StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Sign me up for some indiscriminating destruction with the auto-cannon, with or without any armor

Oh yes. And we need to go into arms dealing. Remember -only sell weapons which they'll need to come to you for ammo for. Such as Plasma weapons. Never sell them stuff like Laser weapons, because then you won't get repeat business.

Private Alfonso to 'list and fight the foe today,
over the (blasted rubble) and far (ohgodtheirinthebase) away.

He demands close combat weaponry, the closer and more suicidal, the better!

weemadando wrote:Oh yes. And we need to go into arms dealing. Remember -only sell weapons which they'll need to come to you for ammo for. Such as Plasma weapons. Never sell them stuff like Laser weapons, because then you won't get repeat business.

This explains gauss weapons perfectly in TFTD. I guess Marketting realized their mistake with the Lasers.

Sign me up, Assault or Heavy (in which case I want an autocannon with incendiaries).

Remember, electro-flares are for amateurs, real pros improve night visibility by setting the whole map on fire .

Disclaimer: I've never played an X-COM game before. As such, I volunteer for something in the heavy category. If the hideous aliens don't get me, I will.

Nephtys wrote: This explains gauss weapons perfectly in TFTD. I guess Marketting realized their mistake with the Lasers.

No, it doesn't.

It certainly doesn't explain the terrible noise gauss weapons made or why their spot in the weapon balance stakes were so terrible.

weemadando wrote:Oh yes. And we need to go into arms dealing. Remember -only sell weapons which they'll need to come to you for ammo for. Such as Plasma weapons. Never sell them stuff like Laser weapons, because then you won't get repeat business.

Nonsense and tripe. Laser Cannons are the thing to be selling. Keep all the precious precious elerium based plasma ammunition to shoot at alien scum with.

Stark wrote:

Nephtys wrote: This explains gauss weapons perfectly in TFTD. I guess Marketting realized their mistake with the Lasers.

No, it doesn't.

It certainly doesn't explain the terrible noise gauss weapons made or why their spot in the weapon balance stakes were so terrible.

But it does. Each gauss weapon had such a small ammo capacity, and such little damage that you need multiple hits to down an alien target. This is a huge plus for Ammo Production Division, which can rest assured that any PMC or military they sell the rifles to needs lots of rounds during lobsterman attack

So much in fact that regulations prohibit your sub from carrying more than 80 'things'.

P-clangclang!

P-clangclang!

Na-uh, we ain't buying this crap!

If only UFO wasn't still so borked, broken and shit while JA2 is hell refined, lol.

Dammit, I've taken some screencaps, but they're coming out bad. Colors are all inverted or I'm getting blank caps.

This sucks royally.

Edit: Nevermind. My version of X-COM does indeed have a built-in screenshot feature.

THE LP CONTINUES!

Stark wrote:P-clangclang!

P-clangclang!

Na-uh, we ain't buying this crap!

If only UFO wasn't still so borked, broken and shit while JA2 is hell refined, lol.

GL & HF vs Lobstermen with dart guns, kay.

Peptuck wrote:Dammit, I've taken some screencaps, but they're coming out bad. Colors are all inverted or I'm getting blank caps.

This sucks royally.

Edit: Nevermind. My version of X-COM does indeed have a built-in screenshot feature.

THE LP CONTINUES!

I was going to actually warn you about this. I did a LP of TFTD on Superhuman with Ironman rules that I put up on Penny Arcade a few years ago, it was quite the epic voyage I tell you. I made up all sorts of alternate identities for the people, wove a long narrative storyline, had a few purely comedic episodes and parts in which I wrote about the slow mental takeover of the research base's commanding officer... I demand nothing less than you!

The first thing that struck Private Weemadando as he stepped off the elevator was a flash of claustrophobia. The gray-white corridors of the facility - buried about half a kilometer into the side of one of the Swiss Alps - were tight and bustling with soldiers, white-coated scientists, and engineers in gray coveralls. In fact, everything seemed a lifeless pallor of gray or cream. Pieces of equipment, unpacked crates, and the occasional rack of weapons further crammed the hallways.

He followed the soldier who had greeted him, who was clad in a gray jumpsuit with "MJ12-3" stenciled on the front where his name should be. The guy seemed to know where he was headed, weaving through the passages until they reached an area marked "General Stores 01." Up the stairs, around a corner, and inside a supply closet hastily stenciled with the words "Office" over its usual designation, and the Private found himself sitting in a chair across from the Commander himself.

"Good morning, son," the Commander said, nodding as Weemadando settled into his chair. His fatigues were exactly the same as anyone else's, save the skull-like ran insignia on his upper arm. His nametag read "Wong," and as he smiled, he folded up his hands and rested his chin on top of them.

It was then that the Private noticed the only thing different about Commander Wong's uniform: he wore a pair of white gloves. Somehow, that unnerved him; for some strange reason, he could almost picture him with a pair of orange sunglasses.

"Welcome to X-COM," the Commander said. "We hope you find your tenure here most . . . warm."

-

It wasn't that warm, Weemadando found. Commander Wong wasn't exactly the nicest guy one could ask for - and privately, he wondered how that sort of an officer would treat them on the battlefield - but the rest of the troops he encountered in the first few hours seemed decent enough sorts.

MJ12 came back to show him his barracks, though as they passed through the corridors, he could swear his nametag read "MJ12-2" this time around. As soon as he stepped into the barracks, Weemadando found himself face to face with a full squad of similarly-clad troopers, as well as what looked like some off-duty engineers and scientists. Apparently, everyone shared the same barracks facility.

"Hey, we got a rookie!" called one of the men, in a heavy Slavic accent. He carefully put down the multi-barreled cannon he had been cleaning and walked over, sticking a hand toward the new recruit. Weemadando noted he had a corporal's chevron on his sleeve. "How are you? I am Zablorg. Everyone just calls me 'Heavy.'"

"Weemadando," he replied. Zablorg nodded, waving toward the rest of the troops to get their attention. They all rose, setting down books or weapons, and crowded around to meet their new squadmate.

"Alright guys, this is Weemadando. He's assault, like most of you. That guy over there, with all the muscles, is Decue. This is Eyexist, he'll be on your fireteam. That guy with the sniper rifle is Rhoenix. This here is Guppyshark, he'll be rounding out your fireteam. That's Ohma there. The guy with the bombs and the stink of cooked flesh about him, he is Haven. We call him "White" because of all the flash burns. And that's Vendetta, he's assault just like you. And this guy is MJ12-1."

Weemadando shook everyone's hands, pausing as he did so with MJ12-1. He looked exactly like the other MJ12s he'd seen. That had to be a coincidence . . . right?

Zablorg showed him his bunk, which had his name written on it on a little white slate in black marker.

"Why is the tag on my bed written in wipe-away marker?" Weemadando asked as he dropped his bag off.

"You'll see," Zablorg replied, nodding with a grim smile. "You'll see."

-

Holy crap, these screencaps are crude. Had to catch them using the built-in capping feature, copy them to Paint, and then save them, because I'm too lazy to use GIMP.



Here is our base's exact location.



This is what the base looks like, after some initial construction. Behold, the beauty of Skynerfed!



Here is our troop roster. (yeah, I added Stark in, for the hell of it. Stark also has the most ludicrously high Accuracy stat in the entire platoon)

Ws stands or Weapons
As stands for Assault
Sp stands for Sniper
Ex stands for Expendable. All the MJ12s will likely be Ex's.

Incidentally, half of you underwent mandatory X-COM sex change surgery. (seriously, like 60% of you are women, somehow)


Orders were have been placed for additional rocket launchers, autocannons, and ammunition for both Stingray and Avalanche missiles. Also, an HWP has been requisitioned, along with ammunition for that, as well as work orders being filed for the expansion of both living quarters and general stores, as well as upgrades to our radar array. An alien containment facility for holding and interrogating enemy captives is also under construction.

Additional science personnel, as well as more cannon fodder - er, soldiers, have been recruited as well. Our science team, commanded by the illustrious Doctor Surlethe, is currently hard at work perfecting practical solid-state laser weaponry for use by our troops. It is believed the invaders' weaponry is far in advance of ours, and our basic battle strategy of burying them under piles of human corpses and mountains of high explosive will only go so far.

Per popular request, orders have been placed for additional stun prods. Our backup plan (should "Plan Blow The Fuck Out Of Them" fail) is to Sparta the shit out of the aliens. Unfortunately, for proper Sparta-ness, none of you will be wearing armor. Snazzy loincloths and capes will be available upon request.

First UFO contact came at 12:15, 1 January, just over the Atlantic Ocean and heading inland over Spain. We really had no idea what its intention was, except that it was "Very Small" and it definitely did not achieve its objective. At approximately 13:33, Interceptor-01, piloted by Coalition - callsign "Coal" - caught up with the UFO and shoved an Avalanche missile up its foul xenos tailpipe, obliterating the invader.

I, uh, forgot to take a screenshot of that. >.>

By 7 January, no alien contacts were made inside of X-COM's current area of operations. However, more UFO contacts were reported over Siberia and other parts of Russia. Plans are being considered to build a second base, either in Japan or China, to cover that area.

Also, by the end of the first week of January, a breakthrough was made in laser weaponry development, and research began in earnest on creating a basic laser-based sidearm for our troops. Very quickly, a basic model for a lightweight laser pistol was crafted, and our engineering crews began work on producing enough laser weaponry to supply our troops. Also, research began on expanding the size and firepower of the laser pistol into a rifle form.

Then, on the seventeenth of January, we picked up a UFO that had landed at Iceland.



Presumably, their objective was to anally probe the snow and volcanoes.

THUNDERCATS, GO!

Coal's Interceptor was dispatched to fly combat air patrol and keep an eye on the landed UFO, while the Skyranger, loaded with a squad of troops and our brand-new rocket-equipped HWP would follow. Unfortunately, due to a supply fuckup, none of our troops are equipped with night vision gear. Not wishing to face unknown, hostile aliens with a penchant for surprise anal probing in the dark, the Skyranger delayed just out of sight until daybreak.

Coal's patrolling Interceptor must have spooked the aliens, as the UFO took off about an hour later. Coalition then proceeded to plant his boot firmly in the invaders' posterior with a couple well-placed Avalanches. With the UFO in question not going anywhere, the assault team waited until daybreak, and then dropped in to welcome the visitors.



Hawkwings, sitting safe back in Switzerland controlling his tank while munching on (reportedly) Cheetos and (allegedly) swigging a giant bottle of Wild Turkey, took the lead. The invaders appeared to be blind and deaf as well as hostile, because the first of the little gray bastards was facing away from the Skyranger when the HWP came rolling down the ramp.



Cue the human version of the anal probe.



With Hawkwings bravely taking the lead in his remote controlled tank, and with MJ12-1 flanking him, the majority of the squad advanced toward the UFO, north of the landing site.



Ohma and "Heavy" Zablorg took the flank to make sure no grays snuck up on the rest of the team, while rhoenix took up a good sniping position to support the rest of the unit.

And yes, Zablorg is a woman. Either that or he has very pretty hair.



Hawkwings took some fire from another gray lurking beside the downed UFO.



Education on the effects of high explosive on exposed infantry followed.



The rest of the team reached the UFO without incident, and prepared for a breach. MJ12-1 took the lead. The interior of the UFO was filled with smoke; whatever power core it had blew up either when it crashed or when Coalition wrecked its shit. I mean, dude, you seriously fucked this thing up.



Once the presence of two survivors was confirmed, the squad stormed the UFO and showed us just how fine our recruiting pool is. I was unable to take screenshots, as the shooting parts play out way too fast for me to take a shot. However....

Pretty much, the squad sucked ass. When you guys breached the UFO, you succeeded at hitting everything EXCEPT the aliens. Those walls? Pockmarked with bullets. The only reason the sectoids didn't slaughter the whole squad was that they were too busy laughing at how poor everyone's aim was.



Fortunately, Decue and White Haven saved everyone's asses; Haven scored a beautiful shot on one sectoid right in the face with a rocket. Decue got off a snap-shot with the autocannon's HE rounds that blew the second one to bits.

In the end, high explosives wins again.

Post mission analysis: Four aliens killed, eight artifacts recovered. Two pieces of UFO navigation, and twenty-some odd alien alloys recovered. No one died. Somehow. Hawkwings, Decue, and White Haven pretty much rocked the house with overwhelming firepower.

Covenant wrote:

Peptuck wrote:Dammit, I've taken some screencaps, but they're coming out bad. Colors are all inverted or I'm getting blank caps.

This sucks royally.

Edit: Nevermind. My version of X-COM does indeed have a built-in screenshot feature.

THE LP CONTINUES!

I was going to actually warn you about this. I did a LP of TFTD on Superhuman with Ironman rules that I put up on Penny Arcade a few years ago, it was quite the epic voyage I tell you. I made up all sorts of alternate identities for the people, wove a long narrative storyline, had a few purely comedic episodes and parts in which I wrote about the slow mental takeover of the research base's commanding officer... I demand nothing less than you!

I might write an X-COM fanfic to tie in with all this.

Great start Peptuck.

Covenant wrote:I was going to actually warn you about this. I did a LP of TFTD on Superhuman with Ironman rules that I put up on Penny Arcade a few years ago, it was quite the epic voyage I tell you. I made up all sorts of alternate identities for the people, wove a long narrative storyline, had a few purely comedic episodes and parts in which I wrote about the slow mental takeover of the research base's commanding officer... I demand nothing less than you!

Sounds fun, do you have the link handy?

Zablorg, you have to tell me who does your hair...I think my barber has problems...

Ohma wrote:Zablorg, you have to tell me who does your hair...I think my barber has problems...

Alien blood makes good conditioner.

In the end, high explosives wins again.

High explosives more than compensates for low skill!

I might write an X-COM fanfic to tie in with all this.

I believe this is an excellent idea.

Hawkwings wrote:

In the end, high explosives wins again.

High explosives more than compensates for low skill!

And having power-armour makes surviving HE with low skills viable!

Excellent! Your teams have nice, compact formations that are excellent for high kill-ratios, in the alien's favor.
Of course with 6 billion humans, we will win in the end ... eventually.

Sign me up for assault.

Name: Disco


PS. when a base invasion occorse, did the aliens come trough the elevator or the hangars? Might be wise to re-organise your room so you'll have chokepoints that are much easier to defend

GuppyShark wrote:Great start Peptuck.

Covenant wrote:I was going to actually warn you about this. I did a LP of TFTD on Superhuman with Ironman rules that I put up on Penny Arcade a few years ago, it was quite the epic voyage I tell you. I made up all sorts of alternate identities for the people, wove a long narrative storyline, had a few purely comedic episodes and parts in which I wrote about the slow mental takeover of the research base's commanding officer... I demand nothing less than you!

Sounds fun, do you have the link handy?

When the PA boards went down a few months later, it took my thread with it, never to be recovered. I have a few random screenshots lying around from it, and I may have the text bottled somewhere, but to my knowledge it's lost. Sadly, most of the normal screenies are gone, not that they really meant much anyway. Half of them you wouldn't understand now--when the head scientist of the science base went entirely insane after capturing a Tasoth and having it sent to him for study, I had him file a bogus log entry and used screenshots from Sealab 2021. I did luckily save a funny one that proves I did at least do some TFTD stuff.

I really loved that Heavy Weapons Platform. Got me about halfway through the game! I use them as spotters, and have everyone else fire cross-map at the target. That's partially how I never lost anyone (edit, I did lose a few nameless rookies in the endgame when I needed to fill the Leviathan, and I also lost a few named character during the final three-part base assault). The other was what Peptuck is doing--liberal use of explosives! Grenades EVERYWHERE. And smoke. And flares!

Feel free to throw me into combat too.

Argosh wrote:Excellent! Your teams have nice, compact formations that are excellent for high kill-ratios, in the alien's favor.

I tend to adopt more spread-out formations when I can, though this was a small map and very early on; not a whole lot of explosives being used early-game, at least on this difficulty. We were moving from the Skyranger to the target inside a couple of rounds. Itw as literally in line-of-sight of the Skyranger's ramp.

Riskiest parts of these operations are when the team is stacking up to breach the UFO and when they're getting off the Skyranger. I once got a stun bomb dropped right on the entry ramp during a terror mission that took out 80% of my troops on the second round. Then the Chryssalids wandered by >.>

PS. when a base invasion occorse, did the aliens come trough the elevator or the hangars? Might be wise to re-organise your room so you'll have chokepoints that are much easier to defend

That's planned for February; we don't have the money right now for major rennovations at Skynerfed, and retaliation missions won't come for a couple of months at least. I also want to start contruction of a secondary base ASAP, either in Asia or in North America, and I need to hire more scientists and engineers. I'm considering pushing research straight toward Laser Cannons so we can begin mass-producing those for profit. Once we start cranking out those - preferably at a dedicated manufacturing base with a big engineering staff - we can really get the ball rolling.

So hideous... so amusing everyone consistently fails to duplicate the featureset without breaking something.