Sepulchral: The Unorthodox XCOM AAR.

[Unorthodox]

So, the game's working again and the steam cloud had a copy of the save, sorta.  I lost several turns, but nothing major.  Uploading pics now. 

[Buster's Uncle]

 

[testdummy653]

 

[Unorthodox]

THIS is what happens when you're scraping the bottom of the barrel.  Below average on health, TERRIBLE will. 



Happy days.


Oh, and floaters to surround me.



With no one on the team able to shoot, I decided to pack the few alien grenades we had captured.  One takes care of the floaters here.



Sure, why not?



The entire team unloads on that cyberdisk...too many misses. 



Yeah, we're screwed. 



Of COURSE it targets the last experienced soldier I have around.  Smokes goes down...but can be stabalized...and...everybody panic. 



By some miracle, Smokes does not die in this as the cyberdisk explodes taking cars with it.



Moving up to the back of the map (which I've honestly never even seen before, most often everyone is up front) to find the last of the aliens.


Game apparantly felt bad for trolling me.  8 aliens is not that many for this stage of the game. 



Whats with all the crappy snipers being made?  "Shield" and "Disco" promoted. 

[Unorthodox]

With that mission gone, selling off some stuff gave me some cash to do some ugrades in the foundry.





Can we make it now?



This is a game changer.



The standouts of our recruitment efforts. 

O'Sullivan



Mensah



Chavan



We have MONEY!



Just enough Elerium for ONE.



Soldier traning.  Iron Will will give us more will per promotion, New Guy gives auto squaddie level, and rapid recovery cut down on infirmary time.



So, checking in on our stars. 

O'Sullivan is promoted to support.


Mensah to Heavy. 



Chavan to a sniper.  (Already 78 aim is good, but not exceptional)



Ice (who only has 9 more aim than the squaddie Chavan) gets our sniper rifle.



Plasma sniper details.



Oh, lord, that is SOOO tempting.  PLEASE, PLEASE let me get a mission and capture one more light plasma...



Remember that big UFO that I couldn't shoot down?  Yeah, we catch it on the ground.

[Unorthodox]

Chavan and O'Sullivan brought along for training. 



Oh YEAH.  Thin men = light plasma.  Capture...could be tricky. 



Moving in, of course we run into a cyberdisk.



Making sure Chavan gets the killing shot.  Squaddie snipers are difficult to train. 



Next, Mutons get in the way...thin men have fled.



Disco taking out their cover so the rest of the team can pick them off. 



More Mutons...



Including the Berserker, a Muton melee unit with massive health and several things that can make them tough to take down. 



Our best sniper rifle just pisses him off.



So does O'Sullivan.



And Desperado.



Desperado and Disco both panic.  Disco decides to blow it's head off while panicking.



Chavan removing a Muton from the equation.



Ice about to headshot another.



After this round of Mutons, everyone's gun is dry.  After reloading, we press forward. 

Desperado finds a thin man.



Chavan taking out one of the sectoid leaders.



O'Sullivan, I can understand.  How in the sam hell did Chavan not earn a promotion?



Oh, we're in the MONEY now.

[Unorthodox]

With the cash in hand, it was time to do some major upgrades.  Get that psi lab up and running to start testing soldiers.



Tons of foundry upgrades.



And, time to build a real team. 



I can dig through all these soldiers to find a solid squad.

We're right on the corner now, about to make the turn.  Base is coming up to potential, soldiers about to begin screening, and research swiftly flying forward.  What I NEED is some more elerium. 







Abductions in Europe, Argentina and Asia.  Little choice but to defend Europe.



This is the mission that got all screwed up with the steam error, so there's a bunch of pics that don't make sense. 

Shredder rocket, does little damage but makes everyone else's shots do more damage.  Very key to taking down big targets.



A lot of Mutons in the mausoleum.



Ice picking them off.  Headshot ability allows her to one-shot Mutons. 



Some baffoon forgot to equip a real gun on this soldier...

[Unorthodox]

So, walking away from the bugged mission.



New Heavy. 



Research.



Our new heavy "Brick" is going the suppression route.  This can be key in the upcoming battles. 



AOE suppression...



More research.



Ammo Conservation.  Makes larger firefights go more smoothly.



Alien grenades are free and unlimited now.



Capturing drones makes for disposable sniper scouts.



Europe and Asia get targetted AGAIN.  (since it's the only places UFOs can land without me shooting them down)



I think you know the strategy by now.  Protect Europe, abuse snipers and squad sight.

[Unorthodox]

Was not expecting the second Cyberdisk.





Showing off the drone hack, just to give you guys the idea...



may not have been the brightest idea.



That Berserker just clobberstomps on Desperado.  But, the snipers teach him to mess with us.



With no med kits handy (idiot), I need to finish the mission in a hurry.



Desperado spending some time in the ICU.  (Note Nemo, only soldier I've custom named.  Long history of using the name...)  Chavan gets nicknamed "godfather".  O'Sullivan starting to creep up the ladder.  Have to be careful training up these new soldiers. 



Ah, The psi lab is completed *evil laugh*





*groan* 



*double groan*  Another bridge.





Nemo gets a golden 3 in 1 shot.



Then a SECOND.



Deadly sniper crossfire.



$%^& thin men.  Nemo poisoned.



Followed by O'Sullivan. 



Then more teleport in behind to surround us.



Snipe.



Scoot.





O'Sullivan succumbed to poison...damn it.  Some idiot forgot to pack a med kit AGAIN. 



Ice obtains one of the ultimate sniper powers...2 shots per turn. 



New soldier "Wolverine".  I need some yellow tights for him...

[Unorthodox]

Of COURSE not...



Inevitable. 


Base construction updates.



Large UFO...



upgraded fighter does it's job.



BIG UFO.  Seen right from landing zone, takes most the map.



The Heavy floater...now with armor, bigger guns and grenades...


Of course... Floaters in front, Mind control from behind...



Time to break and come at this one fresh. 

[Unorthodox]

Fortunately the floaters all bunched up nice and tight for Nemo to damage all of them in one go.



The sectoid leaders also disappeared down the hall.  So, after some cleanup with the floaters, I prepared to breach deeper into the UFO.





Desperado getting up close and personal.



More floaters showing up, Godfather about to take a LOOOONG shot.



Smokes cleaning up.



Berserkers in front and to the side, backed by Mutons.





Wolverine lighting up a berserker.



Popping smoke as one Muton is left that I can't kill on my turn. 



Smoke causes Muton to miss, Godfather making him pay.



Scouting forward, ANOTHER berserker/Muton group.



Ice takes a shot.



And a second.  Berserker down to 1 HP.



Smokes taking a shot at the other Muton. 



Wolverine cleaning up.



Desperado desides to bring home the Berserker.



Nemo promoted.

[Unorthodox]

With the Elerium, time to upgrade the last class of primary guns on the squad.



Take some time to do some alien research.





Which gives me credit to finish titan armor.



Upgrading scopes to give us more critical %



Plasma pistols will allow our snipers to be usefull if they ever have to move and shoot.



Out of elerium, only research path left is laser weapons, for completeness sake.  No real reason to go down this path. 



We have psionics.



Hyperwave relay built.



Terror time.  Real tempting to ignore this.  It's in asia, who cares?  there's little to benefit for going. 



Decide may as well begin Kelly's training there.  Chuckle that the game made one of my less spectacular willpower soldiers a psionic. 



Cyberdisk right in the landing zone.



Nemo enjoying the new heavy plasma.

[Unorthodox]

Kelly Cook showing off her mental power. 

Mindfray is not effected by cover, and ALWAYS does 5 damage (where weapons often have a random range), making it great for certain situations.  Plus I need to use it to unlock further abilities.



Ice cleaning up what's left after the mindfray.



Berserker doing some casual shopping.



Godfather welcomes him outside.



Floaters drop in on us.



And immediately get reaction shot to death.



Zombies...that means cryssalids.



Showing off Godfather's battle scanner, allowing me to see the mutons outside here.
Decide to hole up and let them come to me instead of pressing the attack since we have cryssalids running around somewhere. 



Speak of the devil. 



ZOMBIES!!!!


Knowing where the Mutons were holed up, it was just a matter of positioning the kill team.






Ice has done admirably, but Godfather shows off what a REAL sniper is capable of.  105 native aim, and rising. 



Ooo, another psychic!



Small scout.  At this stage?  Game is trolling me.  Hardly worth the risk/reward. 



Damn alien scum.

[Unorthodox]

Mutons right on landing.



Hell yeah. 


Wolverine finishing him off.


Kelly rips apart a Muton with her mind.



Floaters.



They actually get a grenade off when Ice misses and fails to plant them all on my turn.


Healing up before heading in further.



Mutons rush our position.



Godfather says no.


[progeny of unmarried parents]!  Kelly's mental powers are no match for the sectoid leaders.



Can't maintain that link if he's unconscious though.

[Unorthodox]

Wolverine.  Fully offensive specced assault with good aim, makes him one of the more deadly members of my squad.  Practically near 100% critical chance all the time.



Nemo's difficult choice.  More grenades or bigger booms?  Both are worth contemplating, but going for bigger booms.



"Angel" unlocks more psychic powa. 

The panic evolution seems tempting at first.  Ability to lock down an alien.  However, when units panic, they get a free move, which they can hunker down, run away, or randomly fire on someone, friend of foe.  My overall strategy is maintaining the initiative and giving aliens free shots can really hamper that, so I go for the buff. 



Hyperwave starts working.



And, we discover a cloaked alien ship.



Well, damn.



We obviously are going to need upgrades...



Europe getting abductions.  This is the perfect scenario since we'll complete a mission in Europe, so no one raises panic levels. 



With the Elerium garnered from the scout UFO, I was also able to build some Titan Armor.  Most armor (read HP) available in the game, and immunity to fire and poison.  Cost of some mobility compared to other armors. 



Double heavy, Double sniper team.  Bringing along Edwards to train her brain. 



Edwards unable to mentally challenge the berserker resorts to more orthodox means to get the job done.



Unable to get 3 kills this turn, Brick pins one of the mutons down.



This frees Edwards to tear him apart the following turn.



Nemo doing what she does best, mass destruction.



Leaving edwards to clean up the mess. 



Muton and berserker step out, and I'm tossing a grenade when shooting is probably be the better solution at this stage just because I'm finding amusement in burning the whole map down at this point.



Wolverine finishes the job.



Leaving the other muton to Edwards.





Damn that cloaked ship, gone again!



Gah!





Time for upgrades...