Hey, everybody else has started a let's play and abandoned it. Lets Play X-Com! [Archive]

chiasaur11

2009-06-27, 09:33 PM

Well, dirtbags, it seems some of you were intrigued enough by the catchy title line to enter this office. You are being offered an opportunity that, in generations to come, will be the envy of every right thinking man, woman, child, and freakish silicon based entity that falls into none of above listed categories. You, miscellanious scum, are being given a chance to join in and make decisions for the greatest military entity in the history of the Earth.

You, ladies, gents, and poorly disguised aliens spies (You in the back, with the hideous carapace: The baseball hat isn't fooling anyone.) are being given a chance to join X-Com.

Now, normally I'd hand you some form of weapon, a shirt in team colors, and let you charge to your glorious deaths, but it seems the limp wristed sissies at the UN are making noises about "Appropriate use of resources" "minimizing civilian casualties" and other such defeatest coward talk. This sad hamstringing of your glorious leader's tactical ability forces me to allow you, the pathetic grunts who might as well be wearing shirts with "Blue Team" on the front, to decide on base location and "general tactical outlook" AKA whether or not I make every effort to save each and every one of your worthless hindquarters or if I take the man's route, with death or glory charges, heroic last stands, and hilarious grenade related "Accidents" which I record and submit to whichever country we're in's most painful home videos, where we will most assuredly be beaten by video of a baby making odd noises!

Where was I? Right. Volunteers. So just stick your John Hancock on the line, submit your votes on technological developments, Ironman mode, and the nation most worthy of our defensive efforts, and die gloriously for Earth and X-Com. If you fail to die gloriously, then at least bring back alien corpses.

(Note: This let's play may end without notice due to any of the following factors: Work, lack of work, boredom, excitement, success, failure, swine flu, bird flu, human flu, or actual alien invasion. In the event of cancellation, feel free to blame Fox.)

Current cast:

The crew of the XAS Avenger, code named "Hand of God"

Chiasaur11: Your glorious leader and commander. Good with a quip, a gun, or a Psi amp, he's earth's last, best hope against the encroaching menace.

Nano: A new pilot appointed after a mysterious tragedy, Nano was lucky enough to get to pilot the Avenger, X-COM's newest top of the line craft. Like most assignments at X-COM, there's a thin line between a plumb assignment, and a suicide mission. Nano hasn't noticed yet that a trip to Cydonia? Probably the latter.

Copper: The crack shot sniper with a million word a minute mouth, his organizational skills have aided X-COM enough to make the Sectoids hate him almost as much as his commander does.

Lopez: X-COM's trusted Heavy Weapons Platform, Lopez has been a key component of every mission. Whether he's drawing fire, slaughtering Chryssalids, or just scouting, Lopez is the linchpin of any X-COM assault.

Tengu Temp: The rising star of X-COM, Tengu Temp is earth's finest psychic, a mental marvel unmatched by anything the aliens can field. Unfortunately, all the power tends to go to his head.

BRC: Comrade! Have you heard the word? X-COM's resident dirty red, BRC is a revolutionary to the core, and with the help of a standard issue Psi-Amp, he's spreading the revolution to every alien he can.

Trazoi: Every unit needs a medic, and when disaster strikes, Trazoi's the closest thing X-COM has. Of course, he's a bit rusty on most of the basics, up to and including "first, do no harm."

Slaanesh: Don't ask. Just... don't ask.

Jimor: An ex PI trying to solve the murder of an old buddy, Jimor's alcohol system is only .03% blood by volume.

Kane: Is dead. And also alive. He tries not to think about it much.

Lord of Rapture: Some fight with guns. Some fight with their minds. Rapture fights with conspiciously placed notes around the base saying how awesome he is. It seems to be working so far.

Sheila The Fort Fri laser tank, Sheila's a solid bit of craftsmanship, with the best laser based armament available. She gets along fairly well with Lopez. So well, in fact, it might be impeding job performance.

(Classified) The AI on the Avenger, this particular bit of programming seems a bit... mad. Still, he hates the alien menace, and that should be enough for now.

Murska: Is also there.

War is fought with brains and tech as well as guns and rockets, of course.

Cubey runs X-COM's highly ethically questionable science division, where every day is a good day to try to build city sized mechs.

Chumbley, the alien captured by X-COM on a routine raid, tries his best to aid X-COM in the study of alien craft with some success, while also helping with general around the base busywork. He makes the best waffles known to man.

Swot: The chief engineer of X-COM. Usually making laser cannons in a dimly reasonably well lit basement.

Fort Fri is the secondary base, currently keeping busy trying to prevent England from being devoured by Chryssalids. It's an unpopular job, but with Knight in charge, no one has ever asked to quit. More than once.

Alex Knight: The second in commander of earth's defensive efforts, Knight is a man more prone to action than thought. The deadliest man alive in close quarters combat, he makes every mission a terror mission, for the aliens at least.

Pie Guy: was the most promising of the recruits, quickly making Sergeant. However, his cowardice led to disaster, a lost tank, and three dead. He still regrets it.

Rockphed: The first to volunteer for suicide missions, Rockphed seems to have a death wish. This gives everyone around him the heebie jeebies, which means he's usually left alone on the Skyranger, the safest position of all.

Kzickas: Is a member of X-COM.

Flickerdart: An idealistic rookie, Flickerdart is one of the three soldiers in the Fort Fri Skyranger team who has not yet learned to wet his or her pants at the mention of the word "Muton". And one of those three is Colonel Knight, who files fear under "Oh yeah. That thing aliens do when they see me".

Oslecamo: Another new member of the Fort Fri active team, Oslecamo is unusually optimistic about X-COM's deathrate. "At least there's more of a chance for a promotion."

Dark Fiddler: One of first men recruited for X-COM, Fiddler has been marked for death since day one. Even with the current unblemished record of success, he's wary. He knows he's one whim of command away from a suicidal scouting run, and he's doing his best to avoid it.

Eldan: Is totally not an alien spy. Really.

Ferrus &
Zero Numerous: The odd job men of the crew, Ferrus and Numerous replaced vets with records dating back to day one. Although it took a while, they both earned their stripes with willingness to obey nearly suicidal orders, assuming someone was covering for them. They still debate the relevant virtues of Joel and Mike more than most of the base staff.

X-COM fights in the air as well. Our ace pilots (with one unfortunate exception) are a valuable asset, taking down ships far better armed than earth's with nothing more than gumption, devotion, and devastating plasma cannons.

Hans Von Hammer: The presumably German flying ace at X-Com Europe, his skill almost makes us overlook the fact he speaks almost constantly in quotes from old issues of "Enemy Ace".

King: One of X-COM's newest pilots, King thought he'd be joining a thriving garrison at Kaiju control, but, due to a bureaucratic error, he's not just the only pilot, but in fact the only person at the base.

Lester: Nano's replacement as the Fort Fri interceptor pilot, Lester is the third pilot of Interceptor 2. He tries not to let stories of a haunted breakroom bother him. He doesn't do that very well.

Of course, for every hero in the field, there are three guys sitting arond doing nothing. We salute you, and your drain on the budget.

Lord Herman
Pendell
Thanatos
Redpieper
Tykspoon
Slaneesh
Johnny Blade
Redpieper
Cristo Meyers
Narazil
Gralamin
Jibar
Tyracus
Suzuro
11th Hour
The accursed Dexter Griff

Finally, those who gave their last measure of devotion for X-COM.

Artanis
Fri
Lokxy
Winterwind
Kane
Eldan
Bouregard
Penguinizer
That other guy
Dallas Dakota
Headless Ninja
Azure Butterfly

You will not be forgotten. For at least half an hour.

And an index of updates. From the first downed UFO to the final plasma round on Cydonia, the definitive list of events, with links!

Prologue: Yes, this is the commander. Yes, you are doomed. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6386124&postcount=33)
Mission 1: Say hello to the valiant men and women of X-Com. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6391679&postcount=61)
Mission 2: Now say goodbye. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6399075&postcount=80)
Mission 3: New aliens. New psychopaths. Same old Chicago. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6406870&postcount=115)
Mission 4: Home is where they try to kill you. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6414766&postcount=147)
Intermission 1: Sweeping up corpses and counting the dead. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6421119&postcount=171)
Mission 5: Sensational character find of '99. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6427994&postcount=203)
Intermission 2: Enemy well know. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6443633&postcount=248)
Mission 6: The easy ones get you less of a pay check. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6447277&postcount=266)
Mission 7: Menace in Moscow! (Also aliens) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6456300&postcount=322)
Mission 8: Walk softly... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6457608&postcount=337)
Mission 9: Body armor? What kinda crazytalk is this? (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6464979&postcount=412)
Mission 10: Yes, CAPTAIN Copper. Can't win them all. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6465876&postcount=422)
Mission 11: The beginning of a beautiful friendship? (No.) (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6473440&postcount=476)
Mission 12: Ninja vs. Aliens. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6479609&postcount=504)
Mission 13: Shines the name, shines the name... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6486417&postcount=542)
Mission 14, part 1: There's a thousand stories in the city. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6492713&postcount=616)
Mission 14, part 2: This one ended a bit abruptly. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6499045&postcount=650)
Missions 15 and 16: Snakemen? Don't see the threat, really. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6508013&postcount=735)
Mission 17: The most dangerous game of all (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6514922&postcount=759)
Intermission 3: Tensions mount. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6520074&postcount=786)
Mission 18: Private detective, public alien hunter. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6526210&postcount=830)
Mission 19: Toho meets Romero. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6532208&postcount=863)
Missions 20 and 21: Snakes on a spaceship before it was played out! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6539697&postcount=900)
Mission 22: Melting of the minds. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6547002&postcount=932)
Mission 23: Disasterpeice theatre, starring Pvt. Jimor. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6555549&postcount=962)
Mission 24: We all fall. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6563023&postcount=1036)
Mission 25: Some folks just get back up. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6570490&postcount=1100)
Mission 26: Avengers, ASSEMBLE! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6576256&postcount=1130)
Mission 27: Robot Roll Call! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6584997&postcount=1167)
Mission 28: Lead, follow, or cower in the corner. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6592317&postcount=1199)
Mission 29: Even more extreme than usual home makeover. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6598562&postcount=1219)
Mission 30: Snakes. Getting bored of Snakes. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6606834&postcount=1243)
Mission 31: Death of a madman. Or not. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6611571&postcount=1307)
Cydonian Assault Part 1: We go to Mars, not because it is easy... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6614743&postcount=1336)
Part 2: Or because it is hard. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6616136&postcount=1344)
Finale: But because man has always wanted to kill space aliens. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6622369&postcount=1388)
Epilogue: A debt to the dead. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6622568&postcount=1401)

Winterwind

2009-06-27, 09:47 PM

Which X-Com game are we talking about here, specifically? X-Com: UFO Defense (better known as UFO: Enemy Unknown over here)?

If so, I vote for an Ironman game and for the primary base to be situated in some poorly accessible area in the Swiss Alps - from there, the X-Com will be able to watch unnoticed by civilian eyes over the multitude of countries located in Europe and Northern Africa. :smallcool:

(also, I have never participated in any Let's Play before, but this is just too interesting for me. Enemy Unknown was my most favourite game of all pretty much throughout the 90ies)

chiasaur11

2009-06-27, 09:53 PM

UFO: Enemy Unknown AKA UFO Defense indeed.

Although if you all voted for some insane reason to fund the enforcer project, well, I will cede to the will of democracy. (Curse you democracy.)

So, votes so far

Country:
Swiss Alps: 2
USA! USA!: 1
Saves:
Ironman.
Research
Lasers.

Recruits:
Winterwind. (Redshirt)
Copper8642 (Fighting Quartermaster)
Trazoi (Doomed grunt )
That other guy
Fri
Loxxy
The Dark Fiddler
Alex Knight.
Bouregard
Headless ninja
Eldan: (Alien spy)
Penguinizer: (Grenades)
Artanis (Demolitions)

Copper8642

2009-06-27, 09:57 PM

What is Ironman, anyways?

That being said, I might be interested. Sign me up, but I might disappear if I can't catch on.

Winterwind

2009-06-27, 10:07 PM

Research
No votes.I propose to start with Laser Weaponry; as useful as medikits would be, if we start researching Laser Weaponry right away we have a fair chance to have a decent amount of Laser Pistols and even a couple of Laser Rifles when the nefarious invaders launch their first terror assault.

I also propose we buy ourselves three Avalanche-type missile launchers and swap all our Interceptor weaponry for this vastly superior weapon, get ourselves an autocannon with high explosive rounds for when we need to quickly cover the area with explosions, a dozen of E-Flares in case of night missions, a stun rod or two (if the opportunity presents itself) and a Cannon-AWC for the most dangerous hotspots in the missions on the occasion throwing redshirts rookies into the grinder doesn't seem the most prudent strategic option.

Recruits:
Winterwind. (Any specialties in mind?)Assign me as you please. I don't claim to be astonishingly good at that game, but I have won it with Ironman before.

EDIT:

What is Ironman, anyways?Saving/Loading only for taking a break of playing, but no re-loading just because things go south. Defending the Earth is a bloody and gritty matter, soldier, and many of us will see the daisies from below before this war is over; there is no divine intervention that can save you like a reload button. :smallamused:

Copper8642

2009-06-27, 10:24 PM

Hmmm... my problem with being assigned a position is my lack of skill at this game. I'm very bad at it. That being said, while I could never survive an Ironman style game, I'm voting that you do. So I feel like I signed up for an actual alien invasion defense. Where I can die. And probably will.

Oh, and I agree with Winterwind on most points, except I think we should get the tank with the rockets, the cannon is LAME!

Winterwind

2009-06-27, 10:33 PM

I don't feel strongly either way as far as the AWC is concerned, but I feel I should elaborate on my reason for voting for the Cannon.

The main purpose of the AWC, as far as I see it, would be to move whereever it would be exceedingly dangerous to move soldiers. Of course, we will be losing rookies left and right anyway, but in some cases it may seem just too dangerous to send even them. This means, however, that the AWC may often be forced to operate in closed confines and/or in proximity to X-Com personel or (in terror missions) civilians, so while the cannon is an infinitely inferior weapon, it would eliminate the risk of catching the tank or humans in the explosion. The AWC's main purpose is to divert fire from the squishy human soldiers, not to make kills anyway.

The rockets would have the added benefit of eliminating cover and clearing away large passages where we would need them, just like an autocannon or portable rocket launcher would. Also, much bigger potential to actually kill aliens.

Personally, while I'm noone to deny that rockets have their distinct advantages too, I find the cannon's useability while in proximity to targets one doesn't want to hit synergizes better with the AWC's primary function (scouting/taking hits instead of soldiers).

Copper8642

2009-06-27, 10:37 PM

Very true. So I guess either way works.

Also, Winter, do you follow me around this forum, or do we just look at all the same topics? :smallannoyed:

:smalltongue:

Winterwind

2009-06-27, 10:42 PM

You might note I posted in this thread before you did, and last time I checked I possess no prophetic powers (as handy as those might be). :smalltongue:

Same for a fair amount of other threads you posted in (in fact, I started at least one of those :smalltongue:)

I guess it's mostly that strategy games interest me practically without exception, and you seem to have a preference for strategy games as well.

Copper8642

2009-06-27, 10:46 PM

Wow, I'm the stalker without even realizing it. Creepy.

Oh, I forgot to vote on a location. I like Mid-Northern America. But they pay well, so maybe that's too easy for a game like this?

chiasaur11

2009-06-27, 10:54 PM

Wow, I'm the stalker without even realizing it. Creepy.

Oh, I forgot to vote on a location. I like Mid-Northern America. But they pay well, so maybe that's too easy for a game like this?

Son, if defending the good old United States of America from the godless swarms of communist Martians is wrong, well then we might as well give up on brutally slaughtering other species solely for our own amusement!

Trazoi

2009-06-27, 11:16 PM

If so, I vote for an Ironman game and for the primary base to be situated in some poorly accessible area in the Swiss Alps - from there, the X-Com will be able to watch unnoticed by civilian eyes over the multitude of countries located in Europe and Northern Africa. :smallcool:

I'd go slightly more east and place the base somewhere around the Austria/Hungary/Slovenia border, but the reasoning is the same. :smallsmile:

chiasaur11

2009-06-28, 12:09 AM

Good to know.

Also, what free image hosting sites would everyone here recommend for this kind of project?

Don't want to overload it and lose all the images for weeks.

Smight

2009-06-28, 03:16 AM

where do i sign..

1 vote for Europe as a base of operation,
1 vote for Laser followed by armour

and

1 vote for ironman

position:

NOT the guy opening the door while holding primed hand grenade.:smallfurious:

Fri

2009-06-28, 05:22 AM

This has the smell of a potentially insanely amusing thread. Or maybe it's just burnt flesh.

I'm horrendeously bad at this, eventhough x com was some sort of a cult classic in my country back then, a lot more cultsy and classicy than any other cult classic game. So I can't help with the decision making. I can only offer my personal wit, strength, and courage in one convenient fleshy package.

Do what you need to do with it, my commander.

Lokxy

2009-06-28, 05:45 AM

Primary base with research facility should be in Europe. Second base could be in the U.S.A. Laser rifle is a must, followed by personal armor and medkits.

The Dark Fiddler

2009-06-28, 06:50 AM

Hey! I didn't want to abandon it, but nobody else was posting! I had made three posts right in a row with no intermittent posts!

*cough* ANYWAY... I vote for not dieing, thank you very much.

Alex Knight

2009-06-28, 07:14 AM

Definately Iron Man mode...and lasers. Lots of lasers.

My personal squad has 2 guys with pistols and stun batons (I.E. "bait"), 2-4 people with heavy weapons (missiles, autocannons), and everyone else with a rifle and some grenades.

I'd like to be the guy on overwatch who somehow manages to miss the aliens moving up to slaughter the team every time.

Bouregard

2009-06-28, 07:17 AM

Why everyone researches medkits? My people are either shot dead or not shot dead.

Alex Knight

2009-06-28, 07:21 AM

Why everyone researches medkits? My people are either shot dead or not shot dead.

Believe it or not, it *is* possible to get wounded, especially once you start wearing armor.

I agree that medkits should be a lower priority than lasers though. Especially since lasers don't run out of ammo. Saves time reloading in the field, and money when you restock.

Headless_Ninja

2009-06-28, 07:24 AM

^
This. So lasers. I typically go with USA for my first base. Also: could I be a redshirt?

Copper8642

2009-06-28, 08:21 AM

I don't even know what my title means........ :smallredface:

Winterwind

2009-06-28, 11:56 AM

Ah, so many fresh recruits. Your forthcoming senseless and brutal death in the defence of our planet will be highly appreciated (and quickly forgotten). :smallamused:

I also second the multiple times mentioned research order of Laser Weapons -> Laser Pistol -> Laser Rifle -> Alien Alloys -> Personal Armour.

I also second the notion that our secondary base, to be constructed fairly early (though not right away) should be in the US, probably in northern Texas or so.

Oh, and nobody's mentioned it yet (probably because it's too obvious), but we need to start the construction of additional Quarters, Store Rooms, a Long Range Radar and a Containment Facility right away.

And hire a few more rookies and fill up the rest of our quarters with scientists. When the quarters finish, much more scientists and a few engineers, too.

As for the image hosting, personally I use Photobucket (http://photobucket.com/) for all my image hosting purposes, and I've never run into problems, though I have no idea how well suited it would be for this endeavour.

Smight

2009-06-28, 12:00 PM

and we definetly need a tank, the only thing that can stand a few hits before we get armor.:smallwink:

Fri

2009-06-28, 12:04 PM

US is rather boring. Why don't we based ourselves on... say fiji? Or australia?

Winterwind

2009-06-28, 12:31 PM

US is rather boring. Why don't we based ourselves on... say fiji? Or australia?Because it is immensly important to protect our funding. Hence why the two most important spots are either Europe or North America - the former has the biggest density of funding nations, the latter has only Canada, USA and Mexico, but the US are the highest funding nation of them all.

Personally, I find the big number of countries to protect in Europe makes it a better starting location than North America, but both are important and should be protected as soon as possible.

In Australia, we would be too far from all of them. We would practically end up watching as one nation after the other defects to the alien invaders,

Eldan

2009-06-28, 12:42 PM

Sir! I'm not an Alien Spy, Sir! Look at my human hat and glasses!

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9059/notaninja.jpg

Anyway, applying for any position that is still open, and another vote for Ironman and Switzerland.

Penguinizer

2009-06-28, 12:51 PM

If you're taking recruits, I'd be willing to join up. If possible, I would like to use grenades, since they always result in shenanigans.

chiasaur11

2009-06-28, 01:30 PM

Right then, dirtbags, scumbuckets, traitors, spies, and assorted near hippies. On the basis of "democracy" and "logic", you all have got yourselves stationed in Europe with laser research and no-one to save you if you fall. Needless to say, life in X-Com will be hard at first. There won't be any of the comforts of home.

But there is good news. Although I had to take a small funding cut, the UN has agreed that if we are successful, there will be no consequences whatsoever for any atrocities we commit!

(I should get us started by tonight. Might get the upload done before tomorrow. I got both a photobucket and a Flickr account so as to have a backup in case one can't handle all the graphic deaths and destruction sure to ensue.)

Artanis

2009-06-28, 01:30 PM

If it's not too late to sign up, count me in :smallbiggrin:

My votes regarding:

*Ironman: I don't mind one way or the other

*Starting location: Europe. There's just too many countries that can be covered there.

*Tech: Lasers up through laser rifles. Yes, it is theoretically possible to survive being shot, especially when you have armor...but we don't have armor, and you're screwed anyways if your shots are literally bouncing off the enemy. Besides, laser rifles are the second-best weapon in the game, third place is nowhere close, and the first-place weapon uses Elerium ammo.

*Weapons: One or two ACs with HE rounds, the rest rifles. Electro-flares and stun rods are obvious, with grenades to taste. Phase out the rifles for laser weapons as soon as they come out of the workshops.

*Me: AC-user with HE ammo. THINGS GO BOOM! Also, (if I somehow survive long enough), the blaster-user and psi-attacker whenever we get them.

*Interceptor tactics: I usually keep the missile launchers. Avalanches and (for smaller ships) Stingrays are good enough until we can get plasma beams.

Winterwind

2009-06-28, 02:01 PM

Let's talk about squad tactics, shall we? :smallsmile:

My favoured approach is to divide all soldiers into "veterans" and "redshirts", based on their quality (the main factor being Shooting Accuracy - Shooting Accurace of about 55+ warrants admission into the veteran group, a soldier with less should better be really fast, strong and resilient to not be demoted to redshirt). As opposed to what many players do I do not kick the "redshirts" out to replace them with better soldiers, as this is Ironman and we will be losing soldiers anyway - I simply consider the redshirts 100% expendable, and they are the ones who will be taking the hits, while the veterans make kills from afar.

So the strategy amounts to the tank and the redshirts swarming out into all directions (map's edge excluded, of course), while the veterans use the Skyranger's wheels and nearby terrain features for cover and follow the redshirts only with a thorough distance. When a redshirt discovers an alien, I usually try to shoot it with a veteran first - the veterans are hardly moving, usually kneel, and they are the ones with the best accuracy, so they have a fair chance to actually hit, and they are so far away that their fire may not trigger a reaction shot from the alien, and if it does, the alien is unlikely to hit. No veteran ever moves around a corner or into a building without a redshirt passing there first. When an UFO is about to be assaulted, a minimum of two redshirts enter first. Redshirts are always positioned such that aliens discover them first, before they could run into a veteran.

This way, while usually losing 2-3 redshirts per mission early on (with better technology and armour it becomes significantly less), the soldiers that are actually any good usually survive - even when playing Ironman I had soldiers with dozens of missions completed, three-digit amounts of kills and a shooting accuracy of 120+.

chiasaur11

2009-06-28, 02:03 PM

A slight warning: I make exceptions to the rules for the first ground mission. No mid mission saves, but I'm trying it from the start a couple of times to get the hang of it. And prevent myself from dying. Hey, my inspiration for combat tactics is Sarge from Red Vs Blue. He well understood the fact the rules only apply to everyone else. Also, given the outcome of the first month, a few positions may open up soon.

(Dang. Can't seem to get the pictures to show up here. Any tips from those who've done this sort of thing before?)

chiasaur11

2009-06-28, 05:16 PM

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_000.png
As requested, X-Com set up its initial base in mid Europe, giving coverage of surrenderville, the huns, tea sipping Bertie Wooster wanabees, and captain neutrality, not to mention the country that looks like a boot.

As the base was examined, accounting was taken of the research staff, grunts, and general base layout. While the first two categories were at least tolerable, the base layout was indefensible. Needless to say, I set to work revising the design immediately.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_001.png

Once that was done, research was assigned.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_006.png
Lasers were an A-1 priority, with the entire staff assigned to getting X-Com a method of killing people befitting a science fictiony military crew.

The crew was a motley lot, with soldiers derived from specialties as diverse as "battlefield logistics" and "Human infiltration".
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_012.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_019.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_019.png)
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_018.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_018.png)
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_017.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_017.png)
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_016.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_016.png)
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_015.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_015.png)
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_014.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_014.png)
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_013.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_013.png)

Of course, about half of the group was nearly useless, but every glorious victory needs a pile of worthless rookie corpses. After all, if none of your men die, how can you complain about being hamstrung by government regulations to half the extent you want?

Having looked over my motley supplies, there was suddenly a blaring alert from the system.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_002.png
Scrambling an interceptor, we blew a small alien craft out of the sky. With that first success, it felt fair to say X-Com had finally gotten started. Of course, one victory isn't a war. And it was safe to say that not every fight would be easy.

Eldan

2009-06-28, 05:20 PM

I'd suggest Imagehack (www.imagehack.com), actually. Hard to find the images again after uploading, but at least they just give you a link you can directly insert into the image tags here.

The Dark Fiddler

2009-06-28, 05:21 PM

(Dang. Can't seem to get the pictures to show up here. Any tips from those who've done this sort of thing before?)

If you're using Photobucket, I generally save the Let's Play pictures for each update separate from all the other updates. I then go through each page, select all, and hit "Generate Code". Then just take the BB [img] code and copy pasta.

chiasaur11

2009-06-28, 05:27 PM

If you're using Photobucket, I generally save the Let's Play pictures for each update separate from all the other updates. I then go through each page, select all, and hit "Generate Code". Then just take the BB [img] code and copy pasta.

Thanks.

Makes me glad you haven't died horribly yet.

Copper8642

2009-06-28, 08:15 PM

I'm the best shot on the team, but I'm tied for biggest coward. That's... sort of fitting of me, actually.

And I still don't know what a Fighting Quartermaster is, what is it?

chiasaur11

2009-06-28, 08:27 PM

I'm the best shot on the team, but I'm tied for biggest coward. That's... sort of fitting of me, actually.

And I still don't know what a Fighting Quartermaster is, what is it?

Basically, you're in charge of X-Com's stores AND you have to fight just like everyone else.

Needless to say, this leads to at least one mission of misery for you.

Copper8642

2009-06-28, 08:30 PM

chiasaur11

2009-06-28, 08:43 PM

Does my mission of misery have to do with being the quartermaster and stuff (if it does, how so?), or were you just saying that because 90% of the people who join X-Com die miserably and aren't missed?

Possibly both.

Also: Have you seen how the X-Com stores work? You'd need to be a miricle worker to keep them in order.

Winterwind

2009-06-28, 09:06 PM

Hmmm, pretty good soldier turn-out.

Which is good, of course, but also creates the problem of nigh all of those being worthy veteran material. We need more cheap rookies.
Okay, how do I put this diplomatically... okay, so I see three soldiers in there whom I would classify as "redshirts to scout and be shot". The namesakes of these soldiers, please, please, please don't feel offended :smallredface:.
These soldiers would be Other Guy, Dark Fiddler and Fri, unless I have made a mistake.

In this situation, I would actually give consideration to not include a tank, but instead just go with 4 further soldiers. With these three soldiers and a tank we would have only four "operatives" whom we could sacrifice freely. That's just barely enough; replacing the tank with four rookies would allow us to cover more ground more quickly and also give us the freedom to lose more soldiers before actually being forced to risk the really good ones.

chiasaur11

2009-06-28, 09:08 PM

Copper8642

2009-06-28, 09:18 PM

Well, I at least a good shooting score will hopefully keep me out of grips with those terrifying ali-AAAAHHHHHH RUNNNNNNNNNN!

I was 85% sure when I signed up I'd be a redshirt.

Trazoi

2009-06-28, 10:14 PM

So my namesake has the weakest bravery and strength on the team? Sounds about right.

Although stupidly high throwing accuracy? Ha! I wish!

Rockphed

2009-06-28, 10:33 PM

Oooh! I want to play! In fact, I want to play a never ending supply of red-shirts.

Artanis

2009-06-28, 10:38 PM

Eww, the interceptor still has a cannon? :smalltongue:

chiasaur11

2009-06-28, 10:51 PM

Eww, the interceptor still has a cannon? :smalltongue:

Saw the first UFO before I was done getting all the Avalanches I wanted.

It exploded anyway, so no harm no foul.

And Rockphred, you're either forming the initial team at X-Com USA, or just as likely, you'll replace one of X-Com's many, many casualties.

Fri

2009-06-29, 12:09 AM

Ready to yell warcry and charge heroically, Sir! That's what heroes do, right?

Murska

2009-06-29, 12:13 AM

chiasaur11

2009-06-29, 12:34 AM

Hmm. This thread inspired me to try find a way to get this game working on mah Vista 64bit. Which proved to be somewhat difficult, and has led me to a somewhat ironic resolution for the problem.

Anyway, I could be some recruit if ya need me. :smallsmile:

There's always Steam. It's a fiver, but it's got DOSBox all set up.

Also, glad to have you. Hope you're good at dealing with mind control.

Penguinizer

2009-06-29, 03:32 AM

I'd be willing to be a redshirt as well, if you need some more.

Murska

2009-06-29, 03:36 AM

There's always Steam. It's a fiver, but it's got DOSBox all set up.

Also, glad to have you. Hope you're good at dealing with mind control.

Hey, I control minds myself.

With words only, though...

Eldan

2009-06-29, 03:36 AM

So, was there no one left to name after me? :smallfrown:

Lokxy

2009-06-29, 04:22 AM

I say we should get more scientists to fill up the laboratory´s capacity. Also Avalanche is the only good arnament for the interceptors. And for the mission, tank would be a good choice, and soldiers should always go in pairs at least, to cover for each other and they should always keep enough action points for snap or auto shot if they see an alien moving.
And if I may add, it´s Lokxy not Loxxy :)

The Dark Fiddler

2009-06-29, 06:05 AM

okay, so I see three soldiers in there whom I would classify as "redshirts to scout and be shot". The namesakes of these soldiers, please, please, please don't feel offended :smallredface:.
These soldiers would be Other Guy, Dark Fiddler and Fri, unless I have made a mistake.

:smallmad: I voted to stay alive! :smallamused:

Smight

2009-06-29, 07:39 AM

:smallmad: I voted to stay alive! :smallamused:
I agree if he want to scout he can bloodey do it himself :smallannoyed:

Fri

2009-06-29, 07:46 AM

Bah. It's like those alien can shoot people as righteous and heroic as us. They're bad guys, we're good guys. Simple equation. Lead on, my liege.

chiasaur11

2009-06-29, 12:45 PM

So, was there no one left to name after me? :smallfrown:

Sorry. Got you a guy, but forgot to get a picture.

New post later today.

Winterwind

2009-06-29, 12:46 PM

I agree if he want to scout he can bloodey do it himself :smallannoyed:I'm perfectly fine with swapping the soldier named in our respective sake with either of you. All I'm saying is, the soldiers currently named after you two are currently amongst the least valuable on the team, hence should do scouting duty. If you indeed care about your namesake staying alive, I'm sure chiasaur11 can rename the soldiers such that it's "my" soldier who is the worthless redshirt. I'll much rather have that which is the best for the team happen, than cling to my namesake's life.

Copper8642

2009-06-29, 01:33 PM

chiasaur11

2009-06-29, 01:41 PM

Right then. Post number 2: X-Com on the ground.

In the time since the first UFO sighting, X-Com's Scientists kept busy, even if the rest of you lazy bums didn't do anything. Dangit men, if there aren't aliens to kill, find a country that isn't funding us, and conquer it! But noooo, we don't want to rule the world. Wusses.

Where was I? Right. Laser research.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_024.png
followed soon enough by
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_025.png
Got to say, even if the brain boys don't know how to shoot people, at least they let those of us who know how to kill do that job better. Shooting all the intellectuals is no longer part of any potential X-Com new world orders. Lollygaggers, blue teamers, and Griffs, however, are still on the list.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_023.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_023.png)
We got a couple more guys to round out the team, and replace some of the inevitable casualties. Die for X-Com, and get a small notice carved on one of the restroom walls!

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_027.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_027.png)
Of course, the laser guns went into production immediately. The aliens won't know what hit 'em! (Hint. It will be lasers.)

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_030.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_030.png)
For that matter, neither will the enemies of X-Com's latest clients. Telemarketing and sheer persistance ensure X-Com weapons go where they belong. In the hands of the public!

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/th_geoscape_031.png (http://s810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/?action=view&current=geoscape_031.png)
As soon as a good handful of lasers were done, we got another call. Unsuprisingly, one of X-Com's ace pilots near immediately shot it down.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_047.png
As soon as we landed, we sent the tank out on a scouting run.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_048.png
Needless to say, the tank nearly immediately spotted the UFO. Good man, HWP.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_050.png
We dispatched a team to the UFO as the tank continued his work. He's a loose cannon, but he gets results. If I ever am absent on a mission, well, I know who the one guy I can trust is. Lopez J HWP.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_052.png
Sending a man in to attempt diplomatic relations, it seemed a given Copper's natural people skills would win over the alien. I, of course, am kidding. I sent him in so he'd die, and no more paperwork about the state of X-Com stores would pass my desk.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_053.png
As I threw a grenade to finish off both the alien and my paperwork pushing employee, I experienced the first defeat of my long and glorious career. Copper managed to get out of the UFO, dodging both the grenade and alien reaction fire. Can't win them all.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_054.png
I expected, however, to win some. Both targets survived! I blame alien complacency on the part of weapons developers.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_057.png
In fact, the attack failed so bad, it seemed to spawn another grey.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_063.png
After firing round after round into the thing, it seemed I was done for. The beast would surely destroy me soon enough, leaving only HWP to try to save the Earth. But then Copper, regardless of my previous actions, fired a quick shot, probably saving my life, and definitely ending the life of an alien.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_066.png
Needless to say, I sent him into the UFO again.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_067.png
But he dodged the shot. I decided to just file him under "unkillable" and shoot the alien.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_071.png
That went better.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_034.png
And that was it. X-Com's first mission. All things considered, it went well, with all members surviving, the new lasers killing our enemies easily enough when they hit, and a whole lot of alien metals stolen. In fact, I'd label it an unqualified success if it wasn't for operation kill copper's failure.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_035.png
I even got promoted. As you can see, no other X-Com operative can claim a rank above rookie. Yessir. Only one Sgt. in X-Com.

And that was the first mission. Not bad, all in all. Still, needs more lasers and explosions.

Smight

2009-06-29, 01:43 PM

I'm perfectly fine with swapping the soldier named in our respective sake with either of you. All I'm saying is, the soldiers currently named after you two are currently amongst the least valuable on the team, hence should do scouting duty. If you indeed care about your namesake staying alive, I'm sure chiasaur11 can rename the soldiers such that it's "my" soldier who is the worthless redshirt. I'll much rather have that which is the best for the team happen, than cling to my namesake's life.

First of all i'm hoping this LP will have element of roleplay, if not ignore the folowing,

using tactic like that will make this LP like game of chess, boring to anyone who is not chess player, I would rader if we acted like those are soliders in the field ,with some survival instinct, not some pawns to be sacrificed,
if your character wishes to act like red shirt that is OK , again this is with assumption there is RP element in this LP.
And please do not switch the characters optimisation should not be the point op LP.

Artanis

2009-06-29, 02:04 PM

First of all i'm hoping this LP will have element of roleplay, if not ignore the folowing,

using tactic like that will make this LP like game of chess, boring to anyone who is not chess player, I would rader if we acted like those are soliders in the field ,with some survival instinct, not some pawns to be sacrificed,
if your character wishes to act like red shirt that is OK , again this is with assumption there is RP element in this LP.
And please do not switch the characters optimisation should not be the point op LP.

What about switching after one dies?

"So you're the replacement for Artanis, who died last mission? What's your name?"
"Scott Jonlan, sir."
"Not anymore. I'm calling you Artanis from now on. Got that, Artanis?"
"Err...yes sir :smalleek: "

Winterwind

2009-06-29, 02:07 PM

I wouldn't mind switching if my namesake didn't fit the actual me rather well. Also, if you die, I'm pretty sure you could stay involved in this somehow. Not like your namesake dies in a mission and you don't get to interact with this LP ever again.I'd assume if a soldier dies, another one gets named after him.

Also, my notion that the inferior soldiers be used as scouts and the better soldiers hang back was just my tactical advice and the way I usually play the game when playing Ironman (as it's just about the only way to preserve the good soldiers and have them survive in the long run). Nobody has commented upon that, and chiasaur has made no statements about the tactics he intends to use himself. In fact, the pictures of the latest mission strongly suggest his tactical paradigm is quite different than mine. :smallwink:

First of all i'm hoping this LP will have element of roleplay, if not ignore the folowing,

using tactic like that will make this LP like game of chess, boring to anyone who is not chess player, I would rader if we acted like those are soliders in the field ,with some survival instinct, not some pawns to be sacrificed,
if your character wishes to act like red shirt that is OK , again this is with assumption there is RP element in this LP.
And please do not switch the characters optimisation should not be the point op LP.Fair enough. I was running under the assumption the point of this thread was to play the game as well as possible, with the shared strategical input of all the people in here - and that includes sacrificing the pawns so the figures can live. If this is not the case, forget what I said.

The Dark Fiddler

2009-06-29, 02:19 PM

Its not that I care about dieing, its just that I don't remember signing up. I assume you also know something about my missing kidney. :smallannoyed:

Although I honestly don't care about dieing (truly), I just didn't sign up, just said I voted for staying alive. What's done is done, so actual complaining. In character complaining maybe, if I actually survive. :smalltongue:

Jibar

2009-06-29, 02:31 PM

Just, two questions...

1. Why do you want Red Shirts exactly?

2. Why are the screenshots so small?

chiasaur11

2009-06-29, 02:36 PM

Well, we're getting better and better weapons, so some specialization'll be in order soon enough. Psi Amps and blaster bombs are reserved for people with good psionic skills, (and the launcher should be operated by guys with guts. You panic with a laser rifle, you waste maybe one guy. You panic with the Blaster Bombs, well, you lose the whole squad.)

Any requests for armament and or postmortem corpse disposal? We might be able to put the brains of the recent dead into a HWP...

Edit: Screenshots are small because X-Com is pretty low res. Redshirts are there because X-Com is high bodycount, and it's best if people who aren't me are the one who bite it.

Fri

2009-06-29, 02:47 PM

chiasaur11

2009-06-29, 02:55 PM

Yup. We will have a HIGH body count. Assuming that Earth SURVIVE.

I hereby ask for a list of people who entered a mission (and who's out, naturally), and more commentary and pictures on whatever everyone else doing in a mission, even if they're only hanging around. Now my imagination is killing me. Am I really chasing a fluffy rabbit back there when you try to get our quartermaster killed? Oh, the possibilities...

Currently, everyone drops. First month finances, even with X-Com's excellent door to door sales reps, was enough for one strike team, rebuilding the base to not suck, and getting everyone lasers, not to mention funding the science teams and engineers, but not much else. Month two we'll begin having guys sit back at base, probably.

Next mission, pretty much everyone is accounted for. I'll try to have a pre-mission run down and post mission breakdown of mistakes.

Also: How often would you guys like main mission posts? Got one ready, but don't want to get much further ahead and have a cydonian strike team before the posts get to plasma cannons.

Copper8642

2009-06-29, 03:17 PM

What... the... my namesake is way better at X-Com than I am......

I usually lose this game within months... apparently my namesake refuses to die.

I'm not sure if I'm shocked you tried to get rid of me or if I should brag about how good my namesake was. I don't think I will, because chances are if I did I'd die with another mission or two (if I don't anways).

So, preferred armaments... as I said, I'm no good at this sort of stuff, which is sad because I'm the quartermaster. I'd be bound to get myself killed if you let me choose my equipment. I'd just say don't put me as the Heavy Weapons guy (which, given my lack of any guts at all, seems you wouldn't do). I like rifles and the like.

*Submits another report on the state of the stores*

Pie Guy

2009-06-29, 03:54 PM

If you ever reach a point where you don't actually lose more soldiers in a month than you gain, I'd like to join.

chiasaur11

2009-06-29, 04:15 PM

If you ever reach a point where you don't actually lose more soldiers in a month than you gain, I'd like to join.

Technically, this month might qualify.

Which means you get frontline duty.

(Also, Ironman is a bit stricter than I like, but it leads to a lot of fun moments. Seems the no midbattle save route works best for me, if that's okay. If not, well, no-one said survival was likely in X-Com.)

Kane

2009-06-29, 04:45 PM

I'd like to sign up to kill some xenos, sir. X-Com is doing work that everyone should appreciate. Plus, I mean, alien technology and lasers? I'm so down with that.

Alternately, if it's required, I'd be quite happy as the scientist representative/advisor.

Copper8642

2009-06-29, 04:46 PM

Ha, I just noticed the base name of "GiantintheXCOM." I love it.

Fri

2009-06-30, 05:26 AM

Yup. We will have a HIGH body count. Assuming that Earth SURVIVE.

By the way, I need to explain things because this might cause some misunderstanding.

We will have a HIGH body count for the ALIENS. You see, if earth survive, that means we slaughter the aliens by the dozens. Ergo, high body count for them, but high five for our heroic handsome heroes.

You diidn't think I lost my courage there, did you?

Lord Herman

2009-06-30, 08:14 AM

Yay, X-Com! One of the first games I bought!

Recruit Herman signing up to heroically panic in the face of danger, real or imaginary. Please name your most cowardly soldier after me.

Edit: Awesome, Steam sells all the X-Com games as a single package! *buys*

Tengu_temp

2009-06-30, 08:57 AM

Ah, good old Ufo - I played this game first when I was 8. If you need names for new recruits after your old ones bite the dust, you can call one of'em Tengu.

Neo

2009-06-30, 09:05 AM

yeah, you can put me down for red shirt duty too lol.

Rockphed

2009-06-30, 10:13 AM

And Rockphred, you're either forming the initial team at X-Com USA, or just as likely, you'll replace one of X-Com's many, many casualties.

I was kinda hoping to end up with a string of ways in which Rockpheds died.

For instance:

Rockphed was impaled upon an alien pokey stick.
Rockphed 2 was killed in a friendly fire incident involving alcohol and an alien pokey stick.
Rockphed 3 was ground into sausage meat by a friendly tank.
Rockphed 4 was melted by alien stomach acid.
Rockphed 5 jumped on a grenade for the team.
And so on. This sort of thing is why I play roguelikes.

chiasaur11

2009-06-30, 12:16 PM

Now, I know a lot of you are a wee bit down in the dumps after that mission. Sad that some of those fine men and women you worked with died horribly. We'll cover all that in this briefing. Still, I have good news! I was recently examining the laboratory for signs of treachery when I discovered what must have been a collection of journals of predicted technology for the coming year, in illustrated form! They must be confident, with the year they're promising the tech by right on the cover, and so I put them to work on some of the brain preservation techniques immediately. Although I found it odd the demonstations suggested a genetically engineered infantry would be betrayed by top brass. As commander of X-Com, I'd always put the lives of hideous mutants above those of bog standard humans (but below robots and cyborgs.) But that can't be helped.

At any rate, after that last mission, science made perhaps the greatest stride in history!
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_037.png
We now could murder our enemies with lasers. This was a triumph for humanity on par with the discovery of violence itself! Needless to say, it went into production immediately. A large UFO passed by the base, but there was no urge to waste perfectly good interceptors on a suicide mission, even for reconnaissance. Certain death is the job of the ground troops!

Another UFO proved more our speed.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_043.png
We scrambled an interceptor with solid success.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_046.png
Sadly, it was the last unqualified success of the month.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_073.png
As Lopez HWP prepared to rumble down the ramp for an initial scouting, X-Com was frivolous, perhaps overbold. Fri and Loksy, the operators of the devastating autocannons, were arguing who would level more property. I knew better. I knew that this was a war, and in a war, you had to send someone to their deaths. Otherwise, you just have a police action or such, and no seasoned officer would let a "police action" go on his record!

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_078.png
HWP having spotted an alien moving about, Copper and I decided to try to deal with it, leveling the outer wall of the farmhouse to expose it, then I proceeded to waste the scumbag.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_081.png
Having made the LZ a good deal less hot, I figured it was safe for less amazing or disposable (Copper) troopers to hit the ground. The Other Guy stepped onto the ramp, while a couple of the other troopers mulled around aimlessly, just like in the training videos.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_083.png
Sadly, it seemed the aliens and I disagreed about "safe". The Other Guy died a tragic, plasma-y death.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_084.png
As crying is for sissies, and grief in general can be left to the families of the deceased (assuming I ever declassify the fact the guy is dead) I decided on vengeance against a farmhouse. By sheer good luck, I was able to kill an alien too.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_091.png
Eldan's obvious "humanness" made him the perfect candidate to take this incredibly easy shot.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_098.png
And, with the pool of red blood beneath Eldan as a penalty for his failure, My hunch was confirmed. He was an alien! The UN may file that as an X-Com loss, but I say we were just dealing with a deep cover agent. Winterwind, the tactical officer, was sent to deal with the alien left after that gunfight.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_100.png
Sadly, Winterwind did no better. If anyone asks, he was an alien too.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_102.png
As usual, I was the only man for the job, exterminating the two aliens while stating witty one-liners. With that shot, it seemed the UFO was ready for invasion.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_107.png
Fri and Dark Fiddler were at the door, one with a stick and an angry flashlight, the other with the best in high explosive autofire. Redshirt armament is somewhat variable.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_109.png
Fri proved all the talk about X-Com heroism in the mess hall was true. He charged into the dark, firing a quick three shot burst of high explosives.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_111.png
And wasting every alien in the ship. He would be in line for a promotion, without doubt.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_113.png
Tragically, a loose bit of shrapnel was lodged in him. If we had medkits, he'd be alive right now. As is... we lost a good man. However, if the scientists weren't ignoring my highlighting in the aforementioned technical journal, we should have a darn fine wisecracking autocannon before too long.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_117.png
HWP had been busy as well. He spotted a tango, but it seemed the dirty alien had the drop on him. X-Com would soon, it seems, mourn the loss of its best man.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_123.png
Or not. Seems some X-Commers are made of sterner stuff. HWP took a half dozen or more plasma rounds to the face without flinching, then coolly wasted the last tango.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_049.png
Our second mission was done, but at a cost. Four bodybags weighed down the Skyranger. Fri, The Otherguy, Winterwind, and the dirty alien spy Eldan were dead, and even though the nav systems still worked, the reactor of the craft went critical, preventing any Elerium recovery. Nothing to do except bury ourselves in work.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_052.png
Base revision was one bit of work that needed doing, and I put the troops to work at it. Sure, they said the UN was supplying contractors for that, but hard work builds character. Unlike shovels. In X-Com, you dig with your hands!
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_059.png
Another UFO briefly broke up the monotony, and the orders for more troops would soon be filled. Until then, we'd wait.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_064.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_065.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_066.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_067.png
Ah, fresh troops. Nothing quite like the look on their faces. They don't know yet how horribly they'll die.

As the month ended, I worried about the response of the funding nations. Sure, we'd given our blood sweat and tears to save their miserable hindquarters, but they might complain about our complete disregard for property, our "Pretend the aliens are people you don't like. Like all the members of the council of funding nations!" speeches, or the fact that our "Crazy Jonlan's" chain of laser dealerships made some civilians and most billionaires more impressively armed than any current army. I decided to turn on the charm.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_062.png
Terrifyingly, it worked.

So, that was the month. We made impressive strides, with new weapons the envy of every man with a proper desire for destruction, a nice room full of UFO bits and alien corpses, some deadly doohickies we don't know how to use, and a base that can fend off some level of attack.

Sadly, this all came at the cost of four dead. Worse, we still have no power source for the UFOs. Next month is a chance to rectify at least one of those errors. Lets hope we can pull that off.

Winterwind

2009-06-30, 01:36 PM

I'm proud to have served my role as redshirt and given my life in the war for the Earth. :smallbiggrin:

A couple more spare soldiers would be nice, to shorten the time between losses and the squad being restored to full fighting strength (also, safer in case of an assault on the base itself). Also, we should fill up our labs as soon as possible, and I'm frankly amazed at our commander's patience with logistics when having only one store available, yet another issue I'd recommend amending as soon as possible. :smallbiggrin:

Lastly... I can't help but notice that all the American nations are suspiciously absent amongst the nations enhancing the Project's funding.
Firstly, this (late) soldier requests permission to gain insight into the X-Com agents' reports about latest UFO activities from North and South America, and secondly suggests with all due respect we rush the construction of an US-based outpost. If the nations of the world are unwilling to pay enough for this planet's safety, we might be forced to sell all plasma weapons, mind probes and alien launchers save one for later study on the black market in order to finance this endeavour...

Tengu_temp

2009-06-30, 01:36 PM

Fri's pointless death shows why medikits are useful.

How's your cash? I suggest expanding and making a small base with radar, general stores and one interceptor in the US.

chiasaur11

2009-06-30, 01:39 PM

Fri's pointless death shows why medikits are useful.

How's your cash? I suggest expanding and making a small base with radar, general stores and one interceptor in the US.

3 mil in the bank. A US base will be built, and as soon as armor's done, medkits are next.

And Winterwind, we don't sell to the black market!

We sell direct to the consumer, cutting out the middleman and passing the savings on to you!

Artanis

2009-06-30, 01:43 PM

Excellent update! I eagerly await the further exploits of Humanity's savior, HWP Lopez! :smallbiggrin:

A note on interceptors: Avalanche missiles outrange every UFO other than a Battleship. Of course, dealing with them once they're down when we have no armor, medkits, or recovered tech presents some problems, but still.

Also, until we get Heavy Plasma, Laser Rifles will be far and away the most powerful non-explosive in the game :smallcool:

chiasaur11

2009-06-30, 01:50 PM

Fri

2009-06-30, 01:53 PM

chiasaur11

2009-06-30, 01:57 PM

I died like how a heroic soldier should die. Pointlessly :smallbiggrin:

Seriously, I can't think a better way to die. Oh wait, I can. Anyway, my spirit will always be with you guys. I'll be haunting the 4th toilet from the left.

Hey, you cleared a ship in one round of firing, and gave your life doing so.

It's a fair enough death.

We're naming the next base after you, if it makes your ghost feel better.

Winterwind

2009-06-30, 02:04 PM

"Fri's Memorial Outpost"?

Sounds good to me. :smallbiggrin:

Eldan

2009-06-30, 02:40 PM

Why does everyone assume I'm was a spy? I'm was from Switzerland, we all click our manidbles like that. And just because my Prothorax is was yellow... :smalltongue:

chiasaur11

2009-06-30, 02:43 PM

"Fri's Memorial Outpost"?

Sounds good to me. :smallbiggrin:

Fort Fri, actually.

BRC

2009-06-30, 04:14 PM

Sign Me up sir! I hope that one day I can get in the hall of X-Com legends along with the likes of Fri, HWP lopez, and whoever kills Copper.

Jimorian

2009-06-30, 04:29 PM

chiasaur11

2009-06-30, 04:33 PM

Another recruit for the team. Any role available. :smallsmile:

The random name generator can actually create my real name, but I've only seen it once. I died.

BTW, a game question. Is there any way to control the order of how the soldiers are placed on the landing craft?

Not without X-Com Util.

Other than that, the only guarantee is that Lopez goes first. Which is good, since he's the only guy who can take a hit.

Eldan

2009-06-30, 04:36 PM

Sign Me up sir! I hope that one day I can get in the hall of X-Com legends along with the likes of Fri, HWP lopez, and whoever kills Copper.

SIR! Will we really accept a bloody red one into our glorious institution?

By the way, I'm the real Eldan. The other one was a spy. Ready to go back to action when all the new recruits are dead.

BRC

2009-06-30, 04:37 PM

SIR! Will we really accept a bloody red one into our glorious institution?

By the way, I'm the real Eldan. The other one was a spy. Ready to go back to action when all the new recruits are dead.
My blood is red, which means I'm human. More than you can say.

chiasaur11

2009-06-30, 04:44 PM

See?

That's the X-Com paranoia and distrust we need to be a full on alien fighting machine!

Played out the next two days of posts already. They get...

interesting.

Interesting enough that I resort to some of the bad habits I acquired on my first playthrough. The game broke our gentlemen's agreement, well, I can't be guaranteed to hold up my end.

Copacetic

2009-06-30, 04:58 PM

Signing up to blast some aliens, sir!

Kzickas

2009-06-30, 05:36 PM

Signing up

The Dark Fiddler

2009-06-30, 08:54 PM

Name the fort for those we have lost. The Mighty Michael "Fawcett" Mays Memorial Fort.

Alex Knight

2009-06-30, 08:54 PM

Sir! Ready to throw grenades at dirty alien scum and filthy human symps, sir!

I humbly request permission to use my preferred entry method of "open door, throw grenade, wait" when dealing with dirty alien scum bases and ships!

Artanis

2009-06-30, 09:13 PM

Bah, noob! Everybody knows the proper entry method is, "throw grenade, wait, throw grenade in new door, wait" :smalltongue:

chiasaur11

2009-06-30, 09:19 PM

Bah, noob! Everybody knows the proper entry method is, "throw grenade, wait, throw grenade in new door, wait" :smalltongue:

I thought it was "Send rookies until all enemy TUs are used, then send in troops who can shoot straight" for early game, and either "Blaster Bomb" or "Send in rookie, mind control everything from the safety of the skyranger" for endgame.

BRC

2009-06-30, 09:26 PM

I thought it was "Use heavy Plasmas to blast a hole in the wall, send in the rookies to waste enemy TU's, fire a rocket in there, then chuck a few grenades in there in case any of the rookies aliens are still alive"

Alex Knight

2009-06-30, 09:28 PM

Bah, noob! Everybody knows the proper entry method is, "throw grenade, wait, throw grenade in new door, wait" :smalltongue:

that only works with alien grenades or heavy weapons. Normal frag takes too long to make new doors.

chiasaur11

2009-06-30, 09:45 PM

Copper8642

2009-06-30, 10:26 PM

"Fry's Playground" get's my vote.

Also, (on the assumption there were no other promotions yet, but I'd guess there were and you just didn't say), as the other Sergeant in X-Com so far, permission to lead the rookies at the new fort when you build it, sir? Except then I couldn't watch over your stores, and I know you love my work, sir. Maybe there's a way I could keep track of them from the other fort? Internet and cameras? Tarot cards? Rough guesses?

Or you could keep me around and keep fawning over me like you do. I don't care, I know you wouldn't try to kill me.

*Walks away to write up 7 more reports on the stores, to hand in promptly when finished; all the while dodging bullets for practice. He thinks about saying a quick prayer for the fallen, but nobody told him who died. Shame they wouldn't let him out of the storeroom when there wasn't a fight against the xenos to be had. Information never passed far enough through the grapevine to get in here.*

pendell

2009-06-30, 11:20 PM

Er.. hello? I'm a software engineer looking for a career change, and I'm answering your ad for 'life of adventure! Hot technology! Sexy babes! Lasers and aliens! No experience necessary, call 1-800-RED-SHRT and ask how YOU can make the world a better place today'.

So .. um... I point the end with the hole towards the bad guys, right?

Respectfully,

Brian Pendell (Name in game Brian P.)

PS. Request my character be armed as light infantry (laser, 2 grenades, 1 proximity grenade) and be given a shock rod. If by chance I walk into an alien I wouldn't mind snatching him for the eggheads back home -- BDP.

chiasaur11

2009-06-30, 11:35 PM

pendell

2009-07-01, 06:30 AM

You're volunteering for cattle prod duty?

Absolutely.

A) Until we get alien stun bombs, shock rods are the only reliable way to get prisoners. And if there's a sectoid terror raid, we'll absolutely need to grab a leader so as to get an early start on psionics.

B) Say what you like; there's nothing quite so satisfying as beating the $#$#T%#%# out of a sectoid with the ugly stick.

Hell, I'm a red shirt. We all know I'm going to die charging valiantly into a UFO soaking up plasma for the vets behind me. Might as well have some fun on this express ride to the afterlife!

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Pie Guy

2009-07-01, 08:29 AM

I call lotting the next bodies, don't care which species!

Thanatos 51-50

2009-07-01, 08:33 AM

Can I be the head of the Science department?
:P

Truthfully, I know next to nothing about X-Com, but this thread appears entertaining, so monitor it I shall!

Redpieper

2009-07-01, 11:09 AM

Cadet Red signing up sir! My momma says aliens took her in their space gizmo years back, did all kinds of stuff to her. I'm here to show 'em there ain't nobody, alien or otherwise, who messes with my momma and gets away with it!

(Just send him in to the front and watch him get massacred :smallwink: )

Artanis

2009-07-01, 12:54 PM

Can I be the head of the Science department?
:P

Truthfully, I know next to nothing about X-Com, but this thread appears entertaining, so monitor it I shall!

The premise of X-Com is this:

The Earth is under attack by aliens, and a bunch of governements got together and created X-Com to keep the aliens from taking over the world, namely by finding and destroying their base of operations before you go broke or get wiped out. The problem? You can't find, much less kill, the damn place, and until you do, you have to go toe-to-toe against VASTLY superior soldiers, technology, numbers, resources, mobility, and logistics...and oh yeah, guys who like to mind-control your soldiers into shooting each other.

However, you have two things giving you a fighting chance: the ability to research better technology (including alien tech), and soldiers who get stronger as they gain experience...assuming they live that long.

Tengu_temp

2009-07-01, 01:48 PM

However, you have two things giving you a fighting chance: the ability to research better technology (including alien tech), and soldiers who get stronger as they gain experience...assuming they live that long.

And the fact that the aliens are bloody stupid and move around as if they were stoned. But, seeing how the Alien Entertainment tech looks like, they probably are stoned.

chiasaur11

2009-07-01, 01:56 PM

Right.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_071.png
As February rolled in, X-Com decided to give the fallen soldiers a fitting memorial, and a better defense for the US at once. This impulse led to the building of Fort Fri. Although right now it's nothing much, a hanger should be done by the end of the month, allowing us to kill aliens invading the USA. As is the local custom, any prospective interceptor pilots are being trained in cheesy one liners. So far, we have nothing better than "Welcome to EARTH!" but scientists are confident of "Aliens" level quips by the time we're operational.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_070.png
Another impressive bit of progress: Alien Alloys. We now have metal that can take a hit from plasma and just shrug it off. Although I can't really see the point. Lopez can do that already, and none of the current crop of non Lopez troops seems worth protecting.

Of course, the base only went a few days without activity, and the latest job was a doozy. The alien menace was attacking Chicago! Even if I prefer New York style, Pizza is a sacred institution. If this was Canada, sure, they could get away with it. But the windy city, site of X-Com's official Michael Jordan based platformer? Not. On. My. Watch.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_072.png

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_125.png
Upon landing, Lopez scouted out the area. As usual, he spotted a tango almost immediately.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_126.png

This target, though, was new. It was some kind of hover tentacle faced pile of ugly in a cloak. They were imitating our clothing, the thing which makes us human or unusually unfortunate pets. This insult would not stand.

Instead, it would lie on the ground with a smoking laser hole in its chest. Score another one for the Sarge.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_127.png

A second one dropped almost as easy as the first. Seems the Windy City was going to be no trouble. Or whatever incredibly minor suburb we were in. I mean, there were no buildings above three stories. Disappointing, as I wanted to know what a HE autoround would do to the Sears tower.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_130.png

Well, sending Headless Ninja north at least let him test Fri's old autocannon on a suburban home. It turns out, they explode nicely.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_137.png

Also, there was a floater hiding behind it. That also exploded nicely. But the main point was blowing up the house.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_142.png

Lopez checked out the eastern housing complex, but it was guarded by a fence. Showing the initiative that put him on the fast track for X-Com success, he blew it open, spotted a floater about 100 yards away obstructed by a whole house's worth of useless detritus, and promptly finished it with one round to the back of the head.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_141.png

A couple more floaters snuck by the save mart to the west, but my deadeye reflexes let me drop them like flies.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_151.png

When checking a warehouse for more of these flying pains in the butt, we spotted the civilian population. It seemed that Chicago was again at its rivalry with New York, this time in an apathy contest, as none of the people we met seemed to care about the high energy gunfight in question.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_153.png

Lopez went south, continuing his search for potential problems, and found another nasty. Some kind of giant two legged monstrosity, it quickly was dubbed "The Reaper". As it turned out they were, in fact, less dangerous than the civilians, this nickname was rather regretted.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_155.png

As the mission wore on, Atranis and Ninja grew bored with waiting for targets, and decided to just blow the crud out of a random warehouse for no reason.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_159.png

Needless to say, this shows initiative, but the continuing lack of concern from the locals made me wary. Could they be infected with some kind of deadly apathy virus?
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_184.png
If so, it might be enough to get rid of copper. I immediately sent him to collect one of the corpses. Sadly, there was nothing of interest except a wallet with fifty bucks. Which was promptly declared X-Com property.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_190.png

Reflexes and dead aim dropped every alien we found fairly steadily, and caused a ton of property damage, but somehow, we avoided killing any of the irritating local crowd. Lopez, however, had some trouble with the last floater, and received another heavy plasma round to the plating. The ____ing thing was ten feet in the air! Atranis, however, said that just made it a sitting duck, and vaped it. Now that's the attitude we want in an X-Com operative.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_073.png
The mission was a resounding success, with ten aliens of two new species dead, and only one third of the locals dying horribly. X-Com did better still, with exactly zero casualties or injuries. Needless to say, this merited promotions! I promoted myself to Captain, with ninja, Atranis, and Bouregard filling the rather large gap I left on the sargental level.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_074.png
As we headed back to base, we all felt we deserved a nice week off drinking and releasing blurry Youtube videos of the aliens being idiots. Sadly, this wasn't in the cards.

Winterwind

2009-07-01, 01:58 PM

And the fact that the aliens are bloody stupid and move around as if they were stoned. But, seeing how the Alien Entertainment tech looks like, they probably are stoned.My guess is that controlling millions, maybe billions of alien clones at once gets confusing for the big brain, even with the aid of the Ethereals.

EDIT: Mmmm, nice. This will go a long way in terms of public relations, enforcing the impression in the populace that we are protecting them, rather than being out for world conquest ourselves. :smallamused:

Artanis

2009-07-01, 02:33 PM

<Zoidberg> Hooray! I'm helping! </Zoidberg> I eagerly await pictures of my attempts to support the mighty Lopez :smallcool:

Alex Knight

2009-07-01, 02:48 PM

Yay! I'm not dead yet!

Neo

2009-07-01, 03:15 PM

lol, any chance I could be strapped to the forward hull of Lopez the mighty HWP. In order to protect what is clearly our greatest asset.

PS. Personally I think Lopez should have been seargented.

Fri

2009-07-01, 05:06 PM

I know the real reason for building the new fort with my namesake was to make me feel obligated to haunt it rather than annoying the main base. Despite that, I'm still kinda touched. I guess I'll move there on one of these days.

For this time, congratulations! I still think we need to capture one or two of them. No, I'm not saying this because my existance as a ghost is kinda lonely.

chiasaur11

2009-07-01, 06:56 PM

Trazoi

2009-07-01, 07:16 PM

No casualties so far? Your leadship is a credit to X-COM.

My namesake soldier is happy to hold the keys to the Skyranger and to valiantly defend its interior from alien infestation.

chiasaur11

2009-07-01, 07:38 PM

No casualties so far? Your leadship is a credit to X-COM.

My namesake soldier is happy to hold the keys to the Skyranger and to valiantly defend its interior from alien infestation.

None that mission.

Four troopers died on the second landing. And there wasn't even any Elerium.

Trazoi

2009-07-01, 07:44 PM

None that mission.

Four troopers died on the second landing. And there wasn't even any Elerium.
Well, crud. My head must have been in the clouds during that mission. :smalltongue:

I'll take my post at the back of the Skyranger, then.

chiasaur11

2009-07-01, 07:51 PM

Well, crud. My head must have been in the clouds during that mission. :smalltongue:

I'll take my post at the back of the Skyranger, then.

Nope.

I just hadn't hired you yet. That's a dead man's laser you're packing.

Tyracus

2009-07-01, 08:45 PM

I've always enjoyed X-Com: UFO Defense from the first time I played it even though I'm atrocious at it. As you will invariably need further recruits I will volunteer to blow some alien brains out.

Copacetic

2009-07-01, 08:45 PM

Played out the next two days of posts already. They get...

interesting.

Well, the first mission was a unqualified victory. Boring. no one died. So this next one must be a total disaster, right?

chiasaur11

2009-07-01, 08:52 PM

Well, the first mission was a unqualified victory. Boring. no one died. So this next one must be a total disaster, right?

Maybe.

On the other hand, a terror mission, with no saving, that goes like clockwork is kind of an oddity.

Copper8642

2009-07-01, 10:30 PM

Yeah, that is weird. I always fail terror raids miserably when I play.

chiasaur11

2009-07-01, 10:43 PM

Yeah, that is weird. I always fail terror raids miserably when I play.

Hey, the previous no do-overs missions for me always had at least one guy bite it. I find an unqualified success in a terror raid (Especially with only four civvies dead) kind of astounding.

tyckspoon

2009-07-01, 11:01 PM

Hey, the previous no do-overs missions for me always had at least one guy bite it. I find an unqualified success in a terror raid (Especially with only four civvies dead) kind of astounding.

You did get lucky with probably the easiest alien race for a Terror mission. Floaters don't bring along psychics, their Terror unit is really easy to handle, and they're usually relatively low tech.. so no panicking/berserk/mind-controlled soldiers, no bloody Cyberdiscs, and no Blaster Bombs. Sectoids would probably have been much bloodier.

Suicide Junkie

2009-07-01, 11:38 PM

Sounds like you could use a grunt who welds the selector to auto and uses at least one full clip of incendiary rounds each mission. Laser pistol for when there just isn't enough time, range or ammo.

Enjoys night fights, jungles and barbeque sauce, but will grumble throughout an arctic or desert mission.
Occasionally forces the team to retreat to the skyranger while the entire map turns to ash.

Alex Knight

2009-07-01, 11:38 PM

One word.

Chrysallids. Every other terror site pales in comparison.

Artanis

2009-07-02, 12:15 AM

One word.

Chrysallids. Every other terror site pales in comparison.

Wrong, there's an even worse terror site: Chrysallids at night :smalleek:

Also, this LP is making me want to do an LP of X-Com: Apocalypse

Cubey

2009-07-02, 12:26 AM

One word.

Chrysallids. Every other terror site pales in comparison.

Ethereals are worse. They're the lategame enemy race for a reason.
It doesn't make Snakemen any less dangerous of course. Although... I remember once when my Grandmother ran a terror mission against snakemen and chrysallids. Lost no soldiers, only 2 civilians killed, and a chrysallid captured alive. And it was the Amiga CD32 version (yes, someone actually owned that weird thing!), so no mid-battle saves.

tyckspoon

2009-07-02, 12:51 AM

Wrong, there's an even worse terror site: Chrysallids at night :smalleek:

Also, this LP is making me want to do an LP of X-Com: Apocalypse

Weirdly enough, I've never had real trouble with Chrysallids. Even when they end up getting one of my soldiers/a pocket of civilians the problem is usually quickly solved with an alien grenade/demolition charge/rocket. And then sooner or later they just stop being a problem when everything that matters on your team flies, at which point it's somewhat like D&D and anything that is stuck with just a melee attack is no more than target practice. The real bad terror missions for me was always Sectopods, especially as the first one; Cyberdiscs are a pain to take down, and they have a nasty tendency to explode more civilians when they die. (On the plus side, the large amounts of smoke involved in Sectopod terror missions and my general explosives-heavy playstyle means I once captured a Sectopod Leader by way of asphyxiation. On the down side, I didn't have any containment labs built yet.)

chiasaur11

2009-07-02, 12:52 AM

Ethereals are worse. They're the lategame enemy race for a reason.
It doesn't make Snakemen any less dangerous of course. Although... I remember once when my Grandmother ran a terror mission against snakemen and chrysallids. Lost no soldiers, only 2 civilians killed, and a chrysallid captured alive. And it was the Amiga CD32 version (yes, someone actually owned that weird thing!), so no mid-battle saves.

Well, Ethereals have your troops psi scores factor in big time. If you have psi from, say, an early sectoid base raid, or by sheer good luck all your troops just happen to be psychics of high caliber, then they're just bad, not 'lid bad.

If everyone in your team is sub 20 psi, though...

Cubey

2009-07-02, 01:54 AM

Tyckspoon, you mean sectoids, right? Sectopods are these mini-walker robots that serve as Ethereals' terror units.
And are damn good at it. Tough, fast and accurate - if Ethereals won't ruin your day with their psychic mumbo jumbo, these mecha will. At least they don't explode when destroyed.

Winterwind

2009-07-02, 07:57 AM

Truth be told, I consider Sectopods overrated and Chryssalids overrated to the extreme.

Sectopods are moderately dangerous because they are good shots with a strong weapon. However, they are a big target that can take no damage at all - assuming one did not swap out all of the laser rifles for plasmas. Often enough, a single glancing hit with a laser rifle can take one of them down.

As for Chryssalids, I consider them one of the weakest aliens in the entire game. The AI more often than not screws them up and has them run back and forth, instead of running into melee, they have no way at all to reach you once you have Flying Suits, and they cannot take that much damage while still having to run into melee - if the soldiers cover each other and have time units left for reaction shots, all that will happen to the rare Chryssalid that actually chooses to charge rather than drunkenly stumble around in front of your troops is that it gets a heavy plasma round to the head and croaks instantly. Their entire reputation stems from them having excellent stats (which don't do them much good with their limited offensive capabilities though) and because of how horrible it is what they do to humans (good thing they should hardly get a chance to do it to X-Com soldiers, right?).
The entire key to dealing with Chryssalids is to progress more slowly, to always leave time units for reaction shots from multiple soldiers covering each other, and to never run around a corner or into a building which might contain a Chryssalid if one won't have the time units left to take one down.

tyckspoon

2009-07-02, 08:47 AM

SlyGuyMcFly

2009-07-02, 09:10 AM

Sir! Recruit Ferrus present for duty, SIR! Will do anything, SIR! Me Ma says I have a deathwish, SIR!

I´ve never played this game, but it looks fun. And I´m loving the writing style :smallsmile:

Artanis

2009-07-02, 10:38 AM

Truth be told, I consider Sectopods overrated and Chryssalids overrated to the extreme.

*stuff*

One of the things about X-Com isn't just the difficulty, it's that it's scary. It's downright, genuinely scary. Only four games have ever made me feel outright fear for my survival, and X-Com is one of them (the others being DOOM, System Shock, and System Shock 2). And Chryssalids at night, regardless of difficulty, are the scariest enemies in the game. Even if you can handle them with ease, the thought that one unlit shadow, one missed reaction shot can turn into eight zombie conversions and a panicked flight back to the skyranger... :smalleek:

Winterwind

2009-07-02, 10:42 AM

One of the things about X-Com isn't just the difficulty, it's that it's scary. It's downright, genuinely scary. Only four games have ever made me feel outright fear for my survival, and X-Com is one of them (the others being DOOM, System Shock, and System Shock 2). And Chryssalids at night, regardless of difficulty, are the scariest enemies in the game. Even if you can handle them with ease, the thought that one unlit shadow, one missed reaction shot can turn into eight zombie conversions and a panicked flight back to the skyranger... :smalleek:That, on the other hand, is pure, undilluted truth. :smallsmile:

Lord Herman

2009-07-02, 10:45 AM

Indeed. And that is what makes X-Com such an awesome game.

Cubey

2009-07-02, 12:37 PM

I dedicate this post to comments on various terror races.

Sectopods:
Sure, a lucky shot of a laser gun can take them down. But a lucky shot of everything can take anything down. Unless it's something seriously out of the league, like a pistol round vs Muton. The difference in damage on Laser Rifle vs Heavy Plasma on a Sectopod is minimal. Heavy Laser is significantly stronger, but it's also heavy, unwieldy, inaccurate and overall sucks. Tanks with laser turrets are your best bets, but one such unit cannot be everywhere on the map at once.

Chryssalids:
More Amiga CD32 hilarity. That "console" was quite limited in its capabilities, but fortunately most of X-Com was left intact. The only major difference was that there were no zombies. So what did Chryssalids do? Convert your soldiers/civilians into other chryssalids *immediately*. That made them much more dangerous, because you face another deadly xenomorphesque alien rather than just a slow, lumbering mook whom you can shoot when you're prepared for the monster inside.

Mutons' terrorists Comic Relief:
I was surprised to analyze the Celatids' stats on Ufopaedia (the webpage, not the in-game database) and find out that they're theoretically much more dangerous than I remember them! Their attacks are surprisingly strong, 140 vs Heavy Plasma's 115, and their accuracy is very high. Why did they suck each time I encountered them though? Must be related to the acid spit's pretty pathetic range. Ufopaedia says they can replicate rapidly, but it never occurs in game - my theory on that is that, like Chryssalids, they have to actually kill something to create another copy of themselves.
But at least they're not as worthless as Silacoids. "Oh no, an evil version of Horta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horta_(Star_Trek)) is very slowly advancing in my direction! I hope I can outrun casually outwalk it!" Really, between their absolutely "terrifying" ~40 time units and the fact that they leave easily identificable burn marks on the ground everywhere they go, everyone killed by a Silacoid deserves it. Yes, even the brain-dead civilians.

Winterwind

2009-07-02, 01:27 PM

I dedicate this post to comments on various terror races.

Sectopods:
Sure, a lucky shot of a laser gun can take them down. But a lucky shot of everything can take anything down. Unless it's something seriously out of the league, like a pistol round vs Muton. The difference in damage on Laser Rifle vs Heavy Plasma on a Sectopod is minimal. Heavy Laser is significantly stronger, but it's also heavy, unwieldy, inaccurate and overall sucks. Tanks with laser turrets are your best bets, but one such unit cannot be everywhere on the map at once.I guess so. Still, in practice, Sectopods never struck me as particularly durable...

Chryssalids:
More Amiga CD32 hilarity. That "console" was quite limited in its capabilities, but fortunately most of X-Com was left intact. The only major difference was that there were no zombies. So what did Chryssalids do? Convert your soldiers/civilians into other chryssalids *immediately*. That made them much more dangerous, because you face another deadly xenomorphesque alien rather than just a slow, lumbering mook whom you can shoot when you're prepared for the monster inside.Heh, that's awesome. :smallbiggrin:

Mutons' terrorists Comic Relief:
I was surprised to analyze the Celatids' stats on Ufopaedia (the webpage, not the in-game database) and find out that they're theoretically much more dangerous than I remember them! Their attacks are surprisingly strong, 140 vs Heavy Plasma's 115, and their accuracy is very high. Why did they suck each time I encountered them though? Must be related to the acid spit's pretty pathetic range. Ufopaedia says they can replicate rapidly, but it never occurs in game - my theory on that is that, like Chryssalids, they have to actually kill something to create another copy of themselves.I strongly suspect that something is bugged about them, since I have seen them shoot something quite often, but practically never hit the target. Like, one hit in five shots still seems like an optimistic estimate.

As for their replication, I could be mistaken (it's been a while since I last played against Celatids, since for some reason the Mutons refused to launch any terror attacks in the last couple of games I played), but I think there is a chance that when you kill a Celatid, a new Celatid bursts forth from the corpse.

chiasaur11

2009-07-02, 02:54 PM

Men, I wanted to say I understand your complaints. Sure, the battleship may have never found X-COM HQ if there wasn't a huge "X-COM. If you're looking for lasers, you've come to the right place" Billboard outside the base.

Sure, ignoring a battleship might not have been a good idea.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_076.png

Of course I should have let you know I'd built a bomb to destroy the linear conception of time, or at least built the cameras with that in mind. But I think rewriting history within the limited context of the base to create a reality where all X-Com agents are able to dodge any weapons fire is a fundimentally good idea, and a small loss in visual records shouldn't invalidate the concept.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_195.png
After all, the mission was in trouble from the start. Due, I have no doubt, to Copper's foul logistical magic, I wound up with a gun that it was fundimentally impossible to use, Lopez was stuck on the top floor, and blaster bombs were heading straight at me. Continual revision of reality as we know it was our only hope!

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_203.png
It generally worked. My gun was still useless, and in debriefings afterwards you all still complained of a kind of constant humming in your minds that in a couple of cases erupted into indescribable terror, but we were killing aliens and frankly, given I didn't notice that "humming", I attribute it to bad discipline and Bolshevism rather than any mistake on my part.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_203.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_217.png
The enemy attacked in endless waves, it seemed, but the frontline of Lopez, Bouregard, the Dark Fiddler, and Trazoi held them back. Still, the humming, according to all of them except Lopez (confirming my belief it only affected sub par soldiers) continued as strong as ever until Alex Knight knocked an alien cold with a stun rod, at which point it let up somewhat.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_221.png
With the knocking out alive of one of the aliens, Knight, Fiddler, and Sgt. Bouregard went to the western hanger and spotted a new kind of nasty. Some kind of micro UFO.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_224.png
Oddly, it retreated on initial attack into a storage locker, and then left immediately, failing to fire on the troops. Odd.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_225.png
Also odd was what happened to it when it was finished off. It exploded, apparently also detonating another one in the middle hanger. That finished off the west and central hangers, which just left Lopez and Trazoi to finish their excellent work in the east hanger.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_229.png

And with that, the humming apparently stopped. We were done with the base defense, and with some nice rewards.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_077.png
Also, it seemed the alien was a "leader" of some sort. This would be fun.

pendell

2009-07-02, 03:04 PM

*comes out from under the bed*

Is it over? Yes?

I'm sure that I was suitably heroic before the revision of reality made me a sniveling coward hiding under the bunk. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Sure.

BTW, does anyone use proximity grenades anymore ? I just loved leaving those little presents in odd places for the aliens to find .

Respectfully,

Brian P.

chiasaur11

2009-07-02, 03:50 PM

Fri

2009-07-02, 04:08 PM

We haven't even got you in the base yet.

So, no need for shame. Yet.

Curse you copper and your logistical, time screwing magic!:smallfurious: *shake fist*

Copper8642

2009-07-02, 04:18 PM

(What made your gun useless, I think I'm missing something)

Sir, if you would just unlock the storeroom door and let me out occasionally, I swear I would make less mistakes like that. Please?

chiasaur11

2009-07-02, 04:27 PM

(What made your gun useless, I think I'm missing something)

Sir, if you would just unlock the storeroom door and let me out occasionally, I swear I would make less mistakes like that. Please?

You should know, what with giving me Heavy Plasma before the staff knew how they worked. And somehow LOADING it. Which, once again, we don't know how to do.

(Tomorrow's update's gonna be a general state of X-Com bit. No real action.)

Cubey

2009-07-02, 04:35 PM

You captured a sectoid squad leader? Kickass. Psionics, here we come!

chiasaur11

2009-07-02, 04:38 PM

You captured a sectoid squad leader? Kickass. Psionics, here we come!

Yes. Still, we're gonna try to catch a grunt first. The leader should reveal more if he can see what we're going to do before we do it.

Cubey

2009-07-02, 04:51 PM

Sure, after all there is no expiration date on captured aliens as they're held in "luxurious" accomodations of the Alien Containment. The 10 prisoners/facility limit is not a rule, more of a... vague hint.
My containment was so full of aliens once, the scientists couldn't open the doors without prisoners flooding out like trash from an overstocked cartoon wardrobe. That wasn't pretty. But it sure was fun!

ZeroNumerous

2009-07-02, 05:05 PM

i herd u guys had lazers.

Signing up as a red shirt. May my body feed the daisies of FREEDOM! :smallamused:

The Dark Fiddler

2009-07-02, 07:53 PM

<.< Did I die? I can't tell.

This is harder than telling if Jet died in Avatar.

chiasaur11

2009-07-02, 08:08 PM

<.< Did I die? I can't tell.

This is harder than telling if Jet died in Avatar.

You're not dead. Nobody died in the base raid due to save scumming.

In fact, you're the only redshirt from the first batch still alive.

Copacetic

2009-07-02, 08:35 PM

<.< Did I die? I can't tell.

This is harder than telling if Jet died in Avatar.

Zing.

Hey, is there some sort of waiting list to have a red shirt named in your honor? If not, I'll make one. No, I don't have anything better to do, thanks.

chiasaur11

2009-07-02, 08:41 PM

Zing.

Hey, is there some sort of waiting list to have a red shirt named in your honor? If not, I'll make one. No, I don't have anything better to do, thanks.

I have a wordpad doc. It includes up to date casualty listings.

The Dark Fiddler

2009-07-02, 08:51 PM

Sweet, I'm still alive!

Its because I'm genre savvy! (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GenreSavvy)

...unless I'm wrong genre savvy... (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WrongGenreSavvy)

Trazoi

2009-07-02, 09:00 PM

I see in the screenshots featuring me that I'm not even on the screen. I approve of your tactics. The best way to fight alien scum is from very far away.

Alex Knight

2009-07-02, 09:03 PM

Hah! I done captured me an alien the good X-com way! By beating it upside the head till it fell down. Cooper tried to tell me that I should turn the stun stick on, but I said I don't swing that way!

Copper8642

2009-07-02, 11:40 PM

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 12:06 AM

2 p's, 1 o.

'tis Copper, not Cooper. And put that damn thing away if you won't use it properly, and get out of the storeroom. You know how Chia gets if he finds out I've been associating with other team members.

Now, that's not true.

I always allow for them to enter the room to administer beatings! Good for morale.

Alex Knight

2009-07-03, 04:10 AM

Hah! no true brave heroic X-Com soldier has time to worry about such namby-pamby things like spelling when there's aliens to beat up!

And I did *so* use it properly. Th' alien got knocked out, didn't he?

Winterwind

2009-07-03, 08:01 AM

As resident tactical officer I have to adamantly advise against this course of action. Beating up the alien with a non-powered stun rod is an unnecessarily risky action I can in no way condone.

I mean, who knows when and what for we might need that metal stick, and what are we going to do if you break it? Beating the alien over the head with a fellow squad member is far less demanding on the X-Com resources (hardware is precious, redshirts are easy to come buy). :smallcool:

Redpieper

2009-07-03, 08:06 AM

Does that mean you're volunteering? :smalltongue:

Smight

2009-07-03, 08:13 AM

Winterwind

2009-07-03, 08:28 AM

Does that mean you're volunteering? :smalltongue:Obviously, the same optimization of our resource use requires the tactical officer to remain safe and comfy in some distant villa with swimming pool and free cocktail supply. :smalltongue:

resident dead tactical officer :smallwink:I prefer the term "indefinitely released from frontline duty". :smalltongue:

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 12:22 PM

Well, after the base invasion, the standard spacecraft shooting was put on hold for a bit. We needed to make sure time didn't get messed up too much.

The sudden appearance of the skyranger full of troops I'd requisitioned WEEKS AGO provided both a control group and a subject (other than Copper, who'd locked the storeroom and thus was currently unavailable) for venting frustration.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_115.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_114.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_113.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_112.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_111.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_107.png
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_106.png

After a thorough grilling, it seemed the timeline was mostly intact. Sure, now Buddy Holly never died, and for some reason Plato lived for like 700 years, but the important things were still the same. Namely, people were still paying me to kill things and provide tools to let others do the same. After those eight had left (and been shocked by my wall o' Brisco County Jr DVDs, which apparently now are more precious than gold now. Saving those for retirement.) I checked the delivery vehicle for other loot and noticed the ninth man, David Davies. As it turned out, he's union. This seemed to mean he didn't have to do anything. I approved of this. Any man who could avoid work more thoroughly than me, while in theory drawing the same salary, deserved my respect.

I decided that Lopez could manage the rookies for now and went to check on the R&D boys. Apparently, they were working on Medkits still, a noble endeavor, and vital if X-COM ever needs to position itself as a humanitarian institution. On the other hand, it doesn't directly kill anything. I decided then and there to have them begin interrogating the leader. Despite its (rather pathetic) pleading, I decided on the most extreme technique we had. I tossed it into the storeroom with Copper. I almost pity it.

The morgue was the next stop. Saying hello to Fri's ghost as I passed, I checked up on the corpse collection. Although keeping every single one wasn't feasible, one of each sort seemed reasonable enough. Of course, tht did lead to keeping X-Com bodies on site, and I forget why I had Copper bring back the civvie corpse. Oh, right. He didn't want to.

Eldan's cubby was looking a tad odd though. Corpse had some "Unusual" features. Also, it seemed to be moving now. I immediately left the room. They laughed when I got that zombie survival kit. They all laughed, but now who's going to be the one safely locked up with a wide assortment of assault weapons? Me.

Right. Also Copper. %(*#.

As I came back into the room with the shotgun I'd got for this exact purpose (well, this and quoting Cpl. Hicks when shooting aliens in the mouth), I saw tentacles leaving the corpse, and retracting into an attractive blonde woman in an X-Com jumpsuit. Obviously, the zombies had figured out hologram technology. This was a very bad thing. Then an oddly familiar voice spoke

"Hello Commander! Look! I am a perfectly ordinary human, as always! I have recovered from my ordinary human near death experience! The changes in external form are the result of recovery from a bad cold. Us Humans always look different when suffering from a cold1"

And this is why I hate unique alien infiltration units. They always find a way to come back. Well, next time we're detonating Eldan's corpse.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_109.png

Well, today could have gone better. Alien invasion of X-Com bases, freakish alien mutation, history revised so that all copies of my favorite Bruce Campbell western have disappeared, and Copper is still alive, and in fact the most likely of all of the non me, non Lopez inhabitants of base to survival a zombie invasion.

On the upside, I have an alien leader to kick around. That should relieve some stress.

Artanis

2009-07-03, 12:37 PM

You have Jimor twice.

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 12:41 PM

Time fluctuations.

Can't be helped.

Rockphed

2009-07-03, 12:48 PM

You also mispelled my name. :angry:

Although, if that is just the set up so you can keep creating redshirts who carry similar names, I am perfectly fine with it.

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 12:55 PM

You also mispelled my name. :angry:

Although, if that is just the set up so you can keep creating redshirts who carry similar names, I am perfectly fine with it.

As I said, it's one of the innumerable results of ripping history into tiny bits.

Be happy you don't have an eyepatch.

Copper8642

2009-07-03, 01:09 PM

"Soo.... uhhh.... you come around here often? Hey... uh, hey, don't touch th-PUT IT DOWN!"

*Takes the autocannon out of the alien's hands.*

"Now, we're not going to be fighting in here right n-HEY!"

*Picks up and throws a Laser Rifle that the alien was reaching for.*

"What did I just say? Now, we can do this civilly, or you can make it tough. Your choice."

*Spends the next few hours treating the alien like a small child while it tries to kill him before just knocking the alien out and making up some information to tell Chiasaur.*

"Uh... sir... the aliens... they're here for....... Vegas. Yeah, that's it. They... uhhh, they want... Blackjack. They're here to steal Blackjack from us. And... wrenches. They need our wrenches too, so they're pillaging the world to find wrenches. Yep. He told me himself. Sooooo...... can I come out now?"

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 01:18 PM

Winterwind

2009-07-03, 01:27 PM

Replace the Skyranger with an Avenger and one of the Interceptors with either a Firestorm or a second Avenger. There, more than a million saved. :smalltongue:

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 01:30 PM

Replace the Skyranger with an Avenger and one of the Interceptors with either a Firestorm or a second Avenger. There, more than a million saved. :smalltongue:

Costs Elerium.

In case you didn't notice, we kinda don't have any of that.

Winterwind

2009-07-03, 01:35 PM

Costs Elerium.

In case you didn't notice, we kinda don't have any of that.Details, excuses, since when do we pay attention to such things? :smalltongue:

Copper8642

2009-07-03, 01:39 PM

"Oh god, it's waking up! Well... uhhh. I hear you guys have this "Elerium" stuff. If you could tell me where you keep some of it, then I could get out of here. So if you want to tell me stuff, that'd be great."

*The alien begins to look for a gun.*

"And then I wouldn't be stuck in here with you."

*The alien spills everything he knows about everything for hours.*

Tengu_temp

2009-07-03, 01:45 PM

70 firing accuracy as a rookie? Man, I'm a crack shot! Of course, there's a high chance I'll either die as a noob or turn out to have really bad psi strength.

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 01:59 PM

70 firing accuracy as a rookie? Man, I'm a crack shot! Of course, there's a high chance I'll either die as a noob or turn out to have really bad psi strength.

Or be executed for cowardice. Looking at your stats, that's a distinct possibility.

Eldan

2009-07-03, 02:28 PM

Well, I'm not bad either. Not the bravest human cutting tool in the drawer, but still, not bad.

Kzickas

2009-07-03, 02:46 PM

I think your comments about my bravery are nothing short of slander!!!

Tengu_temp

2009-07-03, 03:05 PM

Or be executed for cowardice. Looking at your stats, that's a distinct possibility.

It's X-Com - cowards live longer, those who kick the door and barge into the room first die. You just need to make sure others see your cowardice as cunning tactical acumen.

BRC

2009-07-03, 04:33 PM

I am very "Tactically Minded" apparently.

With that throwing accuracy, It appears my best use will be hurling grenades.

Artanis

2009-07-03, 05:43 PM

Bah, stupid Apocalypse. Unless anybody knows how to keep it from crashing when it tries to go to tactical mode, doing an LP of it will require me buying something I already own :smallfrown:

Oh well, back to the original! :smallbiggrin:

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 06:31 PM

Tyracus

2009-07-03, 06:41 PM

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 06:45 PM

Sometimes I think the aliens are smarter than we give them credit for. I raid a sectoid base for the leader, when I finally find him I drop back to bring up my small launchers for the capture when he fires a Blaster Launcher into his own feet. So much for grabbing that one, I was very unhappy when it happened.

Savescum, then.

If he pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of your men to the infirmary, you send one of his to the dissection table.

That's the X-Com way.

Artanis

2009-07-03, 07:03 PM

Maybe DOSbox?

It's what Steam's version runs on, and it's free.

I'm using dosbox :smallfrown:

It's not that it doesn't run...it runs almost perfectly, in fact. It's that when I try to start a mission, it crashes. Ah well :smallfrown:

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 07:19 PM

I'm using dosbox :smallfrown:

It's not that it doesn't run...it runs almost perfectly, in fact. It's that when I try to start a mission, it crashes. Ah well :smallfrown:

Hmm.
I'll see if I can find a solution.

If I can't, Strategycore.co.uk might know. Major X-Com wonks there.

Edit: Found something. Probably won't help, but it's all a quick search came up with.

XCOM3 - XCOM APOCALYPSE v1.00 WORKING UNDER DOSBOX 0.70 ON WINDOWS XP SP2

Okay, this required like about a million steps to get it right and hours of experimentation. This may not work for you, and you may have to spend hours or days trying your own experiments to find what works for you. But, this is what worked for me!!

1) I started by finding the XCom Apoc CD that I bought long ago. Mine is the original DOS and Win95 stand-alone version. I got it 10 years ago.

2) I used windows explorer to create a folder called c:\xcom3i

3) I copied the contents of my Xcom Apoc CD to this c:\xcom3i folder, and I then went into that folder from Windows XP Explorer and right clicked "INSTALL" and told it to run in Windows 95 Compatability mode.

4) Then I installed the game from Windows Explorer. It complained about a few things but allowed me to install. I installed to the default C:\XCOMA subdirectory. I'm installing from the hard drive to the hard drive. It goes rather fast, and you don't have to worry about CD speeds or any of that.

5) I then while inside the install program, I used Setup to set the sound - SOUNDBLASTER 16/AWE, BASE 220, IRQ 7, DMA 1 -- what DOSBox defaults to. Ended up going with SOUNDBLASTER PRO, as SB16 didn't provide any sound at all.

6) Lots of problems here, actually. You have to guess right to get the sound right the first time, as it took me days to figure out how to run SETUP.EXE from XP. First of all, if you choose incorrectly, I was able to actually run C:\XCOMA\SETUP.EXE from Windows Explorer after I had created a PIF that set the program to run in Windows 95 Compatibility mode.

I soon found myself right clicking each XCOM3 program that I wanted to run and setting it to run in Win95 Comapability mode, using the compatability tab.

7) After I finally got XCOM3 running way down below on step 15, I actually had to go back in and set it to SOUNDBLASTER PRO, BASE 220, IRQ 7, DMA 1 -- the SB16 mode gave no sound, but I did get sound out of SOUNDBLASTER and SOUNDBLASTER PRO.

SOUNDBLASTER is mono sound, though, no stereo, so I eventually ended up going with SOUNDBLASTER PRO as my final setting. I mention that here just in case you want to select SOUNDBLASTER PRO from the start and save yourself the trouble.

8) Now, you have the core installed in C:\XCOMA, but that is only the beginning.

9) Notice that your XCOM3.CFG file has this in it "<space>C:\XCOM3I\". It is extremely important that the <space> be there before the path name or you won't get music. It looks like this " C:\XCOM3I\", whenever you edit XCOM3.CFG.

10) Now you got to download goodies to fix the video and crack the CD copy protection, or you can't get it to go. I was never able to run the APOC game on XP from the XCOM3 CD that I purchased 10 years ago! It just won't work for me.

11) http://www.xcomufo.com/x3dl.html

This one here was an important link.

FORGET about the xcom3fix.zip. It never worked for me no matter what I tried, although it has a good batch file that might come in handy later.

What you need on this forum is the x3svga.zip file. Download that one! It fixes the VGA problems so that you won't get black screen of death. Unzip it.
Follow the instructions. Copy the two patches to the appropriate folders TACEXE and UFOEXE in C:\XCOMA.

These patches won't run from DOSBox. You have to set them to Windows 95
Compatability, and run each one of them from Windows Explorer in Windows XP.
There, now your video should work, when you finally get all the rest of the stuff done.

12) You have to download DOSBox 0.70 from here:
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/download.php?main=1

Install DOSBox 0.70 to the default directory.

I found that to get ALL of my purchased DOS games to run right under DOSBOX
0.70, I had to go into START, ALL PROGRAMS, DOSBOX 0.70, DoSBoX.conf, and edit that file so that cycles=max.

Iirc, it set cycles=auto, and that just plain makes everything stutter and lag and music choppy. BAD!

Go into dosbox.conf and make cycles=max, and save. Then all seems to be well.
This was a tip that my son taught me. And, it made all the difference between DOSBoX 0.70 being total crap to sheer perfection!

Then you want to copy the DOSBox shortcut from Windows Explorer, rename it do DoSBox X-Com Apocalypse, right click on it, Select properties, and then copy this into Target:
--
"C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.70\dosbox.exe" "C:\XCOMA\DARXCOM3.BAT" -fullscreen -conf "C:\Program Files\DOSBox-0.70\dosbox.conf" -exit

--
The quotes have to be there. It won't work, yet, but now you are ready with a shortcut to run the thing in DOSBox!

Make sure you have a space before every –command and a space before every line as it all becomes one line.

13) Now, it's time to break that copy protection, as it won't run otherwise.

http://www.megagames.com/cracks/html/c34825_0.htm

Select the X-Com Apocalypse v1.00 YCG - no CD. That's the one that worked. I tried the others, but they didn't work for me.

The same crack was found here as well:

http://www.gameburnworld.com/gp/gamefixes/...pocalypse.shtml

I'm not even going to debate the morality of the cracks. The fact is that this method that I'm listing here won't even work for you unless you have an original CD. You have to copy and get the install from an original CD.

But, after you have installed from the original XCOM3 CD that you have purchased and own, then it still won't run in DOSBox or in WIN95 compatability or with anything until you crack the copy protection. Cracking the protection is essential to break its dependence on the CD, so you can run from the hard drive. And, even with my orginal CD in the drive, I could never get anything to recognize that CD ever again. It's an anchor that has to be gotten rid of, if you want to have any hope of running XCOM APOC on Windows XP. There's something there on the original CD that just simply kills the running of XCOM3 on XP. I have never been able to run the X-COM Apoc CD from XP, never ever.

Okay, follow the instructions in that crack you downloaded.

You must find and copy the SMK folder to C:\XCOMA. That folder is on your CD under XCOM3 folder, or over there in C:\XCOM3I that you created. You also copy the MUSIC file to C:\XCOMA. And, you either copy the MAP folder from your CD or from C:\XCOM3I. You have to get the two missing maps copied over, or it will die when it comes time to go to the alien dimension. There's more mentioned about that here:
http://www.xcomufo.com/x3faq.html

NOW IT'S TIME TO CRACK IT.

I ran the CRACK program in Win95 compatability mode, and it didn't give me much feedback, but I could sense errors. That crack program won't run right from Windows Explorer. That's my guess, although I didn't get to see the feedback long enough to know for sure.

So, I ran it from DOSBox.

Copy the CRACK files to C:\XCOMA.

Run the original DOSBox prompt.

Inside DOSBox type these

MOUNT C C:\XCOMA

C:

Run the CRACK.BAT. It should then tell you that it succeeded and that you can now run "XCOMAPOC.EXE SKIP" to get it to work. It's important to use the SKIP command, but still it won't work.

14) I was unable to run XCOMAPOC.EXE SKIP from my DosBox shortcut. It gives the black screen of death.

So, I had to do one last little trick. I had to go into C:\XCOMA and create a batch file. This is where copying some other batch file comes in handy, so that the thing is set as a batch file in Windows Explorer.

Anyway, find a 'working' batch file, the old CRACK.BAT will do, rename it to
DARXCOM3.BAT.

Then you can set DARXCOM3.BAT to Win95 Compatability mode, by right clicking on it and doing the Compatability tab, but it wasn't necessary, so I didn't set this one to win95 compatability.

Right Click DARXCOM3.BAT from Windows explorer, select Edit, select ALL and delete it all, and then copy the following into DARXCOM3.BAT:

--

@echo off

xcomapoc.exe SKIP

--

That's all.

Then save it. Okay, your DOSBox Xcom Apocalypse shortcut was set to run the batch file DARXCOM3.BAT, if you run that DOSBox XCOM APOCALYPSE short cut now, you should come up with a running X-Com Apocalypse. Of course, your mileage may vary, and maybe it won't work for you. But, it finally worked for me!

I can't run "XCOMAPOC.EXE SKIP" directly from DoSBOX 0.70, but I could run that
DARXCOM3.BAT batch file just fine from a DosBox shortcut, and it calls what you need and runs XCOM3 just fine for me.

In fact, I was able to run XCom Apoc from Windows Explorer just by clicking DARXCOM3.BAT, by this point in the process. Of course, the music doesn’t work and the mouse is a bit jittery. But, it runs. Run from DOSBox shortcut you created if you want the mouse stable and want it to play the music right from XP.

15) You may need to run the SETUP.EXE in win95 compatability mode a bunch of times and run your DOSBOX Shortcut to XCOM3 to get the sound right in the XCOM APOCALYPSE game. I have a Soundblaster Live 24-bit card in my machine. And, like I said, I had to use SETUP.EXE and set XCOM3 to SOUNDBLASTER PRO, B220, I7, D1, in order to make it work. SB16/32AWE didn't work, although that has worked for other DOS games I installed and created DoSBox shortcuts to.

16) Again, like I said, this is what finally worked for me. The first time I have ever had XCom Apocalypse running on XP, despite years of try. It only took five years for me to finally get something that worked on XP! Hope that it doesn't take you as long.

17) When I was done, I went in to C:\XCOMA and changed XCOM3.CFG to this:
" c:\xcoma\".

It is very important to have that little space in there. If not, no music will play. That's "<space>c:\xcoma\" inside the XCOM3.CFG, where <space> is the space key. I hope that it stays there for you.

Now, if you were able to follow all the instructions and apply the crack and get all the missing folders and MUSIC copied over to C:\XCOMA, it will now run from your DOSBox shortcut out of the C:\XCOMA folder just fine, and give you sound and music just fine and the mouse will be at a tolerable speed, and all will be well.

Now, you can safely delete the C:\XCOM3I folder that you had installed from as now the C:\XCOMA\XCOM3.CFG file with its space up front is now pointing to " C:\XCOMA".

You shouldn't need the C:\XCOM3I folder any more.

18) Hopefully, it is working for you. This is where that XCom Apocalypse manual that you purchased ten years ago should finally come in handy. Hope it worked for you too!

Found it on Strategycore. Probably more work than it's worth, but, here you go.

Trazoi

2009-07-03, 08:00 PM

Wow, you managed to find a whole bunch of recruits with lower bravery better survival sense than me. I may feel a bit more courageous, but I'm not as special anymore.

Is there some sort of correlation between low bravery and high throwing skills, because our unit seems to have a lot of them. You could form a rather skittish grenadier division.

Artanis

2009-07-03, 08:04 PM

Hmm.
I'll see if I can find a solution.

*stuff*

That's how I got it installed and running in the first place :smallcool:

But let's get the thread back on the rails now :smallwink:

BRC

2009-07-03, 08:06 PM

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 08:25 PM

That's how I got it installed and running in the first place :smallcool:

But let's get the thread back on the rails now :smallwink:

This (http://www.strategycore.co.uk/files/index.php?dlid=586)seems to be a fix for that problem, but I might be wrong. Not sure at all, I just got apoc for a buck on Steam.

And Trazoi, you're a trusted and valued asset!

Really.

Jimorian

2009-07-03, 08:48 PM

Winterwind

2009-07-03, 09:02 PM

Hmm, looks like I'm fairly strong, so I volunteer to carry the blaster launcher when we get them. My favorite trick when dealing with large of X-large ships with psi leaders: punch a hole in the roof and keep dropping more blaster bombs inside until the rest of the team can think straight again. :smallcool:Considering his heroic-levels of valour, courage and bravery - pardon, I meant to say, his lack of personal strategical survival instincts (:smalltongue:), combined with his high strength, I second the notion that Jimor is the best suited for the task of operating this devastating weaponry. At least until we get results from the psionic testing. :smallcool:

chiasaur11

2009-07-03, 09:26 PM

Blaster bombs are the most powerful anti personnel weapon known to X-Com. To date, we've only seen them deployed once, in the assault on GIANTINTHEXCOM, and even then, the resultant damage to the timeline from the emergency defenses meant that specimen no longer even existed. When we have captured and examined one, then we can discuss deployment.

Also, at least some X-Com members, even trusted ones, have shown to be, in situations of extreme mental duress, possible alien sympathizers. As Lopez and I are the only members of X-Com staff fielded during the base invasion not to experience mental "static" the mental effect that escalated in at least three cases to panic or full on alien control, and Lopez has no arms, I feel I am the only X-Com operative that currently can be trusted with a Blaster Launcher.

Some say my credentials are in doubt, as I was in a lead lined bunker during the invasion, but I feel these are risks I have to take.

Alex Knight

2009-07-03, 10:03 PM

Sir, that alien mumbo-jumbo static just inspired my thwacking arm, sir!

*goes off to beat Copper and the alien some more*

Lord of Rapture

2009-07-04, 09:32 AM

Sign me up, chiasaur11! I feel the need to start blasting away at Sectoids for no other reason other than I feel my life could be better served by sacrificing it for humanity! Hopefully, Fri will have some company soon.

chiasaur11

2009-07-04, 03:20 PM

The interrogation was decidedly incomplete, but we got at least one good lead already. Apparently, the UFOs were fueled by something called Elerium 117. Something that gets detonated when we shoot down their ships. We decided to something risky. We followed an intact UFO.

http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_230.png
Lopez spotted the first hostile almost immediately.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_232.png
I dealt with it.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_236.png
The pattern repeated with two more aliens. We shot half the crew of an average UFO with no-one but Lopez leaving the Skyranger!
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_238.png
And this shot cemented Lopez's MVP status. He managed to knock out an alien with a canon round. No permanent injuries, just enough to make the thing harmless.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_241.png
And then Lopez turned around and distracted another Sectoid while the Sergeantal members of the force took it out.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_244.png
Sadly, inside the UFO things turned south. A sectoid shot Artanis. Didn't finish him off, but he was bleeding. Bad. Looked just like Fri did shortly before the poor guy bit it. Then Ninja got a glassy look in his eyes, and slowly leveled his emergency laser pistol. "Wish someone had done this for me".
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/tactical_246.png
A blast dropped Artanis. Ninja seemed to snap back, and managed to eventually deal with the sectoid.

The second two man team of Copper and Bouregard did about the same. Tango popped up too fast to record, shot Bouregard dead, but then (and I have trouble believing it too) Copper dropped it with the most professional bit of marksmanship in X-Com history. I think he delayed the shot deliberately, though, despite his protestations. A traitorous scumbag like Copper would let his best friend die for a chance at being let out of the supply closet! Needless to say, he won't get it.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_083.png
Despite the loss of half of the command staff, the mission was generally a success. We, for the first time, obtained an alien fuel source, a completely intact UFO, and another prisoner (Three cheers for Lopez)! The incident with Sgt. Ninja is mildly troubling, however. The "Ghost of Fri" possessing his Autocannon might be more than a harmless joke. Medkits are being researched as I write this, even if prisoner research is priority #1.
http://i810.photobucket.com/albums/zz27/chiasaur11/geoscape_084.png
To begin filling the gaps in the command structure, I promoted Alex Knight. Good man, if a bit vulnerable to whatever that attack on the base was.

Cubey

2009-07-04, 04:11 PM

chiasaur11

2009-07-04, 04:32 PM

Soldiers dead due to lack of a medikit: 2. I'll keep this updated.
Isn't it amusing how Alien Alloys are worth 1 point per unit, but the far more precious Elerium is 10 units/point? Good that these post-mission victory points aren't as important as your actions on the geoscope anyway.

Well, if Ninja was a tad less trigger happy, we'd probably have finished in time to save Atranis.

Ninja is getting transfered to Fort Fri as soon as we need a garrison there.

Alex Knight

2009-07-04, 07:10 PM

Yes! I'm a Sergeant!

Nuts, that means I'm gonna die.

Ah well, FOR THE GLORY OF X-COM!

<goes off to beat the new alien with his stick>

Artanis

2009-07-04, 09:29 PM

Aww, I'm dead :smallfrown:

chiasaur11

2009-07-04, 10:57 PM

Aww, I'm dead :smallfrown:

Hey, blame Headless Ninja. He's the one who shot you.

Also: There probably won't be updates for the next few days.

Also, what sort of gear you want at Fort Fri? Radar base, science, storage, manufacturing, or what?

Rockphed

2009-07-04, 11:15 PM

Blood for the blood god! Bone for the bone throne! Death!

*Nurgle*

Inhuman Bot

2009-07-05, 01:38 AM

YOUR RACUIOUS CRIES HA-

Oh, khorne? wrong god. Darn.

I guess I'll sign up since I'm here if you don't have enough corpses to make a ramp yet.

pendell

2009-07-05, 07:42 AM

Hey, blame Headless Ninja. He's the one who shot you.

Also: There probably won't be updates for the next few days.

Also, what sort of gear you want at Fort Fri? Radar base, science, storage, manufacturing, or what?

Radar is essential, of coruse.

Recommend that we concentrate our manufacturing facilities at Fort Fri, while we make the first base into a research area. Eventually we will have 8 bases: 6 bases which carry a radar post, intereceptors, soldiers, and a sky ranger. 1 base where we concentrate all our research, and another base where we do all the manufacturing. Economy of scale, don't you see. 70 engineers working at one base do more work than 10 engineers working at one base each in 7 different bases.

Since the aliens have discovered the first base, at some point we will need to abandon it and build another one close by. The problem is, I suspect that's a luxury we can't afford right now, and we really need lots of research . We'll just have to build it up and trust that we can defeat them when they come in on the ground.

We should research alien mind probes, yes? That will allow us to identify navigators and leaders, allowing us to build hyperwave decoders (cheaper and more reliable than radar) and psionic facilities (which break the game). I call dibs on the first psi-amp, so we can get the alien prisoners to fight each other gladiator-style in the basement. We need our entertainment after all.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Tengu_temp

2009-07-05, 08:54 AM

We should research alien mind probes, yes? That will allow us to identify navigators and leaders, allowing us to build hyperwave decoders (cheaper and more reliable than radar) and psionic facilities (which break the game). I call dibs on the first psi-amp, so we can get the alien prisoners to fight each other gladiator-style in the basement. We need our entertainment after all.

Actually, mind probes only let you do the first thing - you need to interogate a psionic alien to do all the research.

Artanis

2009-07-05, 11:16 AM

YOUR RACUIOUS CRIES HA-

Oh, khorne? wrong god. Darn.

I guess I'll sign up since I'm here if you don't have enough corpses to make a ramp yet.

If we're making a ramp out of corpses, then nothing short of Masada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada) will suffice :smallcool:

Since the aliens have discovered the first base, at some point we will need to abandon it and build another one close by. The problem is, I suspect that's a luxury we can't afford right now, and we really need lots of research . We'll just have to build it up and trust that we can defeat them when they come in on the ground.

If we can beat them in a city we can beat them on our home turf, especially if we rearrange it to actually be defensible. Set up the hangars and access lift right, and you get a choke point that would make Horatius proud. At that point, a base defense is a great way to get free goodies :smallwink:

pendell

2009-07-05, 01:28 PM

Actually, mind probes only let you do the first thing - you need to interogate a psionic alien to do all the research.

They do, however, allow you to identify which of the bazillion aliens you're facing off with is the psionic leader instead of the standard mooks. Unless you want to wait to capture an Ethereal, something I have no desire to do :).

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Cubey

2009-07-05, 02:03 PM

But we already have a leader, captured in a base defense mission.

pendell

2009-07-05, 03:07 PM

Ah ... forgot that.

We still need a navigator, yes? And eventually a Base Commander, right? IIRC, those in particular have a nasty habit of blowing themselves up with their own blaster bombs.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Alex Knight

2009-07-05, 04:16 PM

Radar is essential, of coruse.
Since the aliens have discovered the first base, at some point we will need to abandon it and build another one close by.

Alien Symp! X-Com never retreats!

(seriously, that would mean we'd have to let Copper out of the closet.)

BRC

2009-07-05, 04:18 PM

Alien Symp! X-Com never retreats!

(seriously, that would mean we'd have to let Copper out of the closet.)

Only if we tell him we are abandoning the base.

I say we abandon the base, except for the general stores area that we lock Copper into, and leave without him noticing.

Eldan

2009-07-05, 04:48 PM

It pains me to say this, but I agree with the damn commie.

But I suggest we also weld the door shut. For coppers... protection.

Lord Herman

2009-07-05, 05:04 PM

Wait, I thought the aliens were communists. Now you're telling me we've got a communist working for us?

Of course, that does give us the unique opportunity to shoot communists for being suspected aliens, and shoot aliens for being suspected communists. :smallamused:

Eldan

2009-07-05, 05:43 PM

Oh yes. Clearly we have an alien spy in our base, and it's obviously the communist.

Lord Herman

2009-07-05, 05:59 PM

Maybe we should interrogate that alien some more, get him to confess to being a communist. And a terrorist. And a hippie.

Dallas-Dakota

2009-07-05, 06:02 PM

Herman, do you have something against hippies? *suspicious look*

Artanis

2009-07-05, 06:04 PM

We still need a navigator, yes? And eventually a Base Commander, right?

That's why you just stun everything, especially when you get small launchers.

Eldan

2009-07-05, 06:06 PM

Herman, do you have something against hippies? *suspicious look*

I can't tell you if I'm against them before the commader has told me that I am, but I suspect yes.

Lord Herman

2009-07-05, 06:10 PM

Herman, do you have something against hippies? *suspicious look*

Aaaah! Communist! Shoot him!

Eldan

2009-07-05, 06:23 PM

So, when exactly did this turn from X-COM into Paranoia?

Lord of Rapture

2009-07-05, 06:59 PM

It was always part Paranoia, what with the aliens trying to infiltrate EVERY SINGLE GOVERNMENT IN THE WORLD TO TURN AGAINST US! CHINA IS WITH THE ALIENS! I HAVE PROOF! SO IS INDIA! THAT'S HALF OF HUMANITY ALREADY UNDER ALIEN CONTROL!

Excuse me, I need to start shooting things randomly with my rifle right now.

DIE, ALIEN SYMPATHIZER, DIE!

Eldan

2009-07-05, 07:00 PM

Ow! Good thing I'm human and don't have any vital organs in my chest area! That thing could have killed an alien.

Lord Herman

2009-07-05, 07:02 PM

Ow! Good thing I'm human and don't have any vital organs in my chest area! That thing could have killed an alien.

Is that how you tell aliens from humans? In that case, we should shoot all new recruits through the chest, just to be sure.

Winterwind

2009-07-05, 08:13 PM

Is that how you tell aliens from humans? In that case, we should shoot all new recruits through the chest, just to be sure.You know, that might actually explain why the damn bastards demand $40,000 every month in pay... :smalltongue:

Alex Knight

2009-07-05, 08:43 PM

That's why you just stun everything, especially when you get small launchers.

Excellent advice. You might not be an alien symp, but just to be sure...

<thwacks with the stun stick>

Copper8642

2009-07-05, 09:32 PM

(I love how I'm obviously the alien sympathizer and Eldan is completely loved by all (except Chiasaur, who still loves Eldan more than he loves me).)

"Guys, just because I give out supplies to people here evenly and believe we should all work here for the common good instead of for our personal gains doesn't make me Communist... it's.... uhh.... crap, that's a bit like communism, isn't it? Well........ crap."

*Takes two laser pistols and has them talk to each-other like puppets out of boredom.*

Winterwind

2009-07-05, 09:38 PM

That's why you just stun everything, especially when you get small launchers.As resident dead tactical officer I feel obliged to point out that such a strategy would soon have our containment cells overflowing. Considering somebody around here is obviously an alien sympathiser, this could prove fatal if that somebody would just so happen to have a slight mishap and "accidentally" release the containment cells' locks.
My counter-proposal, therefore: Shoot 'em with everything we've got, let the egghead scientists sort 'em out! :smallamused:

Oh yeah, and thwacking is fine, too, of course.

Alex Knight

2009-07-05, 10:03 PM

(I love how I'm obviously the alien sympathizer and Eldan is completely loved by all (except Chiasaur, who still loves Eldan more than he loves me).)

Hey, I never said you were an alien Symp. I just like beating you. It's surprisingly therapeutic. :smallsmile:

tyckspoon

2009-07-05, 10:14 PM

Game mechanics tangent: If you really care about it, it's pretty easy to figure out which ones are the navigators. They're hanging around inside the navigation rooms of UFOs. Engineers are in the power supply rooms. Follow around a small/medium UFO until it lands, clear the outside, and stun everything inside. You should pick up at least one Navigator. Alternately, shoot it down with weak weapons and hope it doesn't explode too badly when it crashes. If the Navigator is still alive, you might get lucky and have him get knocked out by the crash or choked into unconsciousness by smoke.

BRC

2009-07-05, 11:52 PM

Can I just say that I was already punished for my commuist ways. I was given what's known as a "Delayed Death Sentence".

I was sent to X-Com.

Lord of Rapture

2009-07-06, 01:26 AM

Ow! Good thing I'm human and don't have any vital organs in my chest area! That thing could have killed an alien.

*points rifle and Eldan's head*

That's just what an alien would say.

Alex Knight

2009-07-06, 02:28 AM

*points rifle and Eldan's head*

That's just what an alien would say.

There's only one way a proper X-Com soldier would handle this....

<stuns both of them and lets Lopez sort things out>

Lord Herman

2009-07-06, 03:52 AM

There's only one way a proper X-Com soldier would handle this....

<stuns both of them and lets Lopez sort things out>

Hooray for Lopez' more or less reliable friend-or-foe recognition!

Archonic Energy

2009-07-06, 04:13 AM

You know, that might actually explain why the damn bastards demand $40,000 every month in pay... :smalltongue:

i always found that to be rather...excessive!

to be fair i did burn through redshirts like... well something you burn through quickly!

when you have adequate production facilities and are making more money from your sales than your governments are giving you then i generaly hire redshirts in batches of 20 & ditch the ones with low Psi scores...

Trazoi

2009-07-06, 05:15 AM

You know, that might actually explain why the damn bastards demand $40,000 every month in pay... :smalltongue:
X-COM health insurance doesn't come cheap.

Ashtar

2009-07-06, 09:51 AM

In fact you'll find that 25k$ per month is spent on training costs (and that's minimal skill maintenance only), 5k$ on administrative overhead, 2k$ on food and other essentials, with only 8k$ per month going into the soldiers' pocket at most. And that includes Hazard pay for extremely hazardous duty!

Yeah, being a grunt sucks, but it does mean you get to exercise humanity's oldest instinct: "Kill what isn't like you".

On that bombshell, sign me up!

Oslecamo

2009-07-06, 12:34 PM

X-COM death insurance doesn't come cheap.

There, fixed it for you. Gotta think on the families of the deceased. Yes, they won't know their beloved ones are dead, but will receive a fat check for exceptional services that will pay their kids university, so they can also eventually apply to X-COM!

Feel free to put me as another grunt. I'll be the distracted guy who gets lured into the obvious alien trap and dies horribly.

Smight

2009-07-06, 01:01 PM

Shamles flaunting of my new avater by me:smallbiggrin:

Cubey

2009-07-06, 01:24 PM

Soldiers cost 20 000 $/month, half of their recruitment cost. Same for engineers and scientists. I guess they're getting a bonus when hired.

Funny thing, if you have 100 scientists and the same number of engies (a fair estimate for mid- to endgame), then you could have as many as 50 soldiers and it's still only 20% of your staff. I guess X-Com really fights with brains and not brawn.

Johnny Blade

2009-07-06, 01:34 PM

Yeah, being a grunt sucks, but it does mean you get to exercise humanity's oldest instinct: "Kill what isn't like you".
And it would be an honor to defend humanity's noble ways with my life. And perhaps something remotely resembling a weapon.

So, where do I sign up as one of the few, the proud, the disposable?

chiasaur11

2009-07-06, 09:39 PM

Nd once again, I see this place decays into paranoid madness without me, with any action even slightly out of the ordinary (which is most actions, considering we're dealing with people crazy enough to join X-COM) is grounds to murder even your best friend on suspicions of treachery.

I'm...
I'm so proud.

Also, I'd like to mention I've noticed all of you recommend torturing our captives, but none recommend putting them out of their misery. I once again approve.

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As we had a new captive, I figured the leader of the enemy forces might be better... persuaded if he could see what happened to others who cross me. And as Copper was unavailable, a spare Sectoid would be excellent.

Sadly, the science staff grew fond of the subject after his (even I admit, rather pathetic) explanation of his lot in life and pleas for mercy. I began making plans for if the staff failed to accomplish their goals. Meanwhile, I contented myself with scrambling the interceptors against a small craft.

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With that done, and the cleanup operation planned, I checked on Fort Fri. It finally was beginning to look like a base, even if it wouldn't be ready for anything but dumping spare ammo for a couple weeks.
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As I walked back into the labs, I found a sight that was as disgusting as any I'd seen in this job. (Except Copper). The lab techs were letting the alien sit in the computer chair! I readied my trusty X-COM standard issue laser pistol. It looked like I would need a new science team pretty soon. They even gave it a name! If X-Com's trusted laser building engineers all draw salary under the name of "Other Brother Daryl", why should the Xeno get the honor of a name, even one as silly as "Chumbley"?

I grabbed the big eyed scumbag. "Allright. Anybody move, and yer new Xeno buddy bites it. You, Sectoid. Spill. What were you doing with the computer?"
The little bugger had some nerve. Opened its yap as soon as I was done talking.
"Captain! Thank you for coming in. I was hoping I would get a chance to thank you and Lopez for sparing me, and being good enough to give me a room of my own. I owe you more than I can say. Nothing I can do will ever repay you, but I wanted to do what I could. I started by filing the papers for the general plans of my species. They're on the desk there, along with all of our biological data. I was just scrambling an interceptor at the last raid planned before I left. May I get you some coffee?"
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I didn't trust the Xeno. Foulblooded scumbag had obviously just faked up some evidence to put me off my guard.

"Also, if I could be trusted with a weapon (which obviously I cannot) I would ask if I could be given the honor of shooting Copper."

As I was saying, kid was alright.