Just when you thought it was safe to... TFTD, the soldier genocide simulator.

[Saphroneth]

Planning on doing a Let's Play of X-COM: UFO defence. Not asking for volunteers, unlike the earlier version of this thread in the Ballroom. Just asking for people's opinions on first research topic, base location, naming theme, difficulty and saving. Not to mention if I should do this at all.
If either of those last two are above "easy/save often", expect much death, carnage, sarcastic commentary and the end of civilization. AKA: "Fun" stuff.



Updated: Casualty list.

Louis Buchard (Rookie)
Died finding out just how durable Aliens are. Rumored to have been a janitor. We can't remember one way or the other.


Oscar Dodge (Sergeant)
The second piece of evidence for the Cannon Curse. Died due to not killing an alien with autocannon fire, he finally ran out of wisecracks. Notable for being injured in the first case of XCOM friendly fire, his spirit lives on in our hearts. And possiblyProbably his autocannon.


Otto Krause (Squaddie)
Died trying to Set Up an alien navigator the Cattle Prod. He may not have been strong, or fast, or accurate... But he WAS aerodynamic.


Scott Robinson (Squaddie)
His nickname of "Redshirt" finally caught up with him. He had a good run though, killing more aliens than the number of missions he took. Also hurts because he was psi 69.

Leon Buchard (Rookie)
Man, that family has no luck. He got blown up so thoroughly we couldn't even find the body. Fortunately, as he was so new, we never told the UN we actually HAD him, so they didn't notice his death.

Gunter Faerber (Rookie)
Huh. So Aliens can shoot first. Who knew.

Emile Marcelle (Rookie)
Died trying to avenge the tank. His fellow squadmates didn't know him very well, so they only avenged the tank. Apart from one who had drinks with him the previous night. HE avenged Emile.

Leonid Belev (Captain)
Once again, the man with the autocannon dies. Although an advantage of the flying suits is that at least the body isn't too bad. Suit's wrecked, though.
Seriously, XCOM, the only person who dies in a mission where I got absolutely SPAMMED with psionics messages is the one with psi 92? Why!


Yoko Koyama (Captain)
A veteran of the Cleansing of Wellington, died from the first shot fired by Mutons in the entire war. Her elder brother didn't take it well - she died right in front of his eyes.
A skilled soldier, able captain and a good woman. Will be missed.

Armand Gressier (Sergeant)
Backshot by a Muton that hadn't taken the bait of other Mutons to reveal itself. Looks like they finally found what Humans look like.

Hans Zander (Rookie)
Chosen for the Cydonia mission thanks to his 88 Psi strength score, he never really made his mark. He did, however, take a Blaster Bomb to the face and come out the other side with a recoverable corpse. So that's not all that bad.

Gerhard Hafner (Sergeant)
Gave his last measure for the mission, walking into the main Alien command node and the ambush he knew was waiting with a half dozen Blaster Bombs on three second deadman switches. Hard not to be impressed.




Update: The TFTD saga has now begun. Find the start here:

Yes, here.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

To be honest, a let's play is a *lot* of work, and especially with a game as big as X-Com, I'd really advise against that.



However, if you do want to do this. (And I used to play this game a *lot*) I like to play on Superhuman, but that might not go over great I'd suggest level 3, veteran. Give a nice solid playing experience.

For naming theme, I always went with utilitarianism. A base in the US was UsCom, Europe, EuroCom, Etc etc.

I'd start the first base in either north America or central Europe, with plans to expand to the other location ASAP. (Third base should probably be around east asia)

Of the starting three options, Motion scanners are worthless, Medi-kits are nice, but before you get personal Amour, your guys aren't too likely to survive a hit with anything, so I'd start off with a race to get at least to laser pistols ASAP.

EDIT. Once you start recovering Alien Stuff, you have a few decisions to make. Despite what they say, autopsies don't have any practical use, and a lot of the info they give you is just wrong anyway. Captures, on the other hand, can be *very* lucrative, especially if you grab a sectoid leader (psionics) or any sort of navigator (Hyper-wave decoder) early. Of course, to get a live alien, you need a containment facility, and grabbing people with stun rods in the early game is tricky, requiring knowing how to sneak up on the guys.

And of course, you can never go wrong with researching heavy plasma ASAP.

Finally, sometimes you want to go for the spaceship route. Alien Alloys gives access to the first armor as well, but you'll need Alloys, Elerium 115, Navigation, and Power source to be able to get the Firestorm, which is a *huge* step up from your interceptors.

[Saphroneth]

Additional point: Character names. Leave as is or kill off reference the DMFA cast?
Or something else?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I'd start the first base in either north America or central Europe, with plans to expand to the other location ASAP. (Third base should probably be around east asia)

If second base is a hand under the shirt, then third base is appropriate for Asia Minor... ;-]

[Saphroneth]

I don't think Turkey is a funding nation, so, well...

[Saphroneth]

Ouch.
I just tried a practice game to test out Veteran difficulty, and, well...
I hope Veteran isn't always like this. I got base attacked by Sectoids before I had even researched Lasers.
So XCOM is now basically three men and the dog. I hope the actual game goes a little smoother.
Still, it wasn't as bad as it could have been - I think the psionic enemies all bit it to rifle fire before my first turn was over.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

DO you have a date for the attack? Aliens look for bases near where you shoot down their UFOs, so if possible, if your interceptor made contact, try to let them float away from your base before knocking them out of the sky.


Also, those ten scientists that you start with? Ain't gonna cut it. I'd try to expand to a hundred or so, as soon as reasonable. Tech is life, and getting those things out fast is necessary.

[Saphroneth]

This was around 5th jan or earlier - I had expanded to 20 scientists, but the new ones had arrived only recently.
I also recall that I'd done only ground assaults up to that point, and not replaced the stingrays and cannons with avalanches yet. It really was ridiculously early. Only that the tank HAD arrived really saved me.

[Saphroneth]

So I get told that there are really aliens. Big surprise to me, I mean, why tell us? We're the scientists at CERN, for crying out loud, why try to get US to stop the invasion of Earth itself?
Oh. Right. Ready access to high technology ahead of everyone else in the world. Now, put like that, I can see why we jumped at the chance. I'll go and see if the Swiss scientists remember any of their military service. And get some more kit in...

Okay. Turns out quite a lot of the remaining scientists (most of them legged it when we started talking about little grey men) have experience in the military
Even if their physicals leave something to be desired...

Some
people
need
to
stay
fit
in
between
doing
research.

and the rest have been tasked to renovate the old base we're using and get to work on weaponizing bits of the LEP collider.

Three days later...

Well, things are going alright, I don't think we'll be unprepared for the alien menace when they finally show... Actually, where are they?

Survey results show mutilated cattle is common across much of the Eurasian continent, with abductions expected later. Cold front moving towards Berne.
Well, that can't be good. Apparently, they've been all over the place, but especially Siberia and, worryingly, Europe. As in, this one. Have we missed something?


At least we found some. Now, since we want to handle this like civilized individuals we should really try and communicate... with...


I don't know why I bother.
Wait, that was a small one? And we "shot it down" with two Avalanches. Fantastic, the best and only weapon we have that works against their ships is a nuclear warhead.

At least we can go and have a look now, right? No aliens left alive, I hope? Nothing Could Survive That?
...please?

Recorded in the field.

"Okay, so we just go in, pick up what looks salvageable and get out, right? This place creeps me out."
"Calm down, we landed right next to the damn thing, so it shouldn't take long. Just keep your rifles ready and watch the friendly fire."

"So much for empty, I found one. Creepy looking bugger, I suppose that UN bloke was right."


*sound of gunfire. A short burst.*

"Haha, got 'im!"


"I'll check the farmhouse. I've seen the films, it's always farmhouses."
"Got it Leo, I'll cover you-"

"Damn, I was right. There is one, and he's looking the other way!"
"Okay, hold still. I'll line up a shot through the window."

"Crap, there's a second one. Firing!"
*Heavy cannon fire and impact heard, followed by energy weapon (presumably plasma based)*

"Louis!"
"Goddamn freak!"
*Single shot heard*
"Jackie, you OK?"

"Yeah, got the bastard. You?"

"Same."

Recording ends.

I received the report later. The Russian and German governments were pleased with us. Not that that's any consolation. Louis was one of the best we had.
Jackie got promoted to sergeant after the mission, and both of the others who'd blooded themselves were considered Squad members now.
At least this is some consolation. Once these are set up, nobody will have to use the piddly little guns we have now, the best we can get as an undercover operation.
Louis would still be alive if we had these - the alien absorbed a bullet bigger than a fist and still got him. Forget doors and windows, with these we could go through the WALL.
We also sold off a lot of what we got to the funding nations. Plasma based weaponry commands an amazing price, even if nobody can work out how to use it yet. And we sold the alien corpses to the Parisian restaurant scene. You'd be amazed at what you can do with a little salt...
New guy arrived today. I hope his comrades don't look down on him as Louis' replacement...

With stats like these? He's carrying a cattle prod.


(OOC: How's the image density? I can put more as URLs instead if need be.)

[Saphroneth]

Autoroute Blanche, just outside Archamps, 13:10 local time, 5th Jan 1999

Jacques Nom de Plume cursed inventively as the roadblock appeared ahead, rising out of the Autoroute to the accompaniment of flashing lights and sirens.

His cynical wonderings about when the French transport system would become as efficient as the nearby Swiss one were abruptly cut off as a large fighter jet emerged on a giant lift that was apparently sunk into the roadway, kicked in the JATO units and rocketed off down the road to the west, rising into the air and then kicking the afterburners, soaring to a good kilometer of height in under a minute.

As the barrier descended and the traffic flow resumed, Jacques idly pondered if this meant that the congestion problems in this part of France could be solved by using VTOL aircraft instead - though he looked up upon hearing the sharp crack of the unknown fighter breaking the sound barrier and blazing off to the east.


(Well, how do YOU think they launch the fighters from an underground base?)

[Saphroneth]

New day, new radar reports across Europe. I'm surprised just how many times we get alerts that turn out to be lost Lear jets or migrating swan.

That's probably not good.

Okay, that one looks a bit big for my tastes, but what the hell. Perhaps it'd be easier after shooting it down-

Come back, you yellow bellied b!"$%^£s! I'll bite your legs off!

Of course. They're totally running away.

Heading where? While on the ground?

Ooh, one that landed. Now maybe we'll find out what blew up so violently in the earlier one.
Pity that it's still a few hours before the alien containment facility is finished, or I'd order cattle prod duty all round.
For the good of the soldiers, of course...


Recorded in the field


PREPARED TO EX-TER-MIN-ATE ALL ALIENS.
"Where did we get this thing, again?"
"Some organization in the UK, they had a few tank AIs going spare."
HOSTILE IDENTIFIED.

INSUFFICIENT TIME FOR CERTAIN EX-TER-MIN-ATION.
"Don't worry! I've got it!"
*laser fire*

"Man, these things must be great if even the newb can kill aliens with them."
"Come on, man! I'm doing the best I can."


"Jacqueline-san, we have found the UFO."
"Please, just call me Jackie, no need for honorifics. We've worked together for years, and just because I'm a sergeant now doesn't mean-"
*plasma fire*

"Damn, that was close! Where is this guy? Oscar?"
"Yeah, I think I found 'im..."

*Short burst of gunfire*


ADDITIONAL XENOS DETECTED.
"Okay, everyone, open fire!"
*laser fire starts*


"I think that was too fast for them to spot me through the window, come on."


"Damn it, shoot the ENEMY, Jacks!"
"Oh god, sorry! You okay?"
"Bit of blood, but I think it cauterised the wound. Nothing major. But try to hit the alien instead of me next time."
*time passes, plasma fire, more laser fire*
INEFFICIENT EXTERMINATION TECHNIQUE. YOUR AIM PROVIDES SUCTION.

"Боже мой, how rubbish are we?"
"Shut up and keep firing!"

[Saphroneth]

"Making entrance now."

"Well?"
"Only one in there – got the tango, I'm gonna stay out here in case more turn up from inside."

"Finally!"

"Jesus wept, that took a while. Hope we don't have to pay for the repairs."

"Hey, guys, I'm taking fire. From back in the direction of that house."
"You mean there's one upstairs. The upstairs that is now inaccessible because we melted the stairs."
"No, I- There!"

"How the hell are we getting up there?"
"Don't worry, guys, I'll handle this."

"Hold still."
*single shot*

"Hasta la-"
"Oscar, I am officially banning all one liners coming from you for the rest of the mission."
"Aww, c'mon, Jacks..."

"They have to come out eventually..."
*laser and rifle fire*

"What did I tell you."
"Okay, move in and cover the inner doors."


"And that's the last one. Congratulations, everyone, we have an intact UFO."

Recording ends.

After the mission, Oscar got promoted to the other sergeant slot and immediately tried to restore his one liner privileges. He's invalided out, though, so maybe he'll come up with better ones.

And we now have the CERN Xenos Hilton constructed.
Complete with flashing lights, constant loud music and interrogation booths. Apparently it was once a nightclub...

Oh, I Want One Of Those.
Now we can solve our little inaccuracy problem, one hopes.
Or I'll rename the crew of Skyranger One the "A team." At least we don't run out of ammo like they really should have.


And since we have reasonable weapons, let's see if we can work out why those bloody UFOs take multiple nuke blasts just to shoot down.

Well, that went better than the last mission, and we actually captured their power source intact! The stuff they use is weird as hell - it seems to be made of orange metallic crystals and it's dense as all get out. I wonder if Glenn Seaborg was right after all. If he was, that really messes with our chances in this little war, as we'll need to capture every last gram of the stuff we need from alien ships - none of it here, or the LEP would have been much less necessary.

Let's hope that capturing a live one will help. Bulk order of cattleprods, please!

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Hmm, just a comment that I've noticed, and I don't mean to be negative, but I've noticed a distinct preference for ballistic weapons, heavy cannons, autocannons, a tank with a cannon. Is there a reason you're shying away from the rocket launchers and the rocket tank? I've always liked them myself, especially when you want to blow away a section of a building.

[Saphroneth]

The use of the tank cannon is because the tank doesn't gain EXP. So it's better if the tank spots the alien (with its' high TUs and starting position as only thing that can take a hit) and the troops make the kill. Cannon rounds are less damaging as well, so no accidental reaction fire that blows up half the team.
The rocket launcher, I actually have one as well. It's just not done anything notable yet. I usually prefer the autocannon as it can be a good supplement to electroflares at night with an incendiary clip.
The first mission, I just had mostly starting kit, including the heavy cannon. As per the stats, I dumped everything non laser apart from the AC and rocket launcher as soon as enough laspistols were produced.

Also, the lack of update yesterday was thanks to repeated horrible deaths of entire team with skyranger. Including one from an alien grenade from invisible source on turn 1. Ouch...
It looks like there's a terror mission already in the pipeline at my current save point, and I'm not going to savescum mid mission... Unless permitted, psionics GET chance, or base attack.

[Saphroneth]

"So, Dr. Gregor Zelinsky, you say that you are in fact from the future?"
"Yes, terrible, terrible future! XCOM defeated, aliens rule inewitable, terrible!"
"So, how far in the future is that?"
"Next week. Seweral times. I travel back each time things go wrong. New aliens, commander! They float, they have dinosaurs, and they show unhealthy penchant for grenade in door of the Skyranger while everyone is disembarking."
"Right. So, how did you come back in time?"
"Particle accelerator can be modified to become time machine with ease! I show you!"

Regardless of disturbing meetings with ex Soviet time travellers with bad English, life in XCOM continued as normal. The radar was finished.
The new recruits arrived:

Bet
They
All
Have
Psi
Score
12


Aaand it looks like we might need them soon.

Это плохо, да?



"So, Sergeant, feel free to explain what happened."
"Well, the tank disembarked first, and it spotted something we hadn't seen from the window.


Oscar went after it - he was closest to the hatch - and the thing absorbed a direct hit from a HE round, then replied with plasma fire and took him out before being put down by laser fire. I'm beginning to think our cannons are cursed. The only people we lost have been carrying them at the time.
Anyway, we blew open the side of the nearby warehouse and noticed a huge creature inside.


It turned out to have friends... lots of them, about four in that warehouse, but they didn't fire on us. I think they might be melee effect combatants, but in all honesty the civilians were almost as dangerous. Anyway, we cut them and the Floater that was controlling them down with laser fire.
Team two went to the western side of the area, and they dealt with several floaters by advancing slowly and having Scott give them sniper support, so the scouts didn't reveal their positions. Excellent work there, by the way.

Team two close in on an alien in a petrol station.

Eventually the remaining aliens were confirmed to be in the south quarter of the incident zone. Uta gave us rooftop sniper support, and team two gave a brilliant example of how to deal with an ambush.
Detect...

Neutralize cover...

And call in fire from outside the enemy's range.

"So apart from the death of Oscar, things went fairly well on this op. We saved almost half the civvies in the area, and got lots of goodies when we cleaned up the place before heading back."

"And I see you didn't even get blown up. Good work, Captain."

"Sorry, sir? Captain?"
"Yes, of course. And a few sergeant promotions as well, though not for Scott. He seems to do better when trying to prove himself...
Oh, and we're saving money by not buying any food for the next week. The Floaters are going to become executive toys, but as for the Reapers... Well, I hear the canteen are doing burgers tonight."
There's a use for everything. Even alien dinosaurs.

Just as I left the interview room, confident in a job well done, sirens went off again and the newly minted captain dashed past, already preparing her laser rifle for combat.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I've got to say, I enjoy watching this going past.

[Saphroneth]

If things go horribly wrong again, I think I'll get Doctor Zelinsky to take some photos before he does the time warp again. I may mangle history enough that the gold standard is replaced by the plastic standard and there never was a 12th president of the US, but XCOM will not fall!

[Saphroneth]

Fortunately for my heart, the troops' skin and XCOM life insurance premiums, the next UFO was not another of the "Terror" type ships, but something more manageable.

Small is beautiful. For assault targets, anyway.


"Based on the view from the windows, it looked like we were back to stereotypical aliens, so-"
"Hang on, Captain. Stereotypical aliens? That could mean anything from Sectoids to Gort to horrible fanged xenomorphs that eat people's insides first because the bones are torn to tissue by the -"
"Calm down, sir. I meant stereotypical aliens from the Roswell leak."
"I'm a bit unsettled by that answer, as it means you have better clearance than I do, but continue."

"Right. Anyway, after the Tank spotted them, we bagged 'em, and began moving out. Later on we spotted another

and Leo spun up the autocannon.

It seems that HE shells work well on Sectoids, at least. Though the muttering was disturbing given what happened later.
Meanwhile, Uta spotted another on the roof, and took it out,

And the Tank began a war of attrition with an alien at the back of the UFO. He recorded a description, here."


TARGET REPEATEDLY ATTEMPTED TO EX-TER-MIN-ATE UNIT! THIS COULD NOT BE TOLERATED!
INTOLERABLE! INTOLERABLE!
AFTER MANY ATTACKS, THIS UNIT LINED UP A SHOT, AND FIRED. THEN IT DID IT ABOUT SIX OR SEVEN MORE TIMES UNTIL ONE HIT AND THE XENOS WAS EX-TER-MIN-ATED!

EXTERMINATE ALL ALIENS! EXTERMINATE ALL FOES OF X-COM! EXTERMIN-"
"Then he did that for about another five minutes."
"Was it around then the cameras failed?"
"Yes, that was when it happened. We moved in on the UFO, and then Leo accidentally shot Grigory with a HE round while giving covering fire. We concluded that we'd have to call in the emergency crews waiting nearby and that we could only do that if the aliens were all dead. So we rushed the UFO.

Grigory was in a bad way by the time we finished, but no other injuries, and he survived. He'll be off active for a good month, though."

"Right. Good work. And maybe get either an exorcist or a text messenger for that Autocannon. If he's still around, then Oscar can bloody well explain himself."

[Saphroneth]

OOC for a bit, I think I should be vaguely scared. I usually play until a mission, but I have enough for an update (tomorrow) with no mission showing up at all right through Feburary. Thing is, I still got a +ve score (88), but a -ve pay rise and there was UFO activity, so what does that mean? They liked our drinks? They didn't?


Okay. Looks like I got 80 points for research, and the aliens... -8 for alien activity? Did they crash or something?

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

There's probably a base hanging around somewhere. Bases, as long as they're in existence, start sucking out your points, although tbh, I thought it was at a rate of 3 a day, so 8 doesn't quite look right. But I wouldn't worry too much. Score is only indirectly relevant. It affects how much those dweebs fund you, but by mid-march, you ought to be getting most of your money from UFO recovery anyway.



EDIT, here's a link to how score is calculated, but if you still only have one base, it can be hard to determine how much the aliens are up to out of your sight.

[Saphroneth]

That's just it, I have MORE points than I can trace. Absolutely nothing happened the whole month apart from research. And I did check alien scores, and they're pretty high (compared to my +ve from the month) and in the Aus region.

[Saphroneth]

Yep, he's gonna be out of it for a while.

As January drew to a close, our research on alien metals completed and I ordered the labs to find a way of strapping the stuff to our soldiers for defensive purposes.

We might NOT die horribly? This feels wrong somehow...

And the funding committee of vagueness met to determine how well we'd done. It wasn't bad. Though you have to wonder how they knew... Are we working for SEELE or something?
Yay money!

A few days later, the next job appeared on our radar east of Novosibirsk.
Aliens Love Snow.
Aaand once again disappeared without trace.
Also they love screwing around with us.
A quick check of local news networks showed that only in Australasia were aliens present in large numbers. As in, on the other side of the world, further than the Interceptors can actually fly.
What did I tell you.
Apart from that slight problem, things went well. Scientists arrived...
Armour was researched...
It protects against some plasma fire! offer not necessarily valid in actual combat.
And we started shoving some of the alien power source into the LEP. Preliminary results were not encouraging.
115 protons? That's not right.

At least less troops will now die. So less paperwork. But what does it mean "Side effects include making hair red?
XCOM, realizing that with no UFOs there were no quick cash supplies (AKA 'unidentified flying Pinatas'), began investigation into alternate funding sources.

Roll up! Roll up! Lasers galore!

More research finished...
And the men weeping in the corner are the theoretical physicists.
The engineers completed their job of panel beating the hardest material known to man into useful shapes...
Now available for purchase.
The kids love it! Or soldiers. Either or, really.
And the medi kit project completed.
Now we have the ability to prevent people bleeding out from friendly fire!
Wait, what? The month ended already?
So... we did nothing, aliens did something, but we did better. But we get less money? I'm confused...

Now I'm worried. A whole month with no aliens showing up in any way, shape or form. Apart from that scout on the 2nd. But what did it do? The only Alien activity the whole month was in Australasia, and they can't have done much...
Maybe we're winning. Nah, they're just biding their time. Waiting until they can turn our worst nightmares against us... Like Xenomorphs from Alien, or Angels from NGE, or Daleks... No, wait, we have that one covered.

Maybe I'm just paranoid... I mean, their idea of a terror weapon is the Reapers, for crying out loud. Those things appear to be herbivores.
Oh crap. I tempted fate, didn't I.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I suspect you losing the alien ships is because they're zipping out of your range. Putting up another base (if possible) somewhere a third around the earth (India region?) might assist...

[Saphroneth]

Money issues. Going to set up in China and USA once the Laser Cannon Expo of Happy Fun Money is set up.
Also: having had everyone die to grenade again, I reloaded at the start of March. But info from before the reload included a supply ship, a large scout and a battleship moseying around Australia all at once (using the 'ranger as a scout), so there's an alien base set up there early March. This is of course a bit out of range where I am currently based...

[Saphroneth]

As March began and another Zelinsky iteration materialized in the lobby, this one telling me that Aliens were about to put a base in Australia, the scientists assigned to research came up to me with news on the ongoing "Make our own UFOs" project.

And now antimatter. Also antigravity. We need some antialien soon - can we do that?
I ordered the lab workers to come up with more powerful lasers to sell. And maybe use. We weren't going to be able to rely on government money, clearly.
Or we could research these...naaah. Copyright issues from Metroid that haven't been resolved yet.

Oh brilliant. Wait, which Perth? There's loads.
Sadly, it wasn't the nearby, half hour flight English Perth, but the one in Australia. On the other side of the world.

Recorded in the Field.


"What the hell happened to my hair, Captain?"
"Well, the label did say it did that to hair... Maybe it only affects men or something, because mine's fine."

XENOS SIGHTED! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!
"Thank god I found the mute button - though the subtitles are creepy in and of themselves..."

"Okay, I think I can get the nearer one, then whoever is next really better get the further one, or we're toast!"
*laser fire*
"Yep, that's done. Clear the buildings to the south and north before continuing the sweep - what is that?
"Probably some bizarre Australian thing. Maybe a city disaster planner was drunk?"

"There's at least two here! Someone remind the 'ranger pilot to put us away from danger!"
"Hey, we want to get there before the things get away, right?"
"Guys! Cut the chatter, please!"

"I got one, but the other's headed right for you, Uta!"

"It... missed. Thank god for that."

"Hey, team one, how you doing over there?"

ADDITIONAL FLOATERS DETECTED! EXTERMINATE!
"You know, the usual..."

"People refuse to acknowledge my killcount..."
"Quit griping, Scott, at least we stopped calling you Rookie, right?"
"You still call me a redshirt!"

"Uta? Situation?"

"There were three floaters in the building. Now, there are none."
"All clear on the northern angle too... and we seem done. Who wants Reaperburgers tonight?"

Recording ends.

I'm proud of them. They did well... apart from the unfortunate friendly fire incident, and we have no way to tell what happened, though personally I think it was the bit where we blew up the petrol station again.

And it looks like the good doctor's info was right. Lots of reported activity in Oceania, but Brazilian sources also mentioned "big fly thing with no wings that go much fast." Why they mention this on national Brazilian TV for toddlers I have NO idea...

[Saphroneth]

Okay, looks like my camera suffered a flat battery or something, because we have NO pictures for me to work from. I suppose I'll have to use my amazing descriptive ability to substitute.

First thing that happened was that we finished the line of research into laser weapons - heavy lasers and the laser cannon. Not bad, really, as our research goes, though the heavy laser weighs a ton and the cannon is too big to actually carry. The Dalek was enthusiastic, though, and a lot of governments want to have laser cannons. So we now make much of our money through sales of laser cannons. Apparently, if fully staffed, our two workshops could be making over 4 million a month profit!
That's on hold for a bit, though, as the Dalek barricaded himself in the workshops and started shouting "BUILD-ME-ONE-MATE" all the time. We assume he refers to a laser tank chassis.
Next thing that happened was that we got two small scouts buzzing the base a week or so apart. The first one, we swatted with a pair of nukes - and blew it up. That sucked.
So the second one we followed, and tried to assault it when it landed in the massif central. The entire opposition was blown up when Uta shot off a rocket at the nearby farmhouse and killed the alien.
Easiest. Mission. Ever.

We netted a cool half million from that.

Shortly after that, the labs let us know they'd designed us some power armour. I would order them in massive quantities, but... well, we're out of Alien alloys. So I just told the scientists to get working on the plasma weapons.

Good news is that the Beijing base is set up, under the name of XCOM BEPC.
Shut up. It works for us, and at least we can post a Zelinsky there as well to come back and warn us if things go wrong there.

So, not much happened apart from finding a way to at least reach the supposed Alien base in Australia. Methinks a second Skyranger there to raid their supplies could be very good for our bottom line...

Oh, I asked Jackie, and she managed to get the old Area 51 data on Sectoids for me.

Ugly little beggars, aren't they.
They look to be either underdeveloped or aquatic, their heads are too large for the rest of the body, and the entire crew of the ship were genetically identical.
That doesn't scream "master race" to me, really - they're quick but inaccurate, and they also don't have any highly developed language organs like humans do, they may have been taught to speak late in their development.
Maybe next time we bounce a UFO we should go for the stunners - their constitutions aren't exactly brilliant (hell, they drink nutrient soup), so we should get a prisoner or two from it.

Thing is, no way are the Floaters the race behind it all either. No master race would agree to horrible mutilation for a slight combat advantage (they'd just send in more cannon fodder. Or make Reapers aggressive), so what are the alien leaders?

[Saphroneth]

"So, er, as you can see, Monsieur Cotti, this is where we keep the parts of the, ah, UFOs we have shot down or assaulted on the ground. It's quite a collection, don't you think?"
"Yes, quite. And what is that?"
"That is the Elerium container. We have almost 1.25 kilos of the stuff, it's very good - efficient, too, almost 99% mass to energy."
I watched with a sudden sense of fear as one of his aides whispered in his ear.
He was bristling when he turned back to me.
"You mean to tell me that you have a twenty five megaton nuclear warhead under my COUNTRY?"
I gave a sickly grin.
"Technically, we can't even use it yet, but it's not quite as dangerous as that..."

Something tells me we'll need to check if Fraulein Dreifuss is more amenable when she rotates in... Until then, we'll put it in the French tunnel. They can't object, right?

[Saphroneth]

"And that'll fix it?"
"Should do, just replace the battery every third roll of film and you'll be fine."


Okay. Now that that little problem is sorted out, we can provide the multimedia quality you're used to.
Worth the wait?
Here's the view showing the position of the Chinese XCOM base, with a staff currently consisting of a janitor. But soon they'll be thrumming with activity!
And the Dalek has his new chassis. Looking at the specs, I imagine I'd want it if I were an ill defined combination of computer program and small thing in jar.
That's about double the old damage. Also faster firing and more accurate.
Once again, a UFO makes atmospheric entry over Novosibirsk.
Maybe they like the beautiful promenades.
And disappears again before the interceptors are even nearby. We need a better system.
At least with the tank built, the new money stream is fully operational.
Roll up. Roll up. Laser death available to all comers.
And we have secured our place in the future with small lockouts in all laser cannons. So we can turn them off to prevent wars. Of course.

Our radar really does suck.
UFO detected coming down towards the UK. We'll get the 'ranger and an interceptor to shadow it, hopefully we can catch it on the ground, find out from the aliens how they work.
What did I tell you.



This... This was a rude wakeup call. After the last few missions, we began to get overconfident, and then this.
It started well.
The Dalek was first down the ramp, and noticed the alien taking a breath of fresh air right away.

As we couldn't afford to kill it in case it was the crucial navigator we needed, squad one fixed bayonets (well, took out the high voltage cattle prod attachments) and moved in quick bursts so as not to be seen by the aliens in the ship.



Meanwhile over to the west another alien was spotted, this one in the farmhouse. The rest of the team were deployed to storm the house, but only when the UFO was breached.


Sergeant Belev and Otto with him were detailed to storm the UFO, with the captain scouting to the northeast of the UFO to ensure that we had all the aliens accounted for - at one in the house there were four left from the standard scout crew.

The first two aliens, soldiers we think, went down without a hitch, but the remaining charge in the prod wasn't enough to get the third. It fired back, barely missing Leo as he dove back out the door.

Otto was not so fortunate.
Leo does not remember the next few seconds, but knows they ended with him tasering the final alien in the UFO with enough power that it ran out his armour batteries totally.

It looked from the different insignia like we had what we came for.
With that news, lethal force was authorized for the farmhouse team.

The one upstairs was taken care of easily by way of a spotter back on the skyranger, but the final alien from the crew was also in the farmhouse.

Scott was nearest the door, having been in last. He wasn't close to cover, and the new armour wasn't able to save him from a headshot.
He was almost ready to be counted as no longer a redshirt.
The rest of the second squad melted the wall down and avenged him.

Cold Comfort.

That was terrible - the first men lost since January. I wish I could say it wasn't in vain, but - well. Maybe that's true.

Regardless, we started the interrogation process. Soldier first, let the navigator see what's coming to him.
Interrogation commenced. Don't mind the flickering lights.
The Dalek was willing to help, which really shouldn't surprise me.

It may have been the insane tank, but the alien cracked quickly.
I really hope that "psi" word doesn't mean what I think it means
Work was promptly started on the navigator.
INTERROGATE! INTERROGATE!

Oh, and we did well again apparently.
That is good. You get extra lasers.
A quick check with the delegates revealed interesting results about the alien presence in their countries.

I smell alien base. Smells like digeridoo and sunshine.

[Saphroneth]

...ouch.

Now I understand why multiple copies of Zelinsky are all over the place.

The latest one, from a bare few days in the future, shared with me an illustrated tale of woe.
It began when the radar at the main base spotted a large scout, and the Interceptors blew it out of the sky over Spain.


Well, things started OK.
Alien detected just outside the ramp, but looking the other way.
The Dalek finished scouting the area near the ramp to prevent surprises, and was fired upon.

So there were two aliens in the LZ. Still not too much of a problem, really...
Grigory dropped down by the left side of the ramp and opened fire. However, the two hits he landed on the Sectoid only alerted it to his presence, and it returned fire.

He did not survive.
After this, one of the troops still on the skyranger decided to try sniping, and knelt to get a better shot.

He also did not survive this, being cut down before even opening fire.

The rest of the mission involved discovering that every single alien in the entire UFO was waiting in ambush just near the 'ranger landing site, some at windows, and that none of them died to less than two shots of laserfire. Add to that we ran out of rockets, and you can see why Zelinsky spun up his time machine.


(This is some of what I have been reloading to avoid. Seriously, a reaction ~60 trooper on full TUs being killed by reaction fire from an alien that already autoshot while inside the skyranger from KNEELING? Also the only one hit kill from laser rifle troops against sectoids was a Large Rocket on an alien already hit twice by laserfire. Well, apart from the deadly plasma that always killed my operatives. I mean, jeez. Still not savescumming missions, but reloading from prev save point if lots of the team die. Casualty count on that one was 4 or 5, I stopped taking pictures after a bit.)

[Saphroneth]

Oh, UN regulations, why do you frustrate me so.
We could have had these, and then I would feel so much better. Actually, why can't we have air support?

Anyway, More UFO madness.
Shot that one down over northern Italy, and it once again crashed into generic farmland. Just like when they land on their own.


Fairly good start there, despite someone forgetting to refill the Skyranger after the UK casualties.


Akira spotted a tango in one of the barns. Remembering the lessons from so many missions, he dove to the side as the rest of XCOM blew the wall down.


They eventually got their Alien. (Picture shown is just before the Sectoid slumped.)


The troops then moved in on the quiescent large scout -class UFO, though Akira found himself stuck in a building.

He took a creative solution. And nearly broke his ankle.


Eventually things were ready for entry. To minimize the chances of the Sectoids returning fire, the most agile member of the team, Leo, opened the door and ran for it as covering fire blazed in.


It seemed to work.

Fairly basic mission, really. Too bad about the Elerium blowing up.

Also the Navigator finally spilled on how to pick up alien transmissions.