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:
Phase two of Operation Slingshot is underway - after successfully luring an alien battleship to a location of our choosing, Strike One got past its defenses and boarded the UFO while in flight. The squad's effort to advance was hampered by some Thin Men who dropped in behind us, and a couple whole pods of Mutons. Our gunner, Corporal Carlos "Smokey" Miraflores, was killed in the first turn of contact, but we were able to eliminate them before they killed anyone else. All set to deactivate the first power conduit, we were engaged by another pod coming up on our flank. We left off with Bull's overwatch shot on the Muton leading the pod, unsure if he hit or not.
And now, part two of Operation Devil's Paramour.
Bull's overwatch shot was a successful hit! It didn't kill, but that's to be expected when facing Muton leaders.
The Muton takes a shot at Boom Boom, and misses.
A Floater darts out, and draws overwatch fire from Shearer and Boom Boom.
Shearer gets the hit, while Boom Boom misses.
The Floater also misses Boom Boom.
The other Floater in the pod comes over the top...
...right into Congo's ineffectual overwatch fire.
This Floater also missed Boom Boom.
Shearer gets a hit on Floater #2 and gets holo-targeting up.
Geronimo gets right beneath Floater #1 and blows it sky-high.
Frost takes aim at Floater #2...
...and gets the kill! Brilliant!
Bull misses the Muton...
...although Boom Boom somehow gets a hit, despite being further away and carrying an SMG instead of a rifle.
Bull needs to reload.
Trips makes his way down to ground level and overwatches.
The Muton misses Boom Boom again.
Shearer takes aim at the Muton...
...and gets the kill!
Boom Boom reloads.
The squad overwatches.
However, we get no contacts this turn, so now's a good time to spend a turn reloading.
Bull leads the squad in a round of overwatches.
Shearer hears movement coming from up ahead...
...and on my turn, Bull disables the first conduit, and alarms start going off. Central reports that alien contacts from all over the UFO are closing on our position. We need to act fast.
Boom Boom moves up and steadies aim.
The rest of the squad advances and overwatches.
Next turn, still no contact. Boom Boom and Shearer move up to the base of one of the turrets. Boom Boom reloads.
The rest of the squad advances, Frost takes up position on top of the middle turret, and the rest of the squad overwatches.
Contact! Another combined pod of Mutons and Floaters! Also, Frost spotted a Thin Man dropping on top of the pylon to our right.
Shearer throws her battle scanner up there, but spots nothing.
At least Frost gets a hit on a Floater we couldn't see before.
On the aliens' next turn, we make contact with another pod, this one particularly worrying. From what we can see, it looks like a Muton, a Cyberdisc, a couple Drones, and a Seeker.
The last time we fought a Cyberdisc, it killed three rookies in as many turns and it took the combined firepower of the entire squad to bring it down. This wouldn't be so bad if Smokey were still with us, but he's not.
Anyway, Boom Boom hit the Cyberdisc on overwatch. Not for much, but at this point, I'll take what I can get.
The Cyberdisc pod is activated! At least none of them decided to come in shooting. The Cyberdisc overwatches.
Trips misses a Floater on overwatch.
Scooby, however, hits it.
The Thin Man up top drops down for a better shot.
And, because we don't have enough problems, the Chryssalid to our rear finally comes forward to kill us all and make more of itself.
My turn: Boom Boom whacks the Cyberdisc pod with her last Shredder rocket. I think I would have preferred a standard rocket, but I have to make do with what I have.
Trips kills the nearest Floater.
Not to be outdone, Frost kills another Floater in one hit all by herself.
Shearer holo-targets the Cyberdisc.
Bull moves up and deactivates the second power conduit.
In the aliens' turn, the Muton grenades Shearer, destroying all of her cover and leaving her open for the Cyberdisc to dispatch her with contemptuous ease.
Boom Boom panics as a result. Normally, this wouldn't be too bad, but the alien grenade took out Boom Boom's cover as well. We may well lose the best rocketeer we've ever had - one of our starting Cadre - because of this.
Bull steps up and kills the Thin Man.
Trips takes out another Floater.
All Congo can do is overwatch, and hope that she can get to Boom Boom before the Cyberdisc does.
The Muton misses Bull...
...and the Chryssalid draws Congo's overwatch fire.
Fortunately, Geronimo was on point enough to finish it off before it got to anyone.
Bull gets a solid hit on the Muton...
...and its Intimidate ability makes him panic! Goddammit, Bull! We need you focused right now! There's a Cyberdisc in spitting distance of your position that's already killed someone!
Fortunately, the Cyberdisc missed Boom Boom, and I was able to get her behind the conduit so that Congo could patch her up. At this stage in the game, Boom Boom is literally irreplaceable.
Congo then takes the opportunity to reload.
As does Trips. This has been a terrible couple of turns.
Frost has no targets in sight, so she steadies aim.
Boom Boom and Geronimo overwatch.
The Cyberdisc moves up, right into Geronimo and Boom Boom's overwatch fire...
...but they both miss, precisely when I needed them not to.
The Cyberdisc unloads on Geronimo, but fortunately it misses.
Next turn! Frost lands a solid hit on the Cyberdisc.
Trips follows it up with a shot that almost brings it down.
In all the panic, Bull forgot that he needed to reload.
Trips finishes off the Cyberdisc.
On the aliens' turn, a Sectoid and a Chryssalid dropped down behind our position, while a Muton advances. Trips hits the Muton on my turn.
Geronimo goes in for the kill...
...and blows the Sectoid away before it could cause trouble/repair the damaged power conduit.
Congo finishes the Muton off.
Boom Boom reloads.
The rest of the squad forms up, preparing to breach into the next compartment of the UFO. The squad overwatches.
With Shearer dead, Geronimo's our point man now. He reloads his shotgun and prepares for contact.
Frost brings up the rear and steadies aim.
The rest of the squad overwatches.
While the squad prepares to breach, Frost steadies aim once again.
The rest of the squad overwatches.
Our attempt to breach the next compartment is aborted when it turns out that there's another Cyberdisc lurking in it that apparently was part of the Cyberdisc pod we had already eliminated. Our infantry duo's efforts proved insufficient in bringing it down before it could get into grenade range...
...which is precisely what it did. No one died, thankfully.
Next turn, Frost scores another good hit on the Cyberdisc.
Bull hits the Cyberdisc twice, but fails to drop it.
Trips needs to reload again.
Seeing no other option, Geronimo charges the Cyberdisc, with the intent to shoot it point-blank.
He went for a rapid fire shot, but he really only needed one round to kill it. Unfortunately, Geronimo took a hit from the Cyberdisc's explosive demise.
Congo moves up and kills a Floater.
Boom Boom tries to get eyes on the Muton, but she can't see it at all, so she overwatches.
The Muton moves back to better cover...
...and both it and the Floater overwatch.
Geronimo takes advantage of the fact that neither alien can see him and deactivates the third power conduit. Only three more to go.
Congo takes aim at the Floater...
...but this Muton also has Covering Fire, and takes its overwatch shot on her. Fortunately, it misses, and she doesn't.
Bull reloads.
Trips suppresses the Muton.
Boom Boom leads the squad in another round of overwatches.
The Muton hunkers, the Floater overwatches...
...and another Floater swoops in.
At precisely the wrong time, that Chryssalid in the rear leaps down and makes a bee-line for Frost. Will it make it to her position? Does she survive the encounter? Can the rest of the squad save her?
Find out in the next update! Join us tomorrow
for Operation Devil's Paramour, part 3! Remember, you too can join the fight by
going to
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