Groo Tries To Grow As A Gamer

[Groo The Wanderer]

Lot's of loot from that last mission, but I'm opting to sell some of the lesser ones for cash. I can also run right to the Black Vial mission, but my I'm going with my other choice: make contact with Northern Africa (for more money) and take out the ADVENT facility located there (reducing my doomsday counter, plus ADVENT facility missions typically aren't timed). If anything worthwhile pops up on the globe I might scan it as well. That's it for tonight! Thanks for hanging in there with me!

[Kersus]

You convinced me to try the Mimic Beacon, which I'd avoided before. It certainly has some advantages, especially later on.

I haven't sold anything yet as I'm really not sure what stuff is safe to sell. I keep the Doomsday Clock right on the edge of ending the game.

[Kersus]

Attached an Archon Ruler.

[Kersus]

Well, I'm a little astonished. I took a side mission just before attacking an alien outpost, y'know, just to get a little experience for some newbies and maybe have a Psi-capable soldier actually survive an encounter. I got the imprisoned VIP out but lost every single soldier. The attached photo shows that at least one lost was a game-glitch but the rest, man oh man they died well. Killed a Sectopod, Archon and numerous ADVENT peoples but in the end there were two of the suped up Meccs, and maybe 5 more troopers/officers rushing the escape route.

[Groo The Wanderer]

You convinced me to try the Mimic Beacon, which I'd avoided before.

Buying yourself a free round as the bad guys rush to pummel a hologram can be pretty darn handy sometimes, especially if you make a mis-step during deployment... as soon as they're available, I don't leave home without them.

Attached an Archon Ruler.

Oh. My. Goodness. What fresh hell is this!? That thing looks like a monster... what advantages do you get from taking it out, other than nightmare-free sleep? I will have to somehow find some monies to get this DLC... could be a while though.

Well, I'm a little astonished. I took a side mission just before attacking an alien outpost, y'know, just to get a little experience for some newbies and maybe have a Psi-capable soldier actually survive an encounter. I got the imprisoned VIP out but lost every single soldier. The attached photo shows that at least one lost was a game-glitch but the rest, man oh man they died well. Killed a Sectopod, Archon and numerous ADVENT peoples but in the end there were two of the suped up Meccs, and maybe 5 more troopers/officers rushing the escape route.

Yup, things can go south pretty quickly, especially in these VIP recovery missions.

What difficulty are you playing?

[Kersus]

Attached an Archon Ruler.

Oh. My. Goodness. What fresh hell is this!? That thing looks like a monster... what advantages do you get from taking it out, other than nightmare-free sleep? I will have to somehow find some monies to get this DLC... could be a while though.

I think they're just super-tough. Perhaps the missions you initially encounter them are DLC however if you do a decent amount of damage but don't kill them, they summon a gate and flee only to pop up in a later encounter making it much tougher than expected. As far as I know, there are a limited amount (one of each kind, Beserker, Viper, Archon - so far). They really change your tactics since every time you move or shoot, they move AND shoot. Even Overwatch sets them off, BUT Lightning Hands does not.

Well, I'm a little astonished. I took a side mission just before attacking an alien outpost, y'know, just to get a little experience for some newbies and maybe have a Psi-capable soldier actually survive an encounter. I got the imprisoned VIP out but lost every single soldier. The attached photo shows that at least one lost was a game-glitch but the rest, man oh man they died well. Killed a Sectopod, Archon and numerous ADVENT peoples but in the end there were two of the suped up Meccs, and maybe 5 more troopers/officers rushing the escape route.

Yup, things can go south pretty quickly, especially in these VIP recovery missions.

What difficulty are you playing?

Normally I play Veteran or Impossible, however this was in a new Easy-Ironman campaign. It was glorious except for the guy stuck on the roof of a gas station. He couldn't move anywhere, jump down, nothing. Just stuck and captured. The VIP was an old soldier I mistakenly left behind because I thought he was dead, but he was just knocked out. Smacked my forehead after that mission but losing everyone in a glorious battle (minus the glitched guy) was pretty fun.

What made that specific mission interesting from the big picture is that I thought it would be a milk run and had left the Avatar Project at full bars ticking down to about 4 days. I needed those 4 days to acquire some Supplies and hire recruits to attack an alien outpost to slow the Avatar project down.

So the whole milk run turned massacre altered the whole way I approached the rest of the campaign. It also allowed a few other soldiers that had been support to shine on the frontlines.

[Kersus]

Hey, XCOM: Enemy Within is on sale for Android maybe a day or more.

[Groo The Wanderer]

I have Enemy Within on my PC and my phone DEFINITELY doesn't have the ponies to run something like that... I'll take a look though...

*checks*

Yeah, it's still on sale, but I don't think the game would be done justice on my POS phone.

[Groo The Wanderer]

I've been spending a lot of time on my "alt" game, and think I'll tackle another Ironman mission tonight before bed. As stated before, it's an Alien Facility mission, which won't be timed... Since building the Shadow Chamber, I can see I'll face 11 enemies, representing a good mix of all the aliens I've met so far. My roster is still terribly understaffed, so I'll be sending the majority of my veterans on this one - I just don't have the people for any other option, really, so that should be my next priority: get more staff!

Anyway, here's what I have to work with:

I'm anchoring with Lucky again, but since losing all my prime gear I'm having to re-stock my inventory from scratch. He's going in with my one Mimic Beacon, and I've modded his sniper rifle with a Superior Auto-loader (3 free reloads) and a Hair Trigger (5% bonus action chance). I've dubbed the weapon "Rumsfeld", after a Gulf War quote about going to war with the army you have, not the army you want.

Next up is my junior Grenadier, Claymore. He's fielding an EXO suit for the first time, adding a Rocket Launcher to his arsenal... again, because of a lack of options, he's going in with a pure grenade load-out. I have a couple more mods to add to weapons, but I'm going to see who else is coming along for this ride before committing to another weapon build (should've done that before forging Rumsfeld... stupid!)

Noisemaker will be my Ranger for this one. It's a choice between her and Paladin, who's also senior, but Noisemaker was built for stealth and I'm going to try and run a stealth attack on this one... I know, I know - it was this exact same scenario that lead to my current no gear / no soldiers state I'm in, but I think I've learned my lesson...

Aaaaaaand I've been vetoed for computer time, so this mission build will have to wait. Don't know when I'll get back to this as my week is shaping up to be a special hell, so maybe this weekend?

See you all then!

***

Back (for now)... still loading up the Skyranger for the mission... I'm adding Shifter, my senior medic to the mix. I have one other Specialist, but they're literally a Squaddie and couldn't do Gremlin heals anyway... I'll get them levelled up when I can, but now is not the time. That leaves two spaces to fill. The roster is looking pretty darn slim at the moment, so I'm adding Paladin to the mix and my only other sharpshooter (and unnamed Squaddie) and that's it. As chance would have it, when I loaded the junior sniper I saw they had a Spider suit... really great for quickly taking the high-ground and generally moving around the battlefield. I've moved the suit over to Lucky for this mission. For load-outs, I've given Battle Scanners to the junior sniper and Noisemaker. Shifter got the Medikit (obviously), and that leaves a Flashbang for Paladin... scratch that... Paladin gets the Talon rounds to max-out critical chances, and the Flashbang goes to Claymore (he can shoot it farther anyway). I've spread out the weapon upgrades as evenly as I could. It's time for the rubber to meet the road.

One final edit: if things go wrong, I have exactly three Specialist left back at base, with the highest rank being a Sergeant. So, y'know... no pressure.

[Groo The Wanderer]

Deployed to flat terrain. Off the bat, I move Noisemaker - my spotter for this mission - up to cover... it was a double-move, and she spotted a Viper and a Muton without being seen herself... still, it was sloppy. I have four Battle Scanners available for this mission. I should use them! The turn ends with the two targets moving away from the group... I know where they are (generally) so I use a scanner on my right flank and spot two more targets... looks like ADVENT troops near two cottage-like structures... I don't like that, as the similarities to the Great Disaster are giving me bad vibes... be smart, be methodical!

I decide I'm going to set up my first ambush against the Viper and Muton... I inch Noisemaker ahead to keep them spotted and grapple Lucky to the roof of a shed (for elevation bonuses). I'm going to move Paladin, Claymore, and the junior sniper up for better position to ambush next round, and keep Shifter in reserve.

**

My targets have inconveniently decided to keep moving farther into unexplored territory... this does not gel with my divide and conquer strategy, so rather than follow them into the unknown and aggro all my enemies at once, I'm going to cautiously see if I can take out the ADVENT troopers the Battle Scanner picked up. I'm keeping Noisemaker on the left flank for when my original duo come back around. I bring Paladin over to the next big tree, and spot my two troopers (one with Blast Padding - a dark event that gives him a point of armour)... and a Codex... and two more Vipers and an Archon in another squad within sight. Good to know! 8 of 11 enemies have been spotted, no one engaged yet. Must be careful and think...

Okay, my plan is to take out the troopers and the Codex first. I've moved 5 of my 6 soldiers to participate in this ambush... My plan is to use the EXO rocket that Claymore has to connect with the enemy patrol. Shifter and Paladin are positioned on overwatch, as well as Lucky and the junior sniper. My hope is that this is enough firepower to take out all three in one go. Noisemaker is still watching the left flank for when the Muton and original Viper decide to come back around (and she will remain hidden after the ambush due to her stealth build). The rest of the squad has *pretty* good cover for when the other patrol (2 Vipers and 1 Archon) come into engage... like chess, I need to think a couple moves in advance, so I'll probably grapple Lucky onto the next structure and use his Kill Zone ability to take a shot on all three, but beyond that I'll just have to wing it. Here goes nothing...

**

Pretty good, but not perfect... once the initial rocket landed, the Codex cloned and used teleport... although quickly gunned down by Lucky. Everyone else did their jobs... except the junior sniper. I forgot that she needed Long Watch to be able to use Squad Sight on overwatch... had I remembered, I would've not placed her on overwatch and simple had her take a shot after the ambush was broken. I have a choice of bringing Noisemaker into the fight, but I'm choosing to keep her hidden and see what happens next... wish me luck!

**

The enemies advance, triggering Junior's attack... she wings the Archon but no kill... He promptly uses Blazing Pinions against the squad, essentially wasting his attack (if everyone moves). Viper number one does a tongue-grab against Paladin and misses... then connects critically with a rifle shot. Viper number two moves forward and spits venom on Junior and Claymore, who are now poisoned. The Codex moves forward and does the damned area-effect attack that jams all weapons, but only Shifter got hit... no problem, as his action next turn was to heal up Paladin... I need to make sure the poisoned troops don't panic, but one thing at a time... again, turn-by-turn planning is the way to go.

I can move Junior away from the Pinion attack and take a pistol shot at the Codex, potentially taking it out. If the Codex goes down, I can move Shifter to better cover and do a Gremlin heal on Paladin. Paladin has Talon rounds, so if he get's in good position he could one-shot a Viper... I'm thinking he'll attempt the farthest one, as if the rest of the plan doesn't work I can bring Noisemaker in to attack the near one... that leaves Lucky and Claymore left to act, and a Viper and the damned Archon left as potentials... I toyed with the idea of Claymore using the Flashbang (he could get both Vipers in the mix), or possibly using Demolition against the near-Viper's cover, making Lucky's chances to hit much better. I've never used the Demolition ability before, so I might as well give it a try... the Archon still hasn't been dealt with, but that's the best plan I've got, so I'm going to try... also: it's getting late, so after this round (and my report here in the thread) I'm calling it a night. And away we go...

**
Close... Junior missed, and I did bring in Noisemaker, but after my turn ended, the Codex and the Archon were still standing. Demolition did nothing... I might be using it wrong, but it didn't seem to do anything in this case. I could've used a frag grenade to take out the Codes and had Lucky shoot the Archon, but alas, it was not meant to be. The Archon took out Junior, and the Codex took a shot at Paladin - but missed! I'm really tempted to play one more round (just like the old days), but I've got an early day tomorrow and I'm a little "on tilt", to use the poker term, after the sniper died and don't want to compound my losses with bad decision making. I'll catch up next time, but again we're touch-and-go with available time during the week, so no idea when I can update next.

Good night all!