Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[cganya]

I am by far not the best player in X-Com but I can work with what I have. Once I have interceptors in Europe and china it will be a moot point.

[sluissa]

I am by far not the best player in X-Com but I can work with what I have. Once I have interceptors in Europe and china it will be a moot point.

Quite true, that'll make things significantly less scooby-doo-ish. So far though it seems you're doing a pretty good job. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that.

[EuchreJack]

I remember the first time I played Superhuman.

I set up a base in North America.

I shot down two UFOs in the first month.

The Aliens assaulted my base.

Game over.

So, North America can be pretty busy at times.  The activity in Europe probably means the Aliens have a base there.

As far as tanks, I'd imagine your research on Laser Tanks should be done about the same time as the Engineers finish making enough Personal Armor.

[cganya]

I remember the first time I played Superhuman.

I set up a base in North America.

I shot down two UFOs in the first month.

The Aliens assaulted my base.

Game over.

So, North America can be pretty busy at times.  The activity in Europe probably means the Aliens have a base there.

As far as tanks, I'd imagine your research on Laser Tanks should be done about the same time as the Engineers finish making enough Personal Armor.

At the rate we grow our ranks and lose them, I think we'll need more engineers

Also I'm fairly sure there's an alien base in South Africa. I think I will try to locate it with an empty Interceptor. Maybe I can show those funding nations that we do a little more than sitting on our thumbs all day!

[EuchreJack]

Oh, and will Urist McGyver be going on ground missions, obstensibly to test out the equipment they've been crafting with love and dwarfiness?

[cganya]

Oh, and will Urist McGyver be going on ground missions, obstensibly to test out the equipment they've been crafting with love and dwarfiness?

If you would like him to, I can do that ^.^

[cganya]

The next day I received a full report from Jack Bladestar about the ground mission. The Skyranger touched down in a dark farm. The pilot landed the drop-ship beside the alien UFO. There was little light outside and vision was severely compromised.



As Myroc left the drop-ship's ramp he was fired on from beyond the edge of the team's vision.



Myroc pressed on and was fired at again two more times but the shots failed to penetrate his thick armor. He quickly spotted his attacker, A floating alien that wore a gaudy red cape.



Tamunshin stepped out of the drop-ship first and took a shot at the alien, scoring a direct hit. But the alien remained floating in place with, only moderately injured.



Spartan followed behind Tamunshin and fired at the alien with his laser rifle landed a shot as well taking the alien to the ground with a screech.



The rest of the team followed suit and poured out of the Skyranger. Shigeo Okabe armed a smoke grenade while everyone began getting into position.



Mr. Apple, Mehmed, Hugh Mann and Darkwind tossed their flares into the surrounding area.









Aliens begin firing at the ground team from the west. Tamunshin manages to deflect a deadly plasma bolt aimed for her chest with her heavy cannon. Darkwind yells at Shigeo Okabe to finish deploying that smoke screen already.



The team spots the alien that had been firing at them in a crop field to the west.



Tamunshin steps up and takes a couple shots at the alien. The first veers off course and explodes short of the alien but the second hits the creature directly, again failing to take it down.



Mehmed takes aim with his laser rifle and finishes off the alien Tamunshin had failed to kill.



Myroc began to scout to the south east while the smoke screen finally begins to spread.





Dash Gunmetal tosses a flare to the west near the last alien's position but it's too far to provide much support.



The area is fairly quite for a moment, only the sounds of equipment, footsteps and Myroc's tank moving to the south. The serenity of the night was interrupted, however, by more plasma bolts arcing towards Myroc's tank. One of the blasts fly past him and destroy a section of a stone fence.



Spartan tosses his flare next to the UFO and reveals the floating alien that had fired at Myroc.



The team did not have a clear shot at the alien but Darkwind was up for the task. She took her grenade, armed it, and tossed it right next to the alien from across the UFO.



"Nice throw!" commented Myroc as he took cover from the alien's view.

While the timer in the grenade ticked down, Steve passed a flare to Spartan so that he could illuminate Myroc's flank in case there were more aliens waiting in ambush.



The grenade explodes into a fireball and obscures the area in smoke. The alien however hovers out of the smoke and fires at the team through the smoke screen.



The shot pierces the insubstantial smoke and strikes Spartan in the face, killing him before he hit the ground.



"Squaddie down! Take out that alien guys!" Commanded Jack Bladestar as he watched Spartan's vitals red-line.
"I got it lieutenant commander." Responded Darkwind coldly as she moved into position and fired at the alien twice. The first shot missed it's mark but the second struck it in the chest. The alien screeched and collapsed to the ground.



Dash Gunmetal is ordered by Mr. Apple to move and retrieve a flare to the north east now that the north sections of the area are cleared.



Steve carefully approaches the edge of the smoke and tosses a flare towards the west of the UFO. He reveals another floating alien!



Tamunshin reacts quickly and fires at the newly discovered alien and lands a direct hit. The alien falls to pieces to the ground.



"Tamunshin is really bringing her A-game today... Good work girl!" Mr. Apple cheers as Tamunshin grunts and keeps her eyes peeled for her next target.

A second alien slips through the smoke left by Tamunshin's explosive round and fires at Mehmed. Fortunately it misses and Mehmed returns fire, striking it in the head and killing it instantly.



As Steve moves towards Dash to setup a breach position, he spots an alien coming from above the team! "Look out guys, one's right above you!" He called out to Tamunshin and Mehmed.



Tamunshin reacts quickly and heaves her cannon skyward, quickly catching the alien in her sights. She fires and smacks the life out of the alien with her explosive cannon ball. The alien comes crashing down to the ground with a spectacular thud.



Dash picks tosses another flare near the entrance of the UFO and as Steve moves closer to Dash he spots another alien.



Hugh Mann, Mr. Apple, Darkwind and Steve open fire on the alien's position but because of it's cover, no one manages to land a shot.

The alien moves out of it's cover and open's itself to Shigeo Okabe's attacks. He fires twice at the creature and lands two minor hits, failing to deter the alien. It raised it's weapon and hit Steve square in the back as he tried dodging for cover. Steve fell to the ground, paralyzed. His heart stopped pumping before anyone could have gotten to him and quickly expired.



Dash cuts through the nearby hedge wall and sneaks up on the alien, spotting it for the rest of the team. Darkwind and Hugh Mann open fire. Darkwind manages to land a killing blow and avenges Steve.

Myroc finally finishes sweeping the west side of the UFO and moves into assist the breach team.



Only the interior of the alien UFO remained for the team to clear. Dash Gunmetal moves into breach position quickly but as he does so an alien pops out of the UFO's front door. Dash's life flashes before his eyes for a moment but the alien unloads a few shots into Myroc's tank harmlessly instead of ending Dash's life. A few moments pass while Mr. Apple tries to catch up to Dash.



The door pops open again and the alien slips out to try it's luck with Myroc's armor again but this time Dash Gunmetal is ready for him. He rapidly fires his pistol into the side of the creature till it collapses to the ground.

Mr. Apple, Dash Gunmetal and Shu Bei move into position and breach the UFO. They carefully move from room to room but find the entire ship empty. The power source at the center of the UFO however had remained intact. The team cleared the area and called in the clean up crew. Jack Bladestar's first mission was a success and a detailed report was waiting in my in-box when I awoke.



MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
---------------------
Stat Changes:

Tamunshin:
Kills + 2
Health + 2
Firing Accuracy + 1

Hugh Mann:
Throwing Accuracy + 1

Dash Gunmetal:
Kills + 1
TU's + 2
Stamina + 2
Reactions + 1
Firing Accuracy + 1
Throwing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 1

Darkwind:
Kills + 2
Stamina + 4
Health + 2
Firing Accuracy + 1
Throwing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 3

Shigeo Okabe:
Rank UP! - Squaddie
TU's + 4
Stamina + 4
Health + 5
Reactions + 2
Strength + 2

Mehmed:
Rank UP! - Squaddie
Kills + 2
Stamina + 1
Health + 2
Reactions + 1
Firing Accuracy + 1
Throwing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 5
------------
Accolades:

Positive:
Dead-eye - Tamunshin - Landed almost every shot made (missed once out of five, pretty awesome for a heavy cannon)
Where the F^(% did that come from?! - Darkwind - placed a well thrown grenade next to an alien without line of sight

Negative:
Not how it was supposed to go - Spartan - Sorry man, "Pure Awesome", Spartan was not
These missions aren't so bad - Shu Bei - Managed to avoid all the action entirely

[Zilvara]

"Computer log for what ever the heck day it is. Hmmm... Let see what to say to this stupid machine. Ah yes, it has been so hectic of-late, better catch up on events over this past while. We have been working so hard on our research, we didn’t want to screw it up. Trying not to make holes as I been receiving complaints lately from some people. How am I and my team supposed to work this granny-cracker slowly and steadily? They complain over and over and over that they need this new technology NOW and constantly ask for new toys to kill the evil alien villains with. They then expect us to not have any explosions or accidents and keep it nice and clean. Come on! Don’t they realize we have keep the danger to a minimum with no serious explosions at all? Better then any other research group ever could with our results."
 
"Hmmm... Now that I think about it, it doesn’t seem to be the soldiers or command staff complaining about us. Possibly it's some of the engineers. They're the only one left I can think of who would make complaints. Well tough luck to them."

"Next item I need to catch up on. The darn firing test; I mean come on, just because I have a laser Derringer for safety, they made me take a frigging test. Talk about embarrassing. They sent two security guys down and told me I had to report to the firing range. I told them I was busy, couldn't they see I was in the middle of an experiment? But NOOOO they wouldn’t take no for an answer and almost dragged me to the firing range. They could have waited, I told them I was overseeing an experiment! shortly after I left, I was told later, the table blew up because I wasn’t there to monitor the experiment. The security guys said that they had to escort me to the firing range as it was mandatory. when I arrived I was told that I need to do a weapons firing test to see how accurate I was. Like duh, I know how good I am, I don’t need them to tell me I suck. Besides it is not like I am fit to go into the field, I'm not fit for that."
 
"Besides I have my experiments to deal with. All the awesome toys here to play with. Who wants to go out there and deal with loud, stupid people running around and wreaking the experiments and research. The soldiers have enough problems with the civilians as it is with their retrieval. I'm not fit for this type of work, didn’t they read my physical? I mean they had me do a exercise course of all things! I was a little pissed and almost shot one of the guys who told me it was required. Although I did get a good hit on him with a pop can, right on the back of the head from across the room. That helped me relax a little but they decided to test my bravery. The idiots at school did worse than these guys did. I've been dealing with perverts and bullies all my life so I could care less about their games, I ignored them. I couldn’t be bothered, they said I was scared but who cares what they think. I'm here for research, not to go hoping on one foot every time someone says jump."

"The guards asked me why I had my derringer pistol. I told them, smiling nicely, that it was to scare off naughty little boys who go poking their heads into ladies rooms where they're not welcome. The two guards that brought me to the firing range looked at each other and gulped. I turned back to the instructor that had been testing me. He said if  I was done with my threats, I could go back to work. I was already set back a whole day on my research and if the commander didn’t like it then she could blame herself! I found out later that they put in the report that I was not brave. Phooey to them, they can all go take a flying leap in to a pond. I think they also wanted to take my pistol away form me. If they tried it, they would regret it. I would stomp on their toes and give them a good kick in the shin."

"I think the instructor had a talk to the guards, as after-wards security was a little nicer to me and helped out a little more. Seems I earned some respect from the instructor. I guess it was not all bad, the testing was fun itself. the delay to my research was patched up with the help of some of the security guards. When I present the testing report to commander Anya I mentioned that we were making great progress with the alien weapons and would soon understand them more completely."

"On that topic I have to thank, sadly in a way, the tank pilots for the info they got us on alien weapon fire at the expense of their tanks."

"I think the rest of the base thought we were hiding something. In a way we had been. It had been explained to the researchers that we should not show off stuff ahead of time, so as to not bring unfounded hopes for something we don’t have yet. One or two of our researchers are, in there off time, playing with designs for a new remote heavy weapons platform interface. Maybe I should give them permission to show the remote pilots of the tanks the designs, maybe it might pick up there moral some. I will have to ask the commander if they can upgrade the tank pilots interface units.  They came up with some nice designs that might let the tank pilots feel more as if there in the action with pivot and turning units, coupled with a tank layout for the control base. The researchers got the idea off the games that some play in their off time as to feel more at ease with the controls. It's an interesting side project that might make them feel better about not being in the field. We can use some of the old parts from damaged tanks so it will not cost the commander anything. I believe she has been stressed about the budget so far."

"Speaking of which; It has been a pain to have to lose some research possibilities to the "bounty" system but the commander is trying to keep us up and running. Some of the researchers are trying to watch for side ideas to maybe find something else we can make money on that will not take too much time to develop. But so far the stuff brought back from the clean up crew has no recreational or economical use. We will keep a eye out for exceptions."

"One of the soldiers came back form he hospital early." Zilvara giggles to herself. "I can see he shares my love of medical facilities, which is to say not at all. He hosted a party where he and others had fun blowing off steam. We at the labs really wanted to join in. He let us join in the fun after I convinced him of the fun to be had with expiring chemicals "needed” to be used. The event helped relieve a lot of tension in the ranks down here as we don’t get to have a lot of fun with out getting told off for wreaking stuff with explosions like these. They are only harmless, explosive, chemicals used for a bit of fun, I don't see what the problem is."

"Once we were done figuring out the alien weapons, Anya supported further work on armor for the troops. She listened to the info I gave her on taking a new approach to personal armor. Just piling on layers and layers of armor until soldiers resembled beach balls was not the answer. We finally get to play with the alien alloys. The team is excited to say the least, seems one or to of them have found troops they like or have a crush on. I think some of them have been nice to us in general. Some of our creative people have also been designing a look for the armor in their off time, and it looks neat. These tests with the alloy will hopefully let us make some of their designs."

"Well on to further updates. Commander Anya brought in someone to act as second command finally. She was almost a walking ghost lately with bags that would hit the floor under her eyes. Lets hope this guy is half as good as she is. We will see, he better not try and run my research team or else he will regret it. I only answer to Anya no one else period."

[RAM]

I seem to be missing something, I only counted one operative killed, and Tamunshin was supposed to explode into gore...

[cganya]

I seem to be missing something, I only counted one operative killed, and Tamunshin was supposed to explode into gore...

The alien moves out of it's cover and open's itself to Shigeo Okabe's attacks. He fires twice at the creature and lands two minor hits, failing to deter the alien. It raises it's weapon and hits Steve square in the back as he tries dodging for cover.

this was a kill shot, I should edit my post to reflect this, sorry about that.

[Mephansteras]

Darkwind's thoughts were grim on the flight back. Even thought the mission was a technical success, she still lost two men on that mission. She resolved to check in with the techs on the progress of this new body armor. Far too many of our soldiers have fallen already, and she was sure that Spartan and Steve wouldn't be the last.

[EuchreJack]

Urist McGyver: "We be want'in to make der Armor!  Also, tests show der manufacturing would go faster if we drank alcohol while working!"

(I trying to write in a scottish accent.)

[Mephansteras]

Can I see Darkwind's stats?

[Urist McOverlord]

Hope it's alright if I do a pre-arrival log, for the sake of character-building purposes.

Spoiler: Lucsly's Thoughts (click to show/hide)

Watched the news last night. And yesterday morning. And this morning. And I probably will tonight. Hell, seems like all I'm doing these days is watching the news and updating the blog. Only 5 seconds on the Austria Incident. Not like I'm surprised anymore. The goddamn media doesn't even know what to call these things anymore. A "mine collapse" in China, a "plane crash" over the pacific. An "earthquake" in L.A... I've found evidence going back weeks. I don't care what the media says. I don't know what the hell is going on, but I do know that the government doesn't want us to know. Can't they see that the best way to deal with this is for the people to be able to fight too? Whatever. I don't give a damn about what they say. It's all going on the blog. The pictures. The lives. The... damn I don't even know.

Oh yeah, at a lot of these sites, a bunch of... I don't know. Planes? Helicopters? Space-ships? I don't know, but whatever they are, there were a lot of them. Armed guards, too. Now tell me, why the hell do they put armed guards around an earthquake site? Whatever the reason, survivors say that all the high-end stuff, stuff even DARPA hasn't ever seen, all had the same insignia. Some kind of X, with a circle around it. Who the hell are these guys? This isn't army, navy, air force of any nation I've ever seen. CIA? NSA? Scotland Yard?!? And who the hell gave them the authority to fly all around the world and keep secrets from us. Hell, I used to be army, and we never heard a damn thing about these guys.

Beth, I'm starting to think this might be a lot deeper than I thought. But I'm going to keep digging. I don't know what the hell did that to you, but I'm going to make sure it can't do it again. To anyone.

Now watch, as he gets insta-killed on his first mission...

[Heron TSG]

Things are getting as sticky as bloody plasma.