The Invasion Has Only Just Begun(XCOM EW+LW, Interactive)

[Icy]

Ok lets go with assault!

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Private O'Peake, you are on the clock -- what training do you select?

I'm happy to go with your recommendation, Commander. Infantry it is.

[Brian Swartz]

Excellent. I'll get us back up to speed again tomorrow evening if possible -- work drama struck again the last couple days.

[Brian Swartz]

Not a whole lot happened during the couple of days following Patient King. Canada requested a satellite that we don't have on the 15th, Bordoni's fighter returned to active duty giving us three combat-ready craft at the moment, and in the last 24 hours there was a report of more UFO activity over India. It seems the aliens are concentrating there.

We soon found out that isn't the only place they are operating, as a report of abductions came in at 0410 this morning, the 17th of March. Figures they would have to ruin St. Patrick's Day. There were yet only eight active specialists(the roster will be updated momentarily): the other 11 were still in recovery. Reports were of light resistance and a promised 8m reward. A couple days from now it might have been a different story, but under the circumstances I decided to send out another all-private squad. Among them will be Jace Hunter and Ace Idol. Before we get to that, it's a good time to peruse the latest

News Headlines

** Burning UFO wreckage spotted by local residents in Germany; Military forces reportedly engaged aliens at crash site
** Reports indicate unidentified object shot down after prolonged aerial battle with unknown fighter craft(twice)
** Sightings of advanced military airship approaching 'crashed UFO' in rural Germany spurs talk of government response
** United Nations issues statement condemning South Africa for allegedly providing material support to hostile aliens

At least most of the reports lately are about XCOM's successful operations. Perhaps we are changing the narrative a bit from paranoid negativity to hopefulness.


Promotions


SPEC Ches O'Peake(Infantry)

Health: 6(+1)
Will: 32(+3)
Aim: 67(+2)

Really? Your Commander is not impressed, specialist O'Peake. It's safe to say your XCOM career is off to an underwhelming start. You'll make a good walking tank, but we'd build SHIVs if I was looking for something to make into a target.







SPEC Ivan Drago(Assault)

Health: 3(--)
Will: 27(+5)
Aim: 69(+5)

Really would be nice to see you toughen up, but all in all pretty good. The picture below shows you with the standard shotgun loadout.

[Brian Swartz]

The roster has been updated in the OP. Lily Brodie continues to lead the pack in terms of results ...

KILLBOARD

LCPL Lily Brodie -- 6
SPEC Yolanda Pena -- 4
SPEC Rebecca Burke -- 3
SPEC Thozama Khumalo -- 3
SPEC Coffee Warlord -- 3
SPEC Benton Gale -- 2
SPEC Path Twelve -- 2
SPEC Naomi Foster -- 1
SPEC Eman Hodzic -- 1
SPEC Didier Keita -- 1
SPEC Su-Min Kim -- 1
SPEC Courtney Mason -- 1
SPEC Ches O'Peake -- 1
SPEC Eliana Soares -- 1

[chesapeake]

Everyone's a critic.

[Brian Swartz]

Nah, it's mostly just me that is :P

[Brian Swartz]

PFC Steven Garner(UK, 0 missions, 0 kills) -- 5 Health, 12 Mob, 37 Will, 60 Aim, -1 Def
PFC Jace Hunter(FRA, 0 missions, 0 kills) -- 4 Health, 11 Mob, 30 Will, 70 Aim, 3 Def
PFC Ace Idol(UK, 0 missions, 0 kills) -- 3 Health, 14 Mob, 29 Will, 67 Aim, -2 Def
PFC Amiyah Banerjee(NIG, 0 missions, 0 kills) -- 5 Health, 13 Mob, 32 Will, 59 Aim, 1 Def
PFC Esperanza Guerrero(ESP, 0 missions, 0 kills) -- 4 Health, 15 Mob, 20 Will, 66 Aim, 1 Def
PFC Georgia Murdoch(AUS, 0 missions, 0 kills) -- 3 Health, 13 Mob, 38 Will, 62 Aim, -2 Def

Intel indicates that this will be a close-quarters urban site, likely a hot LZ. There won't be a ton of time for maneuvering, but rather the need to shoot in and out ... literally ... is expected. Banerjee will be the scout if we need one, with Hunter, Idol, and the flighty Guerrero needing to provide accuracy as the rest of the squad is quite short on it. Another weakness of the squad is physical: three of them have ceramic plating in order to ensure a basic level of protection, limiting this mission to just a single flashbang grenade. That could potentially be trouble.

While they were en route, a report came in of more UFO activity over China ...

OPERATION DEMON PIPE
Khabarovsk, Russia
0546, 3.17.2015

The team deployed at a construction site. There's a modest-sized building that is probably a headquarters for whoever was working here. There's a sign mounted on top of the roof on the opposite side that could serve as suitable cover if we can safely get up there. It seemed as good a plan as any, seizing the high ground is rarely not a good idea.







There was no time. Three sectoids immediately came at us from ahead on the left behind a green pickup. Looks like intel was right on the money, this is definitely a hot zone. Ace Idol had a chance to distinguish himself, the only soldier in position for a shot behind one of the earthmovers. One of them had picked a poor hiding spot along a building and was nearly flanked. He fired, but was a little off and merely wounded it. Guerrero was able to get a secure flanking position and clean up the mess, and the others prepared for them to advance.

One pushed forward and they both tried to goad us, but weren't really in good positions to do so. Murdoch and Hunter both missed as they moved, but we had good firing positions and kept it up.


Jace Hunter misses high as the enemy advances





Idol misfired, Guerrero wounded the leader, and this time it was Jace Hunter cleaning up the mess. One left from this group. It simply moved away behind the pickup, and we'd heard the telltale sounds of a storage canister out that way.

Only Banerjee could get a shot, used well to wound it, but we moved forward under good cover eliminating any potential hiding spots of other foes. A careful observer could see a cansiter to the left and behind the next building we approached, while the skulking sectoid ducked behind some sandbags on the right ...







Idol had the best shot again, and finished it off. He's been in the right place without fail so far, and this operation is off to a brilliant start. Far from over though I fear. Ace Idol then made his first mistake, getting spotted by a trio ahead and on the right. It's an enclosed area below us, and we can neither seem them nor them us very well.

Murdoch had a shot but missed. A second try wounded one, but when Idol moved in to get a better shot he triggered three more. Six of them out there now. This was turning out a lot like Stuttgart. Idol missed a chance to take out one of them, and was then a victim of three straight psi attacks that ended with him panicking like an incompetent fool. They'd given up defensive fields of fire to make those attacks however.

Banerjee snagged the orange canister and we moved into the best firing positions we could find. Hunter took care of the closest foe, and Guerrero sacrificed a bit of safety to get a medikit to Idol. Murdoch missed again, and there were still five of them out there.

A couple tried low-success shots and thankfully missed, another psi attack worked against Idol, but I still felt our good shooting positions were turning the battle in our favor. Nobody but Hunter could hit a thing though, and they kept pounding away at Idol. The final shot, from below, struck him in the head and he fell dead! Murdoch was stunned but everyone stayed in the fight ... but it was still a hard blow to take. XCOM's first casualty. That sectoid should never even have been alive to take that shot if our shooters were doing their jobs.


Ace Idol becomes XCOM's first casualty. I fear there will be many more




Guerrero took one out but that was it, they missed as well including a near-flanking shot on Garner. Murdoch had a great angle on the advanced one ... but somehow missed! A pistol shot wounded it but it stayed up and came at Murdoch from the side ... she's alive but not by much.


Wounded or not, this intrepid sectoid tagged Murdoch, and the Australian was fortunate to live to tell about it





Enough left to move over and execute it though. The rest continue to miss decent chances like it's an Olympic sport. The sectoids, three of them left now, moved to suppress Garner and miss shots against elevated Guerrero in cover. Time to finish the job. Guerrero took out another that had foolishly left itself open, and numbers were pretty much decisive at that point. She took out the one in the pit from close range, and eventually it was Hunter, having missed at least a half-dozen other opportunities, ending the final sectoid that was holed up in the building on the right.

POST MORTEM

During the main firefight we just missed too many good shots and they had a lucky one that took down Idol. It would have been nice if he'd managed to resist a single one of their psi attacks ... or if he'd hit the nearly-unobstructed shot he'd had on the same enemy moments before ... or if Hunter didn't miss five of six 'coin-flip' opportunities at one point ... or if Murdoch didn't blow a chance to take out the enemy who tagger her earlier ... or etc. etc. etc. I'd take the position we had any day, but that's of little comfort when we lose one of our own. The first one we've lost. Grudgingly I must admit that we were fortunate it took this long for it to happen. Perhaps karma was just balancing itself out.

It must also be noted that somewhat forgotten in all of the reflection at the time was the fact that nobody panicked when Idol died(though he panicked earlier) or when Murdoch got shot. They stayed in the fight and did their jobs -- this might have ended much worse otherwhise. There are good things to take away from this, and we did ultimately succeed in the operation -- but many more successes like this we probably cannot survive.

Another nine sectoids bought it with the one death for XCOM and Murdoch will be out over a week as well. Due mostly to the casualty rate there will be only two promotions, for Guerrero(4 kills) and Hunter(3 kills).

Artifacts Recovered

9 Sectoid Corpses
9 Weapon Fragments
4 oz. MOG

[Brian Swartz]

There was some financial business to deal with while the survivors of Demon Pipe returned to the HQ. The 8m reward was much-needed and allowed for construction on the thermal generator to finally begin. It will take three weeks. Also, with the recent activity(three operations in less than six days) the soldier roster is taking a beating and two more recruits were authorized. 35 million for the generator, another five for the recruits, and the operating budget is now down to a mere 600k. The General Fund has a deficit of eight million, having borrowed from the air campaign due to the need to get the generator online immediately. After all, there can be no more uplinks for our satellites until the power needs are dealt with anyway. Later in the day, several operatives, including Ches O'Peake, returned to active duty.

PFC Ace Idol, your career has come to an inglorious end, as you have the unfortunate distinction to be the first killed in action. The Commander sends his condolences to your next of kin for the tragedy of your fatal traffic accident on I-95. If you have the courage, you may nominate a replacement to carry on the honor of your family name in XCOM Field Ops.

Jace Hunter, you are promoted to Specialist forthwith! Accordingly, you have also been named the third to join the Sniper class. This was a no-brainer given your excellent aim and lack of mobility.

Health: 5(+1)
Will: 33(+3)
Aim: 77(+7)

Good work! Not the greatest will increase but accuracy is the most important thing and you certainly worked hard there.





The 18th passed without incident. Two operatives returned to active status, including SPEC Ivan Drago.

[Greyfriars Bobby]

I've enjoyed reading this story, and I'm wondering if you're still accepting new recruits. If you are, here's my contribution:

First Name: Duncan
Last Name: Ross
Nationality: UK (Scotland)
Focus Attribute: doesn't matter
Neglect Attribute: doesn't matter

Thanks!

[MacroGuru]

Noo!! Ace!

Mac is going to tip quite a few out for his homie! He also notifies the bartender to keep a nice stock of Whiskey on hand...

[Travis]

Yikes, not how the first mission was supposed to go. Hopefully the extra time on the range means smoother missions and less fallen comrades.

[Brian Swartz]

Headlines

** Eyewitness accounts of battle between unidentified military forces and hostile aliens in Russia indicates response to abductions(NEW)
** Reports indicate unidentified object shot down after prolonged aerial battle with unknown fighter craft(twice)
** Burning UFO wreckage spotted by local residents in Germany; Military forces reportedly engaged aliens at crash site
** Sightings of advanced military airship approaching 'crashed UFO' in rural Germany spurs talk of government response

They've stopped talking about South Africa, at least for the time being.


March 19, 0700 -- My first order of business today is a priority consult with Bradford, following a meeting down in research between him and Drs. Shen and Vahlen less than half an hour before. The hastily assembled report in front of me details the results of XCOM's first research project, dubbed Project Mobius. Dr. Vahlen's team claims to have mapped an entire alien genome:

"our success has led to the startling realization that this creature's genetic structure is quite similar to our own. This ... only raises more questions as to the origin of this species. ... key components of the alien's genetic structure are mirrored perfectly across each of the specimens ... I believe it is only logical to assume this alien is the product of aggressive genetic engineering, well beyond anything conceived of on Earth. If the aliens are truly capable of this sort of genetic manipulation at a cellular level, I fear we may have only scratched the surface of their technological advantadges over us. ... further research is imperative ... we may need to acquire a living specimen if we truly hope to find the answers to these questions."

This ... is not good news. It's rather terrifying, in fact. Though I don't intimate as much to Bradford, I am left with the feeling that we may well be fighting a hopeless war here. There is one new blueprint available from Dr. Shen in the findings: a targeting module. This is an addition to the HUD our soldiers use, costing 2m each with an 11-day construction time and allowing for a 7% increase in critical chance due to our improved understanding of weak points in the alien's physical structure. While we need every advantadge in the field, my assessment is that these would be of limited use. Most soldiers would benefit more from a grenade, laser sight, medikit, etc. No expenditures are authorized for this.

After all of this basic information, the trio warmed to the main purpose of their meeting. A bold new strategy has been envisioned by Dr. Vahlen. Bradford included a video, classified naturally at the highest levels, of the most important part of the conversation:

Bradford(incredulously): You're telling me that we should risk the lives of our troops so we can take one of these things ... alive?

Vahlen: Yes! Without a live specimen, I'm afraid we've reached the pinnacle of what my team is able to accomplish.

Bradford(pacing and leaning on a table): And how do you suggest we do this, Doctor?

Vahlen: The autopsy I've just completed confirms that the alien physiology is remarkably similar to our own.


Dr. Vahlen outlines the findings of Project Mobius as CO Bradford listens with obvious skepticism





Vahlen(continuing): a highly concentrated electrical current delivered at close range should be able to cause neuromus ...

Bradford(interrupting): Close range?! And what happens if it doesn't work? Do you really think this is worth the risk?

Shen: I do. We do not know our enemy. How can we can hope to stop something that we do not understand. If we can capture one of these things alive, we may be able ... communicate with it.

Bradford(with growing excitement and earnestness): and interrogate it. Figure what they want, where they're operating from!


Light finally dawns in Bradford's brain





Shen: Yes. That possibility outweighs all risks in my opinion. My team can build a safe enough facility to house our captive, but I do not know how we could possibly communicate with it.

Vahlen: Not to worry. I'll see to that.

Bradford: All right. I'll speak to the Commander.

The video ends at that point with Bradford walking away. He arrived at my quarters minutes later.

The reports recommends building the specified Alien Containment facility as soon as possible, and also prioritizing Xenoneurology as our next research project. This is a situation where it is one thing to note what we would like to do, but what we can do is another matter entirely. We have 600k in the treasury and Alien Containment requires significant power that we don't have, a 20-million expenditure, and 10 pounds of alien alloys as well. On the research front, that project would take nearly a month. More immediate benefits can be had via a more detailed autopsy of some of our Sectoid corpses. 10 will be required, but we have 29 so that's not an issue. Other options were Alien Materials, Alien Weaponry, and Xenogenetics. Dr. Vahlen's team believes they can finish the autopsies in less than two weeks: speed was the primary factor in this decision. Her comments on the project:

"Our initial scans of the small humanoid aliens recovered so far have revealed something quite remarkable. We're detecting components of non-biological embedded within their internal structure. Could these be implants of some kind?"

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Greyfriars Bobby

I've enjoyed reading this story, and I'm wondering if you're still accepting new recruits.

Yes! The more the merrier!! If anyone else is wondering this, know that the sooner you get in, the better chance you have of being a particularly important soldier, but I don't think I'll ever be cutting off new entrants. Also, I'm glad you are enjoying it, and hope you continue to do so.

As for your particular character, nobody from Scotland or even the UK was available, so I chose the first decent male character and PFC Deacon Ross will now, at least officially, hail from France(language changed to English though naturally). Here you are:





Health: 3
Mobility: 12
Will: 34
Aim: 67
Defense: 1

Slightly above average in defense and aim, and a little more on the good side in will. As of early on the 20th, you are 10th on the list of privates waiting to go out on their first mission.

Originally Posted by Travis

Yikes, not how the first mission was supposed to go. Hopefully the extra time on the range means smoother missions and less fallen comrades.

It certainly will if the alien menace is content to just sit idly by and send out nothing but sectoids every time. Who wants to bet on that? .

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Mac is going to tip quite a few out for his homie! He also notifies the bartender to keep a nice stock of Whiskey on hand...

The Commander ensures all soldiers that there will be no lack of such refreshments, though he also thinks killing sectoids by the metric ton might be a better way of honoring Idol.



Later in the day, it is clear that Bradford still isn't on board with Vahlen's plan yet. He mutters to the Commander 'I still can't believe Dr. Vahlen expects us to bring one of those things back here in one piece ... much less alive!'. Though perhaps all now realize it, this is an important moment in XCOM's brief history. We've been at this for just under three weeks, and have reached what historians -- if there are any left around by the end of the war to write a history at all -- will probably call the end of the introduction to the story of the agency.

Our strategic vision to date has pretty much been limited by necessity to killing every alien we can while avoiding the suicide of major engagements. Resist in every way possible, a guerilla campaign. And while that's still the strategy, we now have a series of objectives aimed at getting to a somewhat more even playing field:

** Construct an Alien Containment Facility
** Research Xenoneurology and construct an alien stunning device
** Capture a Live Alien
** Interrogate the Captive Alien

As mentioned, none of these will happen anytime soon, but until they do we will be very unlikely to progress in our knowledge of the aliens' goals, culture(if any), origin, etc. In this environment we are extremely unlikely to defeat them, and are limited to basically delaying the inevitable at best, annoying our eventual conquerors.

Several more soldiers returned to duty, and we also conducted our first trade: 6 Sectoid Corpses to Argentina for one top scientist. Even with the latest research investment, this still leaves us with 13 of the corpses available, and right now it seems that there is no end to the potential supply.

[Brian Swartz]

CBD, March 21

Literally the only thing that happened on the 20th is that PFC Dean Hoo, injured in the very first mission back on the 1st, returned to active duty. He's expected to be sent back out there soon to get shot at again -- err, have another chance to get promoted. Yeah, that's it.

[Brian Swartz]

March 21, 2335 -- It had been another quiet day. Within the last hour Jace Hunter returned to duty, but that was the only activity. Then in the last half hour we received a transmission from the Council. The Chairman's briefing was worded as follows:

"One of the scientists serving in a remote observatory used for tracking and monitoring UFO activity in Canada has come under attack. We cannot allow the aliens to threaten any personnel contributing information to the XCOM project. We'll need you to deploy a squad and ensure his safe return."

Aside from the political benefits in Canada, on offer here is 24.1 million euros and four more skilled researchers to add to Dr. Vahlen's team for a successful escort and extraction of the scientist at this observatory. That reward alone makes this an absolutely vital mission. It will be treated as a priority operation, our first, and the best we have will be sent.

XCOM's priority mission profile calls for a scout, a medic, an infantry soldier, and three other classes as needed. The best from each will be selected.

Infantry: SPEC Brooke Carter(USA, 1 mission, 0 kills)
Scout: SPEC Rebecca Burke(USA, 1 mission, 3 kills)
Medic: LCPL Lily Brodie(SCO, 2 missions, 6 kills)
**Revive
Assault: SPEC Su-Min Kim(KOR, 1 mission, 1 kill)
Gunner: SPEC Geoff Russell(USA, 1 mission, 0 kills)
Sniper: SPEC Jace Hunter(FRA, 1 mission, 3 kills)

Coffee Warlord and Ivan Drago were narrowly left off the team in favor of Burke and Kim. Jace Hunter will have to hold down the fort as far as the FOFC contingent is concerned -- he has the most accurate trigger finger in XCOM right now, narrowly ahead of Path Twelve.

Burke and Brodie carry only SMGs, their primary job is to keep the rest of the squad alive. Burke is taking a sawed-off shotgun in place of a pistol in case she gets in a tight spot. Russell has high-capacity mags to allow him a little more ammo for suppression, while the trio of Carter, Hunter, and Kim will be relied on to take down any enemy threats.

Even I am a little nervous as the Skyranger lifts off -- this is a mission that we cannot afford to fail.

[Brian Swartz]

OPERATION MORBID SWORD
Calgary, Canada
03.22.2015, 0133

We arrive at the observatory, and Bradford informs me that we will need to escort Dr. Marazuki to the other end of the facility for extraction via the Skyranger. We must protect him at all costs. It's a large room with doors on all sides. There are also glass windows 'behind' us, but that's the way we came in. An enemy is unlikely to approach from there.







I'd like to get Hunter and preferably others as well up to the roof, but unfortunately there's no good way to get up there without going towards the center of the compound. The squad splits up to head toward the doors -- there are rooms in other parts of the observatory behind two of them, and if any of the aliens are inside, we need to be ready to pounce on them immediately.

Marazuki says that his time here has been spent studying alien flight paths in an attempt to determine where they came from.

There is the sound of sectoids ... lots of sectoids. And something else, like it was landing off to the left. A strange soft thud. We check the side rooms, but there is nothing there. The observatory itself is clear, but there are many other buildings in the compound.

Dr. Marazuki speaks up again to inform us that it is clear from his research that the aliens have developed a propulsion system that is capable of FTL travel. Superb. I thought that was supposed to be impossible?

Movement off to the left. This is a new enemy we haven't seen before. Dr. Vahlen pipes in that she thinks it might be an infiltration unit, and wants us to capture it. Uh Doctor, we are nowhere near being able to do that yet. She dubs it a 'thin man', which is exactly what it looks like.






Brodie and Kim are on the door in that direction. Brodie has a shot, or Kim can move in closer with his shotgun, though that's a bit more risky as there is a window in another direction as well and he could be spotted. Brodie fires and nearly kills it, and we decide caution is the better option here. Windows were heard breaking elsewhere in the compound a moment ago, and I have no intention of trying to take on any more of the enemy at once than I have to.


Brodie wounds the 'thin man' as Kim looks on from the other side of the doorway





Marazuki again, this time pondering how far the aliens have traveled to undertake this invasion, noting that 'the resources involved are staggering'. That's a thought best saved for when they aren't shooting at us, wouldn't you say doctor?

We hear a door open on the other side of the compound. Brodie and Kim both miss, breaking the window the thin man is behind. That's sure to have gotten someone's attention, and we gained nothing by it other than burning through ammo.

The thin man moves away along the wall, toward the middle of the compound. Much as it may be risky, we open the door that way guarded by Hunter and Carter. If anything comes that direction, we need to have a field of fire open. We wait, and the thin man returns. This time Kim is able to end it with a pistol shot. That's one down.

More sounds coming from further out that way. Hunter moves outside to a ladder near the door, heading up to the roof. He spots all kinds of 'fun' ... another thin man, four sectoids, and a drone. Carter fires at the drone, taking it down on the second attempt.


Target practice for our infantrywoman Carter



We've basically got two sets of enemies now: three on the left, two on the right. They move defensively, one sectoid suppressing Hunter on the roof, and others looking for reaction shots. Suppressing or not, Hunter is in good position and takes out the offending sectoid, while Russell moves to suppress another. The others are not so accurate.

Superb. We spot another pair of sectoids in the large building on the right, and one uses a panic attack on Russell. The thin man suppresses Hunter, but he's got an exposed position and Kim annihilates him. Burke wounds one, and at least we are fighting on one front, but there's still a lot of them out there.


This thin man is the first to learn what a mistake it is to be exposed to a close-range blast from Kim's shotgun





A well-placed flashbang by Burke knocks two of them behind a truck out of the fight for a moment. It takes three shots ... Hunter, Carter, and then finally Brodie to take down the closest sectoid. At least five more remain.


The glass shatters on this window as well as Brooke injures a sectoid with a burst from her SMG during a pitched battle over the space between the compound's two main observatory buildings.





Another panic attack on Geoff Russell, a second fires at him and misses, and they suppress Burke. They are keeping Russell, our suppressor, out of the fight effectively but not really accomplishing a whole lot else. Carter and Brodie dash up to the roof, but the sectoids are getting too close to the panicked Russell. They continue to go after him, and after they advance again we're fortunate he's only critically wounded. We need to get Brodie down there ...


The shooters on the roof were not accurate enough, scoring far too many flesh wounds and misses, to keep this sectoid from unloading on Russell from pretty close range. It is only due to good fortune and the skills of Lily Brodie that he lived through this plasma blast





Kim closes in on another sectoid in the middle of the courtyard. Carter and Hunter both hit another, but it refuses to go down. An AP grenade wounds another. Brodie revives Russell, but other than that we can't hit a thing. Fortunately the sectoids are very low on ammo. One moves into the middle, apparently unafraid of Kim. That was not smart. Have a nice death. We have only two more in view. Hunter reloads, Carter misses, but gets the second burst on target. One left. Burke moves into the truck and finishes the job.


Burke's grenade toss injures the sectoid that took out Russell, and shooters cleaned up the mess with most of the sectoids close by injured by this point





Time to reload and get the doctor moving. As soon as we get him near the courtyard, we hear something ... sounds like a thin man ... back toward the observatory. As we head back in, it takes a shot a Russell, missing. Carter makes sure it doesn't get a second chance.


An attempt to attack from the rear fails as Carter eliminates the lone thin man in the darkened observatory. Sharp ears by the squad prevented this tactic from succeeding.





The squad moves up to the roof of the second building, ready to protect Marazuki from any enemy that might approach. A final thin man drops in ... literally ... as we get close to extraction. Burke does most to the damage, then Carter finishes it off.







As he reaches the Skyranger, Marazuki says 'Thank you for coming to my aid. I only hope my data is useful to the cause.' It damn well better be given the trouble it took to retrieve it.

POST MORTEM

11 aliens killed, 0 lost, but it was not without cost. Geoff Russell was nearly lost before Brodie got the American gunner back into the fight. The medical teams tell me he is showing signs of PTSD, and will never be the same soldier he once was(37 Will reduced to 22). He will also be out for a month, 31 days to be precise, recovering from his injuries. Burke was the only soldier to be promoted, giving XCOM a second lance corporal in the ranks along with Brodie. All in all a good mission. If we had turned some of those minor wounds into kills, the damage to Russell could have been prevented. A successful outing against our fourth different alien species that we've encountered in the thin man, and a recurring theme with the sectoids: their mental or 'psi' powers seem to be far more effective than their weapons. They find a target and exploit it relentlessly. The combination of panic attacks and overwatch fire they put in Russell's direction made it effectively impossible for me to withdraw him for safety.

Artifacts Recovered

6 Sectoid Corpses
4 Thin Man Corpses
1 Drone Wreck
11 Weapon Fragments
2 oz. MOG

[Brian Swartz]

The added funding provided a much-needed shot in the arm. The General Fund is back in the black at 3.95m, Air War at 20.75m. It will still be well over three weeks before the thermal generator is finished, and until then there isn't enough power to contemplate any new building. Meanwhile, Dr. Vahlen is downright giddy at having her staff increase by 50% in the last few days.

In The News

** Unknown military operatives in Canada rescue civilian from clutches of hostile aliens(*NEW*)
** Argentinian pharmaceutical company announces breakthrough in new DNA sequencing technology(*NEW*)
** Eyewitness accounts of battle between unidentified military forces and hostile aliens in Russia indicates effort to stop abductions
** Burning UFO wreckage spotted by local residents in Germany; Military forces reportedly engaged aliens at crash site
** Reports indicate unidentified object shot down after prolonged aerial battle with unknown fighter craft

March 22, 1014 -- The new laboratory is in place and operational, and the new equipment will allow for a significant increase in productivity. Research is now proceeding 80% faster that it was just days ago.

A few hours later, Argentina comes back with a request for another half-dozen sectoid corpses. This is granted as well, but it's unlikely we'll be trading any more away anytime soon as we will need to conserve some for our own use. Vahlen's staff is now up to 16 scientists.

[Brian Swartz]

March 23, 0144 -- A low-flying scout detected on approach to Germany from the polar region, vector north/northeast. We have only three fighters available, and only 'Chainsaw' Katz is equipped with avalanche missiles. He shoots it down, sustaining heavy damage in the process, but managed to cripple the scout with his first missile to gain the upper hand in the dogfight.

He may have done his job a little bit too well, as the alien craft was damaged enough that it broke up on impact and a recovery mission would be pointless. XCOM is awarded a 10m bounty by the Council however, another nice boost for our financial situation.

[Brian Swartz]

CDB, March 24

A few more soldiers have returned to duty the last couple days. Other than that and the UFO that was destroyed, there's been a whole lotta nuthin' going on.

[Brian Swartz]

CDB, March 25

Lots of UFO activity reported in the United Kingdom yesterday.

[Brian Swartz]

CDB, March 26

Germany requests sectoid corpses but we don't have enough to spare, so we will have to do without their scientists. Also, Lt. 'Notso' Sharpe's fighter is back in action, bringing XCOM back up to three operational.

[Brian Swartz]

CDB, March 27

There was actually something worth writing about at the end of the day yesterday. First up, two new soldiers who aren't anything to write home about arrived at about 0915. Later in the day, Japan became the latest nation to request a satellite that we don't have, and Georgia Murdoch and Brook Carter returned to active duty.

Burning the midnight oil, at 2314 Dr. Vahlen presented her report on the sectoid autopsies, dubbed Project Roswell.

"no discernible genetic variance ... They are perfect genetic copies, each and every one of them. ... brain is quite sizable with respect to it's body, and appears to have been augmented even further with cybernetic implants of some kind. ... Dr. Shen and the engineering team have already developed several theories as to how we might be able to adapt these implants for our own use. ... Cloning, genetic maniuplation, biomedical implants ... the implications of this technology and the alien's motives are not reassuring."

So the news just keeps getting worse the more we know about the aliens. Although there are a couple of projects that could be done a bit faster, the research teams will now proceed with our priority project, Xenoneurology. This will require another 10 sectoid corpses, leaving us with just three remaining, and five weapon fragments as well. The goal is to design a device capable of stunning an alien for capture and eventual interrogation. With the laboratory up and running and the increase in staff, this is expected to be achieved in about two weeks.

[Brian Swartz]

CDB, March 28

Lt. 'Blinker' Kamala's fighter is back, making it four active. Three soldiers return to active status including Jace Hunter. The UK is now asking for a satellite. That's six nations who want our total of zero available.

It's been another period of uncomfortable down time for XCOM -- nearly six full days since our last mission.

[Brian Swartz]

CDB March 29

Su-Min Kim is the last soldier to return after recovering from the last mission, and a couple fighters get rearmed to keep the most experienced pilots ready with the Stingray missiles.

[Brian Swartz]

CDB, March 30

The US wants a satellite now. Join the queue. And that's it, we've now set a record for longest down time.

[Brian Swartz]

CDB March 31

Another day of nothing. The Council will let us know what they think of us tomorrow.

[Brian Swartz]

April 1 -- Council Report.

The Council is 'extremely impressed', stating that our results were 'beyond their expectations' in March. On the panic front, India remains at Aqua Status, everyone else as Green except of course for the traitorous South Africans who are gone. Our monthly take from the Council nations is 67.6m(40.8 net after maintenance). We were given 50.1m during the month as rewards for various missions, a total of 117.6m income. Germany also contributed another scientist in exchange for continued satellite coverage. We're up to 17 researchers, but still stuck on 10 engineers.

Grade: A
Council Missions Completed: 1
UFOs Shot Down: 3
Abductions Stopped: 2
Research Projects Completed: 2
UFOs Raided: 2
UFOs Escaped: 1

We had six tactical operations in March, winning all of them and killing 50 of the enemy against only 1 loss for XCOM. If we can keep up that kind of ratio, I have to think we'll make progress in this war eventually. Certainly it's a good start. The number was 3 to 0 in terms of aircraft.

Expenditures

One new fighter(20m), a satellite(14m), and some more work excavating(1m) are our initial expenditures for April. There's more money that could be spent, but right now we are still waiting another week on the thermal generator before we can expand the base. At this point we have just under 12m in the Air War fund, nearly 29m in the general.

Dr. Shen took a moment to wax philosophical recently: 'From what little we've seen of their technology, if the aliens were intent on conquering Earth, there's not much we could do to stop them. I'm guessing they have something else in mind.' I'm not sure what could be worse than a full-on invasion, but I guess that's something we'll find out.

KILLBOARD

LCPL Lily Brodie -- 7
SPEC Su-Min Kim -- 5
SPEC Rebecca Burke -- 4
SPEC Brooke Carter -- 4
SPEC Esperanza Guerrero -- 4
SPEC Jace Hunter -- 4
SPEC Yolanda Pena -- 4
SPEC Thozama Khumalo -- 3
SPEC Coffee Warlord -- 3
SPEC Benton Gale -- 2
SPEC Path Twelve -- 2
SPEC Naomi Foster -- 1
PFC Stephen Garner -- 1
SPEC Eman Hodzic -- 1
SPEC Didier Keita -- 1
SPEC Courtney Mason -- 1
PFC Georgia Murdoch -- 1
SPEC Ches O'Peake -- 1
SPEC Eliana Soares -- 1

Brodie continues to lead the way. We have a few solid soldiers from the FOFC contingent, and also some that have contributed little. Two haven't even had a chance to get out there yet. XCOM overall has two lance corporals, 19 specialists, and nearly half check in as privates(20 of them). So there's been significant progress made in building up a critical mass of vaguely compentent soldiers, but much work remains to be done. Only the one injury to Russell remains. He'll be out another three weeks, but everyone else is ready to go at this point.

Gray Market

3 Sectoid Corpses -- 200k ea.(25 used for research, 12 traded)
4 Thin Man Corpses -- 300k
2 Drone Wrecks -- 200k
17 Elerium -- 500k
22 Alien Alloys -- 500k
43 Weapon Fragments -- 100k(5 used for research)
15 oz. MOG -- 700k
1 UFO Power Source -- 6m

Total Assets: 42.5m

Base Expansion

Here's the latest schematic of how things look down on the lower sublevels ...

[Brian Swartz]

CDB April 2

A whole lot of nothing. The waiting seems interminable at this point.

**It'll be a couple days before I'm able to update this again, a combination of work and a lovely fun bone scan I get to have done on Friday assessing a long-running issue I've had with my right ankle. I should definitely have us caught up again by Saturday. **

[path12]

Ugh. Good luck with the scan.

[Brian Swartz]

Thanks. Scan itself went fine, but I won't know any results for a week or so.

April 4, 0112 -- Abduction reports in China! Thus endeth the long peace, which lasted nearly two weeks. Light resistance with a reward of 8m is expected.

Strike Team

SPEC Benton Gale(Infantry) will be joined by five privates here.
PFC Stephen Garner(UK)
PFC Georgia Murdoch(AUS)
PFC Dean Hoo(UKR)
PFC Amiyah Banerjee(NIG)
PFC Mac Roguru(AUS)

Hoo and Roguru are decent shooters but none of the rest are. Banerjee has the sole flashbang and will do most of the scouting.

[law90026]

Woohoo, a mission for the Hoo.

[MacroGuru]

Mac is ready to rock and/or roll!

[Coffee Warlord]

Coffee needs some action!

[Brian Swartz]

Sounds like a personal problem, Coffee. Not my department.

OPERATION UNCEASING NIGHT
Beijing, China
4.4.2015

We start in a dangerous starting position. Enemies could come from any direction on the street and there is little cover. Using the vehicle as a staging point to get to that pipe and up on to the roof is the goal.







Sectoids and thin men can be heard out there somewhere. Banerjee makes it up to the roof without incident. The rest of the squad moves down the street towards a canister, some just out in the open as there's nothing available to make crossing the intersection easier. Murdoch reports hearing sectoids out that way.







Roguru takes the lead and approaches the canister, still spotting nothing. Banerjee comes down off the building on the near side, but a couple minutes later there is intermittent contact with a thin man and a pair of ... well, I don't really know what to call them. Shen is in my ear calling them 'seekers'. They appear to be partly-mechanical flying squid with tentacles. Super. This calls for defensive fire positions, which we really don't have right now.

Roguru snags the canister(5 oz.) and Banerjee heads up top again on the far side. Another canister up here, but there's bigger fish to fry at the moment. The thin man approaches and the seekers just flat-out disappear. That's ... disconcerting, to say the least.

Roguru is close enough to risk an approach ... he executes the thin man but pays for it. The cloud of acid envelops him. We hear nothing from the seekers. Roguru hunkers down and tries to wait out the acid, while the others approach. Three up top and three below.







Then the seekers strike. One goes for Murdoch down by the van, another for Garner up on the roof. They didn't approach first. They were just upon us all of a sudden. It appears that they have, for lack of a better way of putting it, some type of 'cloaking device'. Things are getting worse all the time. All of our reaction shots are either absorbed or miss. Superb.


**Things have gone from bad to worse, with a new enemy that appears to have the ability to completely disappear!**





Gale drops the seeker up top with her first burst, which helps. Hoo and Roguru both hit the one down below, but for minimal damage only. The canister expires, and two sectoids move up the street and spot us from the other direction. This is getting real.


** For the love of ... We've still got seeker problems, and now another pair of enemies move in to flank!**





Hoo fires and gets his burst absorbed, but Roguru has better luck bagging the second seeker.


**The seeker essentially explodes in a shower of sparks, releasing Roguru's strangled comrade. The rookie has saved the life of at least one soldier today, or should we say at least prolonged their pain. PFC Hoo can only look on in the background as his shot was less effective. **





Still on the roof, Garner has a good shot at one of the sectoids but misfires. Banerjee gets back up there and wounds one of them. Gale has a clutch shot in nearly killing the second, and we're looking ok here. That was the leader, and a fairly tough angle for Gale so she did very well in that situation.

They fire at the roof and land a ridiculously tough shot right into Garner's head ... he's gone!! Gale and Banerjee both miss. They seem content to sit back and try to hit us as we advance, but Murdoch ends any thought of that with an accurate burst and the final one retreats. Up top, Banerjee finds it further up the street and uses the height advantadge to end this part of the battle.

Everyone moves up to the roof, where we eventually hear movement back to the right, around where the alley between the two buildings is. Gale moves and spots them ... three thin men, who jump up on top of the other structure. A three-story jump. How do they DO THAT?

He retreats to better cover, they actually have the high ground here. Banerjee is able to wound one of them, and Hoo another.


[i]**The absurd and distressing mobility of the thin men turns a situation in which we had the drop on them into a tense rooftop firefight. Dean Hoo is seen here attempting to improve the odds.**





We can only see two of them now, one misses and another goes into defensive fire.
Another fine shot by Banerjee earns her another kill. Hoo misses high, but Gale ends the other wounded one. The leader is still up there somewhere. He moves forward, bathing Gale and Hoo in acid. Two with one shot. Asstwerp!


**Acid, acid everwhere, but not a drop to drink ... **





We've little choice but to go for broke. All we get with three shooters is a modest wound by Murdoch ... but the thin man jumps down off the building into a defensive position on the street!! What in the world?

Roguru has the best look, and puts an end to resistance here.


** This gratuitous shot shows the business end of the mission's final moments.**




POST-MORTEM

PFC Stephen Garner is the second XCOM soldier to be killed in action. A badly wounded sectoid completely pulled an insane bullseye out of his posterior to make that happen, ruining an otherwhise solid performance. 8 of the enemy killed for one of our own. We have four promotions, and nobody else was even injured.

It could have been a lot worse. We encountered seekers, a new enemy with frightening capabilities, and the thin men showed a harrowing ability to strike with acid cloud attacks and a mobility that truly boggles comprehension. Given these revelations, we probably should be grateful that we won the day without more casualties, but every lost soldier is a body blow.

Artifacts Recovered

2 Sectoid Corpses
4 Thin Man Corpses
2 Seeker Wrecks
1 lb. Elerium
2 lbs. Alien Alloys
6 Weapon Fragments
6 oz. MOG

[Brian Swartz]

Promotions

XCOM is now up to three in both medics(Murdoch) and engineers(Banerjee). Two of the FOFC contingent also need to make their choices.

SPEC Dean Hoo -- Scout/Sniper path.

We need scouts more, but as an above-average shooter and below-average in mobility, it doesn't suit your skills. You can join the crowded field of snipers -- there are three now, you'd be the fourth -- but you are fairly well-suited for the job. Alternatively, you can choose a random path which might be better or worse.

Recommendation -- The Commander believes you should go sniper.


SPEC Mac Roguru -- Gunner/Rocketeer

Really you could go either way on this. We have three of each and you'd have a shot at being the best of the class no matter which way you go. Having above-average aim is a little more important to a Rocketeer, but having a gunner that could actually hit something in addition to suppressing isn't a bad thing either.

Mostly it's a matter of preference. Do you want to have a really big gun, or would you rather forgo that in lieu of the occasional opportunity to massively blow stuff up?

Recommendation -- A coin flip. The Commander does think you should choose one of the two instead of going random which would likely result in a less suitable class. Gunner or Rocketeer though, not much to choose between them right now. You make the call.

Specialists Roguru & Hoo are on the clock.

[Brian Swartz]

The next few days were busy, and since I don't need the decisions yet, I'll keep things moving:

April 6, 0125 -- Excavation finished. Work begins on the final section of sublevel 2.

April 6, 1749 -- Small scout detected. 'Mangler' Neale goes up and gets in two shots, the second one leaving it barely operational, but can't finish the job. 'Boss' Bordoni gets his first kill with the first missile, and the UFO splits into pieces. Once again a 10m bounty is awarded by the council.

April 7, 1219 -- Thermal generator is finished. Engineering reports that only half(27 of 55 GW) of our power capability is now being used. It's time to make some decisions about expanding the base.

A workshop is begun(12m) which will take three weeks. The additional resources will improve the efficiency of the engineering teams, allowing them to build equipment, satellites, etc. with a minimal use of vital resources. Another 20 million goes to a new satellite uplink, which will upgrade our potential maximum deployed birds from just one to three. This lowers our air war budget at the moment to just 550k, but once more resources are available, more satellites will be constructed to take advantage of this. The uplink will also require three weeks' time to build.

The general fund has more to spare, but further constructions will wait until we have word from Dr. Vahlen on her latest project regarding alien capture, word which is expected soon.

April 8, 0319 -- A low-flying unidentified UFO has been spotted. It's bigger than the scouts we are now familiar with, but not as big as the huge ship we saw a year ago. We have five available fighters, so this seems to be an appropriate time to send up our experienced pilots in the stingrays and see if we can take this thing down.

'Notso' Sharpe is up first and takes severe damage, forced to break off early. He got in a couple of hits but it appears the ship, of the same saucer-type of shape as the smaller scouts we've seen, is still fully operational. Perhaps it's just a beefed-up version of the same design?

'Blinker' Kamala is up next, the second fighter that has the stingrays. The first shot strikes true, and the UFO is badly damaged. He can't finish the job though.

We can't afford to use all our fighters on this one ship, but Lt. 'Chainsaw' Katz is ready and equipped with avalanches. Given the damage to the UFO, we hope he can finish the job. He takes heavy damage as well but the second shot downs the craft at 0440, almost an hour and a half after initial contact.

This is the first UFO of significant size we have taken down, but we paid a price for it. Four fighters, including three of the four pilots who have at least one kill to their name, are damaged. They will not be flight ready for two weeks, a couple of them a few days longer than that. That leaves us with two operational, both of which are now being equipped with stingrays should the worst happen. We don't have a reserve now to justify going after any scouts that might appear, as that pair of fighters will need to be held for use for any more important targets.

Securing the crash site is a priority mission for XCOM. We must make sure the cost was worth it. Both in terms of potential resources and learning more about this new class of enemy craft, not to mention what other potential discoveries might be made, it's time once again to send our best.

Strike Team

LCPL Rebecca Burke(USA, Scout)
LCPL Lily Brodie(SCO, Medic)
SPEC Brooke Carter(USA, Infantry)
SPEC Su-Min Kim(KOR, Assault)
SPEC Yolanda Pena(ESP, Engineer)
SPEC Sophie Deschamps(FRA, Rocketeer)

This time, FOFC strikes out in getting anyone on the alpha squad. Gonna need to step it up a notch, people.

[law90026]

Dean Hoo will go random. Too many snipers and all that

[MacroGuru]

Gunner is good to me..

[Brian Swartz]

Thanks guys! It happened that you both went gunner! We now have five, three from FOFC, the most of any class and will be unlikely get more anytime soon.

SPEC Dean Hoo

Health: 4(+1)
Will: 38(+4)
Aim: 70(+2)

Fairly meh. You're pretty much in a photo finish for second in the class right now.

SPEC Mac Roguru

Health: 6(+1)
Will: 35(+9)
Aim: 72(+4)

That's how to get it done! Excellent work and you are, for now, the clear #1 in the gunner class!!

After a shift tonight I'll be putting up tomorrow the results of the latest mission and proceeding with the events of the last couple of days.

[Brian Swartz]

A little more 'fun' this weekend than I bargained for, unfortunately. Past time to get caught up here.

OPERATION DEVIL'S HAMMER
Germany
0454, April 8

Devil's Hammer? I wonder if we are the hammerer, or the one being hammered. Tensions are high. It's a forested area in northern Germany, so at least civilian casualties are not an issue. Coming back alive is.

It isn't light yet, and we approach through the 'crash path'. My goal as always with a crashed UFO is to sweep the perimeter first. I don't want to be 'surprised' by anything once we get inside. At first we hear sectoids ... and something else. Something we've not heard before. It sounds somehow larger and more dangerous than a sectoid or thin man. As if we needed another reason to be shaking in our boots.







Around the right of the UFO there seems to be more room to maneuver. We head that way, hoping to get a fix on where they are. Soon Deschamps spots them ... flying enemies of a new kind. We call them the 'floater'. They seem ... almost cybernetic ... in appearance.







Naturally, the doctors put in their two cents ...

Vahlen: 'This is a disturbing development to say the least. It's hard to differentitate where the organic entity ends and the machine begins.'

Shen: 'They're not going to win any beauty contests, that's for sure. '

Beauty contests. That's lovely. We have no good place to retreat. It's kill or be killed here. First up is Kim. The one on the right is entrenched behind a tree, but he's got the range to deliver a close-range shotgun execution. One down. The leader is a bit too aggressive and has exposed itself, getting that last one behind the log is going to be the challenge. Pena tosses a HE grenade, and it has no log anymore.







It's up to the other four now to shoot these bastards.

Deschamps drills the middle one, and now it should be a piece of cake. Carter drops the leader. She had another burst, and Brodie/Burke didn't even have to do anything. Wow. I wish all engagements with new enemies went so well. Nobody missed, but they were all near-gimme shots. The floaters were just way too aggressive and overconfident. Hopefully they all are. A clean three kills, and we've created a bit of space in which to operate now.

Everything we are hearing ... canisters, enemies, movement .... seems to be coming from the far side of the ship. No reason not to keep moving in this direction. Movement inside the ship, and we also hear more floaters out there somewhere as we progress.

We work away around, still hearing movement only from inside the ship. Burke snags a canister(5 oz.) from the edge of it, but we're not going in until I'm sure the perimeter is clear. When we reach the other side, a cliff prevents us from having enough room to safely skirt it though. We've gone around nearly half the ship and found nothing else. It seems there's nothing for it but to raid the craft itself now. It's big enough to have internal doors and compartments, not the one-room scout we are used to.







We move through the outer door and nothing. A V-shaped hallway splits right and left, with all the sounds coming from the left for quite a while now. Gradually we move that way to another, smaller door. We approach it, starting to hear thin men ....

Pena reports sectoids behind us, outside of the ship, pretty much exactly where we landed! Damn it!!

We have no sign that the aliens in the ship have spotted us yet. The sectoids retreat out of range. We need to move out that way, I don't want to fight on two fronts if we can avoid it. There's basically no good cover between us and them, so a longer maneuver back outside the main outer door is indicated.

The leader advances, and Pena makes him pay but a pair of telepathic attacks still land on her. She panics. Brodie moves over to heal ... 'rubs some dirt on it you wimp!'. Not sure how you are supposed to rub some dirt on your brain, but ok.


Pena wounds the advancing sectoid from her position just inside the alien craft



Carter and Deschamps fire high. We continue to hear movement in the ship, but have other problems as we move outside for better firing positions. One of them misses Burke, the others take defensive posture. Two more bursts from Carter, and the second ends one of the support sectoids. Burke draws the fire of the second while Kim moves in for an execution of the leader.

A flashbang keeps the remaining enemy at bay while we try to approach. Meanwhile we see a couple of floaters in the opposite direction, but they don't see us. More footsteps inside the ship. There's a lot more action yet remaining in this one. Burke moves in close to take out the sectoid, not close enough to use her sawed-off shotgun but the SMG takes care of it.

With that front cleared, we reposition to ready for the floaters. Not a moment too soon, as they are aggressive again, upon us almost immediately! It's kill or be killed again.


Once again the floaters don't give us time to discuss the situation in committee




Burke flanks the leader ... and misses! A bit of a long-range shot there for an SMG but still a bad, bad miss. Deschamps misses badly with a shredder rocket. Carter drops the exposed one but misses well high and left on the leader. Pena drops an AP grenade behind the wall, and both are injured but still alive. Kim can only take one of them out, so to finish them off we need a clutch shot from who ...


Deschamps places the rocket blast precisely where it will do the least damage .





That's right, Lily Brodie. You already know the result. The leader is dead, and soon the Korean shotgun specialist goes execution style on the other. We hear the sound of annoyed thin men inside, but cannot yet see them.

That's nine enemies down. That was tense, there was likely an injured or dead operative upcoming if Brodie didn't land that SMG burst. It was basically a 50-50 shot, but she showed once again why she's XCOM kills leader.

We set to move back in, only hearing thin men now. Seems to be coming through that door, but a ways behind it on the other side of the ship. Hopefully they stay there and give us time to reload and get in position.

Nope. They burst through the door. Pena wounds one, but they scatter and we've got a scramble fight on our hands.


After a long game of cat-and-mouse, the thin men show up immediately after the floaters have been dealt with ...





The leader is outside, Burke moves to a safe distance and he's gone in a cloud of acid as her burst is right on the mark. The other two, less bold, retreated inside past the door. Deschamps is too far away, but the other four are close enough. We should be able to finish them off. Carter misses, then hits, and Pena finishes off the last one. She's got an acid problem now but that won't matter unless more show up. That could happen, as we still aren't finished with a full dozen of the enemy down!

We move through after the acid clears ... and hear something just outside the ship. Can't tell what it is, which is strange. Burke moves in and spots them ... outsiders at the edge of the ship! That's right, outsiders. Not one, but two. This is just splendid. We have two flashbangs, both on Kim who will be needed for fun with his shotgun.


A new brand of hell -- multiple outsiders bracketing our scout

A well-placed(for once) rocket annihilates the cover for both of them ... and exposes Kim as well. Carter takes out the close one, Kim dashes to take out the second, but that could easily have gone south.

POST-MORTEM

14 of the enemy killed, a new record! Pena, Carter, and Kim are all promoted to lance corporal, giving us five now at that rank. The former is injured for nine days, but that's the only casualty. The key part of this mission was taking out the sectoids and the second group of floaters quickly and efficiently before the thin men showed up. It was tense, but we never had to fight more than a few at a time. The rocket blast against the outsiders was important as well. It reduced our haul, but saved something more valuable -- the lives of our soldiers, which were in serious jeopardy at that point.

Artifacts Recovered

3 Sectoid Corpses
6 Floater Corpses
3 Thin Man Corpses
19 Elerium
13 Alien Alloys
14 Weapon Fragments
9 MOG
1 UFO Power Source
4 Alien Flight Computers(all damaged).
1 UFO Power Source(damaged)

9m is added to the treasury from sale of the damaged components.

[Brian Swartz]

April 8

It was a busy day even after the important Devil's Hammer mission. The updated totals showed new leaders on our killboard, as not one but two soldiers leapfrogged Brodie into the lead position with nine confirmed ...

KILLBOARD

LCPL Brooke Carter -- 9
LCPL Su-Min Kim -- 9
LCPL Lily Brodie -- 8
LCPL Rebecca Burke -- 6
LCPL Yolanda Pena -- 5
SPEC Esperanza Guerrero -- 4
SPEC Benton Gale -- 4
SPEC Jace Hunter -- 4
SPEC Thozama Khumalo -- 3
SPEC Mac Roguru -- 3
SPEC Coffee Warlord -- 3
SPEC Amiyah Banerjee -- 2
SPEC Georgia Murdoch -- 2
SPEC Path Twelve -- 2
SPEC Sophie Deschamps -- 1
SPEC Naomi Foster -- 1
PFC Stephen Garner -- 1
SPEC Eman Hodzic -- 1
SPEC Didier Keita -- 1
SPEC Courtney Mason -- 1
SPEC Ches O'Peake -- 1
SPEC Eliana Soares -- 1

Dr. Shen asked to see me, and took the opportunity to wax on about the recent developments ...

'That hulk of flesh and metal troubles me. What do we risk by our own investigations into the melding of human and machine? Will we see a line in the sand and refuse to cross it? Or will we move forward, willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of total victory? I have to believe that is not our future, provided of course that the aliens' technology remains in the right hands. '

I think we would all be better served if he kept his overly moralistic philosophical ramblings to himself. The floaters trouble me as well, but only as the latest development in the war. I'll worry about the fallout when it's over -- that's a luxury of victors, not those fighting a possibly futile resistance.

News Headlines

** Reports of a firefight between unidentified soldiers and aliens at UFO crash site in Germany brings hope of a government response to threats
** Pressure mounts in Australia as their inability to monitor alien threats comes into question
** Reports indicate unidentified object shot down after prolonged aerial battle with unknown fighter craft
** Purported alien abduction in China stopped by mysterious military operatives equipped with 'advanced weaponry'
** Pressure mounts in India as their inability to monitor alien threats comes into question

The fact that XCOM has been unable to extend satellite coverage to the many nations requesting it around the world is beginning to have political consequences.


0736 -- About an hour after returning from Devil's Hammer, Dr. Vahlen presented her Xenoneurology report, dubbed Project Spark.

'After examining several alien brains, I believe we have found a weakness in their nervous system. We have designed a prototype new weapon, the Arc Thrower ... functions on the basic premise of neurological disruption, emitting a focused electromagnetic pulse ... it's safe to assume there might be unexpected results in the field ... it might be more effective to weaken the enemy first'

'constrained by our current power supply technology, which limits it's effectiveness to one shot per deployment. Any captives retrieved from the field will have to be housed in an Alien Containment facility. ... We will also need to autopsy members of that species before we can properly interrogate them.'

Certainly this is a more positive report than the first two research projects which gave us mostly just more trepidation about the enemy's capabilities.

Dr. Shen reports that at current capabilities, the Arc Thrower will cost 10m and require a 20-day production time. Meanwhile, the Alien Containment Facility will require only 14 days, but cost 20m and 10 kg of alien alloys will be needed as well. At present, there is nearly enough in the general fund to build the containment facility and one Arc Thrower, but we will certainly need more eventually. Work on both is initiated, borrowing slightly for the moment from the Air War fund, and once again power is becoming an issue. We now have less than 10% surplus, 49 of 55 GW being used.

Construction teams are extremely busy right now, with a satellite uplink and workshop being built in addition, and excavation ongoing as well.

Dr. Vahlen moves on to work on alien weaponry, which will require nine days and five weapon fragments. It is hoped that further developments in our weapon programs will result.

Later in the day, heavy UFO activity was reported over Australia.

[Brian Swartz]

April 9

In the morning, UFO activity continued, this time over Nigeria. Later, the survivors of Unceasing Night, returned to active duty. Among them were Dean Hoo, Mac Roguru, and Benton Gale.

April 10

All was quiet.

April 11

0344 -- Excavation finished, completing the clearing of Sublevel 2.

1338 -- Scout detected over the north polar region. Unfortunately there was little choice but to let it go. With only two fighters operational for another week and a half, XCOM cannot afford to send them up against a minor threat.

April 12

0134 -- We're back in action again as abductions have been reported in Brazil. The usual 'light' resistance and 8m credit reward is expected.

Strike Team

Coffee Warlord is the only available scout right now, which means the team will need to go without one as we can't risk not having one available should a more pressing need arise.

SPEC Ches O'Peake gets an opportunity to redeem herself, serving as the primary fire soldier for the mission.
SPEC Thozama Khumalo will be the medic.
PFC Katia Rivera(MEX) has the toughness and battlefield instincts to serve as the scout, though she lacks mobility
PFC Seung-yeon Kim(KOR) is highly mobile, fairly accurate, and is a panic waiting to happen
PFC Soledad Sanchez(MEX) can't shoot with a darn and is far too skilled at getting hit, but has outstanding mental fortitude.
PFC Amber Mitchell(ZAF) is similar to Kim. Their mobility should at least provide some tactical possibilities, though Mitchell is not as good of a shot.

An all-female squad for this one.

[Brian Swartz]

OPERATION BLOODY GOD
0311, 4.12.15
Porto Alegre, Brazil

I really don't want to know the meaning behind this opname. We're in a cemetery here, and spot nothing initially. Two canisters ahead, one on the left and one on the right, but we don't have a visual. I didn't want to give up the high ground, but had little choice after we spread out and still didn't make contact. We hear sectoids and, I think, drones, with the nearest sounds straight ahead. The squad splits slightly into two three-man teams, a bit risky but it beats the heck out of getting flanked or surprised among the gravestones.

Rivera and Kim lead the left trio forward, spotting nothing. On the right we wait a bit, as the distances are longer and good cover harder to find, making it more difficult to get in position safely. Rivera hears sectoid down the left side, we heard drones in the middle earlier and now we hear them again though a specific direction is hard to come by. If all of them are clustered on the other side of the graveyard this could get more interesting than I'd like.


A lot of ground to cover ...





On the right, Mitchell spots three thin men ... but they don't spot her. Sanchez and Ches O'Peake are over there, hurrying to firing positions. The left trio slides right ... and spots drones in the middle building!! Well, this could get real interesting, real fast.


Nothing to see here thin men ... these aren't the soldiers you are looking for ...





They retreat as best they can, the drones advance, unable to get a decent shot. The thin men stay where they are, oblivious. I hope that part doesn't change.


Flanked up beyond all recognition





Khumalo misses, Rivera's shot is absorbed by the drone's armor, a point-blank miss by Mitchell. Kim comes up aces though, a one-shot kill on the most advanced drone. We're still in a difficult position ... there's little choice but for O'Peake to try a shot from poor cover. She misses, but Sanchez at least damages one of them.

The 'healthy' drone slides right but wants to close in on Mitchell, moving instead of firing. The damaged one closes to point-blank range ... but misses!! We've already had more than our share of good fortune here today, although Sanchez's burst certainly helped the cause. The thin men are still just hanging out discussing the weather apparently.


Amber Mitchell is one very lucky private





You can call Seong-yung Kim the drone killer. The undamaged one is her second one-shot kill on the mechanical 'marvels' in three attempts. The rest of the trio on the left can't get close enough for a shot. Mitchell takes care of business from basically directly underneath the last drone.


Kim is become death, destroyer of drones!





We're clear, and ready to advance on the thin men. They retreat as Ches O'Peake moves up to join Mitchell. That'll just give us longer to get in position. O'Peake has the sights on one as they advance ... these seem a little bigger and tougher than the thin men we've seen before ... but misses. The other two are still out there somewhere, but the entire right-side trio has shots on him, poorly concealed behind a bench. Mitchell and Sanchez both hit only for minor flesh wounds on the first volley, while O'Peake fires high. Her second attempt is barely in the correct zip code.

The wounded thin man moves to better cover and unleashes an acid spore in Mitchell's direction. The rest of the squad readies for a prolonged firefight. A second thin man moves up behind, dousing Kim in acid while the wounded one misses Sanchez with a shot.

Ches O'Peake finally freaking earns her pay with a nice one-shot kill on the second thin man. Down to one wounded, one more out there somewhere. Sanchez is just a hair too far away for a flashbang, and administers yet another 'flesh wound' to the thin man's head. We've hit the damn thing three times, and it's still nowhere near dead. Rivera and Khumalo can't move into range without risking a flank or cluster acid attack, and we've got two acid-infected soldiers, so this firefight is going nowhere and getting there fast.

Another missed shot at Sanchez, but the final thin man comes up and tags Ches O'Peake. She's still up, but will need medical assistance. Some cover-switching takes place to get Khumalo close with the medikits. The wounded thin man tries to finish the job on O'Peake but misses, while the rear one slides towards the building and out of sight.


Specialist Ches O'Peake has been awarded the Order of the Purple Target





Thankfully the acid effect has worn off for both Mitchell. Khumalo pronounces O'Peake to be 'good as new'. Erratic as new might be more accurate. Another missed shot at Sanchez, and the other thin man is back to just sit there behind a bench waiting for us to give them a shot.

O'Peake drills it twice, getting the kill on the second! Ok, maybe not so erratic for a change. A couple more misses on the one remaining wounded foe, who proceeds to stand there and whine.

Ok then. Sanchez misses, and Kim finally -- finally!! -- ends him. We've been fighting these stupid thin men for like half an hour!! It's finally over, the canisters are long since expired, and we know there are sectoids out there still and who knows what else might there be.

Khumalo has used half the medikits, and will now use another to finish up O'Peake's patching up. Sectoids seem to still be in the back left of the graveyard, so the squad gradually works in that direction after reloading and taking a breather. The central building looks like a good way to approach.

It's slow going, but Rivera eventually spots them. Three sectoids ... and they look a little more protected than before as well!?. Khumalo gets the first shot, missing, but when they advance Kim has true aim and takes down the most impetous of the trio.


Private Kim is doin' work today!





Another miss by Khumalo, Rivera does good damage but can't finish the leader off. Kim remains ready for more covering fire while the other three swing around the building looking for a flanking opportunity. One comes that way and Mitchell nearly kills it but not quite, Kim misses on the other side.

Both of the remaining sectoids are now badly wounded, and waiting for us to be stupid enough to advance. Kim again, she has a good angle and it's down to one. Gradually the net closes, and it's Khumalo who gets the final kill as Mitchell and O'Peake missed better chances.


The medic finally gets in on the action at the end



Post-Mortem

The mission stats look good, nine killed, nobody lost, only one injury. But as is so often the case, it was tense for nearly an hour. This operation could have gone sideways very easily, and nearly did.

Ches O'Peake is promoted to lance corporal. She'll have a good long while to consider the new rank, as the medbay will be her home for the next three weeks or so. A mixed-result mission for her, she did well during the thick of the battle against the thin men but was a miss-factory the rest of the time.

Mitchell and Kim were promoted as well, doubling XCom's allotment of essential scouts to four with another pair of elite movers. This might be the most important development of Bloody God, a big step forward for the soldier roster. Sanchez and Rivera didn't do horribly but recorded no kills: they'll remain at private.

Artifacts

3 Sectoid Corpses
3 Drone Wrecks
3 Thin Man Corpses
1 kg elerium
1 kg alien alloys
9 Weapon Fragments
1 g MOG

[Brian Swartz]

PROMOTIONS

LCPL Ches O'Peake, despite your spotty record you are FOFC's first Lance Corporal! Congratulations!!

This is the point at which you will begin to have more control over your soldier's development. Your training choices are as follows:

** Tactical Sense(+5 defense per enemy in sight, to a maximum of +20). Advanced combat tactical training which will make maximum use of the surrounding terrain second nature, allowing you to avoid enemy fire more often.

** Ranger(+1 damage with primary weapons). Your assault rifle burst, the main advantage you have on the battlefield with the infantry training that gives you two salvos each turn, will be further enhanced.

** Aggression(+10% critical chance per enemy in sight, up to a maximum of +30%). Channel your rage into an increased ability to target the enemy's most vulnerable spots.

Commander's Analysis: There are no bad choices here. Any of the three will help significantly. Tactical Defense will help your personal survivability the most, but will help XCOM overall the least since an enemy will usually just be able to pick someone else to shoot at. Ranger is the 'steady' approach, but will become less valuable over time, while Aggression is at it's best when it's most needed(i.e., in a firefight with multiple enemies). The Commander recommends Aggression by the narrowest of margins over Ranger, but emphasizes that the decision is yours.

You now have three kills in as many missions, though you won't be seeing the battlefield again until May. You are on the clock, and are advised to choose wisely ...

[Brian Swartz]

Commander's Musings

The increase in toughness, or survivability, of the sectoids and thin men encountered in Operation Bloody God is disturbing. As with all such things, though it was unquestionably a successful mission, it revealed another danger. XCOM can no longer view it's goal as a delaying action. The aliens are known to be varied, intelligent, advanced ... and now we must add, adaptive.

**OOC Note: This is one of the coolest and most terrifying features of Long War -- the aliens play back. They research and improve and increase their abilities. In this case, 3-4 HP sectoids are now 5 HP, 5-6 HP thin men are now 7. They also can add abilities etc., advancing in similar fashion to XCOM. A sectoid is not always a sectoid ... their lethality escalates, and humanity must improve as well just to keep pace.**

It is clear that the sectoids are now nearly equal to an XCOM private, and other than drones all the other types known are frankly superior to one. At least there is good news in that two-thirds of the roster has advanced beyond a private's abilities(13 privates, 21 specialists, 6 lance corporals as of the end of Bloody God).

A standing order is issued that all missions will include at least half specialists or above. Majority-private missions will no longer be considered, the danger is simply too great.

April 12 -- Excavation begins on sublevel 3 as space for a new power generator will soon be needed. The cost is 2m this far down.

** 0653 -- Less than an hour after returning to base, Mission Control goes nuts again. A new UFO has been spotted at high altitude ... it's small in size but not a scout. Some sort of strange signal, perhaps a scan of some kind, is coming from it.







This is the kind of unexpected situation the fighters have been held out of action for. 'Lunchbox' Turnbull goes up first, almost gets shot down, lands three Stingray hits but doesn't down the aircraft. That leaves it up to Boss. He also barely survives the encounter, but does damage to destroy the UFO which doesn't survive the long descent to Earth's surface.

We are now without a single fighter, all six have another week to three weeks of repair time before they are ready. On the other hand, whatever that thing was up to, we stopped it. Another 10m bounty is awarded by the Council for our efforts.

April 13

Two soldiers return to active duty.

** 1823 -- Small scout near Germany. We can do nothing about it. We simply don't have the air power to deal with this volume of activity ...

** 1907 -- It has decided to land in the north, giving us an opportunity to do on the ground what we could not do in the air.

Strike Team

An exception will be made here as there is only one scout and one medic available, but our best will be back to active duty within hours, soon enough to handle any priority mission in the Commander's estimation. As this is a landed ship, not one that was shot down, fairly significant resistance is expected. We are fortunate that it is a small one. Two privates will join four experienced soldiers.

SPEC Coffee Warlord(ISR) -- A more important role on his second mission for the scout.
SPEC Benton Gale(JPN) -- FOFC's co-leader in kills will need to add to her total in order to protect her squadmates
SPEC Georgia Murdoch(AUS) -- Medic. Hopefully her primary demonstrated skill so far ... getting shot ... will not be on display
SPEC Didier Keita(MEX) -- Talk about a long wait ... it's been six weeks since XCOM's first operation, and since then Keita(Gunner) has been stuck in the barracks.
PFC Beth Campbell(AUS) -- Flimsy, mobile, poor aim
PFC Isabelle Mirabeau(FRA) -- Flimsy, reasonably good mental state and aim

It's not every day we get three FOFC soldiers on a mission! Don't screw it up ...

[Brian Swartz]

There is a depressingly low amount of firepower coming on this mission. Gale and Keita are two of the least-skilled shooters in XCOM, while both privates and Warlord require ceramic plating. He carries the only grenade(flashbang) in the squad, and there are only two assault rifles(Gale and Mirabeau). This group will need to needle the enemy to death, and also rely heavily on Keita's suppression abilities. Tactics will need to be on the money here.

OPERATION UNCEASING NIGHT
Germany
4.13.2015

The UFO could not be seen, a case of the forest hiding the trees, when the squad disembarked. Coffee Warlord moved left looking for high ground ... and found a pair of seekers! One went to stealth, the second advanced.







This was definitely a 'shoot-your-way-out' situation with no nearby cover to speak of. Mirabeau damaged the visible seeker, and Gale finished it off. The rest of the squad prepared for defensive fire. It came from behind, going for private Mirabeau, and most of the reaction shots missed. One was absorbed, another did a bit of damage, but not enough to slow the seeker down.

A pair of bursts from Gale, emptying her magazine, was enough to make it release it's grip before too much damage had been done, but not enough to put it down. Campbell's rounds just bounced off, but Coffee Warlord picked up where he left off in his first mission, showing better shooting than a scout has a right to and notched another tally.

Murdoch moved in with a medikit to handle the minor wound, and that was that. Two down.

Canister sounds came from ahead and on the left, but investigating Warlord soon found that was where the ship had landed. We'd rather take a look at the perimeter first. Movement, we couldn't tell what, to the left near the edge of the ship. Higher ground was that way as well.

It was slow going over the uneven terrain. The nearest movement seemed to be coming from inside the ship, and the squad continued to circle well clear. Then Coffee Warlord spotted them ... three more seekers! Two went to stealth immediately, another moving toward him but staying behind a ridge. The squad didn't want to invite helpers, retreating into a defensive position. There continued to be no sound at all ... were there ONLY seekers here? A seeker scout?! For what possible purpose? Two were spotted at the ship, possibly two more. If so, there could be five of them upon us at once. Nobody wants any part of that with the amount of firepower those things can absorb. The two stealthed ones showed up, Mirabeau damaged one but they got strangleholds on Campbell and on Gale.


The seeker swarm continues. Mirabeau fires here as Campbell is targeted





Mirabeau's burst into the second one was absorbed. This was not looking good. Warlord gave it a try, now both were damaged. Keita moved in on the first one with her SAW ... and was hit by reaction fire from a seeker near the ship, must be the third of that initial group. Nobody saw that one ... Despite that though, she managed to take out Campbell's attacker.


Keita notches the first-ever kill with the SAW, lighting up the surrounding rocks with the exploding rounds





Only Murdoch's SMG was left, and the bullets simply bounced off. The one near the ship went to stealth, and Gale had half the life choked out of her ... literally ... by now. Mirabeau missed a nigh-unmissable shot from close range, unfreaking believable and her magazine is empty. Coffee Warlord finished the job, and it was time to heal, reload, all that fun stuff.

Murdoch: 'Medkits fix everything. Calm down!' as she applied one to Gale's neck. Yeah, get yourself in a stranglehold by a gray metallic flying mechanical tentacled terror for a few minutes and see how 'calm' you are, doc!

Soon the third one came. Campbell damaged it, but again we couldn't interrupt the attack and Keita was soon in it's clutches. Campbell hit it again, Mirabeau followed, and the grip released but still it was up. Gale finished the job.

Ok. Five seekers down. At least two more out there, we think. Hopefully the ridge would allow time to get everyone ready before they came for us. A couple of more applications and we were down to two of the initial five med-kits, but everyone was more or less fully combat capable. That's a win.

Movement near the edge of the ship. This time Warlord spotted nothing as he approached. Perhaps they'd moved? Or maybe they were just sneaky bastards. Now we could hear them inside ... but this ridge also provided tactical options by moving on top of the scout ship. Risky.

Much as I hated it, there was nothing for it here. We couldn't hear the seekers, and there was sure to be an outsider here. From our position on this ridge we could retreat for defense or attack through both sides. We weren't going to find a better option. Warlord moved up ... and there it was, an outsider inside the ship. The seekers would likely not be close behind. He retreated, Keita moving right to cover the other doorway. We invited it out to play with maximum overwatch coverage, but the outsider didn't bite.

Warlord worked his way around, got an angle as the outsider moved ... and missed. We'd heard movement on the other side of the ship at the same time -- that had to be the seekers. This was about to get real.

The outsider moved again, and this time Murdoch and Gale both had a shot, and both tagged him! Those things are overwatch demons though, so we couldn't just run in. A moment later, the seekers figured out what was going on and decided to join the party. Ketia damaged one of them. Warlord triggered the side door ... and the outsider was nowhere to be found. Where did it go??






One of the seekers ambushed Ketia, who returned fire and killed it, while the other one stealthed and Coffee moved into the ship. The outsider was skulking in a corner, and Gale finished it off. So far as we know, only one seeker left and it's just a matter of getting coverage everywhere. It decloaked in the ship, too damaged for a strangle maneuver, and missed Gale.


[i]Last gasp of the wounded seeker ... [i]





That was the last mistake it would ever make. Campbell finished the job.


[i]An easy kill for PFC Campbell with Gale(background left) and Warlord(right) ready in case something went wrong**






Post-Mortem

Seeker hell is what this was. Eight enemies, seven of the flying bastards and the one outsider. Almost everybody got hit at one point or another. We lost no-one, and for the first time in I can't remember when everyone got promoted!

Gale will miss a couple of weeks after a 3-kill effort, Keita will miss three weeks after bagging two. Warlord had two more, with Campbell getting the last one.

A successful, and nervy, operation.

Artifacts

20 kg elerium
31 kg alien alloys
1 Weapon Fragment
2 UFO Flight Computers
1 UFO Power Source
7 Seeker Wrecks

The electronics alone are worth the effort, a very nice haul.

[Brian Swartz]

April 14 -- Three more soldiers return to duty, giving XCOM a full range of classes to choose from if the need arises to go out again.

April 15 -- Early-morning reports have come in of a UFO bombing civilian settlements in Nigeria. Apparently the alien collective has no regard for the Geneva Convention. The threat/panic level there has been raised to the second level(Aqua)

In The News

** Unusual activity outside the Nigerian capital of Abuja has been blamed on migratory birds, negating rumors of alien activity
** Stock prices continue slow decline in German pharmaceutical industry
** Heavily armed military forces seen converging on the site of reported UFO landing in Germany
** Reports indicate unidentified object shot down after prolonged aerial battle with unknown fighter craft
** Daring intervention by unknown military forces in Brazil prevents alien abductions

[Brian Swartz]

Promotions

Campbell joined the assault class, while Mirabeau went random and ended up as a gunner, swelling the already crowded ranks there. XCOM now has six of them, three or four in the other classes. Meanwhile, three freshly promoted FOFC lance corporals have choices to make:

Coffee Warlord(Scout)

** Rapid Reaction: a bonus reaction shot is given, up to three total, every time one scores a hit.
** HEAT Warheads: Robotic enemies take additional damage from grenades and rockets.
** Will to Survive: Confers 1-2 bonus damage reduction if in cover and not flanked.

Commander's Analysis: This is one of those situations where none of the offered training is frankly very good. We can cross off HEAT Warheads right away since scouts don't use rockets and almost never use offensive grenades. Rapid Reaction is useful in some situations, but scouts aren't often on overwatch(exceptions like the last operation against seekers). Will to Survive is nicer for almost any other class, as scouts are most often in danger when they are on the move(i.e., not in cover).

Will to Survive is recommended, but Rapid Reaction is also worth considering. Hopefully you'll get better options in your next promotion ... if you live that long.


Benton Gale(Infantry)

This might be a good place to note that you are now FOFC's kills leader with 7, good for fourth in all of XCOM! Not bad for somebody who can't aim for crap.

** Ranger: +1 damage with all primary weapons
** HEAT Warheads: Rockets/grenades do additional damage against robotics
** Will to Survive: 1-2 points damage reduction when in cover and not flanked

Commander's Analysis: Once again, HEAT Warheads don't really make sense for an infantry soldier. Ranger will increase the amount of damage you do, Will to Survive will increase your survivability.

Ranger is advised though either would be useful.


Didier Keita(Gunner)

** Close Combat Specialist: Automatic reaction shot when an enemy closes to short range.
** Vital Point Targeting: +2 damage with primary weapons, +1 with pistols, against human enemies or aliens that have been autopsied.
** Opportunist: Eliminates aim penalty on reaction shots, and allows critical hits on reaction fire as well.

Commander's Analysis: While your primary role is as a suppressor, there are a number of times as against the seekers last time out when the enemy just need to be killed quickly. All of these work on that front. Close Combat Specialist is the weakest of the three for a gunner. Both of the others are significant fire effectiveness upgrades.

The Commander recommends Opportunist, which would make your reaction fire much more accurate and deadly, particularly beneficial in your case given your low-end aim. The combination of suppression during the offensive phase and opportunist during the defensive phase is potentially quite potent.

Coffee Warlord, Benton Gale, and Didier Keita, you are now on the clock.

[Breeze]

Gale will take the commander's recommendation of Ranger...