October 17th, 1999. Campaign attempt #6. After 67 deaths, most of which to night operations with cyber discs I had to defeat or lose the campaign, after teching the right craft this time (vanquisher) after having only 1 soldier survive the 1st terror op, become commander, then die to a shot in the back from a ninja sectoid that somehow snuck through my entire squad while on a landed terror ship trying to stop a pact signature in Russia, after multiple base assaults trying to get a live commander, after an ethereal base defense with only rookies with heavy auto lasers, and a whole lot of blaster bombs on Cydonia. It is finally over, I finally beat this mod. I have to say, thanks for making this great addition to the roller coaster that is X-COM. Never thought I'd use a heavy laser, or a plasma weapon beyond the heavy, or have to use laser cannons for 3 of my 5 aircraft (1 custodian/vanquisher 3 marauders 1 firestorm) or use power armor instead of flying suits, but there you go. This felt really rewarding, no strategy guides or youtube videos I'd seen a million times that I then replicated, the strategy I needed to win was learned entirely through the game. I'll give this another go on superhuman at somepoint, but for now I need to take a breather. Thanks for all the hard work on this masterpiece.
