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Civilization V

14 (28%)

Jagged Alliance 2 1.13

26 (52%)

Some other idea (please post it in the thread)

2 (4%)

Play Apoc again and try not to embarrass yourself this time!

7 (14%)

Nothing. The LP was bad and you should feel bad.

1 (2%)

Total Members Voted: 50

[timferius]

Hey, look, this! Also, yay, medals!!

[EuchreJack]

Hey, you brought be back again!  Yay!

What are honorary kills?

I'd suggest that I should lead the charge into the last alien building.  It wouldn't feel right if I survived... 

[Fikes]

Hey, you brought be back again!  Yay!

What are honorary kills?

I'd suggest that I should lead the charge into the last alien building.  It wouldn't feel right if I survived... 

Honorary kills means you clearly killed them but didn't get credit. Alien gas doesn't give you credit for the kills.

[EuchreJack]

Thanks for explaining that.

[ChairmanPoo]

I've started an X-Com apoc game, and it's more annoying than I recall, maybe it's due to having to run it in dosbox :/. Kind of sluggish.

I'm playing it turn based because, whereas it was the first x-com game I played, and I did it in real time back then, I've gotten used to the TBS of the other two x-coms in the meanwhile (and RT is too arcadeish). I'm not sure that I like it better than them, TBH.

[Fikes]

Turn based takes forever in Apocalypse. I think if you get past the first week, things smooth out and the game is enjoyable until the end when you have all the techs and no challenges.

An update on the LP:

It turns out that I will be gone on business for two months, starting Sunday, so the LP has to finish by then. I am going to try a test run live stream tonight (I will probably get home around 5 Pacific), if it works well enough, I will plan for the final mission on Thursday. Remember, the live stream Thursday will be me playing and writing the LP live so it isn't going to be super exciting. That being said, if it all works out, watchers should get a chance to vote on a couple of important story points to close out the LP.

If someone has experience with live streams and wants to help me get it all set up, please PM me.

[Fikes]

The live stream idea is dead. I am coming up quickly on my trip and it is time to close out, but there are a few important decisions to make. To prep them, here is another interlude.

Spoiler: Interlude 2: Dominance (click to show/hide)

The once busy and claustrophobic corridors of X-Com were now mostly deserted, emptied by Montgomery in stages, over the past three days.

He had sent staff on leave, starting with the seasoned veterans, some of whom had not had a day off since the war began, followed quickly by the Quantum physicists. The next day he sent home any remaining agent who had either seen combat or had been with X-Com more than two weeks and all but a skeleton crew of his airmen. Yesterday he released every scientist and engineer not working on the final project.

The remaining 10 biochemists, who had been working on that one last project, were sent home hours ago, just after briefing him on the final report.

The report was welcomed, it confirmed everyone’s optimistic hopes that this building would be the last, and it would forever separate the human dimension from the alien. This mission, if successful, would end the war.

But the good news was tainted; there were complications to this mission. Complications that brought back painful memories of X-Com before they were dominate.

Montgomery’s thoughts and silent wanderings were interrupted by the "chunk, chunk, chunk,sound of a Toxigun coming from the firing range. The sound intrigued him. The only agents not on leave were Agents too inexperienced to bring on the final mission. Even before confirmation earlier that evening, it was a well known fact that the war was coming to an end. When the war ended the Toxigun would be useless. Anyone who had not yet used one in combat would never use one in combat. So who would be bothered to practice with one?

The answer surprised Montgomery even more than he expected. The agent practicing with a soon-to-be obsolete weapon was not an agent at all. It was his Chief Pilot, and old friend, Nathan Davis.

The High Commander of X-Com stood and quietly watched his old friend shoot. The grouping wasn’t bad, but Nathan was no agent and well below the calibre of the Commander's prized veterans. The Chief Pilot expended his clip, ejected it, and was reaching for a second when Montgomery finally spoke.

“You know, there are better things to do on leave.” He had with a tired smile.

“I,” Davis replied mater of factly, “respectfully disagree.” Davis turned and faced Montgomery and after a moment of silence asked. “Have the brains figured out the last building yet?”

Montgomery nodded in silent confirmation.

Nathan's voice took on an edge of excitement. “So then is this it? Is it what we hoped? Can we end the war with one final mission?”

Again Montgomery nodded.

Nathan’s excitement vanished and Montgomery noticed he became very serious, very… military. “Good, I want to go in, sir”

Montgomery’s eyebrows rose slightly. The statement and presentation were odd. Nathan had gone on every mission either as air support, escort, or transport pilot. He never even had to ask, he was the best and he very rarely refered to anyone as "sir".

“Funny, the first time a mission against the aliens isn’t mandatory and you volunteer right off the bat. I am glad you did; we need you on this mission more than the others. Our best pilots need to be in the BioTransports; the Annihilators will be staying home.”

Nathan shook his head. “You don’t understand sir, I want to go IN,” Nathan replied, and both pairs of eyes fell on the Toxigun.

The situation surprised Montgomery far more than it should have. “You want to go IN, to combat, to GROUND combat?” the surprise was fading, and being quickly replaced with anger. “You really think you can fire off a few shots, all me ‘sir’ for a change, and jump to the front of a list longer than my arm? You aren’t even trained for christ’s sake! How fit are you? How far can you run? What squad are you going to slow down?” While his volume had remained constant, the intensity of each sentence had increased and by the final one, spittle was beginning to escape Montgomery’s mouth. He paused, looked Nathan in the eye and said, “When you miss a shot, who is going to die?”

The silence could have stretched on indefinitely, but Montgomery cut it short. “We need the best agents inside. We need the best pilots outside.” As he spoke, Montgomery offered the building report to Nathan. “30 seconds after the building is disabled the transports will take off. Any agent left inside, living or dead, will be left behind. 30 seconds after that, the dimension gates will close. Craft trapped inside, will be trapped forever. And that is IF the agents are successful.” Montgomery finished his speech and indicated the report.

Nathan’s eyes flicked across the report and then locked on to a single sentence.  Slowly he raised his face, made eye contact with Montgomery, and muttered a single word, “Teleporters…”

Montgomery sighed heavily as he nodded. The Aliens had managed to disable X-Com's best tool. The one that virtually eliminated the possibility of soldiers dying.

“I want a list of your best pilots. The ones that can fly the fastest without crashing into each other. 4 transports, no more, we can’t crowd the gate.” Nathan nodded. “You need to be one of those pilots Nathan. You can guarantee some agents get home alive.” Montgomery turned to leave, but stopped in the doorway. “If you still ‘want to go in’, you will have to clear it with the mission commanders. Nirur, Glyph, Tim, and Aqizzar. They get to decide the combat roster.”

So there you have it. There is a good chance many agents will die in the final mission. If you want your agent to stay safe and sound in MegaPrimus, just say "I'm out". Anyone who isn't out is assumed to be in, but you can say "I'm in" just to show you still care.

Before you agree to fight know that even if we win and your agent survives the combat, he or she can still die.

Nirur, Glyph, Tim, and Aqizzar are the highest ranking agents. They get to vote if Nathan will get to be an agent for the mission. If they vote no, Nathan will be their pilot and they will have the best chance to make it out alive. If they vote yes and Nathan is killed, their chance of escape is very low.

[BullDog]

I'm in!

[GlyphGryph]

In, obviously. Wouldn't miss it for the world.

I'll have to think about the Nathan bit, but as of now I'm leaning towards no. What does it entail, exactly, mechanically?

[MaximumZero]

I am emphatically IN. Hell yes. If I die, I still have a couple of clones, yeah?

[Fikes]

I didn't do a great job of explaining it, but the last mission is to destroy the buildings that make the dimension gates possible. It is more or less a mission to blow up the bridge you came in on.

The way we are playing it here, the gates can only last a minute after they are destroyed. If the gates can only last a minute, everyone will need to GTFO as soon as the building is disabled. Once they are out, they will need a crack pilot to get them through the gate before it collapses.

There is a chance some of the crafts won't make it through. Anyone on those crafts won't survive the LP.

Nathan, if he is to stay pilot, will fly the highest ranking people in. That craft will have the best chance to make it out. If you 4, the highest ranking, decide to let him fight on the ground and he dies, your craft will have the lowest chance to make it out.

In the end (tomorrow) I'll right the update as normal, up until the point the building is destroyed. Then, instead of a final "week in review" I right the final "interlude", all though that is completely the wrong word... I guess it will have to be an epilogue. In that epilogue everyone gets to find out what happens in the seconds after victory.

All of this will be more-or-less for RP purposes. Lots of people are better at humor in LPs than I am, I don't mind my LPs being a little dark.

In the game, if I remember correctly, as soon as you win the last mission  you get a great little cutscene of an aircraft exiting the gate at the last second. If only it were that easy. Also, again I haven't won in a long time, I believe you are kicked right out to the title screen. You can't continue even if you want to. The LP is over at that point, with a few RP/story bits to make us all sleep soundly at night. As a side note, I will have to pause the mission just before victory to get the final stats.

On the subject of Nathan:
A few updates ago, I named a random rookie "Nathan Davis" and set him to train. Storyline wise I like to pretend Anja trained him up and helped him practice up until the point she died. Not long after her death the air war was won and Nathan felt like dead weight. When Eucherer died unexpectedly it furthered his resolve. The war doesn't need pilots any more, it needs soldiers.

But lets face it, this is naive. Pilots are exactly what we need. We have tons of bad ass agents, we have very few great pilots. On the other hand, can you tell someone who was so instrumental to our victory that their only job is to help us retreat?

I don't know. You tell me.

Spoiler: Meet Private Nathan, GI (click to show/hide)

In case you don't know, these stats are average at best.

One last thing: If you ask (and state his or her name), I'll post a screenshot of your units stats.

[Shadowgandor]

If he wants to fight, he can fight in my squad. I'm definitely up for this mission.

[Jacob/Lee]

We're picking agents for the final battle in the alien dimension? I'm in.

[BullDog]

May I see Bulldogger's stats?

[Sheb]

I'm kinda no voting, since I died I while ago, but my undead vote goes for Nathan to fight.