Let's Play X-Com: Enemy Unknown - VICTORY

[Sudo_Nym]

Name: Hugh Mann
Gender: AS A HUMAN I AM DEFINITELY ONE OF YOUR INEFFICIENT BINARY GENDERS
Race: I ALWAYS WIN RACES WITH MY LONG HUMAN LEGS
Hair: ALWAYS HELMET IT IS AN ARTICLE OF FAITH THAT I HAVE A HUMAN FAITH TRUST HUGH MANN
Hair Color: I DEFINITELY HAVE HAIR, AS MY SPECIES IS KNOWN FOR BEING DISGUSTINGLY HAIRY IN YOUR MAMMALIAN WAY
Facial Hair: UCK I MEAN YAY MORE HAIR IS GOOD
Armor Tint: I ALWAYS WEAR BLUE FOR THAT IS THE COLOR OF MY HOME PLANET EARTH AS SEEN FROM AN INVADING SPACE SHIP NOT THAT I HAVE EVER INVADED EARTH FROM A SPACE SHIP
Why I Should Hire YOU: I AM THE MOST HUMAN SOLDIER I WILL ANNIHILATE THE ALIENS PLEASE SHARE ALL YOUR PLANS AND TECH WITH HUGH MANN

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^Muton in disguise?

HA HA HA YOU SURELY TELL A JOKE I AM A DISGUSTING HUMAN I COULD NEVER ASPIRE TO BE A VASTLY SUPERIOR BIDEPAL CREATURE DESTINED TO SWEEP HUMANITY ASIDE LIKE THE REFUSE IT IS HA HA HA

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Ah of course, now I see, I just thought I saw a bit of green peeking through a rip in your skin.

As long as you're not going to start trolling the actual decisions you can be whatever you want to be.

Why would I troll? It's about having fun, not about being a jerk.

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HUGH MANN REGARDS THIS FLIMSY EARTH MATERIAL AS INSUFFICIENT. ALIEN MATERIALS FOR CARAPACE ARMOR IS NECESSARY FOR HUGH MANN'S HEALTH REQUIREMENTS.

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Also, I think Africa for the +30% income is the strongest ability in the game. The North America bonus is good, but it's good later in the game, when you've got Interceptors everywhere. I think Future Combat from Asia is probably better than Air and Space at the start, too.

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If you start in Africa, you start in Nigeria, which is $133 after the ability. America is $180, so you start with only slightly more, and Africa's advantage starts taking over after a few satellites. Plus, America only needs three satellites to get the bonus, and Africa gets the money to power those satellites out the quickest. And again, you don't even really need the America bonus until the midgame when you're starting to crank out Interceptors anyway. And even then, I don't think Air and Space even applies to Firestorm construction.

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GENERALLY HUGH MANN LIKES GETTING ENGINEERS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE, BUT THIS IS EARLY AND CANADA DOES REQUIRE AID THEY ARE SIMPLY BEING BABIES IN THEIR HUMAN WAY. HUGH MANN VOTES FOR SOUTH AFRICA ALSO SCIENTISTS ARE DUMB RESEARCH TIMES ARE ALREADY FAIRLY QUICK GENERALLY HUGH MANN GETS TO RESEARCHING PLASMA FASTER THAN HUGH MANN CAN ASSEMBLE ALL NECESSARY RESOURCES FOR LASER WEAPONRY OR I WOULD IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE WHERE I WAS AWARE OF THIS BUT I AM NOT BECAUSE I AM SIMPLE HUMAN SOLDIER IN THIS WORLD WITH NO ULTERIOR MOTIVES

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HUGH MANN ENJOYS SHOTGUNS, BUT MAXIMIZATION OF HUGH MANN SURVIVAL IS NECESSARY. HUGH MANN'S PREFERRED BUILD IS TACTICAL SENSE, LIGHTNING REFLEXES, RAPID FIRE, CLOSE COMBAT SPECIALIST, AND RESILIENCE

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HUGH MANN HAS VERY LITTLE OPINION ON THE RESEARCH CHOICE. XENO-BIOLOGY UNLOCKS THE ALIEN CONTAINMENT WHICH WOULD LET US INTERROGATE FOR CREDITS, BUT EXPERIMENTAL WARFARE IS BETWEEN HUGH MANN AND CARAPACE ARMOR

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ACCORDING TO TECH TREE, WE NEED NO FURTHER TECH FOR CARAPACE ARMOR, ONLY ALLOYS

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XENO BIOLOGY IS NECESSARY WE MUST EARN RESEARCH CREDITS TO ALLEVIATE THE SUPER SLOWNESS OF YOUR PRIMITIVE EARTH SCIENCE

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HUGH MANN SUGGESTS UK. NORMALLY HUGH MANN WOULD RECOMMEND THE SOLDIER OR THE ENGINEERS BUT MORE OF YOUR PUNY EARTH SCIENTISTS WOULD ACCELERATE THE RESEARCHING OF CARAPACE ARMOR. PLUS YOUR PUNY EUROPEAN SAVAGES ARE CLOSE TO WETTING THEMSELVES WITH PANIC WHICH IS APPROPRIATE GIVEN THEIR HOPELESSNESS AND INEPTITUDE BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY ALIEN SWARM.

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HOW DARE YOU GET ME KILLED! Now I have to think up a different character.


Name: Walker Eastwood
Gender: Male
Race: Caucasian
Hair: Short
Hair Color: Brown
Armor Tint: Any
Why I Should Hire YOU: I'm the fastest draw and surest aim in all the West, and I'm not about to let these alien punks take over this town!

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If you're using an Assault Rifle instead of a Shotgun, you should need Tactical Sense less. I'd take Aggression to make up for the damage gap between the two weapons.

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Them aliens be needing a lesson in respect. No one rustles our cattle without payin' the price. Time to start gettin' Arc Throwers to put them in their place.

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Personally, I think the Crysallids were hit hardest by the lack of time units. Used to be they could move and attack in a single turn. Now, they have a hard limit of two actions per turn, which means you can force them to spend all their time running around after you and never let them get off an attack.

Anyway, stick with the shotgun, and take Tactical Sense.

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Snap Shot vs. Squadsight is the biggest trap choice in the game. Squadsight is better in every situation. For starters, it's the ability that lets Snipers actually snipe things; a Sniper Rifle has a range of 100 squares, but you can only shoot at things in your own line of sight (27 squares), unless you take Squadsight. Snap Shot seems like it should be good, but then you're constantly having to move to get into range anyway, and then you get a -20 aim penalty if you move before you shoot, plus whatever penalty you get from being too close with a Sniper Rifle. Which means that, if you want to actually hit anything, you'll have to switch to pistol, which is what you'd have to do with Squadsight anyway, except then at least you normally get the Squadsight bonus.

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Lightning Reflexes. Desperado is awesome. Ranger or Duke were going to be my first choices, but Desperado is cool. Does "The Man With No Nickname" fit in the box?

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None of the autopsies do anything great for us- Thin Man Autopsy gives the Improved Medikit Foundry Project, which nobody has enough HP to worry about atm; Floater Autopsy gives the Defense Matrix item, which we don't need until we start facing higher level UFOs; and Crysallid Autopsy gives the Chitin Plating item, which I've never found to be horribly useful.

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Forgot to say: my vote's (and any proxied votes) are on Carapace armor, which makes a huge jump in squad survivability (speaking of which, I wouldn't mind a Nanofiber Vest in the meantime...). I suppose it depends, though, because research time is long enough that I'm kinda leaning towards doing the Crysallid Autopsy for the Chitin Plating and hope we capture a Floater for the Interrogation Research Credit on armors.

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What does the UFO stuff do?

When you detect a UFO, you can scramble your interceptors to try and shoot it down. It's basically an automatic process, but there are three "matrices" you can build to increase your chances of success- Uplink Targetting (which makes your next 2? shots hit automatically), Dodge (which makes you auto-evade the next two attacks), and Tracking (which increases the time until the UFO auto-escapes combat). At the moment, none of them are necessary, because we're only facing basic UFOs, which can be handled by the default Interceptors. As the game goes on, though, we're going to want to upgrade our interceptor's weaponry, and probably build some of the matrices as a just-in-case bonus. And upgrade to Firestorms, as feasible, but that's late game.

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We can ignore France, since Europe isn't in any danger; so the choice is between India and Argentina.

If we ignore India, then India and Japan both panic, and Australia goes to the brink of panic. If we ignore Argentina, then Argentina and Brazil both panic. So we're in a bit of trouble either way. However, We have more to lose if we lose Asia, since the South America situation effects fewer things, and the South America continent bonus isn't as good as the Asia bonus.

Vote for India.

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First of all, we need to go to Mexico, I think, since it'll panic if we don't. Not super necessary, since we have our home base there anyway, but still, we should try to avoid losing any more countries, especially now that Carapace Armor should be increasing our survival rate. Plus, more engineers will help get those Uplinks built, since I think you're going to need 25 total. However, I could see going to UK for the Sniper instead, though, if we want to just boot Mexico.

I think we should be researching Beam Weapons; a lot of these research times are climbing, and we're going to have to keep equipped faster- Mutons are coming, I think in month 3 (not sure what the game clock is, but it's gotta be close). I'd say get the Satellites to cool down the panic somewhat, then, Alien Containment so we can get some research credits, and Officer Training School after that, because we need the 5th man (Squad increases, Iron Will, and Rapid Recovery are the only ones worth really stretching for, but they're all useful).

However gets the support: Sprinter is a lot better than it looks on paper, and Covering Fire kinda sucks. Field Medic is probably better at the moment, but Smoke Grenades can also be awesome.

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I'm really surprised that the Sniper got killed; usually he's far enough away that you don't even need to put him in cover. Was he the one with Squadsight?

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Flush is okay if you wield a Rifle, but doesn't become actually good unless you've got a Sniper with either Opportunist or In the Zone. Rapid Fire is awesome for anyone.

Precision Lasers is probably next, since a Sniper that can't kill with one shot isn't that useful, and Heavies usually have suck accuracy anyway, so it doesn't matter if they have a bad weapon because their usefulness comes from suppressing fire and/or explosives anyway. Still really wish you'd get that damn Alien Containment built

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No doubt; we're at a point where Squad Size I is going to decide if we win or lose, and Squad Size II is going to be that way before the end of the game. I'm just saying- we could be gearing up a lot quicker here if we could interrogate.

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It's not even really about the plot. It's about the fact that at the rate we're going, plasma's going to take forever, and Sectopods aren't going to wait around for us.

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We should concentrate on soldiers actually surviving missions and being promoted. Fighting with rookies will be earth's downfall. Promotion stat boni will make the difference during early game.

Agreed. Usually, I only worry about getting people up to squaddie, then focus on leveling up a core group, with the secondaries seeing action on less dangerous/important missions. This is probably a bit different, though, since he's doing a community LP and wants people involved.

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Also, Sarah Kerrigan was a psychic, so we've got that on our side.

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Rapid Fire.

France, I think, since Africa's not really in much danger. The problem is, going to France makes Japan panic, but going to China makes France and UK panic. Plus, France already has a satellite, so there's no quick way to reduce it's panic if it gets to 5 again.

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Right. So I'd say go to France, let Japan panic, then launch the satellite there before the report.

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So, Wraith, in future, instead of counting the votes, how about you just ask my opinion as a shortcut?

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Basically, it's about enhancing strength vs. covering weakness. If you take Gunslinger, that'll give you something to do when you have to move, since you didn't take Snap Shot. If you take Damn Good Ground, you don't get anything extra, but it's nice when fighting in places where you can get high. Doesn't really become super useful unless you've got armor with a grappling hook, or Archangel Armor, though. Note that, due to a bug, flying with Archangel Armor actually does trigger Damn Good Ground, even though the description specifically says that it doesn't.

Close Combat Specialist vs. Bring 'Em On is a tough choice, too. Generally, I like Close Combat Specialist on Shotgunners who'll be in close, and Bring 'Em On for Riflemen to help make up the damage gap, but both are pretty good.

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Also, I'd like to take a moment to mention how much I hate Thin Men. They're the number one reason why I loathe Bomb Disposal missions. They come equipped with Light Plasma Rifles, which are super accurate, and capable of killing a rookie if you haven't got Carapace Armor. They can spit poison with 100% accuracy if you manage to find cover, and poison will likely kill you in the beginning if you don't bum-rush your medikit to the poisoned guy, which can cause other problems. They even explode into poison when you kill them, so you can't get completely around it. And, they have no restrictions on when they can appear, so you don't have time to try and upgrade your armor before meeting them so their rifles don't kill you in one shot.

Anyway, I just wanted to rant, since I just lost a rookie to a 35% Thin Man shot.

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Thin Man Autopsy, I guess. I'm basically just marking time until we can start interrogating.

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You don't have to kill all the aliens on escorts, I don't think, only extractions. And once you get the Civilian into the evac zone, he loads onto the Skyranger and disappears from the map, so it counts as success even if he's one turn away from dying of poison. But yeah, the poison is super annoying, since it's 100% accurate and can inflict panic. It's only slightly less annoying than the X-Rays with Alien Grenades that annihilate your cover so the rest of the team can take potshots.

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I remember the mission ending immediately after the civvie loaded up. I always clear out the overwatch guys before I let the Civvie step out of cover, though, so maybe I just have them all killed? If that's the case, then escort maps must have a lower spawn rate than extraction maps.

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Nigeria, I think.

Also, I think the only way to get alloys is from space ships; I think regular missions just give you corpses and weapon fragments.

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I don't think more engineers lowers the cost of building, I think it just reduces time to build and unlocks stuff with minimum engineer requirements. I think the only way to reduce the cost of building stuff is the Workshop Adjacency Bonus.

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Interrogate that Muton!

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Ani- Revive vs. Rifle Suppression is a difficult choice. Right now, Revive is probably better, but the revived soldier gets a massive will penalty (including a permanent debuff), and loses his next turn, and starts with only 33% health, so when we get later in the game, it's going to fall off in usefulness- hopefully, heavier armor means people won't die at all, or at least not until near the end of missions, where spending your turn to revive somebody who may not get another turn is less effective than just killing the final few aliens quicker.

Rifle Suppression is less useful right now, but giving an alien -30 to aim and possibly killing it if it attacks or moves can possibly save somebody from death, which is clearly better than Reviving them, but harder to use properly, since aliens don't always arrange themselves for our convenience. Sometimes, though, Suppression can make an alien skip its turn entirely instead of exposing itself to reaction fire, which is super useful against Muton Elites and the like. Note that Heavies can also take Suppression, though I don't think any of them have.

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Blood Call gives a bonus to critical chance and movement speed, I think. I have no strong opinions on research though.

Were it me, I'd go Bullet Swarm-Shredder Rocket-Heat Ammo, but that's just my two cents.

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There's two builds for Heavies, the Explosive Heavy and the Suppression Heavy. Which one you want to be is up to you; I just like Explosive Heavy better, since a good offense is the best defense. Even for a Suppression Heavy, though, I'd take Bullet Swarm. Being able to fire and move or fire twice is statistically better than giving +10 aim to everyone else. Especially since firing two shots doesn't require somebody else to use their turn to fire at the same alien; plus, once we start getting people leveled, that +10 Aim isn't going to be as useful.

Rapid Reaction is fine but I don't know how often you'll be able to actually trigger it, since Heavies have poor Aim and Overwatch stacks a penalty on top of that. HEAT Ammo, though, gives you two bonuses: It doubles all damage against Robots (including from the Rocket Launcher and Grenades, which may be a bug), which is nice because Cyberdiscs are dangerous and Sectopods are the devil; and you get to decide what HEAT is an acronym for.

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I'd vote for Alien Nav Computer, I suppose. Most of the autopsies either give us something we don't need, or Foundry projects, which we can't use yet because you haven't built the Foundry yet. Alien Nav computer is needed to unlock Firestorms, and also unlocks Satellite Nexus, which is like a double Uplink. I don't know how much we'll need the Nexus, though, since we've lost some countries already, and will probably lose at least 1-2 more.

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Ammo Conservation is basically necessary, since it saves you so much time on the later missions. It's no fun to have to reload while fighting a Sectopod. Especially since we've got at least one Heavy with Suppression. But Nexii are useful for sorting out the satellites, and I don't know which you need more.

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Close Combat Specialist

If you're getting the Foundry soon, Muton Autopsy, otherwise UFO Power Source. And get more stuns! (And yes, I know you can't stun Crysallids)

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I suppose generally it's wise to not stay in melee range of a Chrysallid, since the risk of the stun failing is horrible. But yeah, Crysallids have a hidden trait that makes them immune to stunning, as do Zombies and all robots. Which makes sense, I guess, since the only purposes of stunning are to either interrogate or get weapons, and all the enemies that are immune to stun are both mindless, and don't carry recoverable weapons.

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UFO Power Source is alright. I think it unlock Elerium Generators. Don't know if you need those, or if you've got Steam available.

After Ammo Conservation, I'd love to see SHIVs- I've found the mobile cover one to be really useful. Plus, it gives you a disposable unit for scouting. SCOPE upgrade is also really nice for Snipers and Assaults.

As advice to Ani:

Dense Smoke makes any units inside the Smoke Grenade cloud basically immune to attack for a turn, as it gives full cover on top of whatever cover the unit already has. However, a lot of later enemies carry grenades, which are 100% accurate no matter what defensive bonuses the unit has. If Smoke Grenade makes the unit essentially unhittable, the AI will just throw grenades instead.

Combat Drugs gives +20 Will, which essentially just prevents panic until we get Psis, and +10 critical chance, which is nice. It also gives +20 Aim, which isn't listed on the ability. However, there was a bug where Combat Drugs would cause Smoke to no longer give a defensive bonus; I don't remember if that was ever fixed.

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Sometimes. It's just that usually in the late game, Muton Elites and Sectopods have enough aim that they can hit you in the Dense Smoke, if the cover's been destroyed by a grenade. Which is really the most annoying part about Grenades, really- the damage isn't very good, but destroying the cover lets the rest of the alien squad take potshots at your team, and Dense Smoke without cover is often not enough.

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It unlocks the Elerium Generator, and unlocks research into Firestorms.

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Vote: Despot takes Sprinter

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He had a Heavy take Covering Fire. Personally, I find Suppression to be more useful than Covering Fire, just because Support are better at actually hitting targets, and Sprinter is a good "all-around" talent. But either works.

I've never had that problem with Snipers, though. Generally, my tactics are to have Assaults Run and Gun in to kill stuff and be Spotters, then the Sniper kills a thing, and the Heavy Suppresses whatever's left. I do like Heavies, though- I like to have one with Suppression to save lives, and the other with the Rocket upgrades to blast open firing lines for the Sniper.

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SHIVs are kinda neat, in that they're expendable- they can't be killed, instead just needing to be repaired. They also have pretty good aim, so they can hit stuff, but can't earn XP or promotions, so it's mainly for softening people up. They also have a Foundry project that lets them suppress. There's the basic SHIV, but there's also a SHIV that counts as portable low cover, and one that can fly like a Floater.

I've never found Frags useful for kills; they're mostly useful for destroying cover so the rest of the team can take potshots at aliens that are now standing in the open. If the Sniper gets In The Zone, that can be incredibly powerful. Generally, I start with Nano-Fiber Vests, but I'll eventually put Grenades on the Heavies, Medikit and Grenade/Arc Thrower on the Supports, SCOPE on the Snipers, and NFV/Chitin Plating on Shotgun Assaults and SCOPE on Rifle Assaults.

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Damn, that's the second time you've had me get critically wounded! My willpower is gonna suck. Though I think Psi Inspiration can remove the debuff, but that's the only way, as far as I know.

Research: Skeleton Suit

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We don't suddenly need them. But we don't need to spend a month researching Fighter Craft, either, and Skeleton Suit gives tactical advantage to the squad by letting them reach high ground more easily.

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Spending that much time just makes me nervous- I hate being locked into "Slow" research. I'd much rather research something quicker, and try nabbing a Thin Man for the credit, and then researching Firestorms. I don't remember the heirarchy, but I think an Interceptor with Plasma Cannons can take down a battleship, though it may require the dodge matrix.

Skeleton Suit isn't strictly necessary, but it gives a speed boost in addition the grappling hook, so it's not useless on non-urban maps.

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Fair enough. I don't have a problem with researching Firestorms- I've been mentioning it for a while now. I'm just not convinced that we should pull that trigger yet. It's certainly going to be a necessity to beat the game, since I think you absolutely need Firestorms to shoot down the Observer, if nothing else. We also have to take into account, though, that Firestorms require a lot of resources to build, and I remember us being short.

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And since it was asked, medikits are full of nanobots and steroids. Now in spray form!

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Executioner isn't that useful, since Snipers get tons of Aim anyway, and should be killing their targets in one shot anyway. Opportunist is neat, since it makes you better at Overwatch when you don't have a target to shoot at yet, since you won't want to move from a good nest.

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Roster turnover's been a thing in this game, too, and it is in most games. All I can suggest to lower the rate is to use full cover, and advance slowly. One of my favorite tactics for surviving is to draw the enemy onto you, instead of you onto them- have your team take good cover positions, send one guy one more forward to activate the enemies, then the second more back into cover. Sometimes it takes a few turns on overwatch, but the enemy will eventually charge to you, at which point you have tactical advantage.

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Also, never use the AT with your last action, because he's screwed if it fails. If you want to AT, Disabling Shot if you have it (which is also really nice as a setup, because it does reduced damage), then AT. If the AT fails, use your next action just to kill it. It's annoying not to get the capture, but they'll be more aliens; it's not worth losing a soldier over.

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Grenadier is awesome if you're an explosive heavy, Danger Zone is awesome if you're a Suppression Heavy.

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Anything we particularly need money for? Not sure where we are with builds and so forth. Otherwise, I default to Engineers.

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It's a council mission. the rookies will be fine.

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Killer Instinct. Gets super ridiculous with a shotgun.

I think Plasma Cannons are minimum necessary to shoot down the big ships, so I say that.

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Interceptors with Plasma Cannons can shoot down most things. We are going to need New Fighter Craft, though, and I don't remember if there's an Interrogation that reduces the time necessary for that. I never really liked EMP Cannons, just because the number of living aliens on the ship is increased more than I think the extra materials is really worth.

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Plus, I've seen Wraith play, and I'd like to have my character survive :p

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Heavies are really nice for suppressing and blowing open LoSes with Rockets, and not a whole lot else. They get the lowest Aim on level up, which means they struggle to hit anything in the late game. The LMG does do really good damage when it hits, but Shotgun Assaults and Squadsight Snipers can do more damage with the right skills, and can hit more reliably while doing it.

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Not sure whether to get Resilience or Killer Instinct. Suggestions?

Reslience is really good for everybody- immunity to critical hits is a bigger toughness boost than it sounds, and makes it a lot easier to keep you standing. Killer Instinct is really awesome if you've got a Shotgun, and want to Run and Gun/Rapid Fire stuff to death before it can fire back.

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Hp 4+1

WELP

That's only because he's unequipped right now. CHESSKID did indeed get a suit of Titan Armor on the next mission.

You wasted Titan Armor on a rookie? Just make him carry the medpack, he'll be fine. And if he isn't, dying is what rookies are for.

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Double tap is better, in my experience, because you're guaranteed to get the extra shot. In The Zone is broken if you can set it up (Heavy rockets to destroy cover, Assaults with Flush). Getting Flanking with a unit that can't move and shoot in the same turn can be a lot of work. It's especially good with Opportunist, though, since you get to pick off targets for free, and then overwatch to get the next target.

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Inspiration. Panic is nearly worthless- we want them where we can see them. I believe Inspiration is also the only way to remove th Fallen Ally debuff, and maybe the Critical Wound debuff (not sure if that's actually removable)

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I think Ghost Armor next. It's the best armor in the game for non snipers.

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That's why ghost armor is so good. Invisibility doesn't take an action, so it's good for safety, and gives automatic criticals after. Plus, it has the grappling hook and increased movement of the Skeleton Suit, and the second highest hp bonus, next to Titan Armor. Unfortunately, it doesn't protect against fire and poison like Titan Armor does.

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lol @ the peashooter taking out the floater. Same sort of thing happened to me when I tried to capture my first Ethereal (I used shotgun rapid-fire at close range, thinking the shots would lower the Ethereal's health enough to arc-stun it. I got two perfect criticals in a row and killed the Ethereal. -_- Like, the only time that I've ever gotten two perfect criticals.)

Does Battle Scanner count regarding Squadsight? If so, I'll take that. Otherwise I'll take disabling shot.

Unfortuantely, I don't believe that it does. I could be wrong, but I think you need to have actual line of sight, and I think Battle Scanner just drops fog of war, since it doesn't active the "cover" response. It's still useful, though, since the other alternative is sending a guy out there. Disabling Shot is pretty good, though, since it's a weak shot that can set up stuns, and can also protect your stunner if the stun fails, since the alien can't then attack.

[Sudo_Nym]

Flush is bad, since it does very low damage, and you can't control where the alien goes. Usually, it's just a waste, unless you've got a Sniper with In the Zone. Rapid Fire is awesome, however- shotguns get such a huge aim bonus at close range that -15 is basically nothing, so you're getting two high damage shots with a giant crit rate for each.

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Mind Control, obv. More powerful, plus, Telekinetic Field doesn't do anything to stop X-Rays from just chucking grenades with perfect accuracy.

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Eastwood is a man of honor. If he reads your mind at cards, it's only because he can't see them with his trademark squint.

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CHESSKID: Psi Inspiration: Removes Mindfray and panic from all allies within 3 tiles, and strenghens their Will by +30 for 2 turns. 4 turn cooldown OR Psi Panic: Cause target to panic on its following turn, if the target's Will is overcome. Robotic enemies are immune. 2 turn cooldown

Chesskid asks: Does it make sense the grab the underpowered offensive ability to go with being an assault?

Not really. Psi panic is a actually bad for assaults, because assaults tend to be closer to the enemy, giving them better odds to hit you with panic fire.

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Gunslinger is nice, since Snipers can't fire their rifles in the same turn they move, so Gunslinger gives their pistols good damage. In this case, though, you've already got Plasma Pistols, and Archangel Armor triggers Damn Good Ground, so once you get Squadsight, you can just sit there and shoot things.

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Does in the zone trigger against enemies who don't use cover? From what I remember, most of them have abilities that block flanking against them.

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Well, we're really close to the endgame; we've got Psi Armor, and once Gollop Chamber finishes, we head to the temple ship, I think. After entering Gollop Chamber, it becomes impossible to earn more promotions anyway.

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Yeah; I believe Rocketeer lets you fire a total of three rocket; one standard, one shredder, and I think the third can be your choice of either, but I'm not sure off the top of my head.

[Sudo_Nym]

I suggest that Eastwood take all the aliens out to discuss a peace treaty over a pie and coffee.

[Sudo_Nym]

Frankly, I feel that after all this shit, Eastwood deserves a pie. It's the least we could do for the man.

[Sudo_Nym]

A very nice read, Wraith. Only criticism concerns the distressing lack of pie for Eastwood at the end. Eastwood died for your sins!