Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Mephansteras]

In long war it actually does matter. They have a defensive score and the higher the score the less a nation panics due to alien activity.

[Mephansteras]

Spoiler: Operation Spectral Heart (click to show/hide)

The team is landed on a more stable portion of the dam and prepares to hunt down the aliens.



Almost immediately a group of Floaters is spotted prowling around a group of cars.


The group takes cover and Krauss deploys some defensive smoke as everyone gets into position. The floaters move up for an assault, but fortunately for Rickenbacker both shots against her miss.


Bruciare kicks off the battle with a Shredder Rocket that heavily damages most of the floaters.


Leaving them easy pickings for our pair of snipers



Rickenbacker returns fire on the cybernetic monstrosities, and proves that her aim is much better than theirs.


Krauss uses the extended range of the LMG to keep the last remaining alien pinned down while the squad moves around to flank it.



Raven gets a solid hit in


As does Bruciare, but the stubborn creature refuses to die


It flees backwards, avoiding the hail of fire from the LMG as it tries to find some cover.


Maelle doesn't let it live long enough to find any


The squad moves up and finds another strange canister. Sadly, this one is perched precariously on a ledge over the water and is out of safe reach of our troops.

(Sometimes I don't like the randomized meld placement in Long War. The game is just trolling me here.)

The snipers move up into a nearby tower to cover the rest of the squad as they continue to advance along the dam.


A bit further along the squad spots a trio of Drones


The snipers take out two of them before they can do anything at all



While Bruciare and Rickenbacker tag team the last one



The squad continues along the dam. They detect alien activity further ahead several times



And eventually find a group of Floaters rummaging through some barrels.


Bruciare tries to take them out with a rocket, but only manages to injure on of them a little bit


Underhill damages another one seriously, but it manages to keep flying for the moment


Two of the cyborgs fly around to the side to try and flank Rickenbacker


Underhill takes one of them out


And Bruciare wings another one of them, which causes it to fall back in fear


Underhill is able to snipe another of them on her next shot


And Rickenbacker blasts the last one out of the air with a few bursts from her rifle


The dam is now secure.


Another solid performance by our troops. Exemplary work all around!

Spoiler: Soldiers (click to show/hide)

Birdy51, you can choose between Covering Fire (overwatch triggers on alien attacks in addition to movement and +3 Aim), Flush (A low damage attack with a high chance to hit that forces aliens to move), and Holotargeting (Gives allies +10 to hit any enemy you attack or suppress).


IronyOwl, you can chose between Covering Fire (overwatch triggers on alien attacks in addition to movement and +3 Aim), Steadfast (Ignore many panic effects and +5 Will), and Revive (Bring critically injured soldiers back into the fight instead of just stabilize them)


Powder Miner, you can choose between Covering Fire (overwatch triggers on alien attacks in addition to movement and +3 Aim), Rapid Reaction (Successful overwatch hits grant additional opportunities for overwatch, up to 3 and +3 Aim), and Heat Ammo (Bonus rocket damage to Mechanical units)


Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum, you can choose between Low Profile (Half cover counts as Full cover), Gunslinger (+1 Damage with pistols and removes pistol aim penalties), or Lone Wolf (+10 Aim and Critical if no allies are within 7 tiles)

With that taken care of, I order out continued excavations on the second level. We'll be able to start work on the Steam Generator in a few days, which will be quite helpful.


Dr. Shen is advising that we consider building a Foundry so that we can look into ways to improve our fighters capabilities. There is the possibility that we won't have enough money to do foundry projects and get coverage over North America this month, however.

Finally, our last remaining Private asked for an audience with me today. It seems that she would like to go on the next mission, as she feels she is lagging behind the rest of the troops. I promised her that she would get her chance.

[Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum]

Question, would lone wolf be any good to you? Because I'm not sure whether to get that or low profile...

[Mephansteras]

Question, would lone wolf be any good to you? Because I'm not sure whether to get that or low profile...

It's situational for both. Lone Wolf is nice when you're sitting up somewhere all by yourself. It's less nice when I have a pair of snipers who need to work together, or if I need the sniper moving around with a Marksmans rifle during less open maps. Low Profile is more generally useful, although snipers hanging in the back often don't get shot at so...kind of a toss up.

The Gunslinger perk is similarly situational, and mostly used for cases where I need the sniper to move around or if we get a surprise alien attack on the sniper (usually Seekers or Floaters), since the sniper rifles are garbage at close range.

[Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum]

Yeah, I was wondering because I usually put two snipers together in a nest somewhere, and lone wolf would be useless there.
I'll get Low Profile then.

[Powder Miner]

HEAT Warheads.
EEEEXXXXPPPLLLOOOSSSIIOOOOOON

[GiglameshDespair]

No promotion? Damn. At least Rickenbacker got a good few kills in.

[IronyOwl]

Hm. Tempted to go Covering Fire, but mainly because neither of the other options sound useful; I think I'm going to want to go smoke medic rather than reaction fire, but I wouldn't think Revive or Steadfast would come up all that often.

Thoughts?

[Mephansteras]

In my experience, Covering fire is the most used of the options. Steadfast and Revive are generally useful when things are going to hell. Steadfast means that the medic isn't going to panic pretty much no matter what, which helps if the team gets into some sort of panic spiral. Revive is only useful on rare occasions, but when you need it the ability to get a soldier back on their feet can be a live saver for the entire squad. There is also the advantage that there is an XP bonus if all squad members are functional at the end of a mission, but that's rarely enough reason on its own for Revive.

Since you're going Smoke Medic, I probably wouldn't bother with Revive, just based on your role. Steadfast is somewhat handy, since if someone panics I can count on the smoke medic to be able to get at least some cover over to them. Steadfast also makes you immune to Muton's intimidate ability, which can be quite useful for being the person to knock them down a peg before someone else does the finishing blow.

[UXLZ]

That first rocket was niice. I've found there often little more awesome then getting a good hit in games like XCOM. (At least more so than in games we're you're in direct control). Playing an FPS and getting massive amounts of 1-hit-kills isn't really too hard. Getting an Alien in one shot on this seems significantly less common, and therefore more awesome.

[birdy51]

With the increased squad sizes, do you think Flush could come in handy? Cause that might be what I'll pick if it's useful. Other people have Holo-Targeting and Covering fire, but Flush seems unique in it's accuracy and the ability to force the enemy out in the open. : P

[Mephansteras]

With the increased squad sizes, do you think Flush could come in handy? Cause that might be what I'll pick if it's useful. Other people have Holo-Targeting and Covering fire, but Flush seems unique in it's accuracy and the ability to force the enemy out in the open. : P

Flush can be handy. I really enjoy making sectopods run away with it, personally, and the ability to set up an Overwatch/Flush combo to kill enemies can be quite effective. Plus, it's great for finishing off badly damaged mechanical units if you get the Heat Ammo perk later on, since that damage bonus is applied on top of the base flush damage rather than being reduced.

[birdy51]

Then Edith Krauss shall be the resident Flusher. She may not directly get kills, but she's gonna make damn certain those Sectoids die.

[Mephansteras]

Nigeria would like access to some of the Sectoid corpses for study in exchange for a Scientist. I am more than happy to oblige.


Not long after we get word that Brazil is being targeted by the aliens. A squad is assembled to meet the threat.


Looks like Miss Tenrin will get her chance at a promotion!

Spoiler: Operation Crystal Star (click to show/hide)

It looks like the aliens were hitting a construction site for some reason. Looking into how we build, I suppose? In any case, a Thin Man and some more of those tentacle robots were sighted shortly after landing.


Our eager rookie gets in the first shot, and Van Doorne suppresses the Thin Man to keep him pinned down.


It's too busy keeping it's head attached to get in a good shot of its own.


Tenrin gets another hit on the robot, but her carbine is unable to do much damage through its armor.


The infantry moves up to try to get a better shot and has to dodge plasma on the way


While Van Doorne keeps the Thin Man suppressed as our Assault moves up.


The squid-bots make their move, with one of them flying over the truck to get a point blank shot on our Infantry whlie the other closes in on Van Doorne and the Assault


The Infantry keeps her cool and gets in a hit


With the Medic finishing the job


And Van Doorne shattering the other in a hail of bullets


The aliens send in some Drones to give the Thin Man some backup. It falls back while it has the chance.


And the Assault uses a grenade to smash up the drones a bit


The drones retaliate, but it is a minor wound


Tenrin gets in a hit


And a long range shot from the Scout finishes it off


While the Assault gets his revenge at point blank range


The squad goes hunting for the Thin Man who escaped, only to find a large group of the cyborgs instead


The Scout's Lightning Reflexes let him fall back to better cover safely


The Floaters move up under heavy fire, but while injured they take no losses



And the Thin Man makes his presence known


Van Doorne's years of experience in the field serve him well


And our Infantry takes out the injured Floater


Tenrin gets in a hit on one of the remaining floaters


Unfazed, the cyborg charges forward and attacks. Fortunately, the heavy machinery manages to save our Infantry from further harm


The scant cover of a rock does no such favors for the Medic, who is badly injured and panics


The squad fires on our enemies, but is unable to do any real damage. Their retaliation attack, unfortunately, is all too effective


The medic, at least, manages to avoid another hit, so there is some hope of saving our Infantry's life


Stuck at close range, the Scout uses his pistol. Sadly, the side arm isn't enough to take out the floater


A Shotgun, however, is.


The Thin Man takes a shot at the Scout, but misses


The medic manages to get over to stabilize our injured warrior


And Tenrin blasts the the Thin Man and his cover with her HE grenade

 
Leaving the Thin Man easy pickings for the Assault




Not our best mission, but the Troops pulled through and no one died.

Spoiler: Soldiers (click to show/hide)

Tiruin, you can pick from Engineer (Boosts to Grenades and some other support abilities), Medic (Healing, Smoke Grenades, Covering fire abilities), or go Random and see what you get from the other 6 class options.

Question for you folks: We have §688 in funds available to us. The Thermo Generator is going to take 350, and the Satellite Uplinks will take 200 each. However, we don't have the Engineers for the Uplinks yet. Do you want to use some of that money in the mean time for other projects? We could get a Foundry, which lets us get various upgrades and equipment. Or we can save money for a bit for an Officer Training School once we have enough soldiers level up to get that. That'll give us Officers, which is nice, as well as the ability to get larger Squad Sizes.

[Toaster]

How short from the Uplinks are we?