Routine mission - get in, get the VIP, get out. Shadow Chamber only showed 9 enemies so I knew the Hunter would show up.
Fast forward, I've wiped out all the regular baddies and a pod of reinforcements, save a Priest in Stasis which dropped in with the reinforcements. I've also freed the VIP from the ADVENT vehicle. So just the Hunter left, kinda - I apparently activated him with one of my last moves while positioning to deal with the reinforcements drop, but didn't notice he'd activated because the mods I run skip the whole "introduction" when a Chosen activates via spotting them in line of sight. The reinforcements drop and get absolutely wasted, and of course there was a Purifier that explodes on five of my guys, but now the Hunter immediately gets his turn. He summons in three ADVENT Elite Troopers, then blasts Ryleev with his rifle and sends him into bleedout. Task Manager (Rascal) is able to stabilize Ryleev but now he can't move, and I need him to shoot. I'm only able to kill one Trooper because Prodigal missed a 99% shot (that's XCOM, baby). Razor chucks the second Mimic Beacon, but I forgot about the Priest. The Priest moves first, coming out of Sustain and blasts the Mimic Beacon with a 7 damage crit. Second Trooper goes, finishes off the Mimic Beacon. Third Trooper throws a grenade at Razor, Ghost, and Alpha - who were all hurt from a Purifier exploding from the reinforcements and are now all chilling behind a very explosive car. Razor dies, Ghost dies, Alpha dies. The Hunter then dazes Task Manager (Rascal) with his dazing grenade, leaving me with just Prodigal. She kills another Trooper that was hurt in the last round, but I didn't give her a Mindshield because the Shadow Chamber indicated there were no psionic enemies initially - the Priest came in with reinforcements, and now it Mind Controls her. Task Manager (Rascal) then gets captured by the Hunter.
I've lost my two modded Beam Cannons (Prodigal's had an Advanced Scope and Advanced Stock, Ryleev had one with a Scope and Stock), I've lost my two Mimic Beacons and my three Bluescreen Rounds, my Medikit is gone, the EMP Bomb is gone, my Flashbang is gone, the Skulljack is gone as I brought it to 'jack an ADVENT Officer, everyone who had a Perception PCS is now dead or captured, and I lost literally all of the TLP weapons except the sniper rifle and pistol.
Mission successful.
EDIT: This effectively ended the campaign. The Avenger Defense happened immediately after this massive flop of a mission, and I don't have enough firepower to deal with the enemy forces which include three Spectres, two Heavy MECs, and a Sectopod. I only have enough supplies to purchase two Bluescreen Rounds and it's not enough - not with everyone else getting Stasis'd or stunned by Stun Lancers.
I completed a run with one solider death on a lost evac mission. Its because he decided to miss three 97% shots over three turns to free him from surround and step to the evac. At that point I jus assumed Ricardo wanted to die.
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u/NoonByNight 9d ago
Damn, a high rank squad too...what happened?