So lets get started, shall we?
Now, I figured we'd use the leaders of the Sword's forces this time, So the starting 4 are
Miyamoto: Support
Jim: Heavy
Milno:Assult
Thomas: Sniper
Seems a good mix. Except Thomas got injured during the Meld Tutorial mission...Ok.
Well, first mission is a standard abduction mission in Germany. And the guy writing the code names for the mission is fucking with us again. "Final Skull". Yeah. Vaguely threatening, but more just like someone's user name on a goth forum.
I gave Jim a thick russian accent.
It seemed approprate for the heavy.
Anyways, this place is just some sort of grocery store filled with sectoids. They manage to get one shot off at us (it misses) and we tear through them like frilly panties on prom night. Miya kills 2 with a grenade, Jim flattens one with machinegun fire and Milno takes one down with a Shotgun blast to the face.
Meld research is going well back at base. Got the first part of it done and unlocked the Cybernetics lab and genetics lab. Probably gonna have to wait a bit to actually build them. Satellites come first.
Not long after we get back an interceptor shoots down a small UFO. Welp, Time to go raid it and kick their corpses a few times.
(Point of triva: Milno is actually a woman named Else. She's from...I don't recognize the flag. Blue one with a yellow sideways cross.)
Operation Bloody Gaze, a UFO crash in Nigeria. In a fucking red barn. The most american looking red barn I've ever seen. What.
So we get the meld, and as Jim grabs the last one, an Outsider materializes and shoots him in the face and chest. Unhelpful. He doesn't die though, instead returning the favor of bodily harm via rocket. A bit of a waste, frying UFO internals with it, but I didn't want to risk losing Jim if he missed with the regular weapon.
A bunch of sectoids run in from the side and milno takes two to the face, going down. Jim Panics but luckily just hunkers down. Miya manages to kill two at once via shooting one that is brain linked to another, but He's the only one with a medkit, so we're on a time limit before milno dies. Miya handles the last sectoid during the next turn and we all get the hell out of dodge, dragging two wounded teammates with us.
Miya, unsurprisingly, gets promoted to Corporal for his dramatic awesomeness. I chose Sprinter over enhanced covering fire, meaning he can move farther now. Milno is Gravely wounded and Jim is just badly wounded, but both are out for 11 days.
And of course, the next abduction comes before they're healed. Of course.
So it's just Miya and Thomas and two as of yet unnamed rookies in yellow armor. Yelp, Operation Forgotten Scepter, here we go. Oh good, it's a difficult one.
Oh good.
Goes alright first. Find some meld, kill one Sectoid that runs in but the other one that comes with him...we can't fucking hit him. Three people shoot at the bugger but none of them hit him. It takes Thomas and a Overwatch shot to finally hit him. We need some fucking scopes man.
Goes fairly easy from there, we're popping sectoids left and right, not being popped back, it's good times. Of couse the last enemies are hiding in a building. Because of course they would be in a fucking enclosed, danger space.
Or not? This building is fucking empty. Where the hell are these gooses.
Oh. Two fucking sectoids hiding in a fucking laundrymat behind us. We bring them down without issue, and the rookies even manage to get themselves upgraded to Sniper and Heavy. The Heavy becomes Lukas and the Sniper Bishop.
I also get the chance to hand out some medals, which give small stat bonuses. I give Miya the "Manshoots Gold star" (formerly Urban combat badge) which grants him Extra defense while in cover. I also get an International service cross medal which gives bonuses to shit depending on the number of nationalities in the squad or number of nations backing you.
I rename it the "United Nations Dinner Plate" and give it to Thomas to make his aim better.
I start research into beam weapons and other such things, while also considering if I should get the Gene labs and Robot stuff online. I have a bad feeling the game might suddenly start throwing harder enemies at me if I do...and I'd like some satalites before I do that shit...Hmm. Well, as soon as we get some spare cash (Blew it all on satallites, baby) we'll get those up and running. Jim needs a new robot body, after all.
We get some cash from the monthly report and I start the cybernetics lab construction, but we get called for a mission in india before it's done. Operation broken ring, abduction. Simple.
Bank this time, and all this money is effecting the sectoid's ability to think. They've got their money on their mind...and it's making them run away from us, turn around, and run back towards us, wasting their entire turn. Alright, fine by me.
Oh shit what. Now we have flying...metal jellyfish? Wat? Oh, and they go invisible too. Great. Luckily I'm an old hand at using overwatch, so even when one appears right up in Thomas' grill, everyone else gives it a right thrashing. And then the floaters come. And Milno walks right up behind one and puts both barrels into his stupid fucking head. And jim wipes up from there.
Jim and Milno both get promotions to Corporal.
I Launched 3 satellites over the areas that seemed to be freaking out the most. We'll see if we can get more up and running soon.
We shoot down a UFO which crashes down in a urban area, for the first Time ever that I can remember. Severed Apollo is what the assholes at HQ call this operation.
Two thin men wander in almost immediately and Miya and Jim cut them down without much effort, though it does earn Miya a promotion. The rest of the mission is a cakewalk; there's all of two of those invisible things (which overwatch render useless) and an outsider that Milno takes out with a grenade. Frankly, I'm disappointed.
Oh well, Miya, thomas and Jim all manage to get promoted. Jim also gets himself a nice Manshoots Gold Star.
Of note: You can now configure the nicknames solders get after advancing x number of ranks. Jim and Miya have theirs now "Odin" and "Rogue" respectively, but if the Real Jim and Miya would like to contribute alternatives, I'd be happy to change them.
And Now it is time, friends, Jim is getting made into a robot.