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

They have MECHS!?

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Alien Alert! A huuuuge UFO landed in a river in Japan - some sort of massive cargoship which we couldn't just ignore so I sent Gravedigger, Hitler, Bald Witch, Bondi Vet, Big Mike, and Okada to investigate what seemed to be a cargo ship. The large bay doors were open and inviting but given my untrustful nature I sent the team around the left flank first, eliminating some heavy floater guards as they moved up the side. They also alerted a pair of elite mutons but those aliens wisely opted to withdraw to the second section of the ship - some sort of stable? Anyway the team boarded on that second part, finding and eliminating the crafty guards.

I then sent them up to the roof of that section to take high ground and all hell broke loose as chrysillids, another muton group, jetpack boys and drones spotted me. The chrysillids came up first and I made it a point to explode them to death early. Next up were the floaters and drones which used up most of their move just to fly up - good shooting put all of them back down. While reloading and waiting for the muton group half the team was hit by some sort of missile barrage - no idea where that came from, but everyone was still up. Decided to clamber back down and use the main hall way to gun down the berserker and his buddies there. All the team was hurting bad at this point but Bondi Vet was doing his job of keeping everyone alive very well.

Intruder detected.

With reloaded weapons the team climbed up the other side of the stable section and rushed to the end where they found a new type of foe - an alien mecha! It survived everything we threw at it on initial contact, then opened its shoulder launchers as it took aim. At least now I know where those rockets came from! A good grenade throw from Hitler saw it explode into a gazillion pieces before it could fire again though, leaving the team free to enter the surprisingly empty control structure. Swept back down the ship and found a pair of sectoid commanders in the loading bay who were fed a shredder rocket and a lot of lead (and a little plasma) completing the mission with no casualties, but with a lot of injured and critically injured personel.

All Your Base!

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Sent my crack team of Greene, Bald Witch, Mister Mustachio, the Italian, Gravedigger and Big Mike rappeling down into the alien base. Fitting this is the first mission I can send a full squad of SIX in now. The large complex had pretty much every type of scum we encountered thus far plus some robotic drones. Once into the main hall the team expended most of their grenades on an unexpected trio of chrysalid genestealers, then proceeded to the control hub while bypassing another three who didn't seem to take notice of them.

The last room was huge, with a raised platform in the middle. Had half the team take the high ground while the other swept around the flank and we soon discovered the alien boss here was a little sectoid commander (with a lot of health). That's when all hell broke loose as the three chrysalids we bypassed came charging into the rear and abither squad of jetpack boys appeared off on the side. Fortunately most of my heavies still had their rockets which, in combination with accurate (lucky) shooting saw the alien commander being alone again.

Not this time, Cats!

With suppression fire and throwing everything we had left against him, Bald Witch finished him off with an arc thrower - capturing his naked ass. She's actually pretty good at that. All of them made it back alive. Upon their return Bradford organized a victory party and indeed, the rest of the world suddenly became less panicked altogether. Dr. Vahlen was about to celebrate in her own way, readying her gloves and equipment for our new guest.

My Churro, Your Taco

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Soldiers Lost in the Second Month: 2
Campaign Total: 9

After selling a surplus of scopes to Russia to help them with some missile launch, it was time for another council meeting and the end of month two. Thanks to last minute satellite launches everyone was still onboard with the XCOM project giving me a grade of "A" again, but those little panic bars just seem to keep creeping up. A large UFO made an appearance not long after but my little fighter plane had no chance to shoot that one down so I ordered it back while it could still fly. Back in the base I -FINALLY- have my officer training school and can now send FIVE operatives on the field.

Just what I need, because Dr. Vahlen's wailings were getting too annoying and it was time to capture one of the bastards. Next contact was at a gas station in Mexico where floaters and thin men were enjoying burritos I suppose. I sent veterans Panicman, Mister "Nuke" Mustachio, Big Mike, Gravedigger and David "the lucky Jew" because he got to carry the tazer. :P

Taking cover next to cars and pumps at a gas station sounded like a catastrophic plan but it surprisingly worked very well. With suppressing fire from Panicman, accurate sniping from Gravedigger and well placed grenades and rockets from heavies Big Mike and Mustachio the aliens lost their cover pretty quick, followed by their lives. The Lucky Jew even managed to taze one before almost getting killed himself, yet on one HP he killed two more bastards with his pistol and flanked a thin man for a point blank shotgun blast.

Mission complete! Excellent performance all around if I do say so myself, and finally Dr. Vahlen is happy. I saw her singing and skipping past my office door with a large bottle of lube in hand. That poor, poor alien we captured though...

Dr. Dolly Vahlen is ready to begin the "interrogation".

Alien Necromancy

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Nigeria called, and no - it wasn't to try phish me a million dollars. It was because the aliens were digging up the dead bodies in a cemetery there, I can only assume because they were having major issues killing living humans. Sent a sniper heavy Valkyrie team composed of Ikede, Airhead, Bald Witch and sole assault Punk Chick. They sorted that mess out quick smart since the open ground made for the perfect playground for the snipers while Punk Chick took control of the central tomb. Their reward was a black sniper dude I call Gravedigger with a massive ... rifle. I'm certain they enjoyed their trip back.

Just as well because the alarm went off again, and the global news showed the aliens were altering their tactics. Punk Chick geared up again this time with Panicman, Mustachio and David to stop a terror strike on Canada. Almost immediately they came upon a pair of incredibly fast moving bug critters called GENESTEALERS... I mean, Chrysallids - literally running up to Punk Chick's face. A point blank blast from her shotgun only grazed the creature (1 dmg!) but lucky for her the rest of the team had enough firepower to bring it down.

The second one abruptly altered course to feast on a nearby civilian before being blasted to hell. This is where Punk Chick's luck ran out as suddenly the dead man rose as a zombie right next to her and in a sudden move tore out her insides and began eating them. David and Panicman put the reanimated bastard back on the floor, then the team swept up the remaining murderous jetpack boys to finish the mission.

Mission complete. Of the 18 civilians in the area initially, they saved 10. That's a pretty good result!

Probably wouldn't even have been an issue if there were more strippers in the area.

Raiders of the Downed UFOs

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Finalising a trade to Australia (who wanted to buy alien alloys) the UFO alert went off again, this time in Japan. A bigger ship than last time! Fortunately I had constructed an interceptor there and our ace pilot Vince McCool was visiting the region at the time. Looked like a nasty dogfight but Vince shot down that bastard in the end despite taking a ton of damage himself. Deployed Mister Mustachio and Panicman along with newbies Cosmos and David.

Seemed this ship contained Jetpack boys AND Thin men along with the little dudes. The first group was a non issue, eliminated by overwatch fire mainly while the thin men got to enjoy high explosives of the rocket and grenade variety. It's annoying then that as the team advanced on the ship Cosmos was downed by overwatch fire from the normal little dudes, because he didn't DODGE!

Even the aliens facepalmed.

After teaching those SOBs a lesson my remaining three men busted into that UFO, surrounded the alien pilot and summarily executed him (Dr. Vahlen: WHYYYYYY!?). At least it seems I'm improving with these UFO raids. The following one that landed (not shot down) was tactically cleaned out by David, Big Mike, the Italian and Mustachio with no casualties through liberal use of explosives and lure and kill tactics. As a celebratory gesture I let them explode the ship. (Dr Vahlen: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MY RESEARCH!)

Missions Complete, and somehow Cosmos actually survived (guess I finished before he bled out)! Despite all these victories though it seems like most of the world is on the verge of panic. Oh well, I'm sure that's not important. Right?

Valkyrie Squad

Part of my XCOM: Defenders of the Earth series!

Soldiers Lost in the First Month: 7

After an easy mission in Brisbane where Panicman, Mister Mustachio, the Italian (newbie) and Punk Chick (newbie) literally exploded all opposition it was the end of the first month and the bald man was impressed with my work, giving me a grade of "A". What is this? School? Anyway with the new month also came my new batch of rookies that Bradford kept nagging me to get, what with my casualty rate and all. Another abduction mission in Russia let me test the mettle of half of them I call the Valkyrie squad (all female).

Just like in Charmed! Wait, what? Aren't they witches?

Composed of Murphy, Wood, Greene and Ikede the team deployed at some courtyard with higher elevation to the street. Always a good start. Moved up into cover to discover a new type of alien - JETPACK BOYS. Ok, or floaters. I prefer Jetpack boys. Gunned down one just as a pair of little fellas came up from the road. Too bad for them the jetpack boys decided to flee, leaving the two little fellas at the mercy of a squad of psycho gun toting sheilas.

After painting the place green with their blood the team began leap-frog crossing the nearby footbridge, finding and eliminating the remaining jetpack boys. Once there another two little ones and another squad of floaters showed up to the East. With not much cover on the bridge the team split in two, Murphy and Ikede sprinting forward into cover and Greene and Wood backtracking to a flanking position. The aliens caught wind of this though and despite mostly missing everyone else, Wood was shot dead through the eye (through a car) panicking Greene into a state of uselessness.

Fortunately the other two held it together and marched up out of cover to the enemy flank while lobbing grenades. It was enough to obliterate all the remaining alien scum. Mission complete! Meanwhile back in the base, Dr. Vahlen was frustrated I keep shooting or exploding the aliens that she wants to interrogate. LOL.