Update 10: Nonlethal
Mar 1st
The remainder of the week passes tensely but uneventfully, and soon we're looking at a glowing monthly report. How exactly we're dealing with local threats over Canada I can't say, but I guess shooting down, shooting the crew of, and then looting UFOs in Europe and Asia has a domino effect. Or something.
Unfortunately, slight delusions of grandeur have inhibited our progress. The new recruits and equipment had arrived much earlier, but I decided we needed something even more ambitious. Several pawned Medi-Kits later, another batch of slightly different soldiers is on its way for slightly different reasons, and apparently three unloaded plasma pistols will buy you a hangar. Neither was completed by the time of the next incursion, unfortunately.
Needless to say, this was something that could not be ignored, even with our squad still undermanned due to administrative tangle. What's more, the veteran status of the team and small size of the UFO led me to order a slightly dangerous attempt: Capture an alien alive, if possible.
The plan was simple- smoke them out where possible, shoot when necessary. I wasn't willing to risk lives using inferior weapons or stun batons on them, and instead had to hope that the laser pistols most of the team was equipped with would injure them enough for the smoke to make them pass out, as opposed to melting holes straight through them.
Commissar Bane objected strongly to any attempts to not roast them alive under any circumstances, but I assured him that
most of the aliens would still be ruthlessly executed on sight, including any that were easier to murder than capture.
Accordingly, the team was well-equipped with smoke grenades. Unfortunately, another logistics error resulted in the team not being properly equipped with the laser rifles that had only recently been completed. On the other hand, all operatives were now clad in our coveted alien-alloy armor, which I hoped would reduce the danger considerably.
Miranda was the first off the Skyranger, and promptly noticed a Sectoid standing right in front of the door to its craft, just a moderate distance to the right from the Skyranger. Despite being a capture mission, she promptly executed it with a flurry of lasers.
The team fanned out a bit, wary of the buildings all around the craft. Several more smoke grenades were hurled into buildings, with the hope that aliens might reside within them, as well as being cracked open with laser fire to allow more thorough discovery. Cautious operatives brutalized three more aliens in the surrounding structures, each discovered singly after careful examination, but none survived.
The real hopeful was the alien craft itself. Xenio breached the UFO, noticed its lone occupant, and added a primed smoke grenade to the already smokey interior. He and Sir Kahn then stood watch over the door, ready in case the Sectoid showed itself. As the other teams cleared out the surrounding buildings, the smoke began to take its toll on the two left out there- surely the alien couldn't last much longer?
Finally, it could endure no more and exited the craft, where Xenio promptly shot it in the side of the head. Damn.
It's unfortunate that we could acquire no live aliens from this mission, but the lack of injuries and generally safe nature forces me to consider it a solid success.
In other news, research on Heavy Lasers is complete. Dr. Euchre has been given temporary command of the research team in response.
They promise they'll do better next time.
I made the rather serious mistake of not recording this until well after I had played it, so I'm tragically fuzzy on the details. I know Miranda was the one sweeping the northern building, but I don't remember who was with her. Stone Cold was on the western structure, where there was an alien and then another alien after I'd declared it clear.
Also, in retrospect leaving Sir Kahn (who's Reaction is pretty terrible anyway) in front of the door with an explosive autocannon was a serious oversight on my part.
Sorry for another mini-update (and a fuzzy one at that) but I find myself short on time, so detailing the new recruits will have to wait. If you're curious, the new blood's stats were TERRIBLE, which was the final straw in ordering soldiers for that 8-man capture team.
Author
Topic: Let's Play: X-COM! ULTRAWUSS MODE! [Update 11: Rainbow Nation] (Read 43593 times)