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Yeah, so I played 3 missions on Normal before work today. First mission, all rookies of course, lost a guy (2 wounded). The two guys with kills get promoted, so I've got an Assault class soldier in fighting shape, and a rookie and a Heavy are wounded for 10 and 9 days, respectively. Okay, this feels appropriately X-COM.
Second mission out. I love my Assault guy. You'll see why in a second. He's paired with 3 rookies since his buddy the Heavy is still recouperating. I send a rookie up onto a shipping container to scout out the area... oh, look, there's 4 sectoids. Sorry you drew the short straw, rookie, because you had *just* enough range to make it up the ladder, and those piles of cinderblocks are like fifteen feet away, leaving you painfully out in the open. My Saudi Assault guy uses his Run & Gun ability to sprint over to flank two of them from cover, and that ability means he can still shoot or overwatch, so he makes a red mist out of one of them, while the other two rookies cautiously advance on the enemy position. Run & Gun is badass, and the shotgun's k-chunk is just so deliciously meaty sounding. Okay, enemy movement time... they all shoot at the guy on the container, no surprise there... Except that he proceeds to dodge every single shot. Okay, Normal is clearly too easy, I'm thinking. Of course, maybe not, as I proceeded to lose another rookie when I sent him around to flank the last sectoid that I thought I had pinned down, only to watch the sectoid double back around heavy cover to flank him.
So, two missions down, two more guys get promoted. One casualty on the second mission, but no additional wounded soldiers.
Third mission comes up. This time, I sent my Interceptor out to shoot down a UFO, and then send my team to clean up the crash site.
Very creepy ambiance. It's a sort of marshy, rocky tileset. I'm slogging through the water and go several turns without sighting anything. This tension is definitely what I remember hidden movement being like. I've got veterans, now, since my heavy got cleared for action, so he joins my assault, support, and sniper to make a well-rounded squad of 4.
Assault guy continues to be awesome, as I can fearlessly sprint for long cover to help scout ahead. My sniper is a little frustrating, as early on I can't find any good perches for her, and she can't move and shoot. I'm glad I gave her one of my newly produced medpacks, so she can at least have something to offer the team if we have to stay on the move.
Wait, my guys hear something during one of the hidden movements. Sniper, get set up over there behind that tree on this little rise. Hunker down while we move the others forward. Okay, UFO spotted, it's not looking in nearly as good a shape as the satellite imagery lead us to believe. There's some smoking holes in the sides and.. sectoid, over on that hill!
My sniper misses. I send Mr. Run & Gun over to deal with it. He does, but spots another. I reorient my other guys' cover positions to give them better cover against the new guy's position, and a clear shot on overwatch if he moves into the open.
Two more sectoids emerge from the crash site, and almost catch me with my pants down. Overwatch kills one of 'em, while the other darts around the smoking hull to safety. I reposition my sniper, cursing the lack of a good position with multiple fire lanes. A new type of alien emerges from the shadows within the ship. My heavy and support guy miss. That's okay, assault guy gets it done. Support guy nails a long shot to kill the one on the hill that my sniper can't see, and my assault guy is about to get mauled if this (last?) sectoid can turn the corner. Sniper, it's all up to you. 55% hit chance with a nice crit bonus if you use headshot. Hit that sucker, come on. Save my corporal from a grisly death.
And she does. Five kills, no casualties. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to restart on Classic already. I'll give it two or three more missions; if I don't see at least one death or two-three wounds in that time, I'll know I'm playing on cakewalk mode.
Maybe I'm setting my expectations too high, though. Maybe it's not reasonable to expect a wound/death *every* mission with a squad limit of 4, the way you'd basically count on losing a guy or two a run out of your 12-man Skyranger.
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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades
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Guess the second disc has the soundtrack, ringtones, and wallpapers on it.
), but I'll be going out with friends tonight before it will be done... 
