Let's Play UFO: Aftermath

[CaiusWickersham]

There's a thought going through my fevered brain and it has found root in a glorious concept. Another Let's Play! Rather than the XCOM games, I decided to do one of its spiritual successors: UFO After[blank] series. Why? Because Kikoskia got me hooked on it and I have the urge to one-up the little goit.

Now, UFO Aftermath works a lot differently than XCOM did. We won't have an unlimited number of soldiers to hire. We get what we get and that's it. There's more need of bases and we go out on actual missions to advance goals. To that end, that means more decision-making. Decision-making I'm leaving to the goons who get lured into this.

Rather than just take people at random, I want to see some guys who can be creative. Especially considering our heroes tend to be hillbilly voices. Thus I'm giving people a template: Bob the Soldier. He's a completely average soldier -- no special forces-level abilities or specialized professions. Bob's an ordinary rifleman completely average in his capabilities. Make Bob interesting for me and I'll put you in a soldier role. Bob's name (and thus gender) and nationality can be freely changed, but you have to convincingly make a soldier who survived the biological apocalypse that kicked off the game.

I know there's some people who'd like to be pilots, R&D, and other attached personnel. That's fine, and you can freely make posts and decide those issues as well. I still want to see creativity. So, who's interested?

[CaiusWickersham]

Wow, a whole week of silence. I take it there's no interest, then?

[Zixinus]

There was a Let's Play about that game before, but that's not the cause for lack of interest. That's because you are expecting others to start the ball rolling for you. That's your job.

The thing about Let's Plays, is that they aren't quite about the game itself. It's about what the person(s) does while playing.

Watching a gameplay segment of some stranger you don't see or hear or know playing Amnesia is boring. Listening to someone scream like a little girl while playing Amnesia is hilarious. There are horror Let's Plays where they even have a webcam recording, just so their viewers can see their expressions as well.
Other good Let's Plays can rely on the person being funny, or interesting or observant or just being their weird selves. Or having others make fun of the person playing. Or even just presenting the game in an interesting way.

If you want to involve forum members, you should start by an opening of the style you'll do a Let's Play. You want to spin a story on a game? Just start. Take notes beforehand, use hastily-photographed screenshots, insert relevant non-game images, come up with as much jokes as you can, figure out what to record, play the game beforehand to learn a bit more of its ins-and-outs (and surprises), etc. Do it well enough and people will join up.

[CaiusWickersham]

On May 25, 2004, a giant spacecraft approached the earth. Silent, it hovered
ominously over the world and began to release great clouds of spores into the upper
atmosphere. Rapidly multiplying, the spores soon darkened the skies, and before long
obscured the sun completely. In later days, this period would be known as the
“Twilight.”.
The spores, having reached critical mass in the skies, began to rain down. Over the
course of several days, they began to clog and streets and bodies of water, smothering
people in their homes and burying animals in the wild. During the "Nightfall," as it came
to be called, most of the higher life forms on the earth were wiped out.
During the Twilight, all human responses were futile. Choosing caution over
aggression, the governments of the world didn’t realize how quickly the end could
come, and were buried alongside those that they governed. A few, however, did
survive, sealed in underground bases with stocks of food and oxygen. After several
weeks, the spores seemed to have disintegrated, decomposing and settling into the
soil. The world seemed safe again, for a time. This is where you come in: You must
gather together the remaining peoples of the planet, find out what has happened and,
if possible, get your revenge.

January 1, 2005: Council of Earth HQ bunker [LOCATION CLASSIFIED]

"Sergeant, we got this bunker, filled with troops, planes, guns, enough to fight any enemy in the world. Every time we send men out, we never see them again. Do you know what we need?"

"Better tactics and equipment, sir?"

"No, son, that stuff's expensive. We need a 'go to' squad. Men who will get things done with the least amount of equipment possible. Men we can sell to the other troops as an example. Now, given we haven't had results for months, we need people a little on the gullible side. Now, where can I find people like that?"

"Well, sir, there are these two new guys who made it to the Denver location just this morning, but they seem a bit . . . light in the head."

"Why that's perfect, son! Get those guys the standard flak vests and shotguns. We got lots of them. Get them briefed on the situation, the nearest missions and send them out in that old Chinook we got out there. We need a cool name for them . . . I know, Phoenix Company! Now, get them on the move and make sure they got purdy movies for the boys here."

"Sir, we're trusting the defense of Earth to a bunch of guys, who are unprepared, and already sound like they're a couple of hillbillies?"

"Yes, Sergeant, that's exactly what we're gonna do! Now get 'er done and soldier, soldier."

So, welcome to UFO:Aftermath, the first in the Afterblank series. Instead of a nice, shiny, XCOM base funded by the major powers, we're a ragtag group of hillbillies and stereotypes given crud weapons and scraps and told to fight an alien menace in post-apocalyptia.

The game provides more strategic choice than XCOM did and since I'd rather not do it all myself again, I am going to let those interested have input on the decisions to be made. The board can decide on which missions we do and what order, what is to be researched and manufactured, and how soldiers are to be advanced. People can select the roles they want, and I will provide what is necessary. Those who want to be soldiers will be given a character as they become available with beginning stats. They can choose how their character will be advanced through experience and training, what loadout they will have (basic armor will be automatically given on introduction; everything from there is your choice). I will handle the tactical sides of things, moving the troops around and showing off the battle films.

[LaCroix]

Can we have a few screenshots and/or info on our options, etc?

[CaiusWickersham]

Here is the soldier screen. Every soldier is given a random score in six stats (Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Willpower, Intelligence and Perception). These stats control the level of the soldier's skills (Marksmanship, Rifles, Pistols, Launchers, Throwing, Hit Points, Psi Power, Speed, Dodging, Observation, Stealth, Medical, Aliens, and Capacity). Every time a soldier gains a level, the soldier gets one point to an attribute of the player's choice. If a soldier meets certain attribute levels, the solider can train in one of seven specialties (Sniper, Soldier, Scout, Grenadier, Medic, Psionic, or Scientist) that provide a one-level boost to a set of four skills. These skills do overlap between specialties and they do not stack. As the player secures bases and progresses in technology, weapons and armor are secured that can be distributed among soldiers in limited quantities.


This is the world map. It will show what parts of the world the Council of Earth controls (outlined in blue). Every so often, missions will pop up on the map with a triangle icon. Clicking on these icons gives the player a description of the mission and the option to accept the mission for Phoenix Team or delegate to the regulars (or hang onto for a while until the player can decide). Any missions left on the map for a period of time will be taken up by the regular troops, who have a chance to succeed or fail by somewhat random chance. Successfully completing missions is needed to expand influence and secure new bases.


This is one of the research windows. Research is divided between research (the more science-y part of things -- autopsies, theories, etc) and development (engineering -- building weapons, armor and physical tech). The more bases devoted to research, the faster research projects are done, more engineering bases speed up development tasks. The third kind of base, military, handles soldier deployment and fighter interception.

[LaCroix]

Head (Mad) scientist LaCroix reporting in for duty.

"We definately need to research Laser Principles and Energy Cells first!" DDDDDr. LaCroix exclaimed during the initial meeting with his collegues, or minions, as he preferred to think of them.
"Of course, this would allow us to produce better guns for our troops," one of them agreed. LaCroix simply nodded, but didn't even look his way, he didn't care who it was.
"Not to forget fighter weaponry and base defense! We must think bigger!" a female voice chimed in.
"And Energy Cells could be the clue to new drive systems, among other things," another voice proclaimed, emboldened by the acceptence of her collegues' opinons.
LaCroix didn't listen as more and more of them presented their ideas what kind of technology they could derive from his proposed projects. His mind was busy constructing various devices that would allow him to have even more fun during an authopsy.

[CaiusWickersham]

Okay, LaCroix, I should also mention that the research trees in Aftermath are a bit more elaborate than in XCOM. Taking the screenshot above, I have Gobber Autopsy highlighted. In the middle, there's two things under "Needed." The alien head means a biological specimen or artifact recovered from a mission. There can also be a biohazard symbol (research topics) or a cogwheel (piece of tech). The icons that are solid are absolute requirements, don't have them and the research can't be done or the item can't be built. White means we got it; red means we don't. There are also hollow icons; these are things that aren't required but help make the project go faster if we have them. The Gobber Autopsy requires a dead gobber, but the possession of a live one makes things easier as the scientists have something to show how everything works together.

I will let you know what topics are available and which still need things that can be gained by specific missions or research topics so you can plan ahead.

ETA: I still need two people to take the solider roles.

[CaiusWickersham]

Let's get this started proper, then.

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COE BASE HOUSTON

Head Scientist LaCroix sits in the large conference room surrounded by the heads of the departments within the engineering base. The department head that drew the short straw to brief the base (Bob, from Accounting) nervously spoke up.
"W-we have just received two research proposals from the Council. We can look into either finding a way to detect the UFOs on radar for the purposes of interception by jet fighter or researching the events that led up to the Twilight and the Nightfall. Researching the Twilight and Nightfall would require some modifications to the equipment in the base. We can work while the modifications are done, but the full modifications will take 24 hours to complete. Either project will take us longer than that given we only have one base."

So, LaCroix, your choice:
A. Change the base over to a Research base to research the Twilight and Fall?
B. Keep the base an Engineering base and research UFO detection?

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COE BASE DENVER

The two new survivors are given a shower, MREs and a change of clothes (ill-fitting surplus fatigues) and then quickly hustled to the quartermaster's office. The corporal on duty is given two clipboards with their vital information.

"McLean and Rowley, is it? I'm in charge of getting you outfitted. There's not much to choose from, but here's what we got. You get the standard flak jacket and helmet everyone gets. Not much, but it's better than going out there naked. As far as weapons and other equipment, here's your options. You can tell me what it is you're most comfortable with. And if you want some sort of call sign, you better tell me now."

[LaCroix]

"Modify my equipment? Who? You?" LaCroix thundered.

"Nobody touches my equipment but me. Do. You. Understand?" he growled, his face only inches from the frantically nodding office drone.
"And of course we will work on improving the radar, first. What good is a history lesson if we're still blind to their actions. We need to act, not to react! And now, out!"
The fleeing accountant didn't notice the smile on the Head Scientist's face. LaCroix was happy, the sooner they could find these buggers, the sooner he could studyv one of them... In detail..."

[CaiusWickersham]

OK, UFO Detection selected. It will be a few days before it's completed.

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COE BASE DENVER

Recruits Malcolm McLean and Brian Rowley opted to keep the weapons they came in with. McLean did drop his pistol off to conserve weight, took the flak jacket and helmet and a few more frag grenades. Rowley kept his 9mm Uzi and took up some more grenades. While they finished getting dressed and settled in, the alert came down for a briefing.

The duty sergeant met them in the makeshift briefing room with a rough photo map of several city blocks.
"We have reports of an incursion outside the city. Get out there and clear the area." That was the sum of the briefing and the new Phoenix Company was escorted out to their Chinook transport chopper. Within minutes they were airborne.


McLean: We set down in a basketball court. What are we to do exactly?
COE Control: Mill about smartly, kill things.
Rowley: Easy for them to say.
McLean: All right, just stick together like we did coming in and we'll be fine. Look around and there shouldn't be anything bad.
Rowley: Well, I see one right over there.


Meet the Morelman. He's one of the basic sort of "transgenants" frequently seen in the early part of the game. Close-up, he looks like a man with something growing out of his torso, more towards the back than the front. The more humanoid transgenants can carry weapons. They start with firearms, but will get more advanced gear as the game progresses.
McLean: Open up on him.
::shotgun bursts and Uzi bursts:: Rowley: Killed that bastard!
McLean: I see one!


Another basic transgenant, the Chomper. Chompers have two things going for them: their strong bite and the fact they often run in packs. Beyond that, a couple soldiers can easily handle them with guns or a grenade if it sits still long enough.

Rowley: Move up.
McLean: Another one of those human-looking ones. Looks like he's armed with a pistol.
Rowley: We got the big one's attention. Open up.
::shotgun and Uzi blasts intermingled with single pistol shots::
McLean: At least these jackets hold up.
Soldiers get wounded very easily in UFO Aftermath as opposed to XCOM (where they're more likely to just die on impact). However, wounds don't matter much until a soldier drops to below 50% health. At that point, they're going to the infirmary to recuperate for a few days.
Rowley: Nailed it.
McLean: And he's down. That's three down.
COE Control: That's all we needed. Head on home.
Search and destroy missions like this require so many enemies killed. At first, it can be 2-3, but will increase as the game goes on. Double digits are possible in the late game.

The two returned home with some small bruises, but nothing a couple bandages wouldn't fixed. As the Chinook landed, the two were brought back to the briefing room with several more pinpoints on the big world board.
"While you two were out, we got several more missions for you. We need a couple spots near LA and Mexico City cleared out so we can start expanding in those spots. The third choice is an encore presentation near Houston. It's your pick what you want to do, but remember anything sitting too long will be given back to the regulars."

NEW MISSION CHOICES: LA, MEXICO CITY, HOUSTON. All three are search & destroy.
NEW RESEARCH: MORELMAN AUTOPSY & CHOMPER AUTOPSY (will need to switch engineering base or get a new one).
Lastly, both soldiers earned an experience level from the first mission. Experience is earned primarily by kills, but some small amount is given just for participating in the mission as well as being wounded to the point of needing medbay time. With every experience level, the soldier can select one attribute to improve. I gave McLean a step up on Intelligence to make him completely average in all his skills. Rowley got his Awful Dexterity improved to Poor. This improves his Handguns skill (and thus his prowess with the Uzi), his Hit Points to Good and his Stealth to Poor.

[CaiusWickersham]

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COE BASE HOUSTON

January 3, 2005
It took two days, but the scientists managed to get the current radar systems to detect any UFOs that may be overhead. Their range is limited, however, given that the UFOs have some sort of stealth technology as the returns are faint and the techs need to squint to determine whether they're looking at a craft or birds.

Head Scientist LaCroix was pulled into the conference room for the next project. Bob drew the short straw again and gave the briefing.
"To put it bluntly, sir, we have no engineering projects at the current time. Everything we can do requires a transition to a research base. The other option is to wait on Phoenix Company to re-establish a new base. They just returned from a search and destroy near Los Angeles and that did help extend our influence there a bit, but we're nowhere near having a base there yet."



Nothing to comment on the mission; more Morelmen and Chompers. As you can see on the world map, there is a faint blue trapezoid extending to our west. That means we have established some influence in that area. The brighter the blue, the more solid our grip on the territory. Once we have enough control, we can get a mission to establish a new base in the location. In the meantime, I will be handling the search and destroy missions the game's giving me so far.
LaCroix, your choices are:
A. Switch the Houston base to a research base and have the eggheads work on one of the three topics outstanding.
B. Sit and wait for a new base to come online.

[FaxModem1]

TRANSCRIPT OF PRIVATE JONES AKA GUMBO INITIAL RECRUITMENT INTO X-COM.

"This is Private "Gumbo" Jones, reporting as ordered. Someone needed the chow hall looked at?"

*Muttering*

"What do you mean the kitchen is automated? (Indecipherable Cajun)"

*Sounds of pots and pans be thrown about and rattling on the floor.*

"Oh, GOT SPIRIT, EH?"

*Sounds of Machinery clogging and being ripped apart.*

"ARE YOU COUILLON?"

*Sounds of scuffling and guards dragging away "Gumbo"

"Fine, fine. I'll leave your precious robotic chef alone."

*What's this?"*Sound of file hitting desk*

"Scout? Well if you think this old Grand Beede can be a Scout, I'll do it. Just make sure I get full access to the kitchens to MAKE MY GUMBO!"

*Sounds of chair being tipped over and recording device falling over*

[LaCroix]

"And what now?" one of the lab engineers asked.

"You ask me? I didn't hear anything about this," his friend next to him replied.

"You there in front, keep walking, I need to get to my station!" someone shouted from the back of the crowd.
Some muttering later, a "WHAT?" rang out from the same voice.

"I've checked the mail server, no notice there, but this is legit, even got the right stamsp and all," another engineer explained.

"Well, seems we finally have time to catch up with the laudry," some extremely witty member of the disgruntled group joked.

Nobody else shared his humor. The sign was bad news.

**** CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT ****
*** TECHNICAL CREW FURLOUGHED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE***
***NOW HIRING THEORETICAL ENGINEERS AND PHILOSOPHERS***
Signed: DDDr. LaCroix

***************************************
Get the base reorganized for research and get them to work on Twilight and Fall

[CaiusWickersham]

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COE BASE HOUSTON

January 6, 2005

The transition was fairly seemless. Along with the equipment for research and the transfer of personal came trunks full of hard drives, films, slides, and all sorts of media. The main scientists busied themselves with reviewing the events of the Twilight and Fall, putting together a timeline and brief of events three days later.


At the same time, a chopper dropped off five coolers filled with transgenant bodies. While the scientists moved them to the base freezer, one of the leftovers from the engineering days came running up talking about using the new knowledge of the Twilight in an outreach mission to the local yahoos for more support for COE missions. This meant, of course, refitting the base AGAIN.

So, LaCroix, your choice: go ahead with an autopsy or refit the base back to engineering for the Goodwill Mission?

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COE BASE DENVER

McLean and Rowley were suiting up for a mission in Mexico City when they were handed "Gumbo" Roberts and told they had a third man for the mission. Gumbo came with the standard shotgun and armor to go out and kill transgenants. All along the 18 hour trip on the Chinook, Gumbo talked about making gumbo when he got back. How he was going to do that with most fish stocks depleted thanks to the Twilight and the only safe food being MREs, was a mystery left to the ages.
Mexico City had some new transgenants, a welcome change from Morelmen and Chompers, but now the team faced new threats.

This is the Cudgel, the Morelman's big brother. A little tougher than the Morelman and can carry weapons itself. Not much of a threat on its own, but it tends to have company, especially in base missions.

This guy is the Balloon fish. It's a floating piscine suicide bomb. Not a huge problem in an open area with someone who's good at observation, but can be a huge problem in base missions where it has a nasty habit of hanging out close to doors. Doors behind which the whole team is gathered for massed fire.

Lastly, the Slimethrower. This is the first of many ranged weapon transgenants and it can be a hassle in the early stages. It launches slime balls that hurt and can end up killing soldiers with its lousy aim. Best thing to do is get in close with a lot of firepower, using cover as much as is possible.

We are picking up UFOs on radar and we can launch fighter planes at them. The UFOs come in various classes and sizes. Observers have a nasty habit of jiggling in place and disappearing before fighters can reach them. Second contact was a Laboratory UFO that we managed to reach with the planes.

Where XCOM had UFOs fly solo, in UFO:Aftermath, they fly with escorts. The idea is to have your flight of three Eurofighters (yes, that's they're called) destroy all four UFOs without getting shot down. It's all random with some modifiers for advanced tech.

Needless to say, the flight failed. They managed to shoot down 2 escorts, but were all destroyed in turn. Until the fighters are replaced, we can't intercept UFOs for now. Each military base has one group of fighters so UFOs can be overwhelmed by successive wings. This is one of the weird things of UFO:Aftermath -- soldiers are precious and came rarely while pilots are decanted from clone tanks it seems.

[FaxModem1]

Gumbo watched the air battle on the screen in horror as the fighters were shot down. That horror quickly turned to rage. "FEET PUE PAN! Those tortue are going to meet my bibette and see what happens when they come into a man's home uninvited. Je vas te passe une callotte."

The man was so angry, he didn't even stop by the chow hall to make sure his ingredients, though admittedly synthetic and not natural food, had arrived to make his world famous gumbo.

[LaCroix]

"What? WHAT? Retooling again? Now? I just got my knives in order, polished, and everything else set up!" The head scientist could be heard screaming from the conference room the engineer had commandeered. Immediately, it drew a crowd, and first bets were exchanged. The yelling, in the meantime, had grown louder.

"I tell you something, sonnyboy - if you want to keep your cozy job calibrating our equipment so we real scientists can do our job, you better not get under my nose with this nonsense again! Come to me when you got something important to tell me, or you will find yourself among the others, in the flight school, you got me? And now OUT!"

The engineer barreled out of the room like a bowling ball, and the crowd dispersed like pins when he charged through them. Not a second too early, for a crimson-faced head scientist exited next, loooking for another target. Finding everybody seemingly deep in work, he turned towards the closest of them.

"You! Autopsy room 1, NOW! Full hazmat gear! Pick up a genant you think I like on the way," he growled, and stomped off towards his office to change, himself. Everyone else was firmly adhering to the "better him than me" rule in this lab, giving the unlucky assistant, who was already starting to turn green around the gills, a wide berth as they tried to find occupation as far away as possible from the head scientists projected trajectory towards the surgery.

[CaiusWickersham]

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COE BASE HOUSTON

The techs looked through the body bags that piled on the freezer when another piped up, "Hey, this cudgel's still kicking! Grab his dead bro and we can do comparisons." With that, a hastily selected group of doctors donned biosuits and started slicing up the two transgenants, comparing the piping in the dead one to the barely conscious cudgel set for vivisection. As the team worked into the night, they were interrupted by the PA system playing "I Love L.A." at maximum volume followed by the voice of the head of the unofficial engineering team.

"Consider this our two weeks notice, LaCroix! The soldiers just secured a base in Los Angeles and the COE brass has ordained that it will be a full time engineering base. We are picking up our toys and LEAVING! NOW! We'll get started on the goodwill campaign while you play slice and dice with the transies. When we're done in about a week, we'll call you."

While the hubbub continued with the teams leaving by chopper and truck convoy and LaCroix did whatever he was going to do, the autopsy team finished the autopsy/vivisection of the cudgels and turned to the pile that had increased thanks to the Denver team finding more specimens.
"Well, we got a live morelman. Might as well do that unless LaCroix says otherwise."

I started the Morelman Autopsy since I had the optional live specimen. If you want to start on another one (you got Flapper, Slimethrower, Plecton, Sporeblower and Chomper still), let me know. The only topic in Development was the Goodwill Mission and I saw no reason not to start it up with the addition of a full engineering base.

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COE BASE DENVER

Phoenix Company flipped through the mission profiles that sat in the Inbox.
"The structure scuttle looks decent and it's close to LA so we might get some better security there. That deal near Houston is pretty long in the tooth, though . . . " McLean muttered as he read."
Rowlands complained, "All we've done is those search and destroy missions. I want something new."
"Blow things up! We do that!" Gumbo had cast the deciding vote. The team loaded up and set out for their mission.
"Here's the building." McLean showed the team the photos on the chopper ride.
"One frag should kill that." Rowlands noted as the chopper set down and the team made its way through the city streets to their target. On their way, they saw a birdlike creature flopping on the ground.

Meet the Flapper. It's only purpose is to give weak team members an experience boost. It has no weapons and moves like a pregnant sow. It will make noises that can alert other transgenants when it dies, but in all honesty, the transgenants likely already know you're there."
"Gumbo, go kill it. We'll scout ahead."
"I'm supposed to be the scout."
"Not yet you aren't. Now kill that thing and we'll meet up under the . . ."

"Gumbo, finish it off and get over here!"
This is the Plecton, the Slimethrower's bigger brother. Stronger, tougher, more accurate, and more deadly. Depending on your loadout, you're better off using grenades than toeing it.
After playing hide and seek to get close enough to take the Plecton on with two shotguns, the team managed to make it to the target. A grenade from Rowlands brought the structure down and the team were headed back when COE Control radioed them with new orders: the survey team found a base location in Los Angeles and Phoenix Company had to clear it out. The Chinook spun around and made for the target location.
Mission influence will bleed over into adjacent zones if they're close enough. Also, base missions cannot be voluntarily delegated. They will be handed off if they sit too long, though. Given the regular troops penchant for success, it's almost always better to take the base missions so you're not risking losing a new base.
The jog on the surface was uneventful, the interior was a different story.
Base missions are always two-parters. Get to the base and have everyone in the green square in front. Anyone not in the square will be left behind and be dead when you finish. Anything killed in the first part adds to experience and nothing else. The second part is what counts: clear the base of so many transgenants. Good news: the base itself has only lower-order transgenants. Bad news: the lower-order transgenants are the ones who can use guns.
Outside
Inside
Inside the base were cudgels, flappers, and a new transgenant.

The Sporeblower. Related to the balloonfish in purpose, it showers the team in spores. Deadly spores. That drain health very quickly. Shoot them quick.
Securing the base was a big boost for COE. The base contained a number of new weapons and armor. Almost immediately, COE brass reassigned the base to egineering, meaning all things military were packed up and taken out.
The success in LA cleared up the survey teams for another base in Mexico City. While the enemies were the same, Phoenix Company took serious casualties. McLean was almost killed by assault rifle-wielding morelmen and Rowling needed to spend time in the medical bay as well. Gumbo had improved his agility to the point he could finally enter the scouting training program.
Training in a profession takes 36 hours and requires certain attribute levels. FaxModem wanted Gumbo to be a Scout. The experience from the two base missions were enough to get his Agility to the point he could train as a Scout.
Finally, base missions give you more than a nice, new location for operations. They get you stuff. Good stuff. Better guns and armor stuff.
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Everyone has combat armor and helmets since it's a nice upgrade to the standard armor. The assault rifles are nice upgrades to the shotgun. Better range, burst fire capability for more damage, more ammo capacity. The only downside is that better guns require their own ammo, which can only be found through base missions in any real quantity. This is another one of UFO's quirks: they can built extremely advanced alien tech (once researched), but they don't have an ammo press?
Last thing of note are the incendiary grenades. Kikoskia never used them because he says they are rubbish. I will show he is full of nothing but filthy lies on that regard.

Map of the world. We have a military base near Mexico City as well, so that zone is fully under our control.

[CaiusWickersham]

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COE BASE DENVER

Gumbo came into the armory after a 36 hour romp in the mountains with the scouting instructors. While the "accelerated course" took a toll on the body, Gumbo did find that he was better at spotting and remaining hidden as well as able to move faster. Looking at the growing stockpile, he took a H&K G3 rifle, 3 spare mags and 3 grenades. After getting several hours of sleep in the bunk, Malcolm and Brian came out of sickbay.
They got called up and found they had two new squadmates and they were being given a recon mission outside the base. Brass wanted to make sure they were all back up to speed.

Only new transgenant on this one was the Danglefly, the last of the base tier transgenants. Underneath the fly body is a human torso. Not very tough on its own, it does tend to come in numbesr and it can use guns. Right now, their weapon of choice is typically an assault rifle. Rest assured, it gets worse later on.

While out on mission, more UFOs were detected and interceptions were launched. While a night interception went down in flames,

a daylight interception went much better, giving the Council of Earth their first opportunity to get a look at their real enemy.

The UFO crashed in an outlying section of Managua, and Phoenix Company was rapidly dispatched to get a live capture of what the craft was holding.
For some reason, this mission was labelled a "capture a live transgenant that was on the craft". The only thing here was several aliens. On missions like this, I tend to go for "win by default"; as long as one is still alive when all enemies are eliminated, you win without going through the requirement of carrying a body back to the evac zone.

Shot of the craft. The green square is an entry point that is present with larger craft. However, since we don't how to use that point, we can't go in.

Shot of what the aliens look like.
Phoenix Company engaged with three "aliens" still alive after the crash. While Phoenix Company's trigger discipline often leaves much to be desired, they managed to leave two aliens alive. The recovery team came in behind them, breaking the UFO down to scrap and making sure the aliens didn't bleed out on the trip while their breathing became increasingly labored as they were brought to Houston. By the time the pair arrived, they breathed their last and expired on arrival.

Phoenix Company returned to a memo on their desk:
"While you were out: the regulars set up a base in Seattle. Go us!"

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COE BASE HOUSTON

With LaCroix's silence, the morelman autopsy was completed along with an autopsy of the plecton. When they were finished, they found there were a lot more projects to work on thanks to the recovery of a UFO (along with 2 aliens dying as they entered the base). Given the mass of projects, the research team sent a memo to LaCroix labelled "Circle One"


LaCroix, let me know if one interests you or I'll just go for another autopsy.


Autopsy results. The descriptions are pretty lurid in how these things are made. It goes to show just how nasty the Twilight really was.


Map of our current influence. The base mission got delegated, but thankfully, we succeeded and there's a nice new base for us. Currently, activity is spiking up north so I'm heading there now.

[LaCroix]

LaCroix was flipping through the memos he had asked for, talking to himself.

"Hmm... So many new toys to play with... You know what? I believe we should start looking into their weaponry. Ever since the last loading bench broke in that office party, we're running on stockpiles only. With all the crap we ripped out of their craft, we should be able to get a bit more 'OOOMP' for our guys. If that results in more bodies to sift through, double win."

[CaiusWickersham]

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COE BASE FT. GOOD HOPE

Two more bases have been established by Phoenix Company: Ft. Good Hope and Churchill in Canada. Their influence was growing in Alaska, but they had taken injuries. Gumbo and Brian took a balloon fish to the face, putting them in sickbay. With an influx of new recruits, many decided to get in solider training to pass time until the whole team was up and ready. COE brass were talking about a possible raid on Area 51 to get some real info on the aliens.

"LISTEN UP, MAGGOTS! YOU WANT TO BE SOLDIERS?! I WILL MAKE YOU SOLIDERS!! I WILL MAKE YOU DO PUSH-UPS UNTIL YOU PUKE! I WILL HAVE YOU TRAIN AT YOUR RIFLES UNTIL YOU KNOW NO OTHER LOVER! I WILL HAVE YOU OIL YOUR CHEST AND RUN AROUND NICE AND SHINY! YOU WILL LOVE IT AND I WILL LOVE WATCHING YOU LUBE YOUR RUGGED CHESTS AND RIPPED BICEPS!"

The confused look on the recruits faces did nothing to stop the drill sergeant from continuing on his lurid line of thought considering them half-naked and oiled (the bulge in his pants growing by the minute) as he sent them off running and training.

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COE BASE LOS ANGELES

The engineering staff finished their work on the goodwill broadcast and the brass seemed very pleased. Already, the larger groups outside the Council of Earth were pledging at least provisional loyalty and non-interference. As they secured nearby bases, these groups should fall in line more rapidly as they project force and show they can handle the aliens. Next on their agenda was the alien weapons that Phoenix Company had secured. The COE wanted more and knew they couldn't just rely on what came from UFO shoot-downs, especially when the pilots were just a step above retarded monkeys in ability. However, the science team was working on the theoretical underpinnings and that would make the work of developing a practical build that much easier.

[LaCroix]

"You see, easy - you put your thumb here, your index here and your pinky in that little hole. Then you squeeze the button and rotate everything three degrees counter-clockwise..." LaCroix explained patiently. "Now try yourself... Perfect. Once more."

After the trainee had demonstrated the handling two more times, LaCroix was satisfied.

"Good, now that you know how to open and clean it, get your vacuum over there and help cleaning up that mess, so they can set up another target to test these weapons. And hurry up, I need to find some material to improve our boot's armor against these babies."

"Why not simply using their stuff? We found some of their suits," an bystanding engineer at the monitoring equipment asked.

"Not enough time. We would first need to find out how they are powered, and then how they work. That could take weeks while our boys would face this," LaCroix pointed out, waving towards the pile of slag and debris of what once was a dummy leaning against a four inch steel plate, held up by a brick wall. Even the solid concrete behind that was scorced and crumbly.

"Also, we don't have enough to issue them to all troops, and the ones without would feel under-appreciated. Good tip - never piss off a grunt if you can avoid it. Even on a good day, they are like my Jack Russel Terrier - when they wake up, all they want is to eat, dig a hole, and kill something."

"I'll keep that in mind," the engineer laughed. "Maybe I could put some of my men to work on that airlock they brought us? Some of them had a shady past, I think they could bypass that lock pretty fast - we would find more stuff if we don't have to breech our way through all rooms with shaped charges just to sift through what's left. Cheaper, too."

LaCroix pondered that proposal for a moment before he nodded. "Good idea, I'll put that right on the list. Once we have disassembled those suits and start brainstorming, you have green light to assemble your team."

"If you choose to accept that mission," he added with a chuckle.

[FaxModem1]

Gumbo lied in the base hospital's bed, unconscious. twitching with the occasional pain from his burns.

[CaiusWickersham]

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COE BASE LOS ANGELES

The information helped the engineering team figure out a bit on how these alien weapons operated. That they were more grown than built mean they'd have to design a laser weapon from scratch if they were going to field their own. That meant figuring out their power sources as well.

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COE BASE CHURCHILL

The science team had reviewed the logs from the previous encounters with the aliens several times and pulled the weapons they had from storage for live tests. After two and a half days (thanks to parallel testing at Houston, the science team compiled specs for improved light armor and emailed it over to the engineering base in Los Angeles. Going down Dr. LaCroix's list, they pulled some of the energy cells from storage for reverse engineering.
Draining a cell to determine maximum output led Dr. Saroyan to exclaim, "Forget powering a weapon, these things could power a house for weeks!"
Engineering people, tell me, how much energy could a person derive from a warehouse full of car battieries?

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COE BASE LOS ANGELES

The head engineer looked over the new armor specs. They were certainly doable and the brass gave them the Denver base to expedite development. He rang up Denver, "Yeah, make up seven suits of the new armor and helmets for the ground troops." The answer he got from Denver required a response in the form of a letter to LaCroix. "Bob, take this down."

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COE BASE HOUSTON

"Milord, how canst you order us master smiths to the level of peasants by instructing us to make multiple works at once? Such a feat is most unfeasible as every item from our shoppes must be of the highest skill. We shalt make your armor piecemeal with the care each deserves and no faster than thus. To have our journeymen work in group is most unseemly to their stature and dignity."
The third absurdity of UFO:Afterblank. Not only can the Council of Earth somehow fail to grasp the concept of a reloading bench for ammunition, they can't handle an assembly line! Rather than making items in bulk, your mighty engineering bases can only make one item at a time. While we only have two now, it doesn't matter how many engineering bases you have, they just parcel the work into smaller bits.
Everyone trembled at LaCroix's likely actions.

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COE BASE FT GOOD HOPE

The soldiers ran a marathon session the last few days. Recovering UFO shootdowns (the pilots had been doing better recently) and recovering a base in Washington. The entire continental USA was under COE control and they were pushing up into Canada and the Arctic. New transgenants were found and killed.

This is the Gobber. It shoots acid like a Plecton or Slimethrower, but is a bit more agile and shoots further.

The Chrysalid. This one's likely the first psi-active transgenant you'll encounter. It's main attack is a psionic attack that paralyzes your soldiers if it connects. This isn't too much of a problem if only one or two of your team is paralyzed and someone else can kill the thing and it's alone. If it's got friends, then your soldiers will have to be defended until they snap out of it (or a transgenant kills them).
It seems the aliens are picking up their A-game. They're fielding a new, more powerful weapon far in excess of the laser weapons we've seen used so far. The captured artifacts are with the science team. Gumbo and a majority of Phoenix Company are back in sickbay after a Sporeblower decimated the team in Washington, killing two others.
Yeah, Sporeblowers are a pain in tight quarters too. Probably worse than the balloonfish since they don't just explode on impact.

So, while the team recovers, the big question in front of us is when to attempt the Area 51 mission. It's a doozy and will be crawling with aliens. We have to do it eventually so we can further our research, but I wonder if we're ready yet.

[FaxModem1]

(Man, Gumbo is just getting the crap kicked out of him, isn't he?)