We found the base up in the high ground just where the locals had said it was. Deserted, powered down, but otherwise intact and just in need of a bit of loving care to get it back online and functioning. Even a working plane. While some continued with clean up and getting the base operational, a small group of us organized things to begin exploring the region in more careful detail. The locals, tiny groups scratching an existence in the wild, had mentioned a few rumours of larger havens. We were particularly interested in gaining contact and cooperation with Synedrion.
[Early objectives when Danforth drops: Contact with Synedrion; focus on getting them to 25%; exploring the new scavenging missions and see how they affect the campaign]
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First Day: Spent searching the nearby area. Came upon a couple Synedrion havens and one to the Disciples of Anu. One promising site turned up absolutely nothing. Surprised to find the Mist returning so close to the base site. A bit unsettling.
[A good start of sorts. Nice that Synedrion is close and close to Mist. We should get some haven defenses there and improved diplomacy. Anu is a nice nearby target. Now if we could just get a couple scavenging missions and a couple events to bump Synedrion up.]
[Troops: Decent skills on them. Both assaults have the trooper promotion possible.]
Spent some hours hacking through gods know what kind of things (plants or animals or both) but it was worth it. Nice stash of weapons! We can use them.
Four Days In: Still no sign of Pandorans or even a scummy scavenger. Life is almost tranquil in these parts. Too good to continue, no doubt.
[But it also means no experience being gained. We’ve gathered enough resources to begin work on a fabrication plant to help speed up production for new recruits. A couple available at NJ havens but we want nothing to do with the bullies.]
Giving up on finding Pandorans or even scavengers, we head south to try our luck there. But on the way word of a Pandoran attack on one of our Synedrion havens. Can we manage it with 4 rookies who’ve never fired a rifle and one sniper-trained recruit with only an assault rifle?
Haven defence went well. The Synedrion defenders were a help, especially sucking up Pandoran fire. We learned first hand how deadly a Pandoran viral weapon could be. Two of our rookies took hits and spent most of the battle in a corner sucking their thumbs. Returned with assorted materials and a weapon clip.
[Haven defenders were a nice touch. Add flavour to the battle. They drew Pandoran attention from us, thankfully, since it was our first encounter.]
Fifth Day Plan: Now we should be able to get Synedrion to 25+ by taking out a NJ training centre (A), the Pandoran nest (B), and the initial Synedrion mission ©.
[I’m 10 hours from a second sniper rifle for the recruit. I think we will regain stamina and heal some waiting for that. It will make a great difference in damage potential and recruit safety. Maybe we will use some tech resources to gain enough food for a second recruit. We should be seeing some appear at the base within a day or so. Can the missions wait that long?]
NJ Haven Raid: Synedrion’s been having problems with the bullies. We went in at night to take out their training facilities. Luckily it was night! We managed to get into the target building before alerting anyone and then managed, with everyone shooting and chucking grenades, managed to destroy both equipment pieces before the defenders could open up on us. Otherwise, it would have been major bloodhshed (all ours).
[Synedrion hits 24 and we accept the Mist Repeller mission. We’ll need to stamina-up a bit but then will go in. Save the nest and the initial Synedrion mission for after, to use to move them towards 50%. That mission gave something like 600 points of experience. The level 1 heavy went to 132/150. 
]
Day 10
Much has happened in the last few days. (No time for diary entries when you are fighting every waking moment of the day!)
-Raided an Anu factory site for Synedrion. Relations very good!
-Went in search of some archives lost years ago. Found them after fighting our way through Pandorans.
-That sent us to an old Phoenix base. (A) Killed said Pirate King and reclaimed base.
Now it is decision(s) time. Some nitwit calling himself the Pure or Subject 24 or such wants some help retrieving info from NJ. We’ll probably do that. Need to search south of Phoenix Point. We’ve yet to actually come upon any actual scavenging site! Also need to steal a ship from NJ so we can have our second team of 4 active. So much to do, so few ammo clips…
[Team o1][Goal now is to give the three experienced ones a promotion to Infiltrator]
Sniper:
Heavy:
Assault:
Assault (Rookie):
[My only problem at the moment, w the base recruiting not showing up, is I can’t find another heavy anywhere in a Synedrion haven. I may have to recruit an Infiltrator and get them up to level 4 in order to finally gain a second heavy for the second team.]
[Will see how much I update this. Started again to be able to work around the recruit bug.]
[I’ve got to about the same point. Two teams of 4 and most hitting level 4. It’s amazing how deadly a 4 man team can be consisting of:
-heavy/infiltrator
-sniper/infiltrator
-assault/infiltrator
-assault/infiltrator
One pops a decoy and the rest slaughter. Rinse + repeat each turn until you need to pause for station regeneration. I haven’t had a chance to build the sneaky Synedrion armour yet, but will get there.]
Raiding NJ for a second of their aircraft. Team consists of:
-heavy (not yet double-classed)(was a rookie not too long ago)
-sniper/inf.
-assault/inf. (one of the original four)
-assault (rookie…weak link if there ever was one)
Also along for the battle: one Synedrion aspida!
The starting position:
Now WHOSE responsibility was it to pack the newly built Anu shotgun??? (Left behind at Phoenix Point.)
[Restarting w recruits from bases working correctly + aspidas not needing ammo if a tactical is reloaded.]
Objectives:
A: Phoenix Point
B: Find base western Asia (found). It offers nothing useful now other than a quickly/cheaply repaired living quarters which will let us not worry about recruit cap early on.
C: First scan just finished. Heading here to initiate second scan. Goal: Access and scan/explore that second mist area instead of scanning south-east looking for 3rd base. Those are the only two mist sites on the planet so far.
D: Will then come back and explore this area. Waiting on 3 days to elapse so recruits from bases activates successfully.
We thought we were lucky. Discovered another Phoenix base within the first couple days. Made contact w Synedrion havens. Sadly, there is no one at any of them interested in joining the Phoenix. Hopefully the notices we stuck up at nearby taverns will have more results!
[Base recruits available in less than a day. Hoping for a second sniper (rifle already manufactured). Then we’ll try a raid on NJ power for Synedrion and that will bump them up to 24 and their first main mission.]
Almost 5 days have gone by and things have been too peaceful. Contacted Syn and NY havens. Finally though, we come upon an interesting site. Reports of a vehicle of some sort that might be recoverable. Going in to check it out. The new recruit, sniper by training, has a rifle but no armour. Let’s hope she doesn’t catch one the wrong way!
Now, WHOSE responsibility was it to see that the new recruit got on the plane? 
Having followed Synedrion beliefs and goals, what are the odds, out here in the wilderness, of finding an operational Syn vehicle? And its healing capabilities are functioning! A couple operatives had used up their healing kits and had wounded limbs. Thank all the gods that this thing was here! We might actually make it out of here alive!
It was not an easy encounter! The mist sentinels kept spewing out that stuff. The tritons and arthrons kept targeting the vehicle we couldn’t even see. Then it was a LONG way back to the evac zone. If it had not been a working Syn vehicle, we would not have made it. THAT just barely got back. The Pandorans took great pleasure in targeting it the entire way back.
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It’s early February. We have four fully equipped teams of 4 operatives + aspida (all recovered from field) + NJ transport (‘recovered’ from NJ). While it may not be optimal play, I enjoy building the teams and outfitting them with their own gear. It shows that you can play this way and still successfully navigate the game.
Just finally managed a 7th base (S. Africa) and only a bit before that a 6th (mid-North America). Just S. America left to find. Most activity has happened in Europe and north-west Asia. That’s kept all 4 teams busy with haven defences and such.
A February Ambush [To highlight final squad construction.]
We will run down towards the building, using the aspida to block/cover from the face hugger and such to the top left.
[Heavy/Infiltrator]
Only thing he is missing: grenade launcher (in final production). Having the ability to deploy a decoy has been very advantageous at times. The heavy is usually up front and deploying in the face of Pandorans ensures many of them go for the decoy. Boom Blast + grenade launcher still feels a bit over-powered but try playing without either and see how difficult the game becomes! I think the cost of replenishing grenades is enough incentive to use them sparingly (at least early on). Rocket burst + bashing is still my favourite tactic.
[Assault x 2]
Some key points:
-in stealth armour + laser rifle for distance killing (sneak attack)
-Anu shotgun for those personal encounters (12WP for double dash if needed)(surprise attack asa bonus)
-spider drones for a bit of r & r enjoyment
[Sniper]
Some key points:
-doesn’t use decoy much (usually further back) but there have been times when it saved derriere
-quick aim = All Time Greatest Perk/Skill in the Game! (12WP to be able to use it twice, two turns in a row)
-Syn sniper armour + inf is enough to keep them concealed at range…eventually gets the sneak attack perk to really crank up the damage)(Combined w Quick Aim = 8 sniper shots in 2 turns.)
-armed w Syn laser + Syn paralysis sniper rifles…preferred choice: paralysis (one hit effectively keeps Arthrons + Tritons from any activity in their turn)
Finally, the true hero of the team:
While many say vehicles are useless or taking three level 7 operatives is far more useful, that wasn’t the purpose of this play-through. I wanted to show that you can play strictly as Synedrion (as if Phoenix is another of their havens in a way), enjoy the game, and make it to the end. (Likewise in the previous Anu play-through.) These have been fun and challenging to use. Sometimes almost destroyed when caught in a corner. Sometimes literal life-savers when both arms, head, body, and one leg are rendered useless by multiple Pandoran machinegun fire. Sometimes it would just sit while operatives did their thing. But always interesting to use and keep alive (even in nests and lairs). (Best lair episode: Aspida was stuck at the beginning since no paths wide enough forward even with rock blasting. But all, literally ALL Pandorans headed there and targeted it. Left the 4-man team an easy time of getting to the Spawnythingie and slowly gunning it into nonexistence. By the time it evac’d at the starting location, the aspida had dropped from 700 hit points to about 40. )
