Confounding Light (EU2012)
Description
Confounding Light is an Council mission. This mission will be available sometime after the player completes the mission Friends In Low Places. Like all Council Missions, the mission is initiated by the player being contacted by The Council.
Mission Objectives:
- You have 10 turns to complete the mission
- Place navigation transponders throughout the train.
- Activate the trains drive system from the control room.
Start
Tactics
This mission takes place inside a unique Chinese train station map complete with a high speed communter train. The squad starts out in the corner of the map nearest the train's back end. Located inside each of the train's four cars is a location where a transponder must be placed.
The alien forces in encountered in this mission consist primarily of Thin Men who are present on the map at the start of the mission and who will drop into the map as the squad activates transponders. Additionally Mutons are air-launched from the battleship (on a beam of light, possibly refrecing the 1994 game's intro movie) as the mission progresses; both Thin Men and Mutons who drop into the map will typically use Overwatch as their first action.
To complete the mission, all that is required is to place the 4 transmitters, and get 1 soldier into the conductor's cabin at the front of the train: aliens can still be onscreen, and will dissapear once a soldier is in the hilighted area. You can take advantage of this by having your trooper with the highest move be ready to make a dash for it before placing the last transmitter.
This mission presents a unique challenge in that it has a finite time limit of 10 turns; activating transponders does not extend the time limit like deactivating power nodes do in Bomb Disposal missions. The player must take care to advance quickly enough to place all four transponders and reach the train drive console within this time limit.
- As you can have Mutons appearing as early as in the first half of second month, capturing/interrogating one can thus get you an early lead on Plasma Weapons research.
- Also note that, at the low level you may be at, it makes it VERY likeley you'll have to deal with panicking soldiers from the Muton's Intimidate ability.
- It might not be worth spending time killing aliens: perhaps have a low-value soldier act as the Rear Guard, using Overwatch or Hunkering Down and keeping the persuing aliens busy, while the rest of your team makes forward progress.
- The following mission, Gangplank, can appear as soon as a few days after the successful completion of this one. As this is the most likeley (gruaranteed) of the 3 DLC missions to severely injure your soldiers, plan acordingly on who to send for which mission.
End
Additionally, completing the mission awards the player with the "Bait the Hook" Achievement and the "All Aboard" Achievement if completed with more than 3 turns left on the time.