Other Projects > Play With Your Buddies
UFO: Afterlight - Red Dawn
forsaken1111:
Here on Mars, life isn't easy. The air will kill you in under a minute, and nothing grows in the soil.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This is the First Martian Colony, affectionately known only as 'Home', built into the hollow of a crater thousands of years older that human civilization. We have lived here for the past 7 months, setting up an operational base and preparing the way for an eventual Martian civilization. 10,000 humans are frozen in the cryovaults below the base, and we cannot keep them there forever. When they wake they will need food, shelter, and space to live. Up until today, construction was proceeding according to schedule.
The cryovaults were the first thing to go in, with redundant backups and a massive cooling array. Atop the massive vault is our main landing pad for the one air transport we have. Next came the aquaduct system which melts water ice at the polar cap and brings it down to a water filtration system for our consumption. Water is recycled in-house as well, but there is always loss. A solar plant provide clean and free energy, more than enough for the small number of colonists who are awake, but that will have to be expanded as well before the others awaken. Aside from that we have three gabitation domes, a civil engineering bay, a laboratory and a technical workshop. Using minerals brought up from Earth and mined locally on Mars, we can fabricate anything we need using these facilities.
Today though, an alert system came online. A scientific dig site in Cydonia is broadcasting an alert triggered by one of the expeditionary members.
I am Gene Lawrence, junior researcher attached to the Cydonia expeditionary force assigned to investigate a strange rock formation which orbital scans say may be an untapped mineral vein or possibly even water-ice close to Home. I was carrying a sample case back towards the temporary hab complex at the dig site when an alert pulsed across my suit computer. It was an automated distress message from Dr. Heinemann's suit. I thought it may be some sort of malfunction so I keyed my suit radio but was met with static. Bringing up a diagnostic, I saw that a powerful transmission was blanking out all suit-radio frequencies. This couldn't be an accident.
I dropped the sample case and moved as quickly as these bulky suits allow to the displayed location of Dr. Heinemann...
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I was too late. His suit broadcast shut down a moment after I arrived. The computer was drained of power and there were burn marks across the front of the suit. The body was exposed to the air through a large rip in the suit material. I moved up the ramp to the Hab complex in search of Diego. I tried keying my suit radio a few more times but the heavy static was blocking all communication. This couldn't be natural. Diagnostics indicated that the jamming was sharp and covered the specific band we use for suit comms. It didn't stop the emergency beacon or telemetry uplinks, just the voice communications between suits. Nothing natural is that specific... what is going on?
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I found Diego in the storage room looking for spare power packs for the laser rigs we brought for cutting rock samples. He looked over at me as I came in and started speaking but I couldn't hear him. I moved closer and performed a manual suit linkage to establish a communications channel.
Diego: "What the hell is going on Gene? Where is Heinemann?"
Gene: "He's... he's dead."
Diego: "What? What happened? Where is he? We have to get out of here Gene. There's some kind of comms malfunction, it may be a storm."
Diego was visibly shaken. The man was not very bright, mostly brought along to do the heavy lifting. He didn't deal well with stress or sudden change. Once he'd gone on a rage and punched through a monitor just because we'd changed our departure time for a mission by 2 hours to ensure our meteorology sciences division got all the information they needed. Apparently he'd had a 'dart game' scheduled and he missed it. The man has no sense of priority.
Gene: "We have to go, I agree. Something is blanking our suit radios. Lets get out to the transport and head to Home."
Diego: "We can't leave without the professor!"
Gene: "He's dead Diego. DEAD. We don't have time to retrieve his body, mission protocol says we abort and head home. We can come back once a determination is made and we're better equipped. We don't even have any weapons Diego, and nothing natural can block out a specific radio band. This is the work of... well its not natural. Let's go."
Diego looked like he wanted to keep arguing but I broke off the suit link and took a laser drill from the rack and led the way to the exit. I could pull rank on Diego if I had to, technically I was a military attachment to the expedition and outranked Diego, who was a civilian contractor with BlackWatch Corporation. None of that meant much any more on Mars though, Earth is a long way away. Diego followed, much to my relief. Though he had blanked his faceplate so I couldn't see his expression, I was certain I detected a sulk in his stance. As we walked out onto the catwalk leading to the transport, I heard something ahead. Sound didn't carry far in the thin atmosphere but I distinctly heard mechanical sounds and a rumble transmitted up through my feet from the catwalk. We rushed ahead to investigate.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
A robot! A stupid robot, some kind of drone or automated unit, guarding the transport. It hit me with an electrical discharge before I drilled its optic sensor out with the laser drill. They're not really effective weapons but if properly focused they can do quite a bit of damage to an unarmored target. The drone went offline and fell over as Diego and I rushed into the transport and headed back to Home.
When we returned to base and debriefed command about the situation, we learned that two more long range expeditions had been attacked as well, almost simultaneously. Command seems to think it has something to do with the Cydonia dig. I remember Dr. Heinemann mentioning something about a 'fascinating discovery' there but I didn't see anything... then again I was a bit busy getting the hell out of there. Command is tight-lipped about the whole thing, refusing to answer any questions. When I asked when we were going back for Heinemann's body, I was told that they would 'keep me informed'.
Idiots.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
This is the surface map of Mars as we know it. So far we have explored three nearby territories. Cydonia, the Acid Plains, and Xanthe. Geological survey probes in the Acid Plains indicate useful hydrocarbon deposits which could be refined into fuel, while Cydonia's returned indicated unusual subsurface mineral deposits. Those two red markers indicate the site of the other two attacks by drones. I wonder who built them? Why would they attack us?
I've just been informed that the techs were sent to the Acid Plains to establish a fuel refinery so our transport can venture further afield. It is very fuel inefficient compared to our crawlers, but its significantly faster and useful for rapid deployment. I have to suit up and get out there. End Log-
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Yep, I'm doing a UFO Afterlight LP but (as usual) I'm not sticking strictly to the storyline. The game doesn't allow renaming of units as far as I can tell. Still, it should be a fun read. At least I hope so. Let me know if you enjoy it, or want me to do something specific.
Pnx:
Cool, Afterlight is my second favourite in the series (the first being the first game, it was clunkier and more awkward, but I loved the feel of it). What difficulty are you playing on?
forsaken1111:
--- Quote from: Pnx on September 15, 2012, 02:56:49 pm ---What difficulty are you playing on?
--- End quote ---
Hardest, of course. :)
Neonivek:
You know... I knew the original could be pretty cartoony at times.
But... this is just full out.
But I assume it is only the art style that looks like this. I doubt there will be anything silly in game.
Pnx:
--- Quote from: Neonivek on September 15, 2012, 03:01:11 pm ---You know... I knew the original could be pretty cartoony at times.
But... this is just full out.
But I assume it is only the art style that looks like this. I doubt there will be anything silly in game.
--- End quote ---
It's mostly just the art style, the series got cartoonier as time went on. The game itself takes itself very seriously though, although it does get a little bit silly sometimes.
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