Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post Reply
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Psieye »

My current Veteran Non-Ironman campaign was 'cursed'/'blessed' with a wad of min/max'd rookies who I didn't want to randomly select classes. Quite besides the weeks of delay this meant, I'm now having to fund a lot of laser lances plus not-selling all the stocks/scopes they use. As in, I could have built the AWC if I didn't spam snipers.

I'm wondering what to do with all these snipers. I also have a surplus of tank-build shinobi but given they tend to get injured that's not a problem. I've tried Vulture/XP farming "flare to evac" missions with big squad, low-infil (one was a good roleplay of "we tried but failed to stop the data leak, now our haven is under attack") but unless I have a surplus of Field Surgeons that is not a sustainable strategy. Now that I have 4 contacted regions, I should just get the network tower going and be glad I can still comfortably respond to retals/troop columns while my best snipers are off to HQ for a week.

On the note of that failed data leak: 8-man squad, came out with only 1 wounded soldier and 25/36 aliens killed after 1 day of infiltration. Said wounded soldier was a shinobi who took a rocket to the face and still got off with just 5 days of downtime.

Compared to my last campaign (sappers + rangers), snipers bring an intriguing tactical puzzle born from "aliens don't track off-screen shots". They keep taking cover that leaves them flanked by my sniper. It helps to know what cover is so fragile even non-sapper grenadiers can blow it up: I'm aware of the 'glass advertisement blocks' but not sure what else will blow up that easily.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
llll BlackFlag
Posts: 62
Joined: Mon May 29, 2017 4:12 pm

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by llll BlackFlag »

If you're asking what to do with the snipers I would make a mix of DFA/snapshot snipers for untimed/timed missions respectively. Keep the shinobi as a stealth spotter and let your other soldiers be a mix of high CC and burst damage (think technical, assault, suppression gunner, support grenadier). As you're able to include more soldiers you can start to include overwatchers/shooters to fill the gap between burst and CC.

Edit: and burst damage
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Psieye »

So, after that 8-man HQ squad came back? They never disbanded. 20% infiltration is considered "good enough" for this squad to do GOps. It's June, I have mag rifles and laser lances. Probably just a luxury that can't be afforded in Commander/Legendary (at least, without an officer to Intervene the timer), but I'm doing big GOp deployments. Everyday GOps are turned on their head when punching through a Heavy garrison with an 8-man squad plus 4+ reinforcements dropping on your head. Somehow I've pulled off minimal wound executions once I realised the best tactic is to move minimally and pull (and kill) pods fast instead of getting into position (risking lots of activations).

Only 2 units actually need good cover (until reinforcements), everyone else shouldn't be visible or should be hunkered + smoked all the time. A curious discovery is my tank who came out of Gatecrasher as a high aim, low mobility grenadier. She runs around with plating, 2 incendiaries (Heavy Ordnance) and 2 smoke grenades with Dense Smoke. Given high cover and Aid Protocol (two tier 2 gremlins), she's sitting at 100 def for 3 turns per smoke. That's enough time to establish a 'beachhead' of cleared ground so I can safely move around. Other pods (especially as 1.3 made lots of 'small' 4-man-at-Heavy pods) just get sniped to death but the starting position is always tense as you can't risk activating pods. 90-aim Muton Centurions will give up and enter overwatch because they can't beat 100 def tanking.

The theory is that my tank-shinobi will scout around during the 1st fight and then switch with the grenadier as the main tank once snipers are in favourable terrain. Specifically, that this tank-shinobi will be getting shot all over while mass Medical Protocols keep him alive (3 specialists). Afterall, I have a lot of spare tank-shinobi to swap around while they recover from wounds. It hasn't played out like that except this one time when a Supply Raid's command pod 'ambushed' me while I was already in ideal tank/snipe positioning. I had a bizzare case where I decided to 'suicide' my tank-shinobi by fleche'ing into a sectoid hiding behind a window. On the other side was a disoriented Advent Scout (80-20 Aim). So my Shinobi has ended his turn with just low-cover while in melee-range of a scout who can casually flank him. Scout just enters overwatch. Next turn, my Shinobi one-shots him with sword then walks away (after snipers unloaded onto the alien relay he was spotting for).

I can feel the strategic layer breaking, but my own (player) health will break before it. Low-infil GOp executions take almost as long as HQ, with added stress of timers and reinforcements. Fun but I only play when I'm tired and this is not a good way to relax. Though I will say: with Alloy Plating, a good vest and semi-medic Specialists, my soldiers are surprisingly resilient when I fail to kill everything the turn they activate. Wounds happen, but I'm speeding through liberation chains as nearly any duration is good enough for the 8-man A-team. I have to consciously hold back and not liberate else I'll run out of mission spawning regions - a sign I need to contact more regions. Intel piles up when you don't need to boost.

As for how long evac when going low-infil fat squads: just throw the evac flare as soon as you enter combat. Doesn't matter where. Because once you eventually fight your way to where you actually want to evac, you throw a new flare and that has a 2-turn timer. Specifically, the new timer is "old timer + 2 turns". I even had a mission where my slowest units evac'd first before I threw the new flare. 14-turn Alien relays always come down to the wire because of reinforcements.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Psieye »

The saga of the 8-man GOp continues.

Escort Scientist, 22 turn limit. The team made it out in 9 turns, no reinforcements came. 23/25 aliens killed (3 were zombies). Wounds: 5 days on the guest tank: a Technical. Notable moments:
- 2nd pod activated while moving an assault forwards. The shinobi officer (who was stuck in stealth) had to give up stealth to kill the M2 sentry instead of the assault. Said assault EXO punched the new pod. Most enemies didn't see any good shot so they overwatch camped. Next turn, the assault lightning reflexes to shotgun the muton in the flank.
- I feel kinda bad for picking up a facility lead from a dead enemy's loot. How rare are they from drops?
- 3rd pod was activated from squadsight. The guest tank was placed aggressively forwards in low cover and ended up taking 4 grazing hits, putting him 1 HP below the field surgeon limit. Aliens couldn't see anyone else so they took cover against the one guy. Which happens to be exactly where my Double Tap sniper is already flanking them from out of sight. Even the Mec decided its best move was to suppress the tank.

Smash & Grab, 14 turn limit. Team was out with 6 turns to spare. Wounds: 8 days on the shinobi officer (immediately replaced with another after the mission).
- 1st pod was activated badly (a DfA sniper has no place in these big GOps but my other snapshot snipers were preoccupied). I got the first shot, but they scampered into forward positions and then made their advance. That meant my shinobi officer ate a Sergeant's shot at point blank after being revealed. My gunner got run down by a stun lancer but took only ablative damage.
- 2nd pod was activated in front when the 3rd pod walked into sight from the flank. Too bad it was just a Mec and a Scout that flanked me. A TSgt assault casually walked up to Close Encounters shoot the Mec before walking into tanking position. Mec dies to the DfA sniper (who wouldn't find high ground for a long time). The Scout was removed with an incendiary grenade from the shinobi officer.
- 2nd pod spends a lot of time hunkered down. Area suppression + smoke + high cover. Maybe the covering fire OW and holo targets further deterred them. Go go smoke mule medic-in-training.
- While TSgt assault went to shove shotgun to Advent Officer face over a crate, he activated 4th pod. Which was well timed as that meant my snipers had something to do that turn: half the pod took cover while flanking themselves.
- Later on, moment of hubris: shinobi officer fleches a freshly activated Sentry and activates a pod flanking her. Nobody in range to throw a smoke for her, aid-protocol is all she gets. But the Mec gets killed with EXO punch (it was the only target) from below the ceiling and a sniper. Said sniper was Double Tapping to kill a snek too. In the end, the remainder of the pod got off 2 shots (because shieldbearer wasted opportunity to put shields up) of which 1 missed and the other grazed for 2 damage (exactly how much the Sergeant did beyond ablative at the start). Hard target + 42 dodge.
- Discovery: you can't Run & Gun into Close Encounters. Unless you get commanded after the Run & Gun.
- The shieldbearer was shut down by the holo guy who had an incendiary on him. Given the assault was in walking distance of him, it didn't matter what he did while burning.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Antifringe
Posts: 226
Joined: Tue Jan 24, 2017 9:52 pm

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Antifringe »

I've never really made snapshot snipers work, but I have always loved tank scouts. This makes me want to try both together.

I've found that the combo of Dodge PCS, Predator/Warden, Hazmat, Mindshield, Combatives, and Hard Target create a "fortress" soldier that is resistant or immune to most attacks in the game. Explosions are your only true weakness. They can act a a forward spotter forever, and waste so many ADVENT actions while doing so. With combatives +slash, they also slowly build up a pile of dead lancers, 'lids, and zombies.
Dwarfling
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2017 12:16 pm

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Dwarfling »

Thing with Snapshot Sharpshooters is that they seem to work in paper, but in the actual game the AI prefers to take cover paralel to your firing line, so you will rarely get to move your sniper to a flanking position from behind your line. You would basically need to be behind enemy lines risking activations and whatnot. So you'll probably keep them up in a sniper perch taking regular shots. The DFA Sharpshooter doesn't have to bother taking those risks, it'll usually be shooting thru cover with the +25aim from the elite stock. And the Rapid Targeting Sharpshooter can buff others' shots if he can't take good shots himself.

Only real advantage I got out of my SS Sharpshooter was that he could keep up with the team during VIP extractions. Otherwise most of the time he would be shooting at aliens on half-cover and robotics.
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Psieye »

Dwarfling wrote:Thing with Snapshot Sharpshooters is that they seem to work in paper, but in the actual game the AI prefers to take cover paralel to your firing line, so you will rarely get to move your sniper to a flanking position from behind your line. You would basically need to be behind enemy lines risking activations and whatnot. So you'll probably keep them up in a sniper perch taking regular shots. The DFA Sharpshooter doesn't have to bother taking those risks, it'll usually be shooting thru cover with the +25aim from the elite stock. And the Rapid Targeting Sharpshooter can buff others' shots if he can't take good shots himself.
Two things I note from that description:
1) you actually have space to get to high ground. My midgame 8-man GOp team expects to be killing 2~3 pods without really moving from the starting location. So for the first half of the mission none of my snipers can reach high ground.
2) ideally, I have a firing point: a single tank. This makes the AI want to fan out in an arc, trying to overwatch creep into a flanking position. My snipers haven't moved from the safe territory, the firing point is just so far out to the side that to flank my tank, the AI has to get flanked by my snipers. If I must have a firing line, I still orient that line such that the AI naturally flanks itself to my sniper who hasn't deviated from the original approach vector.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Psieye »

8-man GOp squad vs Extract VIP - 22 turn limit, Moderate (2 days of infiltration, 29%)

Turn 1: shinobi spots pod. All non-snipers get in position. Entire pod is holo'd by Multitargeting. MSgt sniper pops Serial and Deadshots a Sergeant. Pod rushes into cover, 1 dying to OW wall. MSgt sniper walks across into flanking position and Snapshots 2 other Advent then does Steady Weapon. The other sniper Snapshots the remaining trooper. The grenadier feels awkward for having Rapid Deployed a fat smoke screen for nothing.

Turn 2: shinobi finds nothing, assault finds pod while picking up loot (and getting into cover). Pod scampers and the snek happened to take cover in the perfect position for SSgt sniper to shoot it - low damage roll though. Said snek decides overwatch without moving is the best thing it can do. Might be because a sectoid made the assault (already buffed with Aid Protocol) hunker down in panic. The stun lancer that approached got denied by the OW wall beyond its original sight.

Turn 3: SSgt sniper finishes the snek job. MSgt sniper has nothing to do so moves and Steady Weapon. OW specialist goes Ever Vigilant after running up to a flanking position on a sectoid. Ends up activating a pod and killing a Naja from OW. A sectoid decides the snek's now-vacant spot is the perfect position to stand while raising a zombie.

Turn 4: dumb sectoid dies to SSgt sniper. Sectoid that got flanked by the Ever Vigilant spec dies to MSgt's elite stock snipe. A nearby sidewinder is shutdown by grenadier's incendiary after she lays down fat smoke to cover both the spec (who missed a shot after Aid Protocol self) and the assault that walked into cover and stunned a flanked Sentry. Burning sidewinder decides rushing into the fat smoke is the best move.

Turn 5: burning sidewinder dies to my 91 Aim grenadier (yeah... Gatecrasher made her) with an advanced scope (RNG was generous with scopes) shooting at point blank (exactly negates the Dense Smoke bonus). The stunned Sentry now dies to 2 specs taking shots and the assault Run & Guns the last active alien. Shinobi spots another pod up ahead.

Turn 6: Holo sniper breaks stealth to oneshot the stun lancer (98% hit chance) in the new pod. The 2 drones in that pod are easily dispatched (one by the shinobi losing stealth). The last pod member is a sectoid that scampered to the best place to have a Close Encounter with the assault. Oops, that move activated the last pod, including a Mec. With the CE extra move, EXO punch the Mec and 2 of 3 Advent in that pod. Happens to destroy the lamp post they were hiding behind as well as setting the car behind on fire. Scout wisely runs away from the car and gets a nice flank shot on my assault, removing exactly 5 ablative HP. The M2 Officer takes an Ever Vigilant shot to run behind new cover: that car. The M2 Trooper next to the Officer dies from the 2nd Ever Vigilant shot. Mec loses remaining HP to Tier 2 Combat Protocol.

Turn 7: car blows up, Officer dead. SSgt sniper grazes the Scout, Combat Protocol finishes him.

No reinforcements arrive. Get hack reward of 75 supply (June). Flawless.


That got sloppy towards the end with bad activations and the shinobi officer way out of place to command. Still, tanks are for rotating around.
Last edited by Psieye on Sat Jul 08, 2017 6:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Psieye »

8-man GOp squad gets briefed on "Preventing a resistance data leak": 2 hours (after Avenger flight time) to infiltrate, 14 turn limit to destroy alien relay, Extremely Heavy alien presence.

Anti-climactic turn 1 when no pod was in sight. Snipers have plenty of safe ground to move around in.

Turn 2: see pod, snipe snek (does not die), total of 4 pod members scamper. Scout with stealth shinobi, Run & Gun EXO punch 3 Advent dead (high damage roll on the M2 Trooper), grenadier lands a 68% shot on the holo'd snek to finish it off. Oh and throw the evac flare to get the timer counting.

Turn 3: see pod, snipe Stun Lancer dead. M2 Officer decides the best way to scamper is by climbing up 2 stories... then jumping back down in front of a large bin. Assault walks up to half cover and stuns (100% chance, due to Stungunner perk). The pod decides that assault behind half cover, with fat smoke and Aid Protocol is untouchable so they all OW.

Turn 4: Double Tap and the other sniper kill 3 Advent. Last pod member dies to assault walking up to the window (stealth holo guy checked the flank). Incidentally, the shinobi sees a 3rd pod has walked up close and can't move without revealing self (which would activate). He hunkers down while an OW wall is set up: this pod heard the sniper shot and is on Orange Alert. Said pod moves 1 tile and activates. Faceless in the pod dies to OW, a sidewinder gets an Orange Alert shot while flanking the shinobi... but grazes for 2 ablative.

4th pod sees the assault and gets a lucky Orange Alert shot (16%) on him... by a drone. 1 ablative lost and he's dazed. So he spends his turn climbing into somewhere out of sight. With the 3rd pod cleaned up, the grenadier presents herself as tank and beckons Advent in. Next turn, reinforcements are due and when a spec maneuveurs into a forward out-of-sight position, accidentally activates pod 5. The Mec in that pod jumps on a roof and gives a sniper something to do this turn (one-shot it).

Shinobi makes reckless fleche to kill a snek and accidentally activates pod 6. That had another Mec which scampered right next to the assault. Free kill later, assault uses CE turn to move out of sight. Still, that's pods 5 and 6 active with 4 not quite cleaned up. First wave of reinforcements now portal in and immediately spot the holo guy.

Holo guy EXO punches 2 sectoids - 1 survives and the car it was behind doesn't blow up until later. Though said sectoid decided it had to dash to get into cover (because surrounded) and died to the spec who had triggered pod 6. Reinforcements included a snek that my 91 aim grenadier could not kill with a Chain Shot (100% hit chance) - damn snek graze-dodged both shots and stood at 1 HP. Decided this was a good reason to pull back the front line: the shinboi (having survived 2 flank shots and only taking 2 flesh HP damage) ran back to fleche it. Likewise the assault ran back into view and presented himself as the sole tank in sight.

A sidewinder from pod 5 gets a flank shot on the grenadier, taking her to 1 HP below full (covered by Field Surgeon). Shinobi's EXO punch killed the other 2 aliens behind that sidewinder (by blowing up a car through the wall) but this snek lived with 2 HP. Until the Trial by Fire sniper Snapshot it at 41% hit chance on the same turn.

When the 2nd wave of reinforcements portal in (some 6 bodies at once), all regular pods were dead. Spec is in position to get a 100% hack on a lamppost offering Deception: mind control a random for 2 turns. Gets a 3 HP sectoid... That spec then does Full Override on the Mec. Decides not to risk a full mastery and settles for "hack until end of combat" - 87% chance but rolls extremely high anyway. Oh well, risk could not be taken. Somewhat bizzarely, that made a random Stun lancer also get mind controlled.

With the 2nd reinforcements mopped up, it was time to destroy the relay (after throwing a new evac flare). Grenadier runs up, pops Rapid Deployment and launches Shaped Charge at a wall, then walks forward. Next turn, reloads gun and throws 2nd Shaped Charge (thank you Full Kit). Snipers can now see the relay from across the street even though it was deep inside a building. Turns out the Double Tap sniper didn't even need to do anything, we had so much damage in position (including 2 other snipers) the relay died. Relay will always get hit, even from a shotgun far away. So the 3rd reinforcements show up but by now everyone can dash to the new evac point.

Wounds: 7 days on the LCpl shinobi. Nobody else.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Sigeasol
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2017 1:02 am

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Sigeasol »

Hey Psieye,

Enjoying reading these. Would you be able to post your builds for your snipers? Also, Snap shot v Rapid Targeting for your strat - thoughts?
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Psieye »

So I did a Rendezvous in a region the 8-man GOp squad was very active in (including a UFO stomp). This was what I had to kill 1 faceless:

1 SSgt Ranger with Laser
5 volunteer rebels
3 Resistance Mecs

Hardest part of the mission was not using the missiles in case corpses blow up.
Sigeasol wrote:Hey Psieye,

Enjoying reading these. Would you be able to post your builds for your snipers? Also, Snap shot v Rapid Targeting for your strat - thoughts?
I find that the only thing which matters is that they have Snapshot. Specifically, I bring 2 Snapshot and 1 Rapid Targetting sniper on the 8man GOp. Sometimes I worry that I should be training up a backup Rapid Targetting sniper. Given all the doom I read about November-ish with Sectopods and Gatekeepers, I'm mass producing Kubikiri snipers (i.e. they have Aggression) who have Snapshot. My starting pair of Snapshot snipers took Damn Good Ground but the newer generation without that still do fine - as I said earlier in this thread, half the time I don't even have room to reach high ground. I don't expect them to ever be shot at so they ignore defensive perks and I do like them having Long Watch. But I'm ok with doing strange builds, like this Snapshot officer with Independent Targeting and Hi Def Holo (+crit) - just so he can yell "Get some, and I mean on That One" for stacked +crit.

The Rapid Targetter used to run around in EXO. 17 -3 mobility is good for that. But once he finally hit MSgt and took Double Tap, I think he doesn't need it anymore. I have one Serial snapshot guy (with Hunter's Instincts and Deadshot) but I'm leaning strongly towards Double Tap for the rest of my snipers. If I can get 3 kills with Serial I consider that good enough: it's easier when he can walk and keep shooting.


In the latest episode of 8-man GOp squad (on a deliberate failure Propaganda mission):

Advent Sergeant: "Look! An XCOM shinobi over there! Sectoids, take cover from her ballistic SMG!"
Sectoids obey and look threateningly at the shinobi. They never saw the Laser and Mag sniper rifles taking them out from behind them.

Advent Sergeant: "The shinobi has hunkered down in low cover, I can't possibly hit her. I will get closer and watch for her leaving cover."
Sergeant gets shot from behind by a Laser sniper and a Mag Cannon. The latter by a gunner who got flanked by a Muton and shrugged it off after the Field Surgeon looked at his wounds. Said Muton is now on fire (incendiary) and has an Ever Vigilant guy looking at him (and a sectoid on the other side - he's got eyes on the back of his head).

The AWC scientist has been told to get back to the lab to help with Coilgun research: because nobody is wounded.

Edit: and of course as soon as I say that I get a wounded. SSgt got promoted after a tower mission and got 9 days in hospital for losing 1 HP (did not fit a Field Surgeon in this mission). Moment of lulz in that mission: MSgt assault gets tongue grabbed by the last pod (everything else died earlier - 100% hit stun gun and a ranger made sure of that after Mr Serial failed his kill streak). The very next turn, shinobi hacks the network. Assault is now in position to shotgun waltz around the rest of the pod despite the smoke from a Conc. Rocket. Or would have if the shinobi's EXO punch (from a storey below) didn't finish everything off.

Meantime, my first Trial by Fire mission (now that said officer is out of the 8-man GOp squad). A really grindy stalemate against 1 snek for about 5 turns when the officer got fed up and ran around the map to snapshot it from the flank. Seems the 75 Aim snek decided the odds weren't good hitting anyone in high cover while suppressed, holo'd and with Covering Fire threatened. Shortly after, the squaddie shinobi sheepishly showed herself next to the overwatching Advent Engineer and missed her shot (at range 2) with a ballistic SMG. Engineer then decided the shinobi had too much armour/ablative to be worth shooting at so it retreated and flung a flashbang at her even though nobody else was around to follow through. Mindshield! It's not just for psychically induced disorientation! The M2 Officer that came with this Engineer had scampered out a window and did nothing because constant suppression until the Snapshot officer reloaded and flanked him.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Psieye »

In the latest episode of 8-man GOp: Moderate-Heavy Smash & Grab.

It started with a disappointingly small 2-man pod that was so close I activated it by moving 1 square. Advent Gunner was shot through low cover by the MSgt snapshot sniper. The Sergeant was suppressed into Hunkering because my gunner had Aid Protocol up.

The OW spec found the 2nd pod with Scanning Protocol: in a building across the street that would definitely have flanked us if we'd just advanced down the road. The LCpl newbie sniper happened to have line of sight on a Sergeant (one-shot it) once the shinobi got a closer look. That put the Mec in a position where Mr Holo could Double Tap it. Once the OW wall was done, there were just sectoids left. One got a successful Mindspin off but instead of an actually useful debuff it rolled a Mind Control - not what a sectoid wants when it walked up to easy-flank range.

As the non-snipers of the squad approached the loot building (gene clinic), a second Scanning Protocol revealed enemies up high on the roof. The turn after scan wore off, the shinobi walked to some suitable corner and EXO punched through 2 stories and scored 6 kills. Turns out there were 2 pods up there and they both activated. The LCpl sniper happened to be in the perfect place to get a flank shot on a muton from across the map. The Stun Lancer had no chance with Elite Scope + T2 holo marking him. A drone was hacked - next turn it ran around to trigger OWs.

Turns out this drone activated the last pod with 2 mutons in it. That gave the snipers something to do that turn, though only one muton could be seen from their nest (neither snipers had DfA). That other muton would end up denying me the last loot box. At one point I picked up some dropped loot with the shinobi and this muton showed up to flank - my miscalculation. It then decided Suppression was what it wanted to do instead of getting a good shot off. Next turn the shinobi got stacked so high in effective def it didn't even bother shooting when she ran away. It did mean the muton got to shoot at the gunner up on the ceiling but I got lucky and didn't get hit at 20%.

The squad just ran away now, with the hacker having grabbed the second last loot box. While everyone was dashing hard towards the evac (near the starting location), that muton showed itself in low cover. Snipers were ready for it. It dropped some loot. Hacker spec now ordered to dash back, grab that loot and then go to evac - he made it in time (Mag SMG speed).
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Psieye
Posts: 829
Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:27 am

Re: Mass Snapshot Snipers and Tank Shinobis

Post by Psieye »

Not much to tell of 8-man GOp as I've been doing a lot of 6-man GOps (full intel in lots of regions - we found some good timers). But the 8-man squad did do a 42% supply raid. Beautiful opener where the command pod was right in front of the starting location (like, 2 tiles away to see it) and a Serial (backed up by Double Taps) smacked most of them away. Too bad I had a bad reveal and my 91 aim Grenadier was inadequately supported - got tongue-grabbed and there was a full pod waiting to take action. Might have to put a scientist back in the AWC for this.
My three 8-man GOp squad Commander campaigns:
1st
2nd
3rd
Post Reply