We started off this week by getting rid of some old equipment. We didn’t really need to, but the price of everything seems to fall every week, so we decided to do it now.
The week starts off great. Our cash reserves are as high as they have been in a very long time, our soldiers are well equipped and right off the bat, our Biochemists have given us what we’ve been waiting for. Most important Bio-tech number 3 of 4. The great game changer.
The Toxigun. This thing ROCKS! It not only evens the field with the aliens, it protects us from a very powerful technology they will be bringing online “soon”. It is only half as interesting when you only have half the information… so here is the ammo it uses.
So for comparison purposes, the three best guns we have access to look like this.
Toxigun A: 50 power, 4.5 RoF, 40% acc
Plasma: 35 power, 1.2 RoF, 55% acc
Disruptor gun: 42 power, 1.1 RoF, 30% acc
This is, in my opinion, ground combat tech level 3. It will serve us most excellently for a very long time.
Halfway through Monday the UFOs return, and we get a nasty surprise. Technology upgrade double whammy!
The blue bar means the UFO has a shield; we have to beat the bar and the health of the ship in order to shoot it down.
This is the alien assault ship. It takes the place of the purple transports we met last week. It is actually UFO type SIX; type five has been a no show. I would say this handily brings the Aliens up to air tech level 3.
Our target pulls a strategic move and dumps his alien’s in a nearby building. This is a real shame, since all 3 fast attack craft decided to escort the other Assault ship. It would have been a great chance to knock him down.
Air combat failed, all of the craft head back to base and dodge inside just as the aliens pass over.
One bike is trapped outside, and crushed when part of our building collapses.
Sheb is killed and all 5 UFOs get away. Rough start to the week.
On the tactical side we have to meet the alien force at two buildings; a set of slums and an appliance factory. Any time a site has the word “factory” in it I cringe. Factories always have things that explode and cause other things to explode. Factories are great places for fireworks, but terrible places to make friends.
This factory turns out no different. A few missed shots into cardboard boxes starts a chain reaction that wipes out an entire room. What the fuck was in there!?
Early in the mission, Anja pulls a double pro move, catching and returning two Boomeroids within a second of each other. Nice Anja.
Towards the end we come across something new.
Meet: The Skeletoid.
Basically a yellow antropod that can fly but dies easier. Hardly worth mentioning.
I guess they make a cool noise when they die. You get to hear it a lot.
We make it out okay, 5 injuries (no deaths) and move over to the slums where the aliens are ruthlessly gunned down without much issue.
When the sun comes up Tuesday morning most of our men are again ready for battle. The aliens SHOULD be quiet all day, leaving us with a good deal of tactical freedom.
We make the decision, and declare war on Psyke.
On the surface, it is a war on a crime family. The truth, however, is that they are broke and we can attack them without too much fear of retaliation. Hurting them will improve our relations with their enemies and should net us some expensive items to sell. So, assuming the assault goes well, this should pretty well be a win win.
Should be, but raids are stressful. Sometimes you will spawn in the middle of the enemy, with no exits. Sometimes you will eliminate them so fast you can’t secure what you came for. Raids are a big time crap shoot, but our tactical fight against the aliens is going well enough that we take the gamble.
As a change we are bringing in 7 units instead of 6. The extra unit will be a heavy weapons guy (Geen). He will start in squad 1 (so they spawn together) but then join his own squad so I have better control over the “DON’T SHOOT” command.
We are as prepared as we are going to be, so the mission begins.
We are lucky to spawn in deep cover so we have plenty of time to collect our thoughts. We are up against a wide U shaped building. We could come through the wide open front, but since we are encouraged to damage the building on these missions anyways, we set up to blow a hole in the side using a rocket launcher.
Psyke security forces must have heard us positioning, because just before Geen goes all breaching charge on the building’s ass, they open up a second story window.
Big mistake.
Squad 1 and Geen continue to battle on the south side of the building. Actually shooting through the walls off the building with disruptor guns turns out to be impossible, so squad 2 goes door to door, searching. The first door turns out to be lucky, we found it.
Meet: The Psiclone.
Interesting item. It is tactically worthless, but strategically valuable. It doesn’t do anything but sells… well… take a look.
The mission ends and we pick up three of these bad boys. We could sell them now for a fast $13.5k, but doing so would crash the market. It is better, with everything, to develop a huge stockpile and then sell them all at once. I intend to do this unless it turns out we really need the increased air power.
Selling everything else gained in the raid only brought in $4,400.
With more soldiers in the med-bay, we turn our attention back to the air fight. It isn’t vital that we shoot anything down this week, but it would be nice so we spend $30k purchasing more bikes and upgrading the ones we have.
While the bikes are being fitted, Orison contacts us to let us know they have spotted an alien in one of their slums. We load up and head out.
Part way through the combat we stumble on something unexpected.
Meet: the Devastator Cannon.
This weapon is exceptionally powerful and accurate. I have seen it one shot fully armored soldiers. It is a very tough thing to fight against.
Something happened to the alien carrying it. We must have surprised him, because I did not see a single beam fired (these guns shoot similar beams to the disruptor guns, only the cannon’s beams are much longer). What ever happen it was good news for us. More alien technology to use against human enemies.
The UFOs return on Wednesday, and we took our second stab at knocking down an assault ship.
This time, however, the swarm succeeds.
Instead of heading back to base like I did last time (foolishly) I send them in the direct opposite direction of the alien UFOs at low altitudes. Every alien shot misses, causing damage to some slums, walkways, and a police station, and all the bikes end up back and safe in the base right as Nathan takes off to go after the down UFO.
Everyone is excited to see the assault crew show off their new toy.
Engineers only had time to produce ammo for 3 guns, so only squad 1 will be using the new weapons.
The Assault UFO’s are not very much fun to fight. They only have one entrance and it is generally covered in a haze of smoke. Getting close enough to see aliens as they exit leaves you open to popper attack. Staying back to avoid popper attack leaves you open to Devastator fire from the shadows.
Case in point.
This is the Devastator I remember. It took Maximumzero down to ONE health and caused him to bleed to death. No fun.
But at least we managed to get another UFO type back to base and gear up for an alien sweep.
Then, on Thursday, our Biochemists give us the final of 4 most important most awesomest techs.
I feel like I say this often, but Biotoxin B is a game changer. It is most likely the only ammo we will use until the game ends. You can get one final version, Toxin C, but it requires live aliens that are nearly impossible to bring in.
If we can get full squads with Toxiguns and Toxin B, missions will go a lot faster and with a lot less damage to buildings. Unfortunately our engineers are still a little slow building the thing.
Also since most Bio research from here on out is unimportant, we are going to go ahead and fire half our researchers. The living area will be needed by troopers.
The Aliens show up again on Friday to shoot down a hoverbike. It is hard to tell, but it doesn’t look like they dropped any aliens this time out. If nothing shows up by 11pm, we’ll be sending another raiding part to Psyke.
But just before 11 we get some reports from Evonet and make the call to check it out.
The mission goes bad fast, as EuchreJack is one shotted by a Devastator.
Many many injuries follow, but we manage to get out alive. The medical bay is at 160% usage so every non-urgent mission is on hold while the soldiers rest their bones.
Back at base it is becoming more and more clear that we are out growing the HQ, so plans are drawn up and a new building is purchased.
X-Com Armaments.
It will be the center of manufacturing for our organization. Engineering is already being overrun with Toxigun ammo orders. When things start getting more complicated we will be glad we have this southern outpost.
Late Saturday night we raid Psyke once again, and manage to get out without any serious injuries. We capture two more psyclones for a total of 11 and end up on friendly terms with Diablo.
Sunday morning the aliens return, infecting a sewage works and… a temple of Sirius… Hmm. We’ll talk about that in a second.
The sewage works mission turns out to be the most disastrous to date.
Right off the bat a Popper kills Biag. A few minutes later another kills RAM. People start panicking and the disaster accelerates. A fresh recruit is killed by Devastator fire. Three units were left dispersed and panicking.
Finally Anja, while panicing, manages to gun down two skeletoids and put the mission back on track. After that it was a slow moving assault that finally cleared the sewage works.
Anja took RAM’s place as sergeant.
Now… back to the city, and the second assault dump.
Meet: The Cult of Sirius.
They started the game as hostile to us, but so far haven’t done anything interesting. There really isn’t much to say about them, other than that raiding them gets you psyclones. Their story line is that they believe the aliens are not only harmless, but also our saviors.
Tell that to Baig, Maxzero, and RAM you crazy fucks!
I am not completely sure what happens if I go after aliens on their turf. I THINK if they report it we can go in and fight and they won’t shoot at me, but I could be wrong.
Either way, not worth the risk unless they are very close to being taken over… We’ll keep a close eye on them…
Shit. We have a problem.
This screen lets you quickly see the alien infiltration level of any organization. The button on the top right lets you see the top 10 most infiltrated groups. Any time I miss a UFO drop I watch this screen to know where to investigate. The way the cult has shot up tells me that if I want to do something the time is now.
Since this is an extra dangerous mission I send in 3 squads instead of two. It starts out pretty standard, watch exits and wait for aliens, with the added twist of hope there are no hostile security forces.
Hoping fails pretty quick.
While there was a lot of gun fire, and several near misses, we manage to make it out without any deaths.
And with that mess, another week comes to an end.
We manage to please the senate again, at get another 10% or so bump in pay.
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Topic: Complete: Let’s Play Ironman/Superhuman X-Com Apocalypse! (Read 115389 times)