Coffee: I think I thought you died a second time when you and Cam were on your first mission together. But I remember now. You didn't die, you just flipped out and almost killed Cam. And you got hit a couple of times, too, didn't you? I think that's where I got confused. Sorry 'bout that! So glad you're still alive!

Naiwf: 12 hours, game time, to ASIA COM. Just a quick puddle jump. You missed this mission, though. You won't be on the base assault, but a lot of people will get shuffled around again after the assault, so I'm not sure where you'll finally end up.

CTHomer, Klayman: Poor Commander Kodos. Life at the top is a bitch. I just hope we listen to his orders during the base assault.

Quick Update
I found some extra time tonight and played the ASIA COM mission, so it's looking very likely that I'll be able to post it this Sunday. I just have to find an hour or so to edit and clean up the writing. Shouldn't be a problem.

Not a problem. I'll take the easier mission ;)

So, are we all dead or what??? ;- ) Too much time and not enough missions makes me something something.

59th Mission: UFO Raid in Japan!

The nine men in the ASIA COM Skyranger have a lot of room to move in the troop bay. With no tank and only nine men on board, nearly half of the bay is empty. The nine men on board are also aware that their team is not known for its bravery in battle. With the bravest of the brave getting shuffled to EU COM in preparation for the UFO base assault, these men feel a little, well, left out, second hand, not the top dog. And deep down inside each one of them feels an extra resolve to prove to the powers that be that they can do the job that they are capable, that they are deserving of the title of X-COM agent.

The Skyranger dips down towards Hokkaido as the sun rises in the east…

BYU is in charge of the following men:

Left Side:
1. Travis II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Split Personality III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. BYU (Blaster Launcher, Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Qwikshot II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Rawisdan (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

Right Side
1. Klayman II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit, Stun Blaster)
2. Achilles (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Danny Van Halen (Blaster Launcher, Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Sublime II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

The Skyranger descends to the early morning battlefield. The UFO has landed in some wooded hills, and we can make out the strangely shaped craft as we are coming down. It looks as if we’ll be landing about 40 yards to the southwest of the thing; it will be off to the right of the Skyranger exit, and we should be able to get a good look at it when the Skyranger bay opens. Already, we can see that it is an angular, two-story craft, and rather large. We even catch sight of what looks to be the door of the craft, directly facing our Skyranger. This could get hot fast!

Elsewhere, we can see that we are coming down between two small mounds on the southwest corner of the battlefield. The area towards the front of the Skyranger is secure. 20 yards to the rear of our craft, where we exit, is a large wooded hill. The UFO lies to the right of this, and although there are trees all around, there looks to be a clear line of sight from the Skyranger to the UFO.

The Skyranger touches down. The landing bay falls outward with a crash! Alarms sound almost instantly, and the red warning light flashes: hot landing! Floater in front of the UFO, 30 yards away! Travis II has no time to think, and reacts on instinct alone. He twists his Heavy Plasma right and pulls the trigger: six streams of green plasma arch toward the alien. The first couple slams into the side of the UFO, but the third one opens up a hole in the Floater’s gut, just as he was raising his weapon. The alien doubles over and tumbles to the ground with a wail! X-COM 1, Aliens 0.

Klayman II takes a deep breath, runs onto the ramp, and dives right. Plasma blasts tear into the earth at his feet! He twists to look toward the front of the Skyranger: Floater, ten feet away, right in front of the small mound to the right of Skyranger. A blast of enemy fire glances off Klayman’s Power Suit just as he gets his finger on the trigger and pulls. Wham! The Floater is knocked backwards by a vicious plasma blast. It hits the ground with a thud, it’s chest a smoking ruin! X-COM 2, Aliens 0.

Klayman II looks left. Another Floater, this one at the top of the mound on the other side of the Skyranger! They’re all around us! Klayman has no shot, but scurries behind the landing gear of the Skyranger. Split Personality III hits the ramp, dives left, and comes up firing. His first shot rips the top half of the Floater’s skull off, and it falls screaming out of sight on the other side of the hill. X-COM 3, Aliens 0.

We’ve got to quickly get some firepower out of the Skyranger. Klayman breaks for the mound to the right of the Skyranger exit. Split Personality heads towards some fallen trees to the left of the exit. Achilles comes straight out of the Skyranger and sets up a firing position on the UFO door, which we can see is indeed facing us, on the south side of the UFO, about 40 yards away. BYU exits the Skyranger, breaks left, and heads for the small mound where the last alien appeared. He’ll set up the Blaster Launcher there. Danny Van Halen hits the exit ramp of the Skyranger.

Floater! Cutting in front of the UFO door from the right! Achilles reacts instantly, and pulls the trigger on his plasma: his shots slam harmlessly into the side of the UFO. Danny Van Halen drops to the ground to the right of the Skyranger exit, and opens fire just as the Floater does likewise. Plasma blasts race back and forth, but Danny Van Halen nails the Floater in the thigh first: the thing screeches and falls to the ground! X-COM 4, Aliens 0.

Achilles and Split Personality get up and head for the base of the large hill that lies about 20 yards straight out from the Skyranger exit. Klayman crawls for a fallen log that lies just to the left of the mound to the right of the Skyranger exit. Sublime II exits the Skyranger and takes up a firing position at the landing gear, next to Danny Van Halen. BYU gets to the top of the small mound to the left of the Skyranger exit and sets up a firing position. Rawisdan, Qwikshot II, and Travis II get ready to exit the Skyranger.

Another Floater! Achilles and Klayman pick up a Floater hovering over a small mound that lies about 15 yards past the UFO door. Achilles takes aim from 50 yards away and fires. Plasma blasts streak toward the Floater…

…and drill the Floater in the hip, spinning it around, and sending it to the ground with a high-pitched wail! Nice shot! The Chicken Patrol is rocking! X-COM 5, Aliens 0.

As Achilles dispatches the most recent Floater, Split Personality reaches the bottom of the large hill directly in front of our exit. He sprints up the side, towards some trees near the top. As he gets there, he catches a brief glimpse of purple movement through the trees, about 30 yards away, at the backside of the hill. He ducks down, and radios coordinates to BYU. BYU clicks in the coordinates on the Blaster Launcher, plots a fire course up over the woods, and pulls the trigger. The rocket arches up over the woods, and then drops down on the other side with a roar. There is a tremendous explosion, and chunks of tree and earth catapult into the sky. Immediately following it, we hear the death wail of a Floater in agony! Within seconds it is silent! Nice work, men! X-COM 6, Aliens 0.

We continue expanding our position, and for the moment things go quiet, although we can hear the occasional whir of internal UFO doors, so we know where at least one of them is. Travis II exits the Skyranger and heads for Split Personality, who reaches the top of the large hill and takes cover behind a large tree. He’ll wait for Travis, and then the two of them will sweep the hilltop and check out the area behind it.

Danny Van Halen and Klayman leave their positions and head over the top of the mound at the right of the Skyranger exit. They continue in that direction, and search what we can now see are two hills that lie on the other side of the small mound.

Rawisdan exits the Skyranger and joins Sublime II; the two of them move to the base of the large hill, and then turn right and set up firing positions. From here, they are about 25 yards from the UFO door, and should have great firing angles if anything comes out. Qwikshot II also exits the Skyranger; he takes up the firing position that Klayman vacated, behind the fallen tree overlooking the area near the UFO exit.

Achilles heads back into the Skyranger. He’ll take up the reserve duty for now. BYU continues to wait for action with the Blaster Launcher.

Floater! This one comes sprinting out of the UFO exit, with his plasma weapon aimed at Qwikshot II! Rawisdan and Sublime II open fire instantly though, and cut the Floater in half with some nasty shots! The Floater crashes to the ground! X-COM 7, Aliens 0.

Klayman II and Danny Van Halen continue to search the area of small hills that lies off to the right of the Skyranger. Travis II and Split Personality II work their way over the hill, and start a search of the backside. Qwikshot II, feeling a bit vulnerable behind the fallen tree, breaks left to join Rawisdan and Sublime II. Once there, Sublime II heads for the side of the UFO, and takes up a reserve position there, out of the line of sight to the door.

Another Floater comes out of the UFO! Rawisdan is lightning fast on this one, as he catches the thing with a plasma blast to the side of the head before the alien can get one foot down outside the UFO! Wow, this man has some reflexes! X-COM 8, Aliens, 0.

Trying to let everyone in on the fun, we shuffle Rawisdan over to Sublime II’s spot, who in turn returns to the firing position on the door. Almost immediately, another Floater comes out the door! Sublime II and Qwikshot II open fire, and one of them blows the Floater’s leg off at the kneecap. It crumbles to the ground, purple blood gushing out the wound. Within seconds, it starts twitching its death throes. X-COM 9, Aliens 0.

For the next few minutes, things go very quiet, although we can still hear the occasional whir of internal UFO doors. Klayman II and Danny Van Halen clear the hills they were searching, and break left to head into some woods that lie past the far side of the UFO. Travis II and Split work there way through the backside of the hill, then turn right and start around the backside of the UFO from the opposite direction as that of Klayman and Danny. Within a few minutes they clear the area uneventfully and link up, and we decide what to do next. Everything outside the UFO is clear, so we know where the remaining Floaters are. It’s time to bust a UFO!

We decide to avoid the front door for the initial assault. Instead, we’ll have BYU blow open a hole in the far side of the UFO, right where Klayman II, Split, Danny, and Travis are. They’ll go in right after the blast hits, and once they’re in, Sublime II, Qwikshot II, Rawisdan, and Achilles—who we bring back out of the Skyranger—will go in through the front door. The men work their way into position. On three. One, two, three…

BYU fires the launcher. A rocker sails over the UFO, drops down at a 90-degree angle, and then cuts straight into the side of the alien craft. The rocket goes off with a roar, blowing away the forest near it for 30 yards, and punching a man-size hole in the tough UFO wall. Danny Van Halen and Travis II get up instantly, and race around the corner of the UFO for the dark, gaping hole.

As they do this, around on the front of the UFO, the door whirs open and a Floater steps out! Sublime II and Qwikshot II open fire and tear the thing to shreds. Immediately after this, Achilles and Rawisdan move up alongside the UFO and head for the door. X-COM 10, Aliens 0.

Around the corner of the UFO, Travis II reaches the opening first, and peers into the smoky interior: no movement. Travis gets a quick look at the interior: there is a U-shaped room that surrounds a central room. The central room must provide access to the UFO exit, as it butts up against the south wall of the UFO. There is one of those violently explosive UFO power sources right in front of him, about five feet away. Good thing BYU’s rocket didn’t hit that! Travis steps inside, and heads right, to start working around the U-shape. Danny enters the UFO and follows on close on his heels.

Back at the UFO exit, Achilles and Rawisdan make it to a small crenellation in the side of the UFO, and duck in to catch their breaths before heading inside. As they do this, another Floater comes out the door! Qwikshot II and Sublime II open fire, hitting the doorframe of the UFO. The Floater turns back into the UFO. Kablam! A grenade goes off at the door that deafens Achilles and Rawisdan. The door slides shut. Achilles jumps out from his cover, steps to the door, and slams the opening pad. Floater! Right in front of him, two-feet away! Holy shit! Achilles and the Floater go for their triggers, but Achilles has the element of surprise: he blows a foot-wide hole in the creature’s midsection that sends gush of purple goo into the small entrance foyer of the craft. Before Achilles can step inside, the UFO door slides shut. X-COM 11, Aliens 0.

Achilles slams his hand on the opening pad again, and steps into the small entrance foyer. We can now tell that the foyer leads to a central room that is in turn surrounded by the U-shaped room that Travis and Danny are in. There must be a grav-lift in the central room, or around the far corner of the U-shaped room.

Travis and Danny head towards a door they can make out on the central room’s north wall. Achilles, joined by Rawisdan, approach a door that opens on this same central room from the south. The rest of the agents hold up outside the UFO. As the men move in on the central room, we hear the panicked screams of a Floater: at least one alien has cracked! Time to move! Klayman, who has the Stun Blaster, moves into the U-shaped room and arms his Stun Blaster. But we don’t wait for him. Achilles runs to the door of the central room, and pops the opening pad. The door slides open…

Nothing! And no grav-lift. It must be around the far corner of the U-shaped room. Klayman II moves to the front of our formation, and works his way towards the corner. Travis takes up position behind him. On three, the two men burst around the corner…

Nothing! However, we can see the grav-lift up to the second floor. Travis and Klayman II advance cautiously on the lift, while Danny Van Halen and Split Personality move around the corner into a covering position behind them. Travis and Klayman reach the base of the grav-lift and get ready to enter.

Suddenly, a Floater comes right down the grav-lift in front of them! Travis, Klayman, and the Floater all go for their triggers at the same time, but the Floater has the edge: he rips a plasma blast at Travis that punches through his armor and disembowels him. Travis screams, clutches at his entrails as they pour onto the UFO floor, and topples forward. Klayman II freezes, but Danny and Split Personality open fire on the Floater and tear the thing apart with multiple hits. It drops to the floor of the grav-lift, dead. Klayman snaps out of his funk, and scans upwards…

Nothing. The agents’ helmet-HUD alert system turns from red to green, which means that this was the last alien! The Chicken Patrol did it!

Split Personality runs to Travis and checks for a pulse…

Travis II is alive! Split pulls out a medipatch, and goes to slap it over Travis’ stomach wound. Damn, it won’t fit. Split frantically pulls out two more patches, sticks them together to make one large patch, and slaps that on the gaping hole in Travis’ gut. The medicine begins to work its magic, and within minutes Travis is sleeping peacefully. He’s still not out of danger yet, but things are looking good! Man, that was close!

The men frantically cannibalize the UFO, gather up the alien corpses, carry Travis back to the Skyranger, and head for home! Well done!

Wrap-up

Promotions: None.
Kills: Klayman II, 1; Split Personality III, 1; Achilles, 2; BYU, 1; Danny Van Halen, 2; Qwikshot II, 2; Sublime II, 1; Rawisdan, 1; Travis II, 1.
KIA: None.
Wounded: Travis II (critical).
Attribute Improvements: Everybody!
Final score: 369. Nice job!
Mission Notes:
Tough mission, but well fought, men! One of our best missions, considering how undermanned you were!

Go FOF X-COM!

Whew! Close call there at the end! First Achilles who got to open a door (how fun!) and then Travis... good job, all!

Great job guys...down a few guys and still kick ass...bravo to Achilles and Travis!!...though travis payed for his bravery...

*Sigh* It's lonely being the commander, much less a commander who happens to be a green, tentacled alien. Looks like cthomer and klayman just drew janitor duties for the month. ;) How unfortunate.

Update

Eight hours after lifting off from Japan, the ASIA COM Skyranger lands at our Chinese base. The exit bay pops open and drops with a crash. Tired agents wheel Travis II out of the bay and into the emergency surgery, where doctors immediately begin the long procedure to put his stomach back together. Two hours into it, Travis II's heart stops beating. Repeated efforts to revive him fail, and he dies.

Another hero dead.

____________

As an aside, it looks like our next misison will be the assault on the German base, but I got hit with a large project today that will make it unlikely that I can play and post the assault by this Sunday. The first stage of the project should take about a week of solid work, and then I'll have time to move forward on this. So I'm guessing we'll miss this Sunday's date for the attack, and that I'll be able to post it mid-week, next week. Things might go faster than expected, so we might get lucky. I'll keep everyone posted.

3ric: Too bad about Travis II, but otherwise I was surprised at how well the battle went. The non-PSI aliens don't seem to be able to give us too much trouble lately, especially if we're careful and patient.

Blade6119: Let's hope the assault on the base will turn out as well as this last raid, eh?

Kodos: You let me know if your feelings get hurt. You can always send someone on a solo mission to the alien base if you get really angry.

All I can say is; I rule.

I really do.

GB : How did your thesis ended ? I don't remember reading that info.

Swaggs is waiting by the phone... :)

The remaining members of the "Chicken Patrol" gather together to pay their respects to the bravest Chicken of them all.

Farewell Travis. You were a good egg.

To bad Travis died:(

Great mission over all:D

wondering if we will see the base assault on sunday, and who the last four soldiers are...i want to know whos got my back. Just saw Bad Boys II and am really pumped for some combat...that movie kicks ass. Lets go base assault!!!

I got your back, Blade.

Just keep walking forward. I'm right behind you. Yep. All the way.

Since were the only two IIIs on this mission so far, i hope we both live...we dont need more 4s right now...oh and...cant it be more of you've got my back from in front of me?...maybe besides me...just so the aliens have to chose who to shoot at and are confused...not due to wanting you to die first:rolleyes: . Glad to have ya with me coffee..we both had previos versions of ourselves that kicked ass and of course died right away

DVH: You are definitely picking up steam. Three kills in two missions. No injuries. And you even took a lot of the risks. No easy way out for you. Clearly a rising star.

Alf: Thanks for asking. Everything went well, and I have my M.A. Well, everything went well except for my laptop crashing at the beginning of my PowerPoint presentation during my oral exams, but what the hell, life is no fun if everything goes smootly.

Swaggs: Hang in there! We lost a half dozen people on the last base assault, so after the next mission you should move up quite a few places in line.

Split, Tucker: Yeah, I was bummed about Travis II as well. I keep losing people right at the end of missions. I'm really trying to be patient, and I don't think I'm taking more risks at the end, but it seems like every mission, the last alien takes someone out.

Blade6119: This project I'm working on is a disorganized mess at the moment, so things are not looking good for this Sunday. I'm guessing that I'll be able to play at least half the mission this weekend, but won't get a chance to finish the mission and write up the report until mid-week, next week, maybe later if the current condition of this project doesn't improve. I'll know more come Friday mid-afternoon. If some other people can come through with things and I have a burst of productivity on Thursday I could take the weekend off and get our mission in during one of the evenings.

There's also the chance that we get hit by another UFO in the next 12 hours of game time, which would mean that I'd send a team after that UFO first, which would mean a shorter mission, and a quicker write-up. If that happens, Sunday looks much more feasible.

I'll probably take a break on Thursday or Friday for an hour, though, to update our stats, pick the last four agents for the Strike Force, and move the game forward to see if the next mission will indeed be the base assault.

Locked and loaded, and ready to hit the base sir!


and bump, maybe we can snag some new readers...

*Yawn*

Ahem.

CW Jr, is not a III, thank you very much. He's the direct descendant of CW, and a flyboy turned ground pounder. :)

And CW Jr has considered your request for getting your back in front of you, and has denied it. Please play Sprite Under the Cap again.

sry...i was looking at godzilla post...just realized he edited that later

godzilla.....you want to post the mission...maybe a transmission to make us ancy..something that confirms my guy lives...

Here're our updated stats...

X-COM II Troop Master List (After Mission 59)

USA COM

EU COM

ASIA COM




X-COM II Troop Attributes
Support Personnel

Attribute Leaders (After Mission 59)

Attribute Doggies (After Mission 59)

Top Ten Kills Leaders
Waiting List

The Hall of Heroes

Update

September 3

X-COM command selects the final four members of the Strike Force, giving us the following fourteen agents:

Kodos
Sachmo II
Chief Rum II
3ric III
Fonzie II
Coffee Warlord II
Tasan
Wade Moore
Airhog
Patman II
Blade 6119 III
Jfbbis
Jeeber D
Anxiety

We make the final shuffle of troops to EU COM, and early on the morning of September 4, we begin loading the Skyranger for the assault.

Midway through the preparations, Commander Kodos is hurriedly called away to EU COM headquarters for an emergency meeting. Thirty minutes later he returns, and calls the men together...

"Men, I have some bad news. EU COM command has just informed me that our radar has picked up signs of yet another alien base on European soil. That's right, a third alien base has gone active. These bastards are spreading like a bad cold. This one's on the border of Spain and Portugal, and X-COM command has given us this new base as our primary target. We are to launch immediately upon completion of our preparations, and we're launching blind, without knowing what type of aliens are in there. The thinking is that if we can knock it out quickly, we can prevent X-COM from losing Spanish and Portuguese funding, and we're guessing that we'll run into Sectoids, as it seems that they're the only type of aliens in bases. Let's just hope it's not Ethereals. Once..., ahem..., if we get back from this one, we'll put together another Strike Force to attack the German base.

"Also, Craptacular has passed on word that he desperately needs us to capture another Alien Commander. Something about the last one dying before he could get enough information out of the thing. So not only do we need to wipe this base off the face of the earth, we need to be careful that we don't blow apart the commander.

"That's all for now, men. Let's get this show on the road."

At 12:15PM on September 4, the EU COM Skyranger launches and heads west for the Iberian Peninsula. Deep in the mountains, the alien infested base awaits...

____________

I should be able to play this mission over the next three days, and hope to post by Friday at the latest.

Good hunting, men.

Gimmie the blaster launcher, Zilla. Please.

We took two of 'em this time. You got one. Chief's got the other.

I even loaded it for you this time.

make sure they stay away from me...i dont want a blaster launcher near me when they go to the dark side of the force!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It's so sad, it really is.

sigh

Sorry to waste the medical supplies GB, hopefully Travis III will learn to just kill the little alien buggers before they shoot him.

Keep up the good work!

Silly...blaster launcher's don't have to be near you to kill you. :)

/safely sitting this one out.

Oh yeah, baby! It's about time I got my hands on one of these!

I can't speak for sachmo, but thus far I have been mentally solid on my 12 missions. I hope to continue that string...long enough to kick some serious alien ass!

CR

I've got a bad feeling about this one... Kind of glad I'm not going.

Last second change of plan. That always ends well.

Men - Make sure to fill out those organ donor cards before we go.

Say, JeeberD. You've got a nice looking spleen there.... ;)

Rigelians have spleens?!?

Woohoo! I finally made it to Europe!!!

Gak! I suck!

Oh dear lord. Pray for me. I'm in on this mission. Probably gonna be running the point...

Oh, and Kodos has dibs on my spleen. If anyone wants my high-quality gall bladder just let me know...

Update

This quick message just in from the Skyranger pilot...

Skyranger Transmission

Um, I know I'm not supposed to break radio silence and stuff, but, I'm not sure things are going too well down there. Like two minutes ago, I heard Commander Kodos whisper, "I'm going in." and then I think a bunch of people went in after him. Then there was, like, this big friggin' boom, and now all I hear is everyone screaming for Medikits. That's not a good thing, is it?

Let me just sum up everyone's response in one succinct word.

Shit.

Uh-oh...doesn't sound good...

I wonder if I survived long enough to die then...

Is that JeeberD's spleen over in the corner? :confused:

I can't be sure, but it bears a remarkable resembalnce to mine. :(

I got dibs on Kodos's liver. I think I'll be needing a replacement one.

didnt i just say i didnt want any blaster launcers near me!!!!!!!

No, dummy. That's why he needs one. :)

CR

Hey GB...know when we can expect to know just how many of us actualy died?...like maybe in 10 minutes>?...with sugar on top?

I'm glad I "missed" my flight. *wipes a bucket of sweat from his brow*

Screams for medikits can be a good thing right? Right?

maybe we want to patch up the alien we shot up so it looks like we tried for craptacular

Maybe it's the aliens screaming for medikits?

CR

it's always possible...


this could be bad.....:(