Let's Play X-COM: UFO Defense

[Dave]

wait wait, the UFO has a door? Are you sure? How do you open it?

Karin: All right, at the hatchway. There's two in here and not a scratch on it! I'm going to try and get these ones live. ::stun rod contact:: One down!

Yes, it has a door. You can see it between the two "monitors" on the "south-west" side of the ufo in the images.

To open it, walk through it. (that is, set movement point to just though door into the ship.)

[Vendetta]

wait wait, the UFO has a door? Are you sure? How do you open it?

Yes, in either the south or west walls depending on the UFO layout. Some have multiple doors, look for two vertical lines in the wall. You can open the door by attempting to move a dude onto or through it's square. (North and east walls are technically not walls, nor are diagonal walls, you can exploit this by placing explosives onto those squares, because true walls stop blast propagation from their square past the wall, but objects, which is what diagonal and north/east facing ones are, only stop blast propagation from other squares.)

[CaiusWickersham]

wait wait, the UFO has a door? Are you sure? How do you open it?

I have been mentioning doors and hatchways in all my mission transcripts and you never picked up on that?

[Hawkwings]

god DAMN terror missions suck.

[CaiusWickersham]

god DAMN terror missions suck.

Yes, they do. At least until you get decent weapons and armor and then they're more nuisances depending on the species you deal with.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Remind you that I'm in the list as your Disection/interrogation specialist, and overall creepy evil scientist.

Oh and I might help out with creating your psi-ops training too.

[Vendetta]

god DAMN terror missions suck.

Yes, they do. At least until you get decent weapons and armor and then they're more nuisances depending on the species you deal with.

That or they're the actual zombie apocalypse.

[CaiusWickersham]

Director's Log -- Toyotomi, Amaya
Timecode: 15.03.1999 0800 GMT

We've begun to make headway into the alien technology and aliens themselves. The addition of some metallurgists to the science team finally allowed us to figure out the metal alloys used by the aliens for their crafts. In addition, we've determined we can make it here on Earth. With the amount of scrap we get from recovered UFO's however, we're unlikely to need to build any ourselves. With the information of the alloys composition, the informally titled "Head Scientist" informed me he would have a possible armor prototype in a few days.
I was in tele-conference with the UN when the prototype was completed. We had been very successful in February again, getting more precious funding from the Big 13.

The latest information shows an overall decline, even in North America. Still, I would feel better having a base in North America for prompt detection and interception of any more UFOs. I requested a base in the middle of the United States. The radar is the first thing going in and will be finished by month's end.


After my tele-conference, Vehrec and "Head Scientist" came to me with their armor prototype.

While I won't dismiss any form of protection at this point, I am dropping their names to the Fashion Police for further investigation. The initial armor construction will be completed in two weeks.
Our first UFO came on the 5th. The latest take took the killing of all of two Sectoids. With the addition of 2 new soldiers, Joviwan and Vendetta, Karin is our new Sergeant.
The aliens made another attack on Earth in Kinshasa on March 8th.

This one went a lot smoother than the last with the addition of the laser rifle. However, I want Hawkwings to be tested to see if he's part moth. He has this penchant for shooting lampposts. The only other highlights were a loss of the tank to one of those flying saucers the science team dubs "Cyberdisks" and Karrick capturing what appears to be a Sectoid leader.

Despite the grumbling of some on the worth of the laser rifle recently, Vendetta proved its worth by taking out the last Cyberdisk with one shot from his rifle. This is compared to the dozens of rifle shots it previously took.
After the completion of the personal armor, I had the science team begin researching those specimens we've caught. That means letting Yosemite Bear have Alien Containment to himself for the next few days. The medical team was gracious enough to devote staff to a necroscopy of a Sectoid. With no one needing treatment, they can use the practice and they can publish when this is over.
The necroscopy was completed on March 9th.

While it looks like the plumbing is all the same, Sectoids have no genitals, either because of genetic manipulation or evolutionary degeneration from generations of cloning.
Yosemite's interrogation/torture of the live Sectoid was finished the next day. He had picked one that had a role of navigator aboard its ship. Not only were we able to get information on the Sectoids as a race and their origins, but also the beginnings of understanding their means of communications and confirmation of what they are doing on Earth: research. But if they're here for research, that doesn't explain the attacks on Washington and Kinshasa. I wanted to press on it and get some answers, but it collapsed under the stress of Yosemite's "treatment." All relevant data was sent to the science team for further research.


The last things of note so far have been the first loss of a UFO by the Inceptor pilots. We pursued it to southeast Asia, where it dropped off radar. The Interceptor pilot never found it despite a thorough patrol.
The personal armor run was completed yesterday. Everyone was issued a suit. We'll see how they stand up in the field. The next recovery mission should prove ample real data.

[OmegaChief]

Personal Log: Private OmegaChief

So here I am, not dead after all, the grumpy docotr with the limp really didn't like being mistaken for an angel for some reason...

Ahem, moving on, I was shot in the back by a rocket and so I'm going to be here for a while, watching he steady stream of people coming in for crotch ice packs that the Director keeps sending in.

Damn it, I want to get back out there and kill some Xenos! If I can survive Hawkwings rocket to the back I can sure as hell survive anything they throw at me, at this rate I'll be the only one not getting a promoition!

[CaiusWickersham]

Personal Log: Private OmegaChief

So here I am, not dead after all, the grumpy docotr with the limp really didn't like being mistaken for an angel for some reason...

Ahem, moving on, I was shot in the back by a rocket and so I'm going to be here for a while, watching he steady stream of people coming in for crotch ice packs that the Director keeps sending in.

Damn it, I want to get back out there and kill some Xenos! If I can survive Hawkwings rocket to the back I can sure as hell survive anything they throw at me, at this rate I'll be the only one not getting a promoition!

Ummm, you ARE back out there. You were back on the active list since early February and it's now mid-March. Am I going too fast for everyone?

[OmegaChief]

Ahem, sorry, my mistake, clearly a drawback to being rocket proof is not knowing exactly where I am.

[The Yosemite Bear]

speaking of rocket proof, hows andos plan to install surf boards and Wagner playing loud speakers on our transports? Remember Greys don't surf.

[Emperor Lol]

Personal Log Entry:

The Personal Armour was presented to the Director today, and I think it went rather well! Statistics showed it was able to stop an average of seven spit balls before breaking, a significant improvement to the last attempts at armour we had been working on. After multiple tests on the aliens that Doctor Bear hadn't managed to get around to yet, we managed to implement an excellent feature into the prototype armour that I personally thought would be an asset to any mission.

The armour was specifically designed to stop anything with the ability to see in their tracks, usually in complete horror. While not all that much good against plasma, it has constantly proved to make any being, human or alien, stand aghast at the sheer sight of somebody dressed in it. A 37% chance of breaking down in uncontrollable laughter has also been noted, and I feel this will give the soldiers a significantly better chance in actually hitting the aliens.

As they say, a good offense is a good defense, and these are offensive to say the least. I shall be staying clear of the troop quarters for some time after they've finished manufacture. Hopefully their memories are as bad as their aim.

[CaiusWickersham]

Director's Log -- Toyotomi, Amaya
Timecode: 01.04.1999 0800 GMT

This war just got a lot more complicated. We have confirmation that we are under attack by at least three alien species: the Sectoids, and two more we discovered on another attack mission.
The science team finished research into a heavy man-portable laser cannon as well as a cannon that could be fitted onto the Interceptors and into a tank chassis. This research and production of the new tank was completed on March 25th. Later that day, we received an alert from Dallas of an alien tank. We dispatched the soldier team along with the new tank for a field test.
ADDENDUM: MISSION TRANSCRIPT


Weemadando: And I will shoot the next bugger who starts humming that damn song again!
Hawkwings: But I'm not on the plane, I'm back here at the base.
Weemadando: Then your death becomes even more painful upon my return!
Hawkwings: Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's just kill these Sectoids and be duh -- what the hell is that?

Weemadando: I don't know, but kill it anyway!
Hawkwings: ::laser shots:: I think I hit it, but it wasn't phased.
Maria: Hey, what's that purple thing and WHOA! It just shot something at us!
Hawkwings: Everyone okay?
Maria: Yeah, just rather foggy in my head. That must have been some sort of stun shot

Hawkwings: Yeah, whatever it is, let's not give it another opportunity ::laser shot:: Nailed it! Everyone out!

Weemadando: There's one over here by the ship! Someone stun it for the Bear.
Maria: Hold on! ::stun prod contact:: Down it goes!

Karin: There's another over here with one of those dinosaurs! ::rifle shot:: Got the purple guy, but the dino's still up.

Eleas: Aah, those things can move! ::explosion: What was that?
Weemadando: I don't know.
Hawkwings: I'm okay. Whatever it was, ignore it for now.

((Author's note: The Reaper came up to the Skyranger and something exploded and I don't have a clue what it was. Everyone was fine and the tank intact. Weird.))
Eleas: It's right next to me! Umm . . .::stun prod discharge:: It's down. I'm a virgin no more! My first sexual experience without a computer!
Weemadando: Dude. Lame.

Karin: There's another one over here. ::laser rifle shot:: It's down, but not dead. That's two for the Bear.

Weemadando: Let's see where the other are. ::alien gunshot:: Aah! I'm hit . . . and I'm ALIVE! Not a scratch, the armor works!

Karrick: ::rifle shot:: Killed it for you.

Karin: One of them threw something over here. It's like a grenade. Missed us, though.

Vendetta: I hate you, you hate me. ::rifle shot:: I just killed Barney.

Weemadando: Barney is purple AND a dinosaur, dumbass!
Eleas: Another purple man! ::rifle shot:: I killed it! Now I'm not a virgin! MY FIRSSHHT SHHEXUAL EXSSHPERINSHHH WITHOUT A COMPUTER!

Weemadando: That just means you're not a rookie anymore. You're still that kind of virgin and always will be!
Joviwan: There goes another purple guy. Has anyone noticed they don't have any legs? They just float on that ball.

Karin: Shit! One of those things shot me. I'm okay, though.
Hawkwings: Come back here, you fucking bipedal turd! ::laser shot:: Finally killed one!

Joviwan: Dropped another. I shot JR!

Weemadando: ::rifle shot:: Dropped another lizard, that makes five of those dinosaurs. Ooh, another purple guy in that building ::rifle shot:: Got him too. So, no, *I* shot JR.


Hawkwings: Hey! Thing hit the tank! Scuffed the paint. This thing is brand new! ::laser shot:: That's the last of them.
Omega Chief: Shit, I never got off the Skyranger! This thing is too heavy!

END TRANSCRIPT
With the armor and new tank having proved themselves, we are confident we won't need to purchase tanks anymore. The rockets have been sold back and we have that much more store space. We had recovered the weapon and ammunition used to attack the squad in the Skyranger and put that to the science team for reverse engineering. On the 30th, we deduced its function: the aliens use it to stun humans for abduction and research. We placed the two we have with the team to test as a substitute for the stun rod. The rod works fine in the tight confines of a UFO, but it's worthless in the open field without a lot of luck.



On a final note for the log, we had another excellent month in March with more funding gained. I have yet to review the data for trends to pursue. The USA base's radar is now functioning and we are building stores and living quarters for eventual troop placement and a hangar for an Interceptor. We have two Interceptors at Central and one in the USA will let us intercept UFOs in the Americas that much faster.

[CaiusWickersham]

Director's Log -- Toyotomi, Amaya
Timecode: 01.05.1999 0800 GMT

Checking the data at the beginning of April showed a dramatic increase in activity in and around Australia. As one of the funding members of X-COM, it's a priority we protect it. I sent out a patrol and detected only one UFO. In the meantime, I'm setting up another base in Indonesia to get eyes and ears in that part of the world.
The USA base is up, running, and staffed. We're producing laser rifles and armor for them

Research is progressing, though we will be adding more personnel in the near future to expedite some of the more complex bits. So far, we've been able to perform a necroscopy on the latest alien species that we encountered in March. The science team has dubbed them "Floaters" and their reptilian counterparts "Reapers".

The Yosemite Bear was allowed to perform a live interrogation/torture on the Reaper. We got the research, though sadly, the rest didn't go as hoped -- the Bear is still alive.

The science team also managed to dismantle one of the intact Cyberdisk remnants without blowing up the base. Either the explosives were duds or we were lucky. We confirmed that the Cyberdisks are straight machines, however.

We've also examined one of those metal spheres we acquired from a Sectoid craft. They appear to be some sort of neural scanner. We figure that the Sectoids, and maybe the Floaters as well, use these "mind probes" to scan for choice human targets in their abduction missions. What is likely more frightening is that these can be used by humans as well with no modification whatsoever.

We've recovered what look like grenades from past missions and we've finally been able to confirm that they are indeed grenades and perform much like ours, but are much more powerful than ours. I've ordered that we use the alien grenades from here and will distribute overstocks to the other bases as supply allows.

The only mission worth mentioning is an alien recovery in Mexico, namely because we now have confirmation of a third alien species invading Earth. This new species is a man-sized ambulatory snake-like creature. The scientists have called them "Snakemen".

The only things to come out of this mission was Joviwan getting wounded while on the mission, though surviving long enough for medical treatment in the field and managing to return to base for full medical care. He is expected to be back on the active roster within the week. He and Karrick have both been promoted to Sergeants. As the hierarchy needs to expand, I will be transferring people around for combat experience and training purposes.
Unfortunately, due to the recovery mission, the Skyranger was still refueling when we received word of an alien attack in Melbourne. By the time refueling was complete, the activity had stopped. We were all in shock over having missed this and I did promise the council at the end of the month that such events will not happen in the future. The attacks seem to come towards the end of the month, so any recovery efforts will be suspended if an attack like that seems nigh.
I received even more disturbing news from the council at the review. Japan has seen an increase in alien activity that went undetected by us and Japan has reduced its funding. We will be stepping up patrols in May as well as establishing another base in northern Asia that can monitor Japan and China.

[VX-145]

VX-145's journal, 1st May 1999:

Ten days until my birthday! I have survived yet another year!

I haven't written in this for a while, but nothing's really happened that concerns me, except for one thing. We have armour! Proper, protective and purple armour! Some of the guys - and the Director, weirdly enough - were complaining about the colour, but as long as it stops an alien blob, I'm happy with it. Although I haven't actually had to fight since my first kill, lucky me, if enough people get injured I bet I'll be on the firing line. And this time, I'm not going to be lucky enough to get a downed saucer with no armor/air support.

In other news, we have more bases. I only hope I get transferred somewhere safe - maybe even somewhere nice, instead of Sicily. I'm bored of this place, and I haven't even been above ground since my first mission. Speaking of which, who buys supplies around here? Maybe I can get them to get me some food that isn't either military shit or local food.

[ooc] Cue transfer and subsequent Chrysalid terror mission to the south pole [/ooc]

[CaiusWickersham]

Actually, it's always been blue to me, and it's not the color, but the overall form of the armor, namely the headpiece that's an issue. It may have looked cool on Gambit, it doesn't look cool (and leaves a vital spot wide open) in real life.
Oh, and so everyone knows who's up:

Central:
weemadando
Cpl Kendall
OmegaChief
VX-145
Karrick
Eleas
Joviwan (injured)
Vendetta

USA:
JonB
Darkdrium
White Haven
Rekkon
MKSheppard

[JonB]

Personal Journal - March, 1999

What.

The

FU-K?!?!

ALIENS?!?!?

SERIOUSLY?

I'm assigned to the North America Branch of X-Com. Apparently the 'training incidents in Urban Warfare' in Dallas and Washington were actualy raids by freaking ALIENS.

I'm going to go hyperventalate in a corner now, maybe the world will make sense later.

Private JonB, former CAF, now XCOM.

[Joviwan]

Excerpt of Sgt. Wan's Personal Log, dated 3.5.99

Bitten by a yuan-ti. Promoted to Sgt.


Personal addendum: out of strawberry yoo-hoo.

[White Haven]

"Listen up, privates! You are not allowed to die while you still have outstanding paperwork due in, and I do not allow my inbox to grow to greater than four inches in height. Accordingly, all paperwork will be filled out in triplicate and submitted as promptly as the height of my inbox will allow! Anyone submitting paperwork found to exceed this height will be forced to submit an application for a variance from the four-inch paperwork limit, to be supplied in triplicate! Failure to supply the aforementioned application will result in an emergency income tax audit, to be completed immediately!"

"Shut up, Haven, you're just a private too."

[SirNitram]

A day from Chief Engineer "Sir" Nitram.

11:00am: Invited to Combat Scrum.
11:15am: Banned for life from Combat Scrum.
2:00pm: Finally got all of the combat squad's blood off of my favorite wrench.

[OmegaChief]

Personal Log, Earthdate: Somepoint in February point two

Back in action! With a bigger gun, nothing beats turning aliens into clouds of multicoloured mist as thier bodies are evaporaded by a solid stream of bullets.

When I can get off the Skyranger that is, over eagerness to get into the battlefield and thus the front of the thing means last off when we get there! Argh! Also this gun is heavy, really really heavy.

However, I plan to use my obvious invincibility to help the team! If there's a UFO to breach or they need moving cover, just look to me, not even Hawkwings rockets to the back can kill me, and as the Casulty lsits show, Hawkwings rockets to the back are clearly the number 1 threat to X-com personel in the field.

[CaiusWickersham]

Director's Log -- Toyotomi, Amaya
Timecode: 15.05.1999 0800 GMT

It seems we set a fire to the aliens' backsides. The number of UFO detections is skyrocketing, partly because we now have radar-equipped bases in the United States and Sulawesi as well as another in construction in Mongolia, and also because there are indeed more of them in the air. These craft also tend to be larger. I've told the science team that the top priority now is to see if we can emulate the UFOs in speed and performance. The current Interceptors can't keep up.
We encountered two medium ships landed in Borneo. We were able to catch one on the ground with the Skyranger after a lengthy pursuit.

ADDENDUM -- MISSION TRANSCRIPT

Weemadando: That's a lot bigger than the ones we've been dealing with so far.
Hawkwings: Looks like Sectoids out here.
Weemadando: All right. ET skulls for everyone!
VX-145: Whoa! What was that?
Weemadando: What?
VX-145: I felt all weird all of a sudden! AAAH! BUGS!!! BUGSBUGSBUGSBUGSBUGSBUGS
Maria: What in the . . .?
Cpl Kendall: I don't know, but everyone be careful.
Maria: We're inside the craft. What is this place? Looks like the infirmary.

OmegaChief: Leave it for the eggheads. Deal with the Sectoids.
Weemadando: I found what seems like the lift for the ship. It's like being in zero gravity briefly.

Weemando: THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!!! DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEIDEDIE!!!!!
Karin: Something's wrong with the Captain, he's shooting up the ship. Wait, he's calmed down. And gone fetal.
Weemadando: Mummy. Where are you, Mummy?
Cpl Kendall: Vendetta, where you going? Vendetta, what is your major fuck-up, soldier?
Vendetta: ::garbled::
Cpl Kendall: People, what's going on?
Karin: I got the last one on the ship. What's the status outside?
Vendetta: What am I doing over here?
Weemadando: Let . . . let's just get out of here now.
TRANSCRIPT END
A thorough medical examination of Ando, VX-145 and Vendetta shows some abnormal brain activity. We don't know why yet, but we will begin examining the higher-tier Sectoid captives to get some answers. VX and Vendetta seem to have bounced back for the better from the encounter, though.


We've managed to research the fuel used by the aliens in their UFOs. The science team has identified it as element 115, commonly called elerium. The aliens use this in everything from their weapons to their reactors. We are now examining other components to see how the aliens use the elerium as fuel.

Among our pursuits, we managed to nab a larger ship populated with Snakemen.

Along with the massive amount of elerium and raw materials, we captured a Snakeman engineer for further interrogation. The crew mentioned that the ship had an odd construction. There were two lifts on the ground floor, one leading to the middle deck and the other going all the way to the top with no exit on the second deck. It seems the aliens know of the "lowest bidder" phenomenon.

[The Yosemite Bear]

remember Alien entertainment is just TV turned to the Crysallid Hentai channel...

[Vendetta]

remember Alien entertainment is just TV turned to the Crysallid Hentai channel...

And this is why Mutons are so angry all the time.

No genitals.

Oh you cannot imagine how annoyed they are.