The first new Council Mission from the XCOM: Enemy Within expansion that I encountered was a little trip to St. Johns, a little fishing village with a nasty problem. The town went dark. A rescue crew was sent in. They lost contact as well. Now it’s up to you, the guys with the guns, to figure it out.
When you first arrive, you can explore a few buildings or move down the docks alongside the boats. In the first few buildings, there are zombies, a glaring indicator that Chryssalids are in the area. Keep moving down the docks away from the Skyranger. You will only encounter Chryssalids and zombies. Chitin plating and medpacks would be your best equipment choices for this mission.
After killing your first few zombies, the objectives will update and tell you to find the source of the “infestation” of aliens. You will find a large fish hanging on the docks that will spawn a Chryssalid, but you will have plenty of forewarning. Keep moving up the docks. You will find a large fishing vessel at the end.
Make sure you have a quick and durable squaddie available to run across the top of the ship. The more hit points, the better. I suggest a Support class with the extra 3 space movement. You do have one of those, don’t you? You can reach the top of the ship by several boards that have fallen onto the front of the ship or climbing up the side. The closer he can get to the bridge before your squad sees the inside of the ship, the better. The bridge is on the end of the ship farthest away from the docks.
When you see the ships interior, you will find a whale inside. The aliens are using it as a breeding ground. Each round after you find the whale, a Chryssalid will spawn from it. After a few more turns, they will start to spawn from other sharks in the ship and on the docks. A few more turns and multiples will spawn from the whale each turn. They are already tough to deal with a few at a time. You aren’t expected to actually fight them all off.
Once you have seen the whale, you will get word that XCOM intends to give this fishing village the ol’ Raccoon City treatment and blow it sky-high. Your team member running across the top of the vessel needs to hit the controls in the bridge and a timer for the air strike will start.
Once the timer is set, RUN. You may have to fight off a few of the Chryssalids on your way back to the extraction point, but you need to constantly move back towards your skyranger. If you move all of your squad as fast as they can go, they shouldn’t get attacked since the Chryssalids are using both of their actions to move. Even if you get stabbed, you’ll be better off to keep going than to try and heal up. As soon as you get the whole squad into the extraction point, the mission should end and show you an animation of the fireworks display.
Possible bug?
I play the game on the PC. When I completed the mission, I got the usual mission complete screen AND the warning that one of my squad members was outside of the extraction zone and would be lost. Clicking the buttons on the screen didn’t do anything. After pressing keys in desperation, I found pressing ENTER seemed to do the trick. I did not lose the squad member it claimed was outside the extraction zone.
My other strategy guides for X-Com: Enemy Within
- Slingshot DLC – Friends in Low Places
- Enemy Within – Exalt Council Missions
- Progeny missions – “Portent” on Classic
