IGdood Presents: XCOM 2 ; FINISHED

[IGdood]

for what it's worth i'm used to xcom mechanics and don't realy know how xcom2 handles pistol builds

Me neither but I guess your character is going to find out the hard way

I feel like there's a pretty good chance I'll lose. I can't into strategy

Before we march off to protect some device, let's look at some new things going around.

A power relay is basically the descendant of the fusion plant

Attempted to make according to the specs. Hope you like this Julian!

Elieson Lex begins training into a Sharpshooter...with push ups.

The Wet Work upgrade is retroactive. We can use as much leveling as we can get.

This will be Julian's first mission. Hopefully it won't be his last either.

Plenty of HP. We can take our time.....

SNEK

Okay, maybe we can't take our time.

The new guy gets to start it off

Oh right, I brought along another new guy. He looks totally like an EXALT soldier, minus the fancy clothing. Eagerly waiting for a mod that brings that clothing into XCOM 2

And people miss their overwatches, so snek gets to live...

.....AND PULL COLLINS OUT OF COVER WITH A LONG TONGUE

So Binding is like that of the Seeker's tentacle attack from EU/EW.

Eva misses again, and it's up to Rookie Wilson to save Collins.

A new squad with yet another Viper reveals itself. They get flashbanged

And systematically gunned down.

Kelly has been watching from the sides the whole time. She finds a MEC. Then to avoid discovery, climbs up the side of the house

The bastards focus on the device instead of coming to meet my squad. Well, guess we'll take the fight to them!

Someone gets sent into the pool

I forgot if Hack score can be improved by hacking things successfully, but shutting shit down sure is fun

I'm betting that Stun Lancer will run out. Well, Kelly's waiting if that happens.

The bastard doesn't come out. We'll wait. In the meantime, the MEC gets shocked for massive damage.

I love that weapon mod.

That was a good mission.

Collins gains Scanning Protocol

Wilson becomes a Grenadier, though I'm going to turn him into a machine gunner.

I think I know of someone who can use this

PCS, or Personal Combat Simulations, are like these chips you give to a unit and they get a stat boost from it. They function just like weapon mods.

I bet Lily would like to get her hands on those

The Proving Grounds has a lot to make now that we got those supplies

Dodge is best used on Rangers since they tend to go charging into the fray

Beam weapons are no more. Gauss/Magnetic weaponry is the tier 2. Those are the same weapons Advent uses, except Advent only does shitty 3 damage on average.

I hope I have enough resources...

Combat drugs? I want their swords.

>Advent Burgers

Dr. Tygan, you're probably a cannibal

That is some expensive shit.

FUCK

Not bad.

Melting armor is always a good thing

OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE

We can now get new swords.....IF we have the resources

Cutting up snake. Probably tastes like chicken

A GUNSLINGER-IN-TRAINING IS READY FOR BATTLE

Of course, he should still be good with his rifle when needed. Superior scope bonus is good

I can't give him a hat yet, his ranking isn't high enough.

I think that's also the correct color scheme...?

We finally have enough intel to re-contact New India.

But of course...Advent launches a retaliation strike before we can do anything.

Alright Elieson, you're up.

Oh look. A muton. And they seem to have been modified compared to their EU/EW counterparts as well.

And they got armor. FRAG OUT.

BOOM HEADSHOT.

Kelly scouts along the far side of the map. Collins and KC sweep the houses and civilians.

And look who we found.

WELL TIME FOR ANOTHER FRAG

For some reason, an enemy is spotted in the distance.

Better keep rescuing these guys.

Vos goes on the roof for a better vantage point. Height accuracy bonuses are invaluable.

And I had the pleasure of witnessing this disturbing transformation. Trust no civilian.

Funny thing though. I neither rescued her nor did I use Scanning Protocol. She just....shifted

[IGdood]

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention. Once you get Shen to create a new gun, everyone comes equipped with a new gun.

That explains the price. It's not like before where you have to produce individual guns.

Lex don't give a fuck that you're a towering monstrosity. If you have a head, you can be headshotted like a bitch.

Let's reveal the Faceless.

A civilian in the distance is forced to transform. Meanwhile more unsuspecting enemies are revealed.

That MEC walked through some fire, hence the immune.

Annnnd that thing makes a mad dash at the squad....who misses their overwatch

Meanwhile Kelly marks targets for Lex to snipe.

Unfortunately she gets revealed by a viper.

But shotgunning people in the face and receiving the blessing of the Gremlin is one way to stay alive!

So the Viper resorts to poisoning...since poison never misses. Bitch.

These mag weapons kick tons of ass. They pour the pain on

LEX YOU MISSED. WITH YOUR PISTOL. NOOOOO

Meanwhile Mec gets shredded

OPEN UP AND SAY "AHH" YOU BLOB MOTHERFUCKER

Combat Protocol is based.

A poisoned Kelly manages to miss the Viper. Then she gets bound.

AND LEX SAVES THE DAY AGAIN SNIPING A REPTILIAN BITCH

I like it when the squad does well.

Conceal sounds like a kickass ability. Basically if done well, I can Shadowstrike 2 times per mission

Time to dissect futbol? Maybe later.

Noice.

Wait, I didn't dissect regular troopers yet?

Hm. Could be useful if I don't have a Shadowed ranger doing the scouting

Time for armor now that magnetic weapons are done.

Looks like Shen found some of Vahlen's notes

The snipers are going to love these.

I think allowing the avatar project to advance so much hinders my grade a lot.

>imminent.

Uuuuuugggggghhh

Why do these facilities have to be so far? I can't reach them in time....

Did I mention that Advent banned all animals in the cities?

But did these dogs slaughter a bunch of aliens?!

I want to see how this works.

Unfortunately the improvement is too expensive

That counter is going up at increasingly worrying rates

Better expand fast.

>Max capacity

Agh...fuck....

Well, we're gonna need engineers if we need to upgrade. Time to go grab one.

Until next time!

[Elieson]

If it has a head, it's gonna get shot

Golden man, Golden

[IGdood]

Here we go. So we got to steal some data on some stuff blah blah

I've never really focused much on civilians on the map, but they can actually reveal your squad. Damn Advent propaganda

2 Sectoids. Maybe they'll walk a bit closer where a squadsight shooter can get them...

BLAMMO

Nope, you don't get away either.

Battle scanner reveals a fuck load of enemies in the distance.

Let's up the ante with an acid bomb.

Oh man, that looks painful.

It also seems like your regular troopers got an upgrade. No longer do they have a pitiful 3 health

Unfortunately they still die rather quickly

The clock is ticking and an unseen Kelly moves up

Hey look! A Captain! And Kelly's got a skulljack. Let's try not to kill the poor captain.

Nobody said anything about hurting the captain though

>8% chance to succeed

>succeeds

holy shit

Kelly is revealed but they don't have LoS on her. KC is revealed and is easily flanked, so Collins gives aid. And lo and behold, the predictable AI marks KC for termination

Well that kind of hurt. Now it's time to bring the pain back. Skulljacking involves going Hugh Jackman Wolverine on your enemies as you shove 2 blades into their skull and proceed to hack their implants. It also counts as an instant kill if it hits.

Remember this alien from the tutorial mission? She shows up.

That's a loooot of health.

In case you have super powered stats, here's flashbang

All that skulljacking leaves Kelly horribly exposed, and that Codex could flank her at any time. I just....didn't expect the Codex to show it up at all.

Fortunately that PCS Dodge came in handy

Bloody hell, only 3 damage?!

Vos demolishes the Codex's cover, leaving her perfectly exposed.

The RNG giveth and the RNG taketh. If I can score a 8% hack, then I can miss a 90% shot.

But good thing you can count on a shotgun's 98% shot.

>Codex Brain

Elieson finally gets a promotion.

Pistols don't need reloading and they can be used for overwatch when a sharpshooter has moved that turn. Otherwise they could use their rifle to overwatch

Collins gets Covering Fire for those enemies who decide to shoot instead of move when flanked

What the hell is this Codex. It's like it lives in computers

Nice. We managed to reduce the Avatar counter by a measly 1.

More engineers would definitely be a welcome sight. We need that resistance comms room up and running ASAP

Meanwhile we need better ammo and grenades

We can get better armor now.

I think I'm in love.

Predator Armor also changes up your soldier's look, so the Arms, Torso, and Legs options in the first post aren't valid anymore...

Nice dialogue there.

So, upgrading the weapon means you lose the attachments from before, but tier 2 weapons can have 2 attachments.

Better start collecting more loot

We finally made contact with New Indonesia. Next we'll have to go for New Australia

Gas Grenade doesn't sound that good compared to Acid Grenade

If this is the UFO that shot us down from before, I'm definitely going to fuck it up.

I decide to change up Vos' look a bit. Previously he looked a bit too much like Julian

Also it seems like there's a graphical glitch that made Elieson's legs disappear. It's because I download a mod that lets you keep the Kevlar armor look despite wearing Predator armor. As you can see I really like the kevlar look It can mess up the legs but that can be fixed

Gotta take care of that thing.

Oh look, a turret.

2 Squadsight Sharpshooters and no timer. yeeeees.

Look at these chumps.

NOW they put a timer of 6 turns. Uh oh...

Time to start rushing.

That turret isn't going down fast enough, fuck

OH SHIT, THE MEC SEES US

Annnnd it's taken out. Hopefully that Stun Lancer lurking somewhere decides to do something utterly stupid and not stab anyone

Will the squad make it in time before the distress beacon is called? Find out.....sooooon.

[Nimbostratus]

according to Word of God, the things on the Viper's chest are "venom sacs" but you must admit, they are very ... suspiciously positioned.

at first I wanted to do a Female Soldiers Only run with the rationale being 'all the men were seduced by Vipers'

anyways, here's a character for ya

First Name: Richard

Surname: Rawlins

Callsign/Nickname: Rhino

Gender: Male

Preferred Class: Grenadier

Nationality: USA

XCOM Operative, VIP, or Dark VIP: XCOM Operative

Helmet/Hat: Headband

Arms: 4

Legs: 1
Torso: 3

Upper Face: Nothing

Lower Face: Cigarette

Weapon Camo: Arid

Armor Camo: Arid

Left Arm Tattoo: Nothing

Right Arm Tattoo: Nothing

Scars: Cheek Stitch 1

Face: Face C

Hair (Male): Man Bun

Facial Hair: Sideburns

Hair Color: 2

Eye Color: 0

Race: 1

Skin Color: 4

Main Armor Color: 10

Secondary Armor Color: 17

Weapon Color: 10

Voice: American English 8

Stance & Attitude: Intense

[IGdood]

Sometimes I wonder what became of the characters from my Enemy Within playthrough in this timeline.

PrincessK, Daigoji Excellen, Cooper Weir, Cid, Rikku, etc.

ANYWAY. Will XCOM shut down that distress beacon in time?!

according to Word of God, the things on the Viper's chest are "venom sacs" but you must admit, they are very ... suspiciously positioned.

at first I wanted to do a Female Soldiers Only run with the rationale being 'all the men were seduced by Vipers'

anyways, here's a character for ya

First Name: Richard

Surname: Rawlins

Callsign/Nickname: Rhino

Gender: Male

Preferred Class: Grenadier

Nationality: USA

XCOM Operative, VIP, or Dark VIP: XCOM Operative

Helmet/Hat: Headband

Arms: 4

Legs: 1
Torso: 3

Upper Face: Nothing

Lower Face: Cigarette

Weapon Camo: Arid

Armor Camo: Arid

Left Arm Tattoo: Nothing

Right Arm Tattoo: Nothing

Scars: Cheek Stitch 1

Face: Face C

Hair (Male): Man Bun

Facial Hair: Sideburns

Hair Color: 2

Eye Color: 0

Race: 1

Skin Color: 4

Main Armor Color: 10

Secondary Armor Color: 17

Weapon Color: 10

Voice: American English 8

Stance & Attitude: Intense

Neat, I'll make this character the next time I play.

Also, the Predator armor changes up the looks from the OP, so I'll have to update the Torso, Arms, and Legs pics soon.

Agreed on the Venom Sacs. Frickin' Advent, I bet half the people joined up just for a chance to hug snek

To avoid further chance of casualties, Kelly breaks concealment and takes out the MEC.

Collins takes out the heavy turret. Good riddance.

That's...a pretty lethal combination of aliens

Kelly slinks back into the shadows. Going to see if she can flank them.

Vos blows cover. Collins retreats to the rear to avoid exposing herself. Better to have the aliens focus on 1 defended target instead of 2 targets who are both injured earlier by the Mec's launchers.

Reloads don't end the turn as long as you didn't move. So you can reload and overwatch, but you can't reload and fire in the same turn.

Eva reloads and tosses a smoke grenade just for extra protection to Vos.

What the..

HOLY SHIT IT CAN DISABLE WEAPONS WITH AOE HOLY SHIT FUUUUCK

Fortunately you can reload the weapon to fix it, so it doesn't seem to be a lasting effect.

Elieson gives 0 shits and fires with the pistol.

I do question why that Sectoid ran forward and got itself killed.

The other Sectoid decides to reanimate a dead Advent Shieldbearer....which I failed to take screenshots of earlier.

Advent Shieldbearers are heavily armored Advent soldiers who can deploy an energy shield granting +3 HP to surrounding friendlies in an area of effect.

That Sectoid is close to death after the shotgun. Maybe an acid grenade will finish it off before that zombie can do anything. Status effects apply on the beginning of a turn.

When injured, the Codex has a chance to clone itself. Fortunately for us, that divides its health into 2. Unfortunately for us, the clones are just as powerful as the original.

You put your clone in the wrong place, alien scum.

HOLY WHAT THE FUCK THAT WEAPONS-DISABLING ENERGY FIELD EXPLODES FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE AFTER 1 TURN I CALL OP FUCK YOU JAKE SOLOMON

As predicted, the Sectoid dies and so does the zombie.

Where the hell do you think you're going? You can't escape the shotgun.

I won't make it in 2 turns.

If EU/EW taught me anything, it's that dangerous aliens lurk in the middle of the UFO.

Oh dear. How many reinforcements are going to show up? I failed to shut down that beacon.

And much to my relief, said reinforcements only turned out to be 1 MEC, 1 Shieldbearer, and 1 Stun Lancer.

The sharpshooter duo have a field day with them. It's not even fair

So after wiping out the trio, I send Kelly back in and wow, a Muton!

By the way the guy wearing the white armor is the Shieldbearer.

I send Kelly back out to hide in a corner and decide to overwatch spam. Cause you know....no timer.

Fuck your shields. Sharpshooter critical stronk

Usually when the AI freaks out, they tend to just stand there and use overwatch instead of shooting

Also killing the shieldbearer removes any shields off of its allies. Not to mention the floating text gives you an idea of where the enemy is....

WHICH MEANS I GET TO FRAG THE POOR COWARDLY MUTON WHO HID THERE FOR 2 TURNS

27 TURNS. This is why I have such a hard time adjusting to the more aggressive pace of XCOM 2

This is the mission where everyone got hurt.

Lightning Hands sounds fun. Also will fix your leg glitch.

I already thought the grenades were powerful, but volatile mix is going to make things better. Might be able to outrival the Codex's explosion thing

Landed UFO mission yielded a lot of good loot.

Elieson finally makes it to the point where he can wear the Boonie Hat. Also gonna change his nickname from the automatically assigned one the game gave him

66 Intel = nice.

I wish we had our own Mecs. Rumor has it that the Summer DLC for XCOM 2, Shen's Last Gift, is a Mec class.

Mark II a cute. A CUTE

If this works on turrets, it will be incredibly useful.

You know what XCOM needs? A riot shield trooper. Like Xenonauts.

Time to upgrade our weaponry. I personally love ballistics and wish there weren't weapon tiers.

16 days? I don't have 16 days + 5 days needed to make contact to blow Avatar facilities to hell!

I CAN'T TAKE THIS PRESSURE

Got myself another scientist. Well played, Firaxis.

Ever since that one time where I lost New India, I'm never declining council missions again.

3 grenadiers on a mission. FUN.

Edited February 9, 2016 by IGdood

[IGdood]

So I thought I lost the screenshots for Operation Tomb Dance but here they are.

Sorry if I'm posting too much; I figured if I edited one of the posts people wouldn't see the new pictures because edits don't make notifications

We're gonna drop straight into the city and try to escort someone. I love escort missions.

Why couldn't you just extract us at the starting position? I mean, we already start with the VIP under the player's control!

YOU'RE NO MATCH FOR 3 GRENADIERS

Gremlin Mark II OP as hell. 1-shots MECs with the improved Combat Protocol

Ow! You son of a bitch

That civvie got so freaked out he climbed up the side of a building.

Pods of pure aliens seem to be more common now.

oooooh shit he's got Wilson

Don't even bother with bullets.. I've got plenty of grenades today.

MOAR DAKKA RATATATATAATA

These Mark II Gremlins really help with the hacking. Extra crit fuck yeah

Stun Lancers really are off their game today. Only 2 and 4 damage

Like hell you're gonna overwatch. BZZT.

OH COME ON

VOLATILE MIX BITCH

Note to self: Bring more grenadiers

I take Threat Assessment

Julian takes Shredder

>98 Intel

Fuck yeah

Maybe we'll get something good out of this

Hmmm....

I like how for the mechanical enemies, the notes are written by Lily

I'm hoping I won't need to do an Avenger defense again

This seems important. Guess I'll research it

Elieson will be very happy to get one of these

Our grenadiers can use these....since they've got 3 item slots
but can only carry 2 offensive grenades at a time

Heheheh

31 days until an EXO suit huh? Damn...

[Elieson]

Nice Arcblade

Thanks for giving my legs back

Also that first mission was fucking rough

[Balcerzak]

Toss in trooper Balcerzak, whenever. Random customization, random everything. I like seeing what the RNG has in store for me.

[IGdood]

Nice Arcblade

Thanks for giving my legs back

Also that first mission was fucking rough

Arcblade definitely looks cool. Hopefully that katana mod I subscribed to for meme purposes gets updated so we get arc katanas or something. I also heard there's a mod in the works that brings battle axes and great swords and sledgehammers.

Yeah sorry about the leg thing. Didn't realize such errors could occur.

So I really should update that OP on customization of torso, arms, and legs with respect to armor.

Yes, you can keep the kevlar look or the resistance kevlar look but the predator armor also has its own customizations although they are limited. Thank you mods. If I had a more raggedy character, I'd probably make him/her wear a T-shirt into end game despite having endgame armor for shits and giggles.

Fuck yeah, max squad size now!

Toss in trooper Balcerzak, whenever. Random customization, random everything. I like seeing what the RNG has in store for me.

Got it.

I wish there was a way to roll to randomize an incoming rookie, but there isn't unfortunately. The closest thing I can think of was to get a female rookie, then flip the gender because the game then randomizes looks that way.

And this is the badass that showed up. Looks utterly different from the Balcerzak of Enemy Within, who if I remember correctly...was a Heavy from Greece with a black army helmet.

This guy came with an old XCOM chestplate but he's wearing the Predator armor for his arms and legs.

A new facility has sprung up, and we are powerless to stop it

Or maybe we're not. We have to destroy the one in New Australia first.

We have plenty of Intel to do things. Just gotta have our contacts bumped up. I wish I made the connection earlier, but I realized that this contact limit is kind of like the satellite limit from EU/EW.

I think this would be useful for snipers and rookies.

This unlocks the Shadow Facility. Maybe it's like the Hyperwave Relay...?

It's about time I researched Psionics.

Rawlins isn't a high enough rank to get a cigarette. He'll have to prove himself.

While we're making contact these missions pop up. We can only counter 1 dark event, and the other 2 missions have been listed as "difficult." I choose this one because like hell am I letting Advent troopers get armor plating.

A core of 4 with 2 newbies. This can't go wrong, can it?

Balcerzak is 1 scary-looking individual

Spotted the ayys.

Can't move around to flank because CIVILIANS EVERYWHERE

A group of Advent have already begun shooting at the device. Better act quickly

Not pictured, but while Kelly, Balcerzak, and Rawlins climbed the roof to get into a good position the Muton and Sectoid pair somehow got LOS on them as they patrolled the block.

We're revealed, and we have no choice but to fuck up 1 squad as much as possible

PEW PEW MOTHERFUCKER

Bzzzt.

Balcerzak is just a rookie at this point, so the only thing he's good at is tossing grenades. At least, he might be able to get that Sectoid to move out of cover.

Nope, grenade wasn't strong enough.

Well then, Kelly, you're up.

I don't want to slash the Muton. I heard bad things can happen if you try to, such as instakilling the Ranger via counterattack

9 damage Arc Blade, fuck yeah

It's a small map, so that's probably the 3rd and last squad

OH SHIT MUTONS CAN BAYONET CHARGE YOUR UNITS

Said bayonets are also electrical, so they can knock units unconscious for the rest of the mission.

Unfortunately I spec'd in Haywire Protocol and not Field Medic...so....can't revive Kelly.

STOP PANICKING. SHE'S UNCONSCIOUS, NOT DEAD

Rawlins, in his state of panic, runs off from the roof and into a position where he can get flanked by the Muton

Balcerzak retains enough sense to stay where he is and just take a shot.

Voz gets marked, but I send Threat Assessment + Aid Protocol to Rawlins because of his precarious situation

Also heals for Kelly in case the Muton decides to gut her while she's down

Note to self: Panicking units on overwatch WILL be triggered by any unit, friend or foe.

Rawlins almost straight up murdered Vos right now.

I did not know that.

Fuck you Rawlins

But hey, at least the officer dies

The Muton goes after Vos because of Rawlins. Which might have been a better scenario.

Balcerzak gets his shit together and brings white death to the Muton.

And here's the last squad. They get overwatched because I sent Rawlins to trigger them from around the bus, so the AI's free move is to instinctively put the bus between Rawlins and their position. I had the others take up positions around the storefront.

I really need to upgrade these machine guns

Death from above!

The Viper spits back!

Is that....is that a kid's rendition of 2 Faceless holding hands? I can't tell

BALCERZAK DELIVERS CRITS

The RNG makes Balcerzak a specialist.

Collins takes Ever Vigilant

Kelly takes Implacable. Could be useful for awkward slash positions

Baldie is happy

Me, not so much

22 days? We can do this.

Let's set the fucking clock back, shall we?

Alright, there better not be timers on this thing. No Kelly to squadsight but at least I can play the Break LOS game if I wanted to

[Nimbostratus]

Geez. What difficulty is this on, again?

[IGdood]

Geez. What difficulty is this on, again?

I picked Veteran, which is the new Normal since in XCOM 2 "Normal" is EU/EW's "Easy".

Maybe I suck at this game or I'm getting used to the mechanics or it really is harder than EU/EW. Beaglerush makes it look so easy but that's because he plays XCOM non-stop and has been doing so for the past 2-3 years. He's so good and well-known that he streams for Firaxis and he willingly does it without pay because he just loves the game.

Where's the kangaroos? By the way, am craving ribs for some reason

Didn't need to walk too far to catch this bunch. Lack of cover but at least we'll be spaced out.

To the far right of the map is another group. Spotted by Paul.

After making sure the group on the right walked off, Rawlins starts the show with an Acid attack.

The muton bites it and the Vipers are mortally wounded. They won't survive their next turn with the acid status effect

Unfortunately it looks like they want to take Rawlins with them. Can't let that happen.

And they return the favor by poisoning Collins.

Some other Advent guys show up, gets rewarded for his curiosity.

Gotta love Stock attachments. Guaranteed scratch damage. While I could've let Rawlins choke until the Viper's turn where she will die, killing a binding Viper during the player's turn lets you move the soldier back into cover and take a shot.

Lol, sucker.

Bring it, tough guy. You're too far away to bayonet me this time.

Of all the people to mark, why me?!

I have no idea when Rawlins got poisoned, but I don't remember walking him through the poison cloud. He was next to Collins though...

Pesky Advent. They're getting HP upgrades.

The shot percentages have been pretty low today for Eva. 40-50% average.

Here, have a gas grenade!

Fucking Captain scores a lucky crit on KC. Ow.

Alright this is bullshit. I heal Collins and then the next turn she gets poisoned again. I think the poison actually affects adjacent squadmates.

I berate Eva verbally during this mission for missing 3 shots. She looks pissed and finally scores a hit.

Rawlins takes out the captain despite the miss.

>repeated reinfection of poison

>Rawlins panics

>Collins panics

Fuck this.

We inch forward a little more and find TURRETs.

2 of them, with heavy armor.

Now I remember why I took Haywire Protocol instead of Revival

BOOM. Heavy armor didn't protect from this one.

The other turret gets dismantled by heavy firepower.

Let's hope we've dealt with most of the enemies outside. I don't want to be flanked.

Oh shit where'd you guys come from!?

Due to the weird ways LOS works they run around the roof and we score overwatch hits

Let's put this down and get the hell out of dodge

Fortunately, this mission lets you designate where to go. I pick one that most of the squad can dash to.

And right after it's placed, enemy reinforcements decide to show up.

Most of them get overwatched to death aside from the captain.

Have a nice BOOM.

PROMOTIONS

Eva gets Killzone.

Rawlins gets Shredder

Julian gets Demolition

Took down 2 blocks, which is good.

This campaign might have hope after all!

Oh yeaaaah

[IGdood]

That Avatar Facility mission went a lot better than I thought it would since it was listed as "difficult."

During XCOM 2's development it was said that the game had a dynamic difficulty feature. If you did well, the game made itself harder.

And...well...

Looks like Advent's pissed.

Most of our A-team is gravely wounded. I hope this group of guys can do it.

>Very Difficult

Well....this is new.

Hey thanks for dropping me right in the middle of an area with shit cover and immediate line of sight to 2 mutons and a fucking Berserker. Also they confirmed the Berserkers were female, like the Gears of War Locust Berserkers.

Everyone's chance to hit the berserker was at a measly 60%. I retreated a bit and put everyone on overwatch.

That bitch sure has a lot of HP. Good thing if you shoot her enough she gets Enraged and seems to "forget" to attack...?

VOLKOV. WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU AIMING?!

OH GOD MUTON PLASMA GRENADES GOT BUFFED SO MUCH SINCE EU/EW

Balcerzak ate a plasma beam. Julian is on fire and can't do anything aside from scream horribly in German

We launch as many frags we can

And kill 2. There's 1 more muton somewhere down there.

Only 1 medikit. Balcerzak heals himself. Civilians dropping left and right. This is pretty bad.

It gets worse. A 93% chance shot is missed

OH GOD IT TOSSED A GRENADE AT BALCERZAK

Julian stops burning, decides to panic instead.

Balcerzak gets pissed and unleashes a crit.

I hope these guys aren't Faceless

The squad is heavily injured at this point, but perhaps if we play slowly we can make it through this mission. Rescuing civilians is going to be tough though with everyone dying

Oh no. Not another Berserker + 2 Muton squad...

Overwatch went a little better this time.

I foolishly unleash Kill Zone while Eva only has 1 shot left. I wasn't sure what I was thinking. Maybe I panicked.

Acid away, please die quickly you bastards

AND XCOM UNLEASHES ITS FULL UNFAIRNESS ON ME

Squad of 3 - Mec, Shieldbearer, Stun Lancer

Squad of 2 - Sectoid + Stun Lancer.

Fuck our lives.

We take down 1 muton and 1 berserker. That leaves us with....a shitload of enemies to deal with.

Oh dear, they've got shields.

I already placed Balcerzak in the rear.

Unfortunately the Muton goes after him.

He died.

I'm sorry.

Volkov panics, so can't use whatever grenades he has left.

Paul dodges a few plasma beams and a stab.

We might be able to win this. Fortunately Run & Gun allows Paul to climb up and flank the aliens. That can get them to waste a turn repositioning.

FUCK YOU PAUL HOW CAN YOU MISS A 90% SHOT

WHAT THE FUCK XCOM

FUCKING XCOM

OH GOD NO NOT ANOTHER ENEMY

And to rub it in my face further, the mec launches missiles at Wilson and Volkov.

Hmmm....can I still win this? Well the civilians are dead, but I can use the extra alien corpses.

If we survive this, that is.

Wilson dodges a fucking bayonet stab. Nice.

A flanking shieldbearer takes a chunk out of Paul's health. The Sectoid attempts to Mindspin and succeeds in disorienting him.

A stun lancer knocks Wilson unconscious. Well...there goes any slim chance of victory.

Out of ammo. Julian used up his last grenade. Eva failed to crit. Not good at all.

But at least Volkov managed to kill something.

Paul manages to shotgun the Sectoid.

Then the Mec kills poor Paul.

Julian probably wouldn't be able to reload in time. An EVAC zone is set. We're getting out of there.

Eva takes massive damage from that Shieldbearer. Urgh.

Annnnd the Faceless crits Volkov with a sharp slap.

Everyone's dying.

Mission Failed. We did what we could with an unprepared force and paid the ultimate price.

I'm sorry Balcerzak.

On a slightly higher note, Wilson was captured, not killed.

Yeah....I think we really need to train up some new recruits since everyone is in the med bay.

We spend the rest of our supplies on getting another Specialist Medic on board.

New Indonesia is lost. On a more pragmatic note, it frees up a contact slot so we can expand to West Europe and take out the facility there or we can expand to the New Artic and do the story mission there.

Ooh, this looks good.

Soon.

[Balcerzak]

I died as I lived, a badass. Pleasure to have served! o7

[eclipse]

I'm quite late to the party, sorry! Mind if I make some redshirt or other, since it's pretty rare to go through an entire X-Com game without someone biting the dust?

[IGdood]

I died as I lived, a badass. Pleasure to have served! o7

However brief it was. Would you like to be reincarnated as a Balcerzak 2.0?

I'm quite late to the party, sorry! Mind if I make some redshirt or other, since it's pretty rare to go through an entire X-Com game without someone biting the dust?

Heheh, feel free to do so! I'm probably barely reaching midgame since I haven't made any story progress.

[Elieson]

Balcerzak ate a plasma beam. Julian is on fire and can't do anything aside from scream horribly in German

my god you were the one screaming here. Dragon Rounds look juicy though

[IGdood]

my god you were the one screaming here. Dragon Rounds look juicy though

I got PTSD man, I'm guilt-tripping. Can't help but scream along.

Anyway I have exams to prepare for so I won't be as prolific with the posting.

However I did update the customization options in the OP with the Predator Armor stuff so you can take those into account when submitting your character.

However thanks to mods you can mix and match with the Kevlar armor pieces so let your imagination go wild!

Also posting the updated pics here

[eclipse]

Squee, thanks~!

First Name: Sunshine

Surname: Vengeance

Callsign/Nickname: Sunny

Gender: Female

Preferred Class (choose from Rookie, Sharpshooter, Grenadier, Ranger, Specialist, Psi Operative): Rookie

Nationality: Australia

XCOM Operative, VIP (rescuable NPC), or Dark VIP (enemy NPC): XCOM Operative

Helmet/Hat: None

Arms: 0

Legs: 1

Torso: 2

Upper Face: Dark sunglasses

Lower Face: None

Weapon Camo: Digital

Armor Camo: Classic 2

Left Arm Tattoo: None

Right Arm Tattoo: None

Scars: None

Face: Face F

Hair (Female): Ponytail

Hair Color: Dark brown

Eye Color: 13

Race: 2

Skin Color: 4

Main Armor Color: 32

Secondary Armor Color: 34

Weapon Color: 56

Voice: Whichever one has the Australian accent

Stance & Attitude: Normal

Biography: Sunshine Vengeance wasn't her real name, it was one she gave herself in protest to what her parents thought up of (which she refuses to speak about). She decided that fighting aliens was better than her parent's dream of having her settle down with some old rich guy, so she signed up.

Edited February 12, 2016 by eclipse

[IGdood]

Squee, thanks~!

First Name: Sunshine

Surname: Vengeance

Callsign/Nickname: Sunny

Gender: Female

Preferred Class (choose from Rookie, Sharpshooter, Grenadier, Ranger, Specialist, Psi Operative): Rookie

Nationality: Australia

XCOM Operative, VIP (rescuable NPC), or Dark VIP (enemy NPC): XCOM Operative

Helmet/Hat: None

Arms: 0

Legs: 1

Torso: 2

Upper Face: Dark sunglasses

Lower Face: None

Weapon Camo: Digital

Armor Camo: Classic 2

Left Arm Tattoo: None

Right Arm Tattoo: None

Scars: None

Face: Face F

Hair (Female): Ponytail

Hair Color: Dark brown

Eye Color: 13

Race: 2

Skin Color: 4

Main Armor Color: 32

Secondary Armor Color: 34

Weapon Color: 56

Voice: Whichever one has the Australian accent

Stance & Attitude: Normal

Biography: Sunshine Vengeance wasn't her real name, it was one she gave herself in protest to what her parents thought up of (which she refuses to speak about). She decided that fighting aliens was better than her parent's dream of having her settle down with some old rich guy, so she signed up.

Submission received, will make your character as soon as I get enough Supplies.

By the way you're going for the Kevlar look I assume? Maybe I should edit the template a bit since it was taken from elsewhere and isn't as detailed as I would like.

Major setbacks is an XCOM thing, but our strength lies in our persistence!

Though persistence has its limits when it comes to killing our supply routes.

Viper Rounds will be our nightmare.

I unlocked the Psi Lab....which I lack the infrastructure and Engineers to support

Our Grenadiers and Sharpshooters need better weapons

We weren't able to recover the bodies of our dead from that disastrous Retaliation mission, so we lost a lot of gear. Namely, the Acid and Gas Grenades and the Talon Rounds.

We'll have to build it all back, and there's no telling what Shen will come up with

A specialist is always welcome. Could use the medics.

Maybe this will even the odds.

Let's build random shit and see what we get.

So the Faceless smell.

Muahaha

Elie has finally reached a high enough level that he can change his attitude to Laid Back

Anyway, time to start the Blacksite Story Mission that I've been putting off for so long. Hope our lack of grenades won't hinder us much

KC makes his way through the ground floor of the building while the rest of the squad takes positions on the roof

The presence of a turret complicates things. We can't really do much since it has a huge line of sight. Might as well go loud now.

FEEL THE POWER OF A MAG CANNON

Eli how could you miss? It's a stationary target!

Spotted some troopers.

KC's overwatch hits but they survive.

Lightning Hands has a cooldown of 4 turns, and basically acts as a free shot.

Elie hits the captain, but misses the 2nd shot. However, he manages to set the captain on fire.

I forgot Julian had the Demolish ability. Should've used it earlier.

Dammit Rawlins

Lol, sucker

I take that back

I don't really know how the slow destruction of rooftops via fire mechanics work, but the game decides that the tile Julian was standing on is broken, and so he falls to the ground....and takes additional damage.

And to top it off, he's burning

Elie gets his accuracy fixed and guns the Captain down

Rawlins also gets it together and mows the trooper down

We heal up, then proceed

The ayyliens have remade the Floater from EU/EW into the Archon. Designed in the image of the deities of mankind, it looks...like...I don't know

Kelly spots another turret in the distance. Best not to trigger it

Fucking mutons. They must die.

Lucky crit. Yes

Elie is like the designated marksman. He can provide sniper support when needed to, but can also roll with the squad and keep up.

Collins has no enemies to shoot (The Archon flew off somewhere) and so she shocks the turret

Kelly keeps a bead on the Archon, and allows Elie to squadsight it untriggered

hmm...I wonder what the aliens want with us. In EU/EW they wanted us to be their next subjugated soldier...but not sure here

Elie doesn't care what battle frenzy is. Elie only knows that even if you cover your head with a helmet, you'll still get shot.

With a pistol, nonetheless!

Doesn't look like we should dash into the building.

Quite a gruesome sight. Some of these people look half digested.

That's all for now, will post the rest of the mission tomorrow!

[eclipse]

Kevlar works. Hope Sunny won't disappoint~!

[IGdood]

Kevlar works. Hope Sunny won't disappoint~!

Alright, I'm making sure. Also updated the form so people can get a better of idea of what kind of armor they want their character to look like they're wearing.

And people, feel free to edit your character's looks, like a form of character development. I'm planning on switching my guy's looks sometime just to show that XCOM is low on supplies all the time and is really rag-tag.

So last night we left off about halfway through the Blacksite story mission.

We've discovered a facility of people being processed aka melted down Mass Effect 2 style

There's only 1 patrol inside.

But first, let's take care of this trio on the outside!

The previous Archon bugged out, but not this one.

Blazing Pinions, what's that?

It fires rockets out of its back!

Looks like we have 1 turn to get out of there. And the viper in the back with overwatch doesn't want that to happen

Well, let's focus on repositioning first. I figure once the rockets land they'll destroy and surrounding cover also

During this time the Archon is high in the sky and everyone gets a negative accuracy modifier against it

I hate it when Vipers have dodge so you end up doing fuck-all to them

But someone is in position to take out Overwatch. Right about....now.

After a failed attempted grab from a Viper, Julian's animations bugged out and he basically has no animation. Frozen in place, he teleports when ordered to move and his enemies mysteriously fly off to the side when they die.

The engine's calculations work, but the the graphics engine seems to have bugged out. This is the first XCOm 2 bug I've encountered so far.

Everyone's missing the Archon...

Yeaaaah, it's a good thing we avoided all that

That's...gonna hurt

I still don't know what Battle Frenzy is, but it needs to die

Julian don't look so good. Gonna need major healing

This is why you fly. So you don't get chopped.

Another graphical bug I sometimes notice is that when a Ranger charges in to do a slash, the cover close to the path they traveled takes damage. See all those rocks and chunks of metal flying?

Scanner protocol confirms that there's only 1 patrol inside, and we have to retrieve that vial

You're probably wondering why I'm suddenly under attack.

Well, I had too little space between my mouse and my printer, so while I was moving it around I accidentally clicked and sent an Unconcealed Kelly into the building. You can imagine my panic and my half-relief that I at least sent her into cover. I blame a hidden Sectoid mind-controlling me

Normal Advent troopers? No match.

Unfortunately there is yet another trio if Vipers + Archon waiting outside at the evac zone.

Julian will attack from the flank.

You can't teach an old snake new tricks.

Dammit Rawlins, maybe I should put a frickin scope on your cannon

Why is is that a flying unit has this much HP? It's not right

Kelly gets grabbed and bound, then poisoned.

The vipers love her.

Julian misses, but the pain causes the viper to let go of Kelly.

Now Kelly's low on HP, but I don't want to trigger overwatch.

So I toss a grenade...

Hopefully that will force them to reposition....and I forgot that Kelly's flanked because it was late and I wanted to just go to bed. Even a Commander needs his beauty sleep you know

But I had enough sense to put up Aid protocol and hope the Vipers will resort to binding instead of shooting

If you've been wondering what Elie has been doing during this time, he's been missing 37% shots against the vipers.

FUCKING DODGE

BOOM. SHOTGUN.

I'm sure that vial won't blow up with a frag grenade, will it?

Now we gotta get out of there, but before we go let's farm some experience with overwatch on these Advent goons

19 aliens? That was actually quite a lot.

Unfortunately the A-team will be out of commission for awhile

Elie gets Quickdraw. Cause you know, he can shoot and reload the rifle if need be

Julian gets Heavy Ordnance

I get Guardian....cause I usually hit my overwatch shots

Rawlins gets suppression, in case pesky Officers want to Mark and shoot us

If only we had the A team for that retaliation mission right?

Edited February 13, 2016 by IGdood

[IGdood]

Time to destroy a relay. Should be easy enough. You'll see a few new faces here like Snyder and Johansen, our new medics in training

2 patrols. A codex would prove troublesome.

Alright, this time I'm making sure I do Kill Zone with a full clip.

EXO Suits come with a rocket by default. I didn't use it on the previous mission because well I didn't want to waste it on 1 enemy, but I regret that now because it would've saved Kelly a whole of of pain

This overwatch ambush went rather well. The Advent are pretty much all dead so we can focus on the aliens

Eva scores the first hit....

And then stops shooting? What?

Then suddenly the game delivers a Miss and 5 damage on another Viper. It's like the graphics engine was too lazy to show what happened and just decided to skip it.

Okay I lied, there was 1 Stun Lancer who survived and delivered a LOT of damage

Oh heeelll nooo

1 guy gets grabbed, I think it was Johansen

Elie takes out the lancer with a pistol, then takes out an offending Viper with the rifle. Lightning Hands motherfucker

You think you can stop us just by shutting down our weapons? We got grenades, fool

Of course the Codex decides to clone, so we might have to use a bit more grenades

4 turns...yeah I can take it out in 4 turns

The Codex wisely teleports away.....to flank Vos.

AND MISSES. HAH

The sharpshooters get to work on the relay while the others mill around collecting loot

>Reinforcements?

Straight into overwatch, suckers

I love Incendiary Grenades. The smell of napalm in the morning.

Looks like we got 1 more enemy squad

Uh oh

Always kill the Muton. I have a special hatred for these things after Balcerzak died

Poor Ranger gets focused on by the Sectoids

I like that "Missed" animation that the Sectoid does. It's like "NO YOU SHALT NOT CRIT"

How do you even survive something like that?!

And stay down. Victory!

Vos gets Salvo, which sounds OP

[IGdood]

Where were we? Ah yes, finished destroying a relay. Next up is....well I'm trying to build up the Avenger a bit and I need resources. With a few counters off the Avatar Project I think XCOM can take a bit of a break.

However, we still need to make new contacts as soon as possible

But the real question is.....can one of our very own XCOM soldiers be a Faceless all along?

I heard this thing was IMBA as fuck in beta. I wonder if it'll serve me well here

Aww hell

I need to build 3 things. A Psi Lab, an Advanced Warfare Center, and a Shadow Chamber. Unfortunately I need more power, I don't have enough room space, and I need 3 engineers to excavate the lower rooms.

This doesn't look all that useful.

So....spending 5-7 days decrypting data pads gives a lot of intel. Would've saved me a lot of trouble with making new contacts back then.

I hope researching Elerium will help with power issues

80 supplies for a measly extra 2 power. Damn...

And after actually looking around my options I notice that I'm short on engineers....and there's a way to have staffing of rooms without needing more engineers. Boy, am I dumb. Let's hope the workshop does what I think it does.

I end up canceling (and wasting 80 supplies) construction of the 2nd power conduit

Time to expand.

Suddenly the Resistance council decides to answer my prayers. A mission for an engineer!

You guys should name your weapons. Sounds fun.

Looks like it's jailbreaking time.

Hmmm...2 squads. This calls for heavy explosions.

These mutons are incinerated.

This was a perfect ambush. No survivors from the first squad

They got caught with their pants down for this one.

Rawlins has horrible luck with his accuracy

But Elie just doesn't stop

I just thought Vos looked really cool over here

I know there's a 2-turn countdown before a burning car explodes, but I forgot that the countdown can be rushed if another nearby car explodes.

Minor damage, but annoying nonetheless.

If it weren't for those shields, he'd be dead.

25%? Nah I just need that guaranteed damage from the stock to kill you

What entertainment?

Can't see shit with the camera refusing to reveal the upper level

42% with no penalties? Eh might as well.

Note: The Hack stat increases with each successful hack, so if you give your specialists haywire protocol, make sure they've practiced hacking lampposts first so they can control turrets and mecs with ease later

Found the prisoner.

Then we tossed him out the window.

At this point we've got 3 turns left. I'm not focusing on killing things, just getting out of there. Of course once the guys are within 1 dash's worth of distance from the evac zone then any enemies in sight are fair game.

Stop cloning yourself you bitch

The more clones you have, the more heads for Elie to shoot

I'm not taking any chances with something that can teleport and potentially flank the VIP.

The rocket launcher works just like the Heavy Rocket Launcher from EU/EW

We got away the next turn. Later, suckers

Elieson can now set entire squads on fire....with a little luck

This guy looks like he just walked out of Assassin's Creed Syndicate

None of these Dark Events look good. I mean, Rural Checkpoints is nothing but holy shit what

Since we already got plenty of grenades, perhaps a flamethrower would be better than a rocket in some situations

Plasma weapons? Hell, I haven't even got gauss sniper rifles yet

Random tidbit

I took a moment to visit the memorial. Figured I'd pay respects to Balcerzak

And to eclipse, here is Sunshine Vengeance. Sole Rookie on the Avenger and in XCOM, but I do have plans for her since....I hope you don't mind what class she'll be since you picked Rookie and I assume it means I get to choose her fate?

Next up, on XCOM 2! A landed UFO!

[eclipse]

Yep! Go wild with her!

(but try not to get her killed immediately)