X-COM II: The Earth’s Revenge (Part IX)
 

Welcome to Part Nine of X-COM II: The Earth’s Revenge!

Our story continues...

Recap
We are in the tenth month of the war between Earth and its alien invaders. By the ninth month of fighting--despite successes on the battlefield--it was clear that the aliens were overwhelming us with numbers, and support for our cause was dwindling. Germany, France, and England had all joined forces with the alien cause. UN funding for our war effort was getting slashed across the board. X-COM security incompetence led to an alien leader successfully committing suicide in captivity, and set our research back by two months. We were no closer to learning the secrets of our alien enemies than we were five months into the war. New alien bases had been discovered in Portugal and Germany, giving the aliens three bases of operations on Earth. World opinion was swinging in favor of the aliens. In short, things looked grim.

In the past month, however, we made shocking progress against our foes. With the alien infestation spreading and world opinion tipping against us, FOFC X-COM launched two daring raids on enemy bases in Portugal and Germany, both of which were stunning successes. In the process, agents captured “Poindexter”, a top-ranking Sectoid Commander, and one badly needed to crack the aliens’ secrets. By mid-month, X-COM interrogators had finally broken the prisoner and learned that nearby Mars is indeed the home of our foe. Furthermore, rumors abound that our alien prisoner is only weeks away from giving us enough information to allow us to begin planning an assault on the enemy planet. The deadly, enervating, defensive war that we have been fighting has tried agent and civilian morale, and this news that we may be able to finally bring the fight to the aliens has given our planet a badly needed boost of hope.

In other areas as well, significant progress has been made. Research gains during the month have lead to breakthroughs in both aircraft and armored vehicles, both of which currently have prototypes under construction. X-COM agents have also finally begun training in PSI-Ops, which should help even the table against the aliens’ devastating mind attacks. Funding is back up to all-time levels, and profits from successful missions have allowed X-COM to expand operations at SAM COM, open AFRICA COM, and begin construction on ANT COM in Antarctica. A wave of hiring has added badly needed recruits to our forces. In short, there is hope that our struggle is not in vain.

Despite this optimism, there is one huge, dark cloud on the horizon--one that could ultimately make these gains insignificant. There is the growing belief that the aliens have discovered the location of our EU COM base, and that an alien attack on that critical installation is not a matter of “if”, but of “when”. If attacks on that base come, they will be fights that we cannot lose. Doing so would mean disastrous setbacks in weapons production and research, and would wipe away the gains of the past month and more. Our efforts are only one loss away from spinning badly the other way. In short, our situation is precarious, and victory far from certain.

It is here where we’ll resume our story. When we last left off, we were in the midst of one of our harrying tactics against the enemy: our EU COM Skyranger was circling the alien base in England and waiting to pounce on an approaching Supply UFO. We’ll pick things up with their attack.

Read along as the fight rages on, as the brave men of X-COM II slog their way through encounter after encounter against our deadly foe, and the fate of the planet hangs in the balance.

By way of explanation
This "dynasty" is a participatory story using the Microprose game X-COM: UFO Defense. If you'd like to sign up, just post here to let me know. You don't need to know anything about the game, basically you just read along and post comments as you like, although at times there are decisions to be made where input is requested. In almost all of those cases, you don't need to know anything about the game to make an equally bad decision as I usually do.

Past Links
A Sectoid cyber attack on our computer systems took out much of the recorded history of our fight against the aliens, but these few recent links remain. Efforts to regain public access to the lost annals continue.

X-COM II (Part VI)
X-COM II (Part VII)
X-COM II (Part VIII)

Rise up, men! It is time to fight!

Fight the alien menace to the last, boys... :mad:

It's Showtime!

I just remembered... I'm a babysitter at SAM COM. So much for Showtime for me.

Locked and loaded
Ready to see some aliens 'ploded


Okay that was weak.

YAY WE ARE BACK!

*please don't die*

We resume our story...

previously on X-COM II...

October 13

Our EU COM Hyper Wave Decoder picks up alien transmissions that indicate a large, Sectoid-piloted Supply Ship will be bringing in supplies to the British alien base within the next twelve hours. Sure enough, 5 hours later we pick up the UFO on our radar systems. We prepare our EU COM Skyranger for launch. Our plan is to pounce on the UFO as soon as it lands, which given its current flight path and speed, should be dawn on the 14th.

On board will be the following agents:
Jfbbis, Revrew, Tasan, Afoci, Blade III, Lokugh II, Wolfpack, Japherwaki II, Mr. Bug IV, Swaggs.

Twenty minutes after spotting the Supply Ship on radar, EU COM picks up another small UFO over the Mediterranean Sea. Superman launches in the Interceptor and downs the craft over central France. We immediately launch the USA COM Skyranger for that target. Shortly thereafter, the EU COM Skyranger begins its trip to England.

Our story resumes...

First up, EU COM should hit the Sectoid Supply Ship. Be ready for a big fight there, as Supply Ships have lots of aliens, usually Sectoids with PSI abilities! Should be a real party! Next, USA COM will hit the small UFO in France.

Good luck, men! Big day ahead! I hope you live until tomorrow!

___

As an aside, the USA COM mission will be a mini-writeup, but I'm thinking about writing full writeups for all three bases once we get into new missions, as we seem to have almost half the USA contingent back in action. More details to follow.

EEP! I don't know if I like the idea of being in the first mission back.....even if it WAS on the backburner for so long.....I've got a bad feeling about this....

Uh oh, not looking good for Swaggs/Lokugh/Jfbbis/Revrew.

The four with five? They come back alive:
One kills three, whee whee whee!


HORRAY!

I hope I got 3 kills....;- )

I've forgotten, GB, am I at EU COM or USA COM (or ASIA or SAM)?

SI

An agent recap would be great at this point too. Thanks

Yay! Glad you have the time to continue this dynasty GB. Looking forward to reading it.
And nice riddle. :)

Nice riddle, GB!

GB's been reading too much Lord of the Rings. Pretty soon he'll have Kodos singing ancient Sectoid songs in their own language. :D

The one with EIGHT???? Aaaaaaaahhhhh! Everybody knows that's me! There's no 'clouding' of that vision. A little bit late...NO LONGER TICKS?? Oh, goodbye cruel world! X-COM loses another of the original agents. :( It's all over for the rev.

Well, I hope that means that Blade III will have a longer life than Blade II...

disgruntled marine in Star Craft

:)

To quote Duke Nukem " Nobody steals our chicks... and lives " :D

Whoops. Fixed a small glitch in the riddle. Sorry 'bout that.

About that stat list/roster sheet...

I mention it in a bit more detail in the roll call thread, but the updated stat list is taking longer than I thought it would. I'm going to post this mission first. I'll sort out all the stats, base assignments, and kill tallies right after it, and should have an updated stat list by Saturday. The mission will be up before midnight CST today, though.

Yay?

Right?

He said he fixed a glitch in the riddle. I think the new line is:

The one with the most has his heart eaten by an alien ghost.

:)

Yay! Whee! Yahoo! It's back! Yes!

*ahem*

Neat.

78th Mission: British Supply Ship

The EU COM flies a holding pattern over the English Channel, waiting for word from EU COM headquarters that the Sectoid supply ship has landed. Our hyper-wave radar has been a godsend: we’ve known for 8 hours that the alien UFO was headed right for the British Sectoid base, and were able to get our Skyranger in position to attack right at the crack of dawn.

With Commander Kodos out with a cold, Captain Jfbbis takes charge of today’s crew.

These large supply ships have always been a tough fight, and usually involve PSI-capable Sectoids. Today should be no exception.

The green light flashes and the Skyranger picks up speed for the barren plains of northern England.

Good luck, men!

Left Side:
1. Jfbbis (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Lokugh II (Stun Launcher, Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Wolfpack (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Afoci (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Swaggs (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

Right Side:
1. Blade III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Revrew (Blaster Launcher, Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Japherwaki II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Tasan (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Mr. Bug IV (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

As we descend to the rocky tundra below, we scan the battlefield. We’ve got a cloudy, cool, fall morning, and the gray landscape below should make spotting gray Sectoids a bit tough. It looks like we’re coming down on the northwest part of the battlefield, but in the dim light, we can’t see much. There is no sign of the UFO. We can see that there are rocky mounds on both sides of the Skyranger and that there is a large rocky hill at the nose of the Skyranger. The area to the rear of our exit is secure ground, as is the area beyond the mounds to the left of the Skyranger. The majority of today’s battle should occur to the right and front of our Skyranger.

The Skyranger crunches into the rocky landscape. The gate falls open. Silence.

We start our tank down the ramp. Suddenly, a plasma blast comes screaming in from the left and cuts through the tank’s armor, causing the vehicle to grind to a halt and die. Looks like the main computer must have been hit. Damn, it’s been knocked out already. No time to lose, though. Blade III and Jfbbis come tearing out of the Skyranger, dive left off the ramp, roll on the rocky ground, and come up firing at…

A Sectoid, about 15 yards away, in front of a small mound. The Sectoid is ready for us, though, and both sides open fire simultaneously. The Sectoid nearly hits Blade, but its shot slams harmlessly into the landing gear strut to the left of Blade’s head. Blade and Jfbbis don’t give the Sectoid a second chance though: both of them drill the Sectoid with plasma blasts that tear the thing apart! The two men then quickly scan this side of the Skyranger for more life: nothing. X-COM 1, Aliens 0.


X-COM troops are ambushed by Sectoid forces. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

Lokugh II comes out of the Skyranger, breaks right and jumps off the ramp: Sectoid, right in front of him, about 10 yards away! Both Lokugh and the alien pull the triggers at the same time, and both hit at the same time. The Sectoid goes flying backwards in a heap, and Lokugh takes a crunching hit to the chest that knocks him to his knees. The Sectoid is a green mess and clearly dead. Lokugh wobbles on his knees…

But stays up! He tries desparately to breathe, and after a few seconds manages to get some huge gulps of oxygen that take an edge off the diziness. He coughs up a bit of blood, gives Jfbbis an “ok”, and gets ready to resume fighting. Boo yah! We came to party! X-COM 2, Aliens 0.

Things go quiet for a moment, and we begin our deployment. We send Afoci and Blade left to check out the small mounds to the left of our exit. Japhwerwaki II exits the Skyranger and comes up under the Skyranger. He quickly advances to the nose of the craft. He’ll cover this area until we can clear the relatively small amount of ground to the left of our craft. Wolfpack and Lokugh II head right towards the mounds that lie on that side of our Skyranger. The rest of the men wait in the Skyranger: we can guess that there is an enemy Blaster Launcher out there, and we don’t want to bunch up and lose a handful of men with one shot.

With Japh holding our front, Afoci and Blade make a quick, uneventful search of the two mounds that lie to the left of our Skyranger.

On the right side of the Skyranger, Wolfpack and Lokugh go over the first two mounds, an come upon a larger mound that has a narrow, winding chasm cut right through the middle of it: where is Danny Van Halen, expert chasm clearer, when you need him? As the two men eye the opening, a Sectoid steps out and rips off two shots at Lokugh! The first one misses, but the second one clangs off the top of Lokugh’s helmet. Sharp jolts of pain shoot down his spine and his vision blurs, but once again he manages to stay up! Before either of the two men can return fire, the Sectoid cuts back into the chasm and disappears from view. As Wolfpack and Lokugh take cover, prep grenades, and toss them towards the fissure, Tasan exits the Skyranger and races to help support our position over here.

The grenades go off in two quick booms that send rock and dirt spewing out of the chasm, but we hear no alien screams from the silent, dark chasm. Suddenly, from the left side of this hill, another Sectoid appears, about 40 yards away! This one quickly fires some kind of missile that clips the side of the hill and explodes about 20 yards in front of our position. Wolfpack and Lokugh II open fire on the Sectoid on full-auto. Green plasma flies alongside the hill and rips up the earth near the Sectoid. Wolfpack gets the first hit, as he blows the Sectoids right arm off, then Lokugh catches the thing in the stomach. The Sectoid’s intestines gush out onto the rocky soil and the thing drops over dead. X-COM 3, Aliens 0.



A panoramic view of an X-COM attempt to root out Sectoids dug into caves. Seconds later the X-COM agent in the middle was killed by alien fire. October, 2003. X-COM Archives PanSCAN Photo

Suddenly, the Sectoid in the chasm reappears! Wolfpack doesn’t have an angle on the thing, Tasan is too far away; it’s one-on-one, from 15 yards away, between Lokugh II and this Sectoid! Both open fire at the same time. Lokugh’s shots clip the rocks on either side of the chasm, but the Sectoid’s first shot hits Lokugh in his weakened chest plate! The shot cuts through body and armor. A gush of red comes out a hole in Lokugh’s back plate and he topples backwards, dead before he hits the ground. Aargh! Wolfpack preps another grenade and tosses it into the chasm. Tasan races for the entrance. The alien spins to retreat, but Wolfpack’s grenade goes off and blows the thing apart! Yes! We race Mr. Bug IV and Jfbbis forward to help out on this side of the Skyranger, as things are getting hot over here. X-COM 4, Aliens 1.

Things on the other side of the Skyranger are calmer. Swaggs exits the Skyranger and joins Japherwaki II. Afoci and Blade finish searching the left side of the Skyranger, and they move forward to form a line with Swaggs and Japh. Together, the four of them begin to climb the large hill that lies in front of our Skyranger. As they start up, Japh catches a glimpse of the bulky alien Supply Ship on the other side. We’ll send these men (Squad One) over the hill and around the near side of the UFO. A Supply Ship should have doors on the far side, and so we’ll need to go around the thing to get in.



X-COM forces advance through rocky terrain. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

Supply ships usually have Sectoid officers up high, in the command center on the west end of the craft. It’s usually a good idea to try to hit this part of the ship with blaster missiles to try to take them out early. With this in mind, Revrew exits the Skyranger, aims, and sends a blaster missile up over our Skyranger and the large hill in between, and slams it into the bridge of the Supply Ship. From his vantage point about 50 yards away, Japh can see the rocket hit, explode, and blow a large hole in the side of the tough alien craft. Japh also hears the screams of Sectoids dying inside! Yes! Revrew got at least one with that shot! As Swaggs, Blade, Japh, and Afoci continue their advance over the hill and towards the UFO, Revrew fires two missiles into the hole created by the first hit. The first of these shots brings no screams with it, but the second causes some kind of a chain reaction inside that sets off a series of four more explosions that shake the earth. Once again we hear Sectoids screaming inside! Revrew’s got at least two kills today! X-COM 7, Aliens, 1.

Back on the right side of the Skyranger, Jfbbis joins Tasan, and together they begin a sweep around the near side of the steep, unclimable rock formation that houses the chasm. Mr. Bug IV heads right into the chasm, and Wolfpack starts around the far side. Once these four men clear this, they should be very close to the right side of the UFO. The search takes a few minutes, but things begin without incident. Tasan and Jfbbis have the easiest search and the shortest route. They are the first ones to clear their path around the hill and sure enough, as they reach the far side, they spot the right side of the UFO. Just as they get there, a Sectoid comes around the corner of the craft! The Sectoid looks surprised, then bolts back around the corner of the UFO and out of sight. Tasan quickly prepares a grenade and tosses it to the spot where the alien disappeared. Both men then train their weapons on the corner and wait…

Seconds later, the Sectoid reappears and opens fire at Tasan before either men can react! Plasma shots slam into the rock in front of Tasan. Tasan’s grenade goes off with a roar, and the Sectoid is blown to smithereens! Well done, Tasan! X-COM 8, Aliens 1.

Except for the whirring of internal UFO doors, things go quiet for the next few minutes. Japh, Blade, Swaggs, and Afoci get around the left corner of the UFO and set up an assault position on the left exit. Swaggs and Blade cover the exit from 15 yards away, while Afoci and Japh hug the wall of the UFO, just shy of the final approach on the UFO.



X-COM troops prepare to assault a Sectoid supply ship. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo

Meanwhile, at the other end of the UFO, Wolfpack, Mr. Bug IV, Tasan, and Jfbbis all converge on the right corner of the UFO and begin their way around that corner of the craft. There should be a second exit on this end of the craft, and we’ll have these men go in through that exit.

Suddenly, a Sectoid exits the UFO, right in front of Blade and Swaggs. The two men ready their heavy plasmas and go to pull the trigger, but the alien darts back inside before either man can fire. Blade tosses a grenade on a 30-second timer near the exit, but it goes off harmlessly. Scant seconds later, the Sectoid reappears! This time Blade is quick to the draw: he drills the Sectoid in the right shoulder as it exits. The blast severs the arm off and sends the Sectoid wailing to the ground! And then another Sectoid is right on this one’s heels! It turns to fire, but Blade gets off another quick shot first. This one blows the Sectoid’s knee apart and sends it howling to the ground. And then another Sectoid appears! Swaggs, fire! This Sectoid is a bit faster than Blade and gets off a shot that clips Blade’s neck armor and blows a chunk of Blade’s throat away! The shot must have hit a major artery, as a stream of blood comes squirting out of Blade! Blade pulls the trigger once more, but his shot sprays well wide. The Sectoid turns back into the UFO. As Swaggs pulls out a Medipatch and slaps it on Blade’s neck, Afoci and Japh get up and charge the UFO door. Afoci pops it open, and comes face-to-face with the surprised Sectoid. He slams the butt of his heavy plasma into the Sectoid’s face. The force of the blow breaks the creature’s neck and kills it instantly. Afoci hops over the falling body and breaks right along the outer corridor. Japh enters the UFO right behind him and breaks left. X-COM 11, Aliens 1.

As Wolfpack, Mr. Bug IV, Tasan, and Jfbbis rush the far exit to help the men inside the UFO, a Sectoid comes around a corner right in front of Japherwaki II. Japh dives right and pulls the trigger on his heavy plasma. Three shots slam into the creature’s chest, sending green goo splattering in all directions. The Sectoid crumples backwards in a heap, its chest a steaming mess. Way to go, Japh! X-COM 12, Aliens 1.

And that’s all she wrote! Well done, men! Tough to lose Lokugh, but not a bad return to action!

Kills: Revrew, 3; Japherwaki II, 1; Tasan, 1; Jfbbis, 1; Afoci, 1; Blade III, 2; Lokugh II, 2; Wolfpack, 1.
KIA: Lokugh II.
Wounded: Blade III (3 days).
Attribute Improvements: Jfbbis, Japherwaki II, Tasan, Revrew, Blade III, Wolfpack.
Final score: 412.
Mission Notes:
Revrew picks up a hattrick with his blaster launcher missiles.

Japherwaki II’s reaction skill increased by one, to 32! Wow!

Blade III’s wound looked bad, but quick action by Swaggs kept the bleeding to a minimum. Blade III should be back in action in no time.

Rock on. We rule. According to GB! WOO! GO US!

All in all, not a bad return. RIP Lokugh II.

Win!!! Good job revrew!

I guess Lokugh's good luck ran out after a couple of close calls. RIP, Lokugh. Your planet thanks you.

Don't mind me. Someone has to man the barracks. Don't want sectoids back here.

Everyone got a kill but me it seems

Thanks Swaggs! I owe you!

Location: Heaven. Pearly gates in the background at a distance.
Time: Just last night.

In ranks, a number of angels wearing X-COM uniforms are waiting to welcome their newest member. They are all here. In the front row, we can see four generations of the Illinifan family, there just to the left. Just behind them are both of the Blades's and a couple of Mr.Bugs's. In the back row, we see Kodos the Elder making rabbit ears (using two tentacles) behind Cam Edwards's halo. Next to him, the two Data Kings are chatting with Real Deal II and Coffee Warlord, Sr. All the jabbering stops though as trumpets blare.

An old, gray-bearded angel carrying some keys, escorts a young bewildered looking man over to the group. "Here ya go, boy. They'll take you from here," he says kindly.

One of the uniformed angels walks out from the first row and hugs the young bewildered soldier. "Well, son, ya did us proud. We all thought you were going to make it through that one, after the first two shots...well, ok, Al Hill, Jr. was giving 3-1 against, but other than that we were all thinking you'd make it. You did us proud though," Lokugh, Sr. said to his son, putting his arm around the young man. "Come over, meet the others, and then we'll take you to the depot to get your wings and halo. Once that's done, we'll take you over to our watering hole, The Splattered Sectoid. The Almighty gives us a soldiers a special dispensation on the whole alcohol thing, so don't worry about that. Then, on Tuesday, we'll all settle down in front of the 60 foot plasma screen and see how USACom does in France. Maybe that boy of yours will get called up soon..."

The group of uniformed angels all gather around the newcomer and lead him off into the distance, joking and jostling along. As they go, another group of angels form up...these not in uniform...and another trumpet sounds...

that was one of the best death posts in awhile lokugh...and im proud you mentioned my ancestors...cant wait for you to get back into battle my brother!

Hey godzilla...whos going on the USA mission...You said i was shipped there. And also, can you post the recruits stats, since at the end of the last dynasty you brought us up, but never showed us our guys.

Yup, I'll be working on the stats today. Probably won't be able to post them until later tonight, as I'm playing doctor today. My wife and son are both wiped out with the flu. Damn Sectoid bio warfare. They'll stop at nothing.

Blade6119: You died on the USA mission. Nasty death as usual. I'll post the recap in a little while.

........i hope this is one of your sick jokes...i didnt even get to see my guys stats and im dead?...i hate you soooooooooooooooooo much :mad:

dola...im sorry...please dont kill me :)

I read this as: Ardent: You are still alive. No nasty deaths for you.

Thanks a lot...i see all my friends are coming out to support me now...whos going to turn on me next?

They told me to ad lib, my friend. You want me to ad lib? You take what you get!

:)

Only 1 KIA that seems like not to bad a thing.

Patiently waiting for the updated active list to see if I end up anywhere. :)

Just kidding there, Blade6119.

Well, kind of.

He he.

Power sure does corrupt.

JokerAce: That was mission 78, and Lokugh II was our 68th death, so 1 death per mission is about right. But supply ship attacks rank up there with the more dangerous missions, so 1 death is not too bad for that type of mission. "Acceptable casualties", unless you are Lokugh II.

Lokugh: Great writeup! I'm glad you've found your peace. We'll get Lokugh III right on the list.

Mr. Bug: Swaggs didn't get a kill either. We'll work on it next time. My goal is to spread out the kills on each mission as much as possible so that we maximize attribute gains, but it's usually something I can't control all that well in dangerous missions.

Which Blade is he talking about? I have two dead ancestors as well!

At least it is only two so far...

:eek:

Screw shooting them. I kill them hand to hand...with the butt of my weapon...

Isn't that umm, weapon to carcass or something?

I kill them by sheer power of Grizzle.

I thought you used logic.

I'm ready to get back in the game, coach.

In the words of the indestructable gopher...

"I'm all right. Don't nobody worry 'bout me. I'm all right..."

Whoo-hoo! I luuuuuv that blaster launcher!

Update

I’ve just gone through everyone’s stats, updated all the base assignments, and tallied up all the kill totals. All these stats are based on the game after mission 80, which is where I left off playing right when my daughter was born. Since it would be a little silly to post the future before it happens, I’ll be posting the recaps for missions 79 & 80 today, then putting up the stats right after that. Both 79 and 80 were out of the USA COM base, and that was when the base was mostly filled with inactive agents, so all I have are the brief mission summaries. Since most of the agents at USA COM are now active agents, I’m going to full writeups for USA COM, EU COM, and ASIA COM after mission 80.

Also, I just wanted to fill people in on how an agent’s career will unfold. We’ve now got five bases scattered around the world. Three of them (USA, Europe, and Asia) are attack-capable bases for us. Each of these bases will normally have around 15 agents in them, and we’ll do full mission writeups for all of the missions at/from these bases. Two of our bases (South America and Africa) are non-military bases that do not have attack capabilities. Each of these bases will have 5-10 agents stationed as a guard force. These agents will only be part of writeups if, by some chance, their base gets attacked.

Basically, this means that we’ll have three groups of agents on active duty, two groups that are on guard duty, and a third group waiting at home for the phone to ring to get called to action. In short, people will move through the system in the following order:

1. Waiting List
2. Guard Duty at AFR COM
3. Guard Duty at SAM COM
4. Active Duty at USA COM, or EU COM, or ASIA COM

On other thing to know. In order to get as many current readers involved in the dynasty as possible, there are a couple of places where you’ve got to confirm your presence by posting a reply to a call up. Between the waiting list and guard duty, and between guard duty and active duty, I’ll post your name requesting that you confirm you’re still reading and ready for the next step up in action. Basically, we’re trying to avoid having people who no longer visit the thread getting in the action and tying up spots for people who would like to be more involved. Also, the replies, comments, and writeups from the agents make the dynasty so much better. Lastly, if you die, let me know that you want your offspring to continue fighting. Any kind of a post after you die is good enough.

That’s about it. Up next, a recap of the USA COM action in France.

79th Mission: USA COM vs. Sectoids in France

This mission was done when we were doing summaries only for the USA base.

Our troops today:

Left Side:
1. Daimyo II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Wade Moore (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. BYU (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. The Time (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Sublime II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

Right Side:
1. Achilles (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. CT Homer (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)
3. Data King III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Wignasty (Heavy Plasma, Stun Launcher, Power Suit)
5. Rawisdan (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)

Achilles kills an alien walking through a field.

There was only one measly alien on this mission.

Kills: Achilles.
KIA: None.
Wounded: None
Attribute Improvements: Achilles.
Final score: 30.
Mission Notes:
Zzzzzzz.

Dang it. So, I suppose I'm waiting or in Africa, eh?

Actually, both of you...you are all just Blades to me< g >.

Lokugh

lol...works for me

Update

Shortly after the USA COM Skyranger returned to base, North American radar picked up a small UFO hurtling south over Canada. CapnMorgan took off in the Interceptor and forced the craft down over rural Idaho. Less than an hour after the USA COM Skyranger returned from Europe, it was airborne again. On board were the following men:

Airhog II, CT Homer, Fat Football II, Sublime II, Blade6119 IV, Achilles, BYU, The Time, Anxiety II, Klayman III

Base intelligence told the men that they should expect light resistance: a small UFO that has crash-landed should have 1-3 live aliens. Consensus: a cakewalk.

The intelligence was dead wrong.

That sounds like generally good news...

Does this mean I get in soon?

Damn those intelligence reports!

80th Mission: USA COM vs. Ethereals in Idaho

This is the last mini-recap that we’ll see in the near future. From here on out, it'll be full writeups.

Our troops today:

Left Side:
1. Airhog II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. CT Homer (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Fat Football II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Sublime II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Blade6119 IV (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)

Right Side:
1. Achilles (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. BYU (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)
3. The Time (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Anxiety II (Heavy Plasma, Stun Launcher, Power Suit)
5. Klayman III (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)

The Skyranger touched down about 100 yards away from the smoking remains of the UFO. The first sign that things would not go as planned was the size of the UFO. Instead of a small UFO, the men faced a medium-sized craft that could contain many more aliens. The second sign that things would not go easily was a massive PSI-attack that washed over our men as they exited the Skyranger. The third sign came shortly after the first men exited the craft: an Ethereal closed in on our craft and nearly took out two men. Instead of a cakewalk against 1-3 Sectoids, the men were facing a knock-down battle against seven tough Ethereals.

The highlights…

Achilles shoots and kills an Ethereal that attacked us right after we exited the Skyranger.

Anxiety II shoots and kills an Ethereal as we approach the UFO.

Blade6119 IV tries to throw a grenade into the UFO through its collapsed roof, but hits a tree branch right in front of him instead. The grenade falls at his feet and explodes, badly wounding him and nearly wounding three other agents. The explosion disrupts our entire attack, and brings Ethereals screaming down on our position. Within a minute, we are pinned down and under heavy fire.

BYU is killed by Ethereal fire in the subsequent melee.

Klayman III shoots and kills the Ethereal that killed BYU.

Sublime II tosses a grenade through the UFO roof to kill an alien.

Fat Football II uses the Blaster Launcher to kill an Ethereal near the UFO door.

Fat Football II uses the Blaster Launcher to kill a second alien dug in alongside the UFO.

The Time almost got PSI-controlled, but was able to fight it off.

Klayman III knocks out the last alien with a grenade toss into the UFO.

Kills: Achilles, 1; Klayman III, 1; Fat Football II, 2, Anxiety II, 1; Sublime II, 1.
KIA: BYU.
Wounded: Blade6119 IV (12 days)
Attribute Improvements: Achilles, Anxiety II, Blade6119 IV, Klayman III, Fat Football II, The Time, Sublime II.
Final score: 186.
Mission Notes:
I can’t believe we lost Captain BYU. He is the first agent with 20-plus missions of experience to die. Crap, crap, crap. I hate when that happens. He was really good too.

Blade6119’s grenade toss would have been hilarious if not for the fact that it almost killed four men. The fact that he survived is a minor miracle. It went off right at his feet.

The loss of a Captain should mean a flurry of promotions in the near future, as lower ranking agents are bumped up.

I DIDNT DIE!!!! I did pull a kodos, but i lived! Talk about luck! Is BYU even around any more...if so, im sorry to him for bringing in the enemy and almost killing half the squad...

Seaman recruit to seaman apprentice. I can't wait. :) Seriously, where am I in the grand scheme?

why aren't you working on more of ardent walks on?
:D

Update

Promotions

Congratulations to the following agents!

Qwikshot II....Captain!
Render II....Sergeant!
Swaggs....Sergeant!
Coffee Warlord II....Sergeant!

You are an example to us all!

(As an aside to those who are new. The game picks these automatically. Nothing I can do about them.)

Ok, here is one loooooong stats update. Normally, I won't be posting the Hall of Heroes with every update. Let me know if you I've missed you, or if something is off.

X-COM II Troop Master List (After Mission 80)

USA COM

EU COM

ASIA COM

SAM COM

AFRICA COM

X-COM II Troop Attributes
Support Personnel

Attribute Leaders (After Mission 80)

Attribute Doggies (After Mission 80)

Top Ten Kills Leaders

Waiting List

The Hall of Heroes

Wow, I'm honored by my promotion. I only wish that 10 bravery would be gone by now, I feel its a kiss of death.

Crapt. Waiting list.

Update

RING RING RING

I'm going to move Daimyo II, Wignasty, and Data King III down to guard duty so I can free up three more spots for active agents. Normally we'll go in order, but I'm holding up the game to do this so we need to move fast this time. The first three SAM COM agents that confirm will get shifted to active duty. Chuck U Farley, Psycho Cop II, Calis, Tucker II, and Sachmo III, you're on the clock! Reply here to come kill aliens!

Rats.

damn...10 bravery as well...and i cant react for nothing

Hey, Blade6119, look on the bright side.

One, you should have died twice already. First, the grenade should have killed you. Second, BYU took your spot in the advance when you got wounded, and two minutes later he got drilled by a sniper. That bullet was meant for you.

Two, it could be worse. Check out Mike Vic's stats. I think that's the worst set of stats we've ever seen. It's going to be fun trying to keep him alive.

ardent: Your time will come. We can lose four or five guys in a flash. Be prepared. Be ready. The war will come.

I guess Blade gets to break the news to my Widow :( I had a good run, I guess it is time for junior to exact vengence, please add BYU 14 II to the waiting list.

Good points ...my shot is already one of the best in the division...and i guess that nade that almost killed me actually saved my life...interesting

And ardent, you will never get in...and if you do, watch out for friendly fire ;)

Im sorry man...i will attempt to watch your son, and kill as many aliens as possible to avenge your death! :mad:

And, if you're around long enough, so will the diarrhea in the flightsuit. Be ready.

:D

Well, I suppose if I must... If I'm a recruit in training, where's the never dull? Might as well get some brass around here to shine. :)

hey ardent...this here is special forces with the army...we dont take kindly to your kind around here...you navy pansie;) ...go scrub the toilets!

Hahahaha! What a fool that MikeVic! Those stats sure suck. He's on the list twice for doggies!

...


crap. :(

If you want, you can opt out, and let someone else on the waiting list take your spot. You'd drop to the top of the waiting list. Let me know.

No PRESSURE. :)

Nononono. I didn't mean it like that. :) Just poking fun at my own misfortunes. Sorry if my post gave off the wrong impression. I'd only opt out if you REALLY don't want to use my character. I have no problem with him though. :D

No problem at all from this end either. In the past, let's just say that low bravery soldiers weren't living all that long, so we had an option to drop back onto the waiting list and let someone else take your place. We've yet to not use an agent, and I'm actually looking forward to trying to keep you alive.

Just for your information, the fastest death was by Coffee Warlord (was it I or II?), who died less than a minute into his first mission. The ramp dropped and he got hit by incoming fire. Dead.

Not that this would ever happen to you, but I just thought I'd share.

On the positive side, you've got a lot of room for improvement!

I get the feeling I'm being mocked.

:)

Hah! I'm a coward with no aim! That doesn't bode too well for anyone assigned with me on a mission... ;) I hope to stay out of the record books with fastest death, though. :redface:

And now you should be very, very afraid, maggots.

CW II is gonna be whipping your asses into fighting shape!

You're reaction skill is still better than mine... :(

CW II, anyone tell you about your dad?

I get that feeling a lot. I wonder why. :confused:

SI

Congrats. You are the second X-Commer to pull a Kodos and live to tell the tale.

Besides, you didn't throw a grenade and have it bounce back at your feet twice. Now THAT would be pathetic, my friend.

The King wants to kick some alien butt. Give me a grenade and I'll show you how to use it. Shove it down the aliens throat and watch him implode.

I'm such a weenie. 21 in strength, what's up with that?

"Ugh... Heavy Plasma... too heavy... mustn't faint... must fight on... ooh!"

The game reflecting real life perhaps? :D



Uh...GB, I see Klayman III get a kill in the last mission but I don't see him anywhere on the master list. Guess that makes me kinda of like a phantom warrior. I'm indestructible!

And don't think that you can cut costs by not paying me. I think X-com needs a union rep.

Chuck U. reporting.

I'm confirming my transfer.

This is the moment I've been waiting for all my life.

Confirming transfer.

I would like to thank my commanding officers for giving me this promotion. I know Father would be proud that his son is carrying on the family pride and honor and is being recignized for his faithful service. I want to send out my thoughts and prayers to the families of all humanity who have felt the pain of loss of life during this alien threat.

I will not succomb to these alien scum!

DIE ALIEN BOY!


umm, no offense kodos.....

I get that a lot. :D

Bah my promotion to Captain didn't go through again! Just you wait until I get those psi-powers. Then we'll see who's commanding who. :) What's the latest on Psi-training anyway?

(I know the promotions are game generated GB)

Qwikshot: I think that 10 bravery might not be as bad as I initially thought. I think it only starts to come into play if we suffer high casualties, and we've been lucky to avoid that so far. The underlying PSI-ratings are probably much more important.

BYU: You're back! Good to hear from you! Sorry about your death. We'll get your son right back on the waiting list!

Japherwaki: No mocked. Just amazed. It's so rare that someone with low reactions gets an improvement. Jfbbis has been in the low 30's for nearly 20 missions.

Kingfc: Welcome aboard! We'll get your name on the waiting list.

3ric IV: Yeah, you need some work in the weight room. 20 is the lowest starting rating for strength. Don't worry, though, strength goes up fast.

Klayman: Got it. I pasted Airhog II's line in there twice. I'll fix it right up. Thanks for pointing that out.

Calis, Sachmo, Chuck U Farley: You're in. You'll be on a flight to an active base shortly. With that, the call up is over.

Thomkal: Based on agent numbers, I think we still have another round of promotions coming up. Probably after the next mission. I suggest you bribe your superior officers.

Update

October 14-20

Things go quiet for a couple of days, but we get a flurry of UFO activity on the 16th. Two UFO's spend a lot of time scurrying around Indonesia and Australia, but our ASIA COM Interceptor can't bring any of them down.

Also, during this time we get a close call with a UFO battleship that makes a beeline for our EU COM base, then turns away at the last moment. Scary stuff. Thought for sure we had a base attack coming.

Research wise, we make some solid gains during the time. Crappy's USA team cracks one of the mysteries of UFO technology, and have come up with plans for a ship called the "Lightning", a larger and faster fighter-transport. However, more importantly, this discovery has led Crappy to believe that we can create an ultimate fighting craft, on par with anything the aliens can throw at us. Also, this new design would have the capability of making the journey to Mars. In short, the possibility of striking at the alien's home planet may be technoligically feasible within a couple of months. Before beginning work on that design, however, we need to beef up the firepower of our aircraft, so Crappy's USA team begins looking for some way to harness fusion power for missile use. Elsewhere, the interrogation of "Poindexter", the alien commander, continues around the clock.

Production wise, Sterling Ice has facilities working 24 hours producing new hover tanks, which should give us more support and firepower on the ground, and a new fighter craft that is much stronger and faster than our current Interceptors. It's beginning to look as if we'll be able to take on some of those larger UFOs in the air instead of just waiting for them to land. Slowly but surely, we are pushing the fight back on the aliens.

On the night of the 19th, Superman downs a small UFO over Switzerland, and our EU COM base prepares to launch the Skyranger for a mop up. However, another battleship comes screaming towards our base, and we are forced to hold our position in Europe and launch the ASIA COM Skyranger for the mission instead. On the morning of the 20th, the craft is airborne towards the crash site.

On board are the following ten men:

Rich, Jeff Nights II, Danny Van Halen, Qwikshot II, Fonzie II, Render II, Condors II, Zippy II, 3ric IV, and Split Personality III.

Should be a piece of cake.

__________

This mission should go fairly fast, so I'm thinking that I'll be able to post it on Sunday night, shorly after the Super Bowl. After that, I think I'm going to try to post a mission at least every Sunday night. However, I'd like to go faster, so I'm going to aim for a Wednesday/Sunday two-missions-a-week pace. I'll probably miss a lot of Wednesdays though.