HELP - Someone beat this mission for me and explain how you beat it

[bigjackskid]

Here is the save file.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jjlb4m2sobwjd5u/breaching%20ship.sav?dl=0

It is CE .33.

I can't half my squad gets killed and the other half panicks when trying to breach and clear the door.

[orlinos]

Here are the multiple save files from each step with full save (at Geoscape) after winning with no losses.

Pictures are coming soon.

[Podesta]

Ok, so first a few tips. To place soldiers without any armor or shield in front of a door like that is asking for them to be shot. The only reason you might do that is if you are waiting for the aliens to open the door so you can kill them with reaction shots, but the very least you should place them behind guys with a shield.

The door thing changed a lot through development of the game, I personally don't like very much that the doors auto close after each turn, and even though there is a mod for changing that, I don't use it, because I believe the aliens are not smart enough to remember to close them. Also you have to understand that now, even throwing grenades give the option for aliens to retaliate, so with your positioning, even throwing grenades would result in dead soldiers.

So first I re-positioned the soldiers like this. Notice how they are all under cover, and I have two soldiers relatively close to the door so I can breach in quickly, depending on the situation inside the ship. Also, you have a prime spot for a sniper at the top of the roof, which is a bit rare when breaching ships, so I had to take advantage

I'm not sure what's going on with the floor textures, It might be because of the "Fire in the Hole" mod I'm using, but not sure...

Next is opening the door. Like I said before, In this case, I prefer to simply blow it up. Like you don't C4, the heavy weapons does an equally nice job.

So you have to analyse the situation inside the ship. There are two aliens right in front of the door, so while I could manage to kill one with the "shotgun" guy, he would likely take reaction fire. So we have to either kill them or suppress them. You could use either the sniper guy or the rifleman behind the well for this, which is the one I use.

Now I move in with the rifleman that were close to the door, to either flashbang him, or take a shot, but I realize I have a pretty good sight with the other rifleman behind the well, so I take a shot.

Also, note the location he ends the turn, which is horrible. I'm not sure what I was thinking there, maybe it's because I had to breach it twice, because I realized midway that my "Function keys" were not working, so no screenshots first half of the mission. The situation was so similar and I replayed it the same way, that I'm not sure if I mixed the shots or not. Either way, bad location there, standing right up and open to enemy fire.

Next up, I take that rifleman and try to flashbang the alien, which he misses and take a shot back. Luckily he survives, so I quickly take him out of the front. Instead I choose to kill the other alien with the rifleman I positioned close to the shotgun. He successfully suppress him, which is good enough to allow the assault soldier to move in and kill the alien that shot earlier in the turn.

Next turn, as the other alien was suppressed I feel confident enough to get close with the shotgun and kill him. And then start to re-position my soldiers to prepare for the aliens that ran inside. Later on you have to be more careful, because the aliens start to quickly opening the door and spamming out grenades, which can be very frustrating. So notice how I leave my shotgun guy very close to the door with enough points for reaction shot, just in case the alien decides to be "funny".

Next turn I open the first door with one guy and move in with the other, to save TU. Once I open the second I can see the alien. If I decided to move after that I would likely get a reaction shot, because he definitely had a few TU points saved. As I'm sure I can kill him with one shot from there I take it, and end the mission.Though depending on the situation you might be forced to retreat and reevaluate the options after knowing what was inside the inner part of the ship.

Also, regarding night missions, you really shouldn't be doing them, especially this early in the game, unless you like the extra challenge. If it is not a terror mission on the other side of the globe, which is more tricky to better coordinate the time to dispatch Charlie, you really have no excuse to go into a night mission, you have plenty of time to wait for daylight. The disadvantage you have in them is massive, and if you are playing IronMan, one terror mission in the night, that you get wiped, can mean game over :'(

EDIT: Quick link for the full album: http://imgur.com/a/IDPfz#0

[orlinos]

1) The squad has regrouped in solid cover outside the UFO.

2) The machinegunner has breached the door (since the squad had no rockets or C4). Four aliens still alive.

3) Aliens are hiding, machinegunner is suppressing them.

4) At this point I believe at least one alien has died due to lead poisoning.

5) Another got killed by squad's only shotgunner, the rest of the team is providing support.

6) The squad is very careful and slow.

7) The machinegunner has opened another door.

8) A purple alien has decided to come out and play. The shotgunner was eager to have some fun with him.

9) Getting ready to assault, with shotgunner controlling the corridor and rifleman preparing to throw flashbangs.

10) Here you are, mister alien!

11) BANG!

Edited July 14, 2015 by orlinos

[orlinos]

We both posted almost at the same time, Podesta, cool walkthrough.

I would also add few tips:

1) Invest in C4 - invaluable for breaching UFOs and, along with rockets, capable of opening new assault paths and blowing cover. It's sometimes better to blow up a hole in a wall and to spray the aliens from a distance than to risk assault.

2) In the beginning, when there is no armor to increase weight, I equip all riflemen with shotguns. "I like to keep them for close encounters". Just remember, that superb, elite Xenonauts are capable of missing even when being one tile away from their target, so I always assault building using two. Often with a shield to open doors and scout for them, so they can fully use their TUs.

3) I've been also experimenting with a Grenadier custom role. He has a rifle in his backpack (and can act as a backup rifleman) and in his hands holds a pistol and a flashbang or a grenade. Jolding a pistol or a shotgun makes a Xenonaut less susceptible to reflex shots.

You can also hold a pistol only and then choose a grenade to throw when necessary - it's still less TUs than throwing a grenade when holding a 2-handed weapon.

I also tried giving him a pistol with a shotgun (a dedicated close-combat unit) - but he had nothing to do when fighting in long range.

[bigjackskid]

Orlinos and podesta you are my saviors. I'm reading your post now.

[Podesta]

@Orlinos, yeah, we came up with pretty similar solutions. It all boils down to taking cover and how to prevent taking reaction shots when you are opening doors.