Hey, everybody else has started a let's play and abandoned it. Lets Play X-Com!

[chiasaur11]

Right then. Post number 2: X-Com on the ground.

In the time since the first UFO sighting, X-Com's Scientists kept busy, even if the rest of you lazy bums didn't do anything. Dangit men, if there aren't aliens to kill, find a country that isn't funding us, and conquer it! But noooo, we don't want to rule the world. Wusses.

Where was I? Right. Laser research.

followed soon enough by

Got to say, even if the brain boys don't know how to shoot people, at least they let those of us who know how to kill do that job better. Shooting all the intellectuals is no longer part of any potential X-Com new world orders. Lollygaggers, blue teamers, and Griffs, however, are still on the list.

We got a couple more guys to round out the team, and replace some of the inevitable casualties. Die for X-Com, and get a small notice carved on one of the restroom walls!


Of course, the laser guns went into production immediately. The aliens won't know what hit 'em! (Hint. It will be lasers.)


For that matter, neither will the enemies of X-Com's latest clients. Telemarketing and sheer persistance ensure X-Com weapons go where they belong. In the hands of the public!


As soon as a good handful of lasers were done, we got another call. Unsuprisingly, one of X-Com's ace pilots near immediately shot it down.


As soon as we landed, we sent the tank out on a scouting run.


Needless to say, the tank nearly immediately spotted the UFO. Good man, HWP.

We dispatched a team to the UFO as the tank continued his work. He's a loose cannon, but he gets results. If I ever am absent on a mission, well, I know who the one guy I can trust is. Lopez J HWP.

Sending a man in to attempt diplomatic relations, it seemed a given Copper's natural people skills would win over the alien. I, of course, am kidding. I sent him in so he'd die, and no more paperwork about the state of X-Com stores would pass my desk.

As I threw a grenade to finish off both the alien and my paperwork pushing employee, I experienced the first defeat of my long and glorious career. Copper managed to get out of the UFO, dodging both the grenade and alien reaction fire. Can't win them all.

I expected, however, to win some. Both targets survived! I blame alien complacency on the part of weapons developers.

In fact, the attack failed so bad, it seemed to spawn another grey.

After firing round after round into the thing, it seemed I was done for. The beast would surely destroy me soon enough, leaving only HWP to try to save the Earth. But then Copper, regardless of my previous actions, fired a quick shot, probably saving my life, and definitely ending the life of an alien.

Needless to say, I sent him into the UFO again.

But he dodged the shot. I decided to just file him under "unkillable" and shoot the alien.

That went better.

And that was it. X-Com's first mission. All things considered, it went well, with all members surviving, the new lasers killing our enemies easily enough when they hit, and a whole lot of alien metals stolen. In fact, I'd label it an unqualified success if it wasn't for operation kill copper's failure.

I even got promoted. As you can see, no other X-Com operative can claim a rank above rookie. Yessir. Only one Sgt. in X-Com.

And that was the first mission. Not bad, all in all. Still, needs more lasers and explosions.

[Smight]

I'm perfectly fine with swapping the soldier named in our respective sake with either of you. All I'm saying is, the soldiers currently named after you two are currently amongst the least valuable on the team, hence should do scouting duty. If you indeed care about your namesake staying alive, I'm sure chiasaur11 can rename the soldiers such that it's "my" soldier who is the worthless redshirt. I'll much rather have that which is the best for the team happen, than cling to my namesake's life.

First of all i'm hoping this LP will have element of roleplay, if not ignore the folowing,

using tactic like that will make this LP like game of chess, boring to anyone who is not chess player, I would rader if we acted like those are soliders in the field ,with some survival instinct, not some pawns to be sacrificed,
if your character wishes to act like red shirt that is OK , again this is with assumption there is RP element in this LP.
And please do not switch the characters optimisation should not be the point op LP.

[Artanis]

First of all i'm hoping this LP will have element of roleplay, if not ignore the folowing,

using tactic like that will make this LP like game of chess, boring to anyone who is not chess player, I would rader if we acted like those are soliders in the field ,with some survival instinct, not some pawns to be sacrificed,
if your character wishes to act like red shirt that is OK , again this is with assumption there is RP element in this LP.
And please do not switch the characters optimisation should not be the point op LP.

What about switching after one dies?

"So you're the replacement for Artanis, who died last mission? What's your name?"
"Scott Jonlan, sir."
"Not anymore. I'm calling you Artanis from now on. Got that, Artanis?"
"Err...yes sir "

[Winterwind]

I wouldn't mind switching if my namesake didn't fit the actual me rather well. Also, if you die, I'm pretty sure you could stay involved in this somehow. Not like your namesake dies in a mission and you don't get to interact with this LP ever again.

I'd assume if a soldier dies, another one gets named after him.

Also, my notion that the inferior soldiers be used as scouts and the better soldiers hang back was just my tactical advice and the way I usually play the game when playing Ironman (as it's just about the only way to preserve the good soldiers and have them survive in the long run). Nobody has commented upon that, and chiasaur has made no statements about the tactics he intends to use himself. In fact, the pictures of the latest mission strongly suggest his tactical paradigm is quite different than mine.

First of all i'm hoping this LP will have element of roleplay, if not ignore the folowing,

using tactic like that will make this LP like game of chess, boring to anyone who is not chess player, I would rader if we acted like those are soliders in the field ,with some survival instinct, not some pawns to be sacrificed,
if your character wishes to act like red shirt that is OK , again this is with assumption there is RP element in this LP.
And please do not switch the characters optimisation should not be the point op LP.

Fair enough. I was running under the assumption the point of this thread was to play the game as well as possible, with the shared strategical input of all the people in here - and that includes sacrificing the pawns so the figures can live. If this is not the case, forget what I said.

[The Dark Fiddler]

Its not that I care about dieing, its just that I don't remember signing up. I assume you also know something about my missing kidney.

Although I honestly don't care about dieing (truly), I just didn't sign up, just said I voted for staying alive. What's done is done, so actual complaining. In character complaining maybe, if I actually survive.

[Jibar]

Just, two questions...

1. Why do you want Red Shirts exactly?

2. Why are the screenshots so small?

[chiasaur11]

Well, we're getting better and better weapons, so some specialization'll be in order soon enough. Psi Amps and blaster bombs are reserved for people with good psionic skills, (and the launcher should be operated by guys with guts. You panic with a laser rifle, you waste maybe one guy. You panic with the Blaster Bombs, well, you lose the whole squad.)

Any requests for armament and or postmortem corpse disposal? We might be able to put the brains of the recent dead into a HWP...

Edit: Screenshots are small because X-Com is pretty low res. Redshirts are there because X-Com is high bodycount, and it's best if people who aren't me are the one who bite it.

[Fri]

Yup. We will have a HIGH body count. Assuming that Earth SURVIVE.

I hereby ask for a list of people who entered a mission (and who's out, naturally), and more commentary and pictures on whatever everyone else doing in a mission, even if they're only hanging around. Now my imagination is killing me. Am I really chasing a fluffy rabbit back there when you try to get our quartermaster killed? Oh, the possibilities...

[chiasaur11]

Yup. We will have a HIGH body count. Assuming that Earth SURVIVE.

I hereby ask for a list of people who entered a mission (and who's out, naturally), and more commentary and pictures on whatever everyone else doing in a mission, even if they're only hanging around. Now my imagination is killing me. Am I really chasing a fluffy rabbit back there when you try to get our quartermaster killed? Oh, the possibilities...

Currently, everyone drops. First month finances, even with X-Com's excellent door to door sales reps, was enough for one strike team, rebuilding the base to not suck, and getting everyone lasers, not to mention funding the science teams and engineers, but not much else. Month two we'll begin having guys sit back at base, probably.

Next mission, pretty much everyone is accounted for. I'll try to have a pre-mission run down and post mission breakdown of mistakes.

Also: How often would you guys like main mission posts? Got one ready, but don't want to get much further ahead and have a cydonian strike team before the posts get to plasma cannons.

[Copper8642]

What... the... my namesake is way better at X-Com than I am......

I usually lose this game within months... apparently my namesake refuses to die.

I'm not sure if I'm shocked you tried to get rid of me or if I should brag about how good my namesake was. I don't think I will, because chances are if I did I'd die with another mission or two (if I don't anways).

So, preferred armaments... as I said, I'm no good at this sort of stuff, which is sad because I'm the quartermaster. I'd be bound to get myself killed if you let me choose my equipment. I'd just say don't put me as the Heavy Weapons guy (which, given my lack of any guts at all, seems you wouldn't do). I like rifles and the like.

*Submits another report on the state of the stores*

[Pie Guy]

If you ever reach a point where you don't actually lose more soldiers in a month than you gain, I'd like to join.

[chiasaur11]

If you ever reach a point where you don't actually lose more soldiers in a month than you gain, I'd like to join.

Technically, this month might qualify.

Which means you get frontline duty.

(Also, Ironman is a bit stricter than I like, but it leads to a lot of fun moments. Seems the no midbattle save route works best for me, if that's okay. If not, well, no-one said survival was likely in X-Com.)

[Kane]

I'd like to sign up to kill some xenos, sir. X-Com is doing work that everyone should appreciate. Plus, I mean, alien technology and lasers? I'm so down with that.

Alternately, if it's required, I'd be quite happy as the scientist representative/advisor.

[Copper8642]

Ha, I just noticed the base name of "GiantintheXCOM." I love it.

[Fri]

Yup. We will have a HIGH body count. Assuming that Earth SURVIVE.

By the way, I need to explain things because this might cause some misunderstanding.

We will have a HIGH body count for the ALIENS. You see, if earth survive, that means we slaughter the aliens by the dozens. Ergo, high body count for them, but high five for our heroic handsome heroes.

You diidn't think I lost my courage there, did you?

[Lord Herman]

Yay, X-Com! One of the first games I bought!

Recruit Herman signing up to heroically panic in the face of danger, real or imaginary. Please name your most cowardly soldier after me.

Edit: Awesome, Steam sells all the X-Com games as a single package! *buys*

[Tengu_temp]

Ah, good old Ufo - I played this game first when I was 8. If you need names for new recruits after your old ones bite the dust, you can call one of'em Tengu.

[Neo]

yeah, you can put me down for red shirt duty too lol.

[Rockphed]

And Rockphred, you're either forming the initial team at X-Com USA, or just as likely, you'll replace one of X-Com's many, many casualties.

I was kinda hoping to end up with a string of ways in which Rockpheds died.

For instance:

Rockphed was impaled upon an alien pokey stick.
Rockphed 2 was killed in a friendly fire incident involving alcohol and an alien pokey stick.
Rockphed 3 was ground into sausage meat by a friendly tank.
Rockphed 4 was melted by alien stomach acid.
Rockphed 5 jumped on a grenade for the team.
And so on. This sort of thing is why I play roguelikes.

[chiasaur11]

Now, I know a lot of you are a wee bit down in the dumps after that mission. Sad that some of those fine men and women you worked with died horribly. We'll cover all that in this briefing. Still, I have good news! I was recently examining the laboratory for signs of treachery when I discovered what must have been a collection of journals of predicted technology for the coming year, in illustrated form! They must be confident, with the year they're promising the tech by right on the cover, and so I put them to work on some of the brain preservation techniques immediately. Although I found it odd the demonstations suggested a genetically engineered infantry would be betrayed by top brass. As commander of X-Com, I'd always put the lives of hideous mutants above those of bog standard humans (but below robots and cyborgs.) But that can't be helped.

At any rate, after that last mission, science made perhaps the greatest stride in history!

We now could murder our enemies with lasers. This was a triumph for humanity on par with the discovery of violence itself! Needless to say, it went into production immediately. A large UFO passed by the base, but there was no urge to waste perfectly good interceptors on a suicide mission, even for reconnaissance. Certain death is the job of the ground troops!

Another UFO proved more our speed.

We scrambled an interceptor with solid success.

Sadly, it was the last unqualified success of the month.


As Lopez HWP prepared to rumble down the ramp for an initial scouting, X-Com was frivolous, perhaps overbold. Fri and Loksy, the operators of the devastating autocannons, were arguing who would level more property. I knew better. I knew that this was a war, and in a war, you had to send someone to their deaths. Otherwise, you just have a police action or such, and no seasoned officer would let a "police action" go on his record!


HWP having spotted an alien moving about, Copper and I decided to try to deal with it, leveling the outer wall of the farmhouse to expose it, then I proceeded to waste the scumbag.

Having made the LZ a good deal less hot, I figured it was safe for less amazing or disposable (Copper) troopers to hit the ground. The Other Guy stepped onto the ramp, while a couple of the other troopers mulled around aimlessly, just like in the training videos.


Sadly, it seemed the aliens and I disagreed about "safe". The Other Guy died a tragic, plasma-y death.


As crying is for sissies, and grief in general can be left to the families of the deceased (assuming I ever declassify the fact the guy is dead) I decided on vengeance against a farmhouse. By sheer good luck, I was able to kill an alien too.


Eldan's obvious "humanness" made him the perfect candidate to take this incredibly easy shot.

And, with the pool of red blood beneath Eldan as a penalty for his failure, My hunch was confirmed. He was an alien! The UN may file that as an X-Com loss, but I say we were just dealing with a deep cover agent. Winterwind, the tactical officer, was sent to deal with the alien left after that gunfight.

Sadly, Winterwind did no better. If anyone asks, he was an alien too.

As usual, I was the only man for the job, exterminating the two aliens while stating witty one-liners. With that shot, it seemed the UFO was ready for invasion.

Fri and Dark Fiddler were at the door, one with a stick and an angry flashlight, the other with the best in high explosive autofire. Redshirt armament is somewhat variable.

Fri proved all the talk about X-Com heroism in the mess hall was true. He charged into the dark, firing a quick three shot burst of high explosives.

And wasting every alien in the ship. He would be in line for a promotion, without doubt.

Tragically, a loose bit of shrapnel was lodged in him. If we had medkits, he'd be alive right now. As is... we lost a good man. However, if the scientists weren't ignoring my highlighting in the aforementioned technical journal, we should have a darn fine wisecracking autocannon before too long.


HWP had been busy as well. He spotted a tango, but it seemed the dirty alien had the drop on him. X-Com would soon, it seems, mourn the loss of its best man.

Or not. Seems some X-Commers are made of sterner stuff. HWP took a half dozen or more plasma rounds to the face without flinching, then coolly wasted the last tango.

Our second mission was done, but at a cost. Four bodybags weighed down the Skyranger. Fri, The Otherguy, Winterwind, and the dirty alien spy Eldan were dead, and even though the nav systems still worked, the reactor of the craft went critical, preventing any Elerium recovery. Nothing to do except bury ourselves in work.

Base revision was one bit of work that needed doing, and I put the troops to work at it. Sure, they said the UN was supplying contractors for that, but hard work builds character. Unlike shovels. In X-Com, you dig with your hands!

Another UFO briefly broke up the monotony, and the orders for more troops would soon be filled. Until then, we'd wait.




Ah, fresh troops. Nothing quite like the look on their faces. They don't know yet how horribly they'll die.

As the month ended, I worried about the response of the funding nations. Sure, we'd given our blood sweat and tears to save their miserable hindquarters, but they might complain about our complete disregard for property, our "Pretend the aliens are people you don't like. Like all the members of the council of funding nations!" speeches, or the fact that our "Crazy Jonlan's" chain of laser dealerships made some civilians and most billionaires more impressively armed than any current army. I decided to turn on the charm.

Terrifyingly, it worked.

So, that was the month. We made impressive strides, with new weapons the envy of every man with a proper desire for destruction, a nice room full of UFO bits and alien corpses, some deadly doohickies we don't know how to use, and a base that can fend off some level of attack.

Sadly, this all came at the cost of four dead. Worse, we still have no power source for the UFOs. Next month is a chance to rectify at least one of those errors. Lets hope we can pull that off.

[Winterwind]

I'm proud to have served my role as redshirt and given my life in the war for the Earth.

A couple more spare soldiers would be nice, to shorten the time between losses and the squad being restored to full fighting strength (also, safer in case of an assault on the base itself). Also, we should fill up our labs as soon as possible, and I'm frankly amazed at our commander's patience with logistics when having only one store available, yet another issue I'd recommend amending as soon as possible.

Lastly... I can't help but notice that all the American nations are suspiciously absent amongst the nations enhancing the Project's funding.
Firstly, this (late) soldier requests permission to gain insight into the X-Com agents' reports about latest UFO activities from North and South America, and secondly suggests with all due respect we rush the construction of an US-based outpost. If the nations of the world are unwilling to pay enough for this planet's safety, we might be forced to sell all plasma weapons, mind probes and alien launchers save one for later study on the black market in order to finance this endeavour...

[Tengu_temp]

Fri's pointless death shows why medikits are useful.

How's your cash? I suggest expanding and making a small base with radar, general stores and one interceptor in the US.

[chiasaur11]

Fri's pointless death shows why medikits are useful.

How's your cash? I suggest expanding and making a small base with radar, general stores and one interceptor in the US.

3 mil in the bank. A US base will be built, and as soon as armor's done, medkits are next.

And Winterwind, we don't sell to the black market!

We sell direct to the consumer, cutting out the middleman and passing the savings on to you!

[Artanis]

Excellent update! I eagerly await the further exploits of Humanity's savior, HWP Lopez!



A note on interceptors: Avalanche missiles outrange every UFO other than a Battleship. Of course, dealing with them once they're down when we have no armor, medkits, or recovered tech presents some problems, but still.

Also, until we get Heavy Plasma, Laser Rifles will be far and away the most powerful non-explosive in the game

[chiasaur11]

Excellent update! I eagerly await the further exploits of Humanity's savior, HWP Lopez!



A note on interceptors: Avalanche missiles outrange every UFO other than a Battleship. Of course, dealing with them once they're down when we have no armor, medkits, or recovered tech presents some problems, but still.

Also, until we get Heavy Plasma, Laser Rifles will be far and away the most powerful non-explosive in the game

Good to know.

Oh, any name suggestions for the US base?

It's a valuable listening post, and probably'll have a backup squad of troops, so we'll see it a fair deal.

[Fri]

I died like how a heroic soldier should die. Pointlessly

Seriously, I can't think a better way to die. Oh wait, I can. Anyway, my spirit will always be with you guys. I'll be haunting the 4th toilet from the left.

[chiasaur11]

I died like how a heroic soldier should die. Pointlessly

Seriously, I can't think a better way to die. Oh wait, I can. Anyway, my spirit will always be with you guys. I'll be haunting the 4th toilet from the left.

Hey, you cleared a ship in one round of firing, and gave your life doing so.

It's a fair enough death.

We're naming the next base after you, if it makes your ghost feel better.

[Winterwind]

"Fri's Memorial Outpost"?

Sounds good to me.

[Eldan]

Why does everyone assume I'm was a spy? I'm was from Switzerland, we all click our manidbles like that. And just because my Prothorax is was yellow...

[chiasaur11]

"Fri's Memorial Outpost"?

Sounds good to me.

Fort Fri, actually.