X-COM: Terror from the Deep is a go! (Mission 17 complete and posted!)

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Poli

Anyone got an instruction manual for the x-com games? Good lord there are a lot of buttons and no explanations on missions.

I still have the original box and booklets for UFO Defense.


Oh, and the one thing that made me give up on TFTD each time I played it was the terror sites and some missions with multiple levels and screens. Ick.

[path12]

Originally Posted by Poli

Anyone got an instruction manual for the x-com games? Good lord there are a lot of buttons and no explanations on missions.

No, but I'm finding this useful: UFOpaedia

[wahoomac]

Wahoomac would be willing to join up, maybe when you hire for the South China Sea base?

Great reading, been playing X-Com again (not TFTD) and having fun.

[Tasan]

Mission 7
February 28, 2040

Day breaks topside as the Triton settles in near the alien vessel on the sea floor. Everyone but mrkilla22 is carrying a Sonic Rifle. He has the lone Gas Cannon, loaded with HE to start with. In the sub:

hoopsguy
RendeR
BYU 14
ntndeacon II
chesapeake
The Jackal
law90026
Barkeep49 II
path12
Abe Sargent
MrBug708 II
mrkilla22
fff II
Chief Rum II

hoopsguy, as normal, is first out the door. The Triton landed on the eastern edge of the grid, centered north/south. hoopsguy heads south towards the nose of the Triton. BYU 14 is out next, and he heads the other way towards the tail As he makes his turn, he spots an Aquatoid on a rise. He takes aim and fires, but misses badly, hitting a rise behind the alien. BYU 14 slides over and ntndeacon II takes his spot, aim, fires, and hits the little alien in the head, killing it.

The squad splits into 3 teams. hoopsguy, RendeR, law90026, and The Jackal will head south and scout westward along the southern edge of the grid. fff II, chesapeake, BYU 14, and ntndeacon II will head north and scout westward along the northern edge of the grid. The rest will sweep the center as a large group.

The groups form up and head out. hoopsguy, with the southern team, begins to climb a small hill and spots the alien sub. “I see it. Its a massive, two story thing. I see the doors, they are on the east facing side of the craft. I'll hold here and watch the door.”

“Roger that, hoops. Center team, send three guys down with hoopsguy's team to provide cover and assist with the assault. Everyone else continue to sweep the outside area for wanderers,” orders chesapeake.

Barkeep49 II, Abe Sargent, and Chief Rum II head south from the center group to join the sub assault. Everyone else continues their sweeps. As the teams make their way west, an alien comes out from behind some coral and takes a long shot at the group. It was an accurate shot though, which slams into The Jackal, killing him instantly. Abe Sargent steps up next to his body, spots the alien, and takes a shot at it. The shot misses high and to the left. Barkeep49 II gets sights on the creature, and takes a shot as well. He also misses badly. mrkilla22 fires an HE round, hoping to at least catch a rock or something, even if he misses. His shot sails high though, and hits nothing. This is not going well. Chief Rum II joins the miss parade. MrBug708, sensing a BadThing if nobody gets this alien pulls a Pulser from his belt and lets it fly. It lands at the alien's feet and blasts the little thing's body to pieces.

Suddenly there's action everywhere. MrBug708 II spots another alien outside. He takes a shot, but hits only coral. Next, the sub doors open and an alien comes out. Before it can fire, Abe Sargent takes him down with a quick shot. From inside the ship, a shot flies out at hoopsguy and misses. He returns the favor, however his shot is on target, killing another alien inside the vessel. A grenade comes flying out the door, but it lands harmlessly right in front, blasting the doors off but hurting no one.


Barkeep49 II, hoopsguy, and Abe Sargent take up positions outside the massive alien sub.

mrkilla22 takes aim at the alien MrBug708 II just missed. He puts an HE round square on its chest, popping it like a blue-green ballon.

“Arrrgh......chesapeake.......somethings........trying to get in my head......” strains hoopsguy.

“What??? Say again, in your head???” questions chesapeake.

hoopsguy responds, “Its gone now...I don't know, it felt like someone was moving in, but then it stopped.”

ntndeacon II spots another alien in the distance. Before he can fire, it gets off a shot. The shot hits ntndeacon II in the stomach, blasting a gaping, deadly hole. Chief Rum II spots another alien, closer to the sub. It fires on Barkeep49 II and misses. Chief Rum II steps forward, takes a knee and fires on the alien before it can shoot again. He drops it in its tracks.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!MY HEAD!!!!!!!!” cries Abe Sargent. He throws down his rifle and runs towards RendeR.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!” screams hoopsguy.

“Squad, we need to get in this ship now, before we lose control of more troops,” says chesapeake. On that, hoopsguy moves towards the doorway and takes a knee. As he does, he spots an alien on a gangway on the second floor of the alien sub. He takes aim and fires, but misses.

The alien that killed ntndeacon II steps forward again and finds another target, fff II. It fires and scores another hit, killing fff II this time. Chesapeake takes a Pulser from his belt and heaves it in the alien's direction. The grenade goes off, taking the alien with it.

“ABGEHBLSIDURLSDIFJLID” comes from Abe Sargent's mic and he spins in circles, going berserk.

“URRRRRR....They're hitting me again, ches, but I think I'm gonna be ok. I think I can keep 'em out.” reports hoospguy. He enters the alien sub. Barkeep 49 II is right behind him.



Barkeep49 II (left) and hoopsguys (right) enter the alien sub, while Abe Sargent (center right, weaponless) goes berserk.

Inside the sub, an explosion comes from the center. It seems something tried to launch a stun device and missed, hitting an interior wall. All of our troops inside are OK. As Abe Sargent continues to panic outside, RendeR and law90026 enter the sub behind hoopsguy and Barkeep49 II.

Suddenly hoopsguy flips out, spins around and shoots at law90026. His shot misses, but freaks everyone out. “chesapeake, hoopsguy is taking shots at us!” yells law90026.

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god what did I do!!!!” sobs hoopsguy. He's still on our side, but mentally worthless now.

Barkeep49 II spots the stun launching alien. He takes a shot at it, but misses. He steadies him self, takes careful aim, and his second shot his the target, killing the alien. RendeR and law90026 scramble to get out of hoopsguy's view, fearing that he may shoot them. Chief Rum II hangs just outside the door, trying to time his entry so that hoopsguy won't take a pot shot.

An alien bursts through a door near RendeR and Barkeep49 II. It fires at RendeR, and at this distance he has no chance. The shot hits him in the side of his head, ending his life. Barkeep49 II returns the favor on the alien.

“I-I-I think I got it under control now LT,” reports hoopsguy.

“I don't care! Stow that weapon and get out of there, we're having enough problems as it is with the aliens without you lending them a hand!” yells chesapeake, obviously mad about his troops flipping out on him.

hoopsguy complies, puts his weapon in his pack and heads for the doorway. Chief Rum II passes him on the way in, but doesn't make eye contact.

The search outside is wrapping up. Those left start to head towards the alien sub to help out.

Back inside the sub, law90026 throws open the door where the alien that killed RendeR came through. Spotting nothing inside, he turns around and heads back out. Barkeep49 II goes through a matching door and has the same result, nothing. Chief Rum II moves up and takes watch on the stairs that lead up to the second floor of the ship.

Outside, mrkilla22 moves over to Abe Sargent's dropped Sonic Rifle and picks it up, dropping his Gas Cannon. path12 swings around the last dark corner of the outside of the ship. MrBug708 II, BYU 14 and chesapeake are all trying to move very quickly to join the rest of the squad at the ship.

Inside again, law90026 leads the charge up the stairs. At the top, he spins around and sees another Aquatoid. He aims and fires, killing the alien. As he does, he spots another one right at the top of the stairs on the other side! “Barkeep49 II get up here!”

Barkeep49 II scrambles to the top, spins and fires. He hits the alien dead on, killing it as well. Down below, Chief Rum II thinks he hears noise in the room that Barkeep49 II checked out earlier. He opens the door again and steps inside. Nothing. As he turns to leave, and Aquatoid comes out from behind a piece of equipment in the back! He takes a shot at Chief Rum II, but somehow misses! Chief Rum II returns fire, but the shot misses. He fires again, and hits a piece of the engine, blowing it up along with the alien. The blast knocks Chief Rum II out as well.

Further search of the ship turns up nothing. 14 aliens were killed on this mission, the most for an alien sub. Four X-COM agents lost their lives in the process, and two more are mentally strained. Something is getting into our heads, but we don't have any idea what at this point.

MrBug708 II is promoted to Ensign after the mission.

[hoopsguy]

Were the multiple instances with "something in the head" repeated attacks on my character or just ongoing issues with the one attack? Also, what attribute is associated with resisting those attacks?

Best ratio of alien kills we've had in quite some time, hope that we've done enough this month to please upper management.

[Tasan]

I think this mission will go a long way towards appeasing the Atlantic and Med based countries, but I'm a little worried about the Asian Pacific countries. Looking at the list of funding, Japan was one of only 2 countries to not increase our funding last month.

As far as the attacks, those were separate instances. The stat for resisting is currently unknown to us (its a hidden stat until we discover some tech, build a base structure, and send guys through its training).

[ntndeacon]

At least Isaw the blasted alien this time. Third time is the charm!

[Tasan]

Interlude 8

The Triton returns from the mission, the troops aboard exhausted. Four more men have died, but this time they took quite a few down in payment. Going over the equipment the aliens left behind, our scientists discover a very worrisome item. It looks like a torpedo launcher, but the rounds seem to have a very high charge. We'll look into this soon. We sell everything we don't need for over $1.5 million. With this, we order 6 more recruits. Might as well install a revolving door around here. I go to the labs and check on how the armor plans are coming. Good news! The scientists are putting the finishing touches on the plans right now and should have something for me in the next couple of days.

The troops and I settle in for the night, but early the next morning the sonar station calls with a contact. It looks about as big as the last one we went to, but this one is still moving. We dispatch both 'Cudas to intercept. The signal is lost on the ship, but then picked back up on the bottom of the Med right were the last one was! I order just about every able bodied aquanaut into the Triton and send it to the site. There's gotta be something more to this location.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Were the multiple instances with "something in the head" repeated attacks on my character or just ongoing issues with the one attack? Also, what attribute is associated with resisting those attacks

Shaddap traitor.

[Tasan]

I need an editor something fierce. Sorry about the typos and misspellings, guys. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and don't re-read before hitting the post button.

[law90026]

Originally Posted by Tasan

I need an editor something fierce. Sorry about the typos and misspellings, guys. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and don't re-read before hitting the post button.

Don't worry too much about it imo, it's still a good read and thanks for running this.

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Shaddap traitor.

Eh, I don't miss when firing at aliens - just X-Com agents.

[BYU 14]

Wow, I can't shoot worth a damn, I don't think I have hit anything yet....Is there an eye chart at the base?

[Chief Rum]

Okay, I went back and counted and I am pretty sure Tasan intentionally said I was "knocked out". I just want to be sure I ain't dead again so quick.

Well, poor bravery be damned, if I survived, I acquitted myself decently well. If only I could shoot better.

[Izulde]

Izulde feels like traveling, so I'm signing up

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by Tasan

It was an accurate shot though, which slams into The Jackal, killing him instantly.

[Tasan]

Well, you guys get another mission this morning because I can't sleep.

[hoopsguy]

Hurray!

[Tasan]

Mission 8
February 29, 2040

The squad is anxious as they sit in the Triton on the ride to the touchdown site. Just yesterday, four of their fellow soldiers didn't return from an identical mission. Who wouldn't come back today?

The roster:

hoopsguy
DataKing
SirFozzie
BYU 14
kingfc22
Kerchee
illinifan999 II
path12
PurdueBrad II
MrBug708 II
Abe Sargent
law90026
mrkilla22
TonyR II

Everyone has a Sonic Rifle on this trip. The Triton has settled in the southwest corner of the grid. As always, hoopsguy is the first out of the boat. He takes one step and spots an Aquatoid on a high ledge right in front of the ship. He takes aim and fires. The alien, unaware of hoopsguy, takes the shot to the back of the head. Its head erupts in a grey explosion. hoopsguy ducks out of the way to let more troops out.

Next is SirFozzie. He heads towards the tail and spots another Aquatoid. As he drops to a knee to fire, the alien fires off two shots. Both wildly miss. SirFozzie lines the creature up on his sight and fires. His hand slips, though, and the shot smacks the tail of the Triton.

“Hey watch it back there, this thing's expensive!” yells the Triton driver.

DataKing moves next to SirFozzie and fires. He shows the rookie how its done, killing the Aquatoid on his first shot.

kingfc22 heads out next to the rock formation the first alien was on top of. hoopsguy follows him. As he does, he spots another alien waiting behind a column of coral, about to fire on kingfc22. He snaps off a quick shot, but there's too much in the way and the shot hits harmlessly on a piece of coral.

“kingfc22, stop! Someone get a grenade on the other side of that rock formation, we have one hiding,” requests hoopsguy.

SirFozzie takes a Pulser from his utility belt and tosses it in the general direction hoopsguy indicated. It lands behind the alien, who turns to see it land right as it goes off. The Aquatoid to blasted in half.

kingfc22 spots another alien in the distance. As he goes to report it, a cry comes through his headset. “GET IT OUT GET IT OUT GET IT OUT!” yells DataKing, as he throws down his weapon and takes off running. kingfc22 steps up to get a shot on the alien. Kneeling, he lets a round fly. It hits the little alien in the hip, and separates it cleanly from the rest of its body. It falls to the floor screaming for a moment, then stops, lifeless.

BYU 14 comes over the radio, “Listen up. Since the LT has decided to wig out, I'm taking over on this mission. Pair up and sweep the area. When you spot the ship let me know, and I'll figure out what to do from there. Get a move on!”

To drive this point home, DataKing suddenly freezes. He looks at kingfc22 with a vacant stare and over the radio a strange, alien voice speaks unknown words.

“Um, BYU 14, what should I do? DK is NOT himself, I have him in my sights and he's reaching for a Pulser!” MrBug708 II doesn't wait for the answer as DataKing is about to prime the grenade. He takes quick aim and fires off two shots, but both miss. Acting on instinct, kingfc22 adds to the fire, but also misses wildly. Kerchee steps in a puts an aimed shot in the lieutenant's faceplate, ending the threat.

Everyone is rattled. If they could get to the lieutenant, one of the most experienced X-COM agents, they could get to anyone. The troops are troubled.

law90026 moves out with SirFozzie and spots the alien sub. He calls it in to the rest of the team, and BYU 14 orders six of them to move out towards the sub. hoopsguy and Abe Sargent are told to stay away from the sub, due to their problems with the aliens on the last mission.

The team fans out and everything gets quiet. TonyR is the first to get to the other side and spot the door. mrkilla22 advances with him, and spots an Aquatoid scouting around on the front side of the ship. He fires a long distance shot and scores a bullseye, killing the alien.

TonyR II spots movement at the door. Before he can fire, the alien shoots him in the face, ending his life. mrkilla22 and BYU 14 both take shots at the attacker and miss. PurdueBrad II dives around a rock formation and sees the alien. He shoots, driving the creature to the ground dead. Another one is behind it! MrBug708 II, still on the other side of the ship, hears the firefight and tosses a grenade on the other side of the ship. It lands next to the surprised alien and blows up, disintegrating the alien and blasting the doors off the sub.

The troops move up towards the gaping entrance. mrkilla22 spots yet another alien through a blown out seam in the sub. He snaps a shot at it and scores another kill. law90026 makes it around the far side of the sub and takes up a firing position.

“OK troops, from the sound of things you've all just about finished sweeping the area. Everyone converge on the sub entrance. I want as many bodies on this as possible. Except for hoopsguy and Abe. You two just stay away.” orders BYU 14.

Aquanauts begin surrounding the entrance of the sub. PurdueBrad II moves to get a good view deep into the ship and spots an alien far in the back. He fires, but misses badly. MrBug708 II moves up. Through the doorway, he spots another alien up high on the second floor, but can't get a shot off. mrkilla22 rushes in through the door and spots the lower alien. He fires and drops it.

There's all kinds of motion on the second floor now. At least three aliens are spotted moving, but none fire on the squad. mrkilla22 stands and sees one of them up top. He fires, but misses. He moves and law90026 takes his place, firing on the same alien. law90026 scores a hit and kill. MrBug708 II joins him in the ship as PurdueBrad II follows behind them. BYU 14 shoves him in through the door and enters as well.

The five troops take up avenues of fire within the ship. There are two lower doors in the rear that lead to an engine room. Between them are stairs leading up to the second floor, where aliens have been spotted. They can't risk throwing a grenade upstairs because of the chance of it hitting a wall and bouncing back on them.

More movement up top. An alien comes to the top of the stairs and fires. The round hits, exploding and knocking BYU 14, PurdueBrad II, MrBug708 II, law90026, and mrkilla22 out cold, leaving nobody standing in the ship.

“I'm moving up guys, I don't care what BYU 14 said. They're down and need all our help now. Lets go!” says hoopsguy.

path12 and kingfc22 are the first to reach the sub. They go in and find cover, out of view of the aliens on the second floor. illinifan999 II and Kerchee are behind them. SirFozzie, hoopsguy, and Abe Sargent are all that are left outside the sub.

path12 and kingfc22 move up to cover the engine room doors, and illinifan999 II and Kerchee take up their old cover spots. As path12 gets set, an alien comes through the door. path12 shoots it in the back before it can spot the team.

“AH MY HEAD!!!!” screams kingfc22 and he drops is rifle.

Kerchee moves to the stairs and sees an alien at the top, carrying an stun launcher. He fires at the alien's back and kills it. SirFozzie bolts through the doors and locates two more aliens on the second floor through openings that look out over the first floor. He fires at one and drops it, then scrambles out of the way. Abe Sargent comes in and fires at the other, but misses. hoopsguy shoves him out of the way and takes the shot, blasting the alien against the wall, killing it.

The squad searches the rest of the sub but comes up empty. They revive the other team members inside the sub and fill them in on what happened. 14 aliens were killed, and only two aquanauts died. This is our most successful mission to date. Things may be turning our way yet.

After the mission, there are several promotions. mrkilla22, path12, and SirFozzie are all promoted to Ensign. hoopsguy and law90026 are moved to Lieutenant. chesapeake is given the rank of Commander with the death of DataKing. He is now the sole leader of the units in the field, and will make all field decisions when on missions.

[hoopsguy]

Very sad to see another one of our founding aquanauts die in the line of fire. But the newer troops really do seem to be asserting themselves. Hopefully, with the addition of body armor next month, we'll see more missions like this one where we are bagging 7 of them for every one of us.

[TonyR]

Dang, my original self got one before he went down but my clone didn't even get that. Send in copy #2.

[Neon_Chaos]

Will these be known as the "MY HEAD!" missions?

[TonyR]

Not trying to thread jack but has anyone messed around with UFO: Alien Invasion? http://ufoai.sourceforge.net/
Looks to be better graphically.

[SirFozzie]

Nice.. got one this time around

[Tasan]

Originally Posted by TonyR

Not trying to thread jack but has anyone messed around with UFO: Alien Invasion? UFO: Alien Invasion
Looks to be better graphically.

I've downloaded it, but haven't installed it yet. I didn't want to get into it and get sucked away from this. From what I read, its far from complete yet, so I didn't want to just be left hanging, wanting more.

[RendeR]

Umm...


Ow?

[Tasan]

Just a correction. illinifan999 II didn't get the kill towards the end of the mission. path12 go the alien, illinifan999 II was still getting set to storm up the stairs at the time. I've edited the narrative to reflect this. Also, for those of you who don't know, grenades don't always register as kills for the trooper in-game. I'm posting in-game kill totals to make it easier to keep track of, so if you think you're short one or two, that's probably why.

[Tasan]

Interlude 9

Darkness chases the Triton back to base as the sun sets across the planet. As the troops unload, the scientists find another alien torpedo launcher. This is very concerning. If they get a chance to fire these things, we could be facing heavy casualties. Our tactics may need some revision. We sell off the unneeded items from the raid for almost $3 million. After the UN meeting tomorrow, this money will be used to stock the new base, along with the monthly funding.

On the 1^st of March I report to UN headquarters for our monthly review. This one goes better than the last, and our funding is increased by over half a million dollars. Several nations express their strong gratitude for our efforts. As I board the shuttle for the return trip, a call comes through. A very large alien sub, similar in readings to the one that attacked Boston, is spotted. They also inform me that the designs for the armor are ready. I order the lab guys to start work on the alien stun launchers, and the engineers to start making suits of armor.

I'm in constant communication with the sonar teams on the trip back. They track the alien vessel as it passes immediately over Base South China Sea. I feared an attack on that base for a while, but the sub continues past, heading for southeast Asia. I order every available aquanaut onto the Triton. None of the new teams have arrived yet, and combined with our wounded we only have 14 ready troops. If we don't get a break soon, I'll be grabbing a Sonic Rifle.

During this time, I also place orders for another sub pen, living quarters, and general stores for South China Sea.

Tracking is lost on the alien vessel in the Indian Ocean. The signal is picked up again in the Med, and the sub tracked to a landing site in the Adriatic Sea. This is a tough call. We've never faced something this big before. However, I think with the proper tactics, we can do it. I order the Triton out. Besides, we may not even make the site before the ship decides to leave. As the Triton departs from Atlantic, South China Sea's sonar picks up another contact, a small one just off the coast of Austrailia. I dispatch a 'Cuda to intercept. As it races to meet the contact, the Triton signals that it's ready to put down on the sea floor.

[illinifan999]

Originally Posted by Tasan

Just a correction. illinifan999 II didn't get the kill towards the end of the mission. path12 go the alien, illinifan999 II was still getting set to storm up the stairs at the time. I've edited the narrative to reflect this. Also, for those of you who don't know, grenades don't always register as kills for the trooper in-game. I'm posting in-game kill totals to make it easier to keep track of, so if you think you're short one or two, that's probably why.

Mean. Just plain mean.

[Tasan]

Originally Posted by illinifan999

Mean. Just plain mean.

Hey, I can make sure you're the first one into the next sub. That should guarantee a kill, for one side or another.

[BYU 14]

I am requesting a howitzer so I can finally hit an Alien please

[MrBug708]

Nice to see my clone doing well

[DataKing]

Originally Posted by Tasan

Kerchee steps in a puts an aimed shot in the lieutenant's faceplate, ending the threat.

I always knew you had it in for me.

Hopefully DK II won't have the mental fortitude of lemming.

[chesapeake]

Now hear this! Now hear this! Commander Chesapeake has issued a standing order -- in light of recent events, there is absolutely no shooting, stabbing, or blowing up of your Commander for any reason. That is all!

[Tasan]

Mission 9
March 1, 2040

Going in, the officers are discussing tactics. The emphasis today will be on keeping spread out as much as possible. The worry is that one of the aliens will get a shot off with their fancy torpedo launchers, and it will cause havoc in our ranks. On the mission today:

hoopsguy
chesapeake
BYU 14
path12
Barkeep49II
Abe Sargent
law90026
MrBug708 II
mrkilla22
kingfc22
Kerchee
SirFozzie
illinifan999 II
PurdueBrad II

Everyone is packing Sonic Rifles and two grenades. Medikits are scattered throughout the squad.

hoopsguy sighs and hits the door release, heading out first once again. He heads towards the nose of the Triton. SirFozzie is behind him. BYU 14 and kingfc22 head towards the tail. law90026 and Kerchee step out and chesapeake closed the door behind them. We'll let them spread out a bit, then release another group of 6.

BYU 14 spots an Aquatoid, but it heads for cover out of view. He gives chase and gets off a shot, but misses well wide of the target. MrBug708 II comes out on the fin/wing of the Triton. He heaves a Pulser over towards BYU 14's alien target. It lands at the creature's feet and explodes, ripping the little alien apart. Through the smoke and silt, BYU spots the upper level of the alien sub.

Hoopsguy advances along the southern border of the combat grid. On a rock outcrop, he spots a large jellyfish looking thing. Not remembering anything naturally of this earth that looks like it, he contacts the rest of the group, then takes cover because he doesn't have a clear shot on it. BYU 14 spots the thing, and tosses a Pulser under it. The grenade goes off but the jellyfish just flinches. kingfc22 moves up to cover him and spots an Aquatoid. He fires on it, but hits a plant between him and the target. “Need some help over here!”

Kerchee responds to the call with a Pulser. He flings it at the alien, and it lands near it. The grenade explodes, killing the Aquatoid. illinifan999 II moves up to cover Kerchee and spots another jellyfish thing. He fires and hits it, but it doesn't go down. It slowly moves away from him. Kerchee gathers himself and takes a shot at it. He hits is square and this time it, well, pops.

On the other side of the grid, hoopsguy manuvers to get a shot on the other jellyfish. He finds a clear firing lane and shoots. He hits it square, and this one pops as well. SirFozzie moves from his cover nearby and spots yet another jellyfish. He fires on his and misses short of the target. law90026 has his back, though, and fires, splatting the thing.

On the east edge of the grid, illinifan999 sees some movement. Its an Aquatoid with a stun launcher. He fires on it but misses. It turns and runs. He gives chase and gets sight on it again. He drops to a knee and lets a round fly. The shot hits the alien and it dies with a scream.

We have a decent view of the ship now, and its massive. It towers three stories and takes up a large part of the action grid.

“ Continue sweeping the outside, but make your way towards the ship as soon as possible. We need to get on that thing and get this over with,” orders chesapeake.

As if to emphasis the point, hoopsguy reports that the aliens are trying to get control over him, hammering his head with attacks.

SirFozzie is the first to reach the alien vessel.



Nobody is quite sure where the door is. law90026, path12, and BYU 14 join him at the ship's hull. BYU 14 grabs at his head and groans, then screams. He spins around, firing wildly, just barely missing PurdueBrad II. Everyone nearby moves to give him a wide berth.

As kingfc22 moves towards the hull of the ship, two shots sail by him. He spins and sees an Aquatoid in the distance. He snaps off a quick shot, but just misses his target. Barkeep49 II is nearby and moves to get a shot on it. He finds a clear path, takes a knee and fires. The shot hits the alien in the face, killing it.

hoopsguy reports in, “They're hitting me again, its real strong th.....Ph'nglui mglw'nafh R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.” hoopsguys is under the aliens' control. He fires on mrkilla22 and kills him. chesapeake is next closest. He knows what he has to do, but still doesn't feel good about it. He takes out a Pulser and throws it at hoopsguy. It lands at his feet and explodes, ripping him asunder. For two straight missions now, X-COM soldiers have had to take out their own.

“ BYU 14, toss your weapon and get back to the sub. You've already flipped out on us once, we don't need you falling under their control and being armed too,” orders chesapeake. BYU 14 complies. He tosses his rifle and heads towards the Triton, dejected and feeling alone.

law90026 and SirFozzie converge on what they think is a door to the ship. Their idea is confirmed when an alien opens it and tries to come out. SirFozzie stops it in its tracks before it can react. PurdueBrad II and path12 move towards another possible door around the corner. law90026 and SirFozzie storm through theirs. SirFozzie heads left, law90026 going right. SirFozzie spots an alien down a corridor and fires his rifle, hitting it in the back. It slumps to the floor, lifeless.

path12 and PurdueBrad II are next into the ship. they both head right, since law90026 is on their left, down a hall. Barkeep49 II and MrBug708 II come up behind them, ready to go in as well.

As SirFozzie watches a hallway for movement, the outer door opens. chesapeake comes in. He looks at SirFozzie and raises his rifle to SirFozzie's head.

To be continued...

[hoopsguy]

Gah - very, very disappointing ending there individually. I hope that the rest of the guys are able to pull this one out without too much carnage and that we can fairly quickly get to a point where we can manage the mind control stuff.

Tasan - can you write my next guy in as Head Scientist? That should keep the cloning to a minimum for my identity.

[chesapeake]

I really hope that the next thing you hear is me shouting, "Duck!"

[fantastic flying froggies]

Hmm, wonder if my next clone can survive at least one mission?

Anyway, fff 3 signing up...

[Poli]

Originally Posted by DataKing

I always knew you had it in for me.

Sorry, boss.

[Tasan]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Gah - very, very disappointing ending there individually. I hope that the rest of the guys are able to pull this one out without too much carnage and that we can fairly quickly get to a point where we can manage the mind control stuff.

Tasan - can you write my next guy in as Head Scientist? That should keep the cloning to a minimum for my identity.

Can do. You want him hoopsguy II or some other name?

To be honest, I hated it when your character showed signs of being weak against alien control. I was really liking the way he was racking up the kills.

[Tasan]

Oh and I was in the middle of playing this current mission when I posted the 1st half. It's taken me until now to finish the second half. Stay tuned for the writeup!

[Poli]

!!

[hoopsguy]

Originally Posted by Tasan

Can do. You want him hoopsguy II or some other name?

To be honest, I hated it when your character showed signs of being weak against alien control. I was really liking the way he was racking up the kills.

Looking at the spreadsheet, it seems like the kills are going to people that have Reactions + Firing Accuracy > 100. Really, the guys who were in the 115+ range have gotten a disproportionate amount of kills. Contrast that to BYU, who has 5 missions and 0 kills, whose combined score for those ratings is somewhere around 80.

Are you actively putting the people with the higher ratings in places to shoot the aliens? Or is it just working out that way? I guess I'm wondering if it is the ratings manifesting themselves or if you are looking to leverage your assets intelligently? The latter seems like the right way to play, but I'm sure it is challenging to recollect that type of information for each mission with an ever-changing cast.

[mrkilla22]

Add my II clone to the list.

[Tasan]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Looking at the spreadsheet, it seems like the kills are going to people that have Reactions + Firing Accuracy > 100. Really, the guys who were in the 115+ range have gotten a disproportionate amount of kills. Contrast that to BYU, who has 5 missions and 0 kills, whose combined score for those ratings is somewhere around 80.

Are you actively putting the people with the higher ratings in places to shoot the aliens? Or is it just working out that way? I guess I'm wondering if it is the ratings manifesting themselves or if you are looking to leverage your assets intelligently? The latter seems like the right way to play, but I'm sure it is challenging to recollect that type of information for each mission with an ever-changing cast.

Generally I let the guy with the shot first take the shot. I wish I had been keeping up with misses, because I know there are several who have a lot. BYU 14 stands out the most because he's been around since the start and has 0 kills. He's taken his fair share of shots though, just hasn't hit anything. There are times when I'll move a good shot over to fire on an alien, but those are mostly desperate situations. Most of the time I just let the chips fall where they may. It makes for a more involved story usually. It is a little different that how I play straight up, but not much.

[Tasan]

Over the radio, SirFozzie hears “mglw'naph wah'naghj fhtagnaph” as chesapeake's mouth moves. Instantly he raises his rifle and blasts chesapeake in the chest.

“What the hell was that!??!!!” yells law90026, who saw everything go down.

“They got to ches! I had to do it!” cries SirFozzie, obviously rattled.

“All aquanauts, report in! We've had two go under alien control, I need to know everyone else is still with us,” commands law90026, suddenly the new field leader. Everyone left reports in. law90026 counts them up. 11. BYU 14 is out of the game due to going berserk earlier. 10. Abe Sargent has shown a distinct weakness to alien interference, so he's not being allowed to come inside. 9. Nine to take down this whole, huge ship. It sure is going to be interesting.

An alien walks right past SirFozzie. He shoots and hits it, knocking it to the floor dead.

An explanation of the ship layout, at least the bottom level, is needed. The ship is laid out in an X. At each point, there are what appears to be single occupant elevators going up to the next level. In the center of the X is a four square elevator going up. It is located in a room with walls on three of its four sides. An engine room forks off of the center of the X on the right side. Right now, SirFozzie is watching the upper left elevator with no backup. path12 is watching the upper right one, and Barkeep49 II is finishing a sweep of the engine room and will join path12. PurdueBrad II and illinifan999 II are approaching the elevator on the bottom right, while law90026 and MrBug708 II are heading towards the one on the bottom left. The doors into the ship are located on the bottom intersection of the X and the left intersection

MrBug708 II is the first up to the second floor. The room is clear, but it doesn't appear to have an exit into the ship proper. The second floor looks like an X with a + laid over it. The X branches don't appear to be connected via doors to the + areas. It looks like the main assault will have to come via the center elevator. Still, each of these branches will need to be searched. MrBug708 II signals law90026 all is clear.


The second floor. The + runs corners to corners, the X side to side, top to bottom.

PurdueBrad II goes up into his branch. Again, all clear. He goes back down and signals PurdueBrad II to go assist path12 and Barkeep49 II.

Back on the other side, MrBug708 II comes back down and heads for the center elevator. SirFozzie and law90026 head towards the upper left branch of the X. path12 moves to take watch on the center elevator until everyone is ready to go up it. SirFozzie suddenly drops his rifle and grabs his head in obvious pain. law90026 moves up to check him out. He's panicked from alien tampering.

kingfc22 finally reaches the door. He enters and heads left, moving towards the center elevator where Kerchee has joined path12 in watching for movement. Barkeep49 II moves up the upper right side's elevator, finding nothing in the room above. He tells PurdueBrad II and illinifan999 II to not bother following him and to head to the center, which they do. They join MrBug708 II, path12, and Kerchee.

SirFozzie continues his panicking. law90026 stays with him, partly for comfort, partly to keep an eye on him in case he comes under alien control. The rest of the troops ready around the center elevator.

And everything goes to hell in a handbasket at once. path12 starts talking gibberish and shoots Kerchee who's standing next to him. Something flies past MrBug708 II from above, and he hits the floor and covers up. It explodes behind him, blasting a hole in the wall and killing path12, illinifan999 II, PurdueBrad II, and kingfc22. Miraculously, MrBug708 II is still alive. Over the comm, he hears Barkeep49 II sobbing, and law90026 is screaming, blasting at the floor. SirFozzie is still gibbering quietly on the floor.

MrBug708 II pulls himself up and hits the elevator button. On the second floor, he finds the reason for the explosion. Two aliens are there. He shoots the closest one and kills it, then hits the down button. Over the comm, he hears the alien language again. Abe Sargent has gone over to their control.

MrBug708 II hits the up button once again and sees the second alien. He fires at it, sending it to the floor dead.

SirFozzie gets himself together again. As he does, he hears law90026 mumble something in alien. law90026 turns and raises his rifle to SirFozzie. SirFozzie grabs his rifle from the floor and puts a round into law90026's chest, killing him. He then spins to see Abe Sargent coming at him from down the hallway. Before he can get another shot off, Abe Sargent shoots, hitting him in the face, killing him.

Upstairs, MrBug708 II is in the middle center deck of the ship. One door is on each of the four walls around him. He pickes the door on the right and opens it. An alien is standing right there, with another further down the hallway. He blasts the one in front of him into oblivion and ducks back out of the doorway, and the door closes behind him. He catches his breath and sees Barkeep49 II come up the lift. Barkeep49 II suddenly starts yelling “Kill 'em, Kill'em all!!”, blasting in every direction. MrBug708 II ducks through the door again to get out of the way, and sees the alien. He shoots him, killing the little green thing.

Barkeep49 II gets hold of himself and starts to help out on the search. Over the comm, they hear Abe Sargent begin speaking english again, although he's mumbling something about running away to Oz or something. MrBug708 II spots an elevator up at the far end of the hall. He takes it to the upper level. There is a hallway to the center of the ship, and two doors. He goes through the top door first, then the bottom. The lower room leads around the east facing side of the ship and ends at a door. He makes his way towards that. Below, Barkeep49 II goes between helpful and panic, completely unreliable. Abe Sargent flips between alien control and panic, but he's dropped all of his weapons now and is harmless.

Mrbug708 II makes his way for the far door. It suddenly opens, and an alien pops out and pops back in. MrBug708 II is unable to get a shot. He races to the door and throws it open. Two aliens are on the other side. He shoots one and dives to the floor. He gets back up, spins around, and goes through the doorway. He spots the other one and pumps a round into its chest, ending its life.

Abe Sargent comes over the comm “Guys, I think I can help some, they've laid off me. I won't get a weapon, but I'll scout.” He heads up the elevator and goes through the other door that MrBug708 II saw. An alien is on the other side and drops Abe Sargent right there, ending his life. Barkeep49 II runs to the elevator and goes up. He sees the alien before the door closes, and gets a shot off. It hits and kills the alien!

MrBug708 II decides to head back to Barkeep49 II to pair up. He spots an alien behind him, heading back to elevator area. He radios Barkeep49 II, who opens the door, rolls into the room, and fires, hitting the alien. He gets back up and heads back through the door to the elevator room, and sees another alien. He fires point blank, but unfortunately, Barkeep49 II sneezes as he fires. The shot hits harmlessly on the floor. The alien does something similar to a grin and fires, hitting Barkeep49 II in the head, killing him. MrBug708 II races to the door, throws it open and fires, catching the little alien still in his moment of glee. The shot hits the alien in the head and it falls to the floor dead. The sub falls silent. MrBug708 II makes his way through the sub very carefully by himself. Nothing else is found moving.

18 aliens were killed in the firefight. However, the cost was 12 aquanauts, a high price indeed. The massive sub is loaded with things for research and profit, but I can't help but feel that maybe I made the wrong decision sending them on this mission.

For his bravery in action, MrBug708 II is promoted to Lieutenant. He is the defacto commander in the field. Lets hope that title stays with him longer than the last 2 owners. Chief Rum II, BYU 14, and RealDeal II all are promoted to Ensign.

[Coffee Warlord]

Every time I fire up X-Com, the same statement holds true.

Alien psi attacks SUCK.

[Poli]

That mother f'er.

Sign up Caesar. I'm running out of nicknames.

[chesapeake]

Wow. That was brutal. It looks like mind control has to be the next research priority.

BTW, I'm re-enlisting. I hear that this is a job where you can advance quickly -- as long as you can keep your head!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Poli

Sign up Caesar. I'm running out of nicknames.

You could go with Caesar's Ghost later if needed. I hear he might be Great