Bay 12 Games Forum

I could gladly go for a personal snowless winter. Let it snow in places where I'm not going to be, so long as it clears up before I wind up going there

(B1, B7, B8, B10, and BK5 should all have taken 1d6 fire damage from ending their turn in the Explosive Pyre's area. Unless they did and I missed it.))

Back to work tomorrow. Blaaaaaaaah.

January 19th, 1999

The entire base was in a bit of a haze the last day. A significant portion of Calcutta has been leveled by Hammerdown, several soldiers and a new Skyranger were ordered.


Also, we finally built a containment unit. Not like we'll ever get to use it...

January 20th, 1999


Laser weapons. Actual laser weapons, no longer the realm of science fiction, have been developed. I felt a glimmer of hope at the news. Could this be key to our salvation? I ordered the engineers to begin working overtime on producing these pistols, and the eggheads tell me that an improved version could only be days away.

We also got four new recruits. I had requested them before the Calcutta mission, so there weren't many, but...





A man who claims to be royalty, two relatively normal soldiers, and...a little girl. I know we're in dire straits but surely we aren't reduced to child soldiers!

January 21st, 1999

More soldiers have arrived, along with additional engineers and the new Skyranger. The engineers are immediately assigned to laser pistol production. Soldier profiles below:

Where does the brass find these people? Perhaps this is just paranoia talking, but I'm pretty sure at least one is another alien infiltrator. Possibly Bojangles.

January 27th, 1999

The engineers finished building a set of 12 laser pistols. They will become the troop's default sidearm, as they pack nearly as much punch as modern rifles but in a much more compact package.

February 1st, 1999
I was not looking forward to this.


And my feeling was justified. The Council blasted me for X-COM's failures, voting to reduce funding across the board. Another month or two of this and we'll be forced to shut down for sure.

February 9th, 1999


Well, it took longer than expected, but the science team managed to put together a prototype laser rifle. These pack a greater punch than the pistols and have a much longer range. The engineers get to work, but I worry about the aliens. Its way too quiet; not a single ship has been sighted in the area since Calcutta.

February 12th, 1999
Goddammit.


I command the troops to load up. We may not be able to save Vancouver, but we'll do our best.[/i]

Operation: Medieval Jihad

Lord Hexxington: "Alright chaps, let's do this thing by the book. Get some smokes out and we'll get off this hunk of junk in proper fashion, wot?"


*panicked shouts*
Lord Hexxington: "Something's definitely out there! Form up lads, there's fighting to be done this day! Er, night."
Alex Dice: "I've got the right flaaaAARGH!"


Emile Batista: "Alex, NOOO! Taste laser death alien scum!"


: "Well, nice to see that these pistols can take down the aliens."


Kumiko: "Kiyaaaaaaaaa"


Kumiko: "aaaaaaah?"


Bojangles: "...I just shat myself. OH GOD KILL IT"


: "That thing took four shots from a laser rifle and didn't go down. Those disks must be made of some sort of reflective coating. Someone, take another shot at it!"


Lord Hexxington: "On it, guvner!"


Bojangles: "YEAAAAAH! It went down! It went do--"


*Bojangles has been killed*
It appears a single piece of shrapnel hit Bojangles in the neck, nearly decapitating him. It's a shame, since he was on the very edge of the disk explosion and might have survived otherwise.


McUrist: "Armok's balls, that thing is close!"


Peersun: "Firing with primitive light pistol."


Peersun: "Disk is down, yes."
McUrist: "Damn thing singed my beard, but we're okay."

"Vulpine" Hauser: "Oh shit! We've got a bunch of people down! Evac, evac!"
: "Settle down! We've still got lifesigns from all of them, it was some sort of stun bomb. Who's got a medkit?"
Kumiko: "I have one, Marshall-san. I'll see who I can get back up."
: "Good. The rest of you, cover her. And spread out for god's sake!"


"Vulpine" Hauser: "I think I see the shooter. Firing..."


"Vulpine" Hauser: "Got him!"


Lord Hexxington: "_{Goddamn pain in the arse..}Er, I mean, right-o, chaps! Back in the action, wot-wot!"


Lord Hexxington: "Oh bloody hell."




((Eventually, after literally everyone shoots it, it explodes and falls to the ground))
: "Whew...good job, everyone. Nice teamwork."


"Vulpine" Hauser: "I see another one! I think it has another stun bomb launcher, but its hard to tell from here. Firing!"


John Smith: "Your aim sucks. He's down."


"Vulpine" Hauser: "OH GOD SPIDERS ON ME"
: "What the hell?"


Kumiko: "Umm...I need another medkit. I ran out of stimulant and I could only get Humiename up. _Sorry."






: "Dammit! Everyone, fall back to the Skyranger! We may have to dust off! Gather anyone who might still be alive and dump them inside the craft. With luck they'll survive to fight another day. And for god's sake at least bring something back!"


John Smith: "Way ahead of ya, Marshall."



: "The smoke's clearing! You're out of time, get out of there!"
John Smith: "Don't have to tell me twice. C'mon Kumiko, there's nothing else we can do here."
Kumiko: "Y-yes."




John Smith: "FFFFFFFFF"


John Smith: "Take off! Now, dammit, now!"

***



I suppose we could call this another failure. A mere four soldiers survived the mission, most of them due to the brave efforts of Kumiko: Emile Batista, John Smith, McUrist, and Maxclone II. We lost a great deal of material and Vancouver suffered terrible damage in the fighting. But we came closer to victory than ever: the new laser weapons functioned satisfactorily, improved tactics allowed us to stay in the fight longer before retreating, and what's more...


...we can finally start to understand the threat.


*************************************


AAAARGH! I honestly think I could have won this one. If it weren't for that stun bomb wiping out half the squad and the subsequent grenades/rapid-fire-reaction-fire, things might have gone very differently. Did you know that whatever killed Kumiko fired off six reaction shots, and only the fifth hit? Yeah.

Also, I'm nearly two months into the game and just now get to start researching alien tech. Show of hands, who thinks this run is doomed?

Well, not really. Sometimes the easiest way to flank is to get the enemy taking cover against one of your dudes, and then move another one around to a side the alien doesn't have cover from. Spreading your dudes out like that also minimizes the amount of damage you can take from alien explosives.

^{It's my birthday today...}

Don't go _{getting caught} doing anything that'll throw you back in Drug Court, now! Enjoy your freedom on your birthday!

I guess this could be considered ownage: After capturing a Gaul city, just two turns later I got notice that the city was under siege. I check out the army attacking and it consists of just a single unit: The Gaul faction heir and his 77 bodyguards. Well, I'm hardly gonna let this opportunity slip by, am I? Out goes my own general+bodyguard, along with a unit of light cavalry and a unit of archers. By baiting the enemy general with the archers, I was able to counter-charge with both cavalry units and killed the Gaul prince within seconds. The rest of the bodyguards broke a short time later, and my light cavalry's superior speed ensured that not a single man escaped.

Later on, an army of mine met a rebel army which outnumbered mine 2-1. Thanks to superior training and tactics, they were utterly obliterated (except for a few horsemen) at the cost of just two true Romans.