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[Toaster]

You should look at Xenonauts then.

[Mephansteras]

Sorry, folks, got caught up in an epic game of Crusader Kings 2.

But I've been itching to play more X-Com lately, so I'll be getting back into this very soon.

[RAM]

I dislike the loss of freedom. It is a fun game, don't get me wrong, but it is a bit... 'small' compared to the original. Base design may well be more meaningful, but maybe not, it no longer represents a combat-map building affair but you get adjacency bonuses and you avoid simply repeating identical bases in different locations. I dunno, I think I prefer the old bases. Base placement is an irritating loss, transit is still a factor and you have no control over it. Radar coverage is simplified, probably for the best there. The economy.. I miss being able to invest in fabrication as an economic venture, and products are sort of magical now and poorly explained as to how they come into being... The engineer and scientist limits are basically caps on your progress that force you to generalise and limit your growth, which is a bit irritating to be told what to do like that. The aircraft seem a bit tame, there are no real revolutions there and you only ever have a single transport, which seems artificially frustrating and it is invulnerable, which is probably for the best... Combat seems a bit more methodical to me. You have these crazy abilities that you need to use and cover is basically everything if you fail to kill everything before it can act. So you end up constantly looking for the specific circumstances in which you are optimal. The original, well, I really disliked the vision mechanics and almost necessary manipulation of such, but the ability to manipulate the terrain, especially in apocalypse, was just brilliant, and really hasn't been matched since except in speciality things like Dwarf Fortress... So I feel that there was more tactical flexibility and, I guess, at any given moment there were more... 'correct answers' if you will...

So really, the best remark I can come up with is that the new game is small. It is compact, so you can get more compare to what you put in, but there is much less of it.

[Twinwolf]

PTW

Name: Ashley <Don't care about the nickname, you pick> Haverford
Gender: Female
Nationality: Any
Appearance: Black hair of medium length, white, Caucasian, green armor tint.

Preferred class: Any
Preferred weapon: Any
Preferred equipment: Any
Preferred tactics:

[Mephansteras]

[I'm back! I....don't remember too well what happened for this set of images, but I'll do the best I can. We may rush through a bunch of it, though, to get things going again.]


The aliens try to scout over Australia but we drive them off.





Things are then quiet for a little bit. Japan and France are interested in our Sectoid corpses, which we exchange for more skilled Scientists. Vahlen is quiet excited, as our Laboratory should be up and running in a short while.





Of course, the Aliens aren't going to leave us be for that long. An urgent message arrives from the Council


A UN Official, huh? I can't help but smile. I know exactly who we're going in to save.


I have some of our veterans gear up. They have orders to be extra careful with the VIP on this mission.

Spoiler: Operation Fading Vanguard (click to show/hide)

The squad lands on a shattered bridge. I watch in an almost dream-like state as the troops move up and speak with one of Van Doorne's men. As before, he is cut off down below and needs us to extract him.




First sight of an alien - one of those bastard Thin Men. He is taken out pretty quickly, though.




The squad moves up and starts securing the high ground



As we move closer to the drop, we can hear Van Doorne asking for help.


And a pack of sectoids comes into sight!


As they scurry for cover another group tries to rush up the ladder


And think better of it.


But, being back below doesn't really help protect them from Wind's Grenades.


They try again, with worse results.



Another group of sectoids move in to help their few remaining comrades, and we get embroiled in a drawn out fire fight




Fortunately, our troops are made of sterner stuff than the aliens.






Underhill provides excellent covering fire as Wind moves in to make contact with Van Doorne




Rickenbacker takes out the final Sectoid with style



The squad soon notices, however, another Thin Man watching from across the crumbled bridge


When the sniper shot fails to take it down...


Greene steps in with his own standard solution to problems.


Knowing what comes next, I pick up the radio.

"Squad, keep your eyes sharp. Expect alien reinforcements to come in. They're not going to give up so easily on this one."
"Roger that Commander." Rickenbacker's calm voice is as profession as always.

As expected, Thin Men soon drop down from above




The squad's overwatch takes out a few, but Maella is left very, very exposed


When all other shots miss, Rickenbacker makes a couragous decision to run the Overwatch so that her comrade in arms can get to safety


The Thin Man moves around, trying once again to flank the sniper, but is unable to do any damage to the squad


Our troops, in turn, work together to bring the alien down




The way to the Skyranger clear, we get Van Doorne onboard and head home




We recovered a fair amount of loot after that battle, including the first Thin Man specimens this universe has seen. Sometimes I forget that I actually know more than Valhen about many things.

Spoiler: Soldiers (click to show/hide)

An excellent mission, despite a few heart-stopping moments near the end where I was sure we'd lose Maelle. Promotions for the entire squad, and well deserved!



Rickenbacker can take Steadfast (Immune to most panic, +5 Aim), Covering Fire (Overwatch on all Enemy actions), or Executioner (+10 Aim & Crit vs badly wounded enemies)


Wind can take Holotargeting (Adds +10 aim to the target for all future shots), Gunslinger (+1 Dmg and no range penalties for pistols), or Lone Wolf (+10 Aim and Crit 8+ tiles away from Allies)


Kaos can take Flush (Deals some damage and forces the enemy to move), Covering Fire (Overwatch on all Enemy actions), or Holotargeting (Adds +10 aim to the target for all future shots)


Greene can take Will to Survive (Bonus Damage reduction when in Cover), Ranger (+1 Damage), or Heat Ammo (Rockets do +50% dmg to Robotic targets)

[Maelle's picture refused to take, for some reason. Sorry about that.]
Maelle can take Low Profile (Treat Half Cover as Full), Gunslinger (+1 Dmg and no range penalties for pistols), or Lone Wolf (+10 Aim and Crit 8+ tiles away from Allies)


Underhill is promoted to Sniper



And we are joined by Van Doorne! He was impressed enough with us that he was willing to join even at an Enlisted rank, which I expected. He also elected to take a Rocket, which I was not expecting as much. But I'm sure he'll do well no matter what position he fills.

[Jim Groovester]

It's a shame you didn't do this mission on the latest version of b15, because you would've gotten Private Friendly as a soldier as well.

On the other hand, all the thin men would've dropped in cover, so it's a mixed bag.

[RAM]

Need more funk.

[Remalle]

Cool, update.  Lone Wolf for me, I think.

[Darkening Kaos]

     Holo-targetting for Kaos, he shall provide valuable data for the rest of the squad.

[Mephansteras]

Some soldier updates




And looking forward to future expansions I order Shen to build an access lift to the next layer of the base.



We also trade a few more sectoid corpses in for another scientist



And not long after we get word that the Aliens are attempting abductions in Nigeria. We assemble a team and order them to head out on the double!

Spoiler: Operation Purple Skull (click to show/hide)

(Purple Skull, huh? Guess the mission namer is expecting a lot of alien corpses from this.)

The squad lands down in a commercial district and immediately takes the high ground.





As they move over to the far side of the building a group of drones spots them and moves up to investigate. Our response is quick and brutal.





With only half the drones dead, however, the squad takes cover as best they can. Van Doorne throws out some smoke to provide some additional protection.



Agalia takes out one of the drones as it moves in, but the other manages to snipe Krauss through the smoke



Villiams is not amused


With the immediate threat destroyed Krauss gets patched up


Not long after we find more aliens. Sectoids this time. Looks like the mission namer will get his skulls after all!



Agalia kicks it all off with a grenade and the squad starts exchanging fire with the aliens down below





Drawn to the gunfire, more sectoids emerge from the buildings across the allyway


They scatter for cover as our rookie, Dens, showers them with lead


Villiams has a worse time of it, though, taking a nasty hit from one of the grey bastards.


Wong covers her as she falls back to heal



Unwilling to risk more injuries, Van Doorne decides that more extreme measures are necessary


Agalia follows his example, sending another Sectoid to a explosive demise


The remaining sectoids are fairly quickly dispatched.

Spoiler: Soldiers (click to show/hide)

Overall, kind of a sloppy mission. Drones and Sectoids don't seem like much of a threat, but they can still take a soldier out for a month with an unlucky hit. I need to take them more seriously. Still, promotions for almost everyone, so that's a plus.




Villiams can take Steadfast (Immune to most panic, +5 Aim), Covering Fire (Overwatch on all Enemy actions), or Executioner (+10 Aim & Crit vs badly wounded enemies)


Wong can take Holotargeting (Adds +10 aim to the target for all future shots), Gunslinger (+1 Dmg and no range penalties for pistols), or Lone Wolf (+10 Aim and Crit 8+ tiles away from Allies)


Krauss can take Flush (Deals some damage and forces the enemy to move), Covering Fire (Overwatch on all Enemy actions), or Holotargeting (Adds +10 aim to the target for all future shots)


Dens is promoted to Sniper


Agalia is promoted to Engineer

We use the funds from the abduction to order another interceptor. Our air game could certainly use the help.

[Mephansteras]

The next few days are pretty uneventful. The lab is finished, much to Dr. Vahlen's satisfaction.



Our new Interceptor arrives, bringing us to a full compliment of 6 fighters over Asia


And the Access lift is completed, opening up a new layer of the base for construction.


Finally, the month ends with the usual meeting with the Council. They are most pleased with our progress to date. I can only hope future meetings go so well.



With the additional funds I order a second Satellite Uplink built as well as excavations towards the steam vent on the second level. We'll need that power soon, I'm sure.



A short time later Dr. Vahlen informs me that the preliminary research into the Alien Weapons has been completed.




We'll have to decide what to focus our research efforts on next.

[GiglameshDespair]

Huh. I did not expect this to return.

Beam lasers.

[crazysheep]

Beam lasers sound good, need to step up the alien killing effectiveness.

[birdy51]

Giselle shall take Flush. Play checkers with Villiams in the infirmary.

[RAM]

Take covering fire, play checkers while comatose, advocate xenoneurology from grave.
Did I just come out of a month-long coma?