IGdood Presents: XCOM 2 ; FINISHED

[IGdood]

Today we assault a grounded UFO!

Let's hope it goes better than the first time!

Yep! Go wild with her!

(but try not to get her killed immediately)

Oh trust me, the Commander will have his way with her

oh who am I kidding, it's XCOM that'll have its way with her

Alright, so I'm planning to put down a Psionics Lab at the very bottom right of the Shielded Power Coil since the Workshop can supply help to Resistance Comms on the right and maybe something on the bottom or on the left.

Shotguns have high crit normally, so why not bump it up some more?

>Very Difficult

Oh dear

Eh these chumps don't look so bad

AND TIME TO SHOW OFF WITH FACE OFF.

Elie misses 1, hits the other 2

And everyone decides to target the Archon with Overwatch, which doesn't work so great because Archons have high dodge!

And Julian decides to ignore the aliens and nails the captain in the distance

Aside from shooting and bombarding an area with rockets, Archons can also act like fucking Necrons of 40k and swoop in to clobber you in the cranium

And poor Rawlins barely survived that one. It doesn't end there. A viper grabs him

Sure, we'll take care of that distress beacon in a jiffy

Gunslinger OP as fuck.

Lightning Hands saved Rawlins, then the Archon takes a headshot

I realized I need to recolor Elie's weapon after he upgraded to Gauss

Julian lets off a rocket because why the fuck not

You don't have cover? Well too bad.

Rawlins is the last to take his turn, so he suppresses.

I also have Snyder use Aid Protocol on him because chances of another squad of enemies walking in is just too high. It's a small map and since it's rated Very Difficult there's got to be at least 2 more groups out there

And speaking of the devil, I was right

The bastards upgraded their mecs with heavy armor

The Viper breaks cover and gets hit because lol suppression. She misses.

Elie takes out the Overwatch from the Mec so Rawlins can safely retreat

Better yet, let's shut that Mec down.

Rawlins moves to a better position so he can reload and heal

Snek dies.

The enemy shieldbearer advances and deploys shields

Did I mention that Rawlins has an autoloader? Means he gets to reload for free without costing an action.

One of the troopers is on overwatch but in XCOM 2 you can set waypoints so your units can move in a way that doesn't trigger overwatch. Depending on where you put the mouse the game will tell you who has line of sight to that tile's location.

Let's put that fucker on suicide watch instead.

Okay so the grenade launcher couldn't reach that far, but destroying the shieldbearer's cover would at least let us kill one person.

Meanwhile Kelly continues to sneak about

Of course, I can rely on Elie for crits.

Wild Mec has appeared!

Wild Mec used suppression!

Elie gets pissed and Returns Fire!

Elie missed!

Unfortunately I think Return Fire only triggers once. This Advent guy tried to shoot Elie but he didn't return fire a second time

Meanwhile, suck on another grenade

Sure thing, Shen.

Faceoff's countdown is reached, and Elie proceeds to waste our foes

I'm surprised Kelly hasn't seen anyone so far inside the UFO

I spoke too soon.

She is spotted while flanked, so the Viper decides to take a free shot against her. Fortunately it was a miss.

The Mec charges and runs into my overwatch

Guardian can trigger with 50% on every shot that hits, and it triggered twice holy shit

Augh, you mechanical piece of shit!

Kelly hides and enters concealment.

I'm having way too much fun with Gunslinger abilities.

Oh god not again

Elie needs a clear line of sight. Julian will help out by blowing up the walls.

Solid hit.

You know, let's try out this mimic beacon and see what it does.

SURPRISE

Implacable lets Kelly take a better position after scoring a kill

You derpy motherfucker

No wonder mimic beacons are known as "meme beacons"

Every enemy who sees it is compelled to attack it

It's like having a free turn, even worse than the Ghost Grenade of EU/EW

>Missed

Damn it!

The pain leads to Rawlins' freedom....and revenge

That was a good mission. Let's hope our luck holds

[IGdood]

PREVIOUSLY I forgot what the last post entailed

Something about encountering Archons and stuff, I reckon

Neat, power upgrades!

Aww yeah

This is the workshop that makes worker gremlins

Now the engineers can do real work, like excavating

We now have enough supplies to make our grenadiers even more powerful!

And Specialists can now crit with overwatch

I like how this suddenly solves the power problem on the Avenger

An engineer reward? Am doing.

Elie looks pretty good in the spider suit.

You might find my lack of consistency disturbing

Another destroy relay mission. We can handle it.

It didn't take long for us to find the enemy

Unlike in EU/EW, Grapple is now a free action so you can shoot right after

He spots a turret.

Burn in hell, Advent

It seems I can't hit shit just like a stormtrooper

But I can hack, at the least!

Since we have pretty much a lot of frag grenades, killing off all those guys was pretty easy.

The turret may have been upgraded, but it's no match for Combat Protocol and a finishing shot from Julian

Elie drops down to deliver a 100% shot to the almost dead captain

Scanning Protocol reveals 2 enemies far from the relay.

Jesus fuck, that thing looks like it walked out of Bioshock

KC hacks a random lamp post because why not

A curious Viper spots Kelly. Well, at least I set up overwatch.

That is such a Big Daddy

I don't know how shooting at the wall does 6 damage but I won't question it

Blowing walls to create line of sight is practically necessary when you've got a sharpshooter

Damn that heavy armor.

Mimic beacon will save the day, right?!

Assuming it distracts them all, we focus on the relay

Surprise!

Followed by Implacable retreat....and then Concealment.

BAHAHA TIME TO BURN--whaaaat

Fucker's immune to fire!?

That thing needs to die fast

It tried to slam the beacon and missed.

Then the Viper tried to tongue-grab the beacon....

But she learned quickly and shot it instead

Kelly scouts ahead and finds this lethal trio.

DIIIIIIE

What the shit is that?

Shit shit shit the suit comes back to life! At least it lost all the armor.

Good thing the suit is hackable.

Relay blown, everyone focuses fire on the shut down suit.

Okay, so there's yet another enemy squad hiding out in the building.

Elie moves ahead to the next building.

We we'd set up an ambush, but the damn Archon flew into the squad before we could overwatch properly

Collins' Ever Vigilant kicks in.

Frag out! With the shieldbearer exposed, Elie takes 2 pistol shots, weakening her enough for someone else to finish the Advent off

That archon got unlucky by managing to get shot by me

That thing is pissed, and nearly decapitates Elie. 9 damage.....and Elie only has 10 HP max

Return Fire activates, and the laid-back Sharpshooter delivers a painful shot

Weakened just enough for Collins to finish it off

Elie is healed, and the squad takes on the last enemy group on the map. 2 Codices and 1 more Archon.

Clone? No problem. Kelly's waiting.

Grenades that can critical....man we're really putting the hurt on them

Low HP clones? Not to worry, Gremlins and Kelly can finish them off

The last Archon flew up to pull off a Blazing Pinions buuuuut LL Cul Jul will have NONE of that shit.

Elie almost died, but he didn't end up Shaken.

Collins reaches max level.

Capacitor Discharge sounds OP

Untouchable is good if Kelly's forced to shotgun in awkward situations

Andromedon eh?

[IGdood]

I'm still not sure where I am in the story progress, but I'm going to assume the Shadow Chamber will take me to the next step.

4 engineers seems like the perfect number

Might be a good project since there's more robotic enemies out there now

A new facility has been found down in South Africa.

Muahaha....AHAHAHHAHA

These beam tech guns look kinda funny

This will make our Grenadiers even more dangerous than they already are.

Strategic Map shenanigans.

I do wonder though...who the hell buys corpses on the Black Market? Why?

Advanced Warfare Center is like a hospital and the ability to reroll abilities for your units.

Unfortunately I'm not sure if the extra skills learned through promotion are retroactive......gotta look into that.

>MEDIOCRE

Oh dear.

250 supplies is a lot, but good thing the Black Market is always ready to buy corpses.

Might not be able to afford this but at least I'll make then unlockable.

That looks like it got lifted from Force Awakens. But holy shit, they shot down a Battleship with only an Interceptor armed with Avalanche Missiles?

Oh boy, here we go. God Saga is a fucking appropriate name for this adventure. Beam Cannons hell yes

That's a lot of civilians.

Scanning Protocol immediately reveals a faceless.

Time to Overwatch this shit

That doesn't look very impressive

Oh god what the fuck

The 4th one at the bottom right was burrowed and hidden underground

Fucking bullshit XCOM, Chrysallids get a free move AND a free attack upon spotting you.

One of those beasties ran through all the overwatches and sliced Collins. And they have armor!

Thankfully it's only 5 damage and not 1-hit kills like in EU/EW

1 down...3 more to go....

Kelly rescues civilians while in concealment.

Oh fuck this one unburrowed for some reason and revealed Kelly

And it gets a free move and attack against me. Good thing that stormtrooper helmet works

Mimic Beacon + Explosives

We need better firepower against these fuckers

I thought Viper poison was bad but Chrysallid poison takes off 3 HP!

The Mimic Beacon survived 2 hits....and Chrysallid #3 slices Collins...who miraculously survives

Moar grenades are needed

That doesn't look like a dodge to me.

I think that's all the aliens for this mission...the rest are just Advent death squads shooting civilians left and right

Death squad this, genocidal douchebags!

Uh oh.

This reminds me of that one time in Black Ops 2 where you get a Dragon's Rounds Shotgun and you set commies on fire

Despite all the grenade usage on Chrysallids previously, we still have enough to bring down that building.

This is going to be awesome

AND IT WAS. Unfortunately I didn't realize that was a gas tank. Sorry Kelly.

Last captain gets shot trying to run away.

With everyone dead the last Faceless reveals itself and proceeds to eat beam cannon

Fuck yeah.

Julian gets volatile mix.

That is one scary portrait.

>21 days

Nope, 11 days

Now we can face anything! Hopefully.

Oh boy, here we go again.

Might be a bit too situational...

>Grenadier again

We don't need that project to advance any further now, do we?

We are starting to look really badass.

[IGdood]

These missions keep popping up and keep me from seeing what I really want to see.

An item recovery mission?

There's gonna be a time limit for this one.

Hmm.... a large group like this one is going to be difficult to take out.

Did I mention that Eva looks a little bit Advent-ish? There's a mod that unlocked Advent helmets.

Starting ambushes off with grenades is practically textbook at this point

And the most perfect Kill Zone is pulled off.

All 3 enemies of the first squad are killed

But I didn't overwatch everybody because I knew it'd be impossible to take out the second squad further up.

Debuffing them would be much better

Julian attempts to Demolish the Codex's cover....but that didn't work out despite having an 80% chance

Oh fuck the Archon dared to run KC's overwatch to flank

Can't get that lucky, ayylien.

She's not Elie but her pistol skills are adequate.

Rawlins unleashes a torrent of FUCK YOU

No ammo for Demolish? Don't worry, more explosives!

Reinforcements?!

2 shots missed in that Overwatch but I was treated to a scene that resembled a bunch of guys fleeing for their lives

If you can't tell, I really like the graphics

We're running out of time. Gonna make Rawlins dash up there since he's not the demolitions expert

Damn it Johansen you were supposed to crit that guy

Another miss with such high accuracy.....sigh

When in doubt just blow shit up and toss out a mimic beacon

In the meantime there's this loud clanging in the distance. I wonder if it's just a sound glitch

And the trooper fails to kill Johansen, which is good

I think that will do more than just burn cavities

The remaining Advent are swept aside as Rawlins runs up

Success at 1 turn remaining!

JESUS FUCK THAT'S WHERE THE CLANGING SOUNDS COME FROM

I am thankful I sold off all that loot and intel to get the supplies necessary to upgrade my weaponry

Tracer Rounds can change the color of your beams

This is possibly the luckiest overwatch so far. That heavy armor didn't hold out.

Deadeye just for you.

A little curious what the Sectopod could do, but holy shit that was a lot of HP

I can only imagine what the remaining Advent troopers are thinking

No chicken walker to protect you and I still got a rocket.

Oh come on! Who shoots the Sharpshooter anyway?

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRT

We got lucky. I can't bear to think what would happen if that Sectopod actually had a turn to act.

With Holo-Targeting Rawlins will need to be the one to shoot first when it comes to bringing down the big enemies.

Since getting hurt means you're in big trouble, I think having another grenade-like capability is much better

15% sounds amazing. It's like Lethality.

Faceless are small fry now to be honest

Now our soldiers will heal up faster now....and I think it allows for them to be respec'd?

We also have a Psionics Lab now!

The Psi Lab is sustained by the overly eager Rookie, of which we only have one.

Sunshine, you're gonna be our Est archetype and volunteer, aren't you?

Disclaimer: No relation to the fate of the volunteer from EU/EW

>Ben Wilson

Holy shit, he's still alive.

We're gonna get him back.

XCOM leaves no fellow soldier behind except for that one rookie we lost from the Avenger defense mission

Edited February 18, 2016 by IGdood

[eclipse]

Sunshine doesn't care about who or what she has to do, she's gonna do it~!

[Balcerzak]

I can't bear to think what would happen if that Sectopod actually had a turn to act.

This is an entirely accurate thought to have. Edited February 19, 2016 by Balcerzak

[IGdood]

Sunshine doesn't care about who or what she has to do, she's gonna do it~!

Typical rookie mentality, muahaha!

This is an entirely accurate thought to have.

*shivers*

Previously we left off on the rescue of Ben Wilson, our ex-EXALT Grenadier who got captured in that horrific mission that wiped out most of the C team.

The thing about the Advanced Warfare Center is that other than allowing you to respec your troops and heal them faster if an engineer is present, it also confers a chance for every unit to unlock an ability outside of its class upon promotion.

However it's not retroactive, but I downloaded a mod to make it retroactive because we're unsure what the design decision is. After all, the Wet Work research from the Guerrilla Tactics School is retroactive.

I don't know how useful these can be....but okay.

Would've liked for Elie to learn Run and Gun instead...

The others haven't uncovered their hidden abilities yet.

Also voice pack mods are fun.

Sunshine looks really bored.

You guys don't look so good

Alright, let's go grab our guy.

Wilson is hunched over and seems to be clutching his abdomen at times. I wouldn't be surprised if he was tortured/still wounded from his injuries.

And of course, on reveal a shitload of enemies. We have the high ground! Explosives away from everyone!

Why is it that this game's RNG shits on Rawlins all the time?

But at least Holo-Targeting can be conferred without needing to hit....

And let's top it off with a Capacitor Discharge.

Should've killed that Shieldbearer, but some things take precedence.

Also Rawlins ducks a stun lancer jab

A ruptured suit leaves behind a trail of acid, effectively denying an area to us.

Julian ducks as a flying, dead stun lancer careens over him

These turrets are shit and should stay shit.

Oh hi.

Good thing you didn't miss this one.

One last guy. This is where Hail of Bullets comes in handy.

Crap, still alive. Well Eva took care of him later.

Oh dear.

Oh fuck

We got a pair of Gen 1 and Gen 2 mecs

Conceal is your best get out of jail card. Mimic beacon is tossed to get the Sectopod's attention

Elite Troopers are annoying little buggers who can deal damage when you least expect it because you're focused on the bigger guys. Plus, he was the only target with a good enough hit chance

Oh. Okay.

So that's what a Sectopod does. It has a heavy gauss gun on top that rapes things. It also destroys all sorts of cover by walking through it.

Vos says hi.

I shut down the Advanced Mec so Kelly can have time to kill things

Not sure where the regular Mec went. Guess she'll work on taking down the offline one.

Please die you Sectopod. Please...

Rawlins doesn't get shit on by the RNG and takes out the Sectopod.

We just might be able to make it in time.

Or not. The Gen 1 MEC charges our position and rockets Eva and Julian, who then take heavy fall damage...

I really need to upgrade the shotguns...

Our grenadiers are out of ammo, and resort to grenade spam

Tick...tock...tick....tock

Oh god, we might not be able to dash there in time

Especially when we keep missing 87% shots like this.

Wilson books it to get away from that blob's line of sight

DIE

2 turns remaining and we got a Mec and Trooper down there.

In XCOM 2, when they say 2 turns remaining it really is 2 turns. It's not like EU/EW where you get a 0 turns remaining last turn to do things.

Took them out quickly, time to get the hell out of there

Too fucking close for comfort.

Saturation Fire sounds awesome.

Steady Hands is perfect for someone who only gets 60-70% chance shots against targets in cover

Welcome back, Wilson.

Wilson is gravely wounded, and I'm not sure how useful he can be this late in the game.

If there's a guerrilla ops to counter Infestation, I'm doing it no matter what.

Hah, Initiate.

6 days for 84 supplies? Eh....I can do better at the black market.

Psi Operatives cannot level up through combat because they've essentially traded away all their combat skills for psi powers. They have to level up by being cooped up in a room for days on end.

Also, the skills that you can choose to learn are pre-randomized. So while Sunshine learned Insanity first, that isn't always the case.

Null Lance seems like the next thing to learn.

Oh yeeeees.

Even after remodeling and redecorating, these guys are still Floaters on the inside.

Time for another visit to the Black Market to get the goods we need for better armor.

I think Sunshine can use this.

She's got only 1 ability so far, so her gun needs to make up for it.

This new Warden armor looks preeetty weird, but we're gonna need it for this next mission.

Not sure if bringing Sunshine was a good idea on such a critical mission, but I'm eager to see a Psi Operative in action.

[IGdood]

I hate it when real life keeps me busy. I don't even have time to go beyond Ch 11 of Conquest.

Getting on with the mission.

Oh great, look. A Sectopod on the roof.

In fact, it's so tall that even though I'm in cover the guys are considered "flanked." Where's a Bluescreen round when you need it?

Sunshine is technically at the Squaddie rank right now, so her capabilities are actually pretty bad at the moment. 50% is too risky, and I guess she could use some more training. At least her plasma rifle is decked out with nice mods and she's got tracers so she can hit things.

These are going to be a bitch to kill.

After some spamming of end turn, the codices leave and we'll start this off with plenty of fall damage.

I wonder why the design team decided that psi operatives can't level up through kills and exp.

Oh well, Sunshine can steal EXP from the others.

Now is a good time for Capacitor Discharge.

The Sectopod says, "FUCK YOU AND YOUR FULL COVER"

I remember in EU/EW Sectopods can take 2 actions instead of 1. Fortunately after critting poor Johan it decided to move closer instead of taking a second shot

Not sure what this is but I think we should kill it ASAP

A stun lancer that didn't die hits KC for heavy damage.

Elie misses a shot and sets the car on fire.

Sunshine has had enough of your robotic bullshit.

We're out of moves and can't get away from the impending explosion, so we heal up and decide to take it like a champ.

After some more healing and repositioning the others show up. And we proceed to miss because XCOM

Dear lord. Sunshine's mind isn't powerful enough

Low chance to hit? Use a grenade!

With Sunshine's very reliable accuracy, the Andromedon is killed and the independent suit is temporarily shutdown because the 2 codices are bigger problems.

We try to scatter because the codices are bound to case their weapon-deactivating spheres of weaponized "FUCK YOU"

With Untouchable, I'm a bit less hesitant on letting Kelly reveal herself at the edge of the fog of war

And of course I jinxed myself by thinking that. There was a mec that could see her location, but she couldn't see it.

Bloody hell.

Doesn't matter if you flank, stupid Mec.

She killed something, she gets to dodge the next shot.

And of course the shieldbearer will always opt for shielding instead of taking a shot.

Why must they clone. Why.

WHen you got nothing better to shoot at, shoot the downed Andromedon shell.

Just keep letting me kill clones and Untouchable will take care of the rest.

The Mec quickly catches on to the OPness of a Ranger's skills, and proceeds to use guaranteed damage moves.

Dick move.

Always thankful when a shot rolls for 5 and above.

This is for disabling my weapon!

PEW PEW

How many rounds does a Mec carry, exactly?

Elie goes all out with Lightning Hands followed by Faceoff

Well that didn't work out too well.

ZZZAP

No time for insanity since we better kill that guy.

Perfect time for hair trigger to....trigger

We're low on med kits, and we were just slowly overwatching when suddenly a 2nd sectopod pulls off a Kool-Aid man on us

And through some insane stroke of luck, my 15% insta-kill chance kicks in and the Sectopod explodes in a blaze of glory, damaging whoever was with it

Will Elie finally score a kill today?

*THUNK*

I don't feel like fighting more. I blow a hole in the wall to take a shortcut to the place i need to set the charges and let a concealed Kelly take a peek.

I gauge a distance that everyone can run to within a turn and set up the evac point there.

Of all the people to catch an enemy running about while on overwatch, it was Sunshine who saw an injured Advent trooper first. Didn't end well for him.

Looks like the last enemy on the map was killed. Reinforcements are called.

Let's get the hell out of here

Well, that went much better than I'd expect. And hooray for Sunshine for not dying and actually contributing quite a bit even though she didn't have a good opportunity to cast mind powers

Julian can now take an action after grenading things

Sunshine can't continue her training since she needs to heal. Bugger, that means it'll take at least 16 days for her to rank up.

Oh boy, a supply raid. Good, I need the resources to get better armor and guns.

Eva likes cosplaying, it seems.

[IGdood]

ALRIGHT BACK FOR MORE AFTER THE FIRST OF MANY FINAL EXAMS

Previously we ended at a supply raid mission.

I found a shieldbearer, lancer, and andromedon further up.

Eva sets up Kill Zone.

Gerard starts it off with Saturation Fire, which is one of the more glorious things I've seen

Damn you Eva stop missing!

Lancer eats it.

Andromedon ends up eating it, then the suit gets righteously fucked by the Rhino.

I hear a Sectopod clanging around. I also notice that this is a really small map, and where's all the other enemies?

Oh...okay

I think...

I just alerted the entire garrison.

Let's see. We got shit cover all around, a fuckload of enemies bunched up, and a fucking Sectopod.

CHARGE. No retreat, no surrender! Vigilo Confido!

Unleash all explosives!

Meme beacon out!

Elie takes care of the newly cloned Codex. Nobody will flank us today if he can help it.

Annnnd Eva's killzone doesn't work too well.

I was hoping the Sectopod would be the one to shoot the mimic beacon...but alas...

Holy fuck, 10 damage and that's without crits

Oh hell no, gotta shut it down

Meanwhile the other baddies proceed to get bad luck

Hah! Eva's hidden ability lets her put the hurt on enemies with all types of grenades, flashbangs included

FUUUUUUU

We need that Sectopod down NOW

Yaaaaass

Elie lightning misses with his Lightning Hands.

With Faceoff he misses again but manages to kill off an advent trooper and hurt a codex

Lemme guess, they're going to overwatch the shit out of the place

S'all good, the idiot Archon managed to not target Eva with a pinion. I'm perfectly fine with that.

Which means she gets to shoot overwatchers without worrying about a missile coming down on her head.

...which allows Gerard to move up and grenade I forgot what

Which allows Julian to move up and grenade the floor underneath that turret, instantly destroying it.

Rawlins uses his last grenade on a melting Advent officer

Ya wasted your pinions, fool!

Spoke a bit too soon, bastard shot Julian for 8 damage.

You can't possibly dodge the squad's concentrated fire!

Since Elie doesn't need to move, he can double tap with the pistol.

New record is always nice

That aim bonus can be useful if pistol overwatch would be useless and Elie needs to do Faceoff the next turn.

Looks like a shotgun-type weapon

I will build the Shadow Chamber here

We upgraded the sniper rifles to the final tier!

Oh shiiiit

I'm gonna need to get my hands on these asap.

We're gonna need better Gremlins if we're ever going to successfully control MECs and Sectopods

Ignore all the mod stuff I downloaded for shits and giggles. I'm getting the final pistol upgrade just for Elie.

Chrysallids are OP as fuck in XCOM 2. Best to prevent them from ever showing up in a game.

Until next time!

[IGdood]

Should be rolling out a few more updates today after this one...maybe

Gave Ben Wilson a Metal Gear Solid outfit.

Check out that gun on Elie, holy shit

Oh boy, that's a lot of damage.

Just where we want them.

But unfortunately I make the mistake of dashing, hoping that they won't come closer and I can spring the trap next turn. I miscalculated.

Well guess everything's gone to shit. At least the new Beam Pistols will come in handy.

We're wiping the floor with them!

Collins didn't have a chance at a good shot, so why not hack a lamp post? I heard sometimes the bonuses can grant you a free turn, which is always nice

Sadly enough all we got were more alloys.

The Gremlin also reveals a turret here.

Ben is gonna be our meatshield.

Mimic Beacon go!

Hah, lucky

What I failed to account for once again was that the Mimic Beacon can be seen by the turret. I was planning on having it distract the Andromedon and the Officer

Ben Wilson is possibly the luckiest motherfucker on the planet.

Survived a terror mission gone bad

Survived a rescue

Dodges a fucking Andromedon tackle

Die officer!

Rawlins and Elie chuck their grenades to weaken the turret

Wilsonluck is real. Executed.

Sometimes you just want to tell the RNG to go away.

Bzzzzzt.

Crap, they're gonna destroy the relay. Pretty sure it's just 1 squad left. We just need to get their attention.

A second squad!? Oh shit 9 damage?!

Fucking mission failed

Alright, time to put these teleporting bitches down before they clone and flank the shit out of us

Time to shine, Elie.

First shot was a miss

Second shot was a kill despite aiming in a completely wrong direction

Crit on 3rd shot

The critted codex sent a clone here. But KC was waiting with a grenade

Rawlins doesn't give a shit about your weapons-disabling magic. He's got an autoloader for free reloads.

And motherfucking Wilson executes an Archon that wandered into his overwatch

Apparently the free shot for suppression doesn't work on teleporting enemies.

Rawlins gets crit'd......for a measly 5.

Elie takes care of that pest.

Remember the active Infiltrator dark event?

One of the civilians on the map turned into a Faceless. A little too late though, everyone else is dead.

Can't hit for shit!

Collins activates Scanning protocol.

And then a second faceless shows up to get gunned down.

Is that.....is that Wheatley from Portal 2?

POKEBALL. GO!

If I had to guess at anything, it's V2 of the Cyberdisc from XCOM EU/EW

Fucking love holo-targeting

Eva sets up kill zone just in case

We need to get her a better scope.

Red is deaaaaath

Hah, sucker.

This dodge mechanic is really pissing me off

Yup, there's 2 archons.

Also check out that scared civilian

Gatekeeper goes down and explodes like Electrode in Smash

Archons are amazingly hard to hit. Combat protocol from Collins to weaken and....

Fuck you and your dodge.

But at least the acid finished him off

Owww.

Boba Fett, finish him!

Damn dodge. Okay, Elie, finish him!

Fucking dodge.

Okay. WILSON, DO IT.

Well, time to look forward to Chrysallids infesting every mission from here on out.

[IGdood]

Getting that story progression

Rawlins got a promotion. Hopefully this will be helpful even with his low accuracy.

At least we got a lot of loot.

Underneath that pristine, white sphere looks like one of those beholder monsters from D&D.

Baldie is not amused.

Back to the grind.

Now all the grenadiers on the team will do even more damage!

Good for Sectopod killing.

Time to start advancing.

This is going to make overwatch ambushing much harder.

TIME FOR MAJOR STORY SEGMENT

I guess this really is like the Hypersonic Relay from EU/EW.

It has its own research projects that will pause Tygan's research.

I like this.

Weren't the aliens doing something similar in EU/EW when you went for the base assault and found surgical equipment and bodies in pods?

Can someone read Latin?

Nice.

Looks like we got our next Blacksite mission.

Fuck! I need more resistance comms!

And I need more power

Should have held off on making contact with Eastern Europe

Alloys make a nice profit on the black market.

Frag Grenades just don't cut it anymore.

I wonder what this does.

Once again, Baldie is not happy.

No longer an initiate, Sunshine has ranked up to the class of Acolyte. Hopefully she will kick ass now.

The RNG seems to like giving her damaging spells.

Even in death the Codex serves her masters

I honestly wouldn't care if you caused maximum pain to that bitch.

Even in death the Codex is a pain in our ass.

A lot of people complained that Lily Shen doesn't look like your typical pretty Asian girl video game character. I'm perfectly fine with seeing some more realistic Asian faces in video games.

I like to think we fried the Codex.

Tygan doesn't even fucking flinch.

That's what she said.

Let's hope this reveals a Blacksite mission that is in a territory we already made contact with.

Oh sweet, it also gives a 3rd project.

Oh hell.

One thing at a time, I guess.

Alright, let's do this.

[IGdood]

HAHA, TIME TO BLACKSITE

I have too many spare laser sights. Might as well give them to our grenadiers.

Let's hope it'll be the aliens' blood that will spill.

This vigilance shit is getting to be a bit troubling.

One thing I love about null lance? SUNSHINE DOESN'T NEED LINE OF SIGHT!

SHE BRINGS THE POWER

The surprised aliens run towards us. Great.

As long as I do damage, I can still trigger additional overwatch shots.

Yes, that's 2 13s in a row.

That Andromedon is as good as dead.

Uh oh.

Kelly is gonna get spotted either way, but I'd like to not trigger the damn thing on our turn.

Uuuh...let's all go on overwatch or something.

How could you have missed?!

Bluescreen of death for you, fucking Sectopod!

ZAP

Critted for 13. Not bad, Kelly. Not bad.

Elie thinks your increased height makes you easier to snipe.

Time to fuck with enemy patrols. You can't be vigilant against this!

>Crit for 14

>Trooper dies

>Rest of Advent gather around

"Must be my imagination!" - Skyrim bandit.

Elie be lucky today.

Sucks that Shieldbearer shields can shield you from burning.

Damn, guess 3rd time's not a charm.

"Reality is fleeeeeting." - Sunshine

Haha fuckers.

Hail of Bullets nor Julian could finish off the Shieldbearer.

He gets zapped to death.

And with pragmatism that can only be expected by Advent, the officer shoots the mind-controlled trooper.

Of course, that put her in an exposed position for the rest of us to pick off.

Nice loot.

Looks like the inside is heavily guarded too.

XCOM 2 is still a bit iffy when it comes to LOS mechanics, but here it worked for me.

Julian hasn't seen much action this time, but when he does, he unloads 2 acid grenades to finish the fight before it can begin.

I'd like to plant a X4 charge here.

Does this remind anyone of the tutorial?

Elie picks off the someone in the back. Forgot what it was.

Moving in...

Kelly scouts ahead and opens a door.

Oh man, these poor sods don't know what they're facing.

Heheh....AHAHAA it's like Ursula casting Bolting while trying to save Zephiel.

Come the fuck on Jane

Good thing Capacitor Discharge can be sent around corners.

And finally we get to see the Andromedon use its weapon, an acid bomb.

Interestingly enough, when the Andromedon (not the suit) is killed, the acid effects are removed. Doesn't make logical sense to me since the bomb exploded, right?

Whoa! Did we find another Commander?!

Time to get outta there.

Bradford you're a dick. Put the evac zone closer to me! Not there!

Come to us and die!

Lightning Hands followed up by a plasma beam = justice

Sunshine is also a very powerful rifleman in her own right

Kelly and Sunshine evac first. The rest take care of a trooper.

Good show. Nicely done team.

Sweet, is it a Shadow Chamber project?

More supplies for more resistance comms!

[IGdood]

Gathering resources sure is dangerous work.

But first, let's make a few upgrades to the Avenger.

Now he can live up to his nickname of "Rhino."

B Squad, MOVE OUT

Fucking Vigilance dark event. Can't take a step without setting off the enemy.

We're kinda sorta caught off guard. Only the sharpshooters are still up top.

But with a bit of luck, all will be well.

I can confirm that either the aliens or Advent are fucking retarded.

More enemies on the cliff. Maybe I should just move the whole squad back up here.

The air was filled with smoke and blood, but our shots rang true. Green beams of death pierced the burning trees.

No blazing pinions from you.

Aid protocol for the sharpshooters since they're the ones exposed to enemy LOS.

They don't see Vos on the ground overwatching.

Meet your maker.

Enemies finally below?

Nope.

You know, Advent are just so weak compared to us now.

Some chrysallids have been revealing themselves in the distant fog of war. Since they get a free attack when they ambush you, it's best to overwatch half the squad before sending bait forward to trigger them.

Some more foes below. Let's hope they don't pull off unfair dodging skills.

Jinxed myself. They dodged all the overwatches.

Since you can't dodge status effect, please melt yourself in this acid grenade.

Some chrysallid reveals itself temporarily as it burrows in a distant corner of the map. Not a problem for now.

Oh hey, where'd you come from you giant eyeball?

2 Archons tried to melee Vos and they couldn't do much damage.

We weaken the Archons enough so that by their next turn, the acid will kill them automatically.

Gatekeeper armor makes it a tough nut to crack. Spamming explosives and letting the sharpshooters do the killing is the way to go.

Just as planned.

Welp, the Gatekeeper survives it all.

What the fuck are you doing you ball

No no no no NO NO

WHAT

Ouch, that hurt

AND IT REVIVES ALL SURROUNDING CORPSES?

Damn, you're like Sectoid 2.0

Hope the zombies die if the gatekeeper dies.

CRIT to hell and back

Nice loot too.

Just had to hunt down 1 last chrysallid and we're done.

Elie learned fanfire, otherwise known as "SHOOT THAT FUCKER UNTIL IT DOES"

Oh come on. I guess the mindrape was too strong.

Since the enemies are putting the hurt on, we should upgrade our medikits.

I'd like to be able to hack a Sectopod reliably someday. Skullmining will upgrade the Skulljacks to grant a hack bonus.

This might be useful in getting out of certain situations.

[Elieson]

Gatekeepers are fucking scary without proper shredding, man.

[IGdood]

Gatekeepers are fucking scary without proper shredding, man.

Dat 5 armor. Probably even higher on higher difficulties...?

Anyway moving on. Plenty of story progress in this update.

We're gonna need more Gremlins, so a new engineer would really help.

And more power will be needed when existing facilities are upgraded.

Goodbye to frag grenades. Plasma grenades are the newest thing in cover vaporization.

I'm not sure what this does but I'm pretty sure it's not plasma grenade-related.

No longer an Acolyte, Sunshine has reached Adept status. Not sure how her aim grows, but she can now finish off weakened enemies with 100% accuracy.

Maybe it's time Sunshine learned to support our own team instead of focusing on damage. Then again, Stasis could probably be very useful against big targets.

STORY TIME. Codex data research complete!

Whoa, is that an ethereal?

In EU/EW, the ethereals did mention that they were trying to find the suitable species for uplifting. Of course, you never found out why before you planted a plasma beam into the Uber Ethereal's cranium. Here, it looks like humanity is part of the cure for their degenerative disease.

I apologize if the subtitles are hard to see. I tried my best to snap screenshots at areas where they are most visible.

That Codex's eyes still flickered when Tygan was talking. I bet she's still alive. Sort of.

Tygan's got sass.

Bradford's got no chill.

You want me to skulljack a Codex? Easier said than done, but I suppose we'll manage. Too bad there's no ability to disable somebody's weapons.

I shudder at my attempts to capture a Sectoid Commander for psionics.

>Very Difficult

>Codex is in the list of enemies.

Alright, let's jack in! As megaman would say.

Two doors down and oh woops, they spotted us.

Musta heard me clanking around.

Fuck your shit. We'll level the entire city.

Whatever that structure was, it got vaporized. Unfortunately I didn't realize there were 2 civilians standing on the roof.

Fuck. Looks like we actually became the terrorists that Advent made XCOM out to be.

But damn, those archons are nearly dead.

For all we know, that might be the only codex on the map.

70% chance? Good enough. LET'S GO.

Oh fuck, there was a Mec overwatching in the distance.

Those hands struggling.

That slow drift to limpness.

Grimdark XCOM.

Looks like we alerted yet another group.

Ahahaha well played you fucking aliens. Just like that our first skulljack triggered a Codex to teleport in, our first time skulljacking a Codex led to this thing to warp in.

Holy shit, is that an ethereal?!

Let's see. Plenty of health, walks and acts like one of our Psi Operatives, seems to be possessed by. Yup, I'm betting you're worse than a Gatekeeper. You need to die.

Now.

Damn bridge blocked the camera when an acid grenade got launched at the officer and avatar.

The new patch nerfed the mimic beacon. Now it can't get cover bonuses.

Please kill everyone you see, please.

Killed an Archon, missed a cloned Codex, missed the second archon. Damn.

Damaged Archons with Battle Frenzy are dangerous. Andromedons honestly aren't so bad if they go for acid instead of plasma. The mec and the officer are small fry.

Hail of Bullets goes to the last archon.

Oh hey, didn't see you there.

Oh boy.

Mimic Beacon wasted 2 aliens' turns.

Good enough.

Julian gets stabbed and gets disoriented. Not good.

Officer marked KC and scored a direct hit.

Mec decides not to shoot Jane Kelly, but goes for bombing the shit out of us.

Collins shuts the mec down.

Elie manages to miss a 91% killshot on the shieldbearer. Well, there goes his turn.

I thought the odds were good enough that he didn't need to use Hail of Bullets.

KC's shot chances are shit for everyone except the lancer who stabbed Julian.

Vos grenades the Avatar again and...oh hey is that a chrysallid on the bridge?

The Avatar teleports after getting hurt. Well, good thing it doesn't clone.

I swear, XCOM's interface lies to me sometimes.

If I'm not going to hit them, don't highlight them. Just highlight the piece of cover they're behind...

Damn, Julian can't do anything since he's Disoriented.

But hey, flammable containers on the ground don't suffer from accuracy penalties. BYE CODEX

Eat shit, Avatar!

Annnnd it teleports to flank the squad. Oh shit.

A Chrysallid bites it. Didn't get close enough to do damage.

Julian manages to not get hit by the Andromedon...

But the crafty officer scores a crit.

KC gets poisoned but he'll heal up.

Oh shiiiiiiit

"I CAN'T STOP IIIIT" - Vos

KC heals up and attempted to take down the offending bug.

There is no kill like overkill.

Died after the second shot, but damn if it isn't satisfying to see him put a third one into the corpse's head for good measure

With disorientation removed, Julian can now unleash more plasma grenades onto the field.

Argh, so close!

With salvo he scores a lucky hit on the officer

And stay down.

DIIIIIIE

In this amazing turn of events, the Andromedon makes a run for it and retreats.

But the mec decides to keep fighting with its explosives.

So long, sucker.

Kelly regains concealment and scouts ahead. Just 1 more foe. And we got a time limit too.

Collins finds a lamp post to hack.

And holy shit, just my amazing luck.

We get a free turn.

Rockets have near unlimited range so long as you have line of sight. This is one way to get that bastard's attention.

I know one trooper is hiding in the back there. DIE please.

Elie scores a lucky crit on the Sectopod. Hopefully the next guy can finish it off.

Damn 100 images per post limit.

[IGdood]

As I was saying, Elie critted for 12.

90%, you can't miss this.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

The cowardly andromedon is finished the next turn.

If it weren't for that free turn, I might not have had the time to carefully deconstruct that Sectopod. Jane would've had to make a beeline for the truck and pray that the RNG gods would've allowed her to survive a sectopod onslaught.

The brave suit tried to charge us.

Aptly named, Little Beast.

Took you long enough, Kelly.

Funny how Rapid Fire from EU/EW is now a final tier ability.

What the hell

Sweet, a Shadow Chamber project.

Already got plenty of scientists so my research speed isn't going up much.

I wonder if the Avatar is basically the most powerful enemy in the game.

Now let's hope I don't get interrupted by missions.

Let's start this project.

WAR suit = EXO Suit 2.0

So this would be Experimental Heavy Weapon 2.0?

Sunshine is now a Disciple. She's definitely a force to be reckoned with now, no argument about that.

This will prevent future panics and mind controls, I believe.

Not a big deal. We have plenty of people.

Whatever was in that Stasis Suit....might have been a foundation for future Avatars.

I remember Jake Solomon saying that all the aliens were improved with human DNA. Looks like this cutscene explains it.

Kidnapping people and then melting them into goo sounds like a very Reaper-y thing to do from Mass Effect.

Gremlin level 3? YEEES.

+5 HP ain't enough. We need more.

Vipers are in short supply now. Good thing the existing medikits are upgraded.

These upgrades are expensive. Time to sell dead bodies.

Trying to expand so we can get to the next blacksite

Aw hell.

They bring terror, we bring new toys.

Blood Hammer. I love this name.

Edited March 14, 2016 by IGdood

[IGdood]

Since aliens are going to show up at any time, why not scan around.

Not sure what those are.

Oh boy.

Looks like we got the Chrysallids to charge us too.

Sometimes I wonder how Psi Operatives become such good shots just by sitting in a room absorbing purple light for 10 days straight

Collins can Overwatch after dashing, so she's the best candidate for rescuing civilians.

Man, these Chrysallids don't stand a chance.

Looks like Death from Above isn't as OP as In the Zone from EU/EW. No extra sniper rifle shots.

She just isn't as good as killing with pistols as Elie is.

It probably didn't help that I actually killed a few civilians, which makes the propaganda true.

Just an officer and a shieldbearer?

Easy pickings.

Soulfire's animation is actually really quick. It's like a purple will o wisp that Sunshine throws straight at an enemy and it encircles them.

Bloody hell, I mistargeted that acid grenade. Only got the officer

More bugs!

Collins what the hell are you doing

That's one very unlucky stun lancer.

These fuckers will rue the day they faced off against XCOM.

Sunshine tosses a smoke grenade at Julian, who's vulnerable at the front.

Bunched up bugs are dead bugs.

This is getting to be almost too easy. But hey, I think Grenadiers are the most OP class IF you have good grenades.

Ow damn

Oh hi there

Sometimes there's just a moment when the stars align and you're just like...

"MY LANCE PIERCES ALL."

Oh come on

This must be the local resistance HQ or something.

Those little posters are nice touches.

This building really isn't going to last much longer.

We won't be able to kill the gatekeeper in time. Better rescue that civilian before his head explodes.

Ouch.

ELECTRODE USED EXPLODE

PCS Speed eh? I think I'll give it to Sunshine.

This last faceless charges us.

We're getting good at this killing business.

Jane Kelly's shotgun could use a damage boost.

I made the bossman proud.

Really? Another Infestation event?

Maybe I should train up some more Rangers.

The gatekeeper is a disgusting thing on the inside.

Surely we can hack Sectopods now?

Let's upgrade the sword too because why the fuck not.

Sunshine has now reached the rank of Mystic!

Pretty sure Void Rift is the best damage dealing spell.

Ohohoho, nice

I wonder what Chrysallid research will give me?

At this point, I think Sunshine will be a goddess.

Alright. We've traced the Codex coordinates to a blacksite to the middle of nowhere. Let's go.

[IGdood]

Busy night tonight.

At first glance, there's something really off about this map. All those blue floaty things.

Sunshine is ready to test her new powers.

<3 <3 <3 <3

The Andromedon got so freaked out it ran away. Too bad Kelly's stalking it.

NO MERCY.

The funny part is that the suit got so freaked out it ran away too!

Some advent guards showed up, but they're mincemeat.

Heavy Mec don't stand a chance to the Mark 3.

There's no running away.

We're your worst nightmare. You will pay for killing our civilians.

This is for Volkov.

This is for Dr. Shen.

Scattered chrysallids infest the rest of the map.

I expected more resistance.

Should've brought the lower-leveled members of the team.

I was not aware that Sauron was in this game.

So this thing makes Gatekeepers?

I'm gonna go out on a hunch that if I played at a faster pace, this would've been the first mission to toss gatekeepers at the player.

It's also where the andromedon suit ran off to.

They technically don't see my guys. Kelly acts as the spotter for a rocket.

Will the Rhino be able to pull it off?

Let's see.

Oh shit he pulled it off!

They never stood a chance.

These little critters are easy if they don't get the drop on you.

Can't go wrong with a combination of fire and acid.

Kelly gets to test out her new storm gun.

I thought there'd be like 2 avatars or something here.

17 enemies. Mostly easy.

Sunshine's kill count is starting to go up.

Julian reaches his final level. Of course he's gonna get Saturation Fire.

By the way, I'm unable to examine the Avatar Corpse until the Shadow Chamber is upgraded.

Looks like Rhino is feeling better.

We got the supplies.

We're really hurting them aren't we

This sounds epic.

Only 11 enemies? Should be easy.

[eclipse]

Sunshine's out for blood~!

Glad I made her a recruit.

[IGdood]

UPDATE TIME

WAR suit and Shredder Gun. Let's see how this'll work.

Wraith suit doesn't look that much different from the Warden armor honestly

We can handle anything the ayys throw at us. As long as it's 1 enemy pod at a time.

That relay is close today.

Group to the right...

Alright. let's give 'em a ray of sunshine

What the fuuuuuuuck. But....it was highlighted!

Oh fuck. It's an ambush!

Bluescreen that bitch and haywire it.

OH SHIT.

Situation kinda getting fucked up

This might clone the codices. But hey they'll be easy pickings next turn.

Not like we're gonna need stealth now. Get it, Kelly!

SHIT.

Crap, that guy didn't burn to death

The Andromedon misses a punch against Julian, and the vehicle explodes. Strangely enough the explosion didn't do any damage.

Well, I did see it coming. That's why we have grenades.

May the luck of the Irish ever keep you safe, Kelly.

A stun lancer sprints out of nowhere and punctures poor Sunshine's armor.

A gremlin quickly takes out the Sectopod.

Unfortunately the explosion was a bit big, and the car explodes. Sunshine gets wounded some more.

But she's a lucky one too.

No time to reload, but there is time for blood!

One by one, they will fall.

I'm pretty much spamming explosives at this point.

A pissed off andromedon punches again! This time, Julian couldn't dodge.

Rawlins manages to hit something that's far away. That's because it's a relay and those can't dodge.

Okay, 1 last pod.

Sunshine's powers need to recharge. She relies on her trusty beam rifle for the time being.

Getting greedy. 73% looks pretty good.

Aw hell.

Collins randomly hacks a lamppost.

3 enemies to go.

Weak.

We're not doing good damage here.

Freeze. Don't move until we take care of that other guy.

Fucking swords are weak after midgame.

STOP MISSING.

Fucking hell. Sure we're gonna win but these guys are going to be wounded for a long time.

Stasis wore off.

Die already.

Lol Sunshine most under fire.

Ugh.

We got an engineer out of it, at least.

STORY TIME.

[IGdood]

Looks like it's time to peer into the eye of the devil.

Rover actually has a scared facial expression.

Wait, is that the mothership from the alien base assault from EU/EW?

Yeah, Rover did not fare well.

Got blasted by some psionic wave.

The last project is finally open.

How the fuck are you not dead?

VAHLEN?

The upgrade applied to the bombs I never really use...? Maybe it also applied to the incendiary and acid grenades?

Avatar story time.

Looks like XCOM is going to get their own Avatar.

Looks like I just became a Field Commander.

As a medical professional in training, I hate when I can't make others feel confident because "most likely" is about the best you can do for someone.

SUP BALDY

That escalated quickly.

At this point, somebody started kicking the door behind the Councilman.

NO BALDY Q_Q

Alright. Let's fucking do this for baldie.

This is....certainly interesting. I pick squadsight for everyone and improved dodge.

We still got enough people to work with.

FUCKING THREE?!

[IGdood]

Alright, mission of the 3 stooges.

I feel like Batman.

It's like having 2 squadsight snipers, except accuracy is absolute fucking shit. Should've brought Elie and Eva.

And I'm proven wrong when the guys actually hit.

The AI is too stupid to move forward.

I hope the rest of the mission goes on like this.

Andromedon Suits are too stupid to not stay back. Oh dear.

Because we missed, Kelly's first concealment is used up.

Alright, 2nd chance.

Plenty of Andromedons and Archons on this map.

There are some situations where the enemy couldn't be squadsighted due to the way the cover worked.

No choice but to just blow it all to hell.

Shit!

They've gotten close.

Meanwhile Kelly finds her way inside.

Looks like an Ion Cannon from Command and Conquer.

Hm

Turrets are easy to hit, fortunately.

Seems like once the AI has seen you once, they'll go after you even if you retreat.

But if you hit them from squadsight, they only barely inch forward towards you.

Yeah, not really a good situation.

But the damage rolls are good to us today. We might not have to bring Kelly out yet.

I misjudged a blazing pinion's AOE spread. Julian took a beating.

You're not dodging this one.

After a lot of back and forth, the Andromedon is killed.

Hopefully this is the end of the mission.

Noice.

This is when things start getting epic.

Their psionic network is falling apart.

They're not dead, just overwhelmed.

I fucking loved this part. The screens get hacked and the truth is shown.

Clearly not photoshopped guys

Oh shieeet

The Speaker gets bumrushed and it cuts to darkness for him.

Well, that was a tense mission.

Looks like I've forced everyone's hand. We can't pass the time anymore, so looks like Sunshine won't be learning Rift.

I wanted to take the crew that you guys put together. I had a really hard time deciding between taking Rawlins or taking 0 healers. It was with heavy heart that I left Rawlins back on the Avenger.

Sunshine's Null Lance I needed in case I run out of grenades. She's just a bit wounded.

Elie and Collins are practically keystones of the squad at this point.

Vos and Julian are interchangeable, but Julian is wounded.

Kelly synergizes with Elie because of squadsight scouting.

There will be more. Stay tuned. The final battle draws near...

[IGdood]

[EXCITEMENT INTENSIFIES]

Reminds me of me during exam time

That's the mask.

Hey, I remember you.

So apparently Earth has erupted into a full-fledged civil war.

Hey, I'm an Avatar.

Hey, where'd the others go? All these Squad C low-tiers.

All your base are belong to us.

White Ethereal has a female voice. Still going to eliminate her.

Nice. I get to be a self-insert.

Alright, the first alien squad walked into our sights. No squadsight cheesing.

The psionic repeater used by the avatars are basically the ayy's equivalent of a beam rifle.

Can't afford to use grenades just yet. So basically I am the Volunteer from EU/EW.

Whoooaaaa

Lightning Hands + Sniper Rifle shot finishes 'em off.

And Soulfire.

I wonder what Sunshine's parents think of her now, having left a dreary life of marrying some old guy in exchange for blasting ayys and exploring enemy bases.

I'm assuming her parents are in an Advent city and probably not some Resistance settlement. I also assume they haven't been made into burgers or melted down into Avatar goo.

I love it when the suit gets OHKO'd.

I hate clones.

>A part of us

Hah.

Though that's technically true, since the body I control is part Ethereal.

Get the fuck out of my comm channel bitch

Alright, let's squadsight cheese these bastards

Yeah yeah, I'm sure humanity will be okay.

Speaker?! How are you not dead? What the hell. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since he's a highly modified Thinman. Easy leaps + toxin spit = dead crowd.

Bradford knows how I think.

There's like 3-4 voices in my head.

So like in EU/EW, they warn that all this work of ascension is done in order to prepare for some greater threat out there in the galaxy. However, they expand more on it here.

Oh shit, they found Elie.

Don't worry, XCOM will rebuild Earth. But fuck, I better get Elie out of there.

You calling a bluff?

Whew.

5 damage is pretty decent considering all that armor.

Oh dear

Stockholm Syndrome isn't going to kick in anytime soon.

Good job Collins. You fucked up.

But I still got overwatch. Let's see if we can take out that charging Sectopod.

Fuck yeah.

Shieldbearers are a joke at this point.

I'd pay to see aliens fight each other. Oh wait, that's multiplayer.

It's because of their sacrifices that I must fight ever harder you dipshit.

Broken world? We were fine before you came.

I wonder what she meant by first mission. EU/EW?

Suddenly this ethereal starts talking.

His line is the most interesting.

He implies that I've beaten them before.

Who is they? The other ethereals? Is this guy a rebel? An ethereal from another dimension? A token good ethereal with a backstory to be expanded on in an expansion pack/DLC?

In Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within you face off against a trio of ethereals in the final battle, including 1 Uber Ethereal.

In XCOM 2 it's said EU/EW happened in real life up to the 2nd month, and the rest of it was the Commander running simulations in his/her head.

Jake Solomon, I need to know more!

No enemies for a minute now.

I spoke too soon.

Elie proceeds to oneshot mutons from afar.

Some berserkers also in the distance. Not going to alarm these ones.

Actually...haven't seen berserkers in a long time.

After killing off all the mutons and leaving only the andromedons behind, they finally ventured into my line of sight.

MIND CONTROLLED. Now let's see if your former comrades are willing to shoot you to death.

Archons to the far right of the map spotted the controlled andromedon.

Of course archons will not be hit by overwatch

Ouch. I guess he's acting as a mimic beacon stand-in.

Snyder's been getting some really good damage rolls.

And then he gets a bad one.

Posting more in a bit

[IGdood]

Elieson is tired of your buzzing around.

Once again I misjudge the blast radius of the blazing pinions. I'm horrible.

Last archon of the pair.

Hah, he smacked the commander for only 3 damage.

Leave it to the gunslinger to pick up the mess.

I feel like all we've been fighting in the latter half of XCOM 2 are archons and andromedons.

This is kind of creepy.

Found 2 groups.

Sadly enough, Muton Berserkers don't die in 1 shot like regular mutons.

Angry beasts are always predictable.

The remaining berserker ran off.

We spot a 3rd group, which might be a bit troublesome actually.

Gatekeepers, like Sectopods, are prone to charging forward so we can't cheese them today. Open combat it is then!

Damn it Vos. We could've killed that thing.

As expected of the Codices.

When the planets align, Sunshine reenacts the destruction of Tatooine.

Took the other eyeball out of commission, for now.

Double tap combo never gets old.

It opens up the shell.

It lets XCOM operatives get a good look through their sights.

It lets XCOM operatives kill it for the greater good.

Looks like the final squad is some Advent troopers.

That's a relief.

I do the whole mind control + let yourself be executed by us thing on a stun lancer.

Always hated stun lancers.

It seems..this base in which we fight in is underwater.

Nice line. You will die all the same.

TAKE HIM OUT.

Well fuck.

3 Avatars? No problem.

Funny how the Angelis Ethereal's voice is used for this Ethereal.

Annnnd the derpy motherfucker teleports into Sunshine's null lance. Bravo.

Capacitor Discharge killed the first one quite easily.

We got reinforcements.

Haven't seen you lot in awhile.

An archon makes it past overwatch to give Sunshine a concussion.

Here's another rift for you, bastards!

Haven't seen you guys in a long time either.

VENGEANCE.

Viper health used to be scary. Now they're a joke.

The 2nd Avatar shoes up.

Your weapon damage is pitiful, viper.

Okay now that's annoying.

Poor Collins.

Avatar #2 tries to mind control Snyder. Failed.

Now's a bad time to lose control of our weapons.

Bad time for Elie to miss also.

Good thing he can shoot twice, oh!

I mind control a Codex. Her teleport flanking will be useful to flush enemies towards me.

Avatar #3 shows up.

Sure are a lot of enemies at the moment.

A Sectoid casts insanity on the mind contorlled codex. She panics so looks like I can't use her for now.

The firefight continues.

Fuck you and your cover.

Kelly's been sneaking past the plasma beams.

She's finally found her way to a flanked Avatar.

But first let's cut to random aliens getting killed

Sunshine's a good shot but her damage is generally a bit low.

Anyway, back to Kelly.

She's actually stuck between two avatars but the right flank (Vos, Sunshine, and Snyder) are kind of held up by Faceless and Sectoids and a Codex.

So she picks the right avatar.

FUCKING RNG WHAT THE FUCK

Meanwhile I keep the left flank busy and try to kill as many aliens as I can.

Here little Avatar. Have a mimic beacon.

[IGdood]

Wooooow 2 damage.

Wooooow faceless critical for 4 damage

Even mighty ethereals fall to this trick

Oh shit, Acid Bomb. Poor Elie starts screaming about burns

Cleaning up that right flank. Avatar #2 teleported away, probably hiding in a corner.

Let's go find him.

Kelly turns on Wraith mode so she can cover greater distances.

Unfortunately Avatar #2 is nowhere to be found.

Driven by the pain of acid burns, Elie runs forward to flank Avatar #3 with fanfire.

And he rolls for minimum damage.

Annnnd #3 teleports into my null lance.

Elie's vulnerable, but Collins got him covered.

He'll definitely live after that heal.

Oh shit, #3's got Kelly

Elie don't give a fuck about getting punched.

Friendly Fire?

Nah, it's just a mind controlled codex.

Teleport flank you fuck!

And every time he teleports, he ends up in someone's sights.

Kill the poor codex!

Hm, I guess I didn't get a shot of #3 dying.

Now where the hell is #2?!

Oh look, more reinforcements.

Can't touch this.

Elie is a master of dodging punches.

Fuuuuuuck

I got 1 more grenade for you folks.

We keep searching for #2, to no avail.

Seriously getting fucking overwhelmed here.

Fuck bugs.

Double pistol shot motherfuckers

Oh god fucking why

I pull out scanning protocol and the Avatar is not in this room.

Uh, shit. There's no way I'll be able to escape all these enemies.

Not even if I null lance or void rift repeatedly.

And definitely not when 2 alien groups show up every turn

Oh heeelll no

They just kept coming

I began to send Jane outside of the final boss room. Maybe due to one of many XCOM2's bugs, the Avatar teleported somewhere off the map..

So, I looked online and yes, this bug actually exists. Avatars are not supposed to teleport outside of the player's unit's field of vision.

I enabled the game console and cheated. No way am I going to relive this ordeal of a 2-hour mission, I have a life. I don't feel particularly proud of it, but fuck, I'm not letting a glitch/bug fuck me over.

Found #2 at the halfway point to the starting point.

I let Sunshine do the honors. Her face was my face at the time

Finally. Battle over.

Oh no Commander, better not sacrifice yourself like the Volunteer did from EU/EW.

Oh shit

NEVER. LET ME GO

I like how my powers are the same color as that of the XCOM logo's

I don't give a shit

Who are they? The Zerg? The Tyranids? Fucking Cthulu? Humanity will stomp them out of existence.

Funny how when they say that, the Commander blasts all of them to smithereens.

Annnnd fade to black.

Epilogue?

Oh hey! Den Mother survived!

That's a really brave guy

Fucking lol. I thought Advent would just open fire. Guess not.

It's been a long journey. I would've finished faster if it wasn't for school...

OH SHIT SEQUEL HOOK

TERROR FROM THE DEEP REMAKE?

Hah. I'm below average in almost all areas

Looks like that's that. Thank you SF!