Part 39: Operation Jack Pronunciation

Operation Jack Pronunciation


Not too much to go over in terms of game mechanics with this update, just another late game retaliation mission to deal with. A few faceless surprises and unexpectedly volatile gas tanks make up the most of my problems. Although Margotinni did come within 1 HP of being knocked out or killed, scary stuff there. Goes to show even in the late game when you've got good armor and skills and everything you can still be dangerously close to death if even two enemy actions line up properly. That aside my biggest thought turns towards the use pf Psi soldiers. They can be extremely powerful and mop up large swaths of the battlefield on their own but I tend to use them as a safety net. They don't promote or get strong based on kills like your other soldiers do so it is less important for them to actually score kills during a battle. Another reason for my more conservative use of Shellshock is because all Psi abilities are on cool downs and I have Giant Robotic Crab Syndrome. That, and because the Psi soldiers get so many varying abilities it's nice to leave them to the end of the turn and use what ever is needed to ensure a relatively safe alien turn. Let the other soldiers do their thing to score kills and then keep the Psi around to clean up any missed shots or unfortunate turn of events during the turn. It may be less impressive but merely having Shellshock around as a safety net means I can be a lot more confident in all of my other actions. Accidentally advance too far and reveal a gatekeeper? Stasis and buy yourself a turn to deal with that. Couldn't shoot out a couple of ADVENT from high cover? Void rift those jerks. Got a muton in a bad place? Mind control that dumb brute. Play style may differ from person to person, but with little else to talk about I figured I'd air out my pro defensive oriented thinking on Psi soldiers.


Outside of the mission we get some interesting plot, and if the other cut scenes hadn't already spelled it out enough we pretty much know for certain what is going on now. The aliens are using human DNA to make or modify bodies suitable as hosts for Ethereals. Why they need tens of thousands, if not more, humans liquefied to meet this goal is still a little unknown. Seems like a really high number of people to be put into a blender for this project. Also how the whole Avatar body things works is a bit of a mystery. It kind of looked like The Bureau set up where the Ethereal was floating behind the Avatar body when we fought it. Then during the autopsy the purple cloud of Ethereal forms an image and then dissipates into the air leave me with questions like where was that Ethereals physical body? Did the Ethereal shift it's entire brain/consciousness into the Avatar body? If it did, then why'd it survive as a purple ghost for a little while longer? And if it doesn't die with the body, why do they need bodies at all? Can Ethereals just live as a energy cloud or psionic entity with out a physical anchor? Maybe the Avatar body just let the Ethereal project itself... but why didn't that stop when the Avatar died too. So many questions!