Let's Play X-COM: UFO Defense!

[Coalition]

Well, the last thing we want is to blow up the UFOs. We still need to recover samples of elerium-115 and a UFO power core. Our best bet would be to catch one while its landed; then we could take it intact. Fortunately, our large radar array just went online right before the terror mission, so we have the capacity to scan a much, much wider area.

Let them land? Well, I guess my fighter pilot will just have to settle for scraps (small UFOs) or being sent to a landing site and orbiting overhead while the Skyranger arrives. If the alien takes off I nail it, otherwise, the Skyranger goes after it. Either way, you get a ground mission.

[Peptuck]

Right at the end of January, X-COM picked up a third UFO over Spain. This time, Interceptor-02 was deployed to bring it down, with phred at the helm. A trio of Stingray missiles put it down in a farm in western France.



The xenos will PAY for ruining our winefields.

This time, we switched out most of the lower-ranking troopers who completed the terror mission in Siberia for a fresh batch of rookies, led by our most senior ass-kickers, in order to get everyone properly trained and experienced.

Code: Select all

UFO-03
Squad: Heavy Zablorg, Weemadando, White Haven, Decue, Vanas, Alfonso, MJ12-2, MJ12-3, Stark
HWP Rocket: piloted by Hawkwings

Hawkwings got off the Skyranger, only to add further credence to our suspicions that the aliens are deaf and dumb. This sectoid was looking away from the spot our bird had landed.



Kaboom.

The rest of the squad disembarked, led by our heavy weapons troops. Decue, Zablorg, Haven, and Weemadando (carrying a heavy autocannon for this run) emerged, and spotted several most suspicious farm buildings to the south. Highly suspicious, with all their wood . . . and hay.



They were dealt with most harshly, to ensure no foul xenos scum lurked within.

Meanwhile, as the rookies disembarked, we made a shocking discovery.



This asshole was standing not ten feet away from the Skyranger. Our senior officers leading the mission will be lined up later on so Commander Wong can run down the line, slapping them across the face in turn for somehow missing the big-headed alien standing in the middle of the goddamn field with no cover.

The rookies proceeded to greet the alien in the traditional X-COM manner, and as usual, missed spectacularly. Stark got the closest to actually hitting the little gray bastard, but didn't have enough TUs for anything except a snap shot.

Then, our turn ended, and I expected the fucker to do a double auto-shot with his rifle and kill half the squad.

Instead, he ran the hell away. Apparently, the weapons team's vigorous abuse of the French countryside made him brown his nonexistent pants and flee into another nearby field. MJ12-3 got him with a quick burst of laser fire.



The squad fanned out, with MJ12-2 searching around the remnants of the buildings for any living sectoids. He found this one in another field.



Auto-fire dealt with it quickly enough.



Hawkwings moved to the south while the weapons team dealt with a suspicious orchard. Those apples must have been conspiring with the invaders. Why else would the aliens have landed here?

Our tank driver spotted some barns that might have been providing cover to lurkers.



We dealt with that.



The squad then stacked up to assault the UFO.



Once again, the interior was blown to shit. MJ12-3 spotted the only alien in the ship and ruined his day.



Mission completed, with zero casualties except to our ammo stocks and the French countryside. Some corpses and weaponry recovered, including one mind probe, which will fetch a good price tag on the market. Unfortunately, no power source or any of the mysterious fuel the aliens use was recovered.



Decue and Karza, for their part in standing around and firing at harmless buildings and fruit trees, were promoted to captain. Command was especially impressed with the way Haven lobbed multiple rockets into one empty building, and promoted him/her to colonel. The MJ12s and Rhoenix, meanwhile, were rewarded for actually contributing to the mission by being bumped up to sergeant.

Post-mission analysis: Despite the massive abuse of explosives this mission, most of the kills were achieved at medium to short range by laser pistols. That being said, sectoids make a point to hide in buildings, and if any had been lying in wait to snipe our troops, they would have been obliterated. The lack of casualties in this mission only underscores the need to combine high explosives with valued, expendable assault troops who can get in close to deal with the enemy.

Our next update will be the beginning of February, with a report on our strategic progress thus far.

[Starglider]

Whoops, missed this thread, however I would like to volunteer for

if anyone wants a cameo role as the Skyranger pilot, that's cool

if only so I can pull a Wash piloting the Avenger through the AA defenses during the final assault on the alien base (if you make it that far ).

[Nephtys]

The International Extraterrestrial Combat Organization Marketing department suggests selling Medikits while we wait for those useless laser cannons to hit the market. Because it's very important to let the soldiers in every country's army pretend they'll survive being hit by a plasma bolt.

[Ryan Thunder]

But it's an SMG! It's quite obsolete for military use today since we have carbines, but every game needs a pistol, an SMG and an assault rifle, right?

Yes, because they're still used. I also mentioned sniper rifles and squad automatic weapons for suppression fire.

Oh, and Peptuck, how many times did you have to save and restart the game to get it to come out like that?

[Peptuck]

Oh, and Peptuck, how many times did you have to save and restart the game to get it to come out like that?

None.

Hard to believe, but I've gotten through January with zero casualties. I am shocked and appalled at our current lack of losses thus far.

[MJ12 Commando]

You see, the game is generally like this right before it introduces Mutons in Feb. with heavy plasma guns.

[wautd]

You see, the game is generally like this right before it introduces Mutons in Feb. with heavy plasma guns.

Which means an open vacancy for me \o/


Mutans are allright though. At least compared to those floating mindfuckers.

[weemadando]

Mutons are awesome. They're just like us - big, slow, stupid targets which can't shoot for shit.

The best thing about Mutons with Heavy Plasma is the sheer amount of collateral damage we'll be able to rack up.

[Vendetta]

Also the fact that every alien with a heavy plasma is a free heavy plasma to point back at them.

[Covenant]

But it's an SMG! It's quite obsolete for military use today since we have carbines, but every game needs a pistol, an SMG and an assault rifle, right?

Yes, because they're still used. I also mentioned sniper rifles and squad automatic weapons for suppression fire.

X-Com's weapons are absolutely absurd in every way, but it's not unreasonable for them to use SMGs and carbines--the rifles they use look like carbines to me. They'd certainly be shortest barrelled rifles ever. They do a lot of very dense room-clearing operations, and they're not even almost military. X-Com seems to be a bunch of scientists, the shittiest of which get sent to do the fighting. Nothing else would explain why they would give me a soldier who, upon hearing a civilian die, would panic and shiver in terror inside the skyranger--and then PROMOTE HER at the end of the mission.

I felt that TFTD made the weapons more distinguishable by altering the mechanics of the alien rifles. Sadly, the Gauss weapons were unusable unless you modded them, which I did, to give them infinite ammo like a laser. In any case though, weapon characteristics like penetration aren't what was needed. It should, however, attempted to give each kind of weapon a flavor and some general use. I don't mind having only 10 weapons if those weapons have a function. X-Com UFO devolved into everyone having Heavy Plasmas (or laser pistols if you're a minmaxing asshole) and a few with Psi-Amps. The only other weapon of note was the Blastopod Launcher. You gotta hand it to the Aliens though, they agreed with the player, so by the end of the game all they carried were Heavy Plasmas too. ;p

[Karza]

Decue and Karza, for their part in standing around and firing at harmless buildings and fruit trees, were promoted to captain. Command was especially impressed with the way Haven lobbed multiple rockets into one empty building, and promoted him/her to colonel. The MJ12s and Rhoenix, meanwhile, were rewarded for actually contributing to the mission by being bumped up to sergeant.

I'd love to see the official X-Com promotion guidelines . But wait a moment, the team lineup at start doesn't mention my spartan alter ego being in the team at all?

Code: Select all

UFO-03
Squad: Heavy Zablorg, Weemadando, White Haven, Decue, Vanas, Alfonso, MJ12-2, MJ12-3, Stark
HWP Rocket: piloted by Hawkwings

[consequences]

How did you kill four aliens and recover six corpses? Are they counting the individual pieces each as an alien or something?

I'll throw my name in, in whatever role you feel the need to have an extra body.

[Vendetta]

How did you kill four aliens and recover six corpses? Are they counting the individual pieces each as an alien or something?

Some died when the power core blew up. Happens frequently with the smaller UFOs.

But wait a moment, the team lineup at start doesn't mention my spartan alter ego being in the team at all?

You don't have to take part in a mission to be promoted at the end of it. Promotions are automatic based on the number of soldiers X-Com has.

Being highly promoted eventually makes you a REMF, standing in the skyranger with a blaster launcher providing a nice juicy morale bonus to the newbs out in the field.

[Karza]

You don't have to take part in a mission to be promoted at the end of it. Promotions are automatic based on the number of soldiers X-Com has.

Being highly promoted eventually makes you a REMF, standing in the skyranger with a blaster launcher providing a nice juicy morale bonus to the newbs out in the field.

Ah yeah, forgot about the officer quota thing. But in this case Peptuck specifically mentioned my alter ego getting the promotion for shooting shit up, and the team lineup only has nine names in it so maybe he did forget mentioning me in it?

[Peptuck]

You don't have to take part in a mission to be promoted at the end of it. Promotions are automatic based on the number of soldiers X-Com has.

Being highly promoted eventually makes you a REMF, standing in the skyranger with a blaster launcher providing a nice juicy morale bonus to the newbs out in the field.

Ah yeah, forgot about the officer quota thing. But in this case Peptuck specifically mentioned my alter ego getting the promotion for shooting shit up, and the team lineup only has nine names in it so maybe he did forget mentioning me in it?

Bureaucratic oversight. The clerk responsible for this error will help test our new heavy lasers when they come oline.

X-COM will not tolerate bookkeeping errors.

[Vendetta]

I question the ideological purity of this heavy laser business. By the time you face anything that needs more pew pew than a normal laser rifle provides (which you can shoot far more than a heavy, as heavy lasers have no automatic fire and huge TC cost) you have the far superior heavy plasma in play.

[Karza]

I question the ideological purity of this heavy laser business. By the time you face anything that needs more pew pew than a normal laser rifle provides (which you can shoot far more than a heavy, as heavy lasers have no automatic fire and huge TC cost) you have the far superior heavy plasma in play.

I used to build heavy lasers when the engineers had nothing else to do, since IIRC selling them nets something like 20-30k cash apiece. But you're right that they're fairly pointless in the battlefield.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Well I still want to say "Izz it Zafe" to some alien scum soon....

[weemadando]

I question the ideological purity of this heavy laser business. By the time you face anything that needs more pew pew than a normal laser rifle provides (which you can shoot far more than a heavy, as heavy lasers have no automatic fire and huge TC cost) you have the far superior heavy plasma in play.

I used to build heavy lasers when the engineers had nothing else to do, since IIRC selling them nets something like 20-30k cash apiece. But you're right that they're fairly pointless in the battlefield.

But there's no follow-up sales! Once they buy a laser weapon the third world despots don't need to comeback to us to buy ammo - they just hook it up to a giant hamsterwheel powered by slaves to recharge. I cannot condone the sale of any weapon system which does not at the very least give us the option to sell licenses for ammunition manufacturing!

[Peptuck]

I question the ideological purity of this heavy laser business. By the time you face anything that needs more pew pew than a normal laser rifle provides (which you can shoot far more than a heavy, as heavy lasers have no automatic fire and huge TC cost) you have the far superior heavy plasma in play.

Heavy Lasers are useful for tank-busting, as both Cyberdiscs and Sectopods are very vulnerable to laser weaponry; that's half the reason why Laser HWPs are so effective, too. They also make for good weapons for snipers, until you acquire the Heavy Plasma. Other than that, they're not that useful; I only carry HLs when up against Sectoid and Ethereal terror missions.

More importantly, Heavy Laser leads to Laser Cannon, which as we all know is the one true path for making shitloads of cash.

Besides, I don't want to give us our ultimate weaponry that early on; we already have HP and HP ammunition samples, and we could have them researched by the end of February. But sticking to lasers this early on makes things more interesting.

[MJ12 Commando]

Mutons are awesome. They're just like us - big, slow, stupid targets which can't shoot for shit.

The best thing about Mutons with Heavy Plasma is the sheer amount of collateral damage we'll be able to rack up.

I checked the stats and they're actually fairly accurate (elite Mutons can snipe quite well with aimed shots) and fairly fast. Mook Snakemen fit your description the best.

What difficulty is Peptuck playing on? On Beginner Mutons (and Sectopods) are utterly neutered, on Superhuman Mutons are death on legs, as they get about as fast as an elite X-Com operative and are very, very scarily accurate.

[Covenant]

What difficulty is Peptuck playing on? On Beginner Mutons (and Sectopods) are utterly neutered, on Superhuman Mutons are death on legs, as they get about as fast as an elite X-Com operative and are very, very scarily accurate.

Mutons really aren't so bad. There's a lot of ways to die in X-Com, but an accurate shot from a heavy plasma is hardly the most unexpected. Even a Sectoid can hit you pretty accurately. Hell, even a Floater. Not as consistantly, but they can. Seeing as the mutons lack psionics and their terror beasts are entirely worthless, I'd rather face Mutons when they appear than, say, Sectoids when they do. I'm more afraid of hunting cyberdiscs with heavy cannons and hand grenades than I am murdering Mutons with their own psionically controlled soldiers.

If the Mutons had Cyberdiscs or Cryssalids, yeah, then mutons are bad news. Thankfully their guys are freakin' worthless, and to anyone with a psi amp, the Mutons are just a bunch of puppets. Generally by the time you see mutons you've capped and researched a Sectoid commander, so you should be able to field some psion soldiers. Makes mutons pretty worthless.

[Peptuck]

What difficulty is Peptuck playing on?

Beginner. Parlty because I'm too terrified to play it on anything harder, and partly because that's what the game defaults to anyway without patching, and I have no idea where to get the patch.

Then again, even on Beginner this game is a horrible challenge for someone as inept at tactical combat as me. I cannot stress this enough: luck is the only reason we haven't had any casualties thus far. By all rights we should have lost half the squad on that last mission - and would have, if that sectoid hadn't ran the hell away.

[Karza]

But there's no follow-up sales! Once they buy a laser weapon the third world despots don't need to comeback to us to buy ammo - they just hook it up to a giant hamsterwheel powered by slaves to recharge. I cannot condone the sale of any weapon system which does not at the very least give us the option to sell licenses for ammunition manufacturing!

But at a few dozen pieces per month rate of manufacturing, the assorted tin-pot dictators will take quite a while to stock up their armories so business won't dry up anytime soon. Now someone might question the wisdom of selling laser weaponry to the assorted failed states, but we need the cash to save the Earth, right?