Update 1X-COM Commander’s Log – Robert Steinbach - March 7 2084 ; 1330hI need a drink.
In retrospect, perhaps the large sign proclaiming “NOT A SECRET BASE” over the concealed entrance was a dead giveaway.
Okay, maybe I should explain myself. My name is Robert Steinbach, and I was originally an officer serving on the frontlines of the Frontier War for X-COM. When the war ended, I resigned and got a cushy job at Marsec, like so many other ex-officers. Then X-COM sends me a letter, offering me a new job with higher pay. Not one to turn down money, I accepted.
Then X-COM tells me I’m the “Supreme Commander of X-COM forces on Earth”, which I thought was bullshit, since X-COM was chased off-planet after the destruction of T’Leth. Then they say Mega-Primus’ Senate wants to invite X-COM back to deal with the alien menace, since a huge UFO wrecked their beautiful city. So now I’m here, and I have to command these maniacs to victory or get fired. And I don’t have many job options, since Marsec doesn’t take kindly to its employees ‘jumping ship’.
Anyway, what struck me as I looked over the base was the fact that it was completely indefensible.
The two entry points – the lift and vehicle bay – aren’t even defended at all. The alien containment facility is a short walk from the lift. What the hell were the designers thinking?!
That’s when an accountant informed me that I had 130 thousands bucks to spend. So like any other good commander, I spent most of it on weapons.
Within seconds, the automated Airtrans were delivering our supplies.
But that’s when I spotted another mistake.
The NAS Base was built under a slum, to keep up that façade of secrecy (as if the recruitment posters over the whole city hadn’t already broken it). It seems the builders had assumed that one launch tube would be enough, and simply made a diversion off to the underground base. They didn’t consider the fact that X-COM could only launch one vehicle at a time (and receive one, which was causing a traffic jam in the air over the slum).
To take my mind off it, I went down to check on the soldiers and see how they were adjusting.
Should have known. Most of the soldiers are either descendants of soldiers who served in the previous wars, or batshit insane pyromaniacs who want to blow everything up.
I don’t even want to know why it's named that.
Ground vehicles were good, but the footage of the attack showed that the alien UFOs were fast and speedy in the air, outstripping ground vehicles which had to keep to the road. I ordered the mechanics to strip the vehicles down to the chassis…
…and sold them separately, earning quite a profit.
There wasn’t much for sale in the way of vehicles, so I bought all 4 hoverbikes and 2 more hovercars. The bikes were cheap and fast and hard to hit, making a swarm of them the perfect weapon against alien craft.
As usual, there was another jam as the tube could only admit a single vehicle.
My last action was to order the construction of a new alien containment unit and training facility, as the other one was getting crowded.
Then the siren sounded. For all the mistakes that the Senate made, at least they put in a system similar to the old X-COM Defense Hotline, which filtered and reported alien sightings to us directly. The 13 soldiers were packed into the Valkyrie Interceptor (which was named Skyranger for some unfathomable reason). They were heading for the site within half a minute.
The Skyranger flew across most of the city’s slums before reaching the apartment blocks.
The pre-set mission briefing was long and stated the blatantly obvious, like everything else written by politicians.
During the mission, the first alien creature was a small yellow dog-like animal.
Ronin: There they are!
Max: I don’t see – BLARGH!
At this point, said creature leapt up onto his head and attempted to stick a trunk down his throat.
The creature was stopped when The Author (those can’t be their real names) hosed t down with machinegun fire.
Max: Oh god, I need to wash my mouth now.
Additional hostiles, this time in the form of blue men, were uncovered in the adjacent hallway.
They were quickly terminated by continuous fire. Or trampled by panicking civilians. It’s hard to tell.
Anyway, at least we managed to make it through a mission without doing too much property damage. The bullet holes in the walls will probably be labeled ‘modern art’ or something anyway.
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Topic: Let's Play X-COM: Apocalypse! (Read 37598 times)