Future Combat

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Alpha and Buster Downs were sent with "newbies" Elvis, Badass, Party Girl, Rocket Man to handle a small UFO scout ship in some forest in the USA. The Sky Ranger strangely dropped them off on the side this time (guess it didn't want them to escape) putting them in between a heavy floater squad and an elite muton bunch. In the exchange of fire Badass opted to fire a rocket at the mutons instead of taking cover, trusting his life to Buster Downs to put down the last jetpack boy flanking him. Buster missed. The alien did not. Despite the loss of Badass the rest of the team cleared the remaining enemies and entered the ship proper to find another ethereal (they're all over the place now) and one elite guard. They managed to injure both but then the ethereal made the mistake of mind controlling Rocket Man. This panicked the rest of the team (except Alpha) into unloading all their ammo at them - killing them both. Odd way to complete a mission.

The team then traded Alpha for Blunder Buss and filled the remaining slot with our new hover SHIV tank for field testing against a supply barge in Canada. It had the same layout as the previous one but this time the team started off on the side. Though Buster was killed in action through floater fire and finished off by being electrocuted by a drone, the rest of the team defeated the floaters, berserker, sectopod, cyberdisk, elite mutons and ethereal captain with little issue thanks to the tough, highly mobile, and super accurate SHIV unit and its mounted plasma cannon. It couldn't be mind controlled and thanks to its flight capability easily outflanked all enemy defensive positions. I agree with Shen that this is possibly the future of combat as it out performed most of its human counterparts.

It sees you... ALL!

A Nasty Surprise

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

So I finally built a foundry - turns out there's a bit of useful tech in there (alien grenades get a big thumbs up) which I get Shen and his team researching right away. In the meantime Captain Whiskey is leading a team composed of Techno Viking, Blunder Buss, Reloader Jones, Buster Downs and Derka Derka to assault an abductor ship in the UK. Decided to let the snipers hang back while the others advanced to the loading bay. A cyberdisk thought it could take advantage of this but the snipers downed it and its drones easily. Next up was a berserker and some heavy floaters - again no issues there. Then it happened... a frigging sectopod teleported in the middle of my squad. WTF!

Sectopod Surprise!

Scattered the forward guys but Reloader Jones was stuck under suppression fire. Half the team hit the mech meaning it had a second turn, almost killing Jones with rockets then vaporizing Captain Whiskey with its beam laser. Fortunately it was destroyed soon after, and Derka Derka flanked and killed the suppressing muton with his pistol - only to have its buddy show up and ice him in return.

Once he was dealt with the team had a free run to the control room where another ethereal and his two elite guards waited. First elite was killed via overwatch fire. Then the ethereal came forth and reflected Reloader Jones' missed plasma shots back at him resulting in his messy death. A lucky critical from Blunder Buss followed by a grenade from Buster Downs freed Techno Viking from the mind control just in time to alloy cannon that last elite muton to death. Mission complete!

With that, another month came to a close - now I have full satellite world coverage and all countries are still on board. I got a grade of "B".

Soldiers Lost in the Eighth Month: 6 (including 1 pilot)
Campaign Total: 31

Walk like an Egyptian

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

After our last encounter I decided (finally) to deck out my troops in the best gear I could afford, raising funds by selling corpses and debris (seriously). Another titan suit with a few plasma sniper rifles and heavies. Wish I could sell the 52 scientists and Dr. Vahlen too since they are out of things to research, but there's some law against slavery so I'd have to kill them first for my corpse purchaser. Before I could give the order to do just that, the bald man interrupted with a call asking to get some important data from a building in Egypt. Possibly the Matrix Trilogy. With my high ranks in hospital I sent Buster Downs, Blunder Buss, Techno Viking, McCarthy, and Reloader Jones led by super-chick Captain Alpha. Surely superior equipment will make up for their lack of experience!

Mr. Anderson, welcome back. We missed you.

And it DID! Ofcourse it helped that the twelve idiot thin men liked to cluster together, giving an easier time to eliminate bunches of them with explosives. They managed to land some hits too, but in the end Alpha rallied her panicked team to complete the mission with no casualties. They also rescued Major Sledge, a techxpert working at the facility who now joined the team. Feeling cocky (for a chick) Alpha then went with Hitler, Okada, Derka Derka, McCarthy and Airhead to stop abductions on a major highway in Brazil. A squad of elite mutons combined with a cyberdisk and heavy jetpack team put the hurt on early. Airhead opted to stay out of cover to provide sniper cover against a flanking floater, blowing his brains out. An elite then did the same to her, making her live up to her name. McCarthy got a lucky shot against the cyberdisk, downing it before it could fire but then one of the elites grabbed his head and shoved its heavy plasma down his throat and fired, the shots tearing out of his rear.

The rest of the team fought back and eliminated the remaining elites, advancing cautiously with Alpha taking high ground on a bus. A second squad of heavy floaters attacked, critically wounding Alpha as she fell off her perch and panicking Okada into doing a rambo-like move and blasting the hell out of one of them. Unfortunately this put her in the open and she was cut down soon after. Luckily Hitler and ex-terrorist Derka Derka saved the day, eliminating the remaining foes. Mission complete!

The Titan Project

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Soldiers Lost in the Sixth Month: 1
Campaign Total: 21

A large UFO appeared over Egypt just as the month came to an end and despite the best efforts of my Firestorm and Raven interceptors stationed there the crafty craft got away, leading me to get a grade of "B" at the end of month six. With almost all the world having satellite coverage now and good funding coming in (everyone still backing XCOM) I put in an order to get more Firestorms out there and to outfit them all with plasma cannons. Also, I finally decided to buy some armor for the troops now that there are people worth protecting - getting three suits of heavy titan armor constructed, which would see near to immediate use as a large UFO had landed in Mexico (maybe the one that got away from Egypt).

Sent Gravedigger, Techno Viking, Guy Smiley, Blunder Buss, Buster Downs and our second Psionic - Adolf Hitler to investigate. After eliminating the thin men and heavy jetpack boys guarding outside I got the team to circle around the craft to try something new. Buster Downs lobbed a grenade at the control compartment, revealing a pair of sectoid commanders who were easily gunned down by the surprise attack. From that position they also then exploded the opposite wall from which some wierd noises were coming from, revealing a muton team standing beside an alien powersource. A rocket from Hitler followed by good shooting put them down quick... and then came the cavalry in their blood red armor.

Not quite.

These elite muton bastards had armor to match our titan suits and put up a huge fight, injuring a number of the team and killing Guy Smiley with a ridiculously distant grenade throw. Eventually Techno Viking managed to flank them and really pour on the hurt, with Gravedigger mindflaying one to death. They were the last enemies on this site. Mission complete!

Authority Equals Asskicking

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Soldiers Lost in the Fifth Month: 7
Campaign Total: 20

After a combat filled month it was time for another council meeting where I still netted a grade of "A". Due to my lack of troops I recruited five more (all I could afford since the rest of the funds went into base and firestorm construction). I should point out that I'm just using alien tech from captured aliens, not creating my own yet. Also, all my troops are only using the basic armor, again due to funding cuts! :P  Anyway, the five new squaddies (thanks to the new guy perk at the Officer Training School): Buster Downs, Guy Smiley, Techno Viking, Blunder Buss, and Reloader Jones were led into their first sortie by Panicman to stop abductions from a graveyard in Australia. Aliens and corpses again... I'll not speculate. Despite some morale breaks they handled the "light" level enemy force of mutons and floaters pretty well and with no casualties.

Their reward was being joined by the local graveyard keeper, Captain Whiskey, who got tested right away as he was sent to Vancouver with Alpha, Big Mike, Bald Witch, Hitler and the Italian to handle a terror attack there. Squads of mutons, a new heavy floater type (sounds like a big poo), and a deadly cyberdisk were the enemies and due to them all coming one after another the team was hard pressed to stay alive... let alone save civilians. Unfortunately the Italian took a face full of gatling laser fire sending his flaming and charred corpse into a nearby car (which then exploded). The others took damage too, but they methodically cleaned out the threat and saved 11 out of the 18 civilians in the area. Thankfully there were no chrysallids!

Upon their return they had one more shock, learning that one of their team mates was psychic (thanks to the new Psionics Lab in the base). Gravedigger has more than a big rifle it seems, he also has a big head. Bondi Vet and Panicman, who also underwent the testing were found to be not as gifted. I then sent our first Psi-voodoo guy with his two fellow psi-test compatriots along with Airhead, Whiskey, Derka Derka to stop abductions in a small Nigerian shopping strip. All aliens were neutralized WITHOUT any of my team taking damage! Better yet, Panicman has reached the highest rank of Colonel.

Psychic =/= Psionic.