HLPX-COM VictoriousThis game was transcendent.
The team I took to Mars was the best team I've ever had in an X-COM game; more than half of it was superior to the best soldier I've had previously, during a winning game of TFTD. Everyone, even you Squad Two and Squad Three, did incredibly well towards the end. Squad Two in particular was actually starting to catch up to Squad One in terms of TUs, though they turned out not to have the core of freakishly high psionics-resistence soldiers Squad One did. Still, several representatives of Squad 2 went on the final assault and rendered invaluable service there.
I didn't have to launch when I did thanks to everyone performing well as my points totals were still in the positive by about three thousand per month just from day-to-day interception and recovery of UFOs. But I promised I'd go for Cydonia when psi training was done, so I did.
And what happened on Cydonia was beyond imagining. Never, in my wildest dreams, did I think the mission would go so well. And all without a single Psi Amp on our side, a single instance of a soldier being mind-controlled, and only the one tank getting shot and killed. If somebody can tell me how the **** I did this, I'd like to know, because I have no clue.
Final stats for the soldiers who did not go to Mars.
Squad Onejg18, Sergeant, 24 missions, 15 kills, 74 TUs, Psi Strength 33
jr2, Sergeant, 27 missions, 12 kills, 73 TUs, Psi Strength 47
Fury, Sergeant, 19 missions, 16 kills, 73 TUs, Psi Strength 36
Squad TwoMjn.Mixael, Captain, 35 missions, 26 kills, 77 TUs, Psi Strength 50
Watsisname, Squaddie, 24 missions, 15 kills, 74 TUs, Psi Strength 33
Backslash, Squaddie, 19 missions, 9 kills, 71 TUs, Psi Strength 43
General Battuta, Squaddie, 20 missions, 6 kills, 68 TUs, Psi Strength 7
Hades, Squaddie, 18 missions, 13 kills, 67 TUs, Psi Strength 3
CommanderDJ The 2nd, Squaddie, 5 missions, 1 kill, 58 TUs, Psi Strength unknown (didn't have enough space to train him)
Veers, Squaddie, 22 missions, 12 kills, 68 TUs, Psi Strength 20.
Alex Heartnet, Squaddie, 19 missions, 11 kills, 71 TUs, Psi Strength 10
Squad ThreeCyborg17, Squaddie, 5 missions, 2 kills, 62 TUs, Psi Strength unknown (lab in the Phillipines went up only the month before, they only started training in December, so all Squad Three gets that)
Mongoose Jr., Squaddie, 5 missions, 1 kill, 63 TUs, Psi Strength unknown
Polpolion Mark 2, Squaddie, 5 missions, 2 kills, 63 TU, Psi Strength unknown
redsniper two, Squaddie, 5 missions, 3 kills, 61 TU, Psi Strength unknown
Darth Jeff Vader, Squaddie, 5 missions, 2 kills, 63 TU, Psi Strength unknown
Turambar Turin, Squaddie, 5 missions, 1 kill, 62 TU, Psi Strength unknown
Ravenholme Dos, Squaddie, 5 missions, 3 kills, 59 TU, Psi Strength unknown
FireSpawn's Cousin, Squaddie, 4 missions, 3 kills, 64 TU, Psi Strength unknown
Ironbeer The 2nd, Squaddie, 5 missions, 1 kills, 60 TU, Psi Strength unknown
StarSlayer Clone #57, Squaddie, 5 missions, 3 kills, 59 TU, Psi Strength unknown
Everyone Else Who Deserves RecognitionSupport StaffNuke (Interceptor 2)
Darius (Skyranger 1, Avenger 1 Pilot, Avenger 1 Mars Run)
Spoon (Squad 1 Tanks, Plasma Hovertanks Mars Run)
Scotty (Interceptor 3, Avenger 1 Weapons, Avenger 1 Mars Run)
Flipside (Squad Two Tanks, Laser Tanks Mars Run)
MP-Ryan (Skyranger 2)
JGZinv (Interceptor 4)
Gortef (Interceptor 5)
Goober 5003 (Skyranger 3)
Son of Headdie (Squad 3 Tanks)
Dekker's Brain (Avenger 1 AI, Avenger 1 Mars Run)
Thaeris (Head of Biology Section, Area 51 Research)
z64555 (self-appointed Head of Engineering Section, Area 51)
The FallenZacam, Rookie; made a kill but did not survive the mission (deceased by plasma rifle shot, then blown up by friendly grenade, Mission 1)
Karajorma, Rookie (deceased by plasma pistol shot, Mission 1)
Mongoose, Rookie; made two kills but did not survive the mission (deceased by plasma rifle and then heavy plasma shot, Mission 3)
Goober5000, Sergeant (blew himself up with a heavy cannon HE round at point-blank, Mission 5)
Swantz, Squaddie (shot with plasma pistol, deceased by alien grenade, Mission 5)
Jeff Vader, Squaddie (deceased by alien grenade, Mission 5)
Redsniper, Rookie (deceased by alien grenade, Mission 5)
Polpolion, Squaddie (deceased by plasma pistol shot, Mission 5)
CommanderDJ, Squaddie (deceased by multiple cyberdisc plasma cannon shot, Mission 6)
The First Tank, Cannon Tank (deceased by multiple cyberdisc and heavy plasma shot, Mission 6)
Rodo, Squaddie (deceased by alien grenade, Mission 8)
Col. Fishguts, Squaddie (deceased by plasma cannon shot, Mission 8)
Titan, Squaddie (deceased by plasma rifle shot, Mission 9)
The Second Tank, Laser Tank (torn into tiny pieces by a Chryssalid, Mission 9)
Turambar, Rookie (deceased by plasma rifle shot, Mission 13)
mxlm, Squaddie (deceased by plasma rifle shot, Mission 14)
LordMelvin, Squaddie (deceased by alien grenade, Mission 15)
Ravenholme, Squaddie (deceased by alien grenade, Mission 15)
Commander Zane, Squaddie (MIA, Mission 15)
IronBeer, Squaddie (deceased by laser rifle from mind-controlled StarSlayer, Mission 17)
Goober5001, Squaddie (deceased by laser rifle from mind-controlled StarSlayer, Mission 17)
FireSpawn, Rookie (deceased by grenade from mind-controlled Veers, Mission 17)
StarSlayer, Rookie (MIA, Mission 17)
Headdie, Sergeant (deceased by heavy plasma shot, Mission 19)
Rodo Mk2, Rookie; made a kill but did not survive the mission (deceased by plasma rifle shot, Mission 19)
The_Force, Rookie; hit an alien but did not survive the mission (deceased by multiple plasma rifle shot, Mission 19)
Dekker (Interceptor 1, deceased by Terror Ship plasma beam over Central Africa prior to Mission What Is This I Don't Even.)
The Third Tank, Laser Tank (deceased by five-plus Heavy Plasma shot, Cydonia Surface)