Holy shit I love this game. Playing on classic. Story time!
I'm doing the third tutorial mission, so I'm not that far. This squad is the first squad I customize and it automatically makes the game 100x more fun. After messing around a bit, I end up creating a colored coded Reservoir Dog squad of Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, and Mr. Blonde.
Get out of the craft. Up against a lone Thin Man to start off with, okay no big deal...except after all my guys get into cover, he poisons Mr. White. Shit. Not a great start since I have no medics yet. Mr. Blonde takes up cover inside a bus, wounding the Thin Man but not killing him. The other two miss, and like an idiot the commander (me) directs Mr. White to get on the roof of the bus for a better vantage point so he can kill the Thin Man and hey, he's poisoned anyway. Guess what happens. Yup, Mr. White misses and boom. First casualty. Ouch. No big deal, Mr. Orange flanks the Thin Man and eliminates him. One alien down.
Two more sectoids appear as the squad moves forward. Dispatched without trouble, but a third sectoid appears. Mr. Blonde charges forward, taking a cover spot above the sectoid thinking he has sufficient cover and a higher vantage point so the sectoid can't hit him. Guess what happens? Yup, the sectoid shoots through a space in the cover and critically wounds Mr. Blonde. Damn. No medics, and he has three turns to live. No way I'm getting the hostage back to the plane in time. We've lost two now. Mr. Pink retaliates and blows away the sectoid in revenge, then moves forward to rescue the hostage and escort her back to the plane.
Except wait! A Thin Man and sectoid appear on the other side of the map, in overwatch. Now it's tricky. Mr. Orange takes point, while Mr. Pink is escorting the hostage. Both Mr. Orange and Mr. Pink lure out the overwatch, ducking and weaving like a boss so the hostage can get out of range and closer to the evac point. Except the Thin Man throws a curve ball...he poisons Mr. Orange! We're close, though, we can get out of this, right? Wrong. Mr. Orange panicks and runs straight at the Thin Man, firing wildly but missing. Guess what happens next. Yup, Thin Man headshot to Mr. Orange's face.
Now it's just Mr. Pink and the hostage, but they're close to the evac point. They can make it....nooooo another Thin Man drops in front of the evac point. All by himself, Mr. Pink steels himself, goes in for the kill...BOOM, crit on the Thin Man, clearing the way for the hostage to dash to the evac point. All good, right? No, the commander tells Mr. Pink he has to go back in there and finish off the other aliens. One man versus two aliens. Can he do it?
The Thin Man is closer. Mr. Pink tenatively gets close, trying to lure the Thin Man into an Overwatch kill. But the Thin Man is too smart for that. He poisons Mr. Pink! All hope is lost! Mr. Pink panicks!! He runs behind a car, firing wildly at the Thin Man, but misses! The Thin Man and Mr. Pink exchange fire, each hiding behind cars, until...BOOM! Critical shot by Mr. Pink and the Thin Man goes down! But...Mr. Pink is on his last health point and he's still poisoned. The sectoid closes in, firing but missing, but obviously gloating.
....and then miracle of all miracle..Mr. Pink discovers...the poison doesn't kill him! He's alive! He has another turn! And so with skill and precision, he closes in on the sectoid...and nails the fucker in the face.
Three casualties on the third mission, the survivor limping home poisoned and near death.
I love this game.