I decided to let the scientists go all out on an alien artifact of their choosing. They decided to delve into the secrets of the alien spheres that we had recovered.
Zilvara had mentioned something to me about them in her reports. Initial investigation shows that these spheres, that resemble huge dark pearls, respond to touch. Unfortunately getting them to do anything other than grow warm was proving to be difficult.
I decided to preemptively strike at our ever filling storage rooms and mandated the construction of an additional storage facility that would contain general mission equipment such as flares and grenades.
(also I believe that spot was costing me $80 a month because of a glitch)
Also to reduce the strain on our storage facilities, and to placate the complaints of our equipment master, I decided to make good on the funding nation's bounty system. I sold them the extra alien corpses we had on base along with a couple dozen pieces of the alien alloy that composed the alien UFO's.
On the 13th I attended a presentation by Archangel and Cerapa. They had on display one of each of our explosive devices in order of effectiveness, along with each of their respective launchers. The least powerful explosive was explained first.
"This is our weakest explosive device." Archangel held up a high explosive auto cannon round, it was about the size of a pop can but tapered to a rounded tip. "It can be the most dangerous of all our weapons though because an auto cannon can rapidly fire them. If the first shot kills a target, subsequent shots are likely to destroy any remaining corpse or equipment. The auto cannon is not known for it's accuracy and friendly fire with this round is almost always an instant kill. Cerapa, if you would please. Everyone else is advised to put on their ear muffs. Cerapa lifts a fully loaded auto cannon and aims it down the firing range. He steadies his aim and squeezes the trigger. The target down range is riddled with loud explosions, tearing the alien shaped dummy apart. Many rounds miss the target entirely and riddle the back wall with scorch marks. The firing range quickly fills with smoke but as Archangel motions for everyone to remove their ear muffs, the smoke is drawn out of the firing range via powerful fans.
"As you can see for yourself, the auto cannon's potential for indiscriminate destruction is quite large. Now our next most powerful explosive is our grenade." Archangle holds up the small black grenade. "This grenade, while not our most destructive explosive, is extremely light and compact compared to other explosives we employ. They can be carried by just about any soldier along with their regular load-out. The explosion is large enough that even an off throw will likely be close enough to the target to catch it in the blast. The explosion is also small enough that it can be used to take out targets too close for friendlies to engage safely. Please put on your ear muffs and I will demonstrate." Everyone puts on their ear muffs and turns their attention to the firing range. Two "friendly" dummies have been setup on the near side of a wall with two windows. An alien shaped target was on the far side. Archangel pulls his grenade's pin and tosses it through one of the windows. A quick moment later the grenade explodes into a fireball that splinters the walls and bursts the windows. The two friendly remain relatively unscathed while the alien target dummy is filled with shrapnel and burn marks.
Cerapa motions for us to take off our ear muffs, once everyone does so he begins to lead the presentation. "Next up is the heavy cannon's high explosive round." He holds up a bullet similar to the auto cannon round but it was the size of a Kleenex box instead. "This massive round packs a punch. It is designed to penetrate better than the auto cannon HE round, using a cannon ball effect. This works best on targets with medium armor or cover that is not reinforced. Archangel will demonstrate." Archangel picks up an auto cannon and motions for everyone to cover their ears with their ear muffs. He aims down the range. On the range is two separate brick walls obscuring two targets. He places a high explosive round into the first wall. The explosion clears quickly and the wall remains mostly intact, a crater had been formed surrounding the impact point. Archangel places the auto cannon on the table and lifts the heavy cannon, loaded with high explosive shells. He aims carefully down the range at the second target. The recoil of the heavy cannon seems to push him back as the shells screams down the range. A split-second later the second wall is enveloped in an explosion. When the smoke is vented out of the range there is nothing left of the wall but scattered debris, mixed with shattered bits of the target dummy. Cerapa motions for everyone to remove their ear muffs. "As you can see, the heavy cannon's round provides a powerful single strike to compliment the auto cannon's smaller, more rapid strike.
"Next up is the proximity grenade. The proximity grenade, once armed and deployed, will explode when something moves towards it. It uses a state of the art sonar system to ping and detect objects around itself. It can tell when something moves and will not explode if you move away from the explosive. However, if you move towards the explosive it will detect the movement and explode. The proximity grenade is stronger than the standard grenade because it's intended targets are not typically standing close to it. The proximity grenade is designed to be deadly within a few meters of the device. Archangel, why don't you show our audience how it works?" Archangel holds up a proximity grenade and describes how to arm it. He arms the grenade and throws it down the range. It comes to a stop, it blinks and beeps for a moment before going quiet. "Now that the grenade is armed, it will explode when something moves through it's detection range. It will not explode because of gunfire passing by it however because it is too fast to register as more than a blip. as Archangel will show." Archangel motions for everyone to put on their ear muffs. He pulls out a pistol and fires past the proximity grenade. Nothing happens however. He picks up a bean bag and tosses it towards the grenade, as it gets close the grenade comes to life and explodes in a fiery ball of destruction.
Cerapa motions for everyone to take off their ear muffs. "Next on our list of weapons is the "small" rocket for the soldier sized rocket launcher. The rocket launcher is designed to put a massive amount of firepower on target. It is very heavy and requires time to reload after every shot. The rockets are also large and bulky. The small rocket is designed to combat the weight problem while still providing an excellent amount of explosive power. The small rocket has the strength to penetrate all but the most sturdy of materials and is well suited to hitting hostile snipers hiding behind cover, out of range of grenades." Cerapa motions to Archangel to demonstrate the small rocket. Assistants move a small setup, a cinder-block room with the wall facing us partially deconstructed. Two target dummies are placed inside behind cover. "Now normally this would be an easy shot for an auto cannon or a heavy cannon loaded with high explosive rounds. But what if they didn't have the time to aim for the weak spot in their cover? Or what if the team had a bad angle on the targets and couldn't aim at the open spot reliably? Please cover your ears and we will fire the rocket at the cinder-block walls that our targets think will keep them safe." Archangel waits for everyone to cover their ears before lining up a shot with his rocket launcher. He lets loose a rocket and it travels quickly to the leftmost cinder-block section. Upon connecting the rocket explodes, everyone in the room can feel the air rush past them as a fireball obscures the cinder-block setup. Once the smoke is cleared the cinder blocks lay in shattered pieces all across the range. The target dummies can only be found in tiny pieces.
Archangel puts the rocket launcher back on the table and motions for everyone to take off their ear muffs. "The heavy weapons platform version of the small rocket is a little bit more powerful. It fills the same niche as the light rocket though so we rely on our HWP pilots for this role. Next up is the rocket launcher's heavy rocket. The heavy rocket plays second fiddle to only one explosive, however, it is the ultimate long range alien destroyer. The heavy rocket is indeed, fairly heavy and only the strongest of soldiers can easily carry a full compliment of them. Sarah Newman so far has done so admirably. Where the small rocket is useful for destroying multiple targets behind cover, the large rocket is suited for destroying an entire face of a building and anything near it. When it absolutely, positively must not live to see tomorrow; use a heavy rocket. So far in our missions the heavy rocket has proven to be invaluable against the heavily armored floating discs. There are no structures, save heavily re-enforced steel and concrete bunkers, that can withstand a direct hit from a heavy rocket. Cerapa will demonstrate." Cerapa motions for the audience to cover their ears once again as he picks up the rocket launcher. He aims down the range at a larger cinder-block display with target dummies placed inside, outside and behind various cover. He fires the rocket and it slams into the cinder-block wall. Everyone in the room can feel the force of the explosion rock the area, a huge fireball illuminates the room. Once the smoke has cleared the scene is simply devastating. The only targets still recognizable were those behind the second cinder-block wall. Cerapa motions for everyone to take off their ear muffs.
"Lastly, we have the high explosive charge." Archangel holds up a red device with a green timer on it. A skull and cross-bones have been stenciled into the desktop printer sized device. "This is the mother of all explosives. So far this is the only weapon we have that can punch a hole into the shell of a UFO that isn't mounted to an aircraft. However the device is heavy and cumbersome, it can be thrown but not very far and requires a great deal of strength. The device can be used to achieve an effect much like the large rocket but requires great care. It is advisable to set the timer above the amount of time it will take to get far away from the explosive. We unfortunately cannot show you an example of this explosive device safely as it could very well cause the range to collapse. Be warned that anything caught within it's blast is certain to die."
"That is everything we have to show for you all. Thank you for coming and we hope it has been both enlightening and entertaining." Archangel smiles as he ends the presentation.
The next day Myroc returned to the base in a wheelchair. He was glad to be back and felt ready to get some hands on training with the HWP. I told him to get reacquainted with the soldiers as many faces have left and been replaced by those he hasn't had the chance to meet. I told him that I was glad he was back and that I would send him some e-mails to bring him up to speed on the events he had missed.
Days continued to slip by. I decided to invite Auraluna to lunch to show my appreciation for her hard work. She had greatly optimized the bureaucracy involved with running a military base and handled every task I gave her quickly and without complaint. I had the base chef cook up some fresh Mexican taco's. I made sure to tell him that they were for someone who knew the difference. Auraluna was an amazingly warm woman who could easily light up a room with her smile. She reminded me of exactly what X-Com was needed for. I tried to keep the conversation light, detailing how I thought at first this whole thing was a big practical joke at my expense. I found that she had plenty to talk about and when I told her we would be having real Mexican tacos, her eyes lit up with joy. I had heard her complain about the food on-base, how it paled in comparison to fresh Mexican cuisine. When the base chef came to our table with a dish stacked with the small rolled taco's, little dishes of sour cream, fresh salsa and guacamole on the side. She could hardly contain her excitement. I smiled and we ate possibly the most delicious meal I had ever had together.
On Tuesday, February 16th, I received a message from the engineers.
I replied with a message of thanks and forwarded their e-mail to each of the ground troops who made use of rifles. I told them to have fun with them and test them out at the range.
They would have plenty of time to practice because we wouldn't hear anything from the alien menace until 4 days later. On Saturday, February 20th at 4:30am, I received a call from my Chinese representative. Thailand had contacted China for assistance, aliens were attacking Bangkok!
I raced to the command center and had them get a ground team loaded onto the Skyranger immediately. Darkwind and Cerapa would lead two teams into the city. Cerapa lead a team of mainly heavy weapon soldiers including: Argatson, Gogandantess, Sarah Newman and Roll Fizzlebeef. Darkwind would command a mixed group of long range riflemen and close quarter's combat fighters: Hugh Mann, Spartan, Tiberius Seius Cato and Steve.
Once loaded onto the Skyranger I set their coordinates, I told the pilot to hurry but I knew it would be hours before we could reach Thailand.
It was night by the time the Skyranger reached it's target and it's occupants were eager to get out of the small confines of the drop-ship.
TO BE CONTINUED!
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I hope you enjoyed my description of the various high explosive munitions. I'd like to point out that the weapon rebalance mod I am using allows the high explosive charge the ability to penetrate UFO's. I haven't done this yet so I'm not sure if that means exterior wall or interior wall ^.^;
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Topic: Anya's x-com LP - UPDATED! Augest 17th (Read 92686 times)