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[Azzuro]

Spoiler: Update 14 (click to show/hide)

Update 14: Reverse Engineering

The rest of March, after the wave of UFOs over China and Japan, was quiet. There was no UFO activity over the last few days of March, which gave us a well-needed break.




New soldiers were brought in to replace those lost, and the mysterious “psionic laboratory” completed construction on the 29th.

With the end of the month, there was another briefing issued to us.

X-COM SOLDIER BRIEFING (MARCH)
CLEARANCE LEVEL: CAPTAIN

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

In the last month, the “psionic” abilities of Sectoids – as displayed in the March 1st incident where a guard was mind controlled into killing two others, and the Sectoid Leader almost escaped containment – have been of great interest to us. The Sectoid Leader is currently the only known Sectoid to possess these abilities, and it is currently being kept in a comatose state to prevent it from controlling any other personnel. Medical scans have shown that the Sectoid Leader has a greatly enlarged brain size than the other Sectoids, and appears to have special implants.

As for how the Sectoid is able to control the minds of others, we have learnt that the neural patterns of the Sectoid are scanned and projected by these implants to ‘overwrite’ the neural patterns of its victims. In effect, the victim is ‘possessed’ by the controller, and the controller can make the victim do any action. There is a possibility that simply focusing on one thing would neutralize the psionic attack, since it would be more difficult for the controller to overwrite a more focused neural pattern. The guard mind-controlled by the Sectoid Leader reported that he had only very vague memories of being forced to shoot his colleagues, which matches with our hypothesis.



All soldiers have been signed up for our new psionic training regimen, in the hopes that they would learn how to ward off psionic attack. We will simulate a psionic attack to train our soldiers to recognize the signs and hopefully render it useless.



As a result, we have learnt the purpose of these small metallic spheres that have been captured since the first few missions. We had originally thought that the spheres were only ornamental, perhaps used as a good luck charm for the scouts carrying them. It turns out that these spheres respond to psionic suggestion from the holder, and appear to be some form of probe used to identify suitable humans to abduct. X-COM forces will be able to use this new probe to determine many aspects of an alien, such as its rank. Incidentally, it was this device which was used in the construction of the Psionic Laboratory, as it is similar to a psionic attack, only without the negative effects.

In other news, a joint collaboration with the Engineering Department has revealed the secrets of alien craft.



Alien UFOs are powered with this power source, which causes localized gravitational disturbances to propel the craft. The power needed is generated by an antimatter reaction which uses the following as fuel:



Elerium-115. Despite most heavier elements radioactively decaying in under a second, Elerium is somehow stable enough to be used for power generation. It has the unique ability of converting protons into antiprotons, which are then annihilated to produce energy. However, we cannot generate Elerium, and we have not detected any trace of this element within our solar system. The importance of capturing Elerium intact is enormous, since it is not energy efficient to synthesize Elerium. In effect, Elerium is priceless, and soldiers are ordered to capture it intact at all costs.



Alien UFOs have relatively simple navigation systems, with no notable advances in technology from ours. The only point of note is the use of optical processors, which uses light instead of electricity for computing, which both reduce the size of the console and increase its processing speed.



The construction of alien UFOs is actually simple – they consist of a power source, a navigation system, and a hull of alien alloy. We are currently researching a way to construct our own UFO-based craft for human use, both as troop carriers and interceptors. If successful, we could have much faster and resilient craft, as well as potential spaceflight capability.



This “Alien Entertaiment” technology found during the recovery of the Sectoid Terror Ship appears to use psionic technology, similar to the Mind Probe. It generates psionic waves to allow the user to experience a simulated reality. There is the potential that such technology could one day be used as a form of mass media, but that has no applications to our war effort.




These two parts captured from the recent mission appear to be how aliens consume their food. They simply harvest it at Earth from various animals and sometimes humans, thus eliminating the need to carry supplies over interstellar distances.



Also, as an offshoot of learning about alien technology, we have developed the Power Suit. The heavy plating of alien alloys would usually be too heavy for a soldier to move unassisted, but the inclusion of motors powered by alien technology allow as soldier to move normally. The Power Suits are being constructed immediately, and we expect them to be issued to all soldiers.

COMMAND



In the month of March, there have been increased sightings of UFOs reported in the region of East Asia, specifically Japan, China and Russia. It appears that the fleet of UFOs detected on the 25th was not an isolated incident. The aliens, perhaps knowing of our presence in Europe, have decided to shift their focus to Southeast Asia.



More importantly to X-COM, China is dissatisfied with our inability to deal with UFOs in their airspace, and are threatening to pull funding by next month if we do not find a way to solve the problem. Although X-COM has several other sponsors, the loss of China as a funder would be a great hit to our finances.



We have recently purchased a defunct Chinese airbase in which is currently being retrofitted for X-COM use. The base has been named Morning Star, to complement the existing base Evening Star. Although Morning Star is far less equipped that Evening Star, noticeably lacking any scientific facilities, we hope to use it as the primary base of operations for X-COM in Southeast Asia.



Situated in Central China, Morning Star will protect the densely populated regions of coastal China and Japan, as well as the eastern regions of Russia and possibly India. We hope that Morning Star will be able to bring down and capture its first UFO within the month, and if needed, we will transfer some soldiers over to provide the rookies with training.

Good luck in your battles, Soldier!

X-COM Commander,
Gen. Charles Brooke

[USEC_OFFICER]

Well, at least now China should be happy.

[Sheb]

Especially since we didn't call it Free Tibet.

Can I get a mind probe?

[Azzuro]

Especially since we didn't call it Free Tibet.

Can I get a mind probe?

Yeah. you can have a mind probe. In the meantime, April is getting boring, since there's only some Floaters around, Also, Free Tibet Morning Star doesn't seem to be picking up any UFOs. Ah well.

EDIT: We have a grand total of four UFOs for April. One destroyed, two captured without incident and one flew out of radar range. Either the aliens are slacking off, or they're messing around in the US pissing off my largest funder.

[Azzuro]

Spoiler: Update 15 (click to show/hide)

Update 15: Clear Skies

The first UFO for April was a mere small scout, apparently scouting out suitable places for human abduction.



It was quickly shredded to pieces by an Avalanche missile, leaving nothing to collect.

Code: [Select]

UFO-14 destroyed Apr 1 over Italy
The second one was a medium scout, with the same mission parameters as the first.



This time, it landed in Spain before the Interceptor could reach it. The Skyranger was dispatched to the site immediately.

Code: [Select]

UFO-15 landed Apr 17 in Spain, cleared without incident


Strangely enough, this UFO seemed to be understaffed, with only four crew members.

The next one detected gave us a scare – it was a “supply ship” of the kind we had captured at the end of March. The ship was picked up over Moscow, heading for the Russian Far East at tremendous speed.



The Morning Star interceptor as well as our two interceptors were scrambled to deal with it, but we lost radar tracking over Siberia.




In the meantime, a new psionics-related facility was under construction at Evening Star.



The fourth and last UFO for the month of April was another Floater-crewed ship on an abduction mission, this time a Large Scout.



Once again, it landed before our Interceptors could reach it, this time in France.

Code: [Select]

UFO-17 landed Apr 29 in Northern France, cleared without incident
As usual, the clearing of the UFO was easy, due to the fact that the ship was understaffed, with only five Floaters.

[Sheb]

Not very interesting... Well will we know about our Psi abilities?

[USEC_OFFICER]

That was... Underwhelming.

[CJ1145]

A bit underwhelming, but no deaths is good I suppose. Unless it means I never get to join, in which case it's a very very bad thing.

[MaximumZero]

I hope I'm still on the Skyranger, at least.

[Azzuro]

A bit underwhelming, but no deaths is good I suppose. Unless it means I never get to join, in which case it's a very very bad thing.

Whoops! I forgot to introduce your guy, but you're already in, with two missions and one kill. Anyway, short update in a bit.

[Azzuro]

Spoiler: Update 16 (click to show/hide)

Update 16: Fourth State

The month of April was a rather quiet month, with only four UFOs detected in our radar coverage. Indeed, the month-end briefing suggested that the aliens had decided we were too much trouble to fight, and had perhaps given up on their invasion.

X-COM SOLDIER BRIEFING (MARCH)
CLEARANCE LEVEL: CAPTAIN

SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

We here at the X-COM science department are proud to announce that we have made perhaps the most important breakthrough in the war – the ability to use psionics offensively on the battlefield.



While the Sectoid Leader requires various special implants to amplify its psionic abilities to the point where it can control the minds of others, humans in fact possess this ability to direct psionic waves naturally, except that these are often not strong enough except at extremely close ranges of less than a meter.

To rectify this, we have developed the X-COM Psionic Amplifier, or Psi-Amp for short. The Psi-Amp reads the neural patterns of the holder and amplifies the wave towards an intended target. The user can cause panic in a target by simply imagining feelings of panic, then broadcasting these patterns to the target. ‘Mind control’ as we call it is also made possible by the inclusion of a small feedback device in the unit, which allows the user to experience the target’s sensory input.

The Psi-Amp is however difficult to manufacture, and as such we have only five units ready for use. The five soldiers with the highest Psionic Strength –as detailed below – will be given the use of these units.



We have also determined a way to ‘shield’ human psionic presence from detection. Although this technology is not feasible for use on the battlefield, it will greatly help to keep the location of X-COM bases secret from alien craft.




Above is the spreadsheet detailing the psionic status of all soldiers at Evening Star. The first value, Psionic Strength, is a measure of how powerful and concentrated the neural patterns of the soldiers were. In layman’s terms, this is a measure of your ability to concentrate, which has applications to both psionic attack and defense capability. The second and third columns detail the improvements made in several areas, primarily the ability to generate a directed psionic wave and to deflect one.

In other news, we have had time to examine more of the aliens’ weaponry..



The alien grenade is a (relatively) simple chemical explosive similar to our grenade. We hope to introduce this as the standard grenade for all soldiers.



The Plasma Pistol is a weapon which uses electromagnetic fields to both generate the ionized gas known as plasma and to direct it out of the barrel at high speed. The weapon thus acts as a miniature coilgun which uses small clouds of plasma to severely burn or even melt the target. This weapon is however outclassed by the Plasma Rifle.



The plasma rifle is a scaled-up version of the plasma pistol, and offers a lot more firepower than our laser rifles. Once again, we hope to use this weapon as standard issue for all soldiers. One drawback of plasma weapons however, is that they require Elerium for ammunition. We do not have the Elerium stocks necessary to manufacture new ones, so for now, all our ammunition will have to be captured from the aliens.



With knowledge of how plasma weapons function, we have designed an air-to-air weapon which closely mimics that of the aliens. The Plasma Beam does not consume Elerium in its use, merely using Elerium as a power battery. The Plasma Beam offers more damage and more shots than the Avalanche missile in return for lesser range, but it still outranges the weapons on all known UFOs captured. Manufacture of Plasma Beams is expensive, however, and as such only one will be fitted on our interceptors. However, due to the combined efforts of the engineering department, we have a new craft to mount it on.



The XC-1 “Lightning” is the first in our line of reverse-engineered alien craft. Although it superficially resembles a Medium Scout, it is completely made by the efforts of X-COM engineers. The Lightning is meant as a dual-role troop carrier/interceptor, giving us the ability to intercept and recover UFOs at the same time. The Lightning offers far better acceleration and speed than any of our conventional aircraft. The downside is that it can only fit one weapon and can only carry twelve soldiers and no heavy weapons platforms. In addition, the Lightning consumes Elerium at an alarming rate, which gives it much shorter range than the Skyranger or Interceptor.



The first Lightning is currently being produced at Morning Star, and will be completed within the week. Upon its completion, it will be transferred to Evening Star for use in mopping up smaller UFOs.

COMMAND



We are pleased to once again report that most of our funding nations are satisfied with the drop-off of UFO activity in their airspace and have agreed to increase their funding to X-COM.



As we can see from this graph, UFO sightings in Europe and North America have dropped to almost zero, and UFO activity in Southeast Asia is on the decline as well. We theorize that the aliens we have seen so far are perhaps an ‘expeditionary force’, which has expended most of its resources against us, and they are waiting for the bulk of the alien forces to arrive. Thus, we may have years, or even decades, to prepare to engage the true alien war machine.

Again, Command thought that the aliens might have run out of resources and were holding back from fighting us. This was partly true, insofar as the aliens were running out of resources. What Command didn’t consider, however, was the possibility that the aliens were shifting to another form of warfare.

[Sheb]

I'm not sure about the Psi Strength thing. What's the difference between Stregth and skill? Am I good enough to get a Psi-Amp?

[Mysteriousbluepuppet]

Oh Bakam, you really are an useless fool ! Ah well:P

[Ochita]

moira is crap at psi power but has skill...

[Phantom]

Huh, I'm third in Psi Strength and second in skill.