Skyblade's Eyes on XCOM Signups

[Aulayna]

Looking forward to seeing my glorious debut and innevitable death!

As an aside, here's my dapper bunch of alien hunters just waiting to be renamed!

[ShunNakamura]

Hey you got a female heavy! I have never gotten a female heavy before! And nearly half my barracks ended up as heavy this time round(all male, and heavy is probably my least wanted class. . . unless I am forced to take on a mission with a bunch of low rank units. Rockets complete negate the 'can't hit the broad side of a barn' issue low ranks have for me).


Anyways I'd like to sign up.

Character name - Shun Nakamura
Character nickname - Highlighter
Class - Heavy
Gender - Either one will work
Customization -
   Race - Any
   Voice - Is there even a difference?
   Head - Any
   Skin Color - Any
   Hair/Helmet - 13(that should be the helm with the light on it)
   Hair Color - Any
   Facial Hair(if male) - Any
   Armor Deco -2
   Armor Tint - 7(that should be a yellow)
Equipment - When in doubt scope it!
Perks -
   Fire Rocket
   Holo Targeting
   Suppression
   Heat Ammo
   Danger Zone
   Will to Survive
   Mayhem

I just gotta say I love holo targeting + suppression + Danger Zone. Makes it a lot easier to hit enemies behind cover that you don't want to destroy(either because you want it when you advance or because it is a power source or somesuch). Mayhem will likely just make it all the better. I still prefer the other three normally, but that doesn't make heavies useless.

[Dignified Pauper]

There is a distinct lack of Marick in this thread, in both proper noun and verb form.

I'll have you know that I am now very much in THIS thread...

[Iceglow]

There is a distinct lack of Marick in this thread, in both proper noun and verb form.

I'll have you know that I am now very much in THIS thread...

In both forms you bloody Marick'd this thing.

[Aulayna]

Hey you got a female heavy! I have never gotten a female heavy before! And nearly half my barracks ended up as heavy this time round(all male, and heavy is probably my least wanted class. . . unless I am forced to take on a mission with a bunch of low rank units. Rockets complete negate the 'can't hit the broad side of a barn' issue low ranks have for me)..

Yeah she was actually in my starting squad when I started a playthrough without the tutorial.

[Skyblade]

Apologies for the delays. As it happens, I've been doing most of my posting from my phone lately, as my computer got infected by this virus that basically makes it useless. It's called "Mass Effect", and whenever I was booting my computer up, it seemed to dominate the runtime. So, sorry. Anyway, really need to get this moving again, I've only got two weeks to finish, eek!

-Operation First Mother-
Fukuoka, Japan
5:01 AM

This mission was a Council mission disguised as an abduction mission. Despite our team's hopes of picking up a Sectoid to study, we encountered nothing but Thin Men. A lot of Thin Men.

We landed on a Japanese highway. The mission opened with a pair just north of our position. Most of our team was on Overwatch, but it was Jiro who managed to nab the kill (how he managed that with both the Overwatch penalty and Snap Shot penalty is beyond me, good job). MacGuyver's shot lit up the trash can in front of the car the team was using for cover. Fearing the car itself was lit, our team prepared to scatter. Ronnie blasted the second one with his shotgun, but unveiled another pair while he was at it.

Our Rookie burned the next Thin Man down, and Vivi eliminated his partner. When the car didn't catch fire, Jiro and MacGuyver felt a little silly for diving for cover, but, since everyone came through ok, there was nothing to worry about. Moving up, we unveiled a trio of the spindly aliens. One shot at Jiro, who wasn't in cover at the time, but missed, as Jiro has mad evasion skills. The second shot at our Rookie, burning into her armor, but not harming her. MacGuyver Run and Gunned forward, taking a flanking shot to eliminate the one on the team's left flank. Our Rookie moved forward and eliminated one of the ones on the right, while Vivi popped the third. Jiro and Ronnie moved forward to Overwatch, and encountered our last foes of the mission, another threesome of Thin Men.

The first Thin Man waltzed behind a bus stop, which Jiro and Ronnie proceeded to turn into an impressive piece of scrap metal, though they missed the alien itself. It proceeded to fire at our Rookie, hitting, and burning through her armor to hit her. Though not badly wounded, she'd likely be in the hospital for a week. MacGuyver lined up a shot on the now clear foe, and burned it down. Jiro tried to shoot at the next foe, but only wound up hitting the truck it was using for cover. Ronnie, deciding there was no reason someone couldn't snipe with a shotgun, took an extremely long distance 27% chance shot, and hit, eliminating the Thin Man and leaving only one foe, atop the cab of the eighteen wheeler at the end of the road.

The trailer prevented most of my squad from getting a line of sight on it, and Ronnie was the only one who could see it. But Vivi, far back at a fire hydrant near the LZ, wasn't going to let that stop him. One cold shot from his Sniper Rifle put that alien to bed before it even knew it was in danger, and ended the mission.

MVP: Balls MacGuyver. Really awesome use of positioning and flanking. Vivi had the most kills, but sometimes positioning and tactics win out. I mean, if it was always to highest kills, it would basically always be a Sniper, which would get boring for everyone else. So there.

Jiro, you actually could have gotten another kill in this mission (98% chance), but I deliberately gave it to the Rookie so that she could get her promotion without being carried to a second mission. So don't feel too bad about how you valiantly destroyed cover with most of your shots. Although that kill shot, like two of the three from your last mission, wouldn't have taken advantage of Snap Shot, so you should still feel horrible for picking that.

Promotions: Pretty much everyone. Our Rookie is now a Heavy (hey, Psy, some competition!), and I'll see if we have someone who wanted a Heavy in just a sec. Glad it's not another Sniper or Assault. Vivi didn't get a promotion, but he had just reached Major, so not surprising. Ronnie is now a Captain. Jiro made Major himself. And Lady Balls MacGuyver is now a Sergeant.

The mission resulted in more engineers, and a decrease in panic in Japan. However, Brazil and Argentina spiked to 4. With the council meeting in 5 days, we figured it was the perfect time to launch our spare satellites over those countries, picking up another continent bonus, and balancing out our panic before the meeting hit.

[DK]

Awww jeah, close combat specialist, I've been waiting for this. Please give Ronnie a ridiculously powerful shotgun and let me go to town on some smurfres.

[Jiro]

I make the bulltrout shots. Tbh I would've missed that 98% shot for sure I'm glad my nerfed dude is still helping out!

[ShunNakamura]

Promotions: Pretty much everyone. Our Rookie is now a Heavy (hey, Psy, some competition!), and I'll see if we have someone who wanted a Heavy in just a sec. Glad it's not another Sniper or Assault.

I believe the queue for heavies is MILF and myself. Of course I could have missed something/somebody. MILF having signed up a month earlier!

[Skyblade]

I'll hold off on the second Heavy until MILF makes a decision about the gender.

-Operation Black Ring-
Guangzhou, China

Our first mission with a team of six.

Ronnie Coleman took point, moving up to the car in front of him, promptly spotting three more Thin Men. Command began to consider that our assessments of alien troops might have been incorrect. The Thin Men may be the standard assault forces of the aliens. In which case, we should have little to no trouble finishing up this invasion.

The Thin Men scattered, one flanking Ronnie, another jumping to the roof. Vivi, not liking anyone else to have the high ground, promptly blew a hole through the head of the one on the roof. Ronnie activated Run and Gun and shifted to the next car over, so he was no longer flanked, and took a long distance shot that eliminated the enemy who had been flanking him. Psy moved forward, and discovered a pair of Mutons before wasting his shots on the truck the Thin Man was using as cover.

As we had not yet captured a Muton, Balls MacGuyver sensed an opportunity. She rushed up to a flanking spot and Overwatched (interesting note, an enemy who is flanked or exposed by a unit who is in Overwatch will almost always do nothing during their turn, great for captures), as a direct shot would be likely to crit and eliminate the capture chance.

Jiro then eliminated the third Thin Man, and Ronnie took another long distance shotgun blast, weakening the Muton down to 1 health, allowing MacGuyver to move in for an easy capture. The second Muton, having lost its taste for battle, retreated out of the building, beyond our line of sight. Time to regroup and reload.

As we moved into the building, which turned out to be a bar, Ronnie immediately sprinted for the beer taps and hid behind the counter. The rest of our forces arrayed themselves half inside, half outside. The Muton who had run away came around the corner of the building, and avoided our Overwatch shots to fire a flanked shot at Jiro. Which missed. Jiro's return Headshot, however, did not miss, and another enemy scratched.

Two more Thin Men unveiled themselves. One of them, in their mad dash to get away from our squad, ran slightly too close to the Close Combat Specialist Ronnie, and earned himself a shotgun blast at close range. And MacLeod decided it was time for him to take a hand, and wiped out the remaining one, which was hiding behind a door.

Balls MacGuyver, exploring the side of the building, discovered three Floaters near the back room stores of spirits. Two of them rushed out, and set into positions which left MacGuyver flanking them. Again, she entered Overwatch. When one tried to move a moment later, she burned it down with one calm laser shot, while the other did nothing. The Floater which decided it didn't want to give up the booze, was eliminated by Psy. And, though she had to reposition as the collapsing building was now blocking her line of sight, Balls MacGuyver was able to burn down the final Floater with another flanking laser shot.

Woohoo! No casualties, no injuries!

MVP: Ronnie. 3 kills, and some really awesome long range work with a close range weapon.

Promotions: None. Our team is getting a bit too high of a level. I suppose now that I've got a pretty solid economy, it's time to start on Rookies. I've already picked up both Squad Sizes and Iron Will (which will let us start working on Psi Troopers), so time to get to work!

[Skyblade]

-Operation Hot Paramour-
Calgary, Canada

Well, THAT'S certainly an intriguing op name. And I can't report what goes on in this mission...

I mean that, I can't. My internet went through a reboot 90% of the way through, wiping my notes of the mission, leaving me with just the highlights in memory, no real stories. And there were surprisingly few of those. It was a simple, 10 alien abduction mission, with 2 Floaters, 2 Mutons, and 6 Sectoids. And the only real issue of note was that Balls MacGuyver captured one of the Sectoids (which let us finish our Laser Research).

Promotions were our Rookie, another Female Assault, Psy, who went up to Major, and Miss MacGuyver up to Lieutenant.

The good news is, we're about at the breaking point on economy. We have a council meeting in a few days, and most of the sats are up (Asia is the only one left in the cold). We also have our first two Firestorms with EMP cannons, which means that defense is going to get a lot easier really quickly. Soon we'll be able to start on decisions such as what type of gear you get, instead of just whether you get it or not.


So, next mission. A small scout downed in Brazil.

-Operation Severed Flame-
Brazil
11:07 AM

It starts off right away with introducing us to a new foe. A small flying saucer object, escorted by an even smaller drone. The drone got shredded immediately by our team's reaction fire (no clue who got the kill), and the new Cyberdisc itself didn't last much longer. With Ronnie (whose Double Shot missed both times), MacLeod, MacGuyver, and Psy all with shots on it, its heavy armor only put up token resistance before our new Rookie was given the coup-de-grace (wanted her to gain a class ASAP). All in all, a wonder of coordination and teamwork.

Our next discovery was the scout ship itself. Unfortunately, its power core was blown by our interceptor (no new Firestorm from this ship ), however, the Outsider inside was still alive. The Outsider took a shot at MacLeod, and Ronnie retaliated with his pistol, allowing MacGuyver moved in to capture it. Not that we'll be researching it anytime soon, but getting it out of the way and picking up another Light Plasma Rifle wouldn't hurt.

The final foes of the mission were a couple of Mutons. The first didn't take good enough cover, and Vivi's Headshot eliminated it (as well as caused the Muton's Rifle to fly far enough that it seemed to smack Ronnie in the face). Ronnie missed with his Double Shot again, and Balls took the fall for it, getting shot at close range by the beast's plasma. Wanting to redeem himself, Ronnie got right up close, flanked the creature, and Double Shotted it again, finally putting it down and ending the mission.

MVP: MacLeod. Good use of Suppression, even if I didn't mention it, and some nice healing tossed out.

Promotions: Major Coleman, Colonel Vivi, and our female Rookie, who became another Heavy. Man, Supports hate us. Probably due to MacLeod's whole "victory through death" thing early on.

Casualties: MacLeod and MacGuyver (Mac was an unlucky name on this mission), both out for a week.


Not only are we reaching the point of balance for economy, we're also extremely, extremely close to having a fully functional B-Squad, which will let me swap teams and keep everyone playing in a much more balanced function. In the meantime, enjoy the new pic.

Fully Equipped.jpg

Our next mission is a Terror Attack in Perth, Australia. Which, if we do well, is perfect, as I have still to lauch a single satellite in Asia, and getting its terror knocked down for free will make things that much easier as we move into the final month without full coverage.

[Loony BoB]

It's crazy how different you can play this game. I had all my guys with Plasma and Titan before I got Firestorms in my game. xD Glad we're doing so well.

Also, oh, wow, my hair. Fitting for a Chocobo. xD

[Skyblade]

I find the strategic game a lot harder than the tactical, at least if you want to keep every country. So I always go for boosts to the strategic game first.

Also, I've found that if you rush Firestorms and EMPs, they're the only improvement you need to your interceptors. You can go straight for them, and skip Phoenix Cannons, Laser Cannons, and Plasma Cannons. That's a lot of time and money saved that I prefer to spend on other things.

So my research order is pretty much always UFO Flight Computer first (gets me satellite nexus), then UFO Power Source, then Firestorms, then EMP. For primary research. In between I'll grab some short time research options, but most of my time is spent in that order.

Since the EMP is one of the two max damage weapons in the game for interceptors, and its more accurate than the Fusion Lance, I pretty much use it as my only weapon once I start getting the higher level ship classes. It also keeps every piece of gear on the enemy ship intact, which means I can get more research and more bonuses back quicker.

[Iceglow]

Less Mass Effect more X-Com Skyblade!

This thread has properly been Marricked. I hope he's satisfied now.

Double posting? You know better Steve. ~ Vivi22

[ShunNakamura]

I say we trade one of our snipers for


Who says aye?