Long War Capture Battleship Council Mission

[cwayne59]

Does anyone ever successfully complete this mission without save-scumming the heck out of it. I mean, it comes after multiple abduction missions (and a terrorist one too), then that associated train mission. Attempts to suck up most of your moderately experienced personell (still, only have Sgts. at best) while you only have a couple laser weapons and phalanx armor.

How bad is it if I just bail from the mission immediately? Will I automatically lose a country?

[Theo Hardmeier]

Hmmm I don't remember losing a country when I ran my only surviving unit out...but that was quite some time ago.

[RedneckGaijin]

It's a tough mission, but it's technically doable. I replayed it some weeks ago on Twitch, and I had to do two restarts because the aliens decided to clown-car the third ship section EVERY TIME. The third time, I used up all my medkits, but nobody actually died, and we took the thing.

However, when I did it, everybody had full laser weaponry, phalanx armor, AND an eight-person squad commanded by a captain.

My advice is: when the train mission comes up, you KNOW the battleship assault will come up soon, so only take your second-best available crew to the train. I recommend at least two snipers, who can stand on top of the train once the near end is cleared of enemies and become God's finger flicking the bad guys off the mortal coil. I use an assault to deploy the transponders and start the train- Run & Gun is invaluable on that mission.

In general, you NEVER send your top people (except maybe one officer) on Abductions- send your lowest-ranked ones instead (buffing up slightly for Swarming). Save your top squad for council missions, landed UFOs and Swarming-level terror missions. Try to spread experience as broadly as possible, because a couple months after the battleship you are going to encounter waves where five or six missions hit you in as little as four game days, and your barracks are going to empty out FAST.

Tip: build extra laser rifles as soon as you can. A frequent country request is for three laser rifles, and often that country will offer an experienced trooper (Corporal or thereabouts). Later on you'll want to keep extra captive aliens for the same kind of swap. After a certain point it simply isn't worth it to hire rookie troopers- the evolved aliens will wipe them out before they can get any experience.

As far as bailing on the battleship mission, the bounty is AMAZING, and it includes two power cores- vital components for blaster launchers and highest-end plane weaponry- and this is your ONLY opportunity to get them before very late in the game. It's worth it to keep trying.

[Huillam]

Originally posted by cwayne59:

How bad is it if I just bail from the mission immediately? Will I automatically lose a country?

The mission is optional but those fusion cores are totally worth it. On the other hand, assault Carriers sometime (very rarely) land and they're much easier to assault late game. Assuming you have enough firestorms it's possible to shot one down without fusion lances (battleship are best ignored with or without fusion lances).

[red255]

its not rare, its just extremely late game.

the landeds get gradually larger as the campaign goes on, not sure if its dependant on your research slider for the aliens. but it was like 2 years before the assault ships started landing. I know its long war but you should be able to manage a victory by then.

as for the mission in question, its doable. its just going to cost you some wounds, maybe some lives, maybe all the lives. generally speaking we Hole up in certain defensible positions and try to kill as best we can. there are several disks. which alone can kill a few guys, not counting the map's thin men and other units. i take the high ground and hold it. only way you can make it thru.

clown caring is something you need to expect.

[Ditsch]

the only big issue i often had is the scripted cyberdisc which mostly appears right next to my soldiers. If i am unlucky, this ends up in one casuality.

Because the mission is so early, it takes more time to complete- but hey, there is no timer, so i try to stay patient :-)

The very first room can also be so painful- 4x4 low cover spots, right next to each other, no high cover, lack of LOS. Mostly 1 or 2 groups (thank god in low ground), 2 drops of thin men from both sides- and one acid spit ends mostly up in 2 wounded soldiers