Eyes on FF Plays XCOM: Enemy Within!

[Skyblade]

Character name: Christmas
Character nickname: Santarina
Class: Assault
Gender: Female
Customization: Generic female?
Pink and white armour if possible, helmets that look cute.
Equipment: Machine gun, rapid firing baby! No swords I guess?
Specialization: Mastery of the force? I am not sure. Just something generic I guess?

Well, we have a ton of females to go through (for the first time ever, I started with more females than male). So I'll happily get you an Assault female.

If you want to go Assault, your weapon choices are actually going to be between Shotgun and Assault Rifle (short range power, versus medium range reliability). There are no swords, but you can engage in melee if you choose to become a MEC trooper.
Mastery of the force would pretty much be Psionics, but they're rare, and unavailable until mid game. We'll have to see if you can get them.

Don't worry, I'll present you the other customization options you can get as you level up, and we'll see how your character can shape up. Don't forget to pick a last name too!


Anyway, back to the game, and sure enough, 3 days later, we get a new mission.

-Operation Crystal Whisper-
Brisbane, Australia
1:28 AM

Our forces set down on a major freeway. Cars and more civilian bodies littered the visible terrain, but there was as yet no sign of our foes. Our newly appointed squad leader, Vivi, had the others advance, knowing that he'd be relegated to his pistol if a foe was encountered.

We found another Meld canister before even encountering any foes, and our forces collected it to provide our research team with more samples. Paula then encountered two more of the little grey aliens (whom our soldiers have decided to call "Sectoids" until R&D gives them an official name). Not wanting to face them as the lead soldier, she fell back, and the rest of the squad turtled up into Overwatch, ready to attack anyone who came into view.

However, the foes chose not to attack, so our squad advanced cautiously. Paula spotted the first one again, this time choosing to extract a few pounds of flesh with her assault rifle. Vivi moved forward, but missed with his pistol. As the alien took a wild shot that passed clean through the windows of a police car, Vivi put his pistol away and took out his shiny new Sniper Rifle, and demonstrated his skilled technique by drilling a shot straight through the critter's braincase.

The second Sectoid came back into view, but merely tried to reposition without taking shots at anyone. Paula drilled a few shots through its face, and the rest of the team moved up in formation, with the Rookies taking the lead, eager to show they could stand with the rest of the force.

This proved to be a slight mistake, as they immediately stumbled into four Sectoids. The team was in solid cover positions, but they'd ranged too far from Vivi for him to offer effective support. The first plasma bolt sailed harmlessly overhead, but now the team had to adapt to an uneven battle.

As Vivi dashed into a flanking position, our Rookies fell apart, missing with their shots, and Paula did the same. The aliens, however, finally scoped in on the force, and a plasma shot ripped into Paula, her basic body armor barely slowing it down, though it was enough to keep her in the fight.

Though the aliens had shifted around, forcing Vivi to move to flank them again, he proved that was no deterrent, and calmly popped the Sectoid that shot Paula with his pistol, clearly trying to make up for his early failure.

Our previously over-enthusiastic Rookie (who I think was being trained as Ronnie's apprentice) rushed out of his solid cover within a semi-truck, getting a clear view on another Sectoid. While he startled the creature enough that its reaction fire missed, and he was able to put a handful of slugs into its body, ending its threat, he was left wide open for the final Sectoid.

Cursing the thoughtless fool, Vivi moved forward and fired off a couple more shots at that Sectoid, wounding it, but not taking it down. Its return fire at the errant Rookie, while it easily struck the wide-open Soldier, were fortunately of minimal effectiveness. The Rookie, realizing his idiocy, took cover behind a second Meld canister, collected it for the team, and then finished off the final threat.

MVP: Vivi, with two kills, including a very nice flanking pistol critical hit.

Promotions:
Ronnie Coleman is promoted to Squaddie, becoming an Assault soldier with his one kill, and grabs a Shotgun (I decided to use him instead of the original Ronnie, because he reached the Assault class sooner).
Marcel Wozniak, despite his idiotic charging ahead, is promoted to Squaddie as well, and becomes a second Heavy soldier.

Wounds: Paula is out of commission for seven days, as is Marcel.

Also, the team earned an Urban Combat medal. Medals are awarded to XCOM for team performance, who can then chooses who gets the individual medals. Each medal has a benefit for its recipient, which we can also choose (and we can rename the medal if we want).

Urban Combat has the choice between +5 Defense while in cover (reducing enemy chance to hit) or +5 Aim against enemies in cover (increasing our own chance to hit). Once chosen, this benefit will apply to all Urban Combat medals we get and award.

Also vote on a name for the medal. I won't award this one for a while, to give you guys time to give input.

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The team so far. I'm really glad that color customization now also affects weapons. Let me know if you don't like Ronnie's hat. Additionally, I have to point out, that while that moustache being the closest I could get to Vivi's avatar, it's also facial hair customization number 22.

I just finished researching S.C.O.P.E.s, so I equipped them to everyone, because they are far better than grenades, in my opinion. But if you guys want to carry grenades or medkits, let me know!


Raven 1 just shot down a U.F.O. It crashed in the US, appearing to be within a few hundred miles of XCOM HQ, which is a little worrying. But that's where our next trip will take us!