Let's Play X-Com: Enemy Within!

[Gammagooey]

Stream is at http://www.twitch.tv/gammagooey , usually stream at 9pm EST Wednesdays.

Roster

Rk. O'Neil, The Obligatory nameless death

KIA, Operation Blinding Shroud (Sectoid),

Cpl. Reck, The Heavy that knows Gamma from college

Sq. Zhou Wu, The Grenadiering Sniper That Doesn't Take Your Shit

KIA, Operation Purple Daze (Thin Man)

Sq. Cybele, The Overly Anxious Robot Support

Sq. Eddard Stark, The Watcher on The Walls, Assault

KIA, Operation Purple Daze (Thin Man)

Sq. RC, The Trigger-Happy Texan, Support

Rk. Action Jackson, The Guy Who Really Wants Reck's Rocket Launcher

KIA (Floater)

Rk. Cheery Dog, The Guy with Canine Tendencies

Sq. Caled, The Eager Support Soldier

KIA, (Thin Man)
Cpl. Billy 'Big Bollocks' Nexus, The Big-Bollocks'd coward

Rk. Dan Morph, Died Holding what he loved

KIA (Thin Man)

Rk. Aigis, Whose Robotic Tendencies never came to be

KIA (Thin Man)

Rk. Qiao Lixiang, Short-lived Predictor of Ani's demise

KIA (Thin Man)
Cpl. Seedy Bee, The Mostly Suicidal Heavy

Sq. Silver Dirttrip, The Hair-based Secret Weapon, Sniper

KIA (Sectoid)
Rk. Titus, The Crazy Occult one
Rk. Metis, Aigis's Avenger
Cpl. 'Phantom', The Calm from Argentina, Sniper
Sq. SpyreX, The Mechanical Man, MEC Trooper
Rk. Pi, The Has-Not-Been-On-A-Mission-Yet-At-This-Time
??? Robb Stark, The Has-Not-Been-On-A-Mission-Yet-At-This-Time

Spoiler: old streams

WARNING-SHIT SOUND QUALITY: First UFO Mission http://youtu.be/uO8lPFqOmzY
Argentina Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-_eN8NCz44
PORTENT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7WzaD4 ... yDBRCkNK5w
Argentina Time Pt2: http://youtu.be/j19L0ayaPvk
The Confusion and the Terror: http://youtu.be/d_bLke3I3Cw

Welcome... to X-com.



X-Com is a turn-based action-strategy game, wherein aliens have invaded Earth and the X-Com Project has been established in a secret meeting of Nations to pool their efforts and fight back. A squad of 4-6 men are sent out on missions to eliminate aliens, rescue VIPs, defuse bombs, or fight a new enemy, the EXALT, a transhumanist orginization that seeks to use the alien technology to gain power and evolve mankind, with the ultimate goal of world domination. To fight them covert operatives will be sent to infiltrate EXALT cells around the world, culminating in missions to retrieve the operative or hack relays to gain information on EXALT's primary base location.

Aside from the EXALT, the other major additions are a special scripted mission that happens sometime after the Alien Base Assault, and the addition of Meld, a new resource gathered in canisters on the game map that allows for either genetic modification of your soliders or the creation of MECs, Mechanized Exoskeleton Cybersuits with Miniguns and tactical subsystems that begin with the option between flamethrowers or EXTREME PUNCHING ABILITIES.

This is going to be very similar to Wraith's let's play he did here almost two years ago (http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=24004 - it has a lot of backstory on X-Com as well if you're interested), I'll be playing on Classic Ironman, and all of the rest of the Second Wave options and the multiple choice missions will be chosen by the viewers, as well as any squad promotions recieved at the end of a play session. (assuming we get enough volunteers I'll try to space out the people on missions so the volunteer can choose their own promotions as much as possible)

As evidenced by Wraith's previous playthrough, X-Com has surprisingly lax hiring standards- however, we do ask that you fill out this application to become our

cannon fodder

soldiers.

X-COM APPLICATION
Name: This is your username, which will be your soldier's Last Name. If you want a specific First Name, put it down, but it matters less.
Gender: This is optional. I can't actually change the gender of soldiers and the split is usually around 50/50 for men and women soldiers, but if you have a specific preference for one or the other, put it down
Race: The game has 4 races, White, Black, Asian, and Arab/Hispanic (the game lumps these together, not me)
Hair: This is basically hair style, just give me a little description of what you want and I'll choose the closest one. Enemy Within adds even more hats and options including a baseball cap, old school headphones, and some hazmat/futuristic helmets, describe what you want and i'll do my best to match it.
Hair Color: Self-explanatory. Ridiculous colors are acceptable too.
Facial Hair: Again, just give me a gist. There are LOTS of varieties of different beards, mustaches, sideburns, or combinations of each.
Armor Tint: This is armor color. Ridiculous colors are acceptable too.
Why I Should Hire YOU: Optional, but if you care to roleplay a little give me a little blurb on why X-COM wants YOU.

EXAMPLE DUDE



Any factors not mentioned above will be randomly assigned, more or less (including gender, unless specified in application or your forum profile). Everyone starts as Rookies, but once you hit Squaddie you are (more or less randomly) assigned one of four classes: Assault (Up Close and Personal Workhorse), Sniper (Deadly Dead-Eyed Motherfuckers), Heavy (Inaccurate Bricks), and Support (MEDIC). If you get killed, I will not make duplicates.

I'll be posting a the story through screenshots and possibly some highlight reel videos here, and if I can set it up on my computer I'll be livestreaming some or all of the the game as well. The first 'episode' will start at 9pm EST on Wednesday and I'll post the link here once I get the specifics figured out.

Chosen Base:


Chosen Second Wave Options:

Second Wave Options Descriptions

Damage Roulette: Weapons have a wider range of damage.
New Economy: Randomized council member funding.

Not Created Equally: Rookies will have random starting stats.

Hidden Potential: As a soldier is promoted, stats increase randomly.

Training Roulette: Each soldier's training tree will be mostly randomly generated. Does not apply to MEC Troopers.
After a Soldier receives a Class and their first ability, additional ranks can grant randomized abilities from a pool of the all the Class abilities sets minus any skills that are dependent on a specific weapons (which are still Class locked). So you could have an Assault with Sprinter or a Heavy with Deep Pockets.

Red Fog: Combat wounds will degrade the soldier’s mission stats.
Absolutely Critical: A flanking shot guarantees a critical hit.
The Greater Good: Psionics can only be learned from interrogating a psionic alien.
Marathon: The game takes considerably longer to complete. Choosing this option significantly increases the length of research and construction time.
Aiming Angles: Units receive aim bonus the closer to flanking an enemy they are.
Mind Hates Matter: Psionic soldiers can't become gene modded or vice-versa.

Save Scum: Loading a saved game will reset the random number seed, so taking an identical action may yield different results.

doesn't do anything on ironman

-----------------------

I would prefer to Not do either of Marathon or Red Fog, as the game is already going to take a fairly long time without Marathon and Red Fog looks like it only affects our troops and ignores health from armor so even a low damage hit on someone with ridiculously good armor can fuck them over for the rest of the mission. I WOULD like to do at least one or two of Not Created Equally, Hidden Potential and Training Roulette because I find it a lot more fun when the soldiers aren't functionally identical.
You may notice that a few of the options Wraith had for Second Wave aren't listed- although they've added a patch to make the Second Wave options he modded in regularly available, they're now unlocked by beating the game on Classic+Impossible and I've only done a complete playthrough on normal so far.

I'll post a few opening screenshots of the troop options and MECs/Gene Mods later tonight, and thanks to Wraith for allowing me to steal his application and the other information from his thread!

TL/DR- if you want to participate in a

potentially

probably suicidal mission to save the world, fill in the application and vote on any of the Second Wave options that you want! The first mission starts 9pm EST Wednesday if you want to watch or be in at the start but we'll still be needing PLENTY of new recruits after that.

[Gammagooey]

I just want to say that I bought Enemy Unknown in large part due to Wraith's topic, and I've loved every bit of it. I didn't buy the expansion though because it wasn't on sale, so I'm definitely going to be following this.

I don't really want to apply though, because I don't feel like dying. I might contribute something else if there aren't many applications though.

It's not STEAM SALE prices but I got Enemy Within for $20 from amazon instead of $30 if you want it and that'd put it in your price range

[Gammagooey]

I played Enemy Unknown and liked it a lot... is it worth it to get Enemy Within?

depends what you liked about it

if you really liked specializing your troops to have specific roles or to be individual characters then probably yes because $20 isnt bad and MEC suits are REALLY fun to use IMO+you get tons more soldier customization with the Training Roulette option from second wave

If you liked the special council missions or dealing with the surprises of new aliens then eeeeh. There ARE a few really good new missions and a new alien type added but it feels mostly the same and the overall story arc is almost identical aside from those few extra missions+dealing with EXALT as a kind of optional thing (basically they just do shitty things like raise panic or steal your money periodically, eliminating them makes that stop happening but you can just pretty much ignore them and try to get through the main missions relatively quickly so they don't have much effect if you so choose)

You might want to consider getting Enemy Within and downloading the Long War mod though (http://www.nexusmods.com/xcom/mods/88/?)- I haven't tried it yet but it adds a lot of new campaign stuff, reworks panic and losing countries, and adds a TON of other stuff like 4 new soldier classes, new weapons, and has the long-term strategy stuff work a lot differently. It sounds really good and I'm almost definitely going to give it a try after I've had some time to play Enemy Within without it for a while.

[Gammagooey]

So you would consider it to be more an add-on or expansion pack, as it were?

I guess more of a really solid add-on- the Exalt stuff is a bunch of extra content and they do behave differently than the regular aliens (using squad tactics) but it's not enough to really consider it a new campaign or anything like that.

(again the Long War mod does seem more like the full expansion pack experience though)

[Gammagooey]

Not sure if the stream quality will be decent or not buuut I'm starting in 10 minutes!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/gammagooey

[Gammagooey]

yep

[Gammagooey]

I'm uploading it to youtube now, I wasn't using a microphone for it so it's kind of mediocre IMO though? going to be posting the story through screenshots and text as well but it'll take a while to actually get all of that done.

also for next time either need to figure out how to move the watermark or just use the lower quality resolution to get rid of it because it's right in the middle of the screen and kind of irritating

also also I played through the first few missions since I definitely wanted to get Meld researched first and nobody got a promotion that required any choice for an ability- Meld is done researching so there's two choices to be made (also I see why Wraith did it one mission at a time, i'm getting the first mission story up tonight but it'll probably take until tomorrow to get the other two up)

Next Research-
a)Xeno-Biology (unlocks autopsies and Arc-Thrower research)
b)Weapon Fragments (unlocks laser weapons research)
c) Alien materials (unlocks Nanofiber vest immediately and the carapace armor research)

first Meld facility-
a)Gene Labs
b)MEC Bay

[Gammagooey]

Commander Gamma: Listen up soldiers, you've been chosen by your nation to join our first and last line of defense against the recent enemy incursions- The X-COM project. The founding nations militaries have been completely ineffective in dealing with such a mobile threat so we're sending you <location> in the fastest personnel carrier we've got, are there any questions?

Zhou: Why are there only 4 of us going on the mission? There were 6 more recruits left at the barracks and this 'Skyranger' has room for 6 of us.

Gamma: High Command wants a reserve of soldiers should there be...causalties during this mission.

Reck: That's...unsettling. More importantly, why were all of us except O'Neill given fake names and spray-on comestics to use during this mission? I've known you since fuckin' college, this is horseshit. YOU SAID I'D HAVE A BEER HAT, THAT IS NOT BEER HAT STYLE FIGHTING

Gamma: If you should fail, High Command will disavow your actions as a noble but foolish endeavor and shut down the project entirely to avoid political fallout. If it makes you feel better I'm just as fucked if we fail, I've got my entire career riding on this mission.

Reck: You're not gonna die from this though you cunt.

Gamma: Well don't get godamn shot then and we'll all be fine. As for O'Neill, the Irish government representative was...too drunk to provide her alternative documentation.

O'Neill: ...This project is just a political compromise isn't it. We're so fucked.

Gamma:Definitely not. Probably. Just fuckin' deal with it and get back home and you can go by your real names and faces again.

Skyranger: We're at the dropsite, everyone move out.



Dr Vahlen: That container looks like you can harvest its contents- we should take every possible advantage for the long-term fight against these aliens. It looks has a timed self-destruct mechanism so make sure to get to the canisters before it destroys itself.

Gamma: You heard her, take cover and collect that mysterious alien substance

Cybele: Not It, this is a terrible idea.

Zhou Wu: Godamnit. How do you even get this thing open? *Smash*

Cybele: oh fuck it's moving oh fuck oh fuck

Zhou Wu: It just spit out a capsule you godamn coward. Jesus, move up and scan the building up ahead.



O'Neill: HOSTILES SPOTTED, TAKING THE SHOT



O'Neill: SHIT YEAH, X-ray Down!

Zhou Wu: ANOTHER COMING AROUND THE SIDE



Cybele: Oh shit oh fuck oh shit

Gamma: O'Neill's still alive but just barely, there's a medkit on board the Skyranger but High command is refusing to allow landing clearance all the hostiles in the area are destroyed, it's circling the area and if one of those things hit it with plasma it could destroy the entire combat area.

Reck: THAT'S SUCH HORSESHIT GAMMA

Gamma: Just stay calm and eliminate the hostiles as quickly as you can without putting yourself in unnecessary danger.

Reck: SHITBAG, I can't hit the alien with a grenade from here, I'm moving up and you two scout by the trucks over there

Cybele: Please don't be here....none yet, there's another container of orange stuff here though!

Zhou Xu: X-Ray by passenger door of the far truck!



Zhou: He's coming towards us, open fire!




Zhou: He's not shooting yet, try again!

Cybele: WHY CAN'T WE HIT HIM



Gamma:...O'Neill's life signs just went dark.
Reck: At least she took one down, If you fucks die without even actually killing something I'm going to use the extra cosmetics to draw dicks on your faces

Zhou: X-Ray moved to the building, grenade out!



Zhou: X-Ray down, SUCK A DICK RECK

Reck: I wouldn't mind but anyone can fucking kill with a grenade, listen to this



Reck: One more X-Ray! Shot Wide, he's coming towards you!




Zhou: Nope, Cybele it's all yours!





Cybele: I did it!

Gamma: That's the last of them, good work.

Reck: ABOUT GODAMN TIME, GIVE ME BACK MY GODAMN NAME


(reck is Mazakiwi, Zhou is Masutha, Cybele is Chazan, and O' Neill is super dead.)

TO BE CONTINUED (next time with actually customized characters)
and to hold you over til tomorrow, have a picture of the squad going into next mission in all their customizable glory

[Gammagooey]

don't have the second mission writeup done yet, going to be busy tonight but i'll do my best to get it and the 3rd mission up sometime saturday night.

[Gammagooey]

that's actually Zhou missing there but because rookies are bad at shooting things + magical RNG gods

[Gammagooey]

Bradford: Welcome Commander, I'm Central Officer Bradford. I've heard about the mission in Japan- it's unfortanate that O'Neill became yet another causalty of the extraterrestrials but your success was critical in convincing the council nations to put their full support behind the project.

Gamma: I had been informed that they were still skittish about this endeavor, at least O'Neill's sacrifice won't have gone to waste.

Bradford: Indeed. I'll be working with you closely for the duration of this project-I'll be providing you and your squad with tactical support during your missions as well as managing the normal base operations. I'll be keeping you briefed of any situations that require our organization. When you have a chance visit the Research Labs and Engineering, Doctor Vahlen and our head engineer Doctor Shen wanted to speak with you. And remember, the world's fate may rest on our shoulders. We'll be watching your progress

Gamma: Thanks, I won't let you down.


Bradford: Very. Carefully.

Gamma: Uhm. Right. Which way was the research labs?


Bradford: Take the elevator down and go to the left.

Gamma:...man they always choose the eccentric types for these places don't they. If Bradford is competent it might not be such a bad thing though.

----------


Dr. Vahlen: Commander Gamma, welcome to the Research Labs. We're

Very

interested in any alien objects you can recover, with these new materials and a bit of time we can create plans for objects that may have previously been DECADES into the future- these weapon fragments show great promise for upgraded weaponry, while these alien alloys show promise for being repurposed into new armor for our soldiers. In addition, we're beginng research on the new substance found in the orange canisters on your first mission, and before long we'll need to study the alien's physiology to better understand their abilities and motives for coming here. Once the research on this new substance is complete, you'll have the final say in the priority of these research tasks- we understand that having weapons and armor not meeting the alien's standards will prohibit our ability to...negotiate in a meaningful way with these aliens and hinder our ability to obtain new alien technology. Try to keep in mind that using explosives to kill aliens will usually destroy the technology we're trying to study- only use them as a last resort.


Gamma: I'll keep that in mind, but the soldiers have discretion with when to use explosives- their lives are more important than a few extra weapon fragments.

Vahlen: Understood Commander, but should a soldier be too liberal with them feel free to send them to me- We have several tools to encourage behavioral changes with relatively minimal side effects.

Gamma: How minimal is...nevermind, thank you for your time Doctor.

----------------------



Gamma: Doctor Shen, is it?

Shen: Yes, you must be Commander Gamma- Welcome to Engineering, anything the research lab can think up we can create here. We're still a bit short-staffed at the moment but we've modified the medkits in use in the skyranger to be more portable so your men can carry them and prevent a tragedy like the one befalling O'Neill.

Gamma: That's fantastic, thank you Doctor. Is there anything else I should know?

Shen: We can also create satellites to monitor the skies of countries from UFOs- we only have the uplink capability to monitor one additional satelittle at the moment however, so prioritizing the building of additional satelittle uplinks will be crucial to improving our ability to stop alien attacks.

Gamma: Thanks again Doctor.

----------------------------------------

Gamma: So Reck, how are you holding up?



Reck: These fucks won't stop calling me heavy. I'm not FAT I just weigh a few more pounds than all these skinny fucks. I did get this sweet rocket launcher though, I convinced the armory to make it pink so I can watch the aliens faces as they realize they're going to die from this thing

Gamma: You got a promotion to a heavy weapons soldier you fuckmonger, of course they're calling you heavy. What about the rest of the soliders?

Reck: Cybele finally calmed down on the way back and got a support promotion for taking out two aliens, I think they figured she'd be better off staying back and helping everyone else instead of going insane on the comm on the front lines. Haven't gotten a chance to talk with that Zhou chick but she got a promotion to Sniper, don't know why since she couldn't hit SHIT last mission. Have gotten a chance to talk to two of the new guys.



Reck: One's Eddard, from Sweden- he's says he's friends with the king there but all he talks about is how winter is coming and he calls the aliens 'walkers', never seems particularly happy.



Reck: The other goes by RC, he's literally just here because he somehow found out we were researching big-ass guns and wanted in on it. Hell, he even brought his own to hold him over til' we got done with 'em, he's a bit too happy to actually get to kill something with them. He's been stationed in Germany for years but he's originally from Texas.

RC:

Wooooooooooooo

Reck: I think that's him now actually, the fuck is he going on about.

RC: You're Commander Gamma right? We just got a report on some abductions, they're still figuring out the details but we're gonna KILL SOME SHIIIIIIT

Bradford: Commander, report to Mission Control immediately. We've got a new mission for you.

Gamma: On my way. Reck and RC, come with me.

--------------------------------------------



(Chose this one since it's easier than the other two and engineers are amazing as a first bonus, other two are in the spoiler)

Spoiler: Other Possible Missions

Bradford: We've recieved multiple reports of abductions from Germany, the United States, and Nigeria. We believe that going to Germany will be of the most benefit.

RC: ARE YOU TELLING ME WE'RE ABANDONING AMERICA?

Bradford: Calm the hell down soldier, you and I both know America can handle itself. Germany needs our help more right now soldier, this isn't your decision to make.

RC: ...Yes sir.

Bradford: We believe the enemy forces in Germany will be primarily the same type of alien you faced before, if not entirely so.

Gamma: Radio Eddard and Cybele and have them gear up and meet us at the skyranger then. I'd rather have Eddard get to know how to fight these aliens than having Zhou risk falling behind with her new sniper rifle, I don't think she's going to have a lot of easy shots here.

Bradford: Understood.


--------------------------------------



Bradford: Your objective in this mission is to eliminate any enemy forces and retrieve any of the orange 'Meld' canisters that the aliens have at the dropzone.

Gamma: We're dropping into a cemetery- keep in cover and don't be afraid of collateral damage, desecration of a few corpses is a lot better than adding you as a new one.

Eddard: Winter is coming- we should burn the corpses.

Reck: I TOLD you.

Gamma: Just worry about the mission.

RC: Let's SHOOT EM TO HELL AND BACK, these fuckers can't mess with EARTH

Dropship: Arriving at the dropzone.



Gamma: Those crypts up there look like good cover, move up when you have a chance.

Cybele: Roger that Commander.



Reck: Eddard, watch the right, I've watching the left.



Eddard: Watchers on the walls.

Reck: Stop that shit, just make sure we don't get flanked.



Reck: They're in the distance, 10 O' Clock!



RC: They're hiding behind the graves up there, I can get to the side of the closer one.

RC:Taking the shot!





RC:X-Ray Down!

Gamma: Nice work, Cybele do you have a shot at the other?

Cybele: maybe maybe maybe one second

Reck: Fuck this

Reck:FUCK

Cybele:FIRING



Cybele: Yeeeeees!

Gamma: Fantastic, keep moving up to the center of the cemetary.

Eddard: Yes, your majesty.


Gamma: I'm not...hmm. Nevermind.

Reck: Gamma don't be a clownfuck.

Gamma: Shut up Reck



Eddard: Walkers in the masoleum. Cleansing fire engaged.



Eddard: I've failed.

Reck: fuck you fuck you die you alien bitches



Reck: WHAT KIND OF SHIT GUN IS THIS GAMMA

Gamma: SHUT UP RECK



Eddard: We are the shield that guards the realms of men.

Cybele: Going around the cryyyypt.


Cybele: X-Ray hit but he's not down!

Eddard: We are the SWORD IN THE DARKNESS


RC: Shit YEAAAAAAH KILL EM DEAD

Reck: Shit, nice shot man. Going on overwatch.

RC: Getting into position.



Reck: He's right behind the left wall, moving up and firing



Reck: GAMMAAAAAA

Gamma: Everyone take it down before it gets a shot, Reck stop being shit



RC: Can't get a good shot!

Eddard: I AM THE WATCHER ON THE WALLS

Reck: OH FUCK I'M RIGHT HERE DON'T USE A GRENADE FUCK



Reck: ...Never, ever do that again.

Cybele: We did itttttt!





(Let me know if you want any changes with how I'm making this so far)

[Gammagooey]

Bradford: Good work Commander, you squad is showing real promise out there.

Gamma: Thank you, but they're the ones taking all the risks, and they're getting more comfortable fighting these alien forces- Cybele and Eddard especially made the shots when they counted last mission, and Cybele seems to be getting over the anxiety she showed in the first one.

Bradford: Good to hear, when you have a few minutes I should also show you the situation room so you can have a better idea of the global issues X-Com is keeping track of.

Gamma: Let's go ahead now, I can stop by the barracks later.

----------------------------------



Bradford: This screen shows the estimated panic in each of the X-Com Council nations, as well as any satellites and interceptors stationed over them. Any country at 5 panic when the council has its monthly report is likely to abandon the project, so unless we desperately need a reward another country is offering we should prioritize missions on countries and continents with high panic. Any abduction missions we are unable to take on will noticably increase the panic of the country it's in as well as slightly increase the panic of all countries on that continent.

Bradford: In addition, you can view X-Com finances here, any pending requests from council nations, and communicate on the 'Grey Market' with the council nations to sell alien corpses and technology. Remember that Doctor Vahlen is expecting priority on anything not yet researched to further our long-term ability to win this war, so be careful of what you choose to sell.

Gamma: Understood. The screen is stating that we have uplink capabilities for another satellite, are we currently constructing another?

Bradford: We'll be starting on it as soon as the engineers from Germany arrive later today, having them on board will allow us to construct it much more efficiently than we could before.



Gamma: Excellent, if there's nothing else I'm going to head down to the barracks and congratulate the troops.

Bradford: That's it Commander.

--------


Zhou: Commander, what are you doing here?

Gamma: Just here to congratulate the troops on the last mission Miss Zhou.

Zhou: DON'T you be calling me Miss, I'm a soldier first MISTER Gamma. And you didn't thank me for the last mission, what kind of sexist shit is this?

Gamma: Uh...you weren't here. I only saw RC and Reck when I stopped by and the mission to Germany came up as I was here.

Zhou: And that thank you?

Gamma: Yes, you did good work on the first mission, thanks. Now can you tell me where the rest of the recruits are?

Zhou: There's several in the recreation room. I'm coming with you.

Gamma:Fine.

----------------------------------------------

Gamma: Good evening, me-SOLDIERS.

RC: Commander! We shot up those aliens BUT GOOD, me and Eddard here got a promotion!





Gamma: I heard, and congratulations! Not a single wound on any of you and every alien taken care of, it was fantastic!

Eddard: I shall wear no crowns and win no glory.

RC: Yeah, He's a bit of a stick-in-the-mud but he's fine once you get to know him.

Reck: You ARE getting me a better gun though right Gamma?

Gamma: I'm pretty sure it's not the gun's fault but I'll get you a different one.

Reck: I aimed it at him and pulled the trigger and it MISSED its not my fault.

Gamma: Aallllright Reck.

Reck: Cunt.

Zhou: Don't be using that derogatory word, just because you can't get any doesn't mean it's a bad thing!

Reck: Zhou I'm gay as fuck.

Zhou: Oh. Well. You still shouldn't use it.

Gamma: I'll go ahead and get the weapon requisition in Reck, and Congrats again everyone, enjoy relaxing until the next mission comes up. Hopefully we'll have a few days but be ready.
----------------------------------

Bradford: Commander, incoming transmission from the Council.





Gamma: Call in all of our soldiers who've been on a mission before, we need Zhou sniping on the bridge and it sounds like there's something bigger to worry about than in our last mission in the cemetery.

Bradford: I'm afraid we can't bring all 5- officially the risk of a chain reaction of panic without an officer in the field to guide them is too high to risk so many soldiers.

Gamma: Godamnit Bradford do you really want to not have enough soldiers on a mission straight from the council?

Bradford: Unofficially, Cybele was also practicing with smoke grenades half an hour ago and tripped on some barbed wire while trying to get to the next obstacle in the course. We're patching up her ankle now.

Gamma: godDAMNIT.



---------------------------------------



Gamma: This operation's codename is Purple Daze, you'll be deploying to a bridge in Mexico.

Reck: Wait I've HAD Purple Daze before, what kind of codename is that?

Gamma: Some guy named Wraith makes them, he was the commander for the MOC-X trial simulations that convinced the Council to fund us.

Zhou: If HE'S so good at it why are you leading us?

Gamma: He requested a non-combat role after the simulations- he refused to give an explanation but he lost...a lot of soldiers in the them.

Zhou: Oh.

Eddard: The winters are hard, but we will endure. We always have.

Gamma: ...Thanks? I think. We believe there's a bomb somewhere on the bridge that we need to disarm. You'll only have a limited amount of time to disarm it before it's armed so you can't stop for a prolonged firefight- you HAVE to keep moving.

RC: They think they can mess with AMERICA?! THEY'RE DEEEAD WRONG.

RC: PERMISSION FOR TWO MORE GUNS SIR.

Gamma: No, stick with your assault rifle and smoke grenade. How would you even shoot the 3rd one anyway?

RC: Us Texans have some real big appendages if you know what I'm sayin'.

Zhou: Don't start this shit, I'll outshoot you any day.

RC: We'll see Missy!

Zhou: DON'T CALL ME MISSY.

Gamma: We're over the dropzone, prepare for deployment.

--------------------------------------------------------



RC: On the ground, what are these green things?



Gamma: Command is telling me they're power sources for the bomb- if you disable them we can buy some more time before the bomb can arm itself.

Reck: I'll take care of this one. *Kick* OWWWWWW



Gamma: Yeah, there's a removable module on the bottom that you can use to power them down, but kicking the plasma container seems to work too Reck. Good work.

Reck: Fuck you gamma.

Gamma: Everyone move up, Stark you're closest to the next power node.

Stark: Moving.





Stark: Something in the distance- a new type of walker. It's gone behind the truck.

Gamma: A shotgun will be useless at that range, see if you can hit it with your pistol Stark.

Stark: Firing.


Stark: Target is hit but won't die. They never die.

RC: Can't see the damn thing! Might as well use some smoke to cover us til we can move up.



Stark: Walker on the move, other side of the truck - he's..HRRRRGHH, CAN'T BREATHE



Gamma: Stark get out of that cloud, it looks like those thin human-looking aliens can spit poison.

Stark: Aurgh, moving.



Stark:Purging walker.



Stark: Walker's unharmed.

RC: We're moving up but we can't get a good shot of him!



Zhou: Hang on, I'm going around the side!





Yeah he got killed with a non-crit in full cover, and still would have probably died (he might have had a higher chance of being critically wounded instead but I don't know how the odds work for that) even if he hadn't taken the poison damage earlier. Thin men are assholes.

Reck: STARK IS DOWN

Zhou: Shit, I'm still going around - TWO MORE CONTACTS, THE GREY ONES




Gamma: We've dubbed those 'Sectoids', by the way.

RC: I see one out in the open, DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS



RC: FUCKING HELL the Thin Guy peeked out at me, missed my shot.

Reck: Oh fuck this asshole. HEY RC, DUCK




Reck: Godamn that was satisfying.

Zhou: Firing at one of the Sectoids!


Zhou: Missed the target.

Reck: Who's the better shot now Zhou?

Zhou: You were the one who said explosives were easy.

RC: Sectoid coming towards me!


RC: Missed me you ugly grey yankee!

Zhou: Moving up and taking another shot!


Zhou: FUCKING HELL

Reck: Moving up, OH BALLS


Reck: Godamn, I'm alright.

RC: Let's take em' OOOOUT


RC: DAMNATION!

Reck: Maybe you should talk less while shooting and aim just a bit more.

RC: Show some respect you heathen!

Reck: Nooooot getting into this horseshit now.

Zhou: The aliens are doing something- it looks like one's making the other stronger somehow.



Reck: Taking fire!



Gamma: Readings show that the bomb is almost at full power, you need to reach one of those power nodes NOW!

Zhou: I've got it covered.



Reck: Moving up and taking a shot at the one in the back!



Reck: What were you saying Zhou?

Zhou: ...Good shot Reck.

Reck: THANK you. Wait, did that other sectoid just collapse too?

RC: Sure looks like it- *bang* yeah, pretty dead.

Gamma: Huh, I'd guess that killing the one 'powering' the other one hurts it somehow. Keep moving up, you still don't have a lot of time.

Zhou: Moving up to better cover now. Another Sectoid spotted, just one this time!




RC: These grey varmints are even worse shots than you Zhou!

Zhou: Shut up assholes, moving up to the next power node!



Zhou: There's one more Sectoid and the bomb up ahead! Taking out this sectoid!

Reck: ARE you though?



Zhou: Keep it up and the next frag's for you Reck.

Reck: Well at least you can hit with something.


Graphics maay have glitched out from how far the screen needed to zoom to get the sectoid and Zhou in the shot.
Zhou: Woah...everything went fuzzy for a second but I don't think I'm hurt.

Reck: RC, move up with me, Zhou see if you can take out the last sectoid.

Zhou: My angle on him's pretty bad but I'll take the shot.



Zhou: Yeah, shot wide, sorry.

Reck: Did that plasma whiff just make you nicer? I'm aimed at the sectoid, if he starts moving you flank you I'll take him out.



Zhou: Still taking fire but he isn't moving out of cover.

Reck: I'm moving up to the next power node but still can't get a bead on him without coming out of cover, Zhou can you give it one more shot?

Zhou: Yeah, aiming.




Zhou:FUCK yeah! Finally getting the hang of this thing.

Reck: Nice shot, keep it up and maybe we'll actually stand a chance against these bastards.

Gamma: Good job, now just move up and disarm the bomb.

Reck: So how do we do that exactly?

Gamma: Same way as the power nodes, just disconnect all the modules from the bottom, there should be one for each power node attached so make sure you get them all.

Reck: The same way huh?



Gamma: PUT DOWN THAT SECTOID, just because brute force worked once doesn't mean it won't blow you to hell this time.

Reck: Buzzkill.


Gamma: Nice work, it looks like there's one more wave of enemies on the way, take 'em out and then you can head home.

RC: You heard him, set em' up and gun em' down!

Reck: ...Hey Gamma, I'm on point here but I can't see any, you sure the readings are right?

Gamma: They're almost RIGHT on top of you now, you should...FUCK, LOOK UP.



Zhou & RC: FIRING


Reck: OH SHIT


Yeah, every single one of them missed their overwatch shot. It's quite bad.

Reck:TARGET'S STILL UP, THEY'RE JUST STARING AT US

RC: KEEP FIRING


Zhou: One down!


RC: Got another!
I should have had Reck fire at one of these two since he wasn't in line of sight of the one on top of the truck but I was most worried about them having a flanking shot on RC and Reck behind the car and didn't think it through. You're still all punks for missing EVERY overwatch shot though.

Reck: Can't get a bead on the last!

Zhou: Last one is moving, cover AUUGH



Reck: FUCK, MOVING UP TO FLANK HIM



Gamma: That's the last of them, is Zhou alright?!

Reck: She's dead Commander. Son of a bitch.





Aand I'm finally actually caught up! Going to be streaming a much smaller amount this Wednesday at 9pm EST again, hopefully with a few of the issues worked out this time- I did upload last weeks stream to youtube but since I wasn't using my mic and it had cutscenes it just immediately got blocked because of copyrights, hopefully if I actually bother with talking this time they won't care quite so much. I'll try to get the update up the same night but given how much time they seem to be taking don't ACTUALLY expect it up until thursday. >_>

[Gammagooey]

really should have seen that coming

as a warning i actually only have two male rookies right now as opposed to 6 or so female soldiers, i'll be hiring two more soldiers that'll arrive after this next mission but if you want a specifically male character you might have to wait an extra mission or two more than normal before they show up.

[Gammagooey]

Streaming now! (if there's a problem let me know, haven't reaaally tested it)
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/gammagooey

[Gammagooey]

yep bad at things, should be streaming now but all i'm doing is customizing dudes for a bit

[Gammagooey]

yeaaah my internet might just be too shit for streaming, plus the mission was really quick and i might be trying to have the best of both worlds with having the thread choose missions AND streaming since it makes for short sessions in general

hopefully the recordings don't get blocked since i'm actually talking during them this time though

[Gammagooey]

ill give it a shot next time

[Gammagooey]

Was sick yesterday and drunk as fuck now, update tomorrow

[Gammagooey]

Bradford: Commander, Dr. Vahlen and Dr. Shen have made a breakthrough in that canistered substance your men have been collecting. They're requesting us in the science labs.

Gamma: I'll be down in a few minutes Bradford.


(It's a pretty good cutscene)

Gamma: Can you tell me more about what's necessary to use Meld in these ways?

Vahlen: Both the Genetic Modifications and the MECs will require a dedicated facility before we begin their implementation- a Genetics Lab for Genetic Mods and a Cybernetics Lab to create and maintain the MECs. Both of these facilities are approximately the same cost, however the Genetic Modifications will generally require less meld and funding than the MECs will.

Shen: The MECs will provide a greater immediate benefit however- by augmenting a soldier and placing them into a MEC suit, they will become much more resilient against the alien's weaponry, as well as gaining access to a built-in minigun and one of either a short-range Flamethrower or an extremely powerful melee range Kinetic Strike Module. However in order to augment the soldiers in this way, they will require amputations of their arms and legs in order for them to interface with the MEC Suits, allowing them to move and utilitze the suits as if it were their own bodies. We have already created robotic limbs for everyday use both off the battlefield and in civilian use should we win this war, but the sacrifice required by the soldier to use this technology should not be underestimated.

Vahlen: The Genetic Modifications will also require surgery, but nothing so extreme as the MECs. We currently have the capability to modify the eyes to either improve Depth perception, increasing your soldiers advantages with higher ground, or modify the pupils to react quicker, allowing faster adjustments in situations where the soldier is firing multiple times in quick succession. In addition, by modifying the bone marrow in the legs, we can give a limited regeneration ability to the soldiers, allowing them to heal wounds while on the battlefield with no additional assistance and rapidly reducing medical recovery time after a serious injury. Furthermore, I believe the new alien species you brought to us, the 'Thin Man', as well as other alien species are likely to hold the secrets to other possible genetic modifications upon dissection and closer study of their genetic material.

Gamma: I'll be asking the soldiers before making a final decision, but I believe MECs have the greatest benefit as of now. Although the genetic modifications, especially the bone marrow regeneration, are clearly very advantageous, we just lost two soldiers to a single shot each of the Thin Man's plasma rifle weaponry in the last mission. The durability that the MECs offer us is likely to prevent more deaths like theirs in future missions, and we have the option of creating a Genetics Lab at a later date should we gain additional funding or discover essential modifications at a later date.

Vahlen: I understand Commander. I'll keep you informed of any new breakthroughs that we discover.

Gamma: Thank you Doctor.

--------------------------------------------------


Bradford: We're picking up a UFO contact over Japan Commander- We've already scrambled an interceptor, I think you're going to want to see this.

Gamma: On my way Bradford.

Bradford: We're lucky that such a small craft came within range of our only satellite- our interceptor will be within range in a few more minutes.

Interceptor Pilot: This is Voodoo Three-Seven Reporting, closing in on Bogey Zero-Zero-One.

Bradford: This is Central, you have authorization to Open Fire when in range Voodoo Three-Seven.

Voodoo Three-Seven: Roger that Central.




Voodoo Three-Seven: Central, We have a confirmed kill on Bogey Zero-Zero-One, repeat, UFO is down.

Bradford:Give me a visual of the downed bogey as soon as possible.

Communications Officer: I'm getting one on-screen now sir.



Bradford: Magnify.

Communications Officer: We'd only see higher resolution smoke sir, the satellite should have a better angle in about 30 seconds.



Bradford: It's still intact...Commander, you may want to get a strike team to the crash site as soon as possible.

Gamma: Roger that Bradford.

-------------------------------

Gamma: We're heading down to a UFO crash site, we don't know what you'll find down there so be careful. We'll be salvaging the wrecked UFO after the site is clear so try to keep it intact if at all possible.

Jackson: NO promises sir, when ACTION JACKSON gets going nothing's gonna get in his way!



Gamma: Your name can't really be action jackson.

Jackson: IT IS NOW, Let's fuck some alien shit up!

RC: Pardner I think we're gonna get along juuust fine.

Gamma: Just get in the Skyranger.



Gamma: This operation is code-named Morbid Breath-

Reck: Your FACE is Morbid Breath.

Gamma: Reck you moron. There are meld canisters on the ground as well as the UFO, so collect them if you have the opportunity.

Cybele: We got this Commander!

Gamma: Thanks Cybele. You're almost over the dropsite, be careful out there.



Jackson: LET'S FUCK SHIT UP

RC: YEAAAAAAH

Jackson: YEAAAAAAAAH

RC: DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS

Gamma: Just keep moving up behind cover, don't get yourselves killed.



Cybele: Meld canister spotted, we're moving closer to its position!

RC: I GOT this, moving up!



Gamma: You should REALLY get behind cover RC

RC: No way, gonna SNIPE those bastards from here before they even see me.

Jackson: That's the way to DO IT, YEAAAAH

RC: Here comes the target practice now!



RC: Yeeeeee-haw, alien hit!

Gamma: I can't believe that worked. Go get behind the meld canister before they shoot you down.

RC: Roger that!

Cybele: I think I can get a shot at the wounded one, firing!





Cybele: X-Ray down!

RC: Good shootin' Missy! Taking another shot!



RC: Danggone aliens HIDIN behind everything!

Reck: Calm down, I got this.



Reck: Get RECKED.

Gamma: Catch your breath and get ready to move up into the UFO.

Jackson: ACTION JACKSON waits for no man!




Jackson: Found two grey dudes and a magic crystally dude!

Gamma: What in the hell are you talking about Jackson.

Jackson: DUDE MADE HIMSELF FROM CRYSTALS, You're the ones who should know about this alien species shit!

Gamma: Oh wow, the footage just came through. Take him out, he looks a lot more dangerous than the Sectoids.

Reck: Hold on Jackson, I've got just what we need here.



Reck: 'Magic Crystally dude' is down.

Jackson: Oh shit, when do I get one of those?

Gamma: Once you get a kill, you'll probably get promoted to one of our four soldier specializations- Heavy Weapons Specialists get the rocket launcher. Move into cover Jackson, the aliens are close to flanking you.

Jackson: Roger that sir.

RC: I got your back rookie!



RC: Sectoid shot but not down!

Gamma: He's stopped in the open watching Cybele and Reck's location, RC see if you can get him again.


RC: GET Gunned down coward!



Cybele: AUGH, I'm hit!

Gamma: That should be the last one, if you can Cybele grenade it while it's reloading.

Jackson: Fuck that, I need that godamn rocket launcher! ACTION JACKSON MAKIN' IT HAPPEN


Jackson: ...HELP, THROW THE GRENADE

Cybele: Godamnit this FUCKING Hurts, GRENADE OUT



Gamma: Good work, that's the last of them. Help Cybele into the Skyranger if she needs it, you're done here.

Cybele: fucking fuck fuck ow fuck ow





------------------

Some Time later-

Bradford: Commander, we've got another set of abduction missions, get a squad together and get to the skyranger.

Abduction Mission Options

France- Easy - $200
Argentina- Moderate - 4 Engineers
Mexico - Moderate - New Assault Soldier (Sergeant)

Research Options

a)Xeno-Biology (unlocks autopsies and Arc-Thrower research) - 8 days
b)Weapon Fragments (unlocks laser weapons research and SCOPES as an option in the item slot, which gives +10 aim) - 8 days
c)Experimental Warfare (unlocks Phoenix Cannon, a better interceptor weapon, plus flashbang grenades and reaper rounds new in Enemy Within, neither of which I remember what they do) - 8 days
d)Carapace Armor (+3 health instead of body armors +1) - 39 days

Don't think anything would panic if we don't go to a specific contintent- the only thing that might would be U.S.A. if I'm remembering their panic wrong and are at 4 instead of 2, and I'm super fine with then throwing the satellite on them for PILES of money (U.S. gives the most of any country in the game- $150 a month i think)

ALSO, I'm gonna need at least one and probably eventually 2-3 volunteers for MEC suits. You can't go into one until you're a squaddie, but if you want to be in one I can throw you in as soon as you get there. There's a different bonus for whichever type of soldier gets augmented, I've liked the support bonus more than I've expected on another playthrough and the heavy bonus is badass but we'd be giving up a guy with a rocket launcher for it, and having almost guaranteed hits with rockets is real important if you get into a bad situation.

MEC Bonuses

Assault Class- Shock-Absorbent Armor: Damage received from enemies within 4 tiles is reduced by 33%.

Heavy Class- Body Shield: The nearest visible enemy suffers -20 Aim and cannot critically hit this unit.

Sniper Class- Platform Stability: Any shots taken without moving have +10 Aim and +10% critical chance.

Support Class- Distortion Field: Nearby allies in cover receive +10 Defense.

Almost definitely going to give one more shot at streaming on Wednesday at 9pm EST, on twitch (http://www.twitch.tv/gammagooey) this time using the client Reck suggested. Last weeks stream is added to the first post but Reck would probably ask why I'm streaming from a wind tunnel so I still can't reaaally recommend watching it until I can make it a little less shit, but if you really want to watch then go ahead!

[Gammagooey]

Alien Materials is done, sorry, that should have been experimental warfare

also Reck has taken Suppression (shot that reduces opponents aim) over HEAT rounds (50% extra damage to robotic enemies, reduced from the unexpanded game) possibly because I forgot that he was supposed to choose it and also because we're not going to see robotic things for a real long time.

[Gammagooey]

I've played Persona 3 and the FES story continuation thing that focused on Aigis a lot, pretty sure I can do her justice for ya

[Gammagooey]

Streaming at http://www.twitch.tv/gammagooey in an hour! (9pm EST)

Also doing a test stream of another saved game for a bit now so if there are any fixable issues then I can know before I'm halfway through a mission.

[Gammagooey]

this just in

oh god thin men crits

more at update

[Gammagooey]

Before the Argentina mission, in a Barracks briefing room with all the non-rookies:

Gamma: As you've probably already heard, we've found out how to utilize the 'Meld' you've been collecting in the orange canisters. I know that the options of genetic modification and MEC suits may not be appealing to many of you but I believe their utilization, particularly of the MEC suits, will greatly better our odds of winning this war.

Reck: Gamma why in the hell would we be upset about ROBOT SUITS?

Gamma: To anyone who hasn't read the dossier we've given out yet, the MECs interface directly with the human nervous system and require bioelectrical implants that replace the flesh connecting your arms and legs to the rest of your body. We have fully functional robotic limbs as replacements.

Reck: ...Nevermind.

Cybele: *standing* I'll do it Commander.


Gamma: I'd give it a night to make sure it's what you want to do- Doctor Vahlen will be accepting applicants tomorrow morning.

Cybele: With all due respect sir, I've felt what their weapons can do already. Those little fucks are going to get shot to shreds before having the chance to do it anyone else.

Gamma: Thank you Cybele. Should anyone else be willing to make this sacrifice, report to Doctor Vahlen. Dismissed.


------------------------

Gamma: We'll be heading to Argentina in a few minutes. I don't think I've met two of you yet.

Cheery: *sniff sniff*



Gamma: What are you doing soldier?

Cheery: Making sure you're not one of

them

. *sniff* yeah you're fine, I'm Cheery Dog.

Gamma: ...Okay sure. And you?



Caled: Karen Caled reporting for duty! You won't regret taking me on this mission Commander!

Gamma: That's what I like to here. Skyranger's ready, I'll brief you on the mission while you're on route.


Reck actually brought a grenade and not a medkit here



Gamma: You'll be touching down in Argentina - Remember that the Meld you collect will help us create and improve our MECs, but prioritize staying alive and eliminating the alien threat.

Dog: I'll crunch them like a chew toy!

Reck: Chew toys don't crunch.

Dog: *growling*

---------------------------------------------


Gamma: Move up and start heading towards that ramp- if there are any aliens on higher ground we need to find them before they find us. Cheery, lead the way.

Dog: Roger that.



Dog: Meld up there!





Dog: *sniff sniff* Meld to the left too! MELD! MELD!

Gamma: We hear you Cheery. Reck and Caled, check the right side, there's not much cover on the way up.

Caled: On it, sir!



Reck: The hell are these alien fuckwads?

RC: Must be hidin' like them damn FRENCHIES.

Gamma: Caled go ahead and start moving up the ramp.



Caled: X-Rays down and to the right!



Reck: Oh I got this shit.



RC: Yeaaah BOOM BITCH, moving up!



RC: Meld in sight over here!

Dog: Meeeeeeeeld!



Dog: X-Rays far behind the Meld!



Reck: They're real desperate, there's no way they can hit me behind this thing.

RC: Cheery let's wrangle that meld, smoking us up!



Dog: MELD! Got it but more aliens behind that wall, taking a shot!



Dog: awwww.

Reck: I'm getting to higher ground, caled we could really use a good shot here!

Caled: Takin' him out!



Caled: Shit yeah!

Gamma: Two more, take em' out.




Reck: You really ALL missed? Gonna carry this godamn team.


Reck: Damn right.





----------------------

Bradford: We've launched a satelitte in the United States while the mission was going on, their funding will help us a lot next month.



Bradford: And we've got one more completed project you should see too.





Cybele: This feels damn right Commander.

---------------------------

As you may have guessed from the comments there's two more missions after this, writeups for them will be coming a bit later. Not sure if I'll be streaming or not Wednesday, trying to figure out if I'll be going to GenCon and the transportation/hotel for that and I'll be leaving either Wednesday night or Thursday morning, if I get the writeups for this week done and I'm leaving Wednesday night I'll probably stream around 7-8 Tuesday instead, but the writeups for that stream will probably have to wait until the week after.

Research Options:
a)Arc-Thrower - 14 days
b)Weapon Fragments (unlocks laser weapons research and SCOPES as an option in the item slot, which gives +10 aim) - 8 days
c)Experimental Warfare (unlocks Phoenix Cannon, a better interceptor weapon, plus flashbang grenades and reaper rounds new in Enemy Within, neither of which I remember what they do) - 8 days
d)Carapace Armor (+3 health instead of body armors +1) - 20 days
e)UFO Power Source - 33 days
f)Sectoid Autopsy - 10 days
g)Thin Man Autopsy- 10 days

[Gammagooey]

oh and for research info the officer training school completed right after the last mission i streamed, so we've got an extra soldier going on missions but not really any cash left until either next month or we complete a UFO mission or get a money reward from abductions.

[Gammagooey]

yeah not gonna have time to get the writeups for the other two missions up before leaving since a friend's birthday thing is tomorrow night and I'm going to be driving to Indiana Wednesday night.

am posting the youtube video of the last mission last wednesday (the first two are combined in one video and are already up) in the first post, what'll probably happen is I finish the two writeups next monday, and then stream that Wednesday. Sorry for the delay!

[Gammagooey]

...so I just watched the stream. Yeah. I know that my X-Com playing style is extremely far from what it should be, but if this were my game I would probably just delete the file and start a new one, possibly on a lower difficulty. Also, following this up with a Metis application. I know it makes absolutely no sense based on Persona, but I don't think I've played any other games with female androids.

Anyway, whatever happens, I'll try to be there for the stream tomorrow.

And Dan, I think you are actually still alive. I don't remember you being put on a mission, though I could be just being forgetful.

Spoiler: massive stream spoilers

It is quite bad but there's still a decent chance of pulling it out if I can get through the next 2-3 missions without horrific causalties, and because Reck hit Sergeant before he died we get to bring 5 people on missions from now on. We're down to 7 soldiers with another 2-3 on the way, and despite them all being rookies if I can get one either heavy or assault plus one other squaddie that I can make into a MEC it should be enough to hold over til next month, and most importantly both of the missions failed weren't actually important at all- no panic increase for failing them so the world strategy is still perfectly fine.

Also yeah Dan's still alive.

also also if I have to start again I'd probably stay at classic- the UFO mission would have not been the catastrophic failure it was if I had brought a MEC like I should have and the second mission was actually just absurd thin men horseshit- they have a 10% chance to crit MECs and a 20% to crit everything else that they're not flanking and we would have NOT lost either Cheery or Cybele to a normal hit there. Reck dying afterwards was a combination of me tilting and not thinking about where he should be positioned until it was too late and just a consequence of only have one dude left who didn't hit any shots on his way to that cover position. (with that thin man knocking down every piece of cover he hid behind along the way)

[Gammagooey]

Also kingdom the stream isnt happening til next week since ill be driving to gencon all of tomorrow night

[Gammagooey]

I was tired >_>

update tonight fo' real though

wednesday morning edit: godamnit I am bad at getting things done, the next update is 3/4 done but I have to leave for work in 10 minutes.

[Gammagooey]

Aaaand my modem has broken seemingly to punish me for not getting shit done

Sorry for being the worst, ill get everything up as soon as I can ;-;

[Gammagooey]

Gamma: We've got a landed UFO in the United States, there'll be a few more aliens than we had on the crashed one last month but it's nothing we haven't done before.



Aigis: Greetings, Commander. New parameters deemed acceptable. At your command.



Morph: Heheh, I brought a secret weapon Commander.

Gamma: What are you talking about soldier?

Morph: I'm gonna give the aliens the ooold flashbang, if you know what I mean.

Gamma: The armor doesn't work that way, and you'd get your dick shot off.

Lixiang: Don't be so harsh, it sounds like that might be an improvement.


Totally forgot to finish customizing her hair+armor before starting the mission, sorry >_>

Lixiang: Let's kick some alien ass.






Gamma: You'll be touching down in an Oklahoma forest shortly.

Ani: Oklahoma has forests?

Gamma: Yes, they're privately owned but the citizens in the area were given an emergency evacuation order as soon as we discovered the ufo, there shouldn't be any at the crash site. And remember to try to keep the UFO intact if at all possible, every piece of tech we can recover is another bit towards researching or buying what we need to win this war.

Caled: Understood sir!



Caled: Ani and Lixiang, scout that ridge for aliens.

Ani: Nothin' this way.



Lixiang: There's 3 thin men in front of the UFO!



Gamma: Those thin men are extremely dangerous, ani and Lix fall back, Aigis and Caled watch the corners and try to take shots at any of them that move to get a better shot.

Lixiang: There's one hugging the side coming towards me!



Lixiang: AUGH

Caled: Another one coming towards us, I have a shot!


Caled: Alien hit but still standing!

Aigis: Thin men remaining behind barriers- shot is not possible.


Ani: Can't hit DEEESE NUTS, IM COMIN' FOR YA


Ani: MY DICK

Spoiler: Thin Man Cam

Caled: Ani's down and Lix is losing a lot of blood! We need to take these things out NOW! Firing!


Aigis: Advancing and opening fire.


Aigis: Target wounded.

Caled: Why won't these things fucking DIE?! Oh fuck, one's coming around me!


Caled: AAAAGH


Aigis: Caled down, enemy flanking my position.



Aigis: I cannot....continue.

Gamma: Is anyone alive, down there, report! ANYONE!

Skyranger Pilot: This is Big Sky, all other human lifesigns have gone dark. Returning to base.

Gamma: God fucking damnit.





---------------------------------------

Yeah that took way longer than I hoped for a lot of various reasons and I still need to do the last update tomorrow (which means probably monday for saavy readers)

WILL be streaming at Monday at 9pm EST and probably Wednesday at 9 too to make up for not doing anything for an entire week+some more days.

[Gammagooey]

Dog is a rookie, RC was wounded, you had a promotion that I was waiting on, and Cybele hadn't chosen whether she wanted a flamethrower or a gigantic robot punch. (and Cybele was coming anyway until the stream chat said that I should wait for her)

[Gammagooey]

yeah update isn't coming til tomorrow unless i can't sleep for the next 2 hours or something

aaand more importantly x-com is on sale on steam for 16.50 with full game+expansion or 10.00 for just the expansion

[Gammagooey]

>_> well don't be hyped and play fun things then fine

[Gammagooey]

Streaming in an hour (9pm EST, at http://www.twitch.tv/gammagooey), eating dinner and working on the screenshots for the last update I still need to catch up on til' then

Science Options are the same as last time, we're currently researching Weapon Fragments with 6 days left, Carapace has 20 days left I think, everything else is the same amount of time to research as previously.

Abudction Mission Options

Argentina- moderate difficulty - Seargent Sniper reward
China - difficult difficulty - 4 Engineers reward
Germany - moderate difficulty - $200 reward

Out of them I

highly

recommend the sergeant sniper reward because China is right out since it's harder difficulty and our squad is not going to be good this next mission, sergeant is where snipers actually start to get awesome and we could reaaaally use actually good soldiers right about now. Germany is a not insane option either just for the pile of cash to spend on various things, especially if you have a particular plan you want followed out, but I personally think the sniper is the more solid option here.

[Gammagooey]

Bradford: We've got an incoming transmission from the council, Commander.



Gamma: Understood, get our best troops down to the skyranger, I don't want anything similar to what happened last mission.



Cybele: I'm looking forward to this Commander, let's incinerate these bastards for what they did to Caled and the rest of her team.

Dog: I'll tear those meatsacks to shreds!

Reck: We're going to fucking destroy these bastards.
Reck took Savior as his promotion choice between that and shredder rocket so he's getting a medkit)



Gamma: The operation is codenamed Dark Engine- there's been an attack in the area but we don't have many details as of yet- we need to clean out any remaining aliens and find any survivors that can tell us what happened here.

RC: Roger that, cowboy. We'll wrangle up the survivors and brand these IMMIGRANTS with some red-hot lead.

Gamma: RC you can't...nevermind, just kill the ALIENS, not the humans, okay?

RC: Don't worry about a thing!
-----------------------
Cybele: We're all on the ground, cover me while I move up.



Dog: I smell...metal shells.

Reck: Well yeah, this place was attacked, of course there are some shells left behind.

Dog: There's no plasma residue...*sniff* for at least 100 yards, this was not an attack with alien weapons.

Gamma: Start moving up, there must be someone with an answer to what's going on here.

Cybele: Ha! One Thin Man, 2 o' clock!


Thin Man: Hissss, bitch.

Cybele: He went behind a blown out car, take cover in my Distortion field radius so you'll be harder to hit.

RC: It tingles like an old sunburn, pardner.



Cybele: Ow, fuck.
RC: I gotcha Cybele, they added nanomachines to our medkit spray for ya!



Cybele: Thanks, moving up!



Cybele: Two more thin men two our left, opening fire on this one!...What the hell? The targeting computer is fucking up, it won't allow a shot where the Thin Man is taking cover!



Gamma: Fuckin' bugs, just go on overwatch, those to our left can make a run to flank RC.

Cheery: Shooting at one on the roof!



Cheery: It's still smelling! Uh, standing!

Cybele: They're going for RC, opening fire!





Cybele: AAH I had a fucking ITCH and it moved the entire gun, don't be dead don't be dead DON'T BE DEAD RC!

Gamma: Pay attention Cybele!



Cybele: I'll FUCKING destroy you scaly freaks!

Cheery:RC's in bad shape but he's still breathing, Reck get over-


Sure is thin man crits while in full cover
Cybele: oh no no no NO YOU BASTARDS BURN



Reck: Cheery's still barely breathing too but I only have one medkit Gamma.

Gamma: We need to remove this threat before they get any more hits in, shove a rocket up that Thin Man's ass.

Reck: Don't mind if I do.



Cybele: One Thin Man left, coming at me!


More unlikely thin man crits (was 10% to crit a MEC after an 85% hit chance(i think) 20% after 45% for Cheery Dog, RC got flanked so it was like 85% 70% or something similarly awful to deal with though)
Cybele: He hit my distortion field, it's- AUUUUUUGH

Reck: They're PERFECT SHOTS, I need to kill him first!


Reck: FUCK


Reck:Holy shit they can miss. I can't get to RC without exposing myself, using the medkit on Dog.

Reck: Godamnit, RC is gone. He's fucking gone Gamma.

Gamma: Just take out the last one and get you and Dog out of here, that's just the opening groups, there's bound to be more and you can't handle them alone.

Reck: Firing.



Reck: ...



Gamma: He's getting close, fall back but make sure to get behind solid cover.

Reck: Doing it godamnit.



Reck: The building's collapsing on this side, COME GET ME YOU PIECE OF SHIT


He was behind cover for I think 3 turns there on overwatch since I saw him overwatch the first time and figured he'd eventually go down the left side and get shot at. This was wrong.

Reck: I know you're waiting, COME ON!



Reck: Shit.



Gamma: RECK! RECK YOU'RE STILL BREATHING, GET UP

Skyranger Pilot: This is Big Sky, taking off to avoid enemy capture of tech.

Gamma: Reck and Cheery are still alive down there!

Big Sky: Reck's bleeding out as we speak, Dog won't last with nobody nearby to take him to an actual medical facility, and there's nobody with the equipment or training to shoot through these thin man here, maybe not at all given how they've been shooting. We can't save them and I have strict orders from Dr. Vahlen and Bradford to get out of here when there's no more hope for the mission.

Gamma: We can't fucking leave them there! There must be something we can do!

Big Sky: Local Military was contacted about the attack already but they have their own problems. It's out of our hands.

Gamma: FUCK YOU AND FUCK GODAMN THIN MEN



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am perpetually sorry about delays, streamed the Argentina mission monday so I'm still one behind, I'm flat out not going to have time to finish that update until the weekend but if there's a particular interest in streaming on sat/sunday night then i can give a shot at finishing the screenshot update before then and then stream regardless of whether it is, if not I'll stream just next Wednesday.

Weapon Fragments are finished so new research options are

Research Options

a)Arc-Thrower - 14 days
b)Beam Weapons (unlocks laser weapons research) - 28 days
c)Experimental Warfare (unlocks Phoenix Cannon, a better interceptor weapon, plus flashbang grenades and reaper rounds new in Enemy Within, neither of which I remember what they do) - 8 days
d)Carapace Armor (+3 health instead of body armors +1) - 20 days
e)UFO Power Source - 33 days
f)Sectoid Autopsy - 10 days
g)Thin Man Autopsy- 10 days
h)

Floater

Autopsy - 10 days

[Gammagooey]

that is about 80% thin men are horseshit (oh have a 10% crit that happens do max damage since literally nothing else will kill Cybele oh and a full cover crit on cheery too that seems fine) and 20% me positioning RC and Cybele slightly incorrectly (Cybele REALLY should have been able to see that thin man but the game has a lot of minor LoS issues that pop up) and it spiralling from there

and i think rc mentioned in the other thread that crysallids are worse for him to deal with- which is a fine statement despite not having my agreement but crysallids always seem FAIR to me despite being difficult and getting out of hand really fast- if you fuck up and don't kill one then you get destroyed amazingly quickly, but thin men can do literally horseshit on an astoundingly frequent basis since their hit and crit %s are higher than pretty much anything else in the game.

edit: next mission on youtube has a link up and will be done uploading in 15 minutes.

[Gammagooey]

I'll have 10 troops in the base when the last one I ordered arrives, which is not enough long-term but it's fine for another mission or two

and yeah Enemy Within increased research times for classic+impossible difficulties, but also we've only gotten one additional scientist the entire game so far so we're still at 6 which is not a particularly useful number.

[Gammagooey]

Streaming tonight at 9pm EST! Still would like a few more votes on the research since there's only 2 at the moment, and the screenshot update is

theoretically

close enough to done that I can finish it before the stream once i get off work.

Also going to be running on pretty much just fumes and caffeine and

sweet jams

by that time so I may be a bit weirder than usual and a bit slower to move soldiers to try and prevent as many deaths as is possible given the amount of horseshit that probably thin men will propel at me in-mission.

[Gammagooey]

oh yeah those are definitely two carapace armor votes that i missed from kingdom and feirei, woops

[Gammagooey]

-----------Several Days Later----------------------------

Bradford: Commander, we've got reports of alien abduction sites from multiple countries.

Gamma: ...Is there someone else?

Bradford: Excuse me Commander?

Gamma: Is there someone else that can lead the mission.

Bradford: Commander, I know you're not feeling confident after the last two missions. We're against an enemy unlike anything we've ever faced before, using weapons and materials that don't even exist on our world. There's going to be terrible sacrifices, but we're the best chance humanity's got. The soldiers are prepping now, meet them at the Skyranger for their briefing.

Gamma: ...Yes sir.
-----------------------------------------------------------


Seedy Bee: Ready to die for humanity sir!


Gamma: Ugh. So you've already heard about the recent few missions then.

Bee: Oh, no, the aliens just destroyed my entire hometown last week while I was out on a fishing trip. So I'm an orphan now. If someone's gotta go it might as well be me.

Gamma: ...Shit. Well, uh, thanks for stepping up, you're free to take point but I'll do my best to keep you alive.

Bee: Whaaaaaaatever.



Silver Drktrip: Reporting for duty!

Gamma: At ease soldier. Thank you for volunteering for this mission.

Drktrip: Well of course, how are you supposed to beat the aliens without my secret weapon?

Gamma: I'm pretty sure the last person that said something like that got their dick blown off.

Drktrip: HUA



Drktrip: Shocked you didn't I?

Gamma: Not reall...wait what happened to your-

Drktrip: AND BANG you'd be dead already.

Gamma: No seriously where'd you-

Drktrip: SHUT UP SECRET WEAPON

Billy Nexus: She's not important, I'll take on ANYTHING, NOTHING CAN STOP ME.


Gamma: ...

Nexus: I KNOW YOU HEARD ME

Jackson: Yeah you heard him! And it's about time I got back in the ACTION!

Gamma: Didn't you miss a point blank shot at a sectoid last time you were deployed?

Jackson: I was distracted! Accuracy and Action can't be separated!

Titus: ahahahaha, AHAHAHAHAHAHA

Titus: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Bee: I knew I chose the right enlistment agency! I'll be dead in no time!

Gamma: God fucking damnit bradford. GET IN THE SKYRANGER, NOW, MOVE MOVE MOVE

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Gamma: *sigh* Okay, this is a simple operation. Just take out all the aliens in the area, and if you find any orange meld containers on the battlefield collect the canisters from the bottom of them.

Titus: They'll all be mine! eeheheheheh

Nexus: I'm gonna kill every alien myself, they can't handle me!

Drktrip: secret weapon ready for action!

Gamma: Yeah I'm turning the comm off now. I'll talk to you when you've landed. *buzzt*


Jackson: We're on the ground! I'm the senior soldier around here, everyone move up when I say Action!




Gamma: ...Well Jackson?

Jackson: ACTION GO GO GO


Gamma: You moved up 6 feet. Everyone just keep an eye out and start moving through the building to the door in the northwest.

Titus: There are eyes everywhere you know...

Titus: Aaaaaaaah the sounds THE GODS have come for us! They await to our left, probably around those cars.

Gamma: That's awfully specific.


Nexus: Ha, there's just meld over there, I'll take on your GODS!


Nexus: Got the meld! Easiest god I ever fought!





Nexus: FUCK


Drktrip: Some balls he has. HEY FLOATER GUY LOOK AT THIS



Drktrip: The hair works every time.

Gamma: Didn't you keep your helmet on?

Drktrip: Well from YOUR perspective of course it looks that way.

Gamma: That doesn't make sense.

Drktrip: Yes it does.

Gamma: Shut up. Seedy Bee and Titus, see if you can get an eye on those sectoids.

Titus: I'll open all of your mind's eyes! *beep* *beep* *beep*


Walls are for casuals

Gamma: TITUS WHY

Titus: Only now can we fill them with the knowledge of our cold metal elements.

Jackson: I got this one, Seedy Bee just stay back and cover me!

Seedy: Wait I wanna go first-



Jackson: GET JACKSONED, ALIEN SCUM! Wait, I hit him, why isn't he dead yet?

Nexus: Oh shit the last floater's moving up, ACTION DUCK!

Floater got LoS on Jackson by moving to get view of him from the door I opened, flanking him despite his shot destroying a wall on his way to him. In other news, Action Duck is hero this city deserves.

Bee: I tooold you I should have gone first.

Titus: I WILL BRING THEM ASCENSION!

Titus: It clings to this plane!

CDB: Shoot me, not her!

CDB: Oh, I'm not dead. Might as well kill him then I guess.


Nexus: Getting the last one, get down!

Gamma: Are we getting operatives from baseball teams or something? That really shouldn't have worked, but nice work Nexus.

Drktrip: I hear something to the right of us, everyone get up here!




Drk: They haven't noticed us yet, check the doors and get ready to move up with me

Nexus: On it!


Nexus: Moving up- Two Thin Men spotted!



Drktrip: I got the one on the right!


Drktrip: GET SURPRISED, Thin man down!

Nexus: Oh shit, he's coming! You've got that fancy vest, you got this!



Drktrip: AUGH, my chest! These fibers are bullshit!
One more tic for full cover thin men crits


CDB: WHY WON'T THEY SHOOT ME?!

Titus: DEATH FROM ABOVE!

Titus: They scurry bleeding like rats! END THEIR TORMENT SEEDY BEE.

CDB: Ugh, fiiiiiiine.



Gamma: That's the last of them- patch up Drktrip with the medkit and bring her aboard and we're done here. I didn't expect it from your group but you've all earned some R&R when you get back, this success brought back a lot of hope to X-Com today.



---------------------

Doctor Vahlen: Commander, we've finished with our research on the weapon fragments- we've managed to make a prototype of an alien automatic aiming mechanism, it may greatly assist some of our soldiers with...less than stellar accuracy thus far.

Gamma: We need all the help we can get, thank you doctor.

[Gammagooey]

Stream is done for the night and I actually highly recommend watching this one, there's still a tiny bit of mic static when I'm talking but the first mission was one of the most comical missions I've ever played and the second was the first terror mission of the game. It's added to the stream list in the first post as The Confusion and the Terror, it'll be done uploading in around an hour. The first part of the Screenshot update for it at least will go up again ideally this weekend with the second before the stream next wednesday but I as evidenced am very bad at deadlines for those things so don't actually trust this sentence.

Oh, and there are a chunk of people that need to choose promotions- I'll put the choices up during the "weekend" with the first update but if you've seen the stream and want to make the choice sooner just pm me and i'll give you your options through there.

[Gammagooey]

Was out of town over the weekend, still working on the first update but want to get promotion options out now

Feirei/Phantom: Options are between disabling shot (disables the enemy's main weapon, forcing them to reload before they can use it) or Grenadier (can put 2 grenades in 1 inventory spot, +1 damage for frag, alien, & needle grenades

CDB/Seedy Bee: You became a heavy and got a rocket launcher- also choose between Covering Fire (reaction shots can trigger on enemy attacks as well as movement) and Revive (Allows medikits to revive critically wounded soldiers at 33% health, instead of just stabilizing them)

[Gammagooey]

i'd probably do disabling shot, grenadier is good for blowing up cover and dealing a bit of guaranteed damage since grenades never miss as long as you're in range, but you're usually going to be too far away to use it very effectively and with you being the highest ranking member of the team it's probably better for other people to be giving you better shots instead of the other way around.

[Gammagooey]

Yeah got busy with real life stuff so the screenshot update isn't coming in time to finish before the stream tonight, going to stream a bit while I customize the characters, if anyone's watching I'll do the next mission as well

If not then I'll wait on that until I catch up on the screenshot updates over the weekend and stream next wednesday so I can get a bit more done.

[Gammagooey]

Mission is a-go!

[Gammagooey]

Bradford: Commander, we've got another UFO contact above Japan, looks like it's a little bigger this time.

Gamma: I'm got the view of it, how far away is our interceptor?

Bradford: It's reaching weapons range in 60 seconds.

Fighter Pilot: This is Voodoo 2, we're firing at the target.

Voodoo 2: This is Voodoo 2, the enemy craft is quickly descending but this thing is barely holding itself together, I'm making an emergency landing at the next securable location.

Bradford: The rest is up to you and your men Commander, good luck.



Metis: Commander- I came to protect my sister Aigis when I heard she joined this organization. It seems I've arrived too late.

Gamma: I'm so sorry Metis.

Metis: I will eradicate the beings responsible for her death. She gave me back my memories- I will not let her sacrifice be for nothing.

Gamma: I'm glad to have you with us, I'll see that you get your chance in the front lines.

Phantom: Hello Commander.



Phantom: I am the elite Sniper sent from Argentina. You can call me Phantom.

Gamma:Just Phantom?

Phantom: Yes. Please do not disturb me further until the mission begins.

Gamma: Yeah, sure. Everyone get prepped and on board, we've got a UFO to cleanse.




Gamma: This mission is code-named Blind Rain-

Seedy Bee: That name is sadder than my hometown's high school reunion planner.

Gamma: I don't make them-

Titus: The third eye is only temporarily blind!

Gamma: Your *MISSION* is to exterminate any aliens on the UFO and aquire any meld canisters found on the battlefield.

Dismissed

.



Nexus: Man giving me support just because threw that grenade so well...you're SUPPOSED to give me bigger explosives for the perfect grenade toss I pulled off.

Gamma: Well, Command must have thought that you deserved a role fitting your ability to

save

your teammate from an immediately threatening enemy.

Nexus:

fuckin officers.

Moving up!



Nexus: Meld spotted!


Titus: No hostiles detected- meld retrieval deemed relatively safe.


Nexus: I got it commander! We're moving up to the ship now.



Phantom: Is encountering so few enemies typical of your operation? In the tapes I've seen of Argentinian military operations a patrol typically encounters any task forces by this time in the mission.

Gamma: It is an atypical situation- however, given that this craft was shot down there may be very few living X-Rays left on board.


Nexus: I'm ready to go, breaching the door as soon as-



Metis: Readings indicated enemies on all sides.

Titus: Behold the darkness in all of us!

Nexus: WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING

Phantom: Stop whining and shoot.

I think this was a 92% hit that just missed

Phantom: His death...is delayed? How?

Metis: Analysis reveals outsider as largest threat. Moving to eliminate.





Metis: Uncalculated variables found. However, cannot be compensated for at this time. Continue with outsider destruction.



Metis: Plan approximately 58.9% complete, additional damage is required.

Nexus: I GOT this, get some!


This one was around 75-80% to hit
Metis: Nexus's firing angle is 14 degrees off target- recommend remedial training.

Nexus: GODAMNIT.

Titus: haha, Destroy the crystals, DESTROY THE PREORDAINED FUTURE


Titus: Yesssssss, FATE WILL COLLAPSE UPON ITSELF.

Bee: Hmm. so I could take myself down with these three floaters but those other floating enemies could still be a problem. I guess waiting a bit longer is fine.


Phantom: Thank you for the assistance Seedy Bee.

Bee: eh.



Titus: AUGH! ..oh...the vest shares its powers with me...let me reshuffle the seeker's tarot deck, what will the top card be?


Titus: Hmm, The Lovers are in your future.

Metis: *MMMPH*

Bee: Man you just couldn't aim for me could you.


Bee: mechanical piece of shit. moving up.

Phantom: I've changed my weapon, I will assist you.





Phantom: My bullets are being deflected around it! Someone else take it down!

Nexus: TITUS you look pretty bad off, shoot at the tentacles! I'll heal your wounds for it!

Titus: YEAAAH GIVE ME THE HEALING CHI



Titus: THATS GOOD SHIT! one second, the chi feels reeeall good right now

Metis:*buzzzzzz* *cough* *cough*

Nexus: Godamnit Titus, METIIS


aaand another really high % shot missing

Nexus: TITUS PLEASE HELP HER!

Titus: Ah, The World needs Metis, doesn't it. Her deck hasn't run out yet.



Metis: *cough* systems *cough* weak but stable. eliminating.



Titus: Eventually every night falls. Don't forget that.

Phantom: Patching you up Metis, nice work.



Titus: The lover returns for Nexus!
Nexus: AAH GET IT
Bee: Finally.



Metis: Target eliminated.



Gamma: We're not picking up any more hostiles, Great work everyone- head back to the skyranger, the salvage crew is on their way.

Bee: Well at least nobody else took my death this time.



--------------------------------------------------------

Goodamn, finally made the time to finish this, really sorry about the long wait. I kinda doubt I'll have the other mission from here written up by Wednesday but I'm about to have a lot of free time on my hands next week and streaming is fun so I'm gonna be streaming this Wednesday regardless. Promotions will go up tomorrow, and Wednesday is going to have two members of

Clone Squad

on it so if you're one of the people who wanted to come back as a robot/ghost/etc then you might be showing up there.

[Gammagooey]

Streaming tonight! Probably 9:30 instead of 9 though I think. Also I forgot to do this and need to leave so real quick

PROMOTIONS
CDB: Shredder Rocket (extra rocket that deals 4 damage to anything in its radius and makes them take 33% extra damage from everything for the next four turns) OR Executioner (+10 aim against enemies with less than 50% health)

Nexus: Lightning Reflexes (forces the first reaction shot against you to miss) OR Will to Survive (reduces all normal damage by 2 if in cover and not flanked)

[Gammagooey]

Awesome, thanks! Thinking about it the foundry should probably wait until the next month since we only have one free space and a lift+power generator after should be the next two things we get but I will probably save that one spot for the foundry to get the workshop adjacency bonus. Also it's probably worth getting one more research done before arc thrower since we still need 5 days for the lift+5 days for excavation+5 or 10 days for the power generator before we can finally start actually building the containment (which'll take another 5 or 10 days to finish)

We've got a ton of promotions and research choices but I'm gonna wait til this weekend to put them all out in the hopes of getting a writeup done by sunday night to put in front of it.

(also all hail scope god, benevolent ruler of overwatch shots)

[Gammagooey]

First, I'm an idiot and what I said was floater was actually the seeker autopsy, because my short term memory lasts less than two minutes. The floater autopsy was practically useless from what I remember, though I should probably check again now. EDIT: Confirmed this, and editing my previous post now.

Second, I don't actually have a second because I thought I was going to have to mention the cost of building a foundry, therefore needing more power, and then buying stuff from it, but that was because I thought you were talking about something else because of point one.

EDIT: Third, I think one of the countries Gamma is forced to send a satellite to is South American, there are only two countries there, and their continent bonus completes all interrogations and autopsies instantly. So if I'm remembering all of that right then it might be better to wait for any of them until he has a free satellite to get the bonus with.

first part is noted

third part is kinda wrong, we're suuuper fine on the south american front, we're getting slammed in Europe and Asia (the other country thats going to panic after the next mission is Mexico, not anything in South America) so it'd be nice to save Some autopsies until we can get some the continent bonus there it's not happening for a pretty long while (like at least 2 months, maybe more)

[Gammagooey]

Update may or may not be finished before the stream tonight but I'm hopefully I can get it done.

Several of these use Defense, it's subtracted from the enemies chance to hit so +5 defense=-5 aim for anyone that shoots at them.

Promotions! So many promotions.

Phantom (Sniper): Close Combat Specialist (Gets a reaction shot against anyone who gets within 4 tiles of her, doesn't require overwatch) OR Tactical Sense (+5 Defense per enemy in sight, with a maximum of +20 defense)
Seedy Bee (Heavy): Suppression (Fires a shot that gives reaction fire against the target and gives the target -30 aim) OR Tactical Sense (+5 Defense per enemy in sight, with a maximum of +20 defense)
Robb Stark (Assault): Promotion 1-Deep Pockets (All limited use items in your inventory get one additional use [Medikits & grenades mostly, arc throwers should count too once we get them]) OR Rapid Reaction (Gives a 2nd reaction shot if the 1st one hits)
Promotion 2- Low Profile (Makes partial cover count as full [This shit is amazing]) OR Close and Personal (Gets a reaction shot against anyone who gets within 4 tiles of her, doesn't require overwatch [This is also really really good for an assault])
SpyreX (GIANT ROBOT): Advanced Fire Control (Shots from overwatch no longer suffer any aim penalty) OR Automated Threat Assessment (+15 Defense while in overwatch)
----------------------------------------

Current Situation & Next Mission

Spoiler: Pictures

So we're not going to Mexico because having the majority of two continents panicing is bad, which means Mexico is panicing here no matter what. Aside from them, we can either have 3 countries panicing in Europe+ India (total of 5 inc. Mex) if we go to Australia, or have india and Australia keep panicing (total of 3 inc. Mex). We will have three satelittes at the end of the month so IF (if is large) no other abduction missions happen we can save all 3 of Mexico+India+Australia. If not then I'm going to be abandoning asian countries as necessary because we'll have their continent bonus forever from starting there.

The other option is to go to Australia and just throw satelittes at Europe to get its bonus faster but we would still need to get another uplink+satelitte before that can happen. I'm willing to do it if you guys think its best but it doesn't seem like a particularly good plan to me.
---------------------------------
Carapace armor is DONE! It's awesome. Like daaamn. So is experimental warfare. We have probably around 25 days until we can build an alien containment with how long it'll take to excavate the base+build power for it, so I'd reccomend probably one more shortish research then getting arc thrower after that. alternatively, beam weapons then that because lazers are very very good. either's pretty fine.

Research Options

a)Arc-Thrower - 11 days
b)Beam Weapons (unlocks laser weapons research) - 24 days
c)Alien Nav Computer - 20 days
d)Skeleton Suit - 40 days
e)UFO Power Source - 28 days
f)Sectoid Autopsy - 8 days
g)Thin Man Autopsy- 8 days
h)Floater Autopsy - 8 days
i)Muton Autopsy - 8 days
j)Cryssalid Autopsy - 8 days
l)Seeker Autopsy - 6 days (yeah i dunno why its shorter)

[Gammagooey]

they made plasma weapons take longer to research and way more expensive in alloys+dollars to actually buy them afterwards if i'm remembering right, I think it's still generally doable but heavys+snipers usability suffer a lot in the extra time it takes to get them plasma.

[Gammagooey]

the ufo power source does have a new perk to researching it as well if you just want to research something biggish but not beam weapons (and it'll get us closer to firestorms)- it unlocks tier 2 MEC suits, which gives the user a bit more health and either a grenade launcher or a healing mist ability.

[Gammagooey]

for your promotion I'd go tactical sense, Close Combat Specialist is usually really good but it's the opposite of what you want snipers to usually be doing (and sniper rifles take an aim penalty if enemies are too close as well)

[Gammagooey]

hi!

was about to post about there not being anyone watching and needing a research choice since nobody actually posted a vote >_>

[Gammagooey]

Streaming tonight at 9! Still need some promotion choices from people so I'm sending out PMs to everyone who didn't choose already.

They are:
Robb Stark (Assault): Promotion 1-Deep Pockets (All limited use items in your inventory get one additional use [Medikits & grenades mostly, arc throwers should count too once we get them]) OR Rapid Reaction (Gives a 2nd reaction shot if the 1st one hits)
Promotion 2- Low Profile (Makes partial cover count as full [This shit is amazing]) OR Close and Personal (Gets a reaction shot against anyone who gets within 4 tiles of her, doesn't require overwatch [This is also really really good for an assault])
SpyreX (GIANT ROBOT): Advanced Fire Control (Shots from overwatch no longer suffer any aim penalty) OR Automated Threat Assessment (+15 Defense while in overwatch)

And if you're reading along or watching and haven't already put in application and sign up! Although I continue to be damn far behind on screenshot updates after deleting half of the last one and being mad at myself, everyone who's signed up has been on a mission on-stream and I'm starting to run out of soldiers >_> If you've already signed up I'd love to have a new character from you as well, I would prefer actually new characters instead of resurrected old ones but if I run out then I'll use whatever I've got left.

[Gammagooey]

training roulette randomizes the skill trees aside from a few abilities that stay only for that class (rocket launcher+ smoke grenade stuff for example)

[Gammagooey]

@KA-First mission is definitely fine with what we have, but I think we only have 8-10 named soldiers right now out of 13 total. (and yeah Metis got blown up on the first EXALT mission, last mission of last stream) Plus one of those unnamed ones is a reward soldier from a mission that has a promotions already that'd be nice to use- I guess what I'll do is put up her class+what possible promotions she has so anyone who's interested can have a bit more detail before doing their own customization.
-------------------------

Argentinian female lieutenant

Nickname- Desperado (changeable)
Assault (has run & gun)
Promotion 1: Deep Pockets or Sentinel
Promotion 2: Covering Fire or Close & Personal
Promotion 3: HEAT Ammo (+50% damage against mechanical units) or Rapid Fire (Fires 2 shots at the enemy with a -15 aim penalty for each)

[Gammagooey]

^ yeah after going over it you're right on Close and Personal

stream's finished for the night, thanks for watching!

[Gammagooey]

Yessss quadz

Customization box thing is in the first or second post, ill quote it

when I get home from the bar

NOW.

X-COM APPLICATION
Name: This is your username, which will be your soldier's Last Name. If you want a specific First Name, put it down, but it matters less.
Gender: This is optional. I can't actually change the gender of soldiers and the split is usually around 50/50 for men and women soldiers, but if you have a specific preference for one or the other, put it down
Race: The game has 4 races, White, Black, Asian, and Arab/Hispanic (the game lumps these together, not me)
Hair: This is basically hair style, just give me a little description of what you want and I'll choose the closest one. Enemy Within adds even more hats and options including a baseball cap, old school headphones, and some hazmat/futuristic helmets, describe what you want and i'll do my best to match it.
Hair Color: Self-explanatory. Ridiculous colors are acceptable too.
Facial Hair: Again, just give me a gist. There are LOTS of varieties of different beards, mustaches, sideburns, or combinations of each.
Armor Tint: This is armor color. Ridiculous colors are acceptable too.
Why I Should Hire YOU: Optional, but if you care to roleplay a little give me a little blurb on why X-COM wants YOU.

Spoiler: EXAMPLE DUDE is still an example

Was out of town since thursday til late last night, still proobably streaming tomorrow (wednesday) but I really do need to start catching up on the screenshot updates so itll be delayed til I can get one up, hopefully no later than 10pm

And sorry for just generally being so behind, its just been pretty hard to prioritize this over all the stuff i need to be doing and all the stuff i really want to do when I do have some free time. UPDATE TOMORROW, FELLOW SOLDIERS.

[Gammagooey]

AW DAMN ITS AN UPDATE

Bradford: Commander, you're going to want to see this. Turn on the TV. It's on pretty much every channel.



Gamma: How long ago did this start?

Bradford: We sighted the first UFO around 30 minutes ago, they've come down en masse all over the world and we just don't have enough interceptors to deal with them all. The Council nations have been using their own tech to try to combat them but they can't dispose of the attackers very quickly.



Gamma: What can I do, sir?

Bradford: The council nations have representatives 'discussing' which of us needs the skyranger sent there the most. We're still getting new reports of attacks, if they don't make a decision in the next 20 minutes we're deciding for ourselves. The soldiers are already informed and getting prepped.



Bradford: Before you head out, the UN have authorized us to give out international medals to give out to any soldier deemed to deserve them. Now's probably a good time for some inspiration, these soldiers have never faced a threat like this before.

Gamma: Yes, sir.





Gamma: Silver, you're being awarded the Defender's medal for your bravery and success in your combat situations thus far, congratulations.

Drktrip: With my tactical genius and my ability to not die when shot, there's nothing that can stop me! Ready to take on anything commander!



Gamma: Seedy Bee, you're being awarded the International Service Cross for your ability and skill on the battlefield, as well as your willingness to put your life on the line for humanity.

Bee: Huh, cool. Can I get back to being shot at yet?

Gamma: We'll be leaving in 10 minutes Miss Bee, it won't be too long.



Gamma: Nexus, you're being awarded the International Service Cross for your effort in combating the alien threat in the previous mission and rushing into potential danger to save your comrades.

Nexus: Really? I mean, Thank you sir! I knew you'd see how much ass I'm capable of kicking eventually! Next up, THE NEXUSING: NEXUS HARDER.

Gamma: Congrats again everyone, head to the skyranger and say hello to your new squadmate, Spyrex.



Spyrex: Hey, so I heard you guys get to kill robot squids and aliens that use POWERFUL WIZARDRY to make themselves stronger, is that true?

Drktrip: Yep! But it's nothing we can't shoot up, we'll be fine.

SpyreX: ooohhh man this is gonna be fun.





Gamma: Orders are in from the council, You'll be touching down in Nigeria. Save as many civilians as you can but the priority is keeping yourselves alive- you can't save anyone if you're dead.

Phantom: Roger that, we're landing at the crash site now. Nothing in sight, moving up.



Phantom: Still nothing, everyone else get into position to approach the entrance to the tank yard.

Spyrex: Wait, the aliens literally landed in a military base and they can't get people into the tanks to fight them? Cause them looking up and thinking 'you know, INSTEAD of fighting with all this military equipment we should just run home and wait for someone to come save us' couldn't possibly make sense.

Phantom: Seems like more of a scrapyard, the tanks might not be functional here. Keep moving up.



Nexus: I see a floaters on the left hand side!



Phantom: Have a bead on one.



Phantom: X-ray down.

Nexus: I'm covering our position, Dir and Spy get down!

Drktrip: Roger that!



Nexus: He went back behind the tank, lost vision of-



Nexus: FUCKING hell, HEY CIVVIES, GET AWAY FROM THE ALIENS, IT'S KIND OF IMPORTANT YOU KNOW.

Dirtrip: They look as shocked as the aliens are when they see under my helmet, I don't think they're gonna do shit.

Bee: I'm moving up, I think I heard something that might be able to kill me.


Gamma: What in holy hell is that?

Dirtrip: Taking out the one near Bee!



Dirtrip: X-Ray down!

Phantom: I'm moving up, be ready for the other insect thing and the floater if they start coming towards us.



*Background scream*

SpyreX: This whole survival thing is going right over the civilians heads isn't it?

Nexus: Group up, that floater should still be around and I've got the thing for it.


Nexus: Man that shits pretty.


Seedy Bee: Ohhh no, guess it's gonna get me.

Spyrex: You're fuckin' moonbeams Bee.


Spyrex: My shots aren't enough, can someone help me out?


Phantom: He's hit but still not down, and he's still coming at us!

Spyrex: Hold on, let me give this another shot



Spyrex: Yeeeah!

Dirtrip: We need to keep moving, civilians are still being taken out!


Phantom: More floaters in sight, including the one from before!


Phantom: Have one damaged!



Drktrip: Just missed him!



Bee: Guys it's hopeless, you better leave without me. I'll hold them off while you escape.

Spyrex: I'll eat a hat if you die from these pushovers.



Drktrip: Wow, nice shot. You've probably hit as many shots today as Nexus ever has.

Nexus: Well I don't see HIM with a medal. Besides, these guys really are pushovers, watch.



Nexus:

man i'm really glad that worked

Phantom: Firing at another!



Phantom: Missed, Dirtrip give it a shot!



Dirtrip: Got em! One more to go!

Nexus: Takin' him OOOOOOOUT



Nexus: HELLLLLLS FUCKIN' YEAH.

Gamma: Amazing job soldiers, come on home.

[Gammagooey]

Still pretty far behind so I'm just going to be working on the next screenshot update tonight, should have it up by tomorrow morning.

[Gammagooey]

Not tonight, probably streaming next week on Wednesday after this update and hopefully (but not guaranteed) another screenshot update sometime between this one and then.

[Gammagooey]

so i am once again bad at time management

working on the update but the video file was corrupted, have enough screenshots I took while going through it to do the update but there'll be a few spots where there isn't a good one for what's going on

going to be streaming tonight at 9:15 EST, Spyrex still hasn't sent me a promotion from 2? weeks ago so i'll be picking that, other promotions are

Nexus: Sprinter (3 additional tiles of movement) OR Smoke & Mirrors (2 additional uses of smoke grenades)

Titus (Heavy): Lightning Reflexes (first reaction shot taken at them automatically misses) OR Bullet Swarm (standard firing as the first action doesn't end the turn)

GIGANTIC QUADZ (Assault): (obtained from a mission, starts with 3 promotions): Deep Pockets (each limited use inventory item gets one extra use) OR Sentinel (allows 2 reaction shots in overwatch instead of just one)
AND
Covering Fire (allows reaction shots to trigger on enemy fire instead of just movement, not sure if it works with Sentinel) OR Close & Personal (The first standard shot taken within 4 tiles of an enemy doesn't cost an action, but doesn't work with run & gun)
AND
HEAT Ammo (+50% damage against robotic enemies) OR Rapid Fire (takes two shots at a -15 aim penalty to both)

[Gammagooey]

hmm

actually quadz i can't really do mutton chops and can only sort of do a mohawk with the woman I was going to place you as but definitely can do chops as a male, do you wanna wait til I get a male soldier?

[Gammagooey]

Yeah streamed a mission and signed off already

[Gammagooey]

oh damnit, I think I hit Start Recording instead of Start Streaming when I played through that then

Sorry for being a moron >_>

[Gammagooey]

Bit too slow, bringing you on the next mission though

[Gammagooey]

Yep! Gonna start at 9:15, I'll update the title now

[Gammagooey]

CAN DO

[Gammagooey]

Streaming is a-go!

[Gammagooey]

stream's done for the night, hollly shit are EXALT a bunch of assholes

[Gammagooey]

only ones I had were Titus & Nexus from last time and I just chose them myself since they didn't show up for a week (Lightning Reflexes & Smoke & Mirrors respectively)

[Gammagooey]

The video for this mission got corrupted- there are a pretty decent number of screenshots taken while going through it but I can't fill in any gaps like i'd usually be able to.

Intercom: Dirtrip, Phantom, Seedy Bee, Nexus, and...*page flipping*.... *more page flipping*......Hodor, report to the Skyranger preparation area.



Gamma: There's been abudctions reported in Moscow that we need to take care of. Also, take a very brief moment to meet Hodor.

Hodor: HODOR!

Gamma: Yes that's good let's go.

Bee: Some of us might be dead at the end of this mission, give him a proper introduction.

Hodor: Hodor hodor!

Gamma: His name is Hodor, and despite that being the only word he can say he's about as good of a shot as most of you were when you first joined X-Com. You can decide whether that reflects more on you lot or him later, we need to leave 5 minutes ago.

Hodor: Hodooor!



Gamma: There's been reports of abductions near this Moscow junkyard, your mission is to clear the area and obtain any meld you might find in the vicinity.

Nexus: We're on the ground, moving up to the smaller bulldozers!

Gamma: My visual feed is cutting in and out, remember that Phantom has command authority if I'm unable to communicate with you.

Phantom: Understood.

Hodor: Hodor!




Nexus: There's a meld canister near Hodor and I, moving towards it once everyone else is in position.



Phantom: I've got you covered for moving towards the first canister Nexus.

Nexus: Moving!

..

Nexus: Meld secured!

Bee: Where the hell are these aliens, Silver can you see anything?



Dirtrip: There were seekers here a second ago but they've gone invisible! I see the 2nd meld cannister to our right!



Hodor: HODOR HODOR!

Dirtrip: Floaters to our left!

Hodor: Hodoooooooooooor!


Dirtrip: Hodor's hit one of them, finishing it off!





Dirtrip: The last one's pinning down Hodor! Firing!

Dirtrip: Shot wide!

Phantom: We can't get an angle on him yet, Hodor stay behind cover and wait for him to come to us!

Hodor: Hodor!

Nexus: OH HELL IT'S HERE



Phantom: It landed right in front of you and you really can't hit it?



Bee: I've got it, Firing!



Bee: Goot it.



Phantom: Got another.

Hodor: Hodoorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!



Hodor: Hodorrr.

Nexus: We all miss sometimes Hodor.

Phantom: Keep moving up slowly, and keep watching for those seekers!



Bee: Seeker's going after Dirtrip!



Bee: Need some more firepower on the seeker!





Phantom: Got it.



Dirtrip: There's 2 sectoids and some thin men in the distance, I'm pinging them but they aren't going down easy!



Phantom: Taking out the last seeker, can someone else help Dirtrip!



Bee: Dirtrip get down, Firing a rocket!




Dirtrip: Thanks Bee.

Bee: Let me go first next time so it doesn't happen again.

Nexus: Taking out a sectoid!

Nexus: DAMNIT.

Dirtrip: Hold on Nexus, I should be able to get one.



Dirtrip: These bastards just don't die, do -AUUGH



Nexus: Need some backup, Dirtrips down!



Bee: *Sigh* I JUST told her to stay back. One down, who wants the last?



Phantom: Last X-Ray is down.



Gamma: I'm not detecting any more X-Rays in the area. Good work everyone, Come on home.

[Gammagooey]

Also, the stream is pretty done =( I won't go into details since I will continue with the screenshot updates until I do finally catch up but last week I got my ass kicked beyond the point where it's possible to come back from.

Thanks to everyone who signed up, everyone who watched the streams, and everyone who's been reading along. The screenshot updates were a little too ambitious for me to keep up with properly given how long the game goes on for but I might do another stream only Let's Play of this or something else in several months time. Also thanks a ton to Wraith for letting me steal his idea even though I never quite matched up to his constant output, if you haven't read through it I highly recommend it. (http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=24004)

Cyaaaa at the next screenshot update everybody!