X-COM II: The Earth’s Revenge (Part IX)

[Godzilla Blitz]

Welcome to Part Nine of X-COM II: The Earth’s Revenge!

Our story continues...

Recap
We are in the tenth month of the war between Earth and its alien invaders. By the ninth month of fighting--despite successes on the battlefield--it was clear that the aliens were overwhelming us with numbers, and support for our cause was dwindling. Germany, France, and England had all joined forces with the alien cause. UN funding for our war effort was getting slashed across the board. X-COM security incompetence led to an alien leader successfully committing suicide in captivity, and set our research back by two months. We were no closer to learning the secrets of our alien enemies than we were five months into the war. New alien bases had been discovered in Portugal and Germany, giving the aliens three bases of operations on Earth. World opinion was swinging in favor of the aliens. In short, things looked grim.

In the past month, however, we made shocking progress against our foes. With the alien infestation spreading and world opinion tipping against us, FOFC X-COM launched two daring raids on enemy bases in Portugal and Germany, both of which were stunning successes. In the process, agents captured “Poindexter”, a top-ranking Sectoid Commander, and one badly needed to crack the aliens’ secrets. By mid-month, X-COM interrogators had finally broken the prisoner and learned that nearby Mars is indeed the home of our foe. Furthermore, rumors abound that our alien prisoner is only weeks away from giving us enough information to allow us to begin planning an assault on the enemy planet. The deadly, enervating, defensive war that we have been fighting has tried agent and civilian morale, and this news that we may be able to finally bring the fight to the aliens has given our planet a badly needed boost of hope.

In other areas as well, significant progress has been made. Research gains during the month have lead to breakthroughs in both aircraft and armored vehicles, both of which currently have prototypes under construction. X-COM agents have also finally begun training in PSI-Ops, which should help even the table against the aliens’ devastating mind attacks. Funding is back up to all-time levels, and profits from successful missions have allowed X-COM to expand operations at SAM COM, open AFRICA COM, and begin construction on ANT COM in Antarctica. A wave of hiring has added badly needed recruits to our forces. In short, there is hope that our struggle is not in vain.

Despite this optimism, there is one huge, dark cloud on the horizon--one that could ultimately make these gains insignificant. There is the growing belief that the aliens have discovered the location of our EU COM base, and that an alien attack on that critical installation is not a matter of “if”, but of “when”. If attacks on that base come, they will be fights that we cannot lose. Doing so would mean disastrous setbacks in weapons production and research, and would wipe away the gains of the past month and more. Our efforts are only one loss away from spinning badly the other way. In short, our situation is precarious, and victory far from certain.

It is here where we’ll resume our story. When we last left off, we were in the midst of one of our harrying tactics against the enemy: our EU COM Skyranger was circling the alien base in England and waiting to pounce on an approaching Supply UFO. We’ll pick things up with their attack.

Read along as the fight rages on, as the brave men of X-COM II slog their way through encounter after encounter against our deadly foe, and the fate of the planet hangs in the balance.

By way of explanation
This "dynasty" is a participatory story using the Microprose game X-COM: UFO Defense. If you'd like to sign up, just post here to let me know. You don't need to know anything about the game, basically you just read along and post comments as you like, although at times there are decisions to be made where input is requested. In almost all of those cases, you don't need to know anything about the game to make an equally bad decision as I usually do.

Past Links
A Sectoid cyber attack on our computer systems took out much of the recorded history of our fight against the aliens, but these few recent links remain. Efforts to regain public access to the lost annals continue.

X-COM II (Part VI) (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?threadid=8041&referrerid=217)
X-COM II (Part VII) (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?threadid=11406&referrerid=217)
X-COM II (Part VIII) (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=14060&page=1&pp=50)

[Kodos]

Rise up, men! It is time to fight!

Fight the alien menace to the last, boys... :mad:

[PsychoCop]

It's Showtime!

[PsychoCop]

I just remembered... I'm a babysitter at SAM COM. So much for Showtime for me.

[Tasan]

Locked and loaded
Ready to see some aliens 'ploded


Okay that was weak.

YAY WE ARE BACK!

[MrBug708]

*please don't die*

[Godzilla Blitz]

We resume our story...

previously on X-COM II...

October 13

Our EU COM Hyper Wave Decoder picks up alien transmissions that indicate a large, Sectoid-piloted Supply Ship will be bringing in supplies to the British alien base within the next twelve hours. Sure enough, 5 hours later we pick up the UFO on our radar systems. We prepare our EU COM Skyranger for launch. Our plan is to pounce on the UFO as soon as it lands, which given its current flight path and speed, should be dawn on the 14th.

On board will be the following agents:
Jfbbis, Revrew, Tasan, Afoci, Blade III, Lokugh II, Wolfpack, Japherwaki II, Mr. Bug IV, Swaggs.

Twenty minutes after spotting the Supply Ship on radar, EU COM picks up another small UFO over the Mediterranean Sea. Superman launches in the Interceptor and downs the craft over central France. We immediately launch the USA COM Skyranger for that target. Shortly thereafter, the EU COM Skyranger begins its trip to England.

Our story resumes...

First up, EU COM should hit the Sectoid Supply Ship. Be ready for a big fight there, as Supply Ships have lots of aliens, usually Sectoids with PSI abilities! Should be a real party! Next, USA COM will hit the small UFO in France.

Good luck, men! Big day ahead! I hope you live until tomorrow!

___

As an aside, the USA COM mission will be a mini-writeup, but I'm thinking about writing full writeups for all three bases once we get into new missions, as we seem to have almost half the USA contingent back in action. More details to follow.

[Tasan]

EEP! I don't know if I like the idea of being in the first mission back.....even if it WAS on the backburner for so long.....I've got a bad feeling about this....

[Godzilla Blitz]

A vision speaks to me in riddles...

ABCD, what do your letters tell me?
The one with the most makes an alien ghost.
The four with five? They come back alive,
but one was brave and now can't shave.
The one with eight was a little bit late,
So of the four with six, one heart no longer ticks.
But one kills three, whee whee whee!

[Peregrine]

Uh oh, not looking good for Swaggs/Lokugh/Jfbbis/Revrew.

[Tasan]

The four with five? They come back alive:
One kills three, whee whee whee!


HORRAY!

I hope I got 3 kills....;- )

[sterlingice]

I've forgotten, GB, am I at EU COM or USA COM (or ASIA or SAM)?

SI

[Alf]

An agent recap would be great at this point too. Thanks

[Thomkal]

Yay! Glad you have the time to continue this dynasty GB. Looking forward to reading it.
And nice riddle. :)

[sachmo71]

Nice riddle, GB!

[klayman]

GB's been reading too much Lord of the Rings. Pretty soon he'll have Kodos singing ancient Sectoid songs in their own language. :D

[revrew]

A vision speaks to me in riddles...
The one with eight was a little bit late,
So of the four with six, one heart no longer ticks.

The one with EIGHT???? Aaaaaaaahhhhh! Everybody knows that's me! There's no 'clouding' of that vision. A little bit late...NO LONGER TICKS?? Oh, goodbye cruel world! X-COM loses another of the original agents. :( It's all over for the rev.

[Blade]

Well, I hope that means that Blade III will have a longer life than Blade II...

[Poli]

Are you going to give me orders, sir!?

disgruntled marine in Star Craft

:)

[RawIsDan]

To quote Duke Nukem " Nobody steals our chicks... and lives " :D

[Godzilla Blitz]

Whoops. Fixed a small glitch in the riddle. Sorry 'bout that.

About that stat list/roster sheet...

I mention it in a bit more detail in the roll call thread, but the updated stat list is taking longer than I thought it would. I'm going to post this mission first. I'll sort out all the stats, base assignments, and kill tallies right after it, and should have an updated stat list by Saturday. The mission will be up before midnight CST today, though.

[Japherwaki]

The one with the most makes an alien ghost.


Yay?

Right?

[Peregrine]

Yay?

Right?

He said he fixed a glitch in the riddle. I think the new line is:

The one with the most has his heart eaten by an alien ghost.

:)

[AStott]

Yay! Whee! Yahoo! It's back! Yes!

*ahem*

Neat.

[Godzilla Blitz]

78th Mission: British Supply Ship

The EU COM flies a holding pattern over the English Channel, waiting for word from EU COM headquarters that the Sectoid supply ship has landed. Our hyper-wave radar has been a godsend: we’ve known for 8 hours that the alien UFO was headed right for the British Sectoid base, and were able to get our Skyranger in position to attack right at the crack of dawn.

With Commander Kodos out with a cold, Captain Jfbbis takes charge of today’s crew.

These large supply ships have always been a tough fight, and usually involve PSI-capable Sectoids. Today should be no exception.

The green light flashes and the Skyranger picks up speed for the barren plains of northern England.

Good luck, men!

Left Side:
1. Jfbbis (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Lokugh II (Stun Launcher, Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Wolfpack (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Afoci (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Swaggs (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

Right Side:
1. Blade III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Revrew (Blaster Launcher, Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Japherwaki II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Tasan (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Mr. Bug IV (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

As we descend to the rocky tundra below, we scan the battlefield. We’ve got a cloudy, cool, fall morning, and the gray landscape below should make spotting gray Sectoids a bit tough. It looks like we’re coming down on the northwest part of the battlefield, but in the dim light, we can’t see much. There is no sign of the UFO. We can see that there are rocky mounds on both sides of the Skyranger and that there is a large rocky hill at the nose of the Skyranger. The area to the rear of our exit is secure ground, as is the area beyond the mounds to the left of the Skyranger. The majority of today’s battle should occur to the right and front of our Skyranger.

The Skyranger crunches into the rocky landscape. The gate falls open. Silence.

We start our tank down the ramp. Suddenly, a plasma blast comes screaming in from the left and cuts through the tank’s armor, causing the vehicle to grind to a halt and die. Looks like the main computer must have been hit. Damn, it’s been knocked out already. No time to lose, though. Blade III and Jfbbis come tearing out of the Skyranger, dive left off the ramp, roll on the rocky ground, and come up firing at…

A Sectoid, about 15 yards away, in front of a small mound. The Sectoid is ready for us, though, and both sides open fire simultaneously. The Sectoid nearly hits Blade, but its shot slams harmlessly into the landing gear strut to the left of Blade’s head. Blade and Jfbbis don’t give the Sectoid a second chance though: both of them drill the Sectoid with plasma blasts that tear the thing apart! The two men then quickly scan this side of the Skyranger for more life: nothing. X-COM 1, Aliens 0.

http://home.comcast.net/~mwsmart/XCOM78-1.jpg
X-COM troops are ambushed by Sectoid forces. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

Lokugh II comes out of the Skyranger, breaks right and jumps off the ramp: Sectoid, right in front of him, about 10 yards away! Both Lokugh and the alien pull the triggers at the same time, and both hit at the same time. The Sectoid goes flying backwards in a heap, and Lokugh takes a crunching hit to the chest that knocks him to his knees. The Sectoid is a green mess and clearly dead. Lokugh wobbles on his knees…

But stays up! He tries desparately to breathe, and after a few seconds manages to get some huge gulps of oxygen that take an edge off the diziness. He coughs up a bit of blood, gives Jfbbis an “ok”, and gets ready to resume fighting. Boo yah! We came to party! X-COM 2, Aliens 0.

Things go quiet for a moment, and we begin our deployment. We send Afoci and Blade left to check out the small mounds to the left of our exit. Japhwerwaki II exits the Skyranger and comes up under the Skyranger. He quickly advances to the nose of the craft. He’ll cover this area until we can clear the relatively small amount of ground to the left of our craft. Wolfpack and Lokugh II head right towards the mounds that lie on that side of our Skyranger. The rest of the men wait in the Skyranger: we can guess that there is an enemy Blaster Launcher out there, and we don’t want to bunch up and lose a handful of men with one shot.

With Japh holding our front, Afoci and Blade make a quick, uneventful search of the two mounds that lie to the left of our Skyranger.

On the right side of the Skyranger, Wolfpack and Lokugh go over the first two mounds, an come upon a larger mound that has a narrow, winding chasm cut right through the middle of it: where is Danny Van Halen, expert chasm clearer, when you need him? As the two men eye the opening, a Sectoid steps out and rips off two shots at Lokugh! The first one misses, but the second one clangs off the top of Lokugh’s helmet. Sharp jolts of pain shoot down his spine and his vision blurs, but once again he manages to stay up! Before either of the two men can return fire, the Sectoid cuts back into the chasm and disappears from view. As Wolfpack and Lokugh take cover, prep grenades, and toss them towards the fissure, Tasan exits the Skyranger and races to help support our position over here.

The grenades go off in two quick booms that send rock and dirt spewing out of the chasm, but we hear no alien screams from the silent, dark chasm. Suddenly, from the left side of this hill, another Sectoid appears, about 40 yards away! This one quickly fires some kind of missile that clips the side of the hill and explodes about 20 yards in front of our position. Wolfpack and Lokugh II open fire on the Sectoid on full-auto. Green plasma flies alongside the hill and rips up the earth near the Sectoid. Wolfpack gets the first hit, as he blows the Sectoids right arm off, then Lokugh catches the thing in the stomach. The Sectoid’s intestines gush out onto the rocky soil and the thing drops over dead. X-COM 3, Aliens 0.


http://home.comcast.net/~mwsmart/XCOM78-4.jpg
A panoramic view of an X-COM attempt to root out Sectoids dug into caves. Seconds later the X-COM agent in the middle was killed by alien fire. October, 2003. X-COM Archives PanSCAN Photo

Suddenly, the Sectoid in the chasm reappears! Wolfpack doesn’t have an angle on the thing, Tasan is too far away; it’s one-on-one, from 15 yards away, between Lokugh II and this Sectoid! Both open fire at the same time. Lokugh’s shots clip the rocks on either side of the chasm, but the Sectoid’s first shot hits Lokugh in his weakened chest plate! The shot cuts through body and armor. A gush of red comes out a hole in Lokugh’s back plate and he topples backwards, dead before he hits the ground. Aargh! Wolfpack preps another grenade and tosses it into the chasm. Tasan races for the entrance. The alien spins to retreat, but Wolfpack’s grenade goes off and blows the thing apart! Yes! We race Mr. Bug IV and Jfbbis forward to help out on this side of the Skyranger, as things are getting hot over here. X-COM 4, Aliens 1.

Things on the other side of the Skyranger are calmer. Swaggs exits the Skyranger and joins Japherwaki II. Afoci and Blade finish searching the left side of the Skyranger, and they move forward to form a line with Swaggs and Japh. Together, the four of them begin to climb the large hill that lies in front of our Skyranger. As they start up, Japh catches a glimpse of the bulky alien Supply Ship on the other side. We’ll send these men (Squad One) over the hill and around the near side of the UFO. A Supply Ship should have doors on the far side, and so we’ll need to go around the thing to get in.


http://home.comcast.net/~mwsmart/XCOM78-2.jpg
X-COM forces advance through rocky terrain. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

Supply ships usually have Sectoid officers up high, in the command center on the west end of the craft. It’s usually a good idea to try to hit this part of the ship with blaster missiles to try to take them out early. With this in mind, Revrew exits the Skyranger, aims, and sends a blaster missile up over our Skyranger and the large hill in between, and slams it into the bridge of the Supply Ship. From his vantage point about 50 yards away, Japh can see the rocket hit, explode, and blow a large hole in the side of the tough alien craft. Japh also hears the screams of Sectoids dying inside! Yes! Revrew got at least one with that shot! As Swaggs, Blade, Japh, and Afoci continue their advance over the hill and towards the UFO, Revrew fires two missiles into the hole created by the first hit. The first of these shots brings no screams with it, but the second causes some kind of a chain reaction inside that sets off a series of four more explosions that shake the earth. Once again we hear Sectoids screaming inside! Revrew’s got at least two kills today! X-COM 7, Aliens, 1.

Back on the right side of the Skyranger, Jfbbis joins Tasan, and together they begin a sweep around the near side of the steep, unclimable rock formation that houses the chasm. Mr. Bug IV heads right into the chasm, and Wolfpack starts around the far side. Once these four men clear this, they should be very close to the right side of the UFO. The search takes a few minutes, but things begin without incident. Tasan and Jfbbis have the easiest search and the shortest route. They are the first ones to clear their path around the hill and sure enough, as they reach the far side, they spot the right side of the UFO. Just as they get there, a Sectoid comes around the corner of the craft! The Sectoid looks surprised, then bolts back around the corner of the UFO and out of sight. Tasan quickly prepares a grenade and tosses it to the spot where the alien disappeared. Both men then train their weapons on the corner and wait…

Seconds later, the Sectoid reappears and opens fire at Tasan before either men can react! Plasma shots slam into the rock in front of Tasan. Tasan’s grenade goes off with a roar, and the Sectoid is blown to smithereens! Well done, Tasan! X-COM 8, Aliens 1.

Except for the whirring of internal UFO doors, things go quiet for the next few minutes. Japh, Blade, Swaggs, and Afoci get around the left corner of the UFO and set up an assault position on the left exit. Swaggs and Blade cover the exit from 15 yards away, while Afoci and Japh hug the wall of the UFO, just shy of the final approach on the UFO.


http://home.comcast.net/~mwsmart/XCOM78-3.jpg
X-COM troops prepare to assault a Sectoid supply ship. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

Meanwhile, at the other end of the UFO, Wolfpack, Mr. Bug IV, Tasan, and Jfbbis all converge on the right corner of the UFO and begin their way around that corner of the craft. There should be a second exit on this end of the craft, and we’ll have these men go in through that exit.

Suddenly, a Sectoid exits the UFO, right in front of Blade and Swaggs. The two men ready their heavy plasmas and go to pull the trigger, but the alien darts back inside before either man can fire. Blade tosses a grenade on a 30-second timer near the exit, but it goes off harmlessly. Scant seconds later, the Sectoid reappears! This time Blade is quick to the draw: he drills the Sectoid in the right shoulder as it exits. The blast severs the arm off and sends the Sectoid wailing to the ground! And then another Sectoid is right on this one’s heels! It turns to fire, but Blade gets off another quick shot first. This one blows the Sectoid’s knee apart and sends it howling to the ground. And then another Sectoid appears! Swaggs, fire! This Sectoid is a bit faster than Blade and gets off a shot that clips Blade’s neck armor and blows a chunk of Blade’s throat away! The shot must have hit a major artery, as a stream of blood comes squirting out of Blade! Blade pulls the trigger once more, but his shot sprays well wide. The Sectoid turns back into the UFO. As Swaggs pulls out a Medipatch and slaps it on Blade’s neck, Afoci and Japh get up and charge the UFO door. Afoci pops it open, and comes face-to-face with the surprised Sectoid. He slams the butt of his heavy plasma into the Sectoid’s face. The force of the blow breaks the creature’s neck and kills it instantly. Afoci hops over the falling body and breaks right along the outer corridor. Japh enters the UFO right behind him and breaks left. X-COM 11, Aliens 1.

As Wolfpack, Mr. Bug IV, Tasan, and Jfbbis rush the far exit to help the men inside the UFO, a Sectoid comes around a corner right in front of Japherwaki II. Japh dives right and pulls the trigger on his heavy plasma. Three shots slam into the creature’s chest, sending green goo splattering in all directions. The Sectoid crumples backwards in a heap, its chest a steaming mess. Way to go, Japh! X-COM 12, Aliens 1.

And that’s all she wrote! Well done, men! Tough to lose Lokugh, but not a bad return to action!

Kills: Revrew, 3; Japherwaki II, 1; Tasan, 1; Jfbbis, 1; Afoci, 1; Blade III, 2; Lokugh II, 2; Wolfpack, 1.
KIA: Lokugh II.
Wounded: Blade III (3 days).
Attribute Improvements: Jfbbis, Japherwaki II, Tasan, Revrew, Blade III, Wolfpack.
Final score: 412.
Mission Notes:
Revrew picks up a hattrick with his blaster launcher missiles.

Japherwaki II’s reaction skill increased by one, to 32! Wow!

Blade III’s wound looked bad, but quick action by Swaggs kept the bleeding to a minimum. Blade III should be back in action in no time.

[Poli]

Rock on. We rule. According to GB! WOO! GO US!

[Craptacular]

All in all, not a bad return. RIP Lokugh II.

[MikeVic]

Win!!! Good job revrew!

[Kodos]

I guess Lokugh's good luck ran out after a couple of close calls. RIP, Lokugh. Your planet thanks you.

[Poli]

Don't mind me. Someone has to man the barracks. Don't want sectoids back here.

[MrBug708]

Everyone got a kill but me it seems

[Blade]

Thanks Swaggs! I owe you!

[Lokugh]

Location: Heaven. Pearly gates in the background at a distance.
Time: Just last night.

In ranks, a number of angels wearing X-COM uniforms are waiting to welcome their newest member. They are all here. In the front row, we can see four generations of the Illinifan family, there just to the left. Just behind them are both of the Blades's and a couple of Mr.Bugs's. In the back row, we see Kodos the Elder making rabbit ears (using two tentacles) behind Cam Edwards's halo. Next to him, the two Data Kings are chatting with Real Deal II and Coffee Warlord, Sr. All the jabbering stops though as trumpets blare.

An old, gray-bearded angel carrying some keys, escorts a young bewildered looking man over to the group. "Here ya go, boy. They'll take you from here," he says kindly.

One of the uniformed angels walks out from the first row and hugs the young bewildered soldier. "Well, son, ya did us proud. We all thought you were going to make it through that one, after the first two shots...well, ok, Al Hill, Jr. was giving 3-1 against, but other than that we were all thinking you'd make it. You did us proud though," Lokugh, Sr. said to his son, putting his arm around the young man. "Come over, meet the others, and then we'll take you to the depot to get your wings and halo. Once that's done, we'll take you over to our watering hole, The Splattered Sectoid. The Almighty gives us a soldiers a special dispensation on the whole alcohol thing, so don't worry about that. Then, on Tuesday, we'll all settle down in front of the 60 foot plasma screen and see how USACom does in France. Maybe that boy of yours will get called up soon..."

The group of uniformed angels all gather around the newcomer and lead him off into the distance, joking and jostling along. As they go, another group of angels form up...these not in uniform...and another trumpet sounds...

[Blade6119]

that was one of the best death posts in awhile lokugh...and im proud you mentioned my ancestors...cant wait for you to get back into battle my brother!

[Blade6119]

Hey godzilla...whos going on the USA mission...You said i was shipped there. And also, can you post the recruits stats, since at the end of the last dynasty you brought us up, but never showed us our guys.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Yup, I'll be working on the stats today. Probably won't be able to post them until later tonight, as I'm playing doctor today. My wife and son are both wiped out with the flu. Damn Sectoid bio warfare. They'll stop at nothing.

Blade6119: You died on the USA mission. Nasty death as usual. I'll post the recap in a little while.

[Blade6119]

Blade6119: You died on the USA mission. Nasty death as usual. I'll post the recap in a little while.

........i hope this is one of your sick jokes...i didnt even get to see my guys stats and im dead?...i hate you soooooooooooooooooo much :mad:

[Blade6119]

dola...im sorry...please dont kill me :)

[Poli]

Blade6119: You died on the USA mission. Nasty death as usual. I'll post the recap in a little while.


I read this as: Ardent: You are still alive. No nasty deaths for you.

[Blade6119]

I read this as: Ardent: You are still alive. No nasty deaths for you.

Thanks a lot...i see all my friends are coming out to support me now...whos going to turn on me next?

[Poli]

They told me to ad lib, my friend. You want me to ad lib? You take what you get!

:)

[JokerAce]

Only 1 KIA that seems like not to bad a thing.

Patiently waiting for the updated active list to see if I end up anywhere. :)

[Godzilla Blitz]

Just kidding there, Blade6119.

Well, kind of.

He he.

Power sure does corrupt.

JokerAce: That was mission 78, and Lokugh II was our 68th death, so 1 death per mission is about right. But supply ship attacks rank up there with the more dangerous missions, so 1 death is not too bad for that type of mission. "Acceptable casualties", unless you are Lokugh II.

Lokugh: Great writeup! I'm glad you've found your peace. We'll get Lokugh III right on the list.

Mr. Bug: Swaggs didn't get a kill either. We'll work on it next time. My goal is to spread out the kills on each mission as much as possible so that we maximize attribute gains, but it's usually something I can't control all that well in dangerous missions.

[Blade]

that was one of the best death posts in awhile lokugh...and im proud you mentioned my ancestors...cant wait for you to get back into battle my brother!

Which Blade is he talking about? I have two dead ancestors as well!

At least it is only two so far...

:eek:

[The Afoci]

Screw shooting them. I kill them hand to hand...with the butt of my weapon...

[Poli]

Isn't that umm, weapon to carcass or something?

[Coffee Warlord]

I kill them by sheer power of Grizzle.

[Poli]

I kill them by sheer power of Grizzle.

I thought you used logic.

[sachmo71]

I'm ready to get back in the game, coach.

[revrew]

In the words of the indestructable gopher...

"I'm all right. Don't nobody worry 'bout me. I'm all right..."

Whoo-hoo! I luuuuuv that blaster launcher!

[Godzilla Blitz]

Update

I’ve just gone through everyone’s stats, updated all the base assignments, and tallied up all the kill totals. All these stats are based on the game after mission 80, which is where I left off playing right when my daughter was born. Since it would be a little silly to post the future before it happens, I’ll be posting the recaps for missions 79 & 80 today, then putting up the stats right after that. Both 79 and 80 were out of the USA COM base, and that was when the base was mostly filled with inactive agents, so all I have are the brief mission summaries. Since most of the agents at USA COM are now active agents, I’m going to full writeups for USA COM, EU COM, and ASIA COM after mission 80.

Also, I just wanted to fill people in on how an agent’s career will unfold. We’ve now got five bases scattered around the world. Three of them (USA, Europe, and Asia) are attack-capable bases for us. Each of these bases will normally have around 15 agents in them, and we’ll do full mission writeups for all of the missions at/from these bases. Two of our bases (South America and Africa) are non-military bases that do not have attack capabilities. Each of these bases will have 5-10 agents stationed as a guard force. These agents will only be part of writeups if, by some chance, their base gets attacked.

Basically, this means that we’ll have three groups of agents on active duty, two groups that are on guard duty, and a third group waiting at home for the phone to ring to get called to action. In short, people will move through the system in the following order:

1. Waiting List
2. Guard Duty at AFR COM
3. Guard Duty at SAM COM
4. Active Duty at USA COM, or EU COM, or ASIA COM

On other thing to know. In order to get as many current readers involved in the dynasty as possible, there are a couple of places where you’ve got to confirm your presence by posting a reply to a call up. Between the waiting list and guard duty, and between guard duty and active duty, I’ll post your name requesting that you confirm you’re still reading and ready for the next step up in action. Basically, we’re trying to avoid having people who no longer visit the thread getting in the action and tying up spots for people who would like to be more involved. Also, the replies, comments, and writeups from the agents make the dynasty so much better. Lastly, if you die, let me know that you want your offspring to continue fighting. Any kind of a post after you die is good enough.

That’s about it. Up next, a recap of the USA COM action in France.

[Godzilla Blitz]

79th Mission: USA COM vs. Sectoids in France

This mission was done when we were doing summaries only for the USA base.

Our troops today:

Left Side:
1. Daimyo II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Wade Moore (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. BYU (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. The Time (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Sublime II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

Right Side:
1. Achilles (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. CT Homer (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)
3. Data King III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Wignasty (Heavy Plasma, Stun Launcher, Power Suit)
5. Rawisdan (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)

Achilles kills an alien walking through a field.

There was only one measly alien on this mission.

Kills: Achilles.
KIA: None.
Wounded: None
Attribute Improvements: Achilles.
Final score: 30.
Mission Notes:
Zzzzzzz.

[Poli]

Dang it. So, I suppose I'm waiting or in Africa, eh?

[Lokugh]

Which Blade is he talking about? I have two dead ancestors as well!

At least it is only two so far...

:eek:

Actually, both of you...you are all just Blades to me< g >.

Lokugh

[Blade6119]

lol...works for me

[Godzilla Blitz]

Update

Shortly after the USA COM Skyranger returned to base, North American radar picked up a small UFO hurtling south over Canada. CapnMorgan took off in the Interceptor and forced the craft down over rural Idaho. Less than an hour after the USA COM Skyranger returned from Europe, it was airborne again. On board were the following men:

Airhog II, CT Homer, Fat Football II, Sublime II, Blade6119 IV, Achilles, BYU, The Time, Anxiety II, Klayman III

Base intelligence told the men that they should expect light resistance: a small UFO that has crash-landed should have 1-3 live aliens. Consensus: a cakewalk.

The intelligence was dead wrong.

[The Afoci]

That sounds like generally good news...

[The_herd]

Does this mean I get in soon?

[Sublime]

Damn those intelligence reports!

[Godzilla Blitz]

80th Mission: USA COM vs. Ethereals in Idaho

This is the last mini-recap that we’ll see in the near future. From here on out, it'll be full writeups.

Our troops today:

Left Side:
1. Airhog II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. CT Homer (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Fat Football II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Sublime II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Blade6119 IV (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

Right Side:
1. Achilles (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. BYU (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)
3. The Time (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Anxiety II (Heavy Plasma, Stun Launcher, Power Suit)
5. Klayman III (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)

The Skyranger touched down about 100 yards away from the smoking remains of the UFO. The first sign that things would not go as planned was the size of the UFO. Instead of a small UFO, the men faced a medium-sized craft that could contain many more aliens. The second sign that things would not go easily was a massive PSI-attack that washed over our men as they exited the Skyranger. The third sign came shortly after the first men exited the craft: an Ethereal closed in on our craft and nearly took out two men. Instead of a cakewalk against 1-3 Sectoids, the men were facing a knock-down battle against seven tough Ethereals.

The highlights…

Achilles shoots and kills an Ethereal that attacked us right after we exited the Skyranger.

Anxiety II shoots and kills an Ethereal as we approach the UFO.

Blade6119 IV tries to throw a grenade into the UFO through its collapsed roof, but hits a tree branch right in front of him instead. The grenade falls at his feet and explodes, badly wounding him and nearly wounding three other agents. The explosion disrupts our entire attack, and brings Ethereals screaming down on our position. Within a minute, we are pinned down and under heavy fire.

BYU is killed by Ethereal fire in the subsequent melee.

Klayman III shoots and kills the Ethereal that killed BYU.

Sublime II tosses a grenade through the UFO roof to kill an alien.

Fat Football II uses the Blaster Launcher to kill an Ethereal near the UFO door.

Fat Football II uses the Blaster Launcher to kill a second alien dug in alongside the UFO.

The Time almost got PSI-controlled, but was able to fight it off.

Klayman III knocks out the last alien with a grenade toss into the UFO.

Kills: Achilles, 1; Klayman III, 1; Fat Football II, 2, Anxiety II, 1; Sublime II, 1.
KIA: BYU.
Wounded: Blade6119 IV (12 days)
Attribute Improvements: Achilles, Anxiety II, Blade6119 IV, Klayman III, Fat Football II, The Time, Sublime II.
Final score: 186.
Mission Notes:
I can’t believe we lost Captain BYU. He is the first agent with 20-plus missions of experience to die. Crap, crap, crap. I hate when that happens. He was really good too.

Blade6119’s grenade toss would have been hilarious if not for the fact that it almost killed four men. The fact that he survived is a minor miracle. It went off right at his feet.

The loss of a Captain should mean a flurry of promotions in the near future, as lower ranking agents are bumped up.

[Blade6119]

I DIDNT DIE!!!! I did pull a kodos, but i lived! Talk about luck! Is BYU even around any more...if so, im sorry to him for bringing in the enemy and almost killing half the squad...

[Poli]

Seaman recruit to seaman apprentice. I can't wait. :) Seriously, where am I in the grand scheme?

[finkenst]

I thought you used logic.

why aren't you working on more of ardent walks on?
:D

[Godzilla Blitz]

Update

Promotions

Congratulations to the following agents!

Qwikshot II....Captain!
Render II....Sergeant!
Swaggs....Sergeant!
Coffee Warlord II....Sergeant!

You are an example to us all!

(As an aside to those who are new. The game picks these automatically. Nothing I can do about them.)

[Godzilla Blitz]

Ok, here is one loooooong stats update. Normally, I won't be posting the Hall of Heroes with every update. Let me know if you I've missed you, or if something is off.

X-COM II Troop Master List (After Mission 80)

USA COM

ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
14. Wade Moore Active Colonel 23 22
37. The Time Active Sergeant 18 5
41. Fat Football II Active Sergeant 18 8
43. Achilles Active Sergeant 17 13
55. Sublime II Active Squaddie 14 9
59. Daimyo II Active Squaddie 9 5
61. Rawisdan Active Squaddie 14 7
71. Wignasty Active Squaddie 7 3
73. CTHomer Active Squaddie 10 6
94. Data King III Active Squaddie 5 2
112. Airhog II Active Rookie 1 0
113. Anxiety II Active Squaddie 1 1
114. Blade6119 IV WND (12) Squaddie 1 0
115. Klayman III Active Squaddie 1 1


EU COM

ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
2. jfbbis Active Colonel 19 17
10. Kodos Active Commander 22 21
19. Revrew Active Sergeant 20 16
46. Patman II Active Captain 19 10
66. Tasan Active Squaddie 13 6
70. Naiwf Active Sergeant 12 6
89. RealDeal III Active Squaddie 8 3
90. Coffee Warlord II Active Sergeant 9 7
93. Afoci Active Squaddie 6 4
97. Blade III Active Squaddie 4 4
98. MrBug IV Active Squaddie 6 3
101. Wolfpack Active Squaddie 5 3
102. Japherwaki II Active Squaddie 7 6
105. Swaggs Active Sergeant 6 4
110. Breeze Active Squaddie 1 1


ASIA COM

ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
15. Rich 1033 Active Squaddie 17 13
35. Jeff Nights II Active Captain 20 10
39. Thomkal II Active Sergeant 16 14
45. Danny VanHalen Active Squaddie 16 12
52. Qwikshot II Active Captain 15 11
75. Alf III Active Squaddie 6 4
76. Fonzie II Active Squaddie 8 7
78. Render II Active Sergeant 10 6
84. Split Pers III Active Squaddie 5 6
92. Jeeber D Active Squaddie 6 5
103. Condors II Active Squaddie 5 6
106. Travis III Active Squaddie 5 4
108. Zippy II Active Squaddie 2 1
109. Glengoyne Active Squaddie 2 2
111. 3ric IV Active Rookie 1 0



SAM COM

ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
116. Chuck U Farley Active Rookie 0 0
117. Psycho Cop II Active Rookie 0 0
118. Calis Active Rookie 0 0
119. Tucker II Active Rookie 0 0
120. Sachmo III Active Rookie 0 0



AFRICA COM

ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
74. AStott WND (9) Captain 12 16
96. Illinifan V WND (2) Squaddie 4 3
121. Katon II Active Rookie 0 0
122. Mike Vic Active Rookie 0 0
123. Vince In Transit Rookie 0 0
124. Sir Fozzie II In Transit Rookie 0 0
125. Chief Rum IV In Transit Rookie 0 0


X-COM II Troop Attributes

Name TUs Sta Hlt Brv Rea Fir Thw Str PsD PsS
2. jfbbis 75 82 59 30 35 82 58 55
10. Kodos 78 88 57 50 61 79 73 54
14. Wade Moore 79 81 56 30 59 91 72 67
15. Rich 1033 75 68 44 20 55 54 70 62
19. Revrew 75 63 53 30 36 65 59 57
35. Jeff Nights II 66 73 53 60 32 64 59 50
37. The Time 70 79 53 50 62 52 57 47
39. Thomkal II 69 90 58 30 56 49 61 45
41. Fat Football II 71 72 43 50 38 69 73 52
43. Achilles 70 73 55 10 45 78 79 53
45. Danny VanHalen 73 77 45 10 41 62 78 51
46. Patman II 76 69 51 60 47 52 79 54
52. Qwikshot II 73 81 45 10 58 77 65 52
55. Sublime II 72 73 44 10 40 73 76 55
59. Daimyo II 65 60 48 30 47 70 64 43
61. RawisDan 68 50 37 60 37 67 74 48
66. Tasan 65 60 46 50 39 64 58 52
70. Naiwf 73 70 51 50 40 61 69 48
71. Wignasty 64 45 37 20 38 61 72 44
73. CTHomer 68 67 38 10 58 45 62 46
74. AStott 73 55 51 50 55 71 62 55
75. Alf III 59 52 36 40 52 50 55 46
76. Fonzie II 65 74 49 20 42 62 79 42
78. Render II 66 54 44 50 57 72 69 44
84. Split Pers III 63 64 39 30 40 64 67 39
89. RealDeal III 67 72 32 60 47 64 68 51
90. Coffee Warlord II 70 79 45 60 38 71 69 43
92. Jeeber D 61 57 38 20 30 59 75 36
93. Afoci 61 59 37 30 40 45 54 44
94. Data King III 63 52 31 50 36 52 58 35
96. Illinifan V 57 50 44 50 56 53 66 40
97. Blade III 64 70 46 50 60 46 62 34
98. Mr. Bug IV 61 64 45 10 34 69 66 34
101. Wolfpack 65 72 33 40 35 61 59 32
102. Japherwaki II 67 77 42 20 32 51 52 48
103. Condors II 63 64 37 60 50 67 66 48
105. Swaggs 64 71 38 60 51 71 69 39
106. Travis III 65 61 43 30 54 69 58 35
108. Zippy II 58 68 35 40 47 69 50 34
109. Glengoyne 64 67 44 30 34 67 53 42
110. Breeze 60 48 33 60 31 66 54 39
111. 3ric IV 52 55 26 30 45 49 56 21
112. Airhog II 52 63 27 50 56 44 54 29
113. Anxiety II 55 66 37 30 57 64 67 40
114. Blade6119 IV 55 47 41 10 37 72 60 27
115. Airhog II 62 73 41 30 34 69 57 31
116. Chuck U Farley 54 62 27 40 53 65 76 28
117. Psycho Cop II 50 61 28 10 60 67 50 37
118. Calis 55 56 26 50 39 55 73 29
119. Tucker II 58 60 26 60 50 55 64 29
120. Sachmo III 54 54 32 50 46 56 57 32
121. Katon II 50 49 28 40 55 67 54 37
122. Mike Vic 59 41 38 10 32 44 52 34


Key: TUs = Time Units; Sta = Stamina; Hlt = Health; Brv = Bravery; Rea = Reactions
Fir = Firing; Thw = Throwing; Str = Strength; PsD = PSI Defense; PsS = PSI Skill

Support Personnel

Head of Research: Craptacular
(Current researching focus: Cydonia or Bust, Fighter-Transport Craft)
Head of Engineering: Sterling Ice II
(Current manufacturing focus: Power Suits, Blaster Missiles, Stun Bombs, Hover Tank)
US Interceptor Pilot: CapnMorgan (9 Kills)
EU Interceptor Pilot: Superman (9 Kills)
AS Interceptor Pilot: Toddiec IV (9 Kills)


Attribute Leaders (After Mission 80)

Time Units: (79) Wade Moore
Stamina: (90) Thomkal II
Health: (59) Jfbbis
Bravery: (60) (Nine tied)
Reactions: (62) The Time
Firing: (91) Wade Moore
Throwing: (79) Fonzie II, Achilles, Patman II
Strength: (67) Wade Moore


Attribute Doggies (After Mission 80)

Time Units: (50) PsychoCop II, Katon II
Stamina: (41) Mike Vic
Health: (26) 3ric IV, Calis, Tucker II
Bravery: (10) (Nine tied)
Reactions: (30) Jeeber D
Firing: (44) Airhog II, Mike Vic
Throwing: (50) Zippy II, Psycho Cop II
Strength: (21) 3ric IV


Top Ten Kills Leaders

1. Wade Moore 22
2. Kodos 21
3. Klayman (KIA) 18
4. Jfbbis 17
5. Shorty (KIA) 16
5. Astott 16
5. Revrew 16
8. Thomkal II 14
9. Three tied with 13


Waiting List

ID Name Base Status Rank LBrvOK? OptUp?
126. Joker Ace - On Call Rookie Yes No
127. Hoops Guy - On Call Rookie Yes No
128. The Herd - On Call Rookie Yes No
129. ShaefIllini - On Call Rookie Yes No
130. Ardent Enthusiast - On Call Rookie Yes No
131. Peregrine - On Call Rookie Yes No
132. Raven Hawk II - On Call Rookie Yes No
133. Northwood DK - On Call Rookie Yes No
134. Shorty II - On Call Rookie Yes No
135. Lokugh III - On Call Rookie Yes No


The Hall of Heroes


ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
1. Cam Edwards KIA Rookie 1 0
3. Patman KIA Captain 5 1
4. Fat Football KIA Sergeant 3 3
5. Sublime KIA Sergeant 6 3
6. Blade 6119 KIA Rookie 1 1
7. Jeff Nights KIA Rookie 1 0
8. Render KIA Sergeant 12 9
9. Kerillini KIA Sergeant 6 5
11. Toddiec KIA Squaddie 3 1
12. Illinifan KIA Squaddie 4 2
13. MrBug KIA Rookie 1 0
16. Thomkal KIA Squaddie 2 5
17. Shorty KIA Captain 16 16
18. Klayman KIA Captain 13 18
20. Travis KIA Squaddie 10 6
21. Schmidty KIA Rookie 3 1
22. Al Hill KIA Squaddie 7 3
23. Sachmo KIA Squaddie 3 3
24. Data King KIA Sergeant 6 4
25. Alf KIA Rookie 1 2
26. Mr. Bug II KIA Squaddie 5 1
27. Daimyo KIA Squaddie 3 0
28. 3ric KIA Squaddie 2 1
29. Raven Hawk KIA Captain 15 11
30. Sterling Ice KIA Rookie 1 0
31. BYU 14 KIA Captain 20 12
32. Chief Rum KIA Squaddie 4 3
33. Qwikshot KIA Rookie 1 0
34. Cam Edwards II KIA Squaddie 7 7
36. Blade 6119 II KIA Rookie 1 0
38. Split Personality KIA Rookie 1 0
40. Toddiec II KIA Squaddie 4 3
42. Blade KIA Sergeant 5 4
44. Airhog KIA Squaddie 11 7
47. Illinifan II KIA Squaddie 4 2
48. Fonzie KIA Squaddie 4 5
49. Lokugh KIA Sergeant 9 8
50. Sachmo II KIA Sergeant 19 12
51. Kerillini II KIA Squaddie 8 3
53. Alf II KIA Rookie 1 2
54. Blade 6119 III KIA Squaddie 11 13
56. Schmidty II KIA Rookie 1 0
57. Split Pers. II KIA Sergeant 4 4
58. 3ric II KIA Squaddie 5 1
60. Illinifan III MIA Squaddie 2 0
62. Data King II KIA Squaddie 3 2
63. Mr. Bug III KIA Squaddie 5 3
64. Japherwaki KIA Rookie 3 0
65. Al Hill II KIA Sergeant 3 2
67. Chief Rum II KIA Sergeant 13 9
68. Toddiec III KIA Rookie 3 0
69. Zippy KIA Squaddie 9 5
72. Coffee Warlord KIA Rookie 1 1
77. PsychoCop KIA Rookie 2 0
79. Blade II KIA Rookie 3 0
80. Illinifan IV KIA Rookie 3 0
81. Andone KIA Rookie 3 1
82. Condors KIA Squaddie 6 3
83. Travis II KIA Squaddie 4 3
85. Cam Edwards III KIA Squaddie 2 4
86. Klayman II KIA Squaddie 6 3
87. 3ric III KIA Squaddie 5 6
88. Anxiety KIA Squaddie 2 2
91. Tucker KIA Squaddie 3 1
95. Katon KIA Squaddie 2 2
99. Lokugh II KIA Squaddie 5 3
100. Sir Fozzie KIA Squaddie 4 5
104. Marmel KIA Squaddie 3 4
107. Chief Rum III KIA Squaddie 3 1

[Qwikshot]

Wow, I'm honored by my promotion. I only wish that 10 bravery would be gone by now, I feel its a kiss of death.

[Poli]

Crapt. Waiting list.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Update

RING RING RING

I'm going to move Daimyo II, Wignasty, and Data King III down to guard duty so I can free up three more spots for active agents. Normally we'll go in order, but I'm holding up the game to do this so we need to move fast this time. The first three SAM COM agents that confirm will get shifted to active duty. Chuck U Farley, Psycho Cop II, Calis, Tucker II, and Sachmo III, you're on the clock! Reply here to come kill aliens!

[Poli]

Rats.

[Blade6119]

damn...10 bravery as well...and i cant react for nothing

[Godzilla Blitz]

damn...10 bravery as well...and i cant react for nothing

Hey, Blade6119, look on the bright side.

One, you should have died twice already. First, the grenade should have killed you. Second, BYU took your spot in the advance when you got wounded, and two minutes later he got drilled by a sniper. That bullet was meant for you.

Two, it could be worse. Check out Mike Vic's stats. I think that's the worst set of stats we've ever seen. It's going to be fun trying to keep him alive.

ardent: Your time will come. We can lose four or five guys in a flash. Be prepared. Be ready. The war will come.

[BYU 14]

Hey, Blade6119, look on the bright side.

One, you should have died twice already. First, the grenade should have killed you. Second, BYU took your spot in the advance when you got wounded, and two minutes later he got drilled by a sniper. That bullet was meant for you.

Two, it could be worse. Check out Mike Vic's stats. I think that's the worst set of stats we've ever seen. It's going to be fun trying to keep him alive.

ardent: Your time will come. We can lose four or five guys in a flash. Be prepared. Be ready. The war will come.

I guess Blade gets to break the news to my Widow :( I had a good run, I guess it is time for junior to exact vengence, please add BYU 14 II to the waiting list.

[Blade6119]

Hey, Blade6119, look on the bright side.

One, you should have died twice already. First, the grenade should have killed you. Second, BYU took your spot in the advance when you got wounded, and two minutes later he got drilled by a sniper. That bullet was meant for you.

Two, it could be worse. Check out Mike Vic's stats. I think that's the worst set of stats we've ever seen. It's going to be fun trying to keep him alive.

ardent: Your time will come. We can lose four or five guys in a flash. Be prepared. Be ready. The war will come.

Good points ...my shot is already one of the best in the division...and i guess that nade that almost killed me actually saved my life...interesting

And ardent, you will never get in...and if you do, watch out for friendly fire ;)

[Blade6119]

I guess Blade gets to break the news to my Widow :( I had a good run, I guess it is time for junior to exact vengence, please add BYU 14 II to the waiting list.

Im sorry man...i will attempt to watch your son, and kill as many aliens as possible to avenge your death! :mad:

[Fonzie]

Be ready. The war will come.

And, if you're around long enough, so will the diarrhea in the flightsuit. Be ready.

:D

[Poli]

Well, I suppose if I must... If I'm a recruit in training, where's the never dull? Might as well get some brass around here to shine. :)

[Blade6119]

hey ardent...this here is special forces with the army...we dont take kindly to your kind around here...you navy pansie;) ...go scrub the toilets!

[MikeVic]

Two, it could be worse. Check out Mike Vic's stats. I think that's the worst set of stats we've ever seen. It's going to be fun trying to keep him alive.



Hahahaha! What a fool that MikeVic! Those stats sure suck. He's on the list twice for doggies!

...


crap. :(

[Godzilla Blitz]

Hahahaha! What a fool that MikeVic! Those stats sure suck. He's on the list twice for doggies!

...


crap. :(

If you want, you can opt out, and let someone else on the waiting list take your spot. You'd drop to the top of the waiting list. Let me know.

[Poli]

No PRESSURE. :)

[MikeVic]

If you want, you can opt out, and let someone else on the waiting list take your spot. You'd drop to the top of the waiting list. Let me know.

Nononono. I didn't mean it like that. :) Just poking fun at my own misfortunes. Sorry if my post gave off the wrong impression. I'd only opt out if you REALLY don't want to use my character. I have no problem with him though. :D

[Godzilla Blitz]

Nononono. I didn't mean it like that. :) Just poking fun at my own misfortunes. Sorry if my post gave off the wrong impression. I'd only opt out if you REALLY don't want to use my character. I have no problem with him though. :D

No problem at all from this end either. In the past, let's just say that low bravery soldiers weren't living all that long, so we had an option to drop back onto the waiting list and let someone else take your place. We've yet to not use an agent, and I'm actually looking forward to trying to keep you alive.

Just for your information, the fastest death was by Coffee Warlord (was it I or II?), who died less than a minute into his first mission. The ramp dropped and he got hit by incoming fire. Dead.

Not that this would ever happen to you, but I just thought I'd share.

On the positive side, you've got a lot of room for improvement!

[Japherwaki]

Japherwaki II’s reaction skill increased by one, to 32! Wow!


I get the feeling I'm being mocked.

:)

[MikeVic]

No problem at all from this end either. In the past, let's just say that low bravery soldiers weren't living all that long, so we had an option to drop back onto the waiting list and let someone else take your place. We've yet to not use an agent, and I'm actually looking forward to trying to keep you alive.

Just for your information, the fastest death was by Coffee Warlord (was it I or II?), who died less than a minute into his first mission. The ramp dropped and he got hit by incoming fire. Dead.

Not that this would ever happen to you, but I just thought I'd share.

On the positive side, you've got a lot of room for improvement!


Hah! I'm a coward with no aim! That doesn't bode too well for anyone assigned with me on a mission... ;) I hope to stay out of the record books with fastest death, though. :redface:

[Coffee Warlord]

Update

Promotions

Congratulations to the following agents!

Coffee Warlord II....Sergeant!

You are an example to us all!

And now you should be very, very afraid, maggots.

CW II is gonna be whipping your asses into fighting shape!

[JeeberD]

I get the feeling I'm being mocked.

:)

You're reaction skill is still better than mine... :(

[Poli]

CW II, anyone tell you about your dad?

[sterlingice]

I get the feeling I'm being mocked.

:) I get that feeling a lot. I wonder why. :confused:

SI

[Kodos]

I DIDNT DIE!!!! I did pull a kodos, but i lived! Talk about luck! Is BYU even around any more...if so, im sorry to him for bringing in the enemy and almost killing half the squad...


Congrats. You are the second X-Commer to pull a Kodos and live to tell the tale.

Besides, you didn't throw a grenade and have it bounce back at your feet twice. Now THAT would be pathetic, my friend.

[kingfc22]

The King wants to kick some alien butt. Give me a grenade and I'll show you how to use it. Shove it down the aliens throat and watch him implode.

[3ric]

I'm such a weenie. 21 in strength, what's up with that?

"Ugh... Heavy Plasma... too heavy... mustn't faint... must fight on... ooh!"

[klayman]

I'm such a weenie. 21 in strength, what's up with that?
The game reflecting real life perhaps? :D



Uh...GB, I see Klayman III get a kill in the last mission but I don't see him anywhere on the master list. Guess that makes me kinda of like a phantom warrior. I'm indestructible!

And don't think that you can cut costs by not paying me. I think X-com needs a union rep.

[Chuck U Farley]

Chuck U. reporting.

[sachmo71]

I'm confirming my transfer.

[Calis]

This is the moment I've been waiting for all my life.

Confirming transfer.

[RendeR]

I would like to thank my commanding officers for giving me this promotion. I know Father would be proud that his son is carrying on the family pride and honor and is being recignized for his faithful service. I want to send out my thoughts and prayers to the families of all humanity who have felt the pain of loss of life during this alien threat.

I will not succomb to these alien scum!

DIE ALIEN BOY!


umm, no offense kodos.....

[Kodos]

DIE ALIEN BOY!


umm, no offense kodos.....


I get that a lot. :D

[Thomkal]

Bah my promotion to Captain didn't go through again! Just you wait until I get those psi-powers. Then we'll see who's commanding who. :) What's the latest on Psi-training anyway?

(I know the promotions are game generated GB)

[Godzilla Blitz]

Qwikshot: I think that 10 bravery might not be as bad as I initially thought. I think it only starts to come into play if we suffer high casualties, and we've been lucky to avoid that so far. The underlying PSI-ratings are probably much more important.

BYU: You're back! Good to hear from you! Sorry about your death. We'll get your son right back on the waiting list!

Japherwaki: No mocked. Just amazed. It's so rare that someone with low reactions gets an improvement. Jfbbis has been in the low 30's for nearly 20 missions.

Kingfc: Welcome aboard! We'll get your name on the waiting list.

3ric IV: Yeah, you need some work in the weight room. 20 is the lowest starting rating for strength. Don't worry, though, strength goes up fast.

Klayman: Got it. I pasted Airhog II's line in there twice. I'll fix it right up. Thanks for pointing that out.

Calis, Sachmo, Chuck U Farley: You're in. You'll be on a flight to an active base shortly. With that, the call up is over.

Thomkal: Based on agent numbers, I think we still have another round of promotions coming up. Probably after the next mission. I suggest you bribe your superior officers.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Update

October 14-20

Things go quiet for a couple of days, but we get a flurry of UFO activity on the 16th. Two UFO's spend a lot of time scurrying around Indonesia and Australia, but our ASIA COM Interceptor can't bring any of them down.

Also, during this time we get a close call with a UFO battleship that makes a beeline for our EU COM base, then turns away at the last moment. Scary stuff. Thought for sure we had a base attack coming.

Research wise, we make some solid gains during the time. Crappy's USA team cracks one of the mysteries of UFO technology, and have come up with plans for a ship called the "Lightning", a larger and faster fighter-transport. However, more importantly, this discovery has led Crappy to believe that we can create an ultimate fighting craft, on par with anything the aliens can throw at us. Also, this new design would have the capability of making the journey to Mars. In short, the possibility of striking at the alien's home planet may be technoligically feasible within a couple of months. Before beginning work on that design, however, we need to beef up the firepower of our aircraft, so Crappy's USA team begins looking for some way to harness fusion power for missile use. Elsewhere, the interrogation of "Poindexter", the alien commander, continues around the clock.

Production wise, Sterling Ice has facilities working 24 hours producing new hover tanks, which should give us more support and firepower on the ground, and a new fighter craft that is much stronger and faster than our current Interceptors. It's beginning to look as if we'll be able to take on some of those larger UFOs in the air instead of just waiting for them to land. Slowly but surely, we are pushing the fight back on the aliens.

On the night of the 19th, Superman downs a small UFO over Switzerland, and our EU COM base prepares to launch the Skyranger for a mop up. However, another battleship comes screaming towards our base, and we are forced to hold our position in Europe and launch the ASIA COM Skyranger for the mission instead. On the morning of the 20th, the craft is airborne towards the crash site.

On board are the following ten men:

Rich, Jeff Nights II, Danny Van Halen, Qwikshot II, Fonzie II, Render II, Condors II, Zippy II, 3ric IV, and Split Personality III.

Should be a piece of cake.

__________

This mission should go fairly fast, so I'm thinking that I'll be able to post it on Sunday night, shorly after the Super Bowl. After that, I think I'm going to try to post a mission at least every Sunday night. However, I'd like to go faster, so I'm going to aim for a Wednesday/Sunday two-missions-a-week pace. I'll probably miss a lot of Wednesdays though.

[DeToxRox]

Note how I have no roman numerals after my name.

I am everything great with the world.

[Peregrine]

GB, just a note, my FOFC name is Peregrine but my X-Com guy's name is listed as Pergrine.

[Coffee Warlord]

Bring on the battleships to EU-COM! We'll ready the welcome party.

[AStott]

*sigh* Being wounded sucks. Nothing to do but watch the paint peel. *grumble*

[Craptacular]

*sigh* Being wounded sucks. Nothing to do but watch the paint peel. *grumble*

We could test out some of our new probing equipment on you instead.

[Japherwaki]

On board are the following ten men:

Rich, Jeff Nights II, Danny Van Halen, Qwikshot II, Fonzie II, Render II, Condors II, Zippy II, 3ric IV, and Split Personality III.

Should be a piece of cake.

You realize that this means you're all doomed.

:)

[hoopsguy]

I would like to get my hands on some of the advanced weaponry being produced by your scientists. And even shoot an alien, if that is part of the deal ... I didn't see my name on the last list so I'm hoping that I'll be added to some remote outpost (or at least a waiting list) next time around.

[Abe Sargent]

The Anxietys, 3 missions with exactly one kill in each mission.

-Anxiety

[Qwikshot]

You realize that this means you're all doomed.

:)

I got a chill with that should be a piece of cake line too...

[tucker342]

Just to let you know, I'm here:)

[Godzilla Blitz]

DVH: Your longevity continues to amaze me.

Peregrine: Got it. Fixed. Thanks!

AStott: You're getting closer, though. Shouldn't be long now before you're back in the fire.

Hoopsguy: #127. You're second on the waiting list. All you need is for a couple of people to die and you'll be upgraded to guard duty.

Tucker: Got it. I needed to move quickly on the last one, so you're still at SAM COM, but stay by that phone for the next call up, as your #2 on the list to move to active duty.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Skyranger Transmission

Just got a call in from the Skyranger in Switzerland...

Captain Nights just wanted to have me tell you that they've got mute on, whatever that means. I mean, if he had his mute on, how would he hear me? Anyway, he said that they're meeting light resistance and have killed some aliens. No X-COM casualties. Everything is going perfectly. He said it's a "Sunday stroll in the park". Expects to wrap up shortly.

[Fonzie]

Skyranger Transmission

Just got a call in from the Skyranger in Switzerland...

Captain Nights just wanted to have me tell you that they've got mute on, whatever that means. I mean, if he had his mute on, how would he hear me? Anyway, he said that they're meeting light resistance and have killed some aliens. No X-COM casualties. Everything is going perfectly. He said it's a "Sunday stroll in the park". Expects to wrap up shortly.

This appears to be confirmation that we're all doomed. :(

[Barkeep49]

"So yeah long story short apparently the Commander forgot to let people vote for X-Com..."

"What an ass..." *takes a drag from his cigeratte "I think he deserves another of his medals for that one."

"Rumor has it that the medal board is looking at it."

"Good. To be administering the damn awards for best Earth Organization--"

"--And not even allow his own organization--"

"--To get votes."

"F'ING PATHETIC."

*The sound of bells jingling to signify the door opening is drowned out by the curse.*

"F'ing pathetic indeed."

"Typical of command though."

"Very typical of our stupid command. The only reason I'm glad I'm at this damn desk job instead of Africa." *takes another long drag from his cigeratte*

"HA HA! To think we're signing up saps to go to AFRICA!"

"And there's a waiting list on top of it!"

"People just can't wait to get maleria!"

*Both of the men laugh. The guy with the cigerette takes a long drag from his cigerette and for the first time notices the guy standing by the door.*

*under his breath*"Shit" *out loud* "Welcome to X-COM recruiting! How can I help you?"

"Um... well... um... my name is Barkeep49 and I was thinking of maybe enlisting, but well... um... I heard you talking and... um... well..."

"Africa? Of course we were talking about the excotic land of Africa. Have you ever seen live elephants or lions" *the recruit shakes his head* "No? Well now's your chance bub. Just sign here" *shoves a pen and recruiting contract in front of the recruit.*

"Well I guess so..." *Barkeep49 signs on the dotted line.*

-------------
Decided to sit down and spend working reading what the big deal was about this getting left off the Golden Scribes ballot and now I see what an excellent dynasty this is and thought that I should join up. Sounds like things are wrapping down, but maybe I'll still get a mission or two in before the end.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Quick Reminder

If you are either "in transit" or on the waiting list, let me know if you either want to:

1. refuse to take the role of a low bravery agent (10 to 20 bravery). If you say no, you get put at the top of the waiting list, and the first person on the waiting list that has selected "opting up" gets to take your guy. The default is "Yes, low bravey is ok. I will take whatever stats I get".

2. like to opt up to take low bravery agents that someone passes on. This will get you in the game faster, but give you an agent that has low bravery. The default is "No, I don't want to be a wimp."
_____

Barkeep: Well done! Good humor! We'll get you right on the list!

In case people missed it, here's a description on the two guard duty bases from the last thread...

For those of your unfamiliar with our bases, SAM COM is located under verdant swamps in the jungles of northern Argentina, only 35 miles from the village of Los Blancos (video store opening in 2005!) and a mere 700 miles (about 17 days travel by swamp rider) from the wild nightlife of Beunos Aires! We've stuffed this base with all kinds of things to help you pass away the hours: a deck of cards (jokers included!), Chess Digest (June 2003 issue!), and a blazing fast Macintosh SE computer (software coming soon!) are sure to keep you entertained for hours and hours! Enjoy your stay! One of the nice things about this base is that the malaria risk is signficantly lower than that of...

...our AFRICA COM base, which is under a swamp in a jungle in western Zaire. This base is located 50 miles from the town of Bifale (pop. 59!) and a quick 1300 miles (about 23 days by elephant, camel, and rickety bus) from the nearest MacDonalds in Cairo, Egypt. Our AFRICA COM has all the amenities that you've come to expect at our X-COM bases: a working radio, Teletubbie videos (we'll try to get a tv/vcr down there soon!), and a checker board (with all pieces!). We're sure these things will keep you happy for days!

Be sure to enjoy your stay, and just remember, you guys have it good compared to the next guys that sign up. That's right, coming soon to an X-COM agency near you: ANT COM. That's Antarctica COM, for those of you wondering if it had anything to do with little insects.

Lastly...

Update
Mission 81 will go up Sunday night as scheduled.

[kingfc22]

I'm going to have to go with I don't want to be a wimp option. Let me in the action.

[Barkeep49]

BTW I would actually prefer to be a wimp... A wimp with good skills, but a wimp.

[PsychoCop]

Skyranger Transmission

Just got a call in from the Skyranger in Switzerland...

Captain Nights just wanted to have me tell you that they've got mute on, whatever that means. I mean, if he had his mute on, how would he hear me? Anyway, he said that they're meeting light resistance and have killed some aliens. No X-COM casualties. Everything is going perfectly. He said it's a "Sunday stroll in the park". Expects to wrap up shortly.

Mutons. :) Sweet.

[Poli]

I'll go with the "I don't want to be a wimp" option. If I'm going to die, let it not be of something, but for something.

[hoopsguy]

I'll play the wimp if that is my fate.

[AStott]

We could test out some of our new probing equipment on you instead.
Errr... No Sir, that's ok. I just discovered that it's amazingly blissful to just lie here in bed. I'm quite ok. Try checking that bunk over there though.

[illinifan999]

Africa rules!

[Coffee Warlord]

Just so all of you saps in Africa / SA COM know.

We in the flagship station of EU-COM have a full bar, hookers on call 24/7, cable, and our own OC3 internet line.

However, before you all want to come rushing here, there is a questionaire you must answer.

1) Do you mind having other soldier's bodyparts grafted to you?
2) Can you sleep with screams of tortured aliens being dissected in the other room?
3) Will the incessant explosions coming from the research lab bother you?
4) Do you have a problem with taking orders from an alien?
5) Do you have frequent bladder/bowel control problems?
6) Can you speak Sectoid?
7) Can you speak Skyranger Pilot?
8) Do you understand how to show proper respect towards soldiers wielding the Blaster Launcher?

If you can answer yes to the above questions, then you too can join the elite of EU-COM!

[Fonzie]

Africa rules!

I miss the rains down in Africa.

[Poli]

Just so all of you saps in Africa / SA COM know.

We in the flagship station of EU-COM have a full bar, hookers on call 24/7, cable, and our own OC3 internet line.

However, before you all want to come rushing here, there is a questionaire you must answer.

1) Do you mind having other soldier's bodyparts grafted to you?
2) Can you sleep with screams of tortured aliens being dissected in the other room?
3) Will the incessant explosions coming from the research lab bother you?
4) Do you have a problem with taking orders from an alien?
5) Do you have frequent bladder/bowel control problems?
6) Can you speak Sectoid?
7) Can you speak Skyranger Pilot?
8) Do you understand how to show proper respect towards soldiers wielding the Blaster Launcher?

If you can answer yes to the above questions, then you too can join the elite of EU-COM!

I know the equation for figuring minimum range of a radar. Does that count for anything?

[Japherwaki]

2) Can you sleep with screams of tortured aliens being dissected in the other room?

Other room? They told me they needed more laboratory space.

It's hard to sleep with the screams of tortured aliens being dissected in the other bunk. :(

[MrBug708]

CW, you might have Hookers, but they all look like The Afoci, so take fwiw

[Poli]

GB, don't you dare do a call up/roll call for agents for the rest of the day. If I miss an opportunity, there will be sectoid to pay.

[Godzilla Blitz]

81st Mission: Firefight in Switzerland

The ASIA COM Skyranger soars west over Eastern Europe, its destination today a high field in northern Switzerland. The men are itching for action, but today’s target, a small, crash-landed UFO, may not provide much of a fight for this highly experienced crew. Our only rookie is 3ric IV; otherwise, every other agent on board has a kill and multiple- mission experience.

Jeff Nights II has seniority over Qwikshot II, and therefore will lead our forces today.

After a short while, the green light goes on and the Skyranger begins its descent through the mountains of Switzerland to the early morning countryside below.

Our troops today:

Left Side:
1. Render II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Rich (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)
3. Jeff Nights II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Danny Van Halen (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Fonzie II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

Right Side:
1. Split Personality III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Zippy II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. 3ric IV (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Qwikshot II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Condors II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

The Skyranger begins its vertical descent to the battlefield below. The men scan the farmland below, and immediately pick out the smoking remains of the UFO. It’s a cross-shaped scout, which usually holds a half dozen aliens or so. We’ll be landing about 50 yards to the craft’s west. Except for the UFO, we see no other buildings or obstacles: in all directions, it’s just the standard fare of fences, fields, and stone walls. The area to the left of the Skyranger exit is secure ground, however, so we can safely ignore that side of our craft.

The Skyranger drops the final meters and touches ground. The ramp falls away with a dull thud. All is quiet. Cool fall air wafts into the Skyranger bay.

Our tank heads onto the ramp and down towards the battlefield. Once there, it spins right—Muton, 20 yards away, approaching through the field to the right of the exit! Render II rushes out the exit, dives left, rolls, and comes up firing on full-auto. Plasma tracers race toward the creature as it raises its weapon to return fire. Render II is too quick however: a plasma blast catches the Muton in the face and splatters its skull. The creature twists and falls dead to the ground! X-COM 1, Aliens 0.

Our tank and Render scan the area for more signs of life: nothing. We begin our deployment. As our tank heads straight for the UFO, Zippy, 3ric, and Split Personality exit the Skyranger and take up firing positions. This will be most likely be a short mission, so Render heads back inside the craft to let others get some action.

Our tank gets about ten yards away from the Skyranger, when its sensors spot a Muton working its way around the left side of the UFO, about 40 yards from our position. Split Personality and 3ric pick up the creature on their helmet HUDs and open fire. Plasma blasts send puffs of dirt up around the startled Muton. It turns to flee, but 3ric catches it in the thigh with a shot that rips a chunk of flesh off. The Muton hobbles two more steps towards safety when Split blows a hole in the middle of its back. The Muton drops to the ground, twitches, and dies. X-COM 2, Aliens 0.

Things go quiet after that, and we begin to spread out. Split heads back into the Skyranger to play cards with Render. We’ll keep the two of them inside unless we need more firepower. Qwikshot and 3ric are joined by Condors, and the three of them head straight out from our exit area in order to search the fields that lie in that direction. Danny Van Halen and Fonzie exit the Skyranger and begin an advance behind our tank towards the UFO. On this type of craft, the exit doors should be on the far side of the craft, so we should be able to get to the near wall of the UFO easily. Zippy makes a cautious advance for the right side of the UFO, to cover our flank on that side. Rich exits the Skyranger and sets up a firing position with the Blaster Launcher. Lastly, Jeff Nights II exits the craft and follows our main advance. We’ll use him as a reserve.

http://home.comcast.net/~mwsmart/XCOM81-1.jpg
X-COM forces advance on an alien scout. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

Things continue without incident for the next few minutes. Danny Van Halen and Fonzie make it to the side of the UFO, where they proceed to toss grenades up and through a hole in the craft’s roof. The muffled explosions shake the ground, but the two men get no result.

As Danny and Fonzie toss the grenades into the UFO, our tank breaks to the left of the UFO and waits for Condors, Qwikshot, and 3ric to wrap up their search of the fields at the rear of the Skyranger. This group will sweep around the left side of the UFO.

Danny Van Halen and Fonzie give up with the grenades and head for Zippy at the right side of the UFO. These three men will sweep around that side of the craft.

As our groups make their way around, we can hear the whir of a UFO door. Damn it! They are inside the craft! Our grenades must have missed. Jeff Nights II and Fonzie start pouring more grenades in through the UFO roof.

http://home.comcast.net/~mwsmart/XCOM81-2.jpg
X-COM troops set an ambush for aliens trapped inside a downed UFO. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

As explosions from the grenades rip the quiet Swiss morning, our two squads wrap around the UFO and come up upon the exit door. As they do this, the exit door whirs and a Muton comes stepping out! Danny Van Halen is the first to react, as he opens fire on full-auto and nails the alien in a hip before it can turn to fire. The creature howls and falls to the ground dead! Right on its heels comes a second Muton. This time Condors--approaching from the other side--gets to the trigger first. Shots rip two huge holes in the creature’s chest, and it too falls dead to the ground! X-COM 4, Aliens 0.

And that was the last alien! Well done, men! Good mission to get some of the rust off!

Kills: Danny Van Halen, 1; Condors II, 1; Split Personality III, 1.
KIA: None.
Wounded: None
Attribute Improvements: Danny Van Halen, Condors II, Split Personality III, Jeff Nights II, Fonzie II, Render II, Zippy II, 3ric IV.
Final score: 126
Mission Notes:
For some unknown reason, Render didn’t get a kill for the alien he shot at the beginning of the mission. Not sure if I had miscounted his kills earlier in the dynasty, but I distinctly heard the Muton scream, and the results screen showed four alien kills, yet Render still only has six kills on his record card.

The grenades we threw into the UFO must have wounded the aliens inside, because everyone who threw grenades racked up some solid attribute gains. Nice to have eight people get some experience in a short mission where we kill only four aliens.

Note to self: Mutons are tough. I have to remember that. I gave up on the grenades too early.

[Blade6119]

Hey godzilla...images not working, and nice mission

[Craptacular]

Other room? They told me they needed more laboratory space.

It's hard to sleep with the screams of tortured aliens being dissected in the other bunk. :(

Wait ... those are aliens??

[Poli]

Rock on.

[Blade6119]

I know the equation for figuring minimum range of a radar. Does that count for anything?

show-off

[Poli]

show-off

I also know how to insult a person's dad in Japanese. Or was that Chinese? Either way, it is insulting in one of those two languages.

[RendeR]

RendeR II looks out the back of the skyranger as the boys mop things up. He tosses a Muton rank badge out onto the ground. "You can tell your alien sheep F(*(*& leaders, this planet aint big enough for both of us. But since you can't be content with what you have, I'll be happy to take Mars away from you too."

He turns and takes his seat awaiting take off..."yeah, they know its coming, you can smell teh fear in the air"

"Awe man....quickshot....DUDE...do that shit OUTSIDE the skyranger.....gawd what a smell......"

[JeffNights]

"Thats right boys, i'll be heading out last making sure everyone gets outta of the Skyranger ok. Wouldnt want anyone gettin' lost now!"

:JeffnightsII looks up and sideways griining

[condors]

i love the sound of alien screams in the morning

[Coffee Warlord]

Wait ... those are aliens??

Dammit Crappy, have you been experimenting on our recruits again?

[Fonzie]

Woohoo! We're not dead! We're not dead!

Yet.

[Kodos]

"So yeah long story short apparently the Commander forgot to let people vote for X-Com..."

"What an ass..." *takes a drag from his cigeratte "I think he deserves another of his medals for that one."

"Rumor has it that the medal board is looking at it."

"Good. To be administering the damn awards for best Earth Organization--"

"--And not even allow his own organization--"

"--To get votes."

"F'ING PATHETIC."

*The sound of bells jingling to signify the door opening is drowned out by the curse.*

"F'ing pathetic indeed."

"Typical of command though."

"Very typical of our stupid command. The only reason I'm glad I'm at this damn desk job instead of Africa." *takes another long drag from his cigeratte*



Note to self. Barkeep always takes the point in dangerous situations... ;)

[Godzilla Blitz]

Update

October 20-22

We shuffle people all over the world, moving men and machines in all directions to get good balances of personnel and equipment at all our bases. (I’ll be posting an update with new stats and base assignments before our next mission. Quite a few people have been moved around.)

No research gains are made, but all things continue as scheduled.

During the day of the 21st, Toddiec IV launches the ASIA COM Interceptor, chases, and damages a medium UFO over Australia, but the craft escapes.

In the middle of the night on the 22nd things perk up. The Red Line from the UN rings at USA COM. They inform us that aliens have landed in Nairobi, Kenya, and a section of the city is under attack: a terror site! Within seconds, EU COM goes from a slumbering darkness to a beehive of activity and light. Within minutes, the EU COM Skyranger is soaring up into the dark skies on route to Africa and the alien menace that awaits. On board are the following ten men:

Kodos, Jfbbis, Revrew, Naiwf, RealDeal III, Coffee Warlord II, Swaggs, Breeze, Sachmo III, and Chuck U Farley.

Good luck, men! Terror missions are such fun!


The mission has a good chance of going up on Wednesday night.

[Coffee Warlord]

You sent me on a terror mission!?!?

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

[Kodos]

Alright. Back in action! Time to take it to the alien perpetrators!

[sachmo71]

sweet. Is it my turn for the blaster launcher?

[Poli]

I believe I'll be active duty very soon. Die, Coffee, die. :)

[Blade]

Our prayers are with you guys!

[Fonzie]

For those of you assigned to the terror mission, I think this is the key sentence from GB's update:

The mission has a good chance of going up in flames on Wednesday night.

[Fonzie]

dola-

Good luck!

[Coffee Warlord]

Note to self. Kodos makes a great human(alien) shield.

[Kodos]

Note to self. Kodos makes a great human(alien) shield...


...as long as you enjoy my acid-based alien blood splashing on you. :p

[Chuck U Farley]

Chuck's first action is a terror mission.

[DeToxRox]

I rock. I really do.

[Blade6119]

man...i sure did pick a good time to get shot and taken out of duty...

But on the bright side, against your best attempts(letting me get shot and having my guy throw nades at himeslf), Blade4 has made it to his second mission(wounded, but moving)...lets see what way you can try to kill me next time!

[Poli]

Would someone please die already? :)

[Japherwaki]

Wait ... those are aliens??

I thought they were, but now that you mention it, when was the last time anyone saw the janitor?

[Godzilla Blitz]

Correspondence

Now that I thoroughly confused everyone, including myself, with my poorly written explanations on "low bravery" and "opting up", let me see if I can explain things a bit better.

On the right side of the waiting list are two columns, one is "Low Bravery OK?" and the other is "Opt Up". By default, "Low Bravery OK" is set to "yes", meaning that if you'll take any bravery for your agent when you get called into action. If anyone wants to change this, just post here with something like, "I don't want a low bravery agent," and I'll go in and change you to a "no". This means that if you get an agent with a bravery of 10 or 20, you automatically refuse him, and you now get dropped to the top of the waiting list.

In such a case, we'll have an open agent with no FOFC person assigned. This is where the second column comes in. By default, "opting up" is set to "no". This means that you don't want to take the role of a low bravery agent that someone else has passed on. However, if you want, post here and ask me to change that to "yes". When someone passes on a low bravery agent, the first person with a "yes" beside their name for opting up takes on that agent and jumps the waiting list. The downpoint, of course, is that you end up with an agent that is a wimp.

I tried to figure out what people meant before, but my poor explanations meant that I got confused when I read the replies. I'll leave everything as it is, but feel free to post here and let me know you'd like to change something.

ardent: Be careful. The men you're hoping die may be covering your back some day. :)

Blade6119: You haven't made it to your second mission yet. USA COM could get raided and you could die. Don't jinx yourself.

Chuck: You've got good bravery. The point on terror missions needs good bravery. Baptism of fire. Don't let us down.

Sachmo: You're a bit green (and a touch weak) for a terror mission Blaster Launcher. Got to kill something first.

Illinifan: You're better now, and in the USA. Go party down.

AStott: Just a bit more bed time for you. Then it's off to whereever someone dies. Probably Europe, or USA to replace Blade6119 if no one dies on the terror mission.

Coffee: I like your number 7. LOL!

[Godzilla Blitz]

Promotions

With all the call-ups for guard duty, we're still racking up more promotions. Three more after the last mission:

Revrew…Captain
Danny Van Halen…Sergeant
Condors II…Sergeant

Congratulations! Well done!

[The_herd]

I'll take whatever the X-Com God's give me.

With that said...would someone please die so I can play? :D

[Coffee Warlord]

...as long as you enjoy my acid-based alien blood splashing on you. :p

I daresay that might be better than being pummeled with gobs of green plasma-y goo.

[Godzilla Blitz]

RING RING RING

Calling Joker Ace, Hoops Guy, and The Herd. Your planet needs you. Report to USA COM within 48 hours for processing.

(Reply in this thread to confirm.)

[Tasan]

Promotions

With all the call-ups for guard duty, we're still racking up more promotions. Three more after the last mission:

Revrew…Captain
Danny Van Halen…Sergeant
Condors II…Sergeant

Congratulations! Well done!
I keep getting passed over for promotion, despite being one of the longest tenured members. Its gotta be that damned low mission to kill ratio.

[The_herd]

Herd, Reporting as Ordered!

[Poli]

RING RING RING

Calling Joker Ace, Hoops Guy, and The Herd. Your planet needs you. Report to USA COM within 48 hours for processing.

(Reply in this thread to confirm.)

Crapt.

[Blade6119]

RING RING RING

Calling Joker Ace, Hoops Guy, and The Herd. Your planet needs you. Report to USA COM within 48 hours for processing.

(Reply in this thread to confirm.)

Thats never a good sign before a terror mission

[JeeberD]

I wanna get in on the action! I've been lucky to survive so far, and I feel like pressing my luck.

No whammies... :)

[PsychoCop]

I'm rotting in South America. :D

[Coffee Warlord]

RING RING RING

Calling Joker Ace, Hoops Guy, and The Herd. Your planet needs you. Report to USA COM within 48 hours for processing.

(Reply in this thread to confirm.)

I *trust* you're simply hiring more cleaning staff, and not replacing dead soldiers.

[Blade6119]

looks like soon we will see the call-ups from the waiting list;)...at least im sitting around USA com to greet them for two weeks

[PsychoCop]

So basically, aren't we, the ones in SAMCOM are the ones who should be moving up?

[Poli]

Waiting list?? Did someone say, waiting list??

[tucker342]

Will someone die please so that I can move up?;)

[hoopsguy]

I didn't come here to clean. Reporting for duty, SIR!

[kingfc22]

still waiting to blow some alien guts on the wall.

[Kodos]

I say all these guys asking for someone to die should be sent out without weapons on our next terror mission. Make 'em fight with their bare hands!

[Poli]

My hands are registered weapons, mister.

[Blade6119]

I say all these guys asking for someone to die should be sent out without weapons on our next terror mission. Make 'em fight with their bare hands!

Poor Kodos...he already died once but got saved due to a comp. crash for godzilla(which im sure kodos made happen with a virus he sent), and now hes going to die again and has no way to stop it :p

[Vince]

Just thought I'd poke my head in and see how things were going. Keep up the good work, GB :)

[klayman]

I say all these guys asking for someone to die should be sent out without weapons on our next terror mission. Make 'em fight with their bare hands!
I agree. Disgraceful conduct unbecoming of an X-Com solider.

[revrew]

You may call me "Mr. Cap-E-tan" - use Antonio Banderas' ridiculous accent from the Mask of Zorro when he referred to Cap-E-tan Love - cie, CapEtan revrew.

On another note, Kodos goes on the mission with me?? Great :rolleyes: There goes all my kills on this one. The alien sponge, the gloryhound, the hotshot. Watch him shoot me in the back so he can get the kill I've got in my sights.

[Poli]

Revrew, be weary of his b b gun. Trust me on this one. He's going x com hunting. :)

[Coffee Warlord]

On another note, Kodos goes on the mission with me?? Great :rolleyes: There goes all my kills on this one. The alien sponge, the gloryhound, the hotshot. Watch him shoot me in the back so he can get the kill I've got in my sights.

Ahem. Don't you be insulting our commander. Sir. Grizzled Sergeant CWII will have to shoot you for treason. Sir.

Besides, Kodos saved my live on more than one occaison. Sir. You mess with him, I shoot you. Sir. :D

[fantastic flying froggies]

What are you doing here AE ?

Go back to your walk-on dynasty right this minute !

[Poli]

Noted.

I'm going there now.

[fantastic flying froggies]

Trainee fantastic flying froggies reporting for duty, SUHR !

well, the waiting list at least...

[Lokugh]

'Blitz,

Lokugh III will go on record as taking whatever bravery comes, is willing to opt up and volunteers for any dangerous missions, including pre-base assault scouting missions (we use the Aggie scouting method around here...send in rookies, see what kills them, then decide whether to send in the vets...)

Lokugh

[Kodos]

Ahem. Don't you be insulting our commander. Sir. Grizzled Sergeant CWII will have to shoot you for treason. Sir.

Besides, Kodos saved my live on more than one occaison. Sir. You mess with him, I shoot you. Sir. :D


Notes to self:

Line up Coffee for a promotion.
Need to get eggs at the market.
Tell the milkman "No more cheese!"

[Godzilla Blitz]

Updated stats, with new base assignments. I want to prioritize the evaluation of PSI-skills, and that means we have to stay in the same place for the whole month, so for those of you who get assigned PSI-training at the end of the month, these assignments will be for the month of November. There might be some minor shuffling as we get closer to the 30th, though.

X-COM II Troop Master List (After Mission 81)

USA COM

ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
14. Wade Moore Active Colonel 23 22
43. Achilles Active Sergeant 17 13
46. Patman II Active Captain 19 10
61. Rawisdan Active Squaddie 14 7
73. CTHomer Active Squaddie 10 6
75. Alf III Active Squaddie 6 4
92. Jeeber D Active Squaddie 6 5
93. Afoci Active Squaddie 6 4
96. Illinifan V Active Squaddie 4 3
98. MrBug IV Active Squaddie 6 3
112. Airhog II Active Rookie 1 0
113. Anxiety II Active Squaddie 1 1
114. Blade6119 IV WND (9) Squaddie 1 0
115. Klayman III Active Squaddie 1 1


EU COM

ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
2. jfbbis Active Colonel 19 17
10. Kodos Active Commander 22 21
19. Revrew Active Captain 20 16
37. The Time Active Sergeant 18 5
55. Sublime II Active Squaddie 14 9
66. Tasan Active Squaddie 13 6
70. Naiwf Active Sergeant 12 6
89. RealDeal III Active Squaddie 8 3
90. Coffee Warlord II Active Sergeant 9 7
97. Blade III Active Squaddie 4 4
101. Wolfpack Active Squaddie 5 3
102. Japherwaki II Active Squaddie 7 6
105. Swaggs Active Sergeant 6 4
110. Breeze Active Squaddie 1 1
116. Chuck U Farley Active Rookie 0 0
120. Sachmo III Active Rookie 0 0


ASIA COM

ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
15. Rich 1033 Active Squaddie 18 13
35. Jeff Nights II Active Captain 21 10
39. Thomkal II Active Sergeant 16 14
41. Fat Football II Active Sergeant 18 8
45. Danny VanHalen Active Sergeant 17 13
52. Qwikshot II Active Captain 16 11
76. Fonzie II Active Squaddie 9 7
78. Render II Active Sergeant 11 6
84. Split Pers III Active Squaddie 6 7
103. Condors II Active Sergeant 6 7
106. Travis III Active Squaddie 5 4
108. Zippy II Active Squaddie 3 1
109. Glengoyne Active Squaddie 2 2
111. 3ric IV Active Squaddie 2 0
118. Calis Active Rookie 0 0



SAM COM

ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
71. Wignasty Active Squaddie 7 3
117. Psycho Cop II Active Rookie 0 0
119. Tucker II Active Rookie 0 0
121. Katon II Active Rookie 0 0
122. Mike Vic Active Rookie 0 0



AFRICA COM

ID Name Status Rank Miss. Kills
59. Daimyo II Active Squaddie 9 5
74. AStott WND (4) Captain 12 16
94. Data King III Active Squaddie 5 2
123. Vince Active Rookie 0 0
124. Sir Fozzie II Active Rookie 0 0
125. Chief Rum IV Active Rookie 0 0


X-COM II Troop Attributes

Name TUs Sta Hlt Brv Rea Fir Thw Str PsD PsS
2. jfbbis 75 82 59 30 35 82 58 55
10. Kodos 78 88 57 50 61 79 73 54
14. Wade Moore 79 81 56 30 59 91 72 67
15. Rich 1033 75 68 44 20 55 54 70 62
19. Revrew 75 63 53 30 36 65 59 57
35. Jeff Nights II 68 75 54 60 32 64 60 52
37. The Time 70 79 53 50 62 52 57 47
39. Thomkal II 69 90 58 30 56 49 61 45
41. Fat Football II 71 72 43 50 38 69 73 52
43. Achilles 70 73 55 10 45 78 79 53
45. Danny VanHalen 75 79 48 10 42 63 78 51
46. Patman II 76 69 51 60 47 52 79 54
52. Qwikshot II 73 81 45 10 58 77 65 52
55. Sublime II 72 73 44 10 40 73 76 55
59. Daimyo II 65 60 48 30 47 70 64 43
61. RawisDan 68 50 37 60 37 67 74 48
66. Tasan 65 60 46 50 39 64 58 52
70. Naiwf 73 70 51 50 40 61 69 48
71. Wignasty 64 45 37 20 38 61 72 44
73. CTHomer 68 67 38 10 58 45 62 46
74. AStott 73 55 51 50 55 71 62 55
75. Alf III 59 52 36 40 52 50 55 46
76. Fonzie II 68 74 52 20 42 63 79 46
78. Render II 66 59 45 50 57 72 69 46
84. Split Pers III 66 68 42 30 40 64 67 41
89. RealDeal III 67 72 32 60 47 64 68 51
90. Coffee Warlord II 70 79 45 60 38 71 69 43
92. Jeeber D 61 57 38 20 30 59 75 36
93. Afoci 61 59 37 30 40 45 54 44
94. Data King III 63 52 31 50 36 52 58 35
96. Illinifan V 57 50 44 50 56 53 66 40
97. Blade III 64 70 46 50 60 46 62 34
98. Mr. Bug IV 61 64 45 10 34 69 66 34
101. Wolfpack 65 72 33 40 35 61 59 32
102. Japherwaki II 67 77 42 20 32 51 52 48
103. Condors II 64 67 37 60 51 68 66 50
105. Swaggs 64 71 38 60 51 71 69 39
106. Travis III 65 61 43 30 54 69 58 35
108. Zippy II 58 69 35 40 47 69 51 34
109. Glengoyne 64 67 44 30 34 67 53 42
110. Breeze 60 48 33 60 31 66 54 39
111. 3ric IV 52 60 29 30 45 49 56 22
112. Airhog II 52 63 27 50 56 44 54 29
113. Anxiety II 55 66 37 30 57 64 67 40
114. Blade6119 IV 55 47 41 10 37 72 60 27
115. Airhog II 62 73 41 30 34 69 57 31
116. Chuck U Farley 54 62 27 40 53 65 76 28
117. Psycho Cop II 50 61 28 10 60 67 50 37
118. Calis 55 56 26 50 39 55 73 29
119. Tucker II 58 60 26 60 50 55 64 29
120. Sachmo III 54 54 32 50 46 56 57 32
121. Katon II 50 49 28 40 55 67 54 37
122. Mike Vic 59 41 38 10 32 44 52 34
123. Vince 53 65 26 10 45 64 57 39
124. Sir Fozzie II 60 65 27 10 31 67 50 25
125. Chief Rum IV 55 46 25 30 50 52 63 38


Key: TUs = Time Units; Sta = Stamina; Hlt = Health; Brv = Bravery; Rea = Reactions
Fir = Firing; Thw = Throwing; Str = Strength; PsD = PSI Defense; PsS = PSI Skill

Support Personnel

Head of Research: Craptacular
(Current researching focus: Cydonia or Bust, Fighter-Transport Craft)
Head of Engineering: Sterling Ice II
(Current manufacturing focus: Power Suits, Blaster Missiles, Stun Bombs, Hover Tank)
US Interceptor Pilot: CapnMorgan (9 Kills)
EU Interceptor Pilot: Superman (9 Kills)
AS Interceptor Pilot: Toddiec IV (9 Kills)


Attribute Leaders (After Mission 81)

Time Units: (79) Wade Moore
Stamina: (90) Thomkal II
Health: (59) Jfbbis
Bravery: (60) (Nine tied)
Reactions: (62) The Time
Firing: (91) Wade Moore
Throwing: (79) Fonzie II, Achilles, Patman II
Strength: (67) Wade Moore


Attribute Doggies (After Mission 81)

Time Units: (50) PsychoCop II, Katon II
Stamina: (41) Mike Vic
Health: (25) Chief Rum IV
Bravery: (10) (Eleven tied)
Reactions: (30) Jeeber D
Firing: (44) Airhog II, Mike Vic
Throwing: (50) Sir Fozzie II, Psycho Cop II
Strength: (22) 3ric IV


Top Ten Kills Leaders

1. Wade Moore 22
2. Kodos 21
3. Klayman (KIA) 18
4. Jfbbis 17
5. Shorty (KIA) 16
5. Astott 16
5. Revrew 16
8. Thomkal II 14
9. Four tied with 13


Waiting List

ID Name Base Status Rank LBrvOK? OptUp?
126. Joker Ace - Called Rookie Yes No
127. Hoops Guy - In Transit Rookie Yes No
128. The Herd - In Transit Rookie Yes No
129. ShaefIllini - On Call Rookie Yes No
130. Ardent Enthusiast - On Call Rookie Yes Yes
131. Peregrine - On Call Rookie Yes No
132. Raven Hawk II - On Call Rookie Yes No
133. Northwood DK - On Call Rookie Yes No
134. Shorty II - On Call Rookie Yes No
135. Lokugh III - On Call Rookie Yes Yes
136. BYU II - On Call Rookie Yes No
137. Kingfc - On Call Rookie Yes Yes
138. Barkeep - On Call Rookie Yes Yes
139. Fantastic Froggies - On Call Rookie Yes No

[DeToxRox]

these promotions must be an aphrodisiac because my head keeps getting bigger.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I see red lights in a mist of smoke and dust…I hear the crack of plasma blasts, screams of “Ambush!”…I’m inside the Skyranger, viewing the action from near the top of a cramped Skyranger bay filled with troops…much clearer now, I see an agent inside with the Blaster Launcher point it right at someone near the exit—an officer perhaps?—and pull the trigger...I hear the whoosh of the rocket…things go vague now, and I am watching the action from above the battlefield…I hear a tremendous crash—the Blaster missile going off…I see the Skyranger consumed in flames—

I wake up, sweating.

[Coffee Warlord]

...

Fuck.

[kingfc22]

I would like to opt-up as well.

[Tasan]

Holy

Cow

Now I'm glad I wasn't on the roster for this mission.

Blaster Launcher into a full bay of troops is NOT, repeat NOT, good. Hopefully that crappy armor saves some of you guys so the mission can be completed and we don't lose the 'ranger.

[MikeVic]

Nice going, itchy-trigger-finger guy!

[Poli]

I would like to opt up as well. Darn it. I can't be passed on the X Com list.

[Barkeep49]

I will opt-up as well.

[Coffee Warlord]

Wait a minute. Maybe we're figuring this all wrong.

Someone shot a blaster launcher round...at the Skyranger.

Who's on the Skyranger? THE PILOT! Someone finally offed that sunuvabitch!

[Japherwaki]

Now I'm glad I wasn't on the roster for this mission.

Amen to that. I was a bit dissapointed at first when I found out that I wasn't in on this mission. Now I'm not quite so dissapointed any more.

Looks like my lucky streak continues.

[Poli]

Maybe this is all a bad dream. Like when you wake up in Galesburg on a futon staring at a polar bear with a golf club and pets.com sock puppet.

By the way, how are you, Coffee?

[Blade6119]

well...maybe my kodos preminition was right...an officer getting shot?...uh-oh

[Coffee Warlord]

well...maybe my kodos preminition was right...an officer getting shot?...uh-oh

Obviously I had to make due my promise to protect my commander from the treason that Rev was spewing. :)

[Poli]

HEHE

[Kodos]

This can't be good...

[Thomkal]

GB,

You really need to stop eating sushi before you go to bed-that will stop those bad dreams right away. :)

<---hate terror missions glad never to be on one

[Poli]

How did that messed up riddle go again? :)

[revrew]

Well, that ought to do it. No more Kodos getting my kills anymore. Shee-ooot, I mowed down at least 4 X-com agents with that blaster rocket! Got me an alien, too! A big, multi-tentacled one.

Later, I'll just do a Justin Timberlake and declare it "a wardrobe malfunction".

Huh. You don't think that PSI training messed me up or anything, do you? I've been saying the wierdest things...

[Sublime]

Glad I got moved from USA Com over to EU Com...no bad terror mission for me!

[Godzilla Blitz]

"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of
us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time"--Lewis B. Puller, USMC

82nd Mission: Terror in Nairobi

The EU COM Skyranger cuts through the dark skies over the Sahara desert on route to Nairobi. This will be our 82nd airborne mission. The ten men inside fiddle with weapons, run equipment checks, and prepare themselves for the carnage that waits. Second only to base assaults in ferocity, terror missions have been some of our most deadly missions to date. The last two have been against Ethereals, and every man inside the craft says a silent prayer to Thor, the Norse god of war, that Ethereals are not our target today.

We’ve got some of our best agents on board today, and the mood inside the Skyranger is a veteran calm. However, we do have two rookies, Sachmo III, whose family has a long line of (dead) X-COM heroes, and Chuck U Farley, legendary football player of the Silicon Pirates.

The green descent light goes on as the orange glow of sunrise lights the eastern edge of the horizon. We’ll strike at dawn, in limited light. The Skyranger drops altitude and slows…

Our troops today:

Left Side:
1. Jfbbis (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Revrew (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Real Deal III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Coffee Warlord II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Sachmo III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

Right Side:
1. Kodos (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Breeze (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Naiwf (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)
4. Swaggs (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Chuck U Farley (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

The Skyranger begins its vertical descent through clear skies to the dusty city below. It’s hot and still down there; ground temps are already at 87 degrees. In the early dawn light we get a glimpse of the battlefield. We’ll be coming down on an empty plot of land at the corner of an intersection in the center of the battle zone. To the rear of the Skyranger, where we’ll exit the craft, we can see an open lot of land. Immediately to the left of our exit is a large, two-story shopping complex: a hive of shops and stalls. On the other side of the exit, to our right, a two-lane road runs parallel with our craft. On the other side of the road there are some one- and two-story houses. The nose of our Skyranger will come up against another two-lane road. On the other side of this road, we can see more houses. In short, we’ve got one of the worst landing spots I’ve ever seen in a terror mission: we’re surrounded, with no immediate cover to our rear, and with lots of buildings on the other three sides. We could take a ton of fire from well concealed enemies before we make it to safety. We’ll need our best performance today.

The wheels of the Skyranger touch down on African soil. The ramp falls away with a thump and sends a cloud of dust swirling up in front of our exit. Seconds later, the red warning light flashes and the alarms go off: hot landing!

Our tank picks up the outline of a Floater, in a small park to the left of the open plot at the rear of our craft. Incoming plasma streams towards then past our exit, missing the entrance by inches. Our tank rumbles onto the exit, followed closely by Kodos and Jfbbis, who are right on its heels. The two men stop at the exit, drop to their knees and open fire over the hull of our tank. Kodos’ first shot catches the Floater in the chest and blows a hole right through the creature. It tumbles to the ground with a howl. X-COM 1, Aliens 0.

Kodos and Jfbbis hold at the top of the ramp, but our tank continues to the bottom, where it spins left: Holy Crap! Two reapers—those big, hairy, man-eating beasts—lie in wait for us at the edge of the shopping plaza, about 10 yards away. Our tank spins right: two Floaters are scrambling into firing positions next to a house across the street, about 25 yards away! Ambush!

As shots from the Floaters ping off the side of the Skyranger, our tank heads straight towards their position. Kodos screams to Naiwf to fire the Blaster Launcher out the mouth the Skyranger at the near Reaper. Naiwf checks his HUD, slaps the coordinates into the Blaster Launcher, and pulls the trigger. Kodos dives left behind Jfbbis just as Naiwf’s missile tears through the spot he vacated. The missile roars out the back of the Skyranger, breaks down and left, cuts back into the shopping center, drills the first Reaper in its bulky torso, and explodes. The front of the shopping plaza disintegrates in the explosion and the Skyranger rocks violently right as a massive fireball engulfs the craft. Still under enemy fire, our tank spins to check the damage: the two Reapers are piles of gore, and the corpse of a third alien—another Floater—lies just inside the shattered façade of the shopping center. Wow! Naiwf gets himself a hat trick in one shot! X-COM 4, Aliens 0.

http://home.comcast.net/~mwsmart/XCOM82-1.jpg
Alien corpses lie in a shopping complex hit only seconds earlier by an X-COM Blaster missile. Miraculously, the civilian in the photo was unhurt. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

A cheer goes up from the men in the Skyranger, but before it settles Breeze and Jfbbis are out the exit and into the smoky, flaming air. They dive off the ramp to the right and land right behind our charred tank. They stand up and trade shots with the Floaters dug in beside the house across the street. Plasma blasts fly back and forth, but no one has yet to beat Jfbbis in a marksmanship duel. With brutal efficiency, he drills one Floater right between the eyes, then switches aim and guts the second Floater. Breeze can only admire the master’s work, as all of his shaky shots sailed badly wide. X-COM 6, Aliens 0.

Before we can catch our breath, there is motion up past the nose of the Skyranger. Breeze and Jfbbis turn and spot a Floater, about 30 yards away, cutting towards our position from a house across the street that runs perpendicular to our Skyranger. Breeze opens fire first. This time his aim is true, as he catches the Floater in the shoulder with a blast that sends him spinning to the street. Blood gushes onto the street out of a hole in the creature’s upper chest, and within seconds it dies. X-COM 7, Aliens 0.

Finally, we catch a moment to move out. Chuck U Farley and Sachmo exit the Skyranger and take up firing positions around the rear of the craft. Breeze starts toward the front of the Skyranger. Revrew exits, takes up a position behind our tank, and together the two of them start towards the street to the right of our exit. With our exit now cluttered with men, Jfbbis steps back into the Skyranger to let things clear.

http://home.comcast.net/~mwsmart/XCOM82-2.jpg
X-COM forces advance across a Nairobi street. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

Suddenly, a plasma blast comes streaking towards our tank from across the street to our right. It clangs off the turret and ricochets away. The tank and Revrew scan the other side of the street…There! A Floater sniper, over the back end of a house on the other side of the street, about 40 yards away. The Floater ducks out of sight, but Revrew and our tank train their weapons on his last position. Sure enough, the Floater pops into sight again, and Revrew instantly opens fire. His first shot is perfect: it blows apart the top of the Floater’s head in a splash of purple goo! The creature falls back out of sight. Well done, Captain Revrew! X-COM 8, Aliens 0.

http://home.comcast.net/~mwsmart/XCOM82-3.jpg
Floater corpses litter a Nairobi house. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

Suddenly, from across the street by the nose of the Skyranger, two more Floaters bear down on our position, firing plasma weapons as they advance. Revrew and Breeze dive for cover while Chuck U. Farley and Sachmo shift to firing positions and Swaggs runs out of the Skyranger to add his firepower. All three men open fire at the same time. Streaks of plasma race alongside the Skyranger and into the street. Chuck Farley is the first to score, as he catches a Floater in the groin and sends it crashing to the ground. The second Floater veers right and makes it to a hedge on one side of the intersection, but just as it gets there Swaggs hits it in the head with a shot that scalps it. The Floater roars, grabs for its open skull as purple blood rushes down its face, and falls backwards dead. Boo yah! X-COM 10, Aliens 0.

Finally, things go quiet for a moment. We can see civilians scurrying through the houses on the other sides of the street, but there are no signs of the remaining aliens. We take this opportunity to get Coffee Warlord II and Real Deal III out of the Skyranger and into action. They’ll push the point as we search for more aliens. Coffee and Real exit the Skyranger and work their way to the nose of the craft. We send our tank forward, then have it sweep by the front of the Skyranger and down the long road that runs to the left of our position.

The tank makes it about five yards past our Skyranger when it picks up the hulking shape of a Reaper advancing down the street on our position. Real Deal has a shot from where he is near the front of the Skyranger, and he opens fire while Coffee Warlord, slightly behind Real, preps a grenade and tosses it at the Reaper’s positions over the corner of the ravaged shopping center. Plasma races down the street; the grenade lands and rolls to within two meters of the slowly advancing alien. Most of the plasma tails wide, but one shot slams into the Reaper’s chest, sending a spray of green out of the creature. Enraged, it hunches to charge, but Coffee’s grenade goes off a fraction of a second later and blows the thing apart! X-COM 11, Aliens 0.

And that is the last alien! Wow! Amazing! Not one civilian got killed after we touched down! Outstanding job, men!

Kills: Kodos, 1; Coffee Warlord II, 1; Naiwf, 3; Jfbbis, 2; Revrew, 1; Swaggs, 1; Breeze, 1; Chuck U Farley, 1.
KIA: None.
Wounded: None
Attribute Improvements: Kodos, Coffee Warlord II, Naiwf, Jfbbis, Revrew, Swaggs, Breeze, Chuck U Farley, Real Deal III.
Final score: 686! A record!
Mission Notes:
That mission was so fast and so furious that we didn’t have a chance to take good combat photos. All we got were shots of dead aliens littering the streets.

Usually on terror missions all but one or two of the civilians in the battle zone get killed. I think the fewest we’ve had is a half dozen or so left. But today, all 15 civilians were left alive. Unbelievable job, men! Simply outstanding! Nairobi thanks you!

I wonder if such a high score will entice the aliens to start looking for our Africa base. Maybe we should hire more guards?

[Travis]

Simply put...

wow

Excellent job gentlemen.

[Coffee Warlord]

Thats right, you alien scum!

We earned our 5 dollar paychecks today, boys.

[Fonzie]

Nice job, GB!

[Godzilla Blitz]

RING RING RING

Joker Ace is AWOL, so we call...

ShaefIllini! Your planet needs you!

Also, CapnMorgan, the USA COM pilot, has been AWOL for a long time. If anyone on the waiting list wants his job, let me know and it's yours. We'll go in order of agent number if more than one person is interested.

[jfbbis]

To badly paraphrase an old song , "I survived Nairobi"

[Barkeep49]

GB your ability with the game has just gotten too good. Not one death on that mission? Man you're smokin'!

[illinifan999]

Damn GB, noyce!

[NAIWF]

Thanks for making me think I killed everyone GB :p

Once I saw Naiwf (Blaster Launcher) I almost didn't want to read, but then there was this . . . "Wow! Naiwf gets himself a hat trick in one shot!"

Most excellent job dude! [/Keanu Reeves]

[RealDeal]

I need more action that that. I am being underutilized.

[Blade]

Awesome job!!!

[Chuck U Farley]

Chucks first kill, cool.

[kingfc22]

Mighty fine job. If I was there, I would of had 4 kills though.

[Poli]

Nobody died?

Crapt.

[Kodos]

Nobody died?

Crapt.

What a team player... You guys voted for AE over me in the Survivor finals? For shame!

[Poli]

Someone is bitter.

[Vince]

Wow. Nice terror mission, GB.

And my recruit...looks like he's kind of ripped, but kind of yellow, too. Should be interesting :)

[PsychoCop]

Good job people!

[tucker342]

wow... awesome job GB!:D

[Thomkal]

That was simply brilliant GB. Those terror missions are hell themselves and I wouldn't have thought it possible to survive one with no civilian or soldiers casualties. Well done!

[Coffee Warlord]

The no civvy casualties is still unhead of. They usually gun for civilians as a target over X-Com ops. I've had my men in plain sight of the enemy, and they took out the civilian nearby without firing a shot at me.

('Course, that might be because that was an early point in a game, and my guys couldn't hit SHIT. We unloaded at the alien and hit nothing. Guy prolly thought he had time.)

[Swaggs]

Wow... I must be one of the youngest Sgts ever. :)

[Tasan]

Good job guys. Wish I had been there ;- )

[ShaefIllini]

ShaefIllini reporting for duty.

[Godzilla Blitz]

ShaefIllini: Welcome aboard! You, The Herd, and Hoops Guy are on your way to lovely Africa!

Swaggs: Actually, you're getting up there in missions. The game seems to like bravery too.

Thomkal, Coffee: I was amazed that no civilians died. I think the best we've done up to now has been about 10 dead. The amazing thing about this last mission, though, was that I think it was only about five turns long. We took out four aliens on turn one, two more on each of the next three turns, and then one on the last one. There were civilians near the Floaters, but I think the civilians were in the houses and the aliens were outside. Because we came down in open ground right in the middle of the battle field, with good sight lines to our Skyranger, I think the aliens just came for us instead of looking for the civilians. Our crappy starting position was probably the best thing for us on this mission.

Vince, Tucker, Thomkal, Illinifan: Thanks!

Vince: Yeah, except for that bravery, your guy's not bad at all. Could be interesting. If he has good PSI skills, I think he could make a good agent.

Ardent: It's going to be interesting to see who covers your back when you go into battle. You might want to warm up Ardent Enthusiast II.

Chuck: Yup. Good job. One for one!

Naiwf: Sorry to scare you. :) Nice shot, though. Turned the mission around for us.

Barkeep: Thanks. I'm happy with how I played that one. I thought for sure we were going to lose a few men getting out of the Skyranger. The Blaster Launcher shot worked better than I could have hoped. I'm sure I'll make up for this good mission with some dopey mistake down the road, though. It's still a very dangerous game we're playing. I always feel like we're one alien shot away from disaster, and without a doubt there's death in our future.

[sterlingice]

Nobody died?

Crapt.
With friends like these... I think I'll keep my lab door locked ;)

SI

[SirFozzie]

Damn... makes me wish I was in on that.

Bing Bang BOOM BOOM BOOM.. fly home :-)

[fantastic flying froggies]

I was amazed that no civilians died. The amazing thing about this last mission, though, was that I think it was only about five turns long. We took out four aliens on turn one, two more on each of the next three turns, and then one on the last one. Because we came down in open ground right in the middle of the battle field, with good sight lines to our Skyranger, I think the aliens just came for us instead of looking for the civilians. Our crappy starting position was probably the best thing for us on this mission.

Right on, mister. The key to terror mission is speed. You need to go as quick as possible, and forget all about cover. This was ideal because of your starting central position. Run out, shoot and shoot again ! That's the way to go !

[Breeze]

NICE!....I Got a Kill too. :D

[revrew]

Cap-E-tan revrew cocks his head to the side, eyebrows arched, and says to the aliens, "Again?"

(Once again, another Mask of Zorro reference. Oh, heck, why not do another...)

The alien sniper looks down into the street. He says outloud, "I thought we had them pinned down?"

Revrew responds, "That's because you are stupid." Then he wastes E.T.

[Poli]

:).

I love you all, X-COM.

[fantastic flying froggies]

I think it's too late for that AE. You've gone too far, crossed the line, and all that sort of things... ;)

[Poli]

It works for Democrats. :)

[Raven Hawk]

GB: I choose not to opt up, but I will take whatever the good Lord has given to Raven Hawk II. He's got some big boots to fill.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Update

We get no rest. 10 hours after the EU COM Skyranger returns to base, Superman scrambles his Interceptor and gives chase to a Sectoid scout UFO over northern Europe. He engages the craft over Northern Ireland and after a short dogfight, downs the craft there.

The ASIA COM Skyranger is airborne within minutes to search the remains. On board are the following ten men:

GlenGoyne, Rich, Jeff Nights II, 3ric IV, Fonzie II, Thomkal II, Travis III, Zippy II, Qwikshot II, and Calis.

Good luck, men.

This mission will go up on Sunday.

[Poli]

Good luck, X-Com. :)

[Kodos]

What. No wishing them all death?

You're slipping, man...

[Poli]

What. No wishing them all death?

You're slipping, man...


That's what you think. I'm trying to woo the X-Com community with kind words.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Thinking about picking up the pace just a bit and add more missions each week, but I don't want to overwhelm people (I think I did that last time, just before my daughter was born).

If you've got a moment, there's a quick poll here (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=21228) if you'd like to let me know what you think.

Thanks!

[Abe Sargent]

GB, as much as we all enjoy and participate in this dynasty - this is your dynasty. Go at whatever speed you want, man.

-Anxiety

[Poli]

Good point. Your pace. Go X-Com. :)

[Blade6119]

we love the write-ups, so dont worry about overwhelming us...im just worried bout you burning out

[RealDeal]

it isn't possible to overwhelm us. I can read a report in 15 minutes, yet I have over 1500 minutes per day.

[The_herd]

I'm for whatever pace doesn't burn you out. I'm a huge X-Com fan, playing it myself right now actually, and I would love to see this go all the way through. But at the same time, I don't want this to die out because you get tired of doing updates or they become more of a chore than anything else.