[Let's Play] UFO: Alien Invasion

[fnord]

Bugger it, can't hold off any longer. Can you slot me in as an already-cybered interceptor pilot?

[Torben]

I say do what you think is best. Do we need a new interceptor faster or would it be more prudent to disassemble the harvester and save us research time in the long run?

Were it me, unless I was losing interceptors left and right, I would do the harvester...Unless there is something crucial that only the scout can give to us.

That being said, we really did not have the resources or room to build the UFO yard until now, so, hey, not your fault and we run with it.

Maybe fnord can come in as one of the new Dragon interceptors?

[ChaserGrey]

I say do what you think is best. Do we need a new interceptor faster or would it be more prudent to disassemble the harvester and save us research time in the long run?

This. I think our priority should be getting improved interceptors, but since I don't know a lot about game mechanics I think the question of which UFO to analyze should be left to JonB's judgment.

[JonB]

Why I chose one over the other is because Spoiler

the Harvester-class UFO also has the Particle Beam weapon, which the Scout does not. And we'll need those when the next generation of UFOs start showing up.

So, unless there's any major objections, I would begin research in such a manner as to expidite the creation of next-gen Human aircraft.

[Torben]

Makes perfect sense if Harvester can give us everything Scout can and more. Even if it takes us a little longer now, we will still save time in the long run because we won't need to research both. I always knew there was a reason the UN picked you to head Phalanx, and I was sure it wasn't your blue-on-blue kill ratio!

[GuppyShark]

PHALANX HQ
Living Quarters

GuppyShark slung his duffel bag onto the bed and took stock of what was to be his home for the foreseeable future.

A sparsely-furnished, small room with a bed, a desk, a computer terminal, and a wardrobe.

His name - or rather, his callsign - had been stenciled on the door along with a pixellated representation of the Commonwealth of Oceania, which had obviously been hastily printed out from the first matching icon that had come up in a web search.

The private that had directed him here through the base tunnels smiled and backed out of the doorway.

"Chow is at 1900, follow the green line on the floor if you get lost. Goodbye sir."

GuppyShark absent-mindedly waved him off as he slid into the desk chair and started up the terminal. Having to be an officer and deal with the leadership formalities associated with it annoyed him a little but he didn't complain on payday.

He brought up the base's induction package and quickly skimmed it. None of the details of the Phalanx operation had been provided to him before his arrival, and he honestly had no idea what to expect.

Satisified he wouldn't look like a complete idiot when it came time to leave the pilot's quarters, he started reading up on the base's mission statement and then flicking through mission logs.

Attrition seemed to be high, but the same names kept coming up in the...

"Oh my God..."

[GuppyShark]

GuppyShark closed the door and went back to his reading.

He'd known the war against the aliens was dire - everybody did - but he never even contemplated cybernetically reviving the dead.

He quickly fired off a Do Not Revive (As A Cyborg) form. Maybe it was just his philosophy, but this was not a second life, it was a machine pretending to be alive. Maybe it even believed it was the same person. But death happens, and it is a one-way trip.

Still. This seemed to be accepted practice in Phalanx halls, so he'd better keep his opinions to himself.

Oh, crap. That probably means there's some of these things out there. Do they eat?

He was about to find out. It's getting late...

[PeZook]

CAUTION, PUNY MEAT-UNIT.

YOU SHOULD DEVOTE MORE PROCESSING POWER TO OBSERVATION OF YOUR PREDICTED MOVEMENT PATH

NO THREAT DETECTED. YOU ARE FREE TO PROCEED TOWARDS SUSTENANCE DISTRIBUTION CENTER

[GuppyShark]

Don't freak out, don't freak out, don't freak out...

"Uhh thanks, yeah, green line. Got it."

Fark...

[White Haven]

Mashed Potatoes, quartermaster? This is bad pudding!

[Edi]

Edi was heading to the chow hall when he saw PeZook accost the new guy. Officer, by his rank markings, so he must have been the new pilot.

"Hey, if you're heading for supper, you might as well come with me, Captain. I'll show you around and get you up to speed. You're the new pilot?"

Edi saw the new guy was looking after PeZook with a slightly wild look in his eyes.

"Don't worry about PeZook. He's okay, all of them are, but they take a little getting used to. Took us a while to adjust. Oh, my name's Edi, by the way."

"Uh, you're welcome..." the pilot replied, still looking a bit nervous. "They call me Guppyshark."

"That your callsign?"

"Yeah. How long have you been around?"

"I've been in since the beginning. Almost ended up like one of the cyborgs, but survived by some miracle. They had to regrow most of my skin from a stem cell template because of all the plasma burns."

*gulp* "Ah, fascinating... Tell me, can you introduce me to my wingmen later? Over coffee, preferably."

"Ah, that might take some doing..." Edi said, wondering how the new guy would react to what he was about to hear.

"Actually, your wingman, barnest2 prefers aviation fuel and engine oil..."

"Sure. He...WHAT? Oh, hehe, you're having me on, Sergeant!"

Edi grinned. "Nope. He had an argument with an alien interceptor and lost. The lower part of his body sustained enough trauma to kill him when he crashed and burned, but the upper body was intact, so he was...reactivated. He's been doing very well since."

Edi watched the color drain from the new pilot's face. He'd need to buy the guy a drink. Or two...

[HMS Sophia]

A feed cuts in from the overhead speaker
"Good afternoon Captain. This is barnest2, broadcasting from my hanger. And you don't have to worry about your back, I'm just as good a pilot as I ever was when I had hands. Hey Edi, I told you it was a good idea to have Nitram hook me up to the bases internals..."

[SirNitram]

New guy. Huh. SirNitram filed the standard new arrival set of procedures.. Checkup, skin samples, brain scan.. Ah, a DNR. Well, no need to change the checkup for that, but he added it to the file. Not that many new cyborgs were being made; accelerated tissue regeneration was getting the wounded back; the last 'cyborg' was more in the way of 'Prosthetic arm'.

[FaxModem1]

Fax's food slot opened, and he took the tray, right before he heard barnest2 come over the intercom.

"So barnest2, if you can hear me. We got a new captain, huh? Good to know."

GuppyShark saw a private close the food tray and walk away from the locked room. On a sign posted on the door were the words. "Do not talk with the prisoner."

[JonB]

I currently have 180+ images, and the update is still going forward in time until I have some decent progress made to report. Current Date is 02 September, and we've plateaued on most of our national funding. From here on out, it's the Blackmarket for our finances.

If anyone has an idea about what they want to see in this LP, PM me or post a reply in the thread. This will give me something to aim for as I do my writeups to be more than just "UFO down, deploy dropship, clear mission, post Victory screen"-repeat.

Sorry for the delay, but I could not do it this evening to any proper standard or quality.

[JonB]

((Still working on the update. RL gets in the way, sad to say.)) I have not forgotten about this, nor is it abandoned!

[GuppyShark]

Inspired by this thread I installed the game (didn't realise it was an open source project inspired by X-Com) and wow. The air combat is harsh. In X-Com you got that little popup for air combat so you could retreat if the combat was going poorly. In this game, the two air units just exchange fire until one blows up. Those starter VTOLs can't take much

[JonB]

You're playing 2.3.1, aren't you? 2.4-dev has healt bars for your ships. You can still run away when the going gets tough, and the devs suggest double-teaming UFOs bigger than a Scout.

Harvesters? They're just plain powerful.

[JonB]

((I apologize in advance for breaking frames. It was this, or make the posts even longer. It's already broken down to avoid going over 50 images per post. 165 pics total.))

17:00, 26 August 2084
Command Center, PHALANX HQ
Turkey, GEU

With the study of Xeno Armor under our belts, I ordered Academia to collaborate with our new head of Production, geever, on the Harvester class UFO. It's something of a risk aiming at the largest UFO we have in our stock, but I feel that this will provide us with maximal resources recovered in the long run. And once we have these materials in place, future work can be made faster.


28 August 2084

Escaped Interception

29 August 2084

HQ to Shilong, NA51 to Louisianna

NA51's mission.

---

08:11
JonB: “Goddamn, a Mine? Bloody hell. Besides, what are they going for here?”

I actually like this map. Plenty of long range shots, good vertical all over the map, and enough tight corners to make for... fun surprises.

JonB: “Hey, Lady! Where are the aliens?”
Civilian: (Chinese) “Demons down below! Slay them all!”
JonB: “Will do!”

ForceLord: “Primary entrance secure!”


JonB: “Alley-oop!”

Torben: “That's a looooong drop.”
Dave: “Then don't fall.”

Sorchus: “CONTACT! Taman, armor, Rifle!”
Reckless: “Careful!”


JonB: “CLEAR!”

Torben: “You got one, and I got the other!”
At this point in the game, the Rocket Launcher is best used to hit groups at distance. The arc on a Grenade Launcher is horrid in here, but the RL can't wipe groups. But, because Edi is correct about how heavy it is, I keep carting it into battle to train up my stats.

ForceLord: “Got your back, sir.”

Dendrobious: “This might not have been the best option ever.”

ForceLord: “Xeno down.”


Dave: “Dendrobius! DIE XENO!”

Dave: “Come on man, stick with me! It's only a knife wound!”


JonB: “Clear!”


That was silly of me, moving him up so far. Sorry! Also, the civilians are pretty much safe on this map as it's easier to go down than it is to go up, and the Civvies start at the top level for the most part.


Escaped.

30 August 2084
08:00

I decided to order the construction of Anti-Matter Storage here at HQ. While the paperwork will be immense, having a backup storehouse in case the one at the Chinese Base has an... accident.


Another unannounced drop in. HQ dispatched.

JonB got two kills with the Rocket Launcher this time. Yay me!

31 August 2084



Reckless: “Dendrobius! Damn it, he just got out of the hospital! Sir Nitram isn't going to like this.”

---

01 September 2084




We're almost at the point where our expenses outstrip our income from the funding nations. By the end of the month... well, you'll see. From this point on though, the National Funding pretty much peaks unless you screw up, in which case it will go down.



Vortex Empire: “BBQ, muthafuka! Do you know what it is?”
Sorry. The setup was just perfect for Vortex to get his Flamethrower into the Taman's face. I just wish I captured an alien here, to use this image for it.

[JonB]

11:00...

Setting down the report, I immediately ordered the Chinese Base to drop everything and begin dissassemly of one of our captured Harvester UFOs, and for Academia and Sir Nitram to begin an autopsy on the Ortnok type of Xeno.






More UFO's showing up and thumbing their noses at us. Bases without proper interceptors (and sending default Interceptors against Harvesters means a dead Interceptor) will be keeping their guys at home. Scouts are still shoot-downable without the use of static defenses, while Fighters are in the Xeno's favour. I really want to get improved Interceptors.

Oh, and while I was musing, some idiot Aliens just dropped straight down into a Terror Mission about an hour's flight from HQ


I also like the Supermarket map. I wish the aliens were a little bit better at using the vertical though. On the horizontal, their AI is good enough, but start messing with the floors and you can run circles around them.

Friendly Fire kill was by Dendrobius and a bad bounce on the Grenade launcher.

“Where the hell did we get this from?” I asked the drop team as we gathered around the strange new alien weapon.

Dave shrugged. “I think one of the aliens had it, sir. We picked it up with everything else.”

I looked around. “And no one noticed anything odd, no new types of attacks?” The dropteam shook their heads in confusion.

WhiteHaven offered the most logical conclusion. “Perhaps we killed that particular xeno before it had the chance to use it?”

I had to nod my agreement. “I think so too. Well, I'll let Academia know that the aliens have a new gun for him to dissect.”

16:00, 04 September 2011


Ladies and Gentlemen, meet (officially), UFO:Alien Invasion's answer to the Mutons. In fact, treat them exactly the same. They're strong against Lasers, Explosions and Melee. Kinetic, Plasma and the Flamethrower are still useful.

05 September 2084

---

07 September 2084

About 5 seconds from the water too...

Vortex: “Hey, that Xeno has that new gun! Let's kill it before it gets a chance to use it!”
Alison: “But aren't we supposed to observe it in the field to help expedite research?”
Vortex: “You volunteering to be shot at?”
Alison: “No, carry on.”

Alison: “Ooops”



I looked angrily from my bed in the Hospital at the Dropteam. “Damnit people, stop salvaging equipment without bothering to report it! Heavier body armor and some kind of LIGHTSABER?!?!?”


The usual.


With new finances in place from salvage and the like, I authorized the creation of a fourth base. This one was located on the African coast and would cover 90% of the continent not covered by the European base.

12 September 2084

I figured more information about Alien ships was in order.


16 September 2084

I recalled the last time Xeno armor came into our possession, and directed that research begin immediately. Perhaps this will result in a new improvement for our forces as well?

21:30...
I looked at the dropship's updated world map. “TWO? Hell, we'll have to hit both then.”



19 September 2084
The Heart of Darkness Base was activated. I received multiple complaints about the location and name, suggesting that the base should have been located further to the North-East to properly reflect the nature of the novel in question.

I should have put it farther north, to better cover Morocco and that region.

I'm skipping over generic missions now.

01:00, 21 September 2084

When the game doesn't give you the choice to auto-mission, that usually means that there's something special about that mission. Not always. On some test-runs, I've auto-missioned and picked up new Techs and Alien species without ever once seeing the battlescape.

This was one of those.

16:00

Now, you may recall what I said in the OP about this game being incomplete? Well, we just reached one of those loose ends. You see, this research is supposed to open up the basics for Powered Armor. Yes, you read that right. But the UFOpedia report isn't in this version of the game, nor is the mechanics for researching it. The Armor exists in multi-player, and when I finish this LP, I'll do a bonus post showing stuff off in MP that isn't yet in the single player game.

So for now, our armor research is finished. I'll let you know when we reach other dead-ends.

16:10, 23 September 2084
The El Dorado Base was established deep in Brazil. Once again, complaints that the base name has some technical inaccuracies, but the name has stuck. Like Heart of Darkness, El Dorado is currently a Radar base, but can expand should the need arise. It should be online in 12 days.

[JonB]

11:47, 24 September 2084

Vortex: “I'm going to give this new Blaster a try.”
Eternal: “This is what, the 6th Alien ship to be shot down because it was following the railroad towards our base? Idiots got to try better than that.”

Vehrec: “At least you get the long-ranged weapons. HQ has directed that we attempt to capture more aliens for study. And I drew the short stick.”


PeZook: “Taman down. You know, I haven't seen a Bloodspider in ages.”

Hawkwings: “I know. I'm not complaining though. Damn things are sharp.”

Vehrec: “Going in!” ZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP “Uh oh. It's looking mad at me!”

OmniQ: “Covering fire!”
Omega Chief: “Covering! Damn, it's not going down!”


Vortex: “Guys, incoming!”


OmegaChief: “Vehrec! REVENGE!”


OmniQ: “Man down! Goddamn, that new plasma blade... It just cut right through...”


Vortex: “How the hell you sneak up on me? Well, time to try out this 'ball' setting.”

Vortex: “ohgodthepainandburning. TAKING COVER.”
And here is were I find out the hard way that the 'Ball' function on the Plasma Blaster is explosive, but still counts for plasma damage and uses the 'Heavy' skill.

Alison: “Nade out and got'em!”



11:02, 25 September 2084



Dave: “Alien on the second floor!”

Dave: 'Sorchus! Damn it! I missed, and the alien took a shot at him!”

ForceLord: “Flaming retribution dealt.”


JonB: “Where the hell did that come from?!?!?!”

Look at the second image above that one, where Force Lord deals retribution? You see Dave beside the Firebird cockpit? You see the image just below that where he's not there anymore? You see the above image? The Ortnok killed Dave with one shot with the Plasma PISTOL at that obscene range, with that angle. FU$K you, RNG. Dave deserved better than that.

Torben: “Beginning REVENGE.”


JonB: “Alien stunned. Why does Nitram and Academia want more of these guys again?”



14:00


You'll see why I chose this in a moment.

02:08, 26 September 2084



Coalition: “You know, I never really noticed before how useful these alcoves are.”

Ortnok came down the stairs, show him in the back. Coward.


JonB: “Another capture. Seriously, I don't like being kept out of the loop on these things.”



11:00...


And that's why! If you want melee, you're supposed to research this before the Plasma Blade comes around, but we're doing things in a weird way.

Better Airframe armor, here we come!

28 September 2084

Another one too close to my base for comfort.

29 September 2084

Can't quite use this to it's fullest yet. If we slapped it on our existing craft, they would be slowed to a crawl.

Because Tasing things at range is so much better than getting into melee with LIGHTSABERS.

30 September 2084

Sent in the NA51 team due to being an hour closer and injuries to the HQ team.

00:45
I was awoken in the middle of the night by a triumphant call from the Chinese Base. They had safely broken up the Harvester, and now we had a whole bunch of new Alien technologies to research.


I immediately ordered the production team to build a half dozen full sets of our new armor plating, in preparation for the next generation of Interceptors we would be building. And to give them a break from the 680 hours they put into their efforts.

680 hours * 50 workers = 34000 man-hours of work to break up a Harvester UFO. The smallest one, a scout, take 20000 man-hours. A base can, if dedicated totally to production, can have 60 Workers. Think about the time frame involved, and appreciate the work.

17:00

Edi: “Why did you land so far from the entrance to the tunnels? We can't jump down that over to our right. We have to take the long-way in.”

Can't make than jump down, sad to say. Would make this level a bit easier.

Edi: “Alien in the tunnels on thermals.”


Vehrec: “We are ready to breach the tunnels.”
Alison: “They're waiting just on the inside of the tunnel entrance. I can hear them. Nade out!”


Here lies Alison. Killed by her own grenade that didn't explode inside the tunnel, but rather at the mouth of it.


Hawkwings: “Entrance cleared, going in.”


Edi: “Eternal, calm down!”
Morale lost, fleeting in panic due to friendly fire. Edi's healing doesn't fix morale, just HP.


PeZook: “Taman down. Continuing sweep.”


OmniQ: “I have a shot. Should have run, asshole!”

---

01 October 2084

We have officially maxed out or funding, and our new bases put us over that. We require salvage selling to keep afloat now. Those three lost missions where auto-missions that I immediately re-did manually. Nothing to see here. Huh. Note to self, hire Alison-3.

Phalanx HQ. I discovered the unwritten hard-maximum of 60 Scientists per base. I was all tricked out for 80 people busy doing SCIENCE!, but now I'm debating what to put there.

Builder of Chinese DOOM. I'm keeping the two landing pads so that I'll have a place to build new ships. Five Workshops. Any more would have required sacrificing something I couldn't. Removed the Hospital in favor of a second Storage. UFO materials can stack up quickly if you don't watch out.

Not Area 51. I have no idea why I'm building an Alien Containment here. I should get rid of it, but I feel an extra can be held just in case HQ gets destroyed.

Heart of Darkness. Being spec'd to be our secondary production base as DOOM will be handling the major disassembly of UFOs, which can take weeks at a time. So this base will be set to build our new toys instead.

El Dorado. This base isn't complete yet. I don't think I'll need another research or producion base yet, so I'll be sure to include a couple of interceptors here. I really think the alien base is either here in South America or Africa. Boy, will there be egg on my face if it turns out to be in Russia.

[hr][/hr]
There. That is what a literary time-skip looks like, and I hated every minute of it. I had to sort through 465 images for this update, and... ugh. Just ugh. Let this be a lesson to anyone else doing SSLP's. Pace yourself. We're almost to researching Alien Propulsion then building the new Interceptors. I'm looking forward to giving the reigns back to you guys and getting my plot back on track.

This weekend is the Animethon convention, and I've been tapped for medical services, so I may have plenty of time, or next to none to work on this, so once again, I'll try to get back onto my Monday/Whenever schedule.

Thank you all for your patience guys!

[White Haven]

...Shit, I'm out of subsequent incarnations to be rebuilt into. I require a new theme!

[Torben]

Hrm. I had cybernetics in version 2. Somehow I seem to have been incarnated into a version 3, and now 4. Hopefully this will be my last. If not, well, maybe I should remain a meat-popsicle.

[SirNitram]

The Powered Armour results just sat on my computer, staring back. Accusing. I'd been over it every direction I can; PHALANX would not be able to build it. It required resources beyond anything they could use or appropriate. The timescale was too long. Barring some miracle it would just be there. Taunting me. Reminding me that there COULD be better protection for the boys in the field. If you'd been a bit better, the details in the schematics mocked, maybe you'd not have to give so many the harrowing journey from life to death and back again.

Trying to get out of that feeling, I pull up the plastics research. Just barely, this lab equipment could prototype it. Perhaps a blended alien plastics/smart materials weave? It would make replacing limbs easier than just using robotic prosthetics with cloned tissue over it. Maybe make our existing cybernetics better.

You can't even tell Torben has died.. Four times? Look him in the eye, cursory medical examination, he's like you and me, save the internal taccom. Of course, he sets off metal detectors, but that's a small price for the fact the man can walk around in public without strangeness.

[White Haven]

The base informary was the default destination for wounded soldiers. Once, the hospital's morgue would have been the proper destination for those killed in action, but the rapid advances in bioscience had blurred the lines between wounded soldiers and the dead.

White Haven's shattered, half-melted wreckage didn't belong there, but it's at least understandable how he arrived. The wounded and the dead both go to the infirmary, and in the chaos following the mission no one had really given thought as to the proper disposition of one of the earliest to die in service to earth. Repeatedly.

Nitram had done all he could to engineer durability and redundancy into his early attempts at cybernetic resurrection. Backup power supplies, auxiliary sensor inputs, blast channels to perserve core systems. Against alien weaponry, it wasn't enough. Nothing ever really was. Most of White Haven's systems were offline, but one severed arm was still active at minimal levels, still trying to carry out the last command it received before being blasted clear of its mountings. The trigger finger squeezed on empty air. Again. And again. And again. And again.

The quiet little whine of servos continued for hours before anyone thought to check where it was coming from, drifting in and out of tempo with the quiet beeping of heart-rate monitors from nearby beds.