When Laura Rola returned to the front, the proximity detonator remained in position. The psionic attacks had ceased as well. Encouraged by this, Laura Rola goes to join Hero of Time - but when she rounds the corner, she spots a new threat hovering by the access lift.
She quickly ducks inside with Hero of Time. The attack isn't over yet. Is it just getting started? Inside the storage compartment they wait. And wait. And wait. And still, there is no telltale explosion marking the approach of... whatever that was. It was floating. That couldn't fool the proximity detonator's sensor, could it?
An explosion outside intrudes on these thoughts. A Sectoid screams. Strangely_Scott goes outside to survey the results. The silver disc is still intact, and hovering just outside the others' hiding place! He fires his laser rifle repeatedly and beams of light scour the thing's silvery coating. Despite the lack of any visible aperture, a plama bolt leaps from the machine, splashing into the tile next to his foot.
He retreats back to cover. Loathe to expose his other forward troopers to more fire at point blank, the commander calls Twio down from the upper level of the radar array. He kneels and fires down the corridor as fast as his rifle will cycle.
The disc finally drops the to ground, then explodes in a spectacular fashion.
Inside the storage compartment, Laura Rola and Hero of Time feel the heavy door give a mighty jolt, but it stays on its hinges. Hero of Time emerges long enough to throw down a new proximity detonator. Twio turns around to return to the upper level, but as he does so he spots a Sectoid, one well past the main choke point, over in Living Quarters 2! The-one, in a room just off the passage where the Sectoid stands, takes advantage of the opportunity. He leaps from the doorway and tases the alien once, then twice with a stun rod. The unconscious but alive Sectoid hits the floor in a heap.
Twio returns to his roost. Meanwhile, the proximity detonator detonates, but it isn't accompanied by a screaming Sectoid. Another Cyberdisc? Hero of Time investigates, but no, he finds a badly wounded Sectoid, and finishes it.
XCOM advances. Twio decides to join the forward defense in what was originally Laura Rola's closet, and Strangely_Scott moves to the room across from Laura's current location.
And that proves to be his undoing. A Sectoid knocks open the sturdy door right after he swings it shut, and proceeds to blast him in the chest.
Strangely_Scott takes the alien down with him as grenades without pins tumble from his vest. The confined space multiplies the destructive effect.
The team is aware that had they any more proximity detonators, Strangely_Scott's death could have been prevented. Should they call upon other troopers scattered about the base, or go on the offensive? Both, they decide. Bracing himself, Hero of Time jogs forwards and lifts the heavy metal shutter around the access lift shaft. To his relief, no aliens are inside, nor are any descending the shaft. Laura Rola guards his left flank. Twio moves to watch the right, but out of the corner of his eye he spots another alien that slipped through their defenses down the corridor to General Stores 2.
Atlas rounds the corner from his latest hiding place and fires, but despite the short range he misses. Farther down the passage, in General Stores 3, Shotgunner42 exits as well, kneels, and opens fire. Her final shot strikes the alien and puts it out of commission.
Twio continues forward to cover the right side of the lift. The-one also runs towards the lift to assist. Laura Rola advances further into the lift area, nearing the hanger. Twio does the same, and from his better angle on the hanger he spots a Cyberdisc hovering in the open. He pulls back to better cover. The-one and Atlas jog to catch up.
Laura Rola felt safe in her cover, but underestimated the Cyberdisc's aggression. It charges their position, flanking Laura, and blasts her point blank.
Twio and Hero of Time double-team the Cyberdisc. While Twio pops out from the side and nails the Cyberdisc with laser fire, Hero of Time lifts the divider high enough to slide a high explosive underneath, then shuts it, and for good measure, opens and squeezes under the divider to his left. A second Cyberdisc farther back in the cavernous hanger splashes a plasma bolt next to Twio's head. Time to pull back, anyway. The-one joins Twio on the right and Atlas joins Hero of Time on the left. Back in the base, Shotgunner42 belatedly starts running for the lift to help, and Immudelki, avianchild, and MrTrooper are all authorized to leave their hiding places and assist. But back on the front lines: fire in the hole!
In the wake of the detonation, Twio moves forward first, and spots another Cyberdisc past the wreckage of the destroyed one. He pulls out his own high explosive. Dodging past a plasma bolt, he tosses the explosive under the machine's hovering bulk and pulls back again.
The charge detonates.
A secondary explosion follows as a nearby fuel barrel is caught by the blast.
Twio steps out again, and for once, no threat is immediately visible. But the hanger offers far too little cover for his liking. He pulls out a smoke grenade and tosses it towards the center of the room.
They are forced to bunch up as they pass through the choke point into Hanger 1. Even under the cover of the smoke grenade, they feel extremely vulnerable. With only one or two exceptions, each of them is carrying enough armed explosives to wipe out every other squad member should one of them go down.
A Cyberdisc in the adjacent Hanger 2 draws a bead on the clump of troopers and fires. The shot connects with Hero of Time's head, killing him instantly.
Everyone tenses, knowing that if he had anything volatile still on him, they'd be dead before they could so much as turn away.
Nothing happens.
Hero of Time had just used his last explosive to destroy the Cyberdisc that had killed Laura Rola.
McTrooper runs towards the Cyberdisc that killed Hero of Time, and spots a Sectoid in the same direction. He chucks a high explosive towards them both. Unfortunately, it lands well short of where he intended.
Everyone else quickly fans out into the hangar. avianchild checks an equipment room along the wall across from Hanger 2 for hostiles, and Atlas sprints for a similar room near MrTrooper.
MrTrooper's high explosive goes off, and it triggers another pair of fuel barrels, but while the Sectoid is immolated, the Cyberdisc is not.
It is damaged, however, and rather than attack, it remains in the smoke cloud to conceal itself. McTrooper re-sights it, then runs to take cover as plasma bolts streak his way. The-one runs forward and throws his high explosive at the Cyberdisc, which lands right next to it.
Shotgunner42 checks out the second equipment shed along the far wall, then turns and throws a smoke grenade towards the other passage between Hangers 1 and 2. Avianchild and Twio both train their rifles on the second aperture.
The high explosive detonates, blowing more fuel barrels in the process, but shockingly, the Cyberdisc survives. It repositions and fires twice at the hanger's occupants, but misses both times - they might not have destroyed it, but it's capabilities seem to be degraded.
A second Cyberdisc appears in the second passage, and Twio fires at it.
Certain the first Cyberdisc cannot take much more, MrTooper fires his laser pistol. His suspicion proves correct as the Cyberdisc explodes, making a mess of the hangar.
McTrooper and The-one push into Hanger 2.
avianchild and Twio both retreat back into Hanger 1, away from the remaining Cyberdisc and its nasty explosive finale. Once at a safe distance, Twio spins and fires a burst from range, provoking exactly that.
Sector 1 was once more alien-free.
Well, there was technically one alien left. One that would soon be wishing it had left the way of its peers. XCOM had... plans... for it.
---
Mission Recap and Debriefing
The-one: 1 capture
Laura Rola: 5 kills
Hikaru: 3 kills
Hero of Time: 3 kills
Twio: 3 kills
Ruby of Blue: 2 kills
Scrangely_Scott: 2 kills
gummibar: 2 kills
Shotgunner42: 1 kill
memoire-blanche: 1 kill
Armitage: 1 kill
McTrooper: 1 kill
New Commander: MooterZolo-Kira
New Captain: Shotgunner42
New Sergeant: SearchingLyoko
Mara Schaeffer: Squaddie, KIA on her 4th mission with 4 kills
Armitage: Rookie, KIA on her 2nd mission with 1 kill - went out with a bang
Hikaru: Squaddie, KIA on her 4th mission with 4 kills - went out with a bang
memoire-blanche: Squaddie, KIA on his 4th mission with 2 kills - Et tu, Brute?
Ruby of Blue: Rookie, KIA on her 1st mission with 2 kills - first to be mind controlled, squadslayer, betrayed by her new masters, went out with a bang
gummibar: Rookie, KIA on her 1st mission with 2 kills - freed herself from mind control... permanently (with a little help), went out with a bang
Strangely_Scott: Captain, KIA his 4th mission with 5 kills - highest-ranking trooper to die to date, went out with a bang
Laura Rola: Squaddie, KIA on her 4th mission with 5 kills - assisted suicide, one woman army
Hero of Time: Rookie, KIA on his 1st mission with 3 kills
Holy shit. I'd never fought a base defense mission before this. And this one was very early - I wouldn't have even been on the lookout for one for at least another three months. I guess that's XCOM for you. =P This mission was totally brutal, in more ways than one. I knew it would be more aliens than the team had ever faced on a single mission previous to this. I also guessed they would have a psionic commander along with them. With no real way to defend against psi attacks yet, I figured the normal tactic of massing all firepower at the choke point for reaction shots would be suicide. If the aliens didn't chuck a grenade into the blob of defenders, they'd mind control one of mine and spike a high explosive at the team's feet. I basically tried to overcome their numerical advantage with mass explosives. For that to be feasible, you need to pre-prime all the explosives, because it takes most of a soldier’s Time Units to prime and throw in the same turn, usually leaving the soldier caught in the blast. However, pre-priming has the side effect of turning everyone into walking bombs. =P Again, meaning spreading people out. Also, even without the blob-o-defenders strategy, I didn't want one mind-controlled soldier finding another and exploding them both.
Things still didn't go perfectly; for example, Mara's death was totally unnecessary. If I had more support and more proximity grenades I doubt Strangely_Scott would have died. Then again, at it is I’m lucky I had as much as I did on hand; due to all the injured, who still fight to defend the base, the equipment was spread over 25 troopers - way more than the Skyranger's limit of 14, and over my usual base roster of 20, again because of the quantity of wounded. I also was fortunate enough to have accidentally over-stocked a bit on explosives, allowing me to equip each and every one of those troopers with at least two grenades, a high explosive, and a proximity detonator. Speaking of which, there have been a lot of injuries this campaign... normally people just up and die until armor is ready! xD And I had made extra laser pistols because the workshop had nothing else to do... those came in handy too. Thank goodness for more of everything! As I was writing this I also noticed there may have been a way for me to save gummibar: it's possible to pick up unconscious soldiers and carry them - I MIGHT have been able to haul her inside the blast door. Oh well. =(
But we had some real stand-outs this mission! I'd unintentionally been giving Laura Rola a lot of scout duty until now, meaning she survived but never got to shoot anybody. This mission, she scored 5(!) kills before succumbing. We also had three triple kills, although among those who got them only Twio survived. And yes, promotions in XCOM are definitely wonky. Shotgunner is a Captain with only one kill! That's almost as bad as one-kill Glorious Leader Mooters. =P He only has one kill and is now a Commander, though in fairness he's been wounded for a long time and so has only been on four missions.
Last few notes: dat bombed-out corridor... somebody give the construction crew a medal. Those tough walls and doors saved a lot of lives. XCOM has a lot of troopers to mourn, but they should single out Hero of Time - had that plasma plot had someone else's name on it, a lot more soldiers would have died. It's hard to tell, but the alien gummibar shot before being mind controlled (and possibly the one that her dropped high explosive later blew up as well) were carrying different, larger weapons. I won't spoil it and tell you exactly what they do, but they make the rocket launcher look like a pea shooter. And we captured an alien this mission! Woo-hoo! It's been so frustrating, all the aliens until now have been stubbornly standing in the middle of rooms where it isn't easy to whip out a stun rod and zap them. XCOM's scientists are going to have all sorts of fun prodding this fella. >:)
those aliens through everything they had at you.
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