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 UFO landing site somewhere in China. This is a medium UFO, so even though there are going to be more aliens than are typical on a small UFO, it shouldn't be a death slog like the large ones.
Anyways, on to the mission! Our team today is:
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| Our assault, Barbosa |
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| Our medic and squad leader, Scooby |
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| Our infantry and Patreon contributor, Rascal |
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| Our engineer, Chilong |
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| Our rocketeer, Prototype |
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| Our other assault, Luthuli |
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| Our other infantry and Patreon contributor, Banzai |
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| And our rookie and special contributor, Klein. |
Right on landing, we made contact with a pod of Floaters.
As a matter of survival, Barbosa pops Run and Gun, gets to cover and hits one of the Floaters for decent damage from long range (for a shotgun).
Luthili also pops Run and Gun, but this time with the intent of attacking his target.
And, as advertised, he gets up close to a Floater and blasts it with a cluster of 00 buckshot (or maybe flechettes of some kind). It survived it, of course, but any damage is better than no damage.
Speaking of any damage, Rascal gets a hit on a Floater.
Klein misses Barbosa's target. Don't worry, the mission is young.
Prototype finishes off Luthuli's target.
Finally, Scooby takes down Rascal's Floater.
One Floater takes a shot at Barbosa and misses.
Another Floater moves up menacingly.
The last Floater launches...
...and lands right on my flank. Cheeky bastard. I'll see to it that you live to regret that choice.
Rascal kills one Floater...
...but misses the other. Luthuli! Get over here and make this guy a statistic!
Not good enough. Klein! Run a laser beam up its ass!
Thank you!
Meanwhile, I have a plan for the Floater on our flank. Banzai suppresses the bastard...
...while Chilong sprints up to flank it. Now, the smart people can see that I intend to capture this thing, but are probably wondering why I sprinted my engineer in position instead of moving more deliberately.
Well, because Scooby is a Captain, she gets to issue two orders per mission, and I feel that using one of them to attempt a capture is justified.
Floater get!
To finish off the turn, Barbosa gets to high ground and overwatches.
Next turn, the squad moves up, preparing to breach the UFO...
...when Barbosa hears movement in the forest beyond.
Contact! One Mechtoid, and a bunch of Sectoids.
The fact that this Mechtoid missed is about the only thing preventing this activation from demonstrating almost everything I hate about Mechtoids. Mechtoids are the aliens' equivalent to MEC troopers - they're suits of powered armor that are big enough to blur the line between body armor and personal armored fighting vehicle. There's a Sectoid piloting the thing, but it still qualifies as a robotic unit, with the damage resistance to match. This thing has more HP than that damned Cyberdisc we fought in South Africa, and it's as fast as any MEC trooper. Seriously, the mobility on these things is ridiculous for their size.
Unlike the Cyberdisc, the Mechtoid has only one weapon - a plasma cannon of some sort that's a nasty long range hitter. However, the Mechtoid gets the option to shoot twice if it doesn't move - not sure if it's Light 'Em Up or Double Tap, but it's not something you really want to cross. We're going to need to get a Shredder rocket on this thing pronto.
Also, Sectoids can Mind Merge with it, but instead of giving it stat buffs and extra HP, it projects a force field around it with insane DR. Fortunately, it'll still take damage if you kill the Sectoid juicing it up.
Obviously, our current position isn't good enough to fight from - with Aiming Angles enabled, even the full cover of the UFO's hull won't provide adequate protection, and half cover will only get us killed in new and exciting ways. However, there's a hill not too far away that's an amazing place to turtle up in and rain death upon the enemy from. Prototype takes cover behind a tree and steadies aim just in case the Mechtoid decides to turn this mission into a tragedy.
This team, with Klein on point, had moved up to make sure that the path up to the hill was clear of hostiles. The rest of the squad overwatches.
The next turn mainly consists of falling back, reloads, and overwatches.
In the aliens' turn, they sent a Sectoid over to scout for the Mechtoid.
Well, Chilong thinks that it doesn't deserve to have cover.
Barbosa pops Run and Gun, moves in closer...
...and kills the Sectoid. I think Barbosa must have some talent for hitting things with a shotgun from rifle ranges.
Prototype gets to the base of the hill and steadies aim.
The rest of the pod shows its face. One of the Sectoids Mindfrays Barbosa.
Finally, the Mechtoid makes its grand entrance, right into Rascal's Covering Fire overwatch. Didn't do much damage, but it's the thought that counts.
The Mechtoid misses Barbosa and also fails to destroy her cover.
Remember that force field trick I told you about? Yeah. We need a Shredder rocket on this thing yesterday.
Another Sectoid successfully uses Psi Panic on Barbosa, which reduces our best chance of taking out the Mechtoid's shield to a gibbering, whimpering wreck.
So, it looks like it's up to Luthuli to get as close as he can.
Shredder rocket away!
Rascal hits the Mechtoid and finishes off its force field.
Luthuli gets a decent hit on the Mechtoid, too.
Rascal hits the Mechtoid again. They're not
impossible to bring down with beam lasers, just very difficult.
Scooby orders Rascal to reload so he can keep shooting next turn.
The rest of the squad overwatches.
The Sectoids get the force field back up on their Mechtoid, of course.
However, a Sectoid triggered Banzai's Covering Fire overwatch, which he hit but not for enough...
...and the Sectoid took its shot and missed.
My turn. Prototype's not messing around, and he delivers a standard rocket to prove it. Shield down in one swell foop.
Banzai finishes off the Sectoid.
Rascal gets two good shots in on the Mechtoid...
Barbosa missed it...
Luthuli gets another hit on it from range...
...and Klein finishes it off. Well, that wasn't such a chore, now was it?
Prototype steadies aim just in case his second standard rocket is needed.
The rest of the squad overwatches.
There's still this Sectoid out here, and I kinda want to capture it. We need to do a Sectoid interrogation before they become harder to come by. Barbosa pops Run and Gun to get into position.
If she uses her shotgun, she'll likely kill it, so she takes a shot with her pistol and predictably misses.
Rascal and Banzai reload.
Prototype steadies aim once more.
Klein takes a well-deserved reload.
Chilong advances on the Sectoid and overwatches.
Chilong misses the Sectoid on overwatch.
Contact! Thin Men. Scooby hits one of them on overwatch in a slide that Blogger doesn't want you to see.
Barbosa hits her Sectoid target with her pistol.
Luthuli misses it.
Rascal hits one Thin Man, and misses another.
Scooby hits a Thin Man.
The time for Prototype's second rocket has come. These Thin Men don't get to use trees to hide from our guns.
Banzai demonstrates that you matter, unless you multiply yourself by the square of the speed of light. Then you energy.
The squad overwatches once more.
Meanwhile, the Sectoid scurries away back into the shadows.
Chilong gets a kill on overwatch.
The last Thin Man runs off to look for a real job.
Barbosa takes the opportunity to reload her pistol.
Luthuli misses a flanked Sectoid with his pistol. Probably for the best - he might have killed it.
Rascal polishes off that last Thin Man, that rascal.
Chilong moves up to the UFO and reloads.
Scooby also reloads.
The Sectoid moves up and shoots at Luthuli, but misses.
And finishing off the aliens' turn, contact! Sectoids and Drones.
That's where we'll leave this update for today! Join us Monday
for Operation Blinding Priest, part 2! 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!
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