So RNGesus has stricken again.
I have to destroy a comms node, right? So I send my peeps in. Got to be quick about it though, so I go down an alleyway between two buildings that will let me go into my objective building through a back door.
Sweet, I say to myself, hoping my enemies will be patrolling the streets.
So we set up at the end of the alleyway, Pale Rider providing overwatch with her talon rounds and an advanced stock (I did use dragon rounds with her but the +20% crit chance on my best soldier cannot be denied). My Aussie Grenadier, T-Bone, takes cover behind a low wall and a newb Ranger slides up next to him. Rounding out the team is Broker, my German Specialist and legendary hacksmith.
Broker moves into the alleyway and uncovers two squads of enemies: an Officer, a grunt, and a stun dick on the left rooftop, and a pair of grunts with a sectoid on the other. Anyone here familiar with the movie The Rock? Remember the scene when the good guys come up into the showers and they're boned harder than Joanna Angel? That's what I thought of immediately.
Luckily Pale Rider took out the stun dick, because Sectoids love to zombify before they do anything else apparently. However his two friends flank Broker and the grunt from the other team climbs down onto the other side of Broker's cover and fires, leaving him at 1 HP. Broker fired back and missed. The rest of them prioritized fire on the Sectoid and his pals, which was lucky because the grunt that hit Broker fled back and missed his shot at T-Bone. While firing at the Sectoid I hit on a 35% and then a 25% on the very next shot. You might be able to tell it was a desperate situation due to the fact that I even tried that.
We clean up the survivors. T-Bone and Pale Rider remain untouched, so T-Bone leads the way down the alley. It turned out the building with the comms relay in it did not have a back door, so Broker made one. A corner piece of wall was demolished, and it revealed the third squad: a grunt, a stun dick, and a Viper. Luckily I had Broker go first that round so T-Bone was able to fire a grenade into the building, taking out the grunt, and damaging both the others as well as the relay. They get an F in Tactical Spacing. I decide to sacrifice the new guy by stabbing the stun dick and hopefully drawing the attention of the Viper, because Broker's in clear LoS (and also one of my starting four), and with his HP situation a Viper was the last thing I needed.
Well the Viper doesn't fall for it and winds up trying to tongue Broker. It fails, which marks the only time I've seen that miss so far. We then mutilate the snake bastard and blow up the relay with two turns remaining.
Yes, while this will disappoint anyone expecting something like the original, it is very much capable of standing on it's own two (or four) legs. I've had my ass handed to me once already, and it was painful as all hell. It should also be remembered that this is not the same scenario as the original or EU/EW. You're not on the losing side. You're on the side that lost. You no longer have home field advantage. While I've suffered only five deaths so far, my survivors have all been hospitalized multiple times and some for a long while. After the above occurred Broker was out of combat for 27 days. You want tough? How about having to hire three newbies to fill out your ranks because everyone else is beat to shit. It's difficult in its own right, especially as it is my first run and I have zero idea on what should be prioritized. It's very much enjoyable, and I'm glad you're willing to give it a shot, Kruniac.
(If the above seems like a moderately angry response, it isn't. I actually kinda agree with you but I might not have made that clear)
EDIT: You posted again. Damn my slow sleepy ape hands.