We will analyze only the story operations. All of them are highlighted in purple, most of them will be hidden. Their description indicates the number of days after which the operation will become available. While waiting for a new operation, you can complete side missions, crises and carry out other work to strengthen the team at XCOM headquarters. From time to time, “purple” side missions will appear: after completing them, the number of days until the main operation is revealed will be reduced by 2-3 units. They are not required to be completed, so they were not included in the walkthrough.
Note: Story missions have the same objective: what you see on the purple background on the city map. However, they can appear in different parts of the city. Also, at the end of the mission (story or side), you see the name of the operation. These names also vary, so from now on I will only list the mission objectives.
Prologue
Select the difficulty level and launch the game. Pay attention to the health recovery settings between battles. Each story operation consists of 2-3 battles (less often – four). And here you set whether your squad will restore health when moving from one room to another.
At first you have three Agents, but later a fourth will join. Each battle starts with infiltration mode. You place your agents at the entrances. Some entrances will require special items, so be prepared for that.
Infiltration Mode – the beginning of the operation, allowing you to perform one action before the standard tactical battle. Enemies in this mode can be unprepared (do not react at all), prepared (activate protection and buffs before the first turn) or aggressive (attack you in response before the first turn). Try to kill the aggressive ones (they will appear in the following missions).
Use TAB to change the target. Focus on the probability of hitting. You can find out what the current chance of hitting an enemy is made up of. The numbers above the agents and their enemies show the order in which the characters move on the map. The number “1” means the fighter is moving now, and “2” means the next turn. Therefore, you need to kill the fighters with the lowest number whenever possible (or stun them). Check out the rest of the basics. There are 2 action points, the blue movement area consumes one, the yellow one – two, a shot immediately ends the turn (as well as a number of other actions), but there are also completely free actions.
Using four agents, kill the remaining enemies in two rooms. Just before the third battle, you will learn about the use of auxiliary items. Then you will be told about bleeding: fighters who have received a mortal wound bleed out. You must stabilize them before the number of turns indicated above the wounded ally is completed. However, he will no longer be able to participate in the battle.
To get the highest rating, you need to complete the mission without getting wounded. Soon the first operation will be over, and you will see a map of the city. Study it carefully. Purple color – story missions, yellow – side missions, blue – crises without tactical battles. Find out about discontent and other factors.
You will then be asked to choose one of three factions. You can play the game in any order, as you will have to destroy all the factions.
Descendants
As you progress through the game, you will unlock new HQ features. Currently, the Assembly Complex and one project are available. Start it. After that, Androids will be available to you. They are used as reserve fighters and replace agents who have received fatal injuries. All projects in the complex require Elerium. This is the only place where you spend this resource. You can have no more than two Androids. This means that you can replace no more than two agents per mission. You can add a fighter to the Assembly Complex to speed up the process twice as much, but now you have no free agents (or you will have to complete the mission with three agents).
After that, open the armory and choose one of the three offered fighters. There are 11 different agents in the game, but in the end, only eight will be available to you. So choose wisely. The armory also allows you to choose equipment for the agent and increase the rank to gain abilities. In the warehouse, you can buy consumables, armor and weapons that you will study in the Assembly Complex. Pay attention to the keycard, demolition charge and fibers. All of these are used for locked entry points.
Investigate the Descendants’ actions
There is one operation on the map. Launch it. There are 3 levels, which means you need to win 3 battles. The second level has a locked door that requires a keycard. Also remember that in addition to killing the target, you can also disable it. Use “Detain”, which will make your agent hit the target with the butt of the gun. If the enemy has no HP left, he will lose consciousness. This means automatic arrest. Each enemy arrested increases the chance of getting 20 intel by 20%. More on them later. Five enemies are guaranteed to give you 20 bonus intel.
After this mission, special operations will open. You have to send one free agent to them. Each operation takes a certain amount of time. Upon completion, you receive pre-determined rewards. Currently, these are elerium, intelligence, or credits. Credits are needed for purchases in the warehouse, elerium – for assembly projects, intelligence – on the collectors’ market (as well as creating and upgrading field squads).
Investigate the presence of Descendants in the area
To complete this mission, first kill all the enemies in the warehouse. Learn to use the timeline as soon as possible. It is located at the top right. In addition to the order of moves, information about reinforcements will appear there. In this task, there will be three reinforcements corresponding to three enemy waves. You need to repel them to complete the mission. Special icons indicate the penetration points from which the enemy will appear. However, on his first turn, he cannot attack you. You can place fighters at the penetration points and activate surveillance by pressing the “2” key, highlighting the area in front of the entrance.
Completing this mission will unlock the training center. Here, special programs for each agent appear. They do not require resources, but they do take time. That is, during this time, the agent will be unavailable. But after that, the agent will receive constant bonuses. Also here you will treat scars – wounds with a permanent decrease in characteristics that the agent receives due to bleeding or, with a lesser probability, when losing more than half of his HP.
To complete the next story mission, you must wait the specified number of days. You can only speed up this process by another random purple mission that will appear 2-3 days later. It’s up to you, but it’s better to focus on side operations and crises.
Search the Advent bunker
From now on, there will be enemies with armor. Its presence is indicated by a “yellow cell” next to the health bar. This is 1 unit of armor, which means that if you deal 5 units of damage, one of them is ignored. However, if the target receives critical damage, the armor can break (the yellow cell will disappear). You will also be allowed to increase the rank of agents to the second. At the second and fourth ranks, the game allows you to choose between two abilities. Just think about which of them will be most useful.
The mission consists of three levels. On the second, there will be an additional goal that is repeated throughout the game: you are asked to collect evidence in 3 turns. For this, you will be given a bonus reward at the end of the mission. Note that you can spend 2 action points on movement, but if you find yourself in the green zone where the evidence lies, the game will allow you to pick it up. This action is free. By analogy with this, you can evacuate after making a dash (a dash is a movement of 2 action points, to the yellow zone). If you kill all the enemies or 3 turns end, the evidence will disappear. Adaptive fibers are your way to a bonus penetration point on the second level. On the third level, deal with the gates in another part as quickly as possible. After they are destroyed, reinforcements will stop arriving at the location. Then kill the remaining enemies.
Find out the cause of power outages
There will be only one battle in this mission, and within it you need to destroy the server and kill all the opponents. The first one can be blown up right away. By analogy with the gate from the previous mission, this will eliminate the appearance of enemy reinforcements. Among the opponents there will be a sorceress who moves from place to place using magic and can hit you from any position. Her attacks ignore any cover. Among her unique abilities: telepathic connection with slaves. When she establishes it, and if you shoot at the sorceress (or sorcerer), all damage will be reflected to her slave. However, the slave will die. Stun the sorceress by arresting her and get an achievement.
Save the programmer
During this mission, you will have three levels. The last level is accessed through a bonus locked door, so grab the keycard. The second level will contain evidence, and you know what to do with it. Kill the sorceresses and sorcerers first. After killing all the enemies on the third level, stand in a circle with the VIP to gain control over him. Now you need to evacuate. If you have time, you can ignore the reinforcements. But try not to leave one fighter with the enemies, having evacuated everyone else.
Then you need to make a choice. The next task (but not the final one) depends on what you choose. We have described only one option.
Stop the Psionic Recruiter
There are three levels in this mission. The first level is easy, the second has a room that activates surveillance for all fighters after entering. This means they will shoot at anyone who runs past. There is evidence, and you need to collect it before the targets are destroyed. There is only one way to the third level. Here you will encounter the Codex. Run away from the purple areas that the Codex creates. They explode on the next turn. Detain, rather than kill, the recruiter to get a bonus reward.
Neutralize the Descendants
The last task. To prevent enemies from getting stronger on subsequent levels, you need to kill them without letting them leave the location. The exit from the location will be marked with the same marker as the enemies who are going to use it. Therefore, we recommend neutralizing them first. There will be resonance pillars here. They add 2 shield units to any enemy. Unlike armor (yellow cells), the shield disappears after you deal the appropriate amount of damage.
On the second level, you will encounter the Archon. He shoots a beam, fights in close combat and can activate burnout: points appear on the location that will be covered in fire in the next turn. When you finish everyone off, interact with the generator. You can approach the elevator in advance, which will open after activating the generator. In this case, reinforcements are not scary for you.
The third level will feature a boss, Violetta. However, most faction leaders are some kind of buffed enemy you’ve encountered before. So here, Violetta is a sorceress with better attacks and health. Kill or arrest her to get the bonus.
Sacred Spiral
Another faction that needs to be eliminated.
Investigate the activities of the Sacred Spiral
In this mission, you need to go through 3 levels. On the first one, the penetration points are open. The first enemies you will fight are androids and commandos. Androids are robots, so telepathic abilities do not work on them. They shoot weapons and also use self-destruction. The next turn after activation, the android will try to run up to your agent and explode. Therefore, destroy them in advance or run away. If the self-destruction mode is activated, the android will explode even if you kill it. As for the commandos, these seemingly unremarkable fighters are dangerous: they will call for reinforcements literally on their first turn. Therefore, kill them first. They also throw a smoke grenade, reducing the visibility of enemies inside the smoke screen, and accordingly reducing the likelihood of a hit.
Enemies will try to run from one level to another, so kill every marked enemy if possible. There will be a lot of enemies on the last level. Especially if some of them escaped from the previous ones. In addition to the usual commandos and androids, one cleaner will appear. This fighter can throw a grenade that explodes after a while (but not in the next turn), and also uses a flamethrower.
Contain the advance of the andromedons
Another story mission consisting of three levels. Go to the first one and fight the first enemies. Turrets can either shoot at you using targeting or activate observation mode if there are no targets nearby. Fortunately, observation affects only 3 hexes in front of the turret, which means it does not interfere with your movement. Andromedons will also appear. These are dangerous opponents. Firstly, they use firearms and hit in close combat. But the most important thing is that after the health reserve reaches zero, the andromedon will turn into walking armor. In fact, this is already a different enemy. However, armor can only attack at close range, and its health reserve will be slightly lower.
During the second battle, you will encounter Chryssalids. Regular Chryssalids attack in close combat. But newborn Chryssalids can create cocoons from civilians. These cocoons will release new newborn Chryssalids every turn. To save a hostage, just stand next to him (it is these rescued residents that you are told about after completing each mission, in its summary). Therefore, it is advisable to kill the Chryssalids in advance. In addition, telepathic skills affect them completely differently. So, if you order Verge to cast a “berserk” on them, the Chryssalids in rage will attack not their ally, but your closest agent. That is, this skill is useless against them. Even harmful.
There are several entry points to the third level. One of them requires a key card, but there will be fewer aggressive targets there. In addition to the usual enemies, you will encounter the Guardian. Outwardly, he is similar to the Cleaner and Commandos, but instead of a flamethrower or calling for reinforcements, he uses a different trick. On his first turn, the Guardian activates a shield for himself and his closest allies. And there can be two or four of these allies. Thus, you must kill him as soon as possible, before the first turn. And if he still managed to activate the shield, then he will be your number one target. Kill the Guardian so that the shields of the remaining enemies disappear. Moreover, after a while, these shields will turn into a health bar. If mental abilities only damage health, then they can ignore the “blue cells”. But when they become “red”, the enemy will be more resilient in this regard.
Capture the robbery plans
Another three-level mission. You will encounter familiar enemies. Do not try to set the cleaners on each other, or the cleaners on robots and andromedons. All of them are invulnerable to fire, and the berserker cleaner will attack exclusively with a flamethrower. Commandos call for reinforcements, do not forget about it. On the second level, you can take evidence. On the third level, new opponents will appear. Let’s start with the MEC. These are huge robots with a large margin of safety that use a machine gun or a grenade launcher. With a grenade launcher, they can hit several targets at once (several grenades fly out). Ronin is a close combat warrior. He is very agile, moves far and uses a skill that allows him to repeatedly appear at the top of the timeline after his turn. He will fray your nerves 3-4 times during just one turn! In addition, Ronin’s attack allows you to knock out your weapon. The agent cannot shoot from a knocked out weapon, since he will first have to reload.
After completing the mission, you will need to make a choice again, which will affect the next task.
Close the shell company
This mission includes one level. You can use a key card that will protect you from negative effects. Kill the ronin first, and then clear the rest of the rooms. Do not allow the enemies marked by markers to stand near the specified device. Two enemies in two turns can fully launch it. The mission will fail.
Explore the abandoned clinic
Three levels await you. The second will be a difficult moment with a dedicated MEC. This robot attacks the hostage on its turn. He will die immediately. Therefore, you need to shoot at the MEC already in penetration mode. But there are also commandos here! To use a more suitable penetration point to the third level, you will need a demolition charge. First of all, go to the console to disarm the gene nursery. You will have limited time. However, it is more than enough to kill some of the dangerous enemies first. Be sure to finish off the commandos to eliminate reinforcements.
Neutralize the Sacred Spiral
The last task in the investigation. Kill enemies in penetration mode and disable the teleporter from which enemies can come as soon as possible. To do this, you need to activate two consoles located near the left and right walls. You need to do this on the first turn, otherwise there will be reinforcements. There are several penetration points leading to the second level, but two require adaptive fibers. Here you will meet the leader of the “Spiral”, Bellus Mara. This is an enhanced ronin, similar to Violetta and the sorceresses from the Descendants. He has more health, his attacks do increased damage, but the techniques remain identical. Ghost zombies will appear. They have little health, so focus on regular enemies first. Zombies may even attack Bellus Mara’s army. You can kill several zombies at once with AoE attacks.
In the third room, you will fight the Gatekeeper. This enraged unit uses energy attacks and also maintains the operation of numerous portals in the room. New enemies will appear from them. Thus, your first target is the Gatekeeper. He has thick armor, so it is recommended to give each fighter AP ammo. They penetrate this armor and completely ignore it, causing damage exclusively to the enemy’s health. Once you deal with the Gatekeeper, it remains to finish off the remaining targets. Moreover, in penetration mode, you cannot attack the Gatekeeper, which means it is better to concentrate fire on commandos and, for example, guards.
Grey Phoenix
One of the criminal organizations of City-31.
Investigate the activities of the Grey Phoenix
Once again, the mission consists of 3 levels. The first enemies of the Gray Phoenix are legionnaires and vipers. Vipers use poisonous spit, which is why poisoned agents will receive debuffs in the form of penalties to accuracy and evasion, and also lose 2 HP at the beginning of each of their turns. Legionnaires are comparable to Axim, and fight with rifles that hit from a distance. To get to the second level through the best passage, take a keycard with you. Deal with the vipers and legionnaires, and then proceed to the third level. One of the penetration points requires an explosive charge. In addition to the fact that you need to kill each enemy, you need to keep an eye on the targets marked with markers and do not let them near the marked cells. Otherwise, the mission will fail after 2 turns. The new enemy will be Python. He can pull your fighters and entangle them, causing them to lose their turn. To free your ally, you will have to shoot the python or capture it with mental skills.
Find records of human trafficking
Take the keycard with you to open additional entry points. Kill the enemies in the warehouse. Among them will be a new one – the Dominator. This is a telepath who can stun your characters with psionics. Try to kill him first. Then the game will ask you to protect the documents. These are the boxes on the forklift in the center of the warehouse. Do not blow up anything near them under any circumstances and do not shoot so that the trajectory of the bullets hits the boxes (unless, of course, you use cover-piercing abilities; regular shots are not scary to them). The legionnaires’ ability to detonate allows them to destroy your covers or blow up cars (there are none here, I’m telling you for the future).
Stop Burglary
This is a short mission that speeds up the reveal of the next story mission. There will be one level here. Take the keycard with you. Kill the Dominator first, pick up the converter and evacuate. You don’t even have to kill everyone!
Support the police operation
This mission consists of three levels. The first one is easy, on the second one it is better to take a key card for a safer entrance. You can pick up evidence if you want to get a bonus reward, of course. Move to the third level to see new opponents. You could have met them in side quests. The Faceless is a tall monster that moves long distances and attacks with long claws. It restores 2 HP every turn and uses a defensive stance. The second new enemy is the berserker. It attacks in close combat, and is often able to stun its target, causing 1-2 units of stun damage. Each unit corresponds to 1 action point of the target. That is, the berserker can knock you out for a whole turn. Eliminate the supplier in advance, since he will immediately begin moving towards the exit.
After this task, there will be a choice again. Decide for yourself what to do. In this walkthrough, we always choose the option on the left.
Protect the hydroelectric power station
The first level will have familiar enemies. You can get to the second through the usual entrance or the second one, but with the help of adaptive fibers. You will meet a new enemy, the Praetorian. One of his main abilities is a duel. He loops your agent on himself, but at the same time he can attack only the selected agent. The Praetorian can also strengthen allies with armor. At close range, he uses a butt attack, and from a distance – from an energy weapon. An achievement is given for arresting him. The third location will have a lieutenant. This is a special type of Praetorian with an increased health bar. Otherwise, everything is identical.
Neutralize the Grey Phoenix fighters
This is the last mission of this faction. On the first level, in the penetration mode, eliminate aggressive enemies. Put off the powerful skills of the heroes, which are activated once per battle, for the last levels. After killing everyone, go forward, but do not rush. It will be great if you buy / find a unique rifle that gives the skill “Rout”. That is, it allows you to shoot at the target until it dies or you run out of ammunition. The thing is that Sectopod awaits you further. This huge robot will cause a lot of problems, but with the skill above, everything will be easier. In general, you can spend the ult on it.
Once you win, go to the next level. Here, you will need two key cards to take a better position when entering. You need to kill enemies, especially those who are heading for the control panel. This means that from the very beginning of the fight, do not just attack enemies, but move towards the console and look for those indicated by the markers. The third level will again require two key cards. You need to kill enemies, but do not forget about the two consoles on the side of the passage to the commander. Activate them to make the energy field disappear. The commander will fight the same way as the Praetorian, he just has an increased health reserve. Defeat him and the remaining enemies to get rid of the Gray Phoenix once and for all.
The final
The next two quests are sequential and only begin after you’ve dealt with all three factions.
Protect the town hall
By now you know the strengths and weaknesses of all enemies. In side missions you should have encountered Sorokopus’s mercenaries. They will be here too. Among them are dangerous shooters. They are dangerous because each successful hit on you will knock out the agent’s weapon. That is, you will have to reload. However, if you installed the auto-reload modification for agents, then this should not be scary.
On the second level, there will be some big guys. They are in no hurry to get closer to you, they shoot from afar with powerful shotguns, and when close, they protect themselves with a melee stance. That is, you shouldn’t approach them closely. Kill all the opponents in this room. Then go to the third level. There will be a hostage in the upper left room. Run to it and kill all the enemies nearby. Don’t let them attack the walls, otherwise they will get to the hostage and kill him. And this is fraught with failure of the mission. However, if something happens, you can only restart the last, third battle. Kill everyone and the mission will be completed.
Neutralize Atlas
The final mission. On the first level, aim at the commando, then kill the rest of the enemies. On the second level, you will find descendants, so you need to focus on necromancers and dominators. The rest of the enemies are simple. After killing the desired target, pick up the access key and enter the elevator with all agents. On the roof, fight several more targets. After defeating everyone, be ready for reinforcements. Do not approach the other edge of the roof. Let the enemies come at you, especially since two waves will appear immediately after each other – in one turn and in the next.
The next level will be the last one. First, finish off the ronin to make the fight easier. Do it in infiltration mode. Then you will see the Ruler. This is the boss of the Forty-Pass, who is responsible for everything that happened. Kill him quickly. When you deal the fatal blow, he will survive (similar to the ability of the Godmother and Terminal). Then he will go into stasis: he will not attack you, but you will not be able to damage him. The next turn, the Ruler will rise (on his turn), and you will be able to finish him off. Even when he is dead, you will have to deal with the remaining enemies.