3.
Further Out
Let's see if I can go without tangenting on barely related shit during this update.
With the Medikits completed this is vaguely what the average loadout looks like. Uncharacteristically of me I'm forsaking extra magazines of ammunition because the Thermal Tazers and extra grenades really are that useful in this game. So far the only recruits in much danger of running out of ammo during battle have been those equipped with the godawful Jet Harpoon gun. Production has begun on our first round of Gauss weaponry though.
Off to a great start. Command is optimistic that more civilians will survive this attack if only because there's less open ground for them to be ambushed in. At least two aliens will always spawn in the obligatory large office buildings on this map though, immediately giving them a better firing positon. The Triton of course offers fuck all for vertical cover, so its common to have your troops gunned down right after they step off the boat.
We have an incredibly miserable time attempting to take out this lone Deep One that started right on top of us. JongleJingle, Future Physical Violence and Genichiro all flub their shots. Fuck it, this pack of idiots deserves whatever is coming to them. At least Deep Ones, being Terror Units, do not carry grenades.
The Deep One turns around and wipes out
@Future Physical Violence and
@Genichiro.
Deeps Ones have a strange innate weapon that fires in an arc, kind of like the acid spit of the Celatid from the previous game. Sometimes this means they can hit your troops from weird angles, but usually its not an issue. Also, fun fact, in the original verison of this game the sound effect was mislabed in the code, causing it to use a nonsensical rolling/sliding sound effect instead of the electrical discharge noise its supposed to be.
Dear Leader manages to kill the Deep One. Its worth noting I had to swap out his Torpedo Launcher for a Gas Cannon since neither the Torpedo Launcher nor the Hydrojet Cannon (Auto Cannon equivalent) will work on land.
@JongleJingle falls victim to the overhead fire I was talking about earlier.
Incase anyone was wondering, the Jet Harpoon Gun is of course a shittier version of the Assault Rifle from the first game, the Gas Cannon is a way better weapon than the Heavy Cannon ever hoped to be, the Hydrojet Cannon is almost worthless and the Torpedo Launcher like the Rocket Launcher before it is a gimmick weapon with high collateral damage. Except the Torpedo Launcher is weaker and the Large Torpedoes are also weaker. Basically it sucks.
The team catches sight of a Deep One on the second floor, likely the one that killed JongleJingle, but nobody is in a good enough position to draw a bead on it. Friend Computer has the unenviable task of taking point into the building, something that is more than likely going to get him killed. He encounters a Gillman with no weapon but doesn't manage to take it down. I know better than to assume this fucker is unarmed though; he definitely has a belt of grenades, so I have Friend Computer take cover.
Wtfneedsignup is ordered to try and take the loading dock and give Friend Computer some much needed backup. Meanwhile, on the alien turn their reckless autofire detonates one of the many clumps of explosive barrels lying around. Port Attacks can have anywhere between two to six or even seven tiles containing 3-5 explosive barrels. I hear two Gillman death cries after the explosion, so I suppose this time it works out in our favor.
Friend Computer breaches the door only to find a squad of aliens waiting for him. He blows the Deep One straight out the window.
I have terrible luck getting that unarmed Gillman, so I have wtfneedsignup and Friend Computer back off while Penne Dreadful moves up to assist.
The aliens demonstrate their immense stupidity by blowing themselves up again. They do take a handful of civilians with them this time.
I try to use that trick I pulled off on the Aquatoid earlier but the Gillman shrugs the stun off. I thought a live alien would offset our no doubt already terrible score from all of the civilian deaths. Penne Dreadful plugs it.
Catgirls Are Love rounds the corner and blasts the last Gillman. Meanwhile, Overcast and R00T snipe down the Deep One on the second floor.
We're finally able to move out of the corner of the map.
A Gillman quite literally blows his cover and gets picked off. Another Deep One is spotted on one of those incredibly annoying tower things and the team takes a few shots at it, but at this range a hit is very unlikely.
I swear it feels like this mission will just never end. Unfortunately something I'll just have to get used to.
NerdShamer bungles this grenade throw. I expect this mistake to get him killed since the alien has a clear shot. (Note that my previous issue with grenades isn't in this version of OXCE, so I don't have Instant Grenades turned on anymore.)
Penne Dreadful is instead targeted, crouching at the edge of the smoke with no time units saved for reaction fire. Remarkably he isn't hit.
Catgirls radios that the Deep One on the tower is right above him. Friend Computer expertly lobs a grenade between its feet, killing it.
Penne Dreadful turns out to be pretty hot on the reaction fire, exchanging two shots with the advancing Gillman during its turn.
The slugfest ends with another beautiful grenade throw from Friend Computer. If I had any modding skill at all I would replace the perfect grenade throw sound with a harp flourish, but I don't think the game discriminates between how well the throw is when picking a sound effect.
NerdShamer stuns a Gillman that surprises him, showing why I insist on packing every recruit that I can with a melee weapon. Meanwhile, Penne Dreadful and Overcast take point and continue scouting.
Overcast encounters the last enemy on the map, which to my surprise is a Deep One. He takes a perfect shot at it, but the monster doesn't even react. Unless I can think of something quick XCOM is about to lose its highest ranking officer.
You say it doesn’t matter but one day I will throw something so well it saves the day.
Overcast had better fucking hope so.
She nails it.
The overall rating is still negative, but at least its a paltry -22 instead of the painful -169 or whatever the Hell out last Terror Mission was. Command is impressed regardless of what the Council thinks, so promotions go all over the place. Note that while Overcast has made the rank of Commander, its not
the Commander rank of the last game, instead being equivalent to the last game's Colonel rank. Overcast has only one more rank to go to make it to this game's highest though.
Early research on the alien weaponry has begun. I'm not sure what retarding head injury made the designers name this thing "Blasta" but I'm just going to call them Sonic weapons. A more ambitious player could and probably would skip Gauss weapons altogether right here, but we don't have enough rifles to go around right now and certainly not anywhere near enough spare parts to manufacture them.
Our score is still negative but the Council has no complaints this month. Australasia, formed with its capital in New Zealand after the collapse of the alien-controlled Australian government in 2003, is eager to prove its loyalty to XCOM this time around and is the first nation to increase our funding.
(That's not the actual backstory, but since Australia got subverted in the last game and New Zealand wasn't in the game as an independent country so it couldn't get subverted, I thought a little fanfiction would be appropriate.)
Gauss production completes shortly after allowing the team to be outfitted with the new weapons. More or less superior to the Gas Cannon in every way, including weight, the Gauss weapons allow most of the team to carry a Thermal Tazer, Medikit and two extra grenades as part of their standard equipment. Dear Leader keeps his Torpedo Launcher for now just for old time's sake though.
Our equipment is further augmented by the addition of the extremely powerful Sonic Pulser. Each soldier that can carry a third grenade gets one; due to the sheer explosive power of the Pulsers the standard Magna Blast Grenade is still more useful for pinpoint kills.
Another Port Attack commences. Its unlikely the troops will get much use out of the Sonic Pulsers on this mission, but the Gauss weapons should prove useful.
On the way there a USO is detected. The ScubaJace is dispatched to intercept, meeting the enemy flying sub over land somewhere in Siberia. Flying subs and interceptors just straight up cannot engage over land in this game, meaning there are no land USO recovery missions at all.
The DUP Torpedoes have no trouble sinking the small vessel just off the coast of China.
The crash site will of course have to be dealt with later.
And we're under attack right away again.
Our experienced troops manage some excellent reaction fire with their new toys.
I really press Gimmick Account's luck and get him shot for his trouble. Surprisingly, he stays on his feet, and I have him drag his bleeding ass back to Dear Leader so he can get patched up and shot full of stimmies.
I know there's an alien up here somewhere so I have Catgirls and Gimmick Account lob a few grenades over there, to no effect.
Our team runs into trouble with the next two aliens they encounter. The one to the north even shrugs off a third grenade because of the corner its hiding in.
There's a few close calls and we still can't get that sniper hiding on the second floor but scratch two more aliens.
I'm under the impression I put Gimmick Account in a bad spot but he manages the astonishing feat of killing a second floor alien, through a window, while holding a grenade in the other hand, with reaction fire. Meanwhile, Considered HARMful bags another one.
I had
@ChucklesTheJester crouched behind a forklift near the Triton since that's the only cover in this big open center area, but apparently it wasn't enough.
The troublesome alien remains alive and cloaked in darkness even after I try to bomb it.
Catgirls runs across another Gillman and waxes it. Gimmick Account, looking for some revenge on the alien that flame-broiled his ribs, moves up and finally spots the field alien, a Deep One, and manages a kill on it.
NerdShamer finds the last alien hiding in this annoying rail station building that's on every single port map in the game.
That went shockingly well for a Terror Mission. Perhaps that's the reason nobody gets promoted this time around.
Time to deal with that sub.
Finally, a daytime underwater mission. Now you guys can see how pretty this game is.
Overcast and Friend Computer take point. Catgirls are Love immediately spots two Aquatoids foolishly standing next to each other.
Turnabout is fair play indeed. The first Sonic Pulser XCOM throws kills
three aliens, according to the chorus of death cries I hear after the explosion.
Unfortunately, a fourth Aquatoid was waiting right under our nose and takes revenge for its fallen kin.
@Catgirls are Love is killed instantly.
Friend Computer takes a reaction shot at the alien, but it manages to duck away back into the darkness. Overcast moves up to support Friend Computer and maybe get a better look at the enemy.
The alien reveals its position by taking a shot at Overcast. Friend Computer has reaction fire and goes for it.
Catgirls was a promising recruit, but they say the sea is a harsh mistress. At least the overall score for the mission is positive. Friend Computer's impeccable quickdraw skills are recognized with a promotion.
Our team can now use the recovered Sonic Rifles, but there is little point in doing so at the moment. Some of you may be wondering why I'm performing an autopsy so early in this game. Simply put, the developers actually made live alien interrogations and autopsies useful! Dissecting a dead Deep One is required to even unlock research for the Alien Alloy equivalent in this game; Aqua Plastics.
We detect a Large submarine which could be any number of alien ships. I'm not really sure if the ScubaJace is actually up to the battle with its current weaponry, but I intercept all the same. The faster alien sub combined with our shitty radar means we lose it in short order though.
The month ends, and our score is finally positive for the first time. This seems to be enough to get the Council to improve our funding across the board, including our number one fan Australasia who is increasing funding for the second time.
Our first base is detected, known as an Alien Colony. If you think the difference is in name only, good Lord do I have news for you. XCOM is nowhere near ready to deal with this.
You might think the game is subtlely implying that we should be able to take on an Alien Colony by now, but that would be incorrect. An assault on one would be suicide at this stage; I don't care how good of a player you are. We stick with something more our size right now.
Next time: More going with the flow.
Waiting List (As of this post):
Thomas Highway
The Valeyard
Chocolate Wombat
Shadfan666xxx000
RabidWombat
chaosrevolutions
draggs
ditdatdot
Mooger Meng
