Skyblade's Eyes on XCOM Signups

[Jiro]

Way to get me killed, damn xD

[Iceglow]

I thought the tutorial mission told you 3 people would be dead by the end of the mission?

[Skyblade]

Apologies for the delay, I have been experiencing some technical difficulties (Windows chose to implement a stupid update). This will be back up and running with our first mission deployment tomorrow evening.

And, yes, 3 people die in the first mission. And you don't even get to customize them. The mission that got you all killed was the second mission, and it involved bad luck, and introduced me to a new mechanic: Chain Panic Teamkilling. Basically, if a Soldier panics, there's a fairly even chance that he'll shoot either an alien, or a teammate. And Panic shots are always 100% accurate. And can cause Panic. In short, there's a good chance (especially on higher difficulties) that a single soldier who starts to Panic will wipe your entire squad without you being able to do a thing about it.

I have a better handle on things now, and am ready to get things rolling. Don't worry, you'll all be back in action soon enough. Of course, you'll die again, since the game is merciless, but at least the startup will be a bit more fair.

[Jiro]

I don't mind being the first casualty. I'm sure nobody will hold it against me forever.

[DK]

That chain panic thing sounds hilarious. I hope we get plenty of that.

[Skyblade]

That chain panic thing sounds hilarious. I hope we get plenty of that.

If I wasn't doing this run on Iron-Man (to prevent my natural predeliction towards perfectionist save-scumming), it would be. As it is, it's a pretty unfair way to hose a team.

Although, thinking about it, it would make for good stories, so what the hey. I just find myself wondering if we're going to win. Which I didn't think was in question before I started.

[Jiro]

EoFF has enough members for you to just throw wave after wave of soldiers at the enemy.

[Skyblade]

XComGame 2012-10-11 22-32-03-35.jpg

Ok, here we have our first actual picture (sorry, that's as close to orange as I could get, unless you want a more subdued, dingy orange). Two missions completed, starting off after the first UFO we've shot down.

The first mission was relatively uneventful. One Rookie got hurt and panicked, no overall effect, and not counting it since none of them were customized (though, for the record, it was the Rookie who became Squaddie MacLeod). I've customized Balls Macguyver, but I'm not sure that's going to be him, as he might not wind up an Assault soldier. But he's going on this mission, so he gets customized. If you're wondering where Ronnie Coleman is, well, read on.

-Mission Summary-
Second mission got off to a rocky start, but was pulled through by our soldier's luck elite skill. The mission began in the corner of an industrial warehousing area. Small packing crates and large shipping crates littered the zone, which, along with the dropoffs for loading trucks, provided the majority of the mission's cover. Our soldiers started on the lowest terrain availible (bad Skyranger driver, higher is better!), just to ensure the aliens had a fair run.

Squaddie Psy Chotic took the lead, moving upward, staying well in cover, and protecting his lesser equipped comrades with his massive LMG. Squaddie MacLeod stepped forward next, pulling up behind a crate, again preparing to cover his companions with his Assault Rifle.

Thusly covered, Ronnie Coleman stepped forward, past the two of them, into a new cover spot, and promptly ran into four Sectoids, two on each side of the map. These Sectoids promptly split up, two going behind the large storage crate to the West, and the other two loitering around the open shack to the Northeast.

Jiro Stark, our beloved Sniper, was left without a clean shot, and moved up to the nearby ledge, and promptly Hunkered Down, ignoring what was going on as he shrunk behind his cover and listened to Jarvis.

The Sectoids continued their flanking, one coming around the crate, promptly flanking Psy and Ronnie. The first plasma bolt he loosed dug into Ronnie's shoulder, taking most of his vitality in combat. Our (at this point) Rookie, however, was not to be deterred by a mere plasma bolt to the shoulder.

As our heroes' retaliation began, Ronnie moved around the corner of his packing crate and unleashed a hail of lead into the head of the Sectoid still loitering near the shed. Mr. Stark, finally realizing that there was a battle going on, raised his Sniper rifle, and drilled a shot through the head of another Sectoid, north of the squad (it had wandered around the other side of the crate that was Ronnie's bane during its turn and gotten into cover), as he took credit for saving the squad and asked what was so hard.

With two more Sectoids that we knew about, however, the squad couldn't relax. Psy shifted to an unflanked position and took out the one who shot Ronnie, while Connor shifted into Overwatch in case the fourth came out of the shed.

Unfortunately, it had already moved out of the shed, climbed the stairs to the north, and came out on top of a loading ramp. Worse still, it had called two more friends. Ronnie promptly decided that his bravery had served him well, but that his friends could handle the rest, and ran to the back of the squad and hid.

Jiro nailed our friend who though that high ground could save him, while Connor screamed about not letting these glory hogs get all the kills, ran forward, and nailed another. Psy, however, merely looked at him impassively and squeezed off another shot bang on target, ending the threat and the mission.



So Mr. Coleman is currently in the room getting treated for massive plasma burns to the shoulder and neck, but by heading to the back, his life was saved, and he will return in the future. And since it wasn't a critical injury (two health left, and not a critical hit, or he'd have died outright or bled out), he won't even have any mental scarring, and will be right back into the fight.

Psy is our MVP this time, killing two aliens, and providing excellent support with Overwatch, even though he didn't use his rockets or grenades because he wanted the science team to be happy and have stuff to recover (don't worry, as we move past enemies they can one-shot, they'll get a lot of use). Jiro also got two kills, a very good thing, as he is very limited until he can get promoted to Corporal.

So, discuss your antics, and the level of detail I gave (do you want more or less, etcetera). Next mission will be up fairly soon, as there's no training our loadout feedback to gather first, but I would like a response on how the mission synopsis was. Thanks for your interest, and good job on the first mission!

PS: I have five females in our initial barracks lineup, more than any previous game I've played. None in either active squad, but if anyone new wants to join in, don't hesitate to pick a girl, I'm likely to have one of each class. If I need to in order to fill in deaths/injuries, I'll play one myself, but it's more fun if you guys do.

Also, not sure I'll be giving you guys as much influence on building/research as I thought. The strategic layer is a bit demanding, so I'll be focusing mostly on improving it. This will slow the rate of progression towards better weapons and armor, though Medkits and S.C.O.P.E.s will be coming soon.

[Madame Adequate]

That chain panic thing sounds hilarious. I hope we get plenty of that.

Oh we will. We smurfing will.

[Old Manus]

Teletubbies: The Movie

[DK]

Ahahah awesome. I'm surprised old Ronnie didn't die horrifically, but being burned up is good enough. Nice work though team. No man left behind, and we completed the mission, so victory all round.

Would it be possible for you to explain whatever skills you end up using are, Skyblade? Like Overwatch for example. Just so we know what they are and what the purpose is.

[Slothy]

Would it be possible for you to explain whatever skills you end up using are, Skyblade? Like Overwatch for example. Just so we know what they are and what the purpose is.

Good idea, but just to save waiting for Skyblade to answer, overwatch is a skill you can use if you've only moved once (usually) instead of shooting. It let's the soldier take a shot at any enemy that moves within their field of vision. Can't begin to describe how many times it's saved my butt by killing something before they got to cover and shot me.

[Psychotic]

I avenged you dayyyyyn.

[Iceglow]

I was trying to get the demo to run on my laptop but it's not liking it.

[Loony BoB]

Character name: Loony BoB
Character nickname: BoB. If that's too short, then Newbie.
Class: Random/Assault (depending on Skyblade's preference)
Gender: Male, please xD
Customization: Brown hair/eyes, caucasian, armour can be blue/grey/green/black, I guess. Any of those.
Equipment: Your choice.
Perks: Whatever helps me survive!

EDIT: I think the term for whatever class I was in the last two EoFF runs was "Pistol Toting B.A.M.F." (although I seemed to use a lot more than pistols) and I survived seven missions in total with 8 kills in the first run. ...watch me die immediately.