Let's Sperg Let's Play XCOM UFO Defense (Completed) - Heavy casualties expected.

9. Ghosts

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I'm nervous about our lack of experienced marksmen on this outing. Their accuracy was invariably an asset during the last Terror Mission.

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Any soldier that is even slightly overburdened by a heavy laser is stripped of equipment until they can handle it. I manage to equip 10 soldiers with the weapon. Their accuracy will leave something to be desired for certain, but we need all the firepower we can get.

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Command has a feeling things are about to get real with this mission.

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We barely get a single step out of the Skyranger before we're caught in an ambush.

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@Kane Lives is killed right off. Already one of the precious handful of experienced soldiers we have is dead. Dear Leader is mortally wounded but returns fire and takes care of the alien.

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Just the act of Bungus Scrungus getting his Medikit out triggers reaction fire. @Lemmingwise is down for he count, and then bleeds to death before anything can be done for him.

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As if things aren't already bad enough, a Chryssalid goes for it.

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Reaction fire from Super Sad Smile causes it to hesitate though, giving me an opening to kill it on my turn.

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We manage to get enough troops off the Skyranger in one piece to break the ambush.

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The shieldwall that got us through the last mission starts to form, helped significantly by the fact that we've set down in the corner of the map and are now secure from the south and east.

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We stomp some bugs before they can move in on us.

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Stay frosty and stick to the plan.

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Some of our rookies demonstrate exemplary throwing strength.

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Press the attack. Show them what XCOM is made of.

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Humanity rules this Earth.

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Its a good run, but it could have been better. The loss of Lemmingwise and Kane Lives hits fairly hard, and with Dear Leader wounded its up to Super Sad Smile and Bungus Scrungus to pick up the slack. Numerous civlians also died, leaving our score for the mission as hardly better than one of our UFO retrievals.

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The Council is rather unimpressed with our acivity for the month. Alien activity has been high with the establishment of bases in Africa and the various terror missions. Though our outings have been mostly positive so far we have failed to take on any really serious targets. Australia is also predictably unhappy with our efforts and reduces funding. Losing Australia is fairly common in XCOM games as starting in a region where it can be reliably defended is usually suicide since most of Oceania is, well, ocean. The aliens will certainly devour Europe if you aren't at least somewhat close by to defend it.

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The alien stun weapon has finished research, though its ammunition still needs to be studied. I always figured the reason it was called the Small Launcher rather than the "stun launcher" is because it was initally planned to have HE and incendiary rounds for it just like the Heavy Cannon. This probably would have needlessly complicated the research tree for a weapon with already limited uses.

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Deagle Nation is now a fully functional base, though we somewhat lack the funds transfer an interceptor to it. We hire 12 new soldiers for the base and ship over the required equipment for them, but I stop short of naming them for now. The soldiers guarding my extra bases almost never see any action so I don't really see the purpose of naming anyone here until we can expect possible alien retaliation.

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The Snakemen are the first alien we get a good study of. Live aliens are supposed to also give us a free research for an item the aliens use, but if that research is a duplicate of something you've already studied you of course get nothing.

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This is the true prize of our first live alien though, the first step in the research path to the endgame. There's quite a few steps in this process, so work starts right away.

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Perhaps sensing weakness, the aliens launch another terror mission in Australia.

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Their ambush is bit less formidable this time.

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A shield wall is certainly a lot easier to form when you're not being shot at.

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The aliens show they are not to be underestimated when a stray shot takes out @Friend computer. Nobody on the team panics because of the two Snakemen killed earlier, but morale still takes a serious blow. Two Chryssalids wander into massed reaction fire from our team and get squashed.

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The Snakemen advance on us, trying to break our line.

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@Bungus Scrungus is killed by reaction fire from an advancing Snakeman. Again our squad does not panic because the number of dead aliens is quite high at the moment.

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As long as you keep them at arm's length, Chryssalids aren't so tough to deal with.

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Up and coming marksman @Llama king is killed when a Snakeman catches him off guard. The alleyway the Snakeman came out of is bombed both to kill the bastard and give XCOM some breathing room when we move up to take it again.

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Who needs bug spray when you have lasers? We stomp a few more Chryssalids before they can skitter out of their hiding spots.

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XCOM advances. This town is ours.

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One more Snakeman and one more zombie are all that remains.

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Despite our victory, many civilians were killed in the battle, one by a stray grenade from our troops. On top of that, we lost two of our most experienced officers and one promising new recruit. The score is just barely positive for this mission.

@Super Sad Smile is promoted to the rank of Commander to replace Friend Computer.

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Research on the Stun Bomb is complete, but the device is of little practical use to XCOM at the moment.

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Command knows that we need a big victory, not just to endear ourselves to the Council, but also to resupply our own reserves. We are nearly out of alien alloys!

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Thus, when a large UFO is detected, Dear Leader and Super Sad Smile know what they must do.

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The Skyranger intercepts the vessel. Command believes it matches the description of the large UFO that visited the alien base in Egypt. The vessel is presumed to be a resupply ship, hopefully carrying a minimal crew.

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The Jace Interceptor shoots down a small UFO detected outside of our radar range by the Amberlynn Reid while they are still pursuing the supply ship.

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Another of the tremendous alien vessels is detected in the airspace over eastern Russia. Dear Leader and Super Sad Smile consider redirecting course and intercepting it when it lands, but this mission is already dangerous enough.

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The Chrischan Interceptor shoots down another small UFO detected by the Amberlynn Reid. Neither is anywhere near as important as the target we are chasing at the moment, but anything we can do to disrupt the alien activity is worth a few nuclear missiles.

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The large UFO lands in Kamchatka not far from where the larger vessel set down. Its showtime.

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Appropriate for Russia, the terrain is arctic conditions. The aliens are going to great lengths to keep this base hidden.

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The fourth alien race makes it appearance; the Mutons. These aliens at first seem like they are nothing special, but that is what infact makes the perhaps the most dangerous enemy of all.

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For you see, the Mutons are just like human soldiers in every way, except they are stronger, faster, more accurate and more durable across the board. They are extremely dangerous because every Muton you encounter is guarenteed to be a formidable opponent; superior to your troops in every way unless you have an experienced soldier in the standoff. And there are always more of them than you. Dear Leader takes a hit and is mortally wounded.

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@Twitter Hate Mob is killed when he is sent to scout around the UFO.

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Genichiro takes on the uneviable task of scouting the area where Twitter Hate Mob was killed, alone. Backup is on its way in the form of a few rookies, but still some distance off if the Muton decides to make another appearance.

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Fortunately for Genichiro but not for @Corn Flakes, the Muton has made his way around the other side of the UFO and opens fire on Dear Leader's squad instead.

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The breach of the UFO does not go smoothly. Dark Edea manages to kill the enemy waiting inside the door, but the squad shortly takes fire from aliens coming out the other access hatch. Genichiro is ordered to hook up with his reinforcements as quickly as possible and circle around the UFO to secure that entrance. Another Muton steps out of the second hatch and circles around into a standoff with Genichiro, who misses every shot. Fougaro is ordered to try and kill the Muton before it can kill Genichiro, but all Fougaro manages to do is shoot @Genichiro right in the back, killing him instantly.

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Considered HARMful with some support fire from the rest of Dear Leader's squad manages to deal with most of the aliens that come out of the second entrance.

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White Devil links up with Fougaro and Forever Sunrise as they round the UFO. Considered HARMful and JongleJingle also move up, forming a five-man squad ideal for breaching the other side of the UFO. Forever Sunrise, knowing he is extra fucked as he is one of two recruits in this mission without armor, is sent in first. A Muton is waiting. He fires straight through @Forever Sunrise and into @White Devil, killing both of them.

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Considered HARMful and JongleJingle finally make it into the UFO. Dear Leader, Prehistoric Jazz and Dark Edea successfully take the southern entrance and move up to support Considered's team in the north.

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Another Muton appears and kills @JongleJingle. The north entrance is a bloodbath. Fougaro moves up and shows he's useful for something by wasting the Muton that killed his comrade. Super Sad Smile is taken off scouting duty because at this point we need every soldier we can get.

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Dear Leader's team is able to rock and roll all the way up to the second access lift. On the way there they take a peek into the engine room, which is empty except for three Elerium power generators.

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The access lifts lead to different floors, meaning the two teams are unable to support each other in their sweeps. Considered HARMful's team advances to the second floor, which seems to be some kind of general storage area, while Dear Leader's team encounters resistance on the third floor.

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The lack of effective support gets @Super Sad Smile killed when a Muton rushes him. Its a harsh loss, but the fact that so many aliens have been killed so far and that Dear Leader is still fighting alongside his Kiwis prevents panic from taking hold.

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Considered HARMful's team sweeps the second floor completely, finding no aliens at all.

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Prehistoric Jazz very nearly finds himself added to the list of casualties when he stands guard to wait for Considered HARMful's team to meet up with him on the second floor. Dear Leader saves the day at the last possible moment though, risking Dark Edea being caught alone in a narrow corridor. The risk is worth it though, and that turns out to be the last alien.

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The mission has a very high, very positive score but the losses XCOM suffered on it were severe. Almost every experienced officer or upcoming Sergeant was killed, and only one, Dark Edea, was promoted to replace them.

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The reason why is soon made clear. We have 13 soldiers remaining, less than a full squad. Two are wounded on top of this. Missions to recover the two crashed UFOs are delayed until new recruits can be brought in.

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Research on Alien Origins is complete. Our scientists conclude that we can learn more from interrogating a captured alien leader, but I will be interrogating the captured Snakeman Navigator first for reasons that will soon become clear.

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23 new recruits arrive.

There are currently only 9 soldiers in the waiting list. This gives us another 14 available names, Rather than resort to reusing names right away, I'm going to give any newcomers to the thread the opportunity to sign up ahead of the recycled names. So if you have been reading this thread but haven't volunteered yet, now is a great time to do so, you will almost assuredly see action real soon.

I'll wait until tomorrow morning for volunteers, so maybe 12 or so hours from the time of this post. I've also decided to give the soldiers at Deagle Nation filler names since they are almost guarenteed not to see any combat.

Current waiting list:
The Valeyard
Megatardingo
Spunt
Allakazam223
A Proud Black Woman
AmpleApricots
Pocket Dragoon
Karl der Grosse
 

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If you got room, put my totally not a clone White Devil II in!



I was expecting the first encounter with Mutons to go bad, but goddamn did they clean house with us.
 
Forever Sunrise, knowing he is extra fucked as he is one of two recruits in this mission without armor, is sent in first. A Muton is waiting. He fires straight through @Forever Sunrise and into @White Devil, killing both of them.
You know, this can actually happen in real life. Although it wouldn't necessarily work if the second guy is wearing a vest.
 
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If you got room, put my totally not a clone White Devil II in!
Put my cousin Frosted Flakes in line if you end up needing more cannon fodder soldiers!
For reference I'll be using the Memorial menu to determine the order everyone died in and go from there when I start recycling names. Also just for reference, Dear Leader, Ghost of Null and myself will not be recycled to give the spotlight over to the actual recruits. Obviously none of the filler troops will be recycled either if they happen to die defending a base.
 
Service guarantees the TRUE & HONEST moniker and all the reactions.... don't @ me
I would legitimately laugh if Null did that for this LP but then again you'd probably get an influx of people not interested in the game come here just to get the title.
 
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