Operation Dark Sleep (Terror - Shenzhen, China)

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.

We have a bit of a problem.

The aliens have started openly attacking civilian populations.  The United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia all seem to be holding their own in repelling attacks on their capital cities (although it's a mystery how Japan's doing, as they're no longer a Council member), but the aliens have also launched an attack on Shenzhen, one of China's wealthiest cities and a center of their financial sector and manufacturing industry.  Shenzhen's a major player in the global economy, and if the aliens can break that, we'll have a much harder time defeating them.

So, only Strike One can go to China.  We're dropping them in a part of the city where the aliens have broken out of the Chinese military's containment zone.  If we can drive the aliens back into the containment zone, then the Chinese can wipe them out with airstrikes.  However, there are civilians in the area, so we have to make sure that we get as many of them to safety as we can.

With that, onto the mission!  Our team today is:

Our infantry, Zilch

our assault, Saleh

our engineer, Kitten

Our sniper, Long Shot

Our rocketeer, Boom Boom

Our gunner, Miraflores

Our other infantry, Plunder

And finally, our medic, Scooby

The rules for a Terror mission are simple.  There are 18 civilians on the map (pictured above).  There are also a lot of aliens on the map.  If all the civilians die, we lose.  If all of us die, we lose.  If we lose or abandon the mission, China will immediately leave the Council.  If we win (by wiping out the aliens and saving at least one civilian), China's panic level will rise proportionally to the number of civilians who were killed, which means that if we screw up badly enough but still win, China may still leave.  Also, the only reward we'll get is whatever loot we recover from the terror site.

That's right, the only real reason to go on a Terror mission is because the consequences of not going are worse.  That's XCOM for you.

Anyway, the squad advances to rescue those civilians...

...when suddenly, Chryssalids.  Now, I'm a veteran XCOM player.  Not the best in the world, but I can hold my own (at least I'm better than Ronin Pawn).  I've fought Chryssalids before.  I've even fought them in this save game - during my assault on a landed alien Transport UFO in Operation Empty Moon, I fought three pods of the bastards.  They still scare me shitless when they come from nowhere.

Chryssalids are a tough, fast-moving unit that can get Lightning Reflexes if the game goes on long enough.  However, they only have a melee attack,  but it's a powerful one with a horrifying special ability.

See, Chryssalid claws are envenomed, so even if you survive the attack, escaping the situation or even fighting back is a risky proposition.  That's not the point, though.  The point is that if a Chryssalid kills a unit with its melee attack, that unit gets up next turn and becomes a zombie.  Zombies are tough and they hit hard in melee, even if they are slow, but that's not even the worst part.

If a zombie lives longer than a couple turns, it will explode in a spray of viscera and spawn another Chryssalid at full health.  We're playing a mission where there are 18 helpless targets that die if an alien so much as looks at them.  They cannot be allowed to live to see future turns.

This is gonna suck.

Thankfully, we overwatched the previous turn as per my standard measured advance protocol.  While we didn't kill any of them, we at least put some hits on them to make them easier to deal with in our next turn.

I sent Kitten out to rescue a civilian who had run in our direction and grenade the Chryssalids (which had so helpfully bunched together for my convenience), and she accidentally makes contact with a pod of Floaters that immediately have her flanked.

Did I say one pod of Floaters?  I'm sorry, I meant to say two.  All to save a guy who probably makes less than 35¢ an hour stamping circuit boards for iPhones.  Could've at least given Kitten a "xiexie" for her trouble...

Fortunately, we have Boom Boom here to squash these overgrown mantises with an industrial-strength can of Die, Bug, Die!™  Shredder rocket away!

Didn't kill any of them, but the rest of the squad should be able to clean them up no trouble.

Long Shot's best firing solution in on a Floater, which she naturally kills in one hit.

Zilch misses the Chryssalids twice.  Come on, man!  People's lives are at stake!

At least Miraflores puts an end to one of the Floaters...

...and Kitten takes the option of last resort:  drop a grenade on an enemy while being flanked by different enemies.  Of course she's the only one with a smoke grenade.

That said, she did make quick work of those Chryssalids with an AP grenade.

Meanwhile, Plunder hits a Floater but does not kill...

...and Saleh misses another one completely.  Saleh, I know you're pretty much still just a rookie, but Kitten is counting on you!

With all other options exhausted, I have to leave Scooby as our sole overwatch.

In the aliens' turn, they move up and miss Kitten...

...kill civilians...

...and die to Scooby's overwatch fire.

However, the Floaters on the other side aren't nearly as incompetent.  The first hits Kitten for a lot...

...and the second just kills her.  Kitten's just dead.  I'm sorry I put you in that position, but it seemed like the best option at the time.

Zilch needs to reload...

Long Shot hits another Floater but fails to kill it.  I think you're losing your edge, there.

Plunder just misses a Floater, period.

Saleh does, too.  You'd think that a shotgun, like flak cannons, would make for a decent weapon against low-flying targets, but they don't.

Scooby also misses a Floater.  Come on, guys!  This is embarrassing!  You're supposed to be my A-team!

Boom Boom steadies aim, just in case a dozen more Floaters come in just ripe for a rocket to the face...

...leaving Miraflores for the overwatch.  One low-ranked gunner against 4 Floaters, two of which can easily flank him?  Yeah, we're about one, maybe two mistakes from game over.

A Floater flies over a truck to get a better shot at Saleh...

...and trips Miraflores' ineffectual overwatch.  At least it double-moved and can't shoot this turn.

Its buddies, however, can.  At least they only suppressed Miraflores instead of killing him...

On the other hand, Zilch manages to zilch one of the Floaters.

And Long Shot has her first miss this mission, precisely when we needed it least.

At least Saleh demonstrated his utility, as well as why it's never a good idea to get close to a guy with a shotgun.

Scooby fails to break the Floater's suppression...

Zilch still somehow manages to miss a target sitting right out in the open (he had a 90% chance to hit)...

 

Plunder misses a Floater on one flank...

...and out of ammo in her rifle, Plunder switches to her pistol, aims at another Floater and unsuccessfully tries to at least hit the damn thing...

Boom Boom, however, gets a kill with her SMG.

Miraflores misses a Floater that has him flanked...

On the aliens' turn, one of the last surviving Floaters moves up...

...one Floater hits Miraflores from the flank...

...and the other one takes Miraflores down!  At least he's not dead, like Kitten...

Miraflores has been critically wounded.  While he's not dead, it does mean that he only has a few turns before he bleeds out and dies for good.

The good news is that a medkit can stabilize a downed soldier, and a medic with Revive can even bring them back into the fight that same turn.  The bad news is that the soldier in question suffers a permanent reduction to their Will stat, and they'll be in the hospital for a couple months.

Scooby's fixed Miraflores up right as rain...

...a rain of DEATH, as Boom Boom tears another Floater apart with her SMG.  Lightest rifle weapon in the game, and she's deadly with it.

With that flank dealt with, Saleh tries going for the kill, but falls short.

Plunder needs to reload...

...and thanks to Lock and Load, she gets to take another action if the first thing she does that round is reload!  It doesn't help her hit her targets at all...

Meanwhile, Zilch finally manages to hit something, although he was unable to kill it.

Of course, he needs to reload afterward.  It sure would be nice if my people didn't have to reload every other turn.

Long Shot's ability to hit her targets seems to have gotten progressively worse this mission.

At least Saleh can give us an overwatch.

Meanwhile, one of the Floaters launches, and lands behind all of my cover.

Boom Boom has absolutely had it with this Floater's shit.

Saleh misses the Floater...

...Long Shot can't hit a damn thing...

...Zilch hits zilch...

...Miraflores' best use is suppressing the thing...

...but Plunder plunders the kill!

And that's it!  We killed all of the aliens, saved 13 out of 18 civilians, and we only lost one person (admittedly a Sergeant engineer, which we'll need once we can start capturing aliens), so I think we can call that a successful mission!  Op success!

Also, I'm pretty sure that last image is a perfect summary of how this mission went.  Just sayin'.

Returning from the mission, we have one fatality and one hospital stay.  Miraflores will be off active duty for the next 46 days while Dr. Vahlen fashions him a new digestive system, using as few alien organs as possible.

Anyways, promotions!  Zilch makes it to Sergeant, and gains Suppression.  Suppression is the same perk that gunners start with - pick a target, and its aim is debuffed something fierce.  If it tries to move, you get a free reaction shot against it.  Combined with Opportunist and Covering Fire, he'll be shooting like normal at targets trying to reload or shoot back, too.

Boom Boom made it to Tech Sergeant, and gains Mayhem.  On a rocketeer, Mayhem increases the blast radius of rockets.  In particular, Shredder rockets are buffed, since they no longer fail to wound targets behind cover.

Saleh is promoted to Corporal, and gains the nickname "Geronimo" and the Aggression perk, which gives him an improved critical hit chance based on how many enemies he can see.  Clearly, the reason why he failed to hit so many times last mission was because he was insufficiently aggressive.

Scooby also got promoted to Tech Sergeant, and gained the Opportunist perk.

Miraflores also got promoted to Corporal, and gained the nickname "Scooby" and the Opportunist perk.

We got an okayish haul this mission.  Unfortunately, Kitten blew up all of our Chryssalid carcasses.

And, as promised, a guilt trip from China for not saving everyone.  No good deed goes unpunished.

So, here's the state of the world.  China's the most freaked out right now, and Japan has long since fallen to the aliens' assault.  Everywhere else is fine.

Moving swiftly onward, it's time to move the plot along.  Quick!  To the Hologlobe!

We're finally getting around to putting that satellite in orbit over the United States.

...and, there's no rest for the wicked.  Aliens are abducting people in Rajkot, India.

Since abduction missions are the best opportunity we'll have for training up rookies, we'll go light on the competent people.  Congo leads this mission, with the standard medic loadout.

Because we're on a roadway map without any snipers, I'm bringing Schuster along with an LMG for long-range support.

Yamazaki and Albright are our infantry for this mission, with the usual loadout.

And we'll be training in PFC Rainsey Tat,

PFC Edouard Lejeune,

PFC Nestoras Kostopoulos,

and PFC Marieke van der Heijden

Strike One has arrived at the mission site.

And, that's where we'll leave this update for today!  Join us tomorrow for Operation Dying Justice!  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!  With that, I hope to see you next time!