Will reply to questions after posting this
Warning: many (little) pictures
I played some battles today with the people who signed up last night. Ill add the new people now!
I felt like writing quite a bit for this today. Expect much less content in future, especially when im updating my NES.
BTW, some people are female XCOM agents. Hope you dont mind!
And there is an annoying white box in the top left corner of some of the pics. Its because of the screenshot capture program im using.
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Late July, 1999
XCOM is making good progress against the alien menace. We have researched laser weapons, plasma weapons, advanced powered armour, mini-hovertanks and various other bits of gear. XCOM has seven bases across the globe, and hundreds of personnel (but mostly scientists).
As XCOMs radar coverage increases, more UFOs are being intercepted and shot down all over the world. But after months of endless combat, most of our troops are wounded and exhausted. We need to set up another base for ground operations to ensure quick recovery of downed UFOs.
Skyranger 2 is transferred from our main base in Puerto Rico to our expanding second base in Tibet (codename: Shangri La).
Monthly report, July, 1999
Monthly rating is excellent, funding is up from all nations apart from South Africa, which has already withdrawn from the project and made a pact with the aliens, despite our best efforts. We must work hard to ensure other countries do not go the same way.
1 August, 1999
Skyranger 2 arrives at Shangri La, along with 9 fresh recruits:
JosefStalinator Trooper
emu Trooper
Lord_Iggy Trooper
Luckymoose Useless
Swissempire Sniper
j_eps Sniper
LittleBoots - Useless
Wubba360 Heavy
Warman17 - Trooper
Hours later, a small scout UFO has been shot down over the central USA. Its a long way from Shangri La, but XCOM command decides this will be an ideal first test for the rookies
Farmland, Central United States, 16:07 GMT, 1 August, 1999
UFO Recovery: Small Scout UFO / Snakemen
A mixup at base sends Lord_iggy into battle with no armour! Brave Lord_Iggy is nonetheless the first soldier off the landing ramp. And he sights a snakeman in a field, just beside the landing point!
With no armour, Lord_Iggy doesnt want to draw the aliens reaction fire, and stays low. Trooper Warman17 takes an auto shot from the landing ramp, j_eps takes a snap shot, but both miss. The alien doesnt fire back. Its left to Wubba360 to claim the squads first kill, with a well-placed heavy rocket!
The squad survives its first turn with no casualties.
On the second turn, JosefStalinator sights the UFO and spots another snakeman in a field. j_eps gets the squads second kill with a well aimed shot from behind the Skyrangers landing gear.
Useless Luckymoose then sights another alien in a farmhouse. Wubba tries to get a rocket through the window, but only succeeds in blowing up a wall. Warman17 gets the squads third kill after strafing the inside with auto heavy plasma fire.
And thats it! A quick and deceptively easy first mission for our rookies.
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While Skyranger2 is still in the air on the way home, there is disturbing news a large UFO has slipped through our defences, and aliens are terrorising Novosibirsk!
Skyranger1 and XCOMs separate squad of more experienced troops will handle this mission
Right from the touch-down, there is a hard-core fire-fight with Muton soldiers and their weird blobby friends. It will be a while before our rookie squad is sent into this kind of fire-fight. Our veteran squad prevents large-scale civilian deaths, but one soldier is killed by a type of flying blob called a celatid (we had previously considered these blobs to be mostly harmless).
Our squad of rookies is told the news. It seems we can expect more Muton activity in Russia and China
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Now the second mission for our rookie team. A large scout UFO has been shot down not far from Shangri La base. Skyranger 2 reaches the scene before nightfall.
Farmland, Russia/Chinese Border, 8:05 GMT, 3 August 1999
UFO Recovery: Large Scout UFO / Mutons
Another farmland mission. This time, we sight an alien before we even get to the landing ramp of the skyranger Mutons, surprise surprise.
Lord_Iggy (now equipped with powered armour) opens up from the Skyranger - an auto shot and an aimed shot, all miss. We need more accuracy! Warman17 ducks as sinper j_eps fires an aimed heavy plasma shot over his head. Another kill! Now we can actually move out the skyranger.
Things get quiet
Our team splits up and spreads out. JosefStalinator and Lord_Iggy head towards some farm buildings, backed up by j_eps. Warman 17 cautiously works his way through an orchard, backed up by Wubba (now carrying an uber-destructive blaster launcher, with guided shots that can be sent round corners!), LittleBoots, and Luckymoose. Emu is flying overhead, and Swissempire is perched ontop the wing of the Skyranger, with line of fire over the whole area.
JosefStalinator sights another Muton, in an awkward spot behind a hedge. We cant get a shot. Lord_Iggy tries to blast through the hedge to get at the alien, but runs out of time. j_eps fires from the wing of the Skyranger, and misses. We cant let this alien have a chance to return fire! Wubba360 is called in. From the other side of the map, a blaster bomb is directed up and over the UFO, and round behind the hedge. Blaster bombs are in short supply, but this is a good call turns out that two Mutons are killed in the blast.
Now it seems the surrounding area is clear. Our two groups close in on the UFO. But suddenly, Lord_Iggy takes fire from some farm buildings! Luckily he isnt hit. We cant spot the aliens, they must be hiding behind away from the windows. Time for another blaster-bomb. Wubba guides a shot through the window and into the corner of the house. Boom! Thats three kills today for Wubba! After all these explosions, not much is left of the building, or the surrounding area for that matter.
But the mission isnt over. Luckymoose uses the motion scanner and detects movement inside the UFO. In the crash, a hole has been blown in the roof. Our troops with flying armour move ontop emu and Swissempire. Sniper j_eps and the rest of our troopers gather by the door. We will attack from two directions, standard XCOM procedure.
emu is the first inside, zooming down through the hole in the roof. One alien already lies dead from the crash. emu sees a live one, but doesnt have time to fire! Swissempire follows in and takes an auto shot at close range. This is quite foolhardy for a sniper, but we are all expecting Swiss to drop the alien before it can return fire. Two shots go wide, the third hits but its not enough!
The alien fires back - missing. Swiss then accidentally moves forward, and takes more reaction fire from another hidden alien. We have lost many troops like this before... Swiss is hit, but his flying armour suit saves him, and he escapes without injury. All this is very lucky, especially against Mutons!
JosefStalinator and Lord_Iggy now burst through the door, getting one kill each, with help from Warman17. j_eps follows in. We are expecting more hidden Mutons, but all is quiet.
Another victory! Two missions, 8 aliens killed, no casualties suffered, no deaths. Our rookie team is proving itself, but how long can it go on like this?
And, bizzarely, Wubba360 is denied one of his kills. We are sure that three Mutons were killed by his blaster bombs, making a total of 6 killed - but it seems Wubba is only given credit for two. Perhaps in the carnage of the blaster bombs, it is impossible to tell
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Over the next day, several UFOs are tracked but manage to escape, or are totally destroyed. Then, another crash retrieval op. A large scout is shot down over Canadian territory. XCOM command sends in our rookie team again. They have done very well so far, can they keep it up?..
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. I don't see it for sale anywhere. Also, do you have AIM/MSN?
