We took fire the second we stormed down the ramp. RedImperator died without firing a shot; not even his new powered armor could protect him from snakeman plasma fire.
Chrysalids and snakemen were swarming out of the ship and around the desert. Fortunately, the clear lines of fire afforded by the desert gave us a critical advantage once we got on the ground.
"Massacre" doesn't begin to describe it.
Stark and Lord Revan broke off to circle around the north side of the UFO LZ while the main force cleared away resistance to the south. Once we'd wiped out resistance outside the UFO, we prepared to breach.
A chrysalid burst out of the north entrance to the terror ship and leapt upon Lord Revan. Stark managed to kill it, but not before it had infected and zombified Revan.
Support fire from the south destroyed the zombie Revan and the chrysalid within, while Stark buggered the fuck off.
The assault teams moved inside the UFO, using liberal explosives to clear the way. Aware of the losses we suffered last time we assaulted a terror ship, our troops did not linger underneath the gaps in the ceiling, and instead rushed the lift. Vympel, Chris OFarrel, Robo-Haven, and Covenant made it to the lift first, while the remainder of the team stayed behind to secure the lower floors.
A chrysalid ran out of the terror ship, eager to impregnate our resident angry sniper commander. Stark, who had wisely fled in a blind panic from the first chrysalid attack, wrecked his shit with a single well-placed plasma beam.
The upper level of the ship saw some vicious close-combat. Taking advantage of our power suits' sheer durability, Robo-Haven assaulted and killed two snakemen by dual-wielding an autocannon and RedImperator's heavy plasma at point-blank range.
Chris OFarrel found the last snakeman hiding in this side room, stuck in place by the destroyed floor and clearly waiting for some of our troops to walk by below.
Autocannon autofire bursts in close quarters are not considered overkill.
Post-mission analysis: Much better chrysalid fighting this time around. Once again, X-COM has used range and firepower to overcome a superior enemy. The chrysalids were generally no threat as long as we used range and sniper-spotter tactics to clear them and the supporting snakemen away.
We've learned by now that caution while assaulting UFO interiors can potentially be deadly. If we'd kept to our usual slow advance with massive firepower leading the way strategy inside the ship, we probably would have taken more losses. Instead, the only way to win in close quarters is to CHARGECHARGECHARGECHARGE.
