Your X-Com team has killed as many civilians as the aliens they're trying to fight! Who is the real enemy here? Wait til the news media gets a hold of this...
X-Com: Enemy Unknown Ironman Challenge [On Again For 2012]
- Thread starter archnemesis
- Start date
Your X-Com team has killed as many civilians as the aliens they're trying to fight! Who is the real enemy here? Wait til the news media gets a hold of this...
What is a million lives in the effort to save billions?
We must all make sacrifices for the good of humanity.
That's the fun part, I didn't, but the game thinks I did. I'm guessing that since the aliens used grenades, I get blamed for it. I checked my fire, even with the HWP.
Of course, I'm not saying that I won't use this for a later story chapter. Sooner or later, an Alien Infiltration will happen and I'll lose a country. I hope to have a manufacturing base set up by then so I can sell arms on the black market. I mean, "export Laser Cannons to the funding nations", of course.
That's not (official) X-Com policy. X-Com will never (officially) condone the acts of violence of non-combatants. (Accidents may happen, of course.)
Also, did you know the Geneva Convention doesn't mention extra-terrestrials?
Geneva Convention? If we don't kill these bastards there ain't gonna be any Geneva anymore!
I know, I'm just tossing it out, now that I have enemy combatants in my containment facility. Enhanced interrogation techniques will be most useful, I think. If I can find someone who speaks [redacted].
I'm actually a little scared at how well this game is going for me. It's biding its time...
Or perhaps it's just that I've lost several times, so I know a lot of what NOT to do now.
Okay, chapter 2 for me.
It's been quite peacefull here for a long time. It's been almost a month since the Skyrocket team (or whatever it's called) had to go out in a mission. Before the last crashed UFO, interceptors destroyed three UFOs. People from around the globe were happy and raised their funds (except China and Russia), but my soldiers were yearning for some action. Luckily enough, the fourth UFO crashed in the desert and I was able to send my troops there. BTW, Some asian country was terrorized by the aliens. I couldn't help them (they were to far from my base, so I started a base there (now I'm running short on money >_<).
So second mission. Yeah, in the desert and a night mission: cool. I tried my first taste at the heavy weapons guys. Not sure I like them that much, but still, the mission went fine, except for the death of our beloved sergeant archnemesis. The alien that killed him saw power in his eyes, and even though rookies were closer to him, he decided to attack the lord. Too bad for archnemesis. He's been the one casualty, so it's not that bad after all. Sorry op.
The tension from the night mission is quite something. Having no buildings and knowing they could be anywhere adds to the tension. But there weren't many aliens, just three of them. My men killed them all, although the game refuses to aknowledge their work. It says it's only been one kill and two injury aliens retrieved. They all were not the ones from the first mission, they were red and looked powerful.. They died anyway.
The new rookie Minsc made a great debut, with one kill. Air Zombie Meat made a good effort as well. He didn't kill anyone, but wounded two of them. He was injured as well (some minor scratches). They both got promoted to sergeant. Mindlog, once again, did a good job. He also wounded some aliens, or something. I don't really know, but he's now my one captain.
I saw More Fun To Compute killing the last alien. The game thinks he had enough kills in the last mission and refuses to give him the merit he deserves. Thus, he remains a sergeant. This is a strange world (no shit, it's being invaded by aliens).
Back to the base and happy ending. Research for med-kits, laser rifles and pistols is done. Some alien things too. Armour is next.
It's been quite peacefull here for a long time. It's been almost a month since the Skyrocket team (or whatever it's called) had to go out in a mission. Before the last crashed UFO, interceptors destroyed three UFOs. People from around the globe were happy and raised their funds (except China and Russia), but my soldiers were yearning for some action. Luckily enough, the fourth UFO crashed in the desert and I was able to send my troops there. BTW, Some asian country was terrorized by the aliens. I couldn't help them (they were to far from my base, so I started a base there (now I'm running short on money >_<).
So second mission. Yeah, in the desert and a night mission: cool. I tried my first taste at the heavy weapons guys. Not sure I like them that much, but still, the mission went fine, except for the death of our beloved sergeant archnemesis. The alien that killed him saw power in his eyes, and even though rookies were closer to him, he decided to attack the lord. Too bad for archnemesis. He's been the one casualty, so it's not that bad after all. Sorry op.
The tension from the night mission is quite something. Having no buildings and knowing they could be anywhere adds to the tension. But there weren't many aliens, just three of them. My men killed them all, although the game refuses to aknowledge their work. It says it's only been one kill and two injury aliens retrieved. They all were not the ones from the first mission, they were red and looked powerful.. They died anyway.
The new rookie Minsc made a great debut, with one kill. Air Zombie Meat made a good effort as well. He didn't kill anyone, but wounded two of them. He was injured as well (some minor scratches). They both got promoted to sergeant. Mindlog, once again, did a good job. He also wounded some aliens, or something. I don't really know, but he's now my one captain.
I saw More Fun To Compute killing the last alien. The game thinks he had enough kills in the last mission and refuses to give him the merit he deserves. Thus, he remains a sergeant. This is a strange world (no shit, it's being invaded by aliens).
Back to the base and happy ending. Research for med-kits, laser rifles and pistols is done. Some alien things too. Armour is next.
Air Zombie Meat
Member
A well deserved promotion if I do say so myself 
Glad I could be of service!
Glad I could be of service!You left a Terror Site unchallenged? Ouch! That's a big mistake. Neglecting a Terror Site is -1000 points, which is a LOT of points to make up. Your Skyranger has a massive range, it can almost reach anywhere on the planet. My main base is in Hungary, and I did the Terror Mission in Argentina.
Even if you're not equipped for the mission and can't do anything, you NEED to touch down in terror missions, even if it's just to abort it.
As I said, I've lost the game a lot, I know what NOT to do.
Even if you're not equipped for the mission and can't do anything, you NEED to touch down in terror missions, even if it's just to abort it.
As I said, I've lost the game a lot, I know what NOT to do.
I'm glad I read this just before I started playhing today. First thing that pops up - terror mission.
No worries, just get the next one. If you have a combined SCORE of -1000 or less (exact number varies on difficulty) two months in a row, X-Com is dissolved and you lose. So, try not to have that. Also, the higher the SCORE, the happier the nations, and the more money you get. This one is one of those non-obvious mistakes that's costly if you do it. Let me clue you in on some other non-obvious mistake to make up for it.
Don't build more than one of the same radar. It doesn't help anything. And really, both the small and large radar are temporary once you catch a live alien Navigator. If you get one of those, research it immediately as it unlocks the Hyper-Wave Decoder.
Your Interceptors are rented, not bought. They cost quite a bit each month, so don't buy more Interceptors than you need. Of course, you need a hangar for each, so that limits itself a bit.
Always have troops in your base. And a couple of HWPs if you got any. And if you don't, get some (when you get enough money, of course.) If the aliens attack your base, and they will, and you have no troops there, you lose the base without a fight. If you have troops there, you get to fight it out over it in the Battlescape. (Which is totally awesome as you fight in the base you designed!)
If you see a small dark-grey alien that kind of looks like the Alien alien, it's a priority target. Fear the Chryssalid. Against those, there really is no such thing as overkill.
I've learned a lot of those the hard way...
I didn't say why they're bad news, or how to outsmart them. They're bad news, but you can cheese them on some maps. I hope I get to show that in my game.
The weird things are Reapers. They're on the opposite end of the danger scale than Chryssalids. Reapers will kill you in melee, but you've got guns and they're a slow moving big target. I'm sure you can manage.I keep hearing about these guys, not looking forward to coming across em
Oh I could manage the Reapers, I was just getting overwhelmed by the Floaters. I really need get my living quarters finished so I can take more guys into combat.
edit: Oh yeah, it was a night mission and I forgot to put the flares on my Skyranger :/
The Skyranger can only hold 12 (or 8+HWP as I'm doing), but building a living quarter is still a good plan. But it's for your scientists ad engineers. You almost cannot have too many of these. One scientist per lab space is recommended. More scientists means more technology means laser rifles, means armor, means dead aliens, and a lot more. The game is won or lost in the Research screen.
Again, bitter experience.
Chapter 3 is a go.
So a new UFO was sighted over Nigeria. So I sent my Skyranger and kicked some asses. Some extraterrestrial asses, that's it.
RiggenBlaque has died. It's been in the last moment, after entering the UFO. He was valiant enough to cross the door, and even when he killed one of them, he couldn't survive the other. The thing is: those bastards survived a grenade. Well, two of them, the third died.
Air Zombie Meat returned from the hospital just to kill three aliens. That's something! Strangely enough, he didn't get promoted after his awesome perdormance and remains a sergeant. Minsc killed another alien. It's his second in a row: two missions, two kills. Great stuff.
shuri survived his first mission without doing much (wandering about, his pants wet) and Gexecuter took part of yet a new mission without killing any alien. Well, at least he's survived all the attacks so far. Mindlog looked at his nails, content with his positions in the organization. Not much of a show.
Yellow base (the one in asia), has received the first batch of soldiers and weapons. Soon it will receive an interceptor and a Skyranger. In the meantime, I think we will have to look for new recruits.
So a new UFO was sighted over Nigeria. So I sent my Skyranger and kicked some asses. Some extraterrestrial asses, that's it.
RiggenBlaque has died. It's been in the last moment, after entering the UFO. He was valiant enough to cross the door, and even when he killed one of them, he couldn't survive the other. The thing is: those bastards survived a grenade. Well, two of them, the third died.
Air Zombie Meat returned from the hospital just to kill three aliens. That's something! Strangely enough, he didn't get promoted after his awesome perdormance and remains a sergeant. Minsc killed another alien. It's his second in a row: two missions, two kills. Great stuff.
shuri survived his first mission without doing much (wandering about, his pants wet) and Gexecuter took part of yet a new mission without killing any alien. Well, at least he's survived all the attacks so far. Mindlog looked at his nails, content with his positions in the organization. Not much of a show.
Yellow base (the one in asia), has received the first batch of soldiers and weapons. Soon it will receive an interceptor and a Skyranger. In the meantime, I think we will have to look for new recruits.
Aye, i'd built too many scientists and didnt have enough space recruit and fill up the Skyranger anymore.
Just brought down a large UFO and proceeded to the crash site with my nice shiny new Laser Rifles, Laser Pistols and Med Kits.
Found a large hovering metal disc in a field, not sure what it is. I'll shoot it...the field is now an ash zone from the explosion. Good thing I was some distance away!!!
Lost 10 men on that UFO, mostly rookies. It all started off so well too! Took down three sectoids without any trouble at all. It wasnt until we entered the UFO that things got...bloody. A hole in the second floor of the UFO allowed a sectoid and a disc to shoot down at my men as they were coming in.
Encountered my first instance of mind control and one of my rookies had to bring down their Sergeant. Sad day.
Good thing I stopped naming them!
MaritalWheat
Member
This thread is too good, I think I may even bite on the game and try to jump in. But for now, consider me reporting for duty, if anyone needs any more cannon fodder...er, I mean, heroes.
Chapter 3: From Norway with Laser
So, after that, frankly, exemplary intervention in Argentina, we noticed that a couple of the corpses we brought home were still twitching. We now had our first prisoners of war. One of the Floaters wasn't quite dead and neither was one of the cow-things, which we dubbed "Reapers". The science team has an odd sense of humor some times. I heard they held a contest for coming up with the most sci-fi sounding name that they think I'd accept for the greys. Well, I let them, it's good for morale. You should have heard some of the names they came up with. I swear some of them watch too many Japanese cartoons...
What's also good for morale is shootin' down UFOs. Like when we spotted out fourth UFO over Scandinavia. Interceptor-1 was launched, and after a brief fight, UFO-4 was sent tumbling into the mountains of Norway. It's salvage time!
The mission itself was fairly uneventful, except for the fact that frontieruk finally got to unleash that Autocannon he's been lugging around.
However, the results were underwhelming and he agreed to go back to a standard armament. Thikkaman ended up killing both aliens in the UFO, even the one he couldn't see. Improbable aiming skills seemed to be his specialty.
However, the big news came not from the battlefield, but from the science division. Ladies, gentlemen, and extraterrestrials, I present to you: The Laser Rifle!
Pardon an old soldier for gushing a bit, but this right here. This is it. This is a weapon that wins wars. Lightweight, enough power to last though any firefight, and pinpoint accuracy. The only ones happier to see this project done than me, was the troops. Nothing gets a professional soldier to geek out more than a top of the line weapon with his name on it.
For the rest of January, we saw no sign of the aliens, maybe because they weren't there, or maybe because they are hard to spot with our 70s technology radar. If it was the latter, we fixed that.
And that's all from January 1999. Now, miss, do you have any questions to add, or should we continue with February's events?
(Notes: Hey, look at that! The mountain terrain! I don't think I've seen that before. My next post will be an out-of-character status for all of X-Com as of Feb. 1st 1999.)
So, after that, frankly, exemplary intervention in Argentina, we noticed that a couple of the corpses we brought home were still twitching. We now had our first prisoners of war. One of the Floaters wasn't quite dead and neither was one of the cow-things, which we dubbed "Reapers". The science team has an odd sense of humor some times. I heard they held a contest for coming up with the most sci-fi sounding name that they think I'd accept for the greys. Well, I let them, it's good for morale. You should have heard some of the names they came up with. I swear some of them watch too many Japanese cartoons...
What's also good for morale is shootin' down UFOs. Like when we spotted out fourth UFO over Scandinavia. Interceptor-1 was launched, and after a brief fight, UFO-4 was sent tumbling into the mountains of Norway. It's salvage time!
The mission itself was fairly uneventful, except for the fact that frontieruk finally got to unleash that Autocannon he's been lugging around.
However, the results were underwhelming and he agreed to go back to a standard armament. Thikkaman ended up killing both aliens in the UFO, even the one he couldn't see. Improbable aiming skills seemed to be his specialty.
However, the big news came not from the battlefield, but from the science division. Ladies, gentlemen, and extraterrestrials, I present to you: The Laser Rifle!
Pardon an old soldier for gushing a bit, but this right here. This is it. This is a weapon that wins wars. Lightweight, enough power to last though any firefight, and pinpoint accuracy. The only ones happier to see this project done than me, was the troops. Nothing gets a professional soldier to geek out more than a top of the line weapon with his name on it.
For the rest of January, we saw no sign of the aliens, maybe because they weren't there, or maybe because they are hard to spot with our 70s technology radar. If it was the latter, we fixed that.
And that's all from January 1999. Now, miss, do you have any questions to add, or should we continue with February's events?
(Notes: Hey, look at that! The mountain terrain! I don't think I've seen that before. My next post will be an out-of-character status for all of X-Com as of Feb. 1st 1999.)
Was there ever any doubt to my badassitude? At least I can die knowing I took a good few down.
The troops of base GAF Prime just learned a valuable combat lesson.
When facing Floaters,
New recruits are on the way. Suprised that people are so willing with the staff turnover rate at GAF Prime.
Spoilered just in case you don't want to know one of their weapons and would rather find out yourself the hard way
GAF Secunda based in Europe has now been founded as a primary research hub with minimal missile defence and interceptor capabilities. GLORY FOR EARTH!
When facing Floaters,
don't stand together. Five souls were lost to learn this lesson 
New recruits are on the way. Suprised that people are so willing with the staff turnover rate at GAF Prime.
Spoilered just in case you don't want to know one of their weapons and would rather find out yourself the hard way
GAF Secunda based in Europe has now been founded as a primary research hub with minimal missile defence and interceptor capabilities. GLORY FOR EARTH!
X-Com Monthly Report - January 1999
Funding:
Bases:
Research:
Production:
Active Soldiers:
- Captain Rentahamster - 4 missions, 1 kill
- Sergeant Brashnir - 4 missions, 3 kills
- Sergeant Narag - 4 missions, 1 kill
- Sergeant Thnikkaman: - 3 missions, 5 kills
- Squaddie CappyFish - 3 missions - 1 kill
- Squaddie LuffyZoro - 4 missions, 3 kills
- Squaddie Myke Greywolf - 4 missions, 1 kill
- Rookie Adnor - 0 missions
- Rookie Deraldin - 0 missions
- Rookie fanboi - 0 missions
- Rookie frequito - 0 missions
- Rookie frontieruk - 4 missions 0 kills
- Rookie NinajHeartless - 0 missions
- Rookie perfect free - 0 missions
- Rookie ruttyboy - 0 missions
- Rookie ThoseDeafMutes - 0 missions
Soldiers KIA:
- Rookie Sinatar
- Rookie TheJollyCorner
Unanswered questions:
- Who are the aliens?
- What do they want?
- Where do they come from?
- How do we stop them?
- Can we copy their technonlogy?
Goals for February:
- Capture live aliens
- Scope out new base locations
- Research alien weapon (Small Launcher)
- Interrogate captives
Reloads
- Times reloaded: 2
(Reloads due to crashing or re-recording for these post don't count, only Rage-reloads.)
So that's the first month down, any of you got any tips, tricks or see anything I'm missing? I'm thinking of planting a base near Texas when I can afford it. I've got Stun Rods incoming, so I'll be able to catch them now. And a captured Small Launcher to research. Got any ideas for Vanguard base as for new facilities?
Funding:
Bases:
Research:
Production:
Active Soldiers:
- Captain Rentahamster - 4 missions, 1 kill
- Sergeant Brashnir - 4 missions, 3 kills
- Sergeant Narag - 4 missions, 1 kill
- Sergeant Thnikkaman: - 3 missions, 5 kills
- Squaddie CappyFish - 3 missions - 1 kill
- Squaddie LuffyZoro - 4 missions, 3 kills
- Squaddie Myke Greywolf - 4 missions, 1 kill
- Rookie Adnor - 0 missions
- Rookie Deraldin - 0 missions
- Rookie fanboi - 0 missions
- Rookie frequito - 0 missions
- Rookie frontieruk - 4 missions 0 kills
- Rookie NinajHeartless - 0 missions
- Rookie perfect free - 0 missions
- Rookie ruttyboy - 0 missions
- Rookie ThoseDeafMutes - 0 missions
Soldiers KIA:
- Rookie Sinatar
- Rookie TheJollyCorner
Unanswered questions:
- Who are the aliens?
- What do they want?
- Where do they come from?
- How do we stop them?
- Can we copy their technonlogy?
Goals for February:
- Capture live aliens
- Scope out new base locations
- Research alien weapon (Small Launcher)
- Interrogate captives
Reloads
- Times reloaded: 2
(Reloads due to crashing or re-recording for these post don't count, only Rage-reloads.)
So that's the first month down, any of you got any tips, tricks or see anything I'm missing? I'm thinking of planting a base near Texas when I can afford it. I've got Stun Rods incoming, so I'll be able to catch them now. And a captured Small Launcher to research. Got any ideas for Vanguard base as for new facilities?
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
Capturing aliens is a pretty big deal because you need certain class of aliens to get info that you need.
Yeah, I know I want a Navigator, Commander, and Leader, in that order, I think. I never succeeded in getting all three, so I never got
Cydonia or Bust
I almost forgot to comment on this. You just made a contradiction worthy of a Phoenix Wright game here. You got Laser Rifles early, which is a big help. Honestly, in the end, you want about 100 scientists, but you need a good income before trying that. Like making Laser Cannons to sell. They're almost useless on an Interceptor, but they're worth a lot of money. I'm a bit understaffed in science in my game, I really should have had Laser Rifles by Jan 20th, but I didn't.
Also, money making tip: Sell alien corpses. You only need one for an autopsy, so sell off the rest. I don't know who pays 20k for a dead Sectoid, and I don't care. They're paying 20k for a dead Sectoid. But NEVER, under ANY circumstances sell Elerium. You will need all the Elerium you can get, and then some.
Boogalogist
Member
Another meatbag here signing up!
Orgun signing up too!
Aaah, I hope Rookie ruttyboy is OK!
Good luck.
Thanks to the news of the new Xcom and this thread I started up a new game of Xcom recently. For the first time I was finally able to do what i have not done in years of playing and captured an alien alive that had Psi, but damn was it a bitch. Long story short only goal i had on that mission was capture a live alien 14 went in and 1 came back, but mission accomplished.
Hopefully once i weed out the weak minded the missions against Psionic aliens will no longer be blood baths.
Oh and I volunteer to fight the alien menace.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
It's okay. He's a loose cannon.
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Once the Psi starts showing up I just stun any of my squad that gets mind controlled, haul their ass back to the ship and fire them as soon as we return to base. I usually have a notepad document dedicated to keeping track of Psi weaklings.
I might have to try that out next time.
Normally I just blast them probably not the best or most elegant solution, but it works for me. On that subject I dunno if it is good AI, my bad luck or a combination of both, but when one of my men gets controlled it is always at the worse possible time. Usually he/she is perfectly set up to blast one or two of my troops before i can take them down.
Its the main reason I was so dead set on capturing a live alien. I got tired of losing four or more men(those that were mind controlled and those they killed) every time I went up against Psi to those damn mind controlled shits. Not to mention all the times they make my guys panic or go berserk at the worst time as well.
Chapter 4: "Enigma"
Feb 1st to Feb 21st 1999
Response recorded at X-Com briefing:
"You want us to do WHAT?!"
February started off with a quiet period. Too quiet. While the scientists were all too happy with the peace to do some research. I don't know how they did it, but they managed to interrogate the Floater Engineer we had captured. The Floaters are odd creatures, seemingly engineered as a combat unit, with their lower bodies removed and replaced with a device that allows them to hover. On one hand, this was good news, as it could mean that we might just be facing one enemy, on the other, we had no clue who built these things. But we had the data to find out. At the same time, we found out the composition of the alloys the aliens use.
However, the quiet time bothered me. Looking up the UFO report globally, it turned out that there had been several sightings in southern Africa, way beyond our radar range. However, not beyond Interceptor range. Interceptor-1 and Interceptor-2 were sent out to patrol the skies over South Africa. While the radar on an Interceptor is no match for a proper installation, eyes in the sky are better than no eyes at all.
(Game concept: Every month the Aliens choose one or more areas to attack. The first month is always near your first base, but from then on it's random. So check the graphs. Further, all aircraft have a small, but accurate radar installed. If a UFO passes near one of them it'll be detected. You'll be sending out a lot of fruitless patrols, but you might get lucky, like this.)
One of the Interceptors spotted a UFO. When tech fails, the good old Mk1 eyeball can sometimes stand in. I had the interceptor shadow the UFO while scrambling the Skyranger. We were going to lets this one land, and when it did, we would try to take as many aliens alive as we could.
(Game concept: The minimize button in the top left of the interception window lets the Interceptor stay in Standoff mode as long as it can keep up with the UFO. You can also use this to mount a double or even triple attack on one UFO.)
Since we wanted info on who the aliens were and where they came from, I ordered that special care was to be taken in stunning any alien that might seem like it could be a navigator or pilot. To stun the aliens, all we had at the time was Stun Rods. You can imagine the response we got when we told the troops they had to get up close and personal with the aliens.
However, there was little time to complain as we had a very narrow window of opportunity here. The Skyranger set down and the mission began.
The mission itself began as UFO recovery missions usually do, disembark and sweep the area towards the UFO. Unfortunately, we lost frontieruk as he walked into an ambush inside a building. Thnikkaman took revenge.
The team then worked itself to the UFO and did a smoke 'em and breach maneuver. Setting up at two internal doors, one Floater was gunned down in an ambush, while LuffyZoro and Narag tag teamed another with Stun Rods.
And just like that, we bagged another UFO, but this time, the craft itself was not the big prize.
I had the science team drop everything to get everything they could out of this captive, and the result was far beyond what I had dared hope.
"A Hyper-what?" I asked the team. They likened it to World War Two, when the allies broke the Enigma code, letting them spy on the Nazi submarines without the Nazis knowing. This was the UFO equivalent. If we break the code, we can monitor the UFOs without even needing a radar. Basically rendering any attempt at sneaking by us moot.
A tiny UFO was detected over Russia as well, but it was completely destroyed when the interceptor attacked it.
On February 21st, an all too familiar alert called out.
The aliens were terrorizing in South Africa, and this mission did not go as well as the previous one...
(Notes: Hyper Wave Decoder incoming! And the first fatality in a while. I was getting worried that the game was going soft on me, but oh no. No it wasn't. Also I'm happy to be able to show the patrolling strategy to find UFOs outside your radar range. That's one of those things that make sense, but no one tells you that you can do. Well, you can. Skyrangers are even better at it, but you lose the ability to react fast with it when it's refueling and you can't change loadout when it's out.
And yeah, not looking forward to gong for the Psi alien. I hope for a small scout full of
and a soldier in the UFO door with a Small Launcher.)
Feb 1st to Feb 21st 1999
Response recorded at X-Com briefing:
"You want us to do WHAT?!"
February started off with a quiet period. Too quiet. While the scientists were all too happy with the peace to do some research. I don't know how they did it, but they managed to interrogate the Floater Engineer we had captured. The Floaters are odd creatures, seemingly engineered as a combat unit, with their lower bodies removed and replaced with a device that allows them to hover. On one hand, this was good news, as it could mean that we might just be facing one enemy, on the other, we had no clue who built these things. But we had the data to find out. At the same time, we found out the composition of the alloys the aliens use.
However, the quiet time bothered me. Looking up the UFO report globally, it turned out that there had been several sightings in southern Africa, way beyond our radar range. However, not beyond Interceptor range. Interceptor-1 and Interceptor-2 were sent out to patrol the skies over South Africa. While the radar on an Interceptor is no match for a proper installation, eyes in the sky are better than no eyes at all.
(Game concept: Every month the Aliens choose one or more areas to attack. The first month is always near your first base, but from then on it's random. So check the graphs. Further, all aircraft have a small, but accurate radar installed. If a UFO passes near one of them it'll be detected. You'll be sending out a lot of fruitless patrols, but you might get lucky, like this.)
One of the Interceptors spotted a UFO. When tech fails, the good old Mk1 eyeball can sometimes stand in. I had the interceptor shadow the UFO while scrambling the Skyranger. We were going to lets this one land, and when it did, we would try to take as many aliens alive as we could.
(Game concept: The minimize button in the top left of the interception window lets the Interceptor stay in Standoff mode as long as it can keep up with the UFO. You can also use this to mount a double or even triple attack on one UFO.)
Since we wanted info on who the aliens were and where they came from, I ordered that special care was to be taken in stunning any alien that might seem like it could be a navigator or pilot. To stun the aliens, all we had at the time was Stun Rods. You can imagine the response we got when we told the troops they had to get up close and personal with the aliens.
However, there was little time to complain as we had a very narrow window of opportunity here. The Skyranger set down and the mission began.
The mission itself began as UFO recovery missions usually do, disembark and sweep the area towards the UFO. Unfortunately, we lost frontieruk as he walked into an ambush inside a building. Thnikkaman took revenge.
The team then worked itself to the UFO and did a smoke 'em and breach maneuver. Setting up at two internal doors, one Floater was gunned down in an ambush, while LuffyZoro and Narag tag teamed another with Stun Rods.
And just like that, we bagged another UFO, but this time, the craft itself was not the big prize.
I had the science team drop everything to get everything they could out of this captive, and the result was far beyond what I had dared hope.
"A Hyper-what?" I asked the team. They likened it to World War Two, when the allies broke the Enigma code, letting them spy on the Nazi submarines without the Nazis knowing. This was the UFO equivalent. If we break the code, we can monitor the UFOs without even needing a radar. Basically rendering any attempt at sneaking by us moot.
A tiny UFO was detected over Russia as well, but it was completely destroyed when the interceptor attacked it.
On February 21st, an all too familiar alert called out.
The aliens were terrorizing in South Africa, and this mission did not go as well as the previous one...
(Notes: Hyper Wave Decoder incoming! And the first fatality in a while. I was getting worried that the game was going soft on me, but oh no. No it wasn't. Also I'm happy to be able to show the patrolling strategy to find UFOs outside your radar range. That's one of those things that make sense, but no one tells you that you can do. Well, you can. Skyrangers are even better at it, but you lose the ability to react fast with it when it's refueling and you can't change loadout when it's out.
And yeah, not looking forward to gong for the Psi alien. I hope for a small scout full of
Etherals
Thanks McNum for the interesting read.
Even though I have played Xcom on and off since pretty much it was released i have learned a few things from reading this thread. For example I can't believe it never in all my years occurred to me to use my aircraft to patrol areas where I had no radar coverage. Once i read that i was thinking how the hell could I have missed something so simple for so long.
Though in all honesty I never really make it far into the game normally once I start encountering bigger UFOs with Psi aliens I call it quits. This game is hard enough in my opinion and Psi always seems to just make it totally unfair. This time though I promised myself I will beat the game before the new one hits. We shall see how that goes.
Even though I have played Xcom on and off since pretty much it was released i have learned a few things from reading this thread. For example I can't believe it never in all my years occurred to me to use my aircraft to patrol areas where I had no radar coverage. Once i read that i was thinking how the hell could I have missed something so simple for so long.
Though in all honesty I never really make it far into the game normally once I start encountering bigger UFOs with Psi aliens I call it quits. This game is hard enough in my opinion and Psi always seems to just make it totally unfair. This time though I promised myself I will beat the game before the new one hits. We shall see how that goes.
Thanks, I try to be informative as well as deliver a story. I'm sharing my mistakes so the new players won't have to do it. I basically figured that the Squaddie dialog variant of X-Com LP has been done a lot, so I'm doing a Commander level one instead, with a few tips added. I figure that'd fit more with my writing style, anyway.
And yeah, that you can use aircraft to patrol the skies is one of those facepalm moments when you realize that, yes, it works. Patrolling craft also have a second purpose, they also watch the ground. Think about why you'd want them to do that. But I find that in general, if it sounds like a good idea, it usually is. Moving from cover to cover is also a good idea, and it works nicely in X-Com. The best armor in the game is a wall between you and the alien.
And yeah, that whole Psi thing has me worried, because that's where I usually fail, too. I do have a plan for it, but I'm not sure if it'll work. Well, apart from reloading until they miss. But that's an ugly plan.
The plan?
Flying Armor and Laser Pistols. Even if one of my guys get mind controlled, a Laser Pistol takes several shots to take down an X-Com agent in Flying Armor. And since I want one alive, it'll be Small Launchers and Pistol/Stun Rod combos for everyone. And a couple of tanks, if I get what I hope I get before them.
Blaster Bombs
Oh, and in case you're wondering why on Earth I'm doing a Let's Play of a game I've never beat, well... it's exactly because I've never beat it. I always get frustrated and give up against later aliens, but now, I'm playing for the world, so I have to finish it. I'm not letting this become yet another abandoned Let's Play. This one is
Cydonia or BUST!
Chapter 5: They all float down here...
Feb 21st to Mar 1st 1999
Excerpt from X-Com radio February 26th:
"Is that... all you got?"
Again Skyranger-1 set off towards a Terror Site, but this time it did not arrive until shortly after nightfall.
Now, some missions are easy to describe blow for blow, but others turn into a chaotic firefight from the start and just keeps going until one side stops moving. This mission was the latter. The firefight started on the very ramp of the Skyranger, as the drone tank was sent out. It dispatched a Floater easily, perhaps with a bit of overkill.
But the Floater's flank-mate took a shot and struck the tank in a critical area. So we knew that this LZ was VERY hot.
Standard protocol is to send out the tank first, to avoid losing life needlessly. Even if the tank is expensive, it can be replaced. However, standard protocol has a plan B in case the tank gets blown up: Smoke Grenades.
The good thing about smoke is that the aliens will have trouble spotting you, the bad thing is that humans can't see very well in smoke, either, and that inhaling smoke is generally bad for you. (Game concept: Unarmored humans take Stun damage in smoke. It shows as a highlight on the red Health meter on the UI. If it fills, the soldier faints.)
It quickly became clear that the troops were surrounded with only a cloud of smoke for cover, and lasers poured out of the smoke, while green plasma shots poured in. It was a mess.
But when the shooting stopped, every alien in sight was down, but sadly, so was LuffyZoro.
(Note: And this is why you always pack smoke grenades. That kind of ambush and only one fatality? That's money well spent.)
Our agents then fanned out, trying to locate the remaining aliens, although the darkness made them difficult to see. We would later remember to pack Electroflares, but in this scramble to get to the site, we forgot.
Thinkkaman did his thnikkathing and faced off against a Reaper and a Floater with a Rookie NinajHeartless as his backup. I should probably have been surprised, but I wasn't when Thnikkaman called in two targets down. Later reports show that he avoided no less than six point blank plasma shots during the fight.
At the same time, Narag had an idea, and brought out the Autocannon. While it might not be great against aliens, it sure started a lot of fires, depriving the enemy of their night vision advantage. Even if that mean setting himself on fire. Luckily, he managed to just get a few minor burns.
The battle kept rolling through the streets, with yellow laser beams and green plasma bolts flying everywhere, yet not hitting often. Rentahamster commanded a squad to move through a park, taking on Reapers and Floaters in the light of the fires. Unfortunately, ThoseDeafMutes took a bad hit and bled out on the ground. Had we had our Med-Kits at this stage, he could have been saved.
In the end, all the enemies were defeated, with minimal civilian casualties. We lost two good men, though, but at least we learned something from it. The lesson? We needed armor and Med-Kits for the troops. Our offense was adequate with the Laser Rifle, but we cannot afford our troops dying from treatable injuries in the field.
The South African government was extremely please with our actions, though, they promised to put in a good word on our behalf at the next funding meeting. However, just because we made some politicians happy, didn't mean the war was won. Far from it, and on the 26th, a small UFO was discovered and shot down. Again over Russia.
The recovery mission went well, the new recruits performed admirably, and each Floater was taken down in short order.
However, when Brashnir was watching the UFO door, preparing to breach, two Floaters floated out, he killed the first outright, but the second got a shot off and hit him in the shoulder. Not that it stopped Brashnir for shooting back, taking the alien down, before falling unconscious. That shot would have killed most men outright.
The rookie Adnor stepped up to the plate, taking out the final Floater, then rushing Brashnir onto the Skyranger for treatment.
The mission was over, and perfect free got promoted to Sergeant to fill in for Brashnir while he recovers.
For the rest of February, things were quiet. A few more interceptor patrols were sent out, but no aliens were spotted after the terror mission.
*beep* *beep* Oh, sorry, I have to answer this.
This is GC McNum.
...
All of them?
...
Then the word is go. "Red Knight" is go!
...
Good luck!
Now, where were we? Oh, right. March '99, right?
(Notes: Two months down, five fatalities, one injury, Hyper Wave Decoder nearly researched. Decent start. Next up is the X-Com summary for February. And yes, I am planning on seeding every end of month with a cryptic message. Try to guess my twist!)
Feb 21st to Mar 1st 1999
Excerpt from X-Com radio February 26th:
"Is that... all you got?"
Again Skyranger-1 set off towards a Terror Site, but this time it did not arrive until shortly after nightfall.
Now, some missions are easy to describe blow for blow, but others turn into a chaotic firefight from the start and just keeps going until one side stops moving. This mission was the latter. The firefight started on the very ramp of the Skyranger, as the drone tank was sent out. It dispatched a Floater easily, perhaps with a bit of overkill.
But the Floater's flank-mate took a shot and struck the tank in a critical area. So we knew that this LZ was VERY hot.
Standard protocol is to send out the tank first, to avoid losing life needlessly. Even if the tank is expensive, it can be replaced. However, standard protocol has a plan B in case the tank gets blown up: Smoke Grenades.
The good thing about smoke is that the aliens will have trouble spotting you, the bad thing is that humans can't see very well in smoke, either, and that inhaling smoke is generally bad for you. (Game concept: Unarmored humans take Stun damage in smoke. It shows as a highlight on the red Health meter on the UI. If it fills, the soldier faints.)
It quickly became clear that the troops were surrounded with only a cloud of smoke for cover, and lasers poured out of the smoke, while green plasma shots poured in. It was a mess.
But when the shooting stopped, every alien in sight was down, but sadly, so was LuffyZoro.
(Note: And this is why you always pack smoke grenades. That kind of ambush and only one fatality? That's money well spent.)
Our agents then fanned out, trying to locate the remaining aliens, although the darkness made them difficult to see. We would later remember to pack Electroflares, but in this scramble to get to the site, we forgot.
Thinkkaman did his thnikkathing and faced off against a Reaper and a Floater with a Rookie NinajHeartless as his backup. I should probably have been surprised, but I wasn't when Thnikkaman called in two targets down. Later reports show that he avoided no less than six point blank plasma shots during the fight.
At the same time, Narag had an idea, and brought out the Autocannon. While it might not be great against aliens, it sure started a lot of fires, depriving the enemy of their night vision advantage. Even if that mean setting himself on fire. Luckily, he managed to just get a few minor burns.
The battle kept rolling through the streets, with yellow laser beams and green plasma bolts flying everywhere, yet not hitting often. Rentahamster commanded a squad to move through a park, taking on Reapers and Floaters in the light of the fires. Unfortunately, ThoseDeafMutes took a bad hit and bled out on the ground. Had we had our Med-Kits at this stage, he could have been saved.
In the end, all the enemies were defeated, with minimal civilian casualties. We lost two good men, though, but at least we learned something from it. The lesson? We needed armor and Med-Kits for the troops. Our offense was adequate with the Laser Rifle, but we cannot afford our troops dying from treatable injuries in the field.
The South African government was extremely please with our actions, though, they promised to put in a good word on our behalf at the next funding meeting. However, just because we made some politicians happy, didn't mean the war was won. Far from it, and on the 26th, a small UFO was discovered and shot down. Again over Russia.
The recovery mission went well, the new recruits performed admirably, and each Floater was taken down in short order.
However, when Brashnir was watching the UFO door, preparing to breach, two Floaters floated out, he killed the first outright, but the second got a shot off and hit him in the shoulder. Not that it stopped Brashnir for shooting back, taking the alien down, before falling unconscious. That shot would have killed most men outright.
The rookie Adnor stepped up to the plate, taking out the final Floater, then rushing Brashnir onto the Skyranger for treatment.
The mission was over, and perfect free got promoted to Sergeant to fill in for Brashnir while he recovers.
For the rest of February, things were quiet. A few more interceptor patrols were sent out, but no aliens were spotted after the terror mission.
*beep* *beep* Oh, sorry, I have to answer this.
This is GC McNum.
...
All of them?
...
Then the word is go. "Red Knight" is go!
...
Good luck!
Now, where were we? Oh, right. March '99, right?
(Notes: Two months down, five fatalities, one injury, Hyper Wave Decoder nearly researched. Decent start. Next up is the X-Com summary for February. And yes, I am planning on seeding every end of month with a cryptic message. Try to guess my twist!)
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
Siiiighhhh.
Yeah that mission was hard. Would you believe after a couple of retries that this is the best result I got?
However, when Brashnir was watching the UFO door, preparing to breach, two Floaters floated out, he killed the first outright, but the second got a shot off and hit him in the shoulder. Not that it stopped Brashnir for shooting back, taking the alien down, before falling unconscious. That shot would have killed most men outright.
Like a boss.
First Terror Mission accomplished!
Our team deeply regrets not having paid attention to the first asian call for help, so we didn't put down the second call, this time coming from an african country I don't remember which. Skyranger went there with only ten men, two of which never turned back. We will sorely miss shuri and epmode.
It was in the night, but we decided to play a little around the terror site before the day came. We didn't wat to fight at night, although we knew any lost minute could mean lost lives, fighting at night would have meant even more deaths, both from civilians and from our team.
The first casualty, shuri, died even before moving. We applied for the McNum tactic of throwing smoke grenades. We didn't want to go down until they exploded. It wasn't a very bright idea, as the evil aliens shot before grenades exploded. After that, different teams moved around, trying to hunt aliens down. Entering the store full of crates was really nerve-wrecking. We were doing fine until one of those hovering creatures appeared out of nowhere and killed epmode. He didn't have time to be surprised, as the damn monster was hiding inside the smoke.
Surprising as well was seeing a new creature. One with two big legs, brown color and... harmless, if I have to pay attention to what they did. In the end we killed eleven aliens, captured two alive and only one civilian was lost.
Gexecuter got his first kill and got promoted to Squaddie status. The bad news is that he got severely injured and will have to wait 24 days to heal. Minsc killed yet another alien and that makes it three in three missions. He's also been promoted to Captain. Our old Captain, Mindlog, also killed one, probably afraid of how Minsc is running up the ranks. More Fun To Compute killed two, breaking his bad luck in the latest missions. Air Zombie Meat killed three of them, making him the most efficient killing machine in the team. Up until now he's killed six of them. RyanDG took part in his first mission and made an awesome debut with three killings and now he's an Squaddie. Finaly, methane47 and icarus-daedalus took part in their first missions and did quite well. They didn't kill any alien, nonetheless, they got promoted and are now Sergeants.
I hope the soldiers we're trying to recruit come soon enough, as we're short on men right now.
Our team deeply regrets not having paid attention to the first asian call for help, so we didn't put down the second call, this time coming from an african country I don't remember which. Skyranger went there with only ten men, two of which never turned back. We will sorely miss shuri and epmode.
It was in the night, but we decided to play a little around the terror site before the day came. We didn't wat to fight at night, although we knew any lost minute could mean lost lives, fighting at night would have meant even more deaths, both from civilians and from our team.
The first casualty, shuri, died even before moving. We applied for the McNum tactic of throwing smoke grenades. We didn't want to go down until they exploded. It wasn't a very bright idea, as the evil aliens shot before grenades exploded. After that, different teams moved around, trying to hunt aliens down. Entering the store full of crates was really nerve-wrecking. We were doing fine until one of those hovering creatures appeared out of nowhere and killed epmode. He didn't have time to be surprised, as the damn monster was hiding inside the smoke.
Surprising as well was seeing a new creature. One with two big legs, brown color and... harmless, if I have to pay attention to what they did. In the end we killed eleven aliens, captured two alive and only one civilian was lost.
Gexecuter got his first kill and got promoted to Squaddie status. The bad news is that he got severely injured and will have to wait 24 days to heal. Minsc killed yet another alien and that makes it three in three missions. He's also been promoted to Captain. Our old Captain, Mindlog, also killed one, probably afraid of how Minsc is running up the ranks. More Fun To Compute killed two, breaking his bad luck in the latest missions. Air Zombie Meat killed three of them, making him the most efficient killing machine in the team. Up until now he's killed six of them. RyanDG took part in his first mission and made an awesome debut with three killings and now he's an Squaddie. Finaly, methane47 and icarus-daedalus took part in their first missions and did quite well. They didn't kill any alien, nonetheless, they got promoted and are now Sergeants.
I hope the soldiers we're trying to recruit come soon enough, as we're short on men right now.
Alright, just put in the UFO Extender and wow is it awesome, improves little things that you never notice and also Dat Improved Music (although I didn't mind the original).
Just a quick question: Does anyone know how to change the resolution in the UFO Extender?
I want to change it to 1920x1080 but I can't find the config file.
Just a quick question: Does anyone know how to change the resolution in the UFO Extender?
I want to change it to 1920x1080 but I can't find the config file.