X-Com Files Mod The Hardest by Fomka (Superman, Ironman, Handicaps)

[Fomka]

Thanks! The shortcuts will speed up the game.

Didn't use Q,E. I'll try.
CTRL+E is useful, got to know it from Tarkalak's playthrough.


Is it true?
If holding unconscious unit in one hand and knife weapon in other, Execute option is now available (on the knife I believe)

[Juku121]

Is it true?
If holding unconscious unit in one hand and knife weapon in other, Execute option is now available (on the knife I believe)

Not any more. It got removed a while back, presumably because it was too easy to kill tough enemies that way. You've got to shoot the corpses now. IDK if melee works on corpses, but I can't even use machetes on shrubbery :'(, so doubt that.

[tarkalak]

Not any more. It got removed a while back, presumably because it was too easy to kill tough enemies that way. You've got to shoot the corpses now. IDK if melee works on corpses, but I can't even use machetes on shrubbery :'(, so doubt that.

Melee damage against scenery was added at some point, so they removed the "shooting" melee weapons. You should be able to melee shrubbery now.

[Juku121]

...they removed the "shooting" melee weapons.

Not quite. Pickaxes and chainsaws are still in.

You should be able to melee shrubbery now.

But I can't. 

Bigger stuff, yeah. But not these small bushes. Unless I pickaxe or chainsaw them.

[Fomka]

...that Kamchatka Safehouse of Red Dawn...

One agent plus two dogs vs Red Dawn gangers at their Safehouse
Only one agent, Yngvar, is ready for that mission, others are wounded. So he takes all the dogs he can with him and go off for the Kamchatka. There will be no less than 10 opponents. It will be a big luck to capture a 2nd level cultist and retreat without casualties.

So, dog master's van arrives at the sceen at 11:04 on the 4th of June 1997, 60 hours since the mission start at 23:00 on the 1st of June.

Turn 1
A ganger is looking straight at the van. Yngvar flashbangs him and Kabang (71 reactions) finishes him off from his back. Lookaround. One ganger is wandering near, not a problem. The Safehouse is near, it's good luck!
The Plan is: loot the Safehouse and retreat.  The problem is a spotted Pioneer inside the Safehouse. If there are more cultists inside the Plan must be revised.

Cultists shoot at Yngvar and his dog who became visible to the attackers until the next turn because X-Commers hit their teammate (with a flashbang and a dog bite). 12 bullets have been fired, only one of them hits Yngvar at the front of his vest but inflicts a fatal wound. The hit takes 13 health points out of 30. In addition a pair of gangers emerges from the fog of war near the Safehouse.

Turn 2
So, there are more cultists near the Safehouse and the only agent is bleeding. The plan has been revised and now sounds as RETREAT!

Outcome
No casualties, no loot, one person is going to a hospital for 17 days. Earned almost minus 100 points of score. It's better than minus 150 if I've ignored that mission. Sufficient performance.

It was the 2nd safehouse overall. The 1st was cleared by a squad of four agents. Need more agents!

PS. Added a gif showing how Red Dawn shoot at the agent that was exposed to them after hitting their teammate.

[Fomka]

EXALT in Fortaleza, Brazil
Cult activity was detected at 01:00 on the 2nd of June. A van returning to Europe base will be on the track in about 10 hours. The squad is not full: they are returning from unsuccessful Muckstar case, where agent Carlos Fraga was killed. No rest at base, they'll sleep on their way across the Atlantic and in airport queues.

Two agents and a dogs vs EXALT cultists in Fortaleza, Brazil
Agents returns at the Europe base from Mexico and almost immediately are sent to Brazil. They arrive at 21:03 on 4th of June (68 hours since mission detection at 01:00 on 2nd of June) and quickly close the case there: since the commander gave green light on shooting without warnings and pleas for freeze, cultists were attacked at a glance and their disposition allowed picking them off one by one.

A new tactical move was born
If you see only one enemy, flashbang him from dark and wait 1 turn while his teammates come closer to investigate. You know, any X-Com agent become visible to every enemy unit every time he/she hit one of them. Battle recordings do not show why, but I think that X-Commers have a bad habit of shouting something like "Come over, I'm right here!" on every hit. Maybe they even ignite small fireworks to celebrate.

Outcome
No casualties, loot worth $5k (including one Infiltrator), 22 score. The latter is the main profit. It's better that way than minus 200 in case I've ignored that mission.

[Juku121]

A new tactical move was born
If you see only one enemy, flashbang him from dark and wait 1 turn while his teammates come closer to investigate.

That's just begging to be sniped against anything but the weakest cultists. Except Red Dawn. Red Dawn are all sniper.

[Fomka]

That's just begging to be sniped against anything but the weakest cultists. Except Red Dawn. Red Dawn are all sniper.

You are right, the designated snipers will shoot. I hope to hide an exposed agent to survive the upcoming sniping. Or I'd rather say "sniping", because there was only 1 hit out of 12 attempts in the recent Safehouse mission, see a gif I've added there. Anyway, sniping or not sniping, attacking an enemy once and going somewhere after that is a way to lure enemies to that somewhere, which can be favorable to me.

[Fomka]

The 4th of June, 1997: an ordinary Crop Circles mission in Madagascar turns out to be the first Men in Black encounter!
The mission pops up at 05:00 on the 4th of June, X-Com arrives at 15:07 on the 6th of June, 58 hours later.
Lucky placement (van in a corner, agents spread out of it and do not worry for their backs, the only civilian is near, no enemies are visible) and some tactical moves yields +100 score, no casualties and nice loot (2 BlackOps SMGs and a CAWS).

[Fomka]

From the 6th of June 1997 till the 11th:
1. Minus 150 score because of some Zombie reports from Port Said in Egypt.
2. Deep One corpse and spear acquired from some Sacrificial Ring.
3. Werecat research completed on the 11th of June, just as planned (so the 5 day advantage from early finish of previous topic is vanished). Mutant Physiology is the next topic.
4. Big sale of corpses and stuff occurred in the Europe base on the 11th of June. Freed 38,8 units of storage space (out of 150) and got $873k of cash. That was a half year crop of corpses.
5. The planned goal "Earn $450k to hire 5 scientists to fill the new Intelligence Center" is achieved on the 11th of June instead of the 18th of June.
6. Sent three vans to patrol distant areas: two vans from the Europe base are to patrol USA and Brazil and a van from the Asia base is patrolling Australia. Each of the bases has one van ready inside.

The plan I'm referring to was described here.

[Fomka]

Battlescape time!
A Red Dawn Apprehension mission pops up at 23:00 on the 12th of June 1997 in the Russian city of Saratov. Van from Chechia arrives at the place 21 hour later (very fast for the real life, by the way, with all that weapons).

See the story on the pictures, including moving GIFs. The most exciting moment is captured on the last GIF!

[Juku121]

very fast for the real life, by the way, with all that weapons

Speeding up the red tape is what your staff is being paid for!

Barrels are a bane. At least it was not one of Hobbes' super-piped-up maps.

I see that you're still not using the Q/E/numbers hotkeys.

[Fomka]

I see that you're still not using the Q/E/numbers hotkeys.

I tried the hotkeys but found it confusing to use right now, moreover in Ironman mode. Need more ingame time for adaptation and I lack that time. However, I will do some training via "New Battle".

The Bottleneck
I admit that the capture of 2nd level cultists will be the bottleneck in beeline for Promotion II. They reside in safehouses which are rare and hard to secure. According to the plan I need the cultists by the middle of July. It is the middle of June outside, must hurry up.

The first Red Dawn safehouse attack in this playthrough was performed by only 1 agent (with 2 dogs), other operatives were in hospital.

It was the 2nd safehouse overall. The 1st was cleared by a squad of four agents. Need more agents!

Considering all that I'm investing $135k into three more agents (with kevlar vests) for Asia base. Asia is the main source of possibilities to capture Red Dawn lads and Black Lotus footmen.

Undercover operations are secondary sources of that cultists.

Playthrough continues
16th of June
Crop circles mission pops up in Pakistan and an Asian van is heading there.
Rookies arrive: one at Europe, three at Asia.
Crop circles mission is about to begin on the 17th of June...

[Fomka]

I'll continue the play through around the 15th of September 2022, if my plans go well.

[Fomka]

Plans didn't go well. It is very interesting time we live in. I'm placing my unfinished playthrough files here. Anyone can do anything with them.