Welcome back to X-COM 2: War of the Chosen! Construction and upgrades in the ship are ongoing, as are the taunts from the Chosen, littering the world map with constant transmissions via radio-message. Their avatar project, which spells doom for the XCOM resistance, is half-way done, and I am very much on the back foot in terms of ... well, almost everything.
My research has been scattered and lacks focus; I've lost more units than I can count at this point; and I have no veterans on board to be able to complete high level espionage missions. To make it worse, the Advent facilities where the Avatar project is being built is in a location I can't access yet.
This spells science fiction turn based strategy survival horror. I'm just not good at surviving at this point.
Construction in the Avenger is coming along nicely. That is the one positive, the one area in which the aliens are not able to disrupt me directly (other than through strangling my scarce resources) - I'm up to 30 power, with more on the way, and nearly have access to all of the Avenger's rooms to build enhanced facilities.
Just as this is looking positive, my income is permanently reduced through the actions of the Chosen once more. It is time to enter combat, as there's an opportunity to loot some sweet, sweet advent stuff. The squad heads out, devoid of veterans and barely specialized.
The combat zone is a rocky forest, something that Lara Croft wouldn't look out of place in. There's a new type of foe, constructed of nano-particles. I'm not quite sure what sort of creative ways they can kill me in yet, but I am sure that I will find out. I'd include a screenshot, but before I could get to that point, the alien disappeared as soon as it was revealed.
The new foe I spoke of, Mr (or Mrs) nano-bot jumpsuit, is capable of crowd controlling XCOM operatives via a skill called "Shadowbound", which is like mind control, but creates a duplicate of the operative, while dis-allowing direct control of the original unit. It is super effective, as one soldier being crowd controlled reduces my effectiveness by 20%.
At this point, I've forgotten all about the advent loot I was meant to capture, and are far more concerned with the notion of staying alive, and not taking heavy causalities. What can make matters worse? The mental states of my soldiers are deteriorating, and quickly - panic sets in and wild shots, thankfully, actually connect in this rare instance:
The hunter decides to actually now join combat, and they have an ability that means they'll hit the unit on the next turn, unless they move out of range, which is an effective form of crowd control, meaning I must move to another location, away from the combat zone, preventing my soldier from contributing to the round of combat.
It is a very clever use of a skill to illicit a certain game play reaction. I find myself retreating, and regrouping, setting up for the inevitable offensive. XCOM isn't the sort of game where you heal while sitting around in cover, which makes this a a dangerous move, but a less dangerous move than simply running out into the open fields while there's a sniper snooping about.
Taking a chance never seemed so difficult - but I move forward, relying on the cover of trees and rocks, as I finally obtain some of the Advent supplies . My only other objective is, "Neutralize All Enemy Targets" - I know of none on the field at the moment other than the Chosen warrior. This doesn't make the mission any easier. At least I haven't lost a troop yet.
Then this happens:
David Thomas loses a hand. Well, not really. Three aliens appear. Some of their cover disappears, courtesy of a grenade. One alien falls, and the mech is damaged significantly. Unfortunately, I also lose a soldier in the exchange - before taking down the Advent Mech and Shield Bearer the next turn.
That leaves the matter of the Hunter; with its high powered sniper rifle. It is time to rush forward; and get into the heaviest of cover possible. Its also convenient that I still have some grenades left. What isn't; is the fact the Hunter can steal health from my soldiers. Between grenades, sword attacks, and a volley of heavy machine gun fire (that misses) - I get the Hunter down to just four hit points, before they summon a mech, and daze one of my troops.
A well placed sniper round takes out the Hunter, leaving just the mech that they summoned. Overwatch doesn't help me one bit, as another squad member perishes, by way of mech-death. The mission is a success, but I lost close to half the team in battle, and didn't really get a lot to show for it - the sniper, code named Blackjack, has serious wounds, as does my Specialist; putting them out of commission for a combined 32 days.
The aliens make more progress on the Avatar project, leaving only four blocks of progress until they will have victory in their hands. I'm in a position where I have little combat experience, few resources, and even less upgrades that I can employ in the field to my advantage.
Another part of progress towards the Avatar project. Three more units of progression until I've lost the game. I start to think more tactically about my economy, ensuring that I purchase as many upgrades as I can that will benefit the entire squad - I get the feeling I'm going to need to use lots of rookies.
At least I have an additional slot for special orders - but unfortunately, none of them seem to be incredibly useful at this point in time.
It is time for a new mission, and hey - look at the squad - they've all got specializations! This means that I might have a chance of coming home with everyone still breathing. There's even a new type of troop in the squad that I haven't yet used.
Another critical hit, and it feels like I'm on the best high of my life - I'm not getting slaughtered! The Advent priest decides to do a mind control on my avant garde trooper, but that should be fine - it will be four soldiers against one trooper, and those are great odds.
Fantastic odds except for the fact that all the shots that are fired miss. Next turn, stasis. Overwatch triggers on the soldier that is mind controlled. All my other shots directed at the Advent Priest miss, or are not effective in destroying their mind control abilities.
A soldier dies. Another is shadowbound. The VIP is poisioned. Ctrl+V "This is not looking good."
The pendulum swings. I manage a kill, but the Priest lives, empowering a snakey dude to capture the VIP in their clutches. All shots on the Viper miss. Tick, tock, Its time to die. The Priest is a massive threat, but I have a trick up my sleeve. I heal the VIP using a gremlin, a little medical drone.
It doesn't work out as well as I hope, given the fact they are still in a very immediate danger. What would have been the kill shot on the Priest turns out to by a graze, meaning that next turn,I have another dead soldier, and another bleeding out. The other soldier has one hit point left, and the final trooper is constricted by a Viper, effectively useless.
It takes an agonizing number of turns to see them die, as the enemies hilariously miss their shots. The mission is a failure, and all five operatives perish. The dropship returns to the Avenger, empty.