Part 5: Operation Glass Summer

Operation Glass Summer

The first order of business is to draft up a new rookie. Finn Turne was promoted to a sniper, and I don't need three of them. So she's benched for a while until someone gets wounded or we pick up a squad size upgrade.



Hilda Kartal - 32 Will 70 Aim


Hilda is a strong recruit with above default aim, but fairly less will power than default. Until we get some research done there isn't much more to discuss before a mission. We still haven't researched even the first new items for our soldiers to take into the field. We are getting a lot of missions done very early though, this is mission number 4 on the ninth day of the game.



Polsy




Council Missions

Council Missions pop up randomly, for the most part. Operation Progeny and Slingshot also come up as Council missions, but those are more specific and follow their own mission arcs. The regular Council missions come at random and almost always offer a good reward for completion. Early game they can be quite difficult as they usually feature air dropped Thin Men heavily. Early on Thin Men can pose a very real threat with their high mobility and the damage from the light plasma rifle can routinely one shot rookies and squaddies until you develop better armor.

The random nature of the rewards can be a hit or miss thing sometimes. Often Council missions will pop up in high panic countries, allowing you a mission to curb the panic and gain valuable rewards from doing so. The rewards are a bit like abduction missions but better, usually combining money with a random number of engineers, scientists, or a new soldier, all along with the panic reduction. Council missions can be ignored, but there is rarely a situation where that would be the best course of action.

There are a couple different types of Council missions as well. Target extraction can work in two ways. You can either start out with control of the VIP and work your way across the map to the Skyranger, or you start at the Skyranger and have to locate the VIP and then escort them back again. There are also bomb defuse missions that force the player to race a ticking clock to stop a bomb, while fighting the alien forces at the same time. In any council mission the added element can often prove difficult to manage.