Talk:Medals (EU2012)

I think I have gotten two of the Council Medals, but none of the Defender medals, and I think 4 of the Urban one. --Xuncu 17:44, 16 November 2013 (EST)

• Ok, got the Defender one, when a soldier got killed, but not after several Critical Wounded-- of which were my Psi Assaults with Second Heart, or one of my early squad that I made MEC-- I had to let one get MCed and kill him myself to get the medal. --Xuncu 05:06, 18 November 2013 (EST)
• And I had received two of the Council medals. The MEC soldier I had 'sacrificed' had a medal earlier (worth noting that it carries over to MEC conversion?), and the mission after that (a landed UFO Assault in a forest), I got another Urban medal. --Xuncu 08:09, 18 November 2013 (EST)

Council Medal of Honor

I believe I have identified some of the objectives for getting the Council Medal of Honor. It appears to have to do with Terror Missions. By watching carefully, I have noticed that it seems to be awarded after successful Terror Missions. --Alexbuzzbee 10:54, 20 November 2013 (EST)

Has anyone identified how the primary (or left) bonus is calculated on this medal? +1 Aim and Will for each mission completed with no soldier deaths, up to a maximum of +10. Does it have to be consecutive missions or total? Probably much less useful if requires consecutive missions without deaths to maintain maximum benefit.--DracoGriffin 04:34, 28 November 2013 (EST)

This is looking weird. Brought my benched Heavy Colonel that's been with me on many missions with all four medals except Star of Terra. However, I cannot recall when I gave this medal to her, so this may play a part but I do recall doing it early to mid-game (currently at Gollop Chamber). Bring Sledge, Heavy colonel onto Overseer mission and notice no bonus from this medal. Huh, that's weird. Skip ahead to next mission, EXALT Data Recovery, and medal shows up as +1 Aim and Will. I KNOW I've had more than one mission without deaths, and the last ten I might've lost one soldier but two blue shirts during Base Defense which was couple missions ago.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is based on the awarded soldier's actual missions (consecutively it seems, otherwise it resets), not the Commander's/player's missions, which would make this medal very useless unless you plan to ALWAYS bring that soldier along and hope not in hospital to reset counter? Definitely need help verifying this bonus from other players.--DracoGriffin 20:18, 7 December 2013 (EST)

If it only works if the soldiers is on consecutive missions, I'd suggest hanging it either on someone with Adaptive Bone Marrow, since they rarely spend more than 2-3 days in the hospital with Rapid Recovery, or a MEC, who can tank a huge amount of damage before going into hospital time. Arrow Quivershaft 20:21, 7 December 2013 (EST)

Looks like it is. Did Deluge without Sledge, then brought her with me to a landed Abductor. Instead of being +3 Aim & Will since been three missions since Overseer UFO (Overseer, EXALT Data Recovery, Deluge), it's only +2 Aim & Will since Sledge was in Overseer (+0), EXALT Data Recovery (+1), and landed Abductor (+2). Looks like the other bonus is much more useful; throw it on a MEC, Assault or Sniper and it's "always" on. Further testing is needed for sure, but does not seem to reset insofar I've seen with very limited testing, in terms of consecutive missions.--DracoGriffin 21:49, 7 December 2013 (EST)

Will bonuses are also kinda less useful since Will's best use is for Psionics, for which Will gained from Medals doesn't apply anyways. So yeah. I'd suggest going with the static boost and using it on a shotgunner assault or a MEC, and giving them some protection from strangulation. Arrow Quivershaft 22:46, 7 December 2013 (EST)

Special Missions?

Terror Mission is definatly one, unlocked the medal after completing my first Terror.--Ditto51 18:11, 28 November 2013 (EST)

Defender's Medal

Haven't unlocked this yet but have a soldier who is Gravely Wounded, where did that bit of information come from?--Ditto51 05:17, 29 November 2013 (EST)

Only times I've gotten it was when a solder got straight-up killed, but not when, say, I let a soldier with Double-heart go into Critically Wounded. --Xuncu 05:36, 29 November 2013 (EST)

Hm; unlock it, apparently, with the soldier death, because I just got another one after the next mission, a UFO crash, and the only damage I took was armor damage from standing next to an exploding Etherial. (save-test) Scratch that; after no damage whatsoever. --Xuncu 06:24, 29 November 2013 (EST)

Got it after someone died and then again on another EXALT Mission without taking any damage...In what Mission Type did your soldier die?--Ditto51 11:12, 6 December 2013 (EST)

Would Critically Wounded (requiring stabilization) be considered "death"? The only way to test the unlocking this medal is when it is first unlocked (so first mission with 4 rookies is ideal) as afterwards, I think it is somehow chosen by the game to increase amount, regardless of repeating "unlock" conditions as seen above. I went from March to August with no deaths or "critically wounded" but some wounded but never unlocked this medal. Another game I had a rookie (first mission) "critically wounded" but saved him by killing remaining Sectoids before he bled out and unlocked this medal (and then was rewarded this medal randomly in consecutive missions). So the initial unlock condition may not be stabilizing a soldier, so much as actual death and critically wounded are viewed by game as both "dying", one's just reversible. :P--DracoGriffin 13:11, 6 December 2013 (EST)

In my initial game, which was lossless, I have yet to unlock this medal, despite some soldiers sustaining critical wounds. Therefore, I'm going to come down on the side of "Soldier must die" as an unlock condition. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the programming was handled such that the medal unlocking is tied to the opening of the Memorial Wall; it'd be the easiest way to do it since there's already a trigger in place. Arrow Quivershaft 17:49, 6 December 2013 (EST)

Sandbox: Medal Effect choices

Urban Combat Badge

This is a pretty one-sided choice. Defense bonuses apply against all units shooting at you, and you should generally be in cover anyways. The aim bonus, on the other hand, requires an enemy to be in Full Cover to apply; you generally shouldn't be shooting at enemies in full cover to begin with.

• Defender's Medal

This choice is pretty even. Either can be useful, especially on a low will unit as a way to break panic-chains before they start. Also worth noting is that being able to heal 2 extra HP on a soldier you need to keep alive (MEC trooper, Volunteer, any Psi if More Than Human is on) is a significant boost to Medkit efficiency.

Side note: Need to check if MEC with Defender's Medal gets +2HP when healed by Arc Thrower.

My MEC healed 6 hp with arc thrower and this medal, hasn't kept the save. But I will double-check my next EW game.--Sunesha 13:02, 8 December 2013 (EST)

• International Service Cross

This is kind of a mixed bag; what choice you make will depend on how varied the soldiers in XCOM are, and how many continents you're able to get the bonus for.

• Council Medal of Honor

Both upgrades are a bit spotty. On one hand, you need to avoid soldier deaths to truly take advantage of the second option. On the other, your units should generally not be 7 or more tiles away from an allied soldier in what is a squad-combat game, especially given EW adds an alien whose entire modus operandi is to hunt down and murder unsupported units. (However, shotgunner supports and MECs may be an exception to this. Squadsight snipers don't benefit as much because +10 aim doesn't matter as much with their already high aim, and Squadsight negates the crit chance bonus unless you're going to use Headshot.)

• Star of Terra

Either are useful, but by the time you do base defense, how many soldiers are you going to have below Captain? Even if you're playing Progeny, all three Furies join at Lieutenant, and Durand joins at Sergeant, and you should be able to level them quickly simply by letting them kill-steal the tough, high XP aliens that abound at that point in the game.

Just my thoughts; anyone have any tweaks or suggestions to add? Arrow Quivershaft 18:09, 6 December 2013 (EST)