Irismono's Campaign Report, Season 2

[Irismono]

it's been a while since I did an XCF Campaign, or played Oldcom for that matter. I took some time to reread my last campaign thread as well as the changelog since it's been a few versions. I don't quite remember what difficulty I played my last game on, but I decided on Experienced for this one since I'm aiming to relax. I'm going to see how far I can get on this run, with the year 2000 as my soft target. My last run ended in early 1999. This should get a little further at the very least, especially since I've actually got promotions working properly this time.

Founded my first base on Crete. This is favorite starting place in Vanilla and I usually go with a name along the lines of "Knossos". I went with "MannCo Surplus" this time, mostly because I've been playing TF2 lately. It also sounds like a plausible shell company since we're going to be dealing in a lot of unusual weapons soon enough.


I bought the usual assortment of tasers, starter guns, and flashlights along with 18 new agents as soon as the month rolled. Initial staff intros went as usual, with me getting an alien fuel trace from the Accountant. Nothing super impressive there but I can't really complain. While looking through the new recruits I encountered the careers/backgrounds feature, which is new since my last campaign. I like it a lot. It adds to the storytelling and the bonuses are nice without being overwhelming. I do wonder how impactful the +1-2 Night vision from Thief or Astronomer could be, likewise with the armor from Engineer etc. There's a good number of PST boosts as well, which is nice to see.

Missions for the month were typical early game fare, see below.
Mission Calendar:
- Jan 4: Strange Hangings, named after a sword in Arthurian legend that belonged to Sir Galahad carries Agents Wilson and Saimi to investigate a Crop Circles report in Siberia. One unarmed farmer is an easy capture.
- Jan 6: Strange Life Form. Saimi swapped for Brown. Chupacabras, but fortunately in a desert where our range made up for their TUs. All 3 civies dead, so mild score penalty, but we managed to capture one.
- Jan 8: Suspects Detected in Norway. Squad swapped out for Richards and Rahamwati. 1 Red Dawn Ganger acquired.
- Jan 11: More Suspects, this time EXALT in Vancouver. Rahimi replaces Richards. Suspect immediately visible with a colt pointed at our agents. Killed him rather than risking injury.
- Jan 12: While Strange Hangings is in transit, Dagon Suspects show up in Venice. New car acquired, this one called "Red Hilt" for another Arthurian weapon. Rodrigues and Sastrowardoyo deployed. Fail to capture.
- Jan 14: Suspects in Spain. Strnage Happenings with Rahimi and Rahmawati together tase another Red Dawn ganger.
- Jan 16: Agents Rodrigues and Sastrowardoyo investigate an SLF in Red Hilt. Darkness requires Rodrigues to turn on a flashlight at which point an Owlman is spotted. A full turn of gunfire from the agents is enough to down it. Live owlman captured!
- Jan 18: Suspects in Asuncion, EXALT. Sent Agents Saimi and Rangihaeata in Strange Hangings. Gym finished during transit so that most of the base is now being trained. Big man with his big Colt again, but this time he fell bleeding from his wounds rather than dead. Successful capture. Saimi promoted to Captain.
- Jan 20: Suspects in Lhasa, first sign of Black Lotus. Red Hilt deployed. Easy capture.
- Jan 21: SLF at the North Pole. 2 Rookies sent. Very dark, lots of civilians. Fenrir Wolf ate one of them before the agents took it down with the taser.
- Jan 22: Suspects in Irkutsk. Red Hilt sent with Tanida and Kumble, two more Rookies. Tanida in particular is promising with a high aim stat and decent bravery. A third ganger falls into our posession after a quick melee fight.
- Jan 23: Jun and Suarez respond to a Cattle Mutilation in Strange Hangings. Another Farmer captured.
- Jan 25: SLF just East of Damascus. Red Hilt dispatched. First zombies of the campaign. We save one civilian with a stun stick but the others die to the horde. Thanks to a number of captures (early pistols put zombies to sleep) we manage a slight positive score.
- Jan 26: SLF in Baja. Strange Hangings deployed with Rodrigues and Brown. Asmodean Cobra brought in for questioning. Both Agents promoted to Captain. Cavalier earned.
- Jan 27: Tanida joins Saimi for a Cult Aprehension in Sana'a. Red Dawn Ganger walks into reaction fire. Saimi promoted to Commissar.
- Jan 29: Strange Hangings, with Tanida and Suarez, deploys for SLF in Central Africa. Ends up being a single giant rat on a big ol' map with no civilians. It died, so no X-Rats just yet.

As you can probably gather I decided to spread out missions on my troops, at least initially. A few units have especially good stats, and the barracks as a whole looks healthy. No KIAs in January is an especially nice way to start.

I'm still missing a Dagon cultist for that line of inquiry, but all the other cults are accounted for. SLFs are a good variety as well. No bats or live rats unfortunately, and no spiders or shamblers either for Into the Dark, but other then that I can't complain. We have both a regular and fat zombie to get that path going as well as a chupacabra, which are a royal pain to take alive.

I don't have any vans just yet, but I'll probably get one fairly soon. A third hanger will be needed once Promo I pops so I'll likely start one 1st of February.

Research for this month:
General Strat (Dec 31) -> Basic Operations (Jan 14) -> Logistics (Jan 24) -> Non-Standard Weapons (Feb 1). Magnum acquisition started.

Monthly Report:


Plans for February:
1. Keep leveling agents. Minimize losses. Officer corps is starting to take shape. I'll be keeping them mostly in reserve while I make sure all rookies get at least a mission or two. Once I have a little bit of armor I'll feel better about sending them out. "Good" troops at the moment are ones with high base stats like Saimi and Tanida since nobody has real experience.
2. Start building up the warchest for base #2. I'd ideally like 2-3 bases in production by the end of the year. One for research and training, the other for storage and manufacturing. This is lower priority as I know full-well that money is often better spent on ensuring agents are properly armed and protected early game.
3. Get to Promotion I, or as close as possible. It should be doable, even while getting vests. All I need is to research one of my SLF captures or corpses and interrogate a cultist.

That's my first AAR for this campaign done. As I did last time I'll be doing these for every in-game month and for sufficiently major operations (eg. Cult HQs). Advice is, as always, welcome. Looking forward to playing this one out.

[Juku121]

Good to see this getting a sequel!

Are there going to be more screenshots? 'Cos the old campaign's are all dead.

I'm pretty amazed the Chubacabras didn't just murder your agent duo and suck them dry. 👍

I'd beeline for shotguns and hunting rifles next. psavola has some good weapons advice here, even if he's a SH/IM heathen who abuses grenades to avoid getting snipered.

[Irismono]

Are there going to be more screenshots? 'Cos the old campaign's are all dead.

I noticed that. Imgur has proved itself untrustworthy so I'm trying a mildly convoluted setup using discord instead. We'll see how that works. I'm going to try and have at least two or three screens per post, more on important missions. The monthly report will always be present at the very least.

psavola has some good weapons advice here, even if he's a SH/IM heathen who abuses grenades to avoid getting snipered.

Interesting read. I admit that I rarely use that early game shotgun. Might give it a try this run.

I'm pretty amazed the Chubacabras didn't just murder your agent duo and suck them dry. 👍

Deserts eating TUs, fragile health pools, and civilian distractions together save lives, even when you're stuck with glocks. Probably got lucky on them spawning far away too.

[Juku121]

I don't think Discord wants to cooperate.

[Irismono]

February 1997

Sold money briefcase to offset cost of hanger. Didn't research it this time, but that can wait til we get another one. Hanger will contain a van initially. Ordered Magnums as soon as the research popped at midnight into Feb 2nd. Very quiet start to the month, with the first mission popping up at 8 PM on the 9th.

Event Calendar:
- Feb 9: EXALT in Orlando. Strange Hangings deployed. Personal protection pops right after. Sneaky little bugger that managed to not open any doors for about 10 turns as my agents fumbled around the map. Finally ambushed Tanida in an alleyway, wounding the agent before being promptly shot in the back by Suarez. First injury of the campaign.
- Feb 11: More cult, this time Dagon in nearby Sofia. Red Hilt equipped and sent out as soon as it was light. Bum rushed the fellow with tasers and took some nasty reaction fire, suffering another wound. Suspect secured, which means all four cults are now accounted for. Huzzah!
- Feb 12: With Tanida in medbay, Rookie Goyal joins Agent Suarez to investigate a cattle mutilation in Papua New Guinea. Once again it's a lonely unarmed farmer who just needed a quick shock to bring him to his senses.
- Feb 16: New Zealand SLF. Red Hilt deployed with another rookie. Ended up being a single zombie, easily dealt with. Cavalier earned.
- Feb 16.a: A second SLF in Oceania, this time on New Ireland. Strange Hangings sent out. Giant frogs, which are tanky and not very pleasant to fight with fragile operatives. Killed one and decided to abort after realizing there was no civilian turn. Netted 20 positive score.
N.B. Vests pop while they're out, 16 vests ordered in order to equip active units ASAP.
- Feb 17: Suspects in Chelyabinsk. No ability to respond initially.
- Feb 18: Illegal Trade Foiled nets 2 Illegal Requisition Files.
- Feb 19: SLF in South America, Suspects in Hawaii, both while cars are still out. Prioritizing older reports first to try and avoid the 200 point penalties.
- Feb 20: Suspects in Ascension Island.
- Feb 20.a: Engaged Chelyabinsk to find a Red Dawn Ganger hiding in a tower. Agent Salari, despite his Kevlar Vest, took a few too many Makarov rounds and became the campaign's first KIA. Potentially avoidable.
- Feb 21: Research finished, summary report is go. Ordered new agent plus a few kevlar vests. Intelligence officer reminded me about researching each of the cults, which I'm already planning to do.
- Feb 21.a: Red Hilt engages SLF in South America. Sastrowardayo and Fo-hsing heard Chupacabra screams end of turn one, tased a nearby civilian to keep him safe, and set up an overwatch trap. Chupacabra walked into range and was shot beginning of the next turn. Only one, fortunately.
- Feb 22: Mysterious sponsor blesses us with $250,000. Not sure what to do with this yet, but it'll come in handy. Ascension Island tracking lost despite our best efforts.
- Feb 22.a: Strange Hangings rolls up on suspects in Hawaii. Black Lotus follower walked out of garage and into a pair of tasers.
- Feb 24: Agent Pavu arrives on base to replace the late Agent Salari, research finishes and I set up a spread in order to unlock the weapon box and roll my first secret files roulette. Cult Apprehension spawns in Tunis, waiting until daylight to pursue.
- Feb 25: Promotion I pops, smoke grenades ordered. Started on Medicine to get towards Bio-Lab ASAP. One researcher will be off Medicine to finish our secret files then to start picking up important weapons, switching back on once I'm comfortable with the equipment list. Got Crowbar from illegal requisition files, opened weapon box to find a Makarov, not especially useful.
- Feb 25.a: Strange Hangings engages Tunis. Found a Dagonite wandering around a train yard. Range was unfavorable, leading to kill.
- Feb 25.b: Cult in Cayenne, deployed Red Hilt. Simultaneous cult spawn in Kuala Lampur, Strange Hangings on the go immediately.
- Feb 26: Hanger finished in MannCo Surplus. Purchased a Van, christened "Cortain" after yet another legendary sword. Secret Files gives us the dossier of one "Anthony Barker" Equipped Cortain with Captain Brown and three other Agents.
- Feb 26.a: Red Hilt deploys in Cayenne, one EXALT goon with a Billhook. Easy tase.
- Feb 27: Kuala Lumpur, Strange Hangings. Overwatch kill.
- Feb 27.a: Industrial Investigation opens in Azores (is there even that much industry out there?) I load up Cortain with what work gear I've thusfar scrounged up and send the squad out. I figure four units with melee have a better shot than two.
- Feb 28: Hunting Rifles are available for purchase. Research Intern starts filling out shotgun acquisition forms. These together should form the bulk of our early game combat gear.
- Feb 28.a: Team arrives for investigation, gears up with a mix of axes, clubs, and other crude instruments. Split into pairs to start moving up into the towers. Spot an EXALT guy with a flamer turn two, out of range but dangerous. Focus on ground level contacts, thugs with melees. Ultimately had to kill the flamer due to the risk he posed. No enemies with guns fortunately. Big payout and no casualties, a successful mission. Had to cull a few people to open up the prison cells.
- Feb 28 into March 1: Summary Report, Hunting Rifles arrive.

Research this month:
Magnum Acquisition (Feb 2) -> Personal Protection (Feb 10) -> Kevlar Vest (Feb 17) -> Giant Rat Autopsy (Feb 19) -> Red Dawn Ganger (Feb 21) -> X-COM Summary Report #1 (Feb 24) -> Spread between Promotion I (Feb 25), Secret Files (Feb 26), Illegal Requisition Files (Feb 25), and Weapon Box (Feb 25) -> Medicine, Hunting Rilfe Acquisition (Feb 28) -> Shotgun Acquisition w/Medicine Ongoing

Due to issues with image hosting I'm going to attach the screens from both last post and this one. It's not ideal, but it'll do until I can find a better solution.

Overall happy with this month. One KIA is significantly worse than none, and the wounds at the start hurt, but we're doing better financially, have a slightly more experienced barracks, and only missed on mission in the rush. Weapons are coming along and Promo I opens many doors for us. While Promo II is definitely a ways off, I know what I'm doing with it, and the greatest issue I foresee is just capturing a few units for the Military Envoy and remembering to research Psiclone when I get one for the Engineer. It has become clear that setting up base #2 probably won't happen until summer at the earliest, unless I get particularly lucky with loot during March and April.

Priorities for March:
1. Get Labs up and running. I'm going to start with Bio-Lab, which is why I started medicine. The industrial investigation dropped a few briefcases which should make building them fairly easy. I'm not sure whether I'll get all the way to the Intel Lab, but I'll certainly try.
2. Get a Private Car. Easily the best of the early game vehicles IMO, simply for its speed. Getting this will be a challenge simply from the standpoint of timing it against labs. I may try and squeeze it in between Bio Lab and interrogations.
3. Longer term, I want a larger barracks. We're currently sitting at 24 agents, most of whom are in training in our 2 gyms. I know wounds and deaths will continue to mount up and soldiers will eventually finish getting Gym XP. In both cases that means I'll need new agents to fill the ranks. I think a modest goal would be to bring us up to 30 soldiers in March, with a goal of 40 or 50 at MannCo Surplus by end of year.
4. Continue building out the arsenal. This is already in progress. Hunting Rifles and Shotguns will likely make up the bulk of our gear until Promo II.

[Irismono]

March 1997

Fairly successful month, though one that reminded me of just how long research projects take. No labs this month. I'm trying a new image host, let me know how it works.

Calendar:
- Mar 2: Purchased Shotguns for all vehicles. Sacrificial Ring event. Cortain deployed to Cult Apprehension in Brisbane.

- Mar 3: SLF in Siberia, sent Red Hilt. Mongorns, four of them. Three kills and a live capture, which is about the best outcome I could have hoped for. Shotgun and Hunting rifle were both highly effective.
- Mar 6: Cult tracking lost. I forgot just how slow vans are.
- Mar 7: Another cult, this time in Guadalajara. Sent Strange Hangings to check it out.
- Mar 8: Suspects in Khartoum. Red Hilt deployed as Cortain is still on its way back. Red Hilt was then redirected to a higher priority target. Van was close enough to redirect.
- Mar 9: Zombie Infestation at the North Pole. Red Hilt has best shot at it.
- Mar 9.a: Strange Hangings takes on Guadalajara. EXALT Infiltrator drops to overwatch.
- Mar 10: Cortain deals with cult. One dagonite in a building. Agents had good sight lines and superior firepower.
- Mar 10.a: Red Hilt at the North Pole for Zombie Outbreak. There's a lot of them, all regular and fat. Few close calls and a few dead civilians, but the agents prevail. Sold most of the live zombies we captured to save space.
- Mar 11: SLF at the North Pole again. Cortain deals with a shambler this time. Only one, and it goes down pretty quick. Cavalier earned.
- Mar 12: SLF in Indonesia. Red Hilt is go. A single megascorpion, but with 3 civies on map it could have been much worse. Cavalier earned.
- Mar 14: Crop Circles pretty close to home. Agent Tanida is back on his feet so he takes Strange Hangings out for a spin with Agent Saraki. Standard issue absucted farmer, unarmed.
- Mar 17: After a quiet end to the week, Monday gives us an SLF in South Africa. Strange Hangings is deployed to investigate. A singular zombie in the middle of the desert is an easy kill. Cavalier Earned.
- Mar 19: Suspects show up almost simultaneously in Bucharest and Casablanca. Cortain and Red Hilt deployed respectively. A chupacabra gore pile is discovered the same day, leading to a small point loss. Cortain deal with an axe-wielding dagonite by luring him into a taser line. Red Hilt shootout a Red Dawn ganger across a sleepy suburb. Both missions go well.
- Mar 20: CIA investigation. Curse the nosey Americans!

- Mar 22: Free land surveys!

Our engineer gets right on unpacking them. Mostly useless to us unfortunately. A couple catman corpses, a dozen megascorpion corpses, and a regular old human corpse that takes up store space and has no value. It doesn't appear to have any research value either...
- Mar 25: Suspects in Tianjin. Red Hilt crew swapped out for less experienced agents and sent out. Quick mission. No capture.
- Mar 25.a: First dangerous lunatic! It's close by in Odessa, so this sounds like a job for the big van. Agent Kumble and Captain Brown start in vision, so they rush forward with tasers. Kumble goes down but survives and the Lunatic is captured with no civilian casualties! Massive 600 point boost. Cavalier earned. "Homicidal Maniac" is the madman type.


- Mar 26: SLF in Africa. Strange Hangings deployed. A dreaded Spike-Boar, which has killed multiple cars in previous runs, is the enemy on this one. I very nearly choose to evac, but firing parting shots with the hunting rifle is miraculously enough to take it down, leading to a corpse retrieval. No civilians were on the mission, but ~20 points is still a step up from zero.

- Mar 29: Suspects quite literally on my front door. Cult Apprehension in Crete taken on by Cortain. Wounded agent has been replaced by a rookie. A single Red Dawn ganger with a billhook. Tased turn one. We keep our island clean.
- Mar 30: SLF in Kenya. Since this is likely to be the last mission of the month I decide to send out Commissar Saimi to get some fieldwork done. He and Tanida take Strange Hangings. Asmodaean cobras in the desert. The snakes' spit attacks make quick work of the civilians unfortunately, but the agents kill them and we make it out with only a -2 score.
- Mar 31: Council Report. Australia is unhappy due to them getting a UFO spawn (that I had no way of dealing with of course), but we're otherwise in excellent shape.


Research This Month:
Shotgun Acquisition (Mar 2) -> Medicine (Mar 13) -> Advanced Medicine (Mar 27) -> Bio Lab

Overall a smooth month. One wound, no KIAs, and only one mission missed. We're most of the way to Bio Lab, and a good thing too because we're running out of space for prisoners. Interrogations will be a priority for April. A theme I've noticed in my planning is that I'm a little overambitious for where I am at this point in the game. I don't actually need to get those additional agents until I have either wounds or deaths make gym space available, and February was definitely way too early to be thinking about a second base. That said, I'd still like to get Base #2 down by end of summer. April and May will likely be taken by Bio and Intel Labs respectively, and after that research will most likely be focused on Promo II. If I can get to Promo II by the end of 97 I'll be stoked, but I'm not expecting it.

(Hopefully modest) Plans for April:
1. Keep working on labs. Bio should definitely be doable, and I'll start working through interrogations to get the Intel Lab.
2. Start in on Interrogations and Live animals. Cells are getting full.

[psavola]

Overall a smooth month. One wound, no KIAs, and only one mission missed. We're most of the way to Bio Lab, and a good thing too because we're running out of space for prisoners. Interrogations will be a priority for April. A theme I've noticed in my planning is that I'm a little overambitious for where I am at this point in the game. I don't actually need to get those additional agents until I have either wounds or deaths make gym space available, and February was definitely way too early to be thinking about a second base. That said, I'd still like to get Base #2 down by end of summer. April and May will likely be taken by Bio and Intel Labs respectively, and after that research will most likely be focused on Promo II. If I can get to Promo II by the end of 97 I'll be stoked, but I'm not expecting it.

(Hopefully modest) Plans for April:
1. Keep working on labs. Bio should definitely be doable, and I'll start working through interrogations to get the Intel Lab.
2. Start in on Interrogations and Live animals. Cells are getting full.

I haven't followed the reports closely so I may be missing something but a couple of pointers:
- you really need at least two prison cells in your main base (sometimes I build even three, and scrap some of them later) so you can  queue up people for interrogation
- for animal pens usually one is enough; you really don't need to do so much animal examination in any case (it's rather costly and you can get the same easier later through human interrogation, e.g. syndicate scientists). There are just a few you really need to do (like zombies). The only thing you really need the pens for extended amount of animals is catching rats and bats and training them. For this reason I sometimes build a second animal pen (temporarily), or at the very last build one for backup use at your second base later.
- when you haven't researched intel lab and bio lab yet, you really should focus almost all of the research to get those ASAP. For example if you reserch them only with 2-3 out of your 5 scientists, it's gonna be unbearably slow. Once you have at least one of them built, preferably both, you can switch gears to extensively researching other topics.
- you'll also need to pay attention to when you get the research and when you can start building them. Preferably you should build them so that they finish by roughly 4th of the next month, so that you can hire the new staff at the start of the next month. Finishing bio lab build at 15th or 20th is not so useful, because due to money shortage you may not want to recruit the scientists at that point of them month because they will want full salary and will chomp your next month's funding. To optimize building times, it's usually wise to build a corridor or two. If you need to build the lab faster, you can build on top of it, which will save 6 days of the build time.
- because building the labs and hiring scientists take money, which is not plentiful at this point of the game (most of it comes from the council until cult safe houses), you will want to start saving money for these early, so that money is not a consideration here.
- one should definitely aim to have promo II by the end of 1997. Preferably one should have Promo II already in mid-1997 or Fall at the latest (but there are sometimes RNG issues which prevent you from getting All Staff Contacted). If you get really lucky, it's even possible to terminate a cult and get promo III by the end of 1997.

[Irismono]

- you really need at least two prison cells in your main base (sometimes I build even three, and scrap some of them later) so you can  queue up people for interrogation

Noted. I've definitely been feeling I ought to get a second.

- when you haven't researched intel lab and bio lab yet, you really should focus almost all of the research to get those ASAP.

I have largely held to this. As you'll see in my next post, I made a few splits when doing interrogations to clear out cells faster (couple of farmers, a madman) and grabbed a couple of items that were either plot related (Promo I, General Strategy) or equipment that I feel safer with. The only time I split a researcher or two off when doing the long projects was specifically on weapon acquisitions, which take 1-2 days with one scientist.

- you'll also need to pay attention to when you get the research and when you can start building them. Preferably you should build them so that they finish by roughly 4th of the next month, so that you can hire the new staff at the start of the next month. Finishing bio lab build at 15th or 20th is not so useful, because due to money shortage you may not want to recruit the scientists at that point of them month because they will want full salary and will chomp your next month's funding. To optimize building times, it's usually wise to build a corridor or two. If you need to build the lab faster, you can build on top of it, which will save 6 days of the build time.

Now this I did not know, and may have to start implementing. My Bio Lab finished about 3/4 of the way through April and I held off on staffing it, which means I paid a month of maintenance on it with it doing nothing.

April post up shortly.

[Irismono]

April 1997

Calendar:
- Apr 3: Chief Medical Officer contacts me reminding me to research Bio Lab. Already on it. I do like these reminders though, they make the game a lot more intuitive.
- Apr 4: Suspects in Azores. Cortain squad rotated to inexperienced agents and deployed. One brave dagonite with a billhook, thoroughly tased. Unfortunately had to dismiss him to maintain prison space.

- Apr 4.a: Red Tape event! We learn about... the Mortar! I'm a little unsure how useful that will be given that Mortar Acquisition isn't until Promo III. (Checked, you don't need to know about mortars to acquire them. It does have overlap with a few interrogation targets though so that's nice)
- Apr 4.b: Madman Rampage in Yakutsk. Sent Red Hilt. Big industrial areas with docks and warehouses. Gunfire end of turn one, civilians dying end of turn 2. On turn 3 we spot a man with a Famas and start the approach. Agent Bao bravely runs forward to attract fire while Agent Rahmawati goes in with the taser. The bugger is tough and managed to throw a grenade before we knock him down. Both agents pretty seriously injured, but we get out with a net positive score.

- Apr 4.c: Suspects in Canary Islands. Sent Strange Hangings. Standard gaming.
- Apr 7: Started building bio lab next to X-COM HQ. It will take 20 days.
- Apr 7.a: Another Cult in Casablanca. Strange Hangings investigates. No capture
- Apr 12: Interrupting our string of interrogations, suspects in Kansas City. A newly reequipped Red Hilt investigates. One EXALT Infiltrator, easily dealt with.
- Apr 12.a: Zombies in South America. Too far for Cortain so we sent Strange Hangings. Lost both civilians but got out unscathed. Slight positive score and a little bit of money from the live captures we don't have room for.
- Apr 13: Illegal Trade event, second of the run. Followed up immediately by an SLF in Northern Canada. Cortain is sent, we'll see if it gets there.
- Apr 14: Suspects in Brasilia. Red Hilt just got back so out they go again. No captures, another single digit blip on the scorecard.
- Apr 15: Another CIA event. Gotta love em.
- Apr 15.a: Cortain finally arrives at its SLF. Happy to see more Mongorns. They're very easy to hunt with ranged weapons when they just flail around at the edge of range. One captured live, the other three killed. Agent Orengo in particular did a good job with his hunting rifle.

- Apr 16: Kiryu-Kai History lesson, allowing those events to spawn.
- Apr 17: Strange Hangings investigates Cults in the Maldives. Red Hilt goes after Cattle Mutilation in the North Eastern US. Both missions go flawlessly.
- Apr 18: Crop Circles on the far eastern coast of Russia (near Manchuko). It's too far for Cortain, so I have to wait for another car to get back before I pursue it. Strange Hangings deployed in the late evening with a pair of less-experienced agents, netting a captured farmer.
- Apr 19: Red Hilt's team is similarly rotated as they head out for Suspects in Darwin, Australia. EZ.
- Apr 20: General Strategy researched. Will be a bit before I can prioritize staff. I decide now is an opportune moment to get a new car.
Research This Month:
- Apr 21: Another cattle mutilation, this one close enough that Cortain can handle it. A rookie team is sent, including Agent Pavu, the only agent to not have been on at least one mission. This time the farmer has a shotgun and the captain takes a wound rushing the farmer down. Kevlar vests save lives.
- Apr 22.a: Madman in the DRC. Strange Hangings deployed with two more trustworthy agents. We run into him turn one, Tanida takes a few rounds but return fire with tasers brings the lunatic down with no civilian casualties. Tanida wounded for the second time, Cavalier earned.

- Apr 23: SLF in NA, Red Hilt sent. Large pod of Megascorpions. One very foolish civilian who managed to not die. Cavalier earned.
- Apr 24: Private Transport now available. sold Strange Hangings for Caliburn, named after (no surprise) the legendary sword.
- Apr 26: Is Homicidal Maniac supposed to drop Council of Earth straight away? If not, this feels pretty lucky. Starting in on Cults.

- Apr 26.a: Cult Apprehension in Spain. Close enough that I could send Cortain, but I decide to wait until morning and sent Caliburn for her maiden voyage. The private car really does feel incredibly fast. It's just a dagonite who walks into the business end of a shotgun. Easy mission.
- Apr 27: Bio Lab finished. I hold off on hiring scientists until the beginning of May.
- Apr 28: EXALT is known. Black Lotus in Jakarta, we send in Caliburn again. This time it's a clean capture.
- Apr 29: Cult in Siberia. Red Hilt deployed. Another easy capture.
- Apr 31: Council Report.


Research this month:
Bio Lab (Apr 7) -> EXALT Infiltrator (Apr 9) -> Abducted Farmer (Apr 11) - Black Lotus Follower (Apr 12) - Supporter of Dagon (Apr 14), Abducted Farmer (Apr 14) -> X-COM History: Kiryu Kai (Apr 16) -> X-COM PAU: General Strategy (Apr 20) -> Transport Alternative (Apr 24) -> Homicidal Maniac (Apr 26) -> EXALT (Apr 28) -> Red Dawn (Apr 30) -> Black Lotus


April went well. Several important research projects, a few very solid missions, no KIAs, and a good chunk of the way towards the Intel Lab. I could likely have gotten all four cults researched had I skipped the madmen and/or the general strategy items. I'm not sweating it. Wound times are pretty nasty at the moment, but the barracks has enough people in it that I don't feel too worried about getting a sick bay up. That will likely change as we transition into anti-cult ops in the coming months. The most difficult mission type at the moment is zombie outbreaks, followed by SLFs. SLFs are simply unpredictable, while Zombie outbreaks just come with a large number of enemies while on a 2-man squad size. I suspect they'll be a lot easier once we get more guns and bigger vehicles.

Priorities for May:
1. Intel Lab. Research should be quick. 1st half of the month at most, especially with the Bio Lab online. If possible, I'll time construction to finish in early June (thanks psaslova for the tip)
2. Prison cells. I think a second set will help, especially with more cultists to capture on the horizon.
3. Start working on the undercover ops for the Syndicate/Osiron questline.
4. Start working on staff. Xenologist is already available, Researcher is two or three techs away. Engineer and Military Envoy will both require a smidgen of luck with cult activities, but it's entirely possible I could get a Psiclone this month since I've already researched EXALT.

[Juku121]

Happy to see more Mongorns. They're very easy to hunt with ranged weapons when they just flail around at the edge of range.

For when you're no longer happy.

This time the farmer has a shotgun and the captain takes a wound rushing the farmer down. Kevlar vests save lives.
...
Tanida takes a few rounds but return fire with tasers brings the lunatic down with no civilian casualties.

Shoudn't you be using beanbags here instead of taser rushing? That's like half the point of having shotguns in the first place.

Zombie outbreaks just come with a large number of enemies while on a 2-man squad size.

Bigger short-range shotguns like the DB. Also, don't Zombie outbreaks last long enough to get a van in position?

Start working on the undercover ops for the Syndicate/Osiron questline.

Aren't undercover ops a pain without some sort of ranged weapon? What are you planning to use there?

[Irismono]

For when you're no longer happy.

This is very amusing. I will probably add it to my next run, if not to this one.

Also, don't Zombie outbreaks last long enough to get a van in position?

They probably do. Sometimes the van is already doing something else and sometimes I just don't like the idea of it traveling for 3 total days to and from a mission.

Aren't undercover ops a pain without some sort of ranged weapon? What are you planning to use there?

I admittedly don't have a great plan for that, but bows exist and are vaguely usable. Black Ops spypistol is of course the best option, but the "light pistol" available from the start of the game counts as sporting equipment for some reason so that'll do for now. Beach will be a bigger problem...

[psavola]

I admittedly don't have a great plan for that, but bows exist and are vaguely usable. Black Ops spypistol is of course the best option, but the "light pistol" available from the start of the game counts as sporting equipment for some reason so that'll do for now. Beach will be a bigger problem...

You usually don't get spypistol until later.

Osiron beach mission is rather straightforward as long as you bring at least two dogs and camp in the start building. The one square "alcove" at the left side of the building is perfect for this and can fit five-six units. No one can surprise you. And you can melee the first ones (remember you want to stun as many as possible) and take their guns and shoot the rest.

[Juku121]

I was thinking more like the ski resort missions, which are kind of a turkey shoot if you try to just camp in the house. Or industrial, which are relatively open and can have enemies walking on hard-to-access walkways way above your heads.

[Irismono]

May 1997

Calendar
- May 1: Hired 5 Scientists, started constructing prison cells. This month started at 1.5 mil in the bank after selling some briefcases, so we will definitely be able to afford the Intel Lab.
- May 4: Star Wars Day. Scientists arrived, assigned them to some miscellaneous short projects until Dagon finishes.
- May 5: Cult Apprehension in Spain. Cortain sent. Quick stun with zap sticks.
- May 5.a: SLF in Australia. Caliburn Investigates. Megascorpions. Not really difficult, just a little time consuming to snipe them all. Cavalier earned.
- May 8: SLF in Britain. Cortain sent again, as anything close enough to base is an opportunity to get four units experience instead of just one. Spike Boar at extreme range. Got very lucky that it missed its spikes against the civilians. Cavlier earned.
- May 8.a: SLF in Central Africa. Red Hilt on this one. Giant Spiders! Took one live, all regular ones. Cavalier earned.
- May 12: With a 20 day build time, I decide to delay the intel lab by a few days to have it done a few days into June. In the meantime I do a research spread to clear out cells before going after Cover: Sportsmen.
- May 13: Suspects in Azores, SLF at the North Pole. Sent Red Hilt and Caliburn respectively. Suspect was a Dagon worshiper who walked into overwatch, SLF was zombies that I decided to abort. No civilians fortunately. Both sites worth basically nothing.
- May 14: Started building Intelligence Center. This should have it done on the 3rd of June.
- May 17: Prison Cells finished. Homicidal Maniac tells us about Red Dawn's Storm trade.
- May 17.a: Another SLF at the North Pole. Caliburn sent. Mongorns in a massive open field.
- May 18: Got the Dr. Hadiriex Dossier from my Homicidal Soldier. First side-mission unlock.
- May 18.a: Cult Apprehension in Chelyabinsnk. Red Dawn live capture with Cortain.
- May 20: Cattle Mutilation in South America. In goes Caliburn. Agent Sastrowardoy takes a mild wound wrestling the farmer down, but we bring him in.
- May 21: Madman in Estonia, Cortain goes in. Homicidal soldier is distracted by shooting at the rookie, who takes a few wounds but lives. Cavalier earned.
- May 23: Cult Apprehension in Dushambe, Tajikistan. Red Hilt investigates. Red Dawn, four of them. Apprehensions are now four times as dangerous. Richards and Fo-hsing get through with minimal injuries and mastery commendations for their respective weapons.
- May 25: EXALT gets busted and the council is annoyed they still exist.

- May 27: With the Xenologist recruited I decide to start on dogs, putting a few people on my remaining Homicidal Soldier in the meantime.
- May 27.a: Suspects in Prague, in goes Cortain. Knowing that there's four enemies on map I plan accordingly, but Captain Brown is still struck by a crossbow bolt and nearly dies. He's able to run back and get medical, but it's a close call. One Dagonite captured alive, the rest killed.
- May 27.b: Red Tape event, Incendiary Grenade.
- May 27.c: Suspects in Santiago. Caliburn is go. EXALT team, including a sniper in an upper window. Two captures, which for a two-man team is impressive. Commissar Saimi takes his first (mild) wound. We officially have unused gym space due to wounded soldiers.
- May 31: X-COM Dogs available. Council Report.



Research this Month:
Black Lotus (May 3) -> Church of Dagon (May 6), Illegal Requisition Files (May 5), Wad of Cash (May 5), Money Briefcase (May 5), Abducted Farmer (May 6) -> Intelligence Center (May 12) -> Black Lotus Follower (May 18), Red Dawn Ganger (May 15), Abducted Farmer (May 15), Homicidal Maniac (May 17), Homicidal Soldier (May 18) -> Cover: Sportsmen (May 18) -> Mongorn Savage (May 21) -> Xenologist Recruitment (May 27) -> Homicidal Soldier (Jun 1), Abducted Farmer (May 29), X-COM Dogs (May 31) -> Mutant Physiology

Plans for June:
- Staff Intel Lab.
- Get some dogs to help offset our losses. I think bringing the barracks up to 30 total agents is the move.
- Chief Researcher.

May was a fairly quiet month. A bit of building, some small increases in enemy difficulty. Overall positive, but it went fairly quickly IRL and I didn't get many screenshots. I've already played June, which was significantly more interesting and will be posted shortly. Big success this month was the sheer amount of research that got done. Double scientists is double science.

[Juku121]

Am I understanding it right that Red Hilt is still a pleb car and you're playing with one of each type of transport? Why? I'd try at least 2 vans, to offset the slowness and to be able to preposition somewhat. Hangars aren't too expensive, and you should still have enough space for four at this point.

Granted, you're still doing mostly apprehensions and non-leeroy cryptids, so I guess it's not truly necessary to up transport capacity yet.