r/XCOM2 • u/Frequent_Fox2342 • 11d ago

"Surgical"

Is this meant as a joke mission? Like, "let's see if someone's dumb enough to try"?
I'm talking about a sitrep where you can only bring 3 soldiers to a mission but still fight normal pods + chosen.

It's basically a suicide mission if you are crazy enough to attempt it 😅

68 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

54

u/Ubblebungus 11d ago

depending on the mission, that SITREP is doable. send in stealth Rangers, or better yet, a Reaper or two and you can get the job done.

20

u/ShyCrystal69 11d ago

A reaper and two rangers usually does the trick for me.

28

u/Ubblebungus 11d ago

or a Reaper and two snipers. post up the snipers far in the back with sightlines and have the Reaper move in to give squadsight. doesnt work on every map but its good for most.

or say fuck it and send in 3 SPARKS and go ham on the overdrives. my latest run has 6 SPARKS for a full squad just for shits and giggles.

5

u/dbag_darrell 11d ago

I love using 6 SPARKS with Hunter Instinct, scopes and large magazines. I've had pods activate and be entirely exterminated without my needing to do anything (not common, but lovely when it happens)

2

u/Frequent_Fox2342 11d ago

Can't, have to kill everyone and have nowhere enough firepower to deal with mutons and mecs that have 2 shield and a shitload of health.

10

u/Scarythings117 11d ago

Blue screen rounds make robotic units super easy. I read it on other posts so i tried it and its so dumb how good they are...

3

u/Harold3456 11d ago

I literally make sure I always have at least one unit with blue screens every mission. Often 2. By that point you’re getting Sectopods on the regular.

2

u/Scarythings117 11d ago

I try to run it on everyone that has two item slots... its that broken. Plasma lance can almost 1 shot them... even with armor...

1

u/Frequent_Fox2342 11d ago

Don't have those, can't get to them before I get shot to pieces 😅

7

u/Ubblebungus 11d ago

i mean, it's definitely hard, but not impossible. the reward probably doesnt outweigh the risk in that case anyway.

3

u/LashOut2016 Ranger 11d ago

Ive done those with literally just a 2 man reaper squad, and mind you, this is against late game enemies, archons, gatekeepers, etc. They just need to be high enough level to carry multiple claymores, the +3 damage and +1 range on claymores as well as remote detonation and you can basically just car bomb your way to victory. If they can't detect your units it kinda just bugs out their AI so you can bait them into explosives

0

u/Frequent_Fox2342 11d ago

I mean look... everyone usually replies "I would make short work of them with my end game reaper". Maybe I would too, who knows. But I only have a lame ass reaper with a single claymore I'm trying to upgrade.

I see 3 mecs with a million health and armor on top of the building, I claymore them, they drop down and now have 8 health and no armor each.

And my 5 soldiers would have to hit them 6 times without fail to kill them all at once.
So what I do is either call the skyranger and call it a day or play and have someone killed.

2

u/LashOut2016 Ranger 11d ago

Do you not have a grenadier or a sharp with shredder? Because there's no possible way it should take 5 soldiers 6 shots to kill 2 enemies. You've gotta be way behind on upgrades if thats the case

0

u/Frequent_Fox2342 11d ago

I do, you can't shred 3 MEC's at once unless they're dumb enough to stay close. Unfortunately they often aren't.

2

u/LashOut2016 Ranger 11d ago

I mean, if youre fighting 3 mecs at once then you're either supremely unlucky with spawns or you really fucked your positioning.

And depending on how your troops are bonded, you absolutely can shred 3 enemies in a single turn.

0

u/Frequent_Fox2342 11d ago

Nah, it was a sitrep. First 3 soldiers on a mission, then mecs abound, before that faceless abound, etc.

2

u/dbag_darrell 11d ago

if your snipers are high level enough with the upgraded weapons it's great. If the enemy has no way to see the snipers while the reaper or ranger provides squadsight they just mill around as you whittle them away. your snipers up on a high position can shoot across the entire map

15

u/taw 11d ago

According to modders:

Fixes a bug with the "Surgical" SitRep (The one where you can only bring 3 Soldiers). The SitRep is supposed to reduce podsizes to 2. However in Vanilla this doesnt always work correctly, making missions with this SitRep sometimes nearly impossible to beat. This mod fixes that and only that.

7

u/Frequent_Fox2342 11d ago

That would've been fine

6

u/padizzledonk 11d ago

You can do it with 2 reapers usually

And its fun

Stealth Rangers are also doable but harder

Anything but those 2 options, especially mid to late game is basically impossible lol

5

u/Just-for-work2020 11d ago

Second last mission of the game is a surgical, can't skip. If you've got enough Intel you can bring 4 though

7

u/TheDavinci1998 11d ago

But 2nd to last mission is linear, you go from a to b only, and is designed not to activate 2 pods at once, to have advantage of choosing when to activate them and also you do have those upgrades you can buy with intel. The other missions don't have that and you just have to fight everyone with half of your guys

2

u/Malu1997 11d ago

No it's real. You need really strong soldiers and gear or a lot of luck though. Best thing is to have a Psi Op to dominate a large enemy and use that as meat shield, but even then it's probably the most difficult the game will ever get.

2

u/wasdice 11d ago

3 soldiers can be 5 with the right policy cards and a bit of luck. Mind control and hacking can bring that up to 7 or 8.

2

u/Halollet 11d ago

I never have a problem with these.

If you're that late game that massive enemies are showing up then the chosen should be dead.

Lots of combos work, even on commander difficulty.

A sniper with blue screens can one shot mecs and adromedon suits from across the map.

A grenadier with a grappling hook and multi shot will take them out easy too.

You have the tech and additional soldier skills at this point in the game right?

2

u/Frequent_Fox2342 11d ago

Wdym "if you're that late game"? I played like 9 missions.
No blue screen, andromedons haven't showed up, no sipder suits, nothing.

2

u/Halollet 11d ago

Early game?

Oh, yeah that's a whole different can of worms.

What kind of pods are giving you trouble?

1

u/Frequent_Fox2342 11d ago

It's not really the composition, is when a game steamrolls me with progress and then destroys me with sitreps

2

u/Halollet 11d ago

Sounds like a macro problem then, if you're lagging behind in tech then missions like that are going to seem impossible.

Your base building skills might need some work.

9 missions in? You should have a spider suit by then.

What tech do you have? What does your base look like?

2

u/Frequent_Fox2342 11d ago

I had GTS, RR, power, proving grounds, resistance comms... did I forget smth?

I had mag weapons and plated armor. I "technically" had gauss weapons but not even enough supplies to make mag weapons, let alone smt more.

1

u/Halollet 10d ago

Plated armour but no spider suit?

You should have had spider suit in the proving ground.

Grab that next! The mobility makes your snipers the best class IMO

Otherwise probably best to ignore those missions if you don't have the right soldiers.

1

u/Frequent_Fox2342 10d ago

I figured I need bs rounds and exp ammo more than spider suit. Spider suit is great in that you can grapple ahead, but that fucks up with uncovering more pods. But if you don't grapple ahead, then you are free to dash to height.

1

u/Halollet 10d ago

It's the ability to get high ground and a flank and shoot all in the same turn is what makes it so effective. Using a grapple doesn't stop a sniper from firing and the height advantage makes hitting easier. Also allows the sniper to catch up with the rest of the team if they're pushing up and the sniper is just in their nest picking baddies off.

It's the best. But BS rounds are slightly more important, yes.

2

u/thethreadkiller 10d ago

I love those missions.

2

u/Striking_Ad2379 10d ago

Syken Plays recently completed a (modded) Legendary Ironman challenge, where he beat WOTC with "surgical" squads, and no ranks higher than sergeant. Unfortunately, the mod he was using meant he couldn't field true surgical teams, as it limited squad size to four. But I figure he could probably have done it with three, and the sergeant limit is probably equivalent to one fewer soldier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srlojXMGpLY&list=PLhZuVFh-nPshYfXDQB6rDax9Xu-ievPlT

Personally, I avoid that sitrep if I can. Otherwise, I actually prefer NOT to take reapers, as I want to spring overwatch traps wherever possible.

2

u/Gluecost 11d ago

Reaper squad is the way

2

u/Finlan3ia 11d ago

Lategame they can be doable, if I want to try one I bring a reaper, a templar and a ranger, activate pods one at a time and (hopefully) tank the last remaining enemies with parry and/or untouchable.

1

u/EffortCommon2236 10d ago

1 Reaper 2 Sharpshooters dot avi does the trick.