Iskandar's Travels in X-Com: Enemy Unknown

[The Bushranger]

...Crossblade has Mind Control now.

I'm not sure if I'm even more eager to join the squad, or am now considering Cydonia as minimum safe distance.

[Crossblade]

First there was the joy of lifting the couch with your mind to find the remote, now there's the joy of making others walk to the tv and change the channel for you to what you want to watch.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Journal Entry: Aug 10

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Brass is retiring a couple of guys who've just seen too damn much, and can't take it anymore. I don't blame 'em for some of 'em. You should hear some of their stories... 'have you ever had an alien play 'pull me out' with your brain?'? What the hell kind of question is that?

Claxons went off again. Another week, another alien abduction. Australia this time. No one even needed to go to the bone and joint shop this time. Came back with one ugly mother, though. They call it a 'berserker'. That was what put paid for that guy a week back, said it ripped him in half. Seeing one alive? I can believe it. I know I sure wouldn't want that S.O.B. charging down at me.

Of course, that's the fun thing of being a sniper... they never reach you. One shot, one kill. That's my motto.

Aug. 23

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Aliens are playing hardball now. This isn't an abduction, this is terrorist tactics. Rack up as high a body count as possible, as blatant and as obvious as possible. Reeeaaly makes me wanna put a bead on these freaks. I spent five years putting paid to the remnants of the terrorist cells in middle asia... this'll feel just like at home.

No one even wounded this time, although heavy civilian casualties according to the report. But hey, they were all gonna die anyways. These x-ray mo-fos are just sadistic like that. Any civilian saved is bonus.

Aug. 27

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They apparently got some new interceptor ship. Meh, flackin' zoomies and their toys.

Another week, another abduction, this down down in Mexico. Two in the medic bay, one in the ICU.

They retired "Longbow" McIntyre today. Too much PTSD. From this crew? That's saying something. But hey, when your hand is shaking too bad to make the shot... sometimes ya just need to put it away for a while. Besides, "The Emo" has had the top booking for the Sniper slot for a while now, nothing surprising about this move about this move.

Sep. 11

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Lots of stuff going on over in the tech side, but all I've been doing is logging range time.

Claxons went off again. This time out in India. The usual crew went out to go handle it. Some might've grumbled about that, but hey... I'm in no hurry. Point me at a target, I plug it. When you don't have any targets, I practice. That's kinda what I do.

Half the crew went into the medic bay, including Crossblade. Apparently even he needs a little bit of patching after eating three grenades at point blank range. Nothing major though, apparently.

[Iskandar]

There, we are now caught up on the old material. And I think we are now reaching the end game. Really want to get some more Psi Ops, and I need more materials for the last bits of research.

Edit: And updated the first post with all the changes in the soldiers. Note we are getting a lot of Majors. One more rank, and I'll start doing Psi Testing. I have hopes for a few of them, and a few more will probably join Zain on the inactive reserve list if they fail.

[KillianHawkeye]

Edit: And updated the first post with all the changes in the soldiers. Note we are getting a lot of Majors. One more rank, and I'll start doing Psi Testing. I have hopes for a few of them, and a few more will probably join Zain on the inactive reserve list if they fail.

You've got Domochevsky on the list twice.

[RagingKrikkit]

*Starts watching part 19*

65?! She was at 80! WHY?!?!?!?! [/rage]

[jindra34]

You've got Domochevsky on the list twice.

He also hasn't gone over the thread for new applicants/recruit names. I still have mine sitting on page 4.

[Domochevsky]

"Gonzo"... what he hell are you people doing out there?

[Iskandar]

Sigh. I'm tired, apparently. I went on a beautifully violent landed UFO mission, and didn't get it on FRAPS. I break recording briefly when I start a mission to make editing easier, and this time I forgot to restart again. Which is okay, when I tabbed over to check what I had and hadn't recorded, XCom crashed on me. So, I'll have to do that mission over, anyway.

[Hiro Protagonest]

The mouse problem is a bug, from what I've seen.

Edit: You can just dismiss soldiers, you know.

[RagingKrikkit]

Curious: Do you have something personal against me/Hayes? Because every time the cursor ends up at her feet, you IQ seems to drop about 20 points.

[t209]

Why don't my character get Neon Genesis EVA looking armor?

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Why don't my character get Neon Genesis EVA looking armor?

The larger question would be why you would want it in the first place

[Zain]

Is it just me, or do you never seem to use the grapple ability of the skeleton Armour?

[Hiro Protagonest]

Is it just me, or do you never seem to use the grapple ability of the skeleton Armour?

He never uses it.

In that one mission with all the regular Mutons and Heavy Floaters, where it was the sniper stuck on one side and Hayes was taken down, he really should've used it on the second or third turn so the Sniper could get on the roof.

[Triaxx]

He did a couple of times, in episode 16/17, the one with the cargo ship. The floaters dropped in behind him and he grappled up and away from them, then up onto the roof eventually discovering an alien from above and blasting it straight down. He should definitely use it, but without Damn Good Ground, his Snipers don't benefit as much from it, and end up being slightly more exposed. Snap Shot is also useful for the best grapple options. Grapple-move, fire is helpful, because it's possible to move laterally with a grapple move say between two high points. Of course if it's in range the pistol works perfectly well, at least with Gunslinger.

Yes, he does need to use it more though. Definitely want to think vertically as well as horizontally.

In 20, I'd have put the sniper up on the Truck Killian was using as cover to give better shots on those inside. Or even swapped it out to the Support and used the extra movement to rescue civilians. But I play differently to a lot of people.

[t209]

The larger question would be why you would want it in the first place

He even produced an extra titan armor at one point of playthrough.
Too bad, U.S has withdrawn from XCom Support for choosing Mexico which is near them. Now that's one clinche disappeared.

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I wonder if the black book from Season 3 has fundings for xcom project.

[Iskandar]

Huh. Well. A bit of a spoiler for you guys, but I just beat the game. I have 5 ish hours of stuff to edit and upload. Things got interesting towards the end. And buggy.

Just for the record, teleporting sectopods are so not cool.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Just for the record, teleporting sectopods are so not cool.

Yeah, that bug is infamous by now.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Huh. Well. A bit of a spoiler for you guys, but I just beat the game. I have 5 ish hours of stuff to edit and upload. Things got interesting towards the end. And buggy.

Just for the record, teleporting sectopods are so not cool.

So what will you be doing once all of your episodes of this playthrough are finished? Do you plan to try again on a harder difficulty or perhaps again on the same difficulty with a different tactic, or just a different game entirely?

[t209]

1999, First War on Extraterrestrial Terror (Personal Armor= WW1 trench coats and helmets. Laser Bolt Action Rifle). Iskandar's First and Finest Rifle Regiment.
It was a wet day. In the trenches with many other rookies. I was looking at them praying for their survival before the attack on UFO. Then Commisar Iskandar blew his whistle and we climbed up the ladder to the no-man's land. One guy was shot to the face with a plasma and his helmet flew right off. Other guy got shot in the spleen. Finally, one soldier was blinded before a plasma shot put her out of misery. We got to the trench and fought the sectoids with shovels and laser rifle. After trudging through the hell, 25% of our company survived.
By T209 (All Quiet on the Alien Front).
I wonder why I am wondering the battle in XCom as typical WW1 battle.

[Iskandar]

So what will you be doing once all of your episodes of this playthrough are finished? Do you plan to try again on a harder difficulty or perhaps again on the same difficulty with a different tactic, or just a different game entirely?

I still have that user chosen LP to go. Which looks like Psychonauts, actually. I am waiting on the FTB mod pack to stabilize a bit, and then I'll be bringing my Industrial Minecraft LP to 1.4.x, and I don't know beyond that.

Real life is interfering a bit. While not exactly limited, my free time is somewhat constrained, and predicting when I'll have the opportunity to record and edit/upload stuff has gotten nigh on impossible. Add to that a rather significant change in my medications (I have ADD, who'd have guessed it?) and a corresponding significant adjustment period, I'm afraid I'm going to be somewhat erratic. Um, somewhat more erratic? Erratic-er?

[t209]

Just wondering

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Who gets the sacrifice on the ship? Crossblade? Am I the only solesurvivor, just like X-Com playthrough.

[Triaxx]

We are the internet. (One person, way in the back, waving.) We are infinitely patient. (WANT MORE NAOW.) We abide and wait the new coming. (More LP's STAT!)

Ahem, take your time, the internet isn't going anywhere.

[Iskandar]

We are the internet. (One person, way in the back, waving.) We are infinitely patient. (WANT MORE NAOW.) We abide and wait the new coming. (More LP's STAT!)

Ahem, take your time, the internet isn't going anywhere.

Uploading episodes now. Slowly. With much sleeping in between. It is a truism that when the baby sleeps, EVERYONE sleeps. Or else.

Still, I expect to get the last few episodes loaded up soon. Incoming right now is a rather epic fight in a landed UFO.

[Iskandar]

Just wondering

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Who gets the sacrifice on the ship? Crossblade? Am I the only solesurvivor, just like X-Com playthrough.

Technically, there should have been three survivors of the final mission. There is a neat little bug, though, due to the way mind controlled allies are handled. You know how an alien's weapon blows up when the alien dies? Did you know that if you mind control an alien and it dies, his weapons don't self destruct? The logic applies in reverse for mind controlled members of your team, and what happens when the big bad dies. Pay close attention to the final episode. I just noticed, and it is hilarious.

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Basically, the game insta kills all other enemies when you kill the boss. This includes squad members if they are mind controlled, as they count as enemies at that moment. Completely illogical, and it costs us two of the three survivors when it really shouldn't. As far as who the survivor is, well watch and see.

[The Bushranger]

In a way, though, that sort-of makes sense - it's internally consistent with the way Sectoids mind-meld. Kill the 'melder', the 'melded' dies too. Of course, that's not because of exploding weapons, but....

[smuchmuch]

Am I the only one who isn't that impressed with berserkers or crysalids so far ? From what we've seen in that LP, they charge up to your soldiers, deadly claws at the ready... and they just stop right in front of the target letting it shoot them in the face without actualy y'know attacking, having expended all their action points dashing.
I guess they are still somewhat dangerous as distraction but not really all that threatening.

[KillianHawkeye]

In a way, though, that sort-of makes sense - it's internally consistent with the way Sectoids mind-meld. Kill the 'melder', the 'melded' dies too. Of course, that's not because of exploding weapons, but....

Yeah, but it normally works differently for mind controlled creatures. If you kill the guy mind controlling you, your guy is freed. Not dead.

Am I the only one who isn't that impressed with berserkers or crysalids so far ? From what we've seen in that LP, they charge up to your soldiers, deadly claws at the ready... and they just stop right in front of the target letting it shoot them in the face without actualy y'know attacking, having expended all their action points dashing.
I guess they are still somewhat dangerous as distraction but not really all that threatening.

Hey, them Berserkers were good enough to kill me. Show some respect!

[Domochevsky]

Now having watched ep26...

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Man, you're playing really careless here.
Great catch on the alien, but two dead squaddies, my equivalent shot up at the last minute (How much Will does that cost?), no support around... things are rough out there.