spent the past while in remedial flight school.

And last but not least, "Cowboy" Upham.

UFO scanners are complete.  When we engage a UFO that we've analyzed, we get to see an HP status bar much like what we see on our own interceptors.

France wants alloys?  Please!

And, the Council has another mission for us - a bomb disposal in Atlanta, United States.  Let's get the team together and save a major city in Sweet Home Georgia.

Leading this mission is our medic, Patreon contributor Lynne "Vixen" Triplett.

Patreon contributor Banzai and Trips are our infantry on this mission.

Special contributor Lady Grey returns as our sniper, testing out the new alloy bipod.

Special contributor J.R. "Rhino" Klein is our Marauder on this mission.  Hopefully, we'll get a chance to use that flamethrower.

Stalker is our scout on this op.  We'll need someone fast and almost immune to overwatch fire to deactivate those power nodes.

Finally, Prototype is our rocketeer.

Big Sky is on approach to the mission site.

 

And that's where we'll leave this update for today!  Join us tomorrow for Operation Lone Spark!  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!

Can't subscribe to my Patreon campaign, but still want in on the program? Go here to see how you can get in: http://xcomwarinterminable.blogspot.com/p/join-fight.html  With that, I hope to see you next time!