GWG's III (Impossible Ironman Insanity)!(Also, it's my third serious game.)
Part 1: Shouldn't Have Been So OptimisticOperation (Add This Later)We advance. Two turns in, Vahlen comments on an alien that Private Owusu supposedly noted. Five sect--I mean,
unidentified aliens make themselves known, one getting clipped by Private Ruiz before they all retreated. They are right on the edges of the battlefield; without running between the two groups, I won't be able to flank them, which watching a bit of that perfect II run suggests is important. So I maneuver...discovering that the pair of xenos with their health bars visible was three in number, and also activating them. Owusu tried to advance to catch a couple in a grenade blast, but I miscalculated the blast radius. He mortally wounded one and destroyed the moped it was using as cover. The trio, plus the guy Ruiz shot, shoot Owusu; while two miss, the bloody xenos (ie, the ones that got wounded) managed to reduce Owusu's health to -2, critically wounding him. On the bright side, one of them set a car on fire, blowing up another xeno. (Which lead to Dr. Vahlen giving literally the most pointless scolding she ever does.)
On my third turn now, or maybe second. I think I beat Mageziya's prediction.
Ruiz misses a nice, flanked, 70% shot on the 1-HP, uncovered xeno. Private Hall flees before he can follow the example of the Xeno Flambe, and managed to hit with a 60% shot and kill one. Private Hudson chucks a grenade and manages to knock two more xenos down to one health, while destroying cover that the xenos abandon. One of them returns the favor with its little plasma gun, panicking the One Hit-point Wonder.
Ruiz does what I will always consider Socks's schtick, and
goddammit how did you miss your run was two inches from its head?!? (And only a 67% chance to hit for some reason.) Well, "Welcome to XCOM," I guess. Thankfully, the xeno takes her example, unlike the one that shoots Hall down to one hit point.
Ruiz shoots the xeno in the head, hitting...for one whole point of damage, also her last shot in the rifle. Hudson Socks the guy hiding in a bus stop stall...thingy...that shot Hall, as the guy finished Ruiz's (now flanked) problem.
Owusu bled out, panicking Hudson. Hey, why doesn't the mortal wound panic and not the death? Isn't that more logical? Anyways, the functional members of the squad maneuver a bit, Hall Overwatching and Ruiz reloading. We also discover a patrol of two more xenos, who maneuver a bit before Hall's turn; during the aliens' activity, they maneuver, avoiding Hudson's reaction shot.
Speaking of reaction shots, one kills Hall. Oops. Ruiz avenges him, though, and Hudson maneuvers behind cover...that an alien flanks, critically wounding him. Just Ruiz and her rifle, now. Well, and her pistol and one grenade, but eh.
She advances, Socksing the last sectoid...and promptly gets killed by the last sectoid.
Status Black. $#^%. Let's try again, neh?
But first, I'll save and post this.
P.S.
Maybe the blachole that appears at the end could be detected by the SUPAH EVUL ALIUMS?
1. Underlining the spoilers helps us notice.
2. Um, doesn't the ship normally explode? Because a black hole anywhere in the solar system would be not-good news. Or else it would just disappear within minutes.
The ship collapses into a black hole, but is moved far away from Earth that it lacks the matter to continue eating, and as such it instantly evaporates.
Then how could it have been detected?