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Robindaybird posted:my snipers ended up winning me several engagements with overwatch - they ended up with 100 aim, aliens out of range, they move into range, get insta-killed or near-death then they take a shot at the other alien that moved into range. Plus snipers can get an ability that lets them negate the overwatch aim penalty, which helps.
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Sep 12, 2014 17:48
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Overwatch is also often usefull indoors, where you arent shooting at max line of sight but often at shorter distances. I would add overwatching against enemy missiondrops to this. The latter happens in a lot of council missions. One may also add that overwatch will often be on a moving enemy who is often not in any kind of cover (floaters excluded). There there are also those stealth thingies, against whom overwatch is quite usefull too. One should add High Endish MECs to that.
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Sep 12, 2014 18:48
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Overwatch is pretty strong, while you do get an aim penalty they don't have any cover so it's not really that much worse than a regular shot for most characters most of the time. I mean there are situations where you need to be smart about Overwatching, such with Assaults and potentially needing to switch to your pistol if the enemy's out of a shotgun's effective range (or if your research is at the weird middle ground where it's sensible to give them LPRs/PRs).
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Sep 12, 2014 20:01
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I think overwatch is at -20% against targets doing a move action and -40% if they're running instead (double move without pause). Actual numbers may vary, but running does drop incoming overwatch accuracy. In my opinion, overwatch is somewhat weak early game when your soldier hit chance is better measured in barns, although 4 soldiers volleying at once helps, but from the mid-game onwards you have enough accuracy that the penalty doesn't really matter (massive volleys help, someone is going to hit).
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Sep 12, 2014 20:21
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Speedball posted:Not much more overpowered than Naomi Bar-Lev is herself at this point, she's about to hit 100 aim and will. Criminey, she may be the very best MEC trooper I have ever had. Otto Zander starts at 100 HP. Which is pretty much perfect. (As is William Carter having the weakest will of any hero unit.)
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Sep 12, 2014 20:24
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chiasaur11 posted:Otto Zander starts at 100 HP. I hope he has a Will score of similar scale, because otherwise...yeah, that could be a problem.
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Sep 12, 2014 20:28
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I hope he has a Will score of similar scale, because otherwise...yeah, that could be a problem. He's 100 HP, 100 Aim, 100 Will.
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Sep 12, 2014 20:32
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Feinne posted:He's 100 HP, 100 Aim, 100 Will. And, if I recall correctly, comes with a default nickname of 'Unstoppable'. Which is about right. E. actual nickname is 'Unbreakable'. Either way, the guy's a colossal shitwrecker and starts with end-game equipment.
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Sep 12, 2014 20:54
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I've seen a couple different numbers for the overwatch penalty: 20%, +20% (total 40% penalty) if running; or 30%, *30% (total 51% penalty) if running. From my personal experiences, I'm more inclined to believe the former, although I do tend to have a pretty high standard for troops' aim scores, so that could very well be skewing it. Despite this, there are two main things that make it very useful: first, enemies really don't like to give you a free shot, even if you're likely to miss, so they prefer to stay in place and attack or overwatch; second, they only know you're in overwatch if they have LOS to the troop(s) in overwatch, and they don't always seem to communicate well with each other, so an enemy might take an overwatch shot because they can't see it when they start their move, even if another alien can. Because of the former, you can sometimes pin an enemy against a car that's about to explode, which can be useful earlier in the game when you're not likely to hit, and/or you can't reliably deal enough damage to kill. Also, you could make an enemy stay in half-cover so that your sniper can finish them off next turn (useful when the overwatching soldier has a low chance to hit.) Because of the latter, you can get free shots vs enemies that move into your vision during their turn, and you can set up traps. A couple more things to note about overwatch: Overwatch activates when you move out of an overwatched square, not into. This means that corners can prevent overwatch shots, as well as just barely moving into sight. The aliens will make good use of this. There are a few abilities that effect overwatching, and they're all affected by Training Roulette: (ability spoilers, obviously) namely, snipers normally get Opportunist, which removes the penalty and allows crits, and supports normally get Covering Fire and Sentinel, the former of which allows reaction fire before attacks in EW, after attacks in EU, and the latter of which allows two overwatch shots per turn. Opportunist is great regardless, and all of them can be great (especially in combination) with Training Roulette turned on.
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Sep 12, 2014 21:19
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Speedball posted:I typically put a scope on my heavies because they often have REALLY bad aim. Eva is well above-average, aim-wise, for a heavy, but even she couldn't hit much if she didn't have that scope. Once your soldiers can carry two items, there's really no reason for anyone to be without a scope.
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Sep 12, 2014 23:32
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Well, from watching people play ironman impossible (Particularly beaglerush) I notice the general idea is to have people the aliens can't see do overwatch and those they will probably shoot at hunker down. Assuming you're not using the turn to wreck some alien's poo poo, that is.
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Sep 13, 2014 00:45
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Sel Nar posted:And, if I recall correctly, comes with a default nickname of 'Unstoppable'. Which is about right. Jesus Christ, I never used the named characters, BRB, gonna go wreck Ironman Impossible.
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Sep 13, 2014 02:30
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Claverjoe posted:Jesus Christ, I never used the named characters, BRB, gonna go wreck Ironman Impossible. They count as cheat codes and disable achievements, sadly. But there is the catharsis.
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Sep 13, 2014 02:52
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I've got some illogical negative reinforcement confirmation bias whatever regarding Hunker Down, because my luck has run towards "Hunker down=get shot in the face and die" anyways, despite "Well, I can't get crit if I hunker down right?  "
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Sep 13, 2014 02:56
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Speedball posted:They count as cheat codes and disable achievements, sadly. But there is the catharsis. Don't care about achievements (got most of them anyway), LongWar Ironman Impossible is going to get steamrolled. The Dipshit fucked around with this message at 03:20 on Sep 13, 2014 |
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Sep 13, 2014 03:13
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Speedball posted:They count as cheat codes and disable achievements, sadly. But there is the catharsis. There's no achievement for ironman impossible anyway. Ironman classic, yes. Impossible tinman, yes. But II isn't expected of anyone. Fortunately.
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Sep 13, 2014 03:19
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Section Z posted:I've got some illogical negative reinforcement confirmation bias whatever regarding Hunker Down, because my luck has run towards "Hunker down=get shot in the face and die" anyways, despite "Well, I can't get crit if I hunker down right? I get this too. XCOM is very, very insistent on the "best defense is overwhelming  offense" school of tactics, so ending a turn with any soldier not having fired/ready to fire just doesn't feel right.
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Sep 13, 2014 03:44
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Speedball posted:They count as cheat codes and disable achievements, sadly. But there is the catharsis. Crap. Does that Chinese triad guy count as named? I was pretty hard up for bodies because I'd cut all recruits with abysmal aim scores (read: all of them), so I used him until I could get some fresh meat in.
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Sep 13, 2014 04:42
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SwissArmyDruid posted:Crap. Does that Chinese triad guy count as named? I was pretty hard up for bodies because I'd cut all recruits with abysmal aim scores (read: all of them), so I used him until I could get some fresh meat in. No, you're perfectly fine to use him. It's the cheat characters you activate by renaming people that are what disables achievements.
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Sep 13, 2014 04:55
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SwissArmyDruid posted:Crap. Does that Chinese triad guy count as named? I was pretty hard up for bodies because I'd cut all recruits with abysmal aim scores (read: all of them), so I used him until I could get some fresh meat in. The named ones are ones that you get by taking a normal soldier and changing their name to the right thing. It has nothing to do with soldiers provided by the plot.
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Sep 13, 2014 04:55
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Feinne posted:Overwatch is pretty strong, while you do get an aim penalty they don't have any cover so it's not really that much worse than a regular shot for most characters most of the time. I think people also need to keep in mind that while Overwatch is made at an aim penalty, it's also generally going to be hitting enemies that aren't in cover or in a safe position, so sometimes it cancels itself out. Overwatch is really good for dealing with cloaked enemies and it can be a good synergy with things like suppression as well.
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Sep 13, 2014 05:07
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The big downside to overwatch is that it can't crit, which is a huge downside on higher difficulties where the aliens all have ridiculous health amounts. The aim penalty tends to be a non factor on anything but rookies for all the reasons people have already said.
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Sep 13, 2014 05:17
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SwissArmyDruid posted:Crap. Does that Chinese triad guy count as named? I was pretty hard up for bodies because I'd cut all recruits with abysmal aim scores (read: all of them), so I used him until I could get some fresh meat in. It also pops up a warning when you rename them telling you that it'll disable achievements.
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Sep 13, 2014 06:08
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Section Z posted:I've got some illogical negative reinforcement confirmation bias whatever regarding Hunker Down, because my luck has run towards "Hunker down=get shot in the face and die" anyways, despite "Well, I can't get crit if I hunker down right? I think hunker down is pretty useful during early game if you use it in high cover where someone isn't likely to get flanked - it's a flat +40% defense, plus the original 40% for high cover which means even if a thin man has a height advantage they're only 75(?)% base + 10% LPR (light plasma rifle) + 20% height - 80% defense = 25% chance to hit, and impossible to crit. I've found thin men usually poison spit someone who's in high cover than take that shot. Something else I like to do during the early game is give nanofiber vests to guys if it puts them over 6 or 9 hp, 6 because that's the regular damage from an LPR or crit from a sectoid pistol, and 9 because that's crit damage from an LPR.
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Sep 13, 2014 06:16
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Finishing touches on the next update now...we complete our first terror mission, and I finally start handing out some medals to some characters.
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Sep 13, 2014 21:17
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Feinne posted:No, you're perfectly fine to use him. It's the cheat characters you activate by renaming people that are what disables achievements. senrath posted:The named ones are ones that you get by taking a normal soldier and changing their name to the right thing. It has nothing to do with soldiers provided by the plot. Hunter Noventa posted:It also pops up a warning when you rename them telling you that it'll disable achievements. Oh, phew. Thanks guys!
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Sep 13, 2014 21:45
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SwissArmyDruid posted:Oh, phew. Thanks guys! There's even an achievement for bringing the Chinese DLC character with you to the final mission, I just got it yesterday.
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Sep 13, 2014 21:55
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Part 12: TERROR!  They’re attacking openly…I never imagined…  No time to waste, everyone in the Skyranger NOW. Except you Dr. Gomez, we need faster troops, snipers take too long to set up. Sorry. Okay! Good luck!  The local army and police forces are doing their job here too, fortunately. XCOM is merely assisting in their own way, on this particular site. This attack is clearly reprisal for all the interference we’ve put on their abductions. According to intelligence, there’s not many alien attackers within this city block, at least not yet, however it is full of civilians, and the aliens have made it clear from other engagements ongoing in the city that they are here to prioritized killing easy civilian targets. When given the choice between shooting at you, and shooting at innocent people, they’ll shoot the people. Your priority is to save human lives. Send any civilians you get into contact with back to the safety of the Skyranger’s cargo hold, to get them out of the line of fire. Be aware, though, that the best way to prevent civilian loss of life will be to terminate the enemy quickly, as a preventative measure. You should only need to move civilians if they’re directly in the line of fire.  (keep it together, keep it together…)  They’re attacking a military base? Pretty brazen, where’s the local soldiers? A lot of these panicking civilians are the local soldiers. Their armory got blown up, without weapons they can only run and hide. Great. Hope they know to keep their heads down. Let’s go! I’m the fastest, I’ll scout ahead! poo poo! What the hell are THOSE!? Blade-legged giant bugs!!! It’s coming right for me, HELP! It’s still up! What the hell?! I’m rushing it! Whew…everyone move up! Be careful, there’s a second one out there! Y…you saved me…thank you, Cammy. Don’t…ah, hell with it. You can call me that. Anyway, keep moving! Second one’s there! Hey UGLY! What are you doing?! Distracting it! HEY! Ignore that civilian! HIT ME! I’ll help! poo poo, it barely felt that!  Somebody help me! NOOOO! Bllarrrgghhh… NO! loving murderer bug! DIE! Keep moving up! Determine where the rest of the attackers are, send any civilians you pass back to the ship on the way! Here! Go back to the airplane outside the motor pool, it’s safe there! Quickly! Oh…bless you, girl… Hey, the victim’s getting up! Are you alright? BLUUUUGH! …clearly you are not alright. Uhh, where are you going? Holeee poo poo it’s a ZOMBIE! OPEN FIRE! ZOMBIE!!! poo poo, we missed! Hit it AGAIN! AGAIN! It’s in my face! DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE! Are…are you sure it was a zombie? Maybe it was just a— I have seen a million loving zombies movies, it was DEFINITELY A ZOMBIE! The aliens have monsters that turn humans they kill into other monsters! Everyone we don’t save becomes another combatant! SAVE EVERYONE! GO! Two more floaters! One’s mine! He’s down! Reloading! Quick, lady! Hide in this smoke! Wow, the floater must’ve decided it wasn’t worth the trouble, he hid in the warehouse. Smoke saved her life! I unloaded everything I had into the bug and the zombie, gotta reload. That thing’s still in there, it’ll kill someone while we’re fiddling with our magazines! Two more to the northwest! And a civilian right next to ‘em, I’ll try to get her out! AAH! HOT! That was too close. Hey, lady! Get outta here! Okay, Eva, I caught a glance at the other one. The two floaters are on either side of the far end of the cargo container, try to do an airburst to hit them both! I won’t let you hurt anyone else! Thank goodness…two down! Last one’s in the warehouse! I’m rushing it, I’ll try to draw its fire! There you are, you gently caress! Hold still while I reload! It’s surrounded! Take it down! I got it! Everyone okay? I’m not hearing any more gunfire, I think we got ‘em. Only six aliens for this entire base? We nipped the bugs in the bud, if they had killed any more people this whole place would have become a hive of zombies. We seriously dodged a bullet here. But just to be sure, keep moving everyone to the safe zone. And make sure no more survivors are zombies! And…Eva? … What’s the matter? … They’re not going to stop, are they? I guess…it’s time for me to stop hiding.  Team, you did a great job. There may not have been many hostiles, but it was a target-rich environment for the aliens and you saved almost everyone there. If only we could have saved ‘em all… In addition to saving lives, every one of those survivors is now evidence to the rest of world that XCOM means business. Most of the politicians who were breathing down our necks have backed off and it shouldn’t take too much more effort to get them to send us more support, with the end goal of us saving the world. Now, Watkins, Eva, get your dress uniforms on and report back to the big viewscreen.  Cameron Watkins, for your sterling record of surviving danger at every turn and your commitment to preserving human life, we present you with the Urban Combat Medal and the Council Medal of Honor. (legs together, chest out, perfect!) Thank you, Commander! I’ll do my best to keep bringing everyone back home! Eva Semyenova, you’re a rising star within XCOM; eight kills in five missions, and not one panic attack since your first mission. We are promoting you to Sergeant and awarding you the Braveheart Medal!  Thank you sir! I’ll never fail anyone ever again! Whoah, that’s what you look like?! I knew you got melded but I didn’t know your hair was so— … —loving BADASS! Haha, drat. That’s a good look for you! …heh. Thanks. This isn’t the face I was born with, so…I decided I wouldn’t show it off until I felt like I was ready to say goodbye to the old me. Oh, that’s why? Thank God, I thought you were somehow ashamed of becoming black because of a racist upbringing or something. What? I would never!To be continued: Next time: We visit Hong Kong!
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Sep 13, 2014 22:46
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An all Excellent Terror on a 5 Panic country? That's a hell of a victory. Hell, any All Excellent Terror is. Nicely done.
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Sep 13, 2014 23:52
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In true X-COM fashion, my first Crystalisk mission was a total clusterfuck. They kept turning civilians into those preposterously durable zombies, which meant I'd spend most of my turn shooting down zombies instead of stopping the crystalisks, which gave them another chance to make more zombies. And of course if you let any of them (crystalisk or zombie) into melee range then you're totally boned. Not that the zombies should be a problem on that front. I get the feeling the Floaters are mostly only there to keep you honest in terms of staying in cover. Otherwise there'd be no reason to not just stay out in the open.
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Sep 13, 2014 23:59
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 I never noticed the text on this medal, anyone know what "POEDUS" is supposed to mean?
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Sep 14, 2014 00:03
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Protector Of Earth, drat U Slick.
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Sep 14, 2014 00:05
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We need to rename one of the medals the 38th Defender of Earth Badge.
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Sep 14, 2014 00:06
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Chard posted:
That's an F, not a P. "Foedus" is latin for treaty, probably used in a fancy name for the Council.
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Sep 14, 2014 00:10
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Night10194 posted:We need to rename one of the medals the 38th Defender of Earth Badge. Then we need to MEC a man named Kurtis with green Guile hair.
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Sep 14, 2014 00:11
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Night10194 posted:An all Excellent Terror on a 5 Panic country? That's a hell of a victory. Hell, any All Excellent Terror is. Nicely done.
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Sep 14, 2014 00:18
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Bruceski posted:That's an F, not a P. "Foedus" is latin for treaty, probably used in a fancy name for the Council. Rigged Death Trap posted:Protector Of Earth, drat U Slick. It will always be this in my heart
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Sep 14, 2014 00:57
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JT Jag posted:Really fortunate to run into the bugs so early on too. If you're less lucky they can end up on the other end of the map, and make a few zombies before you even find them.
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Sep 14, 2014 02:58
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FredMSloniker posted:I've read that this depends on the difficulty; at lower difficulties, they can only zombify people you can actually see them killing. However, the XCOM wiki doesn't say anything about that, so I'm not sure how reliable that information is. This is true in my experience. On Classix it's 50% chance to zombify out of your sight. On Impossible it's 100%.
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Sep 14, 2014 03:03
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I usually forget to issue the drat Council Medal of Honor, so I'm hoping this time around putting it on someone I plan on using a LOT will make it pay off. (The bonuses it grants are NOT retroactive, so putting it on your best guy/gal sooner rather than later is adviseable, provided you think you can keep them alive).
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Sep 14, 2014 04:59
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