X-com: UFO Defense AAR
Hey guys. I'll be throwing together an X-com AAR soon. Probably won't have time to start it until Monday.
If anyone wants me to name a soldier, base, or aircraft after them, just ask.
Yeah! Private Porkbelly reporting for duty. Explosives please!
Private baud reporting! Ready to die for Earth!
I've died more time in UFOs LP than I can remember.
Reporting in, gimme a gun ans let's shoot thingies.
Oh boy ! Private Scribe !
Sorry for how late it is without an update. Will start the AAR soon.
Okay, I’ve booted up the game. Won’t have time for a big update tonight, but should get to the first ground combat.
So bad news. I made a mistake in capturing footage to pull images from, so it’s just a black screen.
The GOOD news is that I was going to abandon that run anyways due to:
Porkbelly leaving the ship, and getting immediately shot
Scribe then getting shot, and living for 4-5 turns before bleeding out
Random nameless soldier getting shot when I assaulted the UFO
Baud panicking
Dayyalu going berserk.
And how many aliens did I kill?
0
Yikes!
Then we woke up, and it was all just a dream.
We're still on the ship, it's the Edge of Tomorrow.
Quote from CaptainGrimlock on 8 March 2022, 3h22[...]
Porkbelly leaving the ship, and getting immediately shot
Scribe then getting shot, and living for 4-5 turns before bleeding out
Random nameless soldier getting shot when I assaulted the UFO
Baud panicking
Dayyalu going berserk.
[...]
Playing the Russian VDV mod I see.
First blood goes to Porkbelly, details to follow.
Okay, will begin writing today's update soon.
I'm having issues taking screenshots right now, so I'll have to delay the first update again.
My sincerest apologies. I'll try to sort all this out ASAP so we can get to blasting aliens.
Quote from CaptainGrimlock on 8 March 2022, 23h21First blood goes to Porkbelly, details to follow.
Ooh, score, hopefully it's not MY blood.
GIB STUNROD
Looks like we all surrendered to Xenos.
I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords.
Oh right, I need to get the update out.
My bad guys. I’ll (try to) do better going forward.
Quote from CaptainGrimlock on 15 March 2022, 5h45Oh right, I need to get the update out.
My bad guys. I’ll (try to) do better going forward.
Hey, don't feel you have to. It is super time-consumign so if you have troubles finding the time to start it, you won't finish it. Besides, we are not enough players to still have anyone of the forum aline in a few battles :).
Goshdammit. No updates, and the Scribe has not updated his articles for a week. I'm worried. We need... content. Yes. Content.
IN THE FAR FUTURE, IN A GALAXY VERY VERY CLOSE.....
THERE IS ONLY WAR.
We're gonna play on the Mighty Hero level of difficulty. I have no time to explain to you the basics of the game, it's a 1998 X-Com clone. Contra the majority of X-Com clones, it plays smooth as fuck, the soundtrack is excellent, and the dubbing amusing.
Also on Mighty Hero you get enforced Ironman and 3x the number of enemies. A game for the connoisseur.
Let's put a fitting soundtrack and dive in...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1K4Qi_80ok
Brother-Sergeant Dayyalu, Brother Scribe, Brother Porkbelly, Brother Baud and Brother Grimlock are going to get inside a Chaos Temple, bash some heads and get a relic. We're not here for the plot.
Pardon, why you are the Sergeant?
My dear rat-friend, in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium there is no democracy. And well... I know this game like the back of my hand. Not insane enough to do an entire playthrough of a Mighty Hero campaign, I'm not insane.
We start outside a Chaos Temple. Emperor's Teeth, that's a lot of cultists. I count at least a dozen. Don't worry, I have a plan.
The squad spreads out and gets in optimal firing positions, activating Overwatch mode. Brother Porkbelly gets the only special weapon in the squad, a Plasma gun. He gets it because he's marginally better at firing it than the others.
The Cultist charge is ferocious. Their objective is to close in and pepper us with frag grenades, knocking out Overwatch out and mass frags can seriously kill or wound even a mighty Space Marine. Baud covers the left flank while the rest of the squad welcomes eight bloodthirsty lost souls.
The blithering blistering fire from Brother Baud's bolter kills three cultists and breaks any attempt to flank us.
I'm.... I'm good at this?
Yes apparently.
The squad advances and between Overwatch fire and aggressive assault the main Cultist thrust is broken.
Brother Scribe welcomes the couple of cultists that manage to reach grenade range with an Imperial Frag grenade. The results are predictable.
We quickly assemble before the Temple doors, reload our weapons.
The Temple doors are closed. Doesn't matter. A krak grenade (anti-armour) will make short work of the heretical work.
Boom. The door is breached, and we surprise a Word Bearer Chaos Marine. They're hard as nails and their Power Armour works, so you need to breach it with standard bolter fire or use.... different methods. Cultists die to anything tho.
Brother Porkbelly shows one of the other methods. Like, quick sustained fire from a Plasmagun. The Chaos Marine becomes vapor.
Hey! I am also good at this!
We break in the Temple and get into Overwatch position. The Cultists launch a desperate counterattack, cut down in moments (the Cultists do not leave corpses, and the only signs are enviromental battle damage. They melt in goo, and honestly, we're shooting them with explosive rocket ammunition. They ought to explode.).
Now the hard part. We need to reach the Inner Sanctum and go through a long corridor, prime area for enemy defense. Brother Porkbelly, Blind Grenade, please. It's a smoke grenade.
Smoke and breach, smoke and breach.
The Cultists react as they always do, with a ton of Frag grenades trying to slow down our righteous advance. They manage to wound me. ME
Brother Baud avenges my wounded honor by nuking the lucky cultist with a frag of his own.
Quick medkit use to avoid.... bad things. Ironman, remember? No risks even on Mission 1.
As we breach the smoke and kill some crazed Chaos followers, we get to the meat of the defense. That's a couple Chaos Marines, more cultists and unseen a Chaos Marine with a Flamer. Flamers are bad news. Guaranteed kill for an early-game Marine, if we're hit we're toast.
Heh. Toast.
Thanks the Emperor and the Omnissiah, the AI fucks up and the Flamer gets into melee range without firing. The Chaos fire is ineffective, failing to breach our sanctified armor.
Brother Porkbelly vaporizes the Flamer Marine. I love special weapons, and Plasmaguns aren't even that hot. Have I ever told you about Assault Cannons?
The clean-up is quick and brutal, but the Chaos Marines are protected by our same kind of Power Armour. Hard to breach with standard bolter fire. Was a 3+ save in my old tabletop days.... the solution is however simple even if dangerous: Brother Baud is going to use krak grenades to deal with the foe.
Surviving a turn of Chaos counterattacks is child's play for a superhuman like Brother Baud. He carefully takes aim....
And in a single hit the Chaos Marine is sent to meet his Dark Gods personally. Or as they say, the Dark Ones will taste their souls. I'm not joking, the battle banter has even theatrical death voice clips. I DIE is a classic.
Brother Pork reloads and vaporizes another opponent.
The Squad advances carefully, with interlocking fields of fire and Overwatch.
I'm still a dumbass and a crew of Cultists manages to sneak behind us. Brother Grimlock turns around and his bolter spits explosive death on the heretics, their treacherous attempt causing no harm.
Meanwhile, we find a couple of Imperial supply caches. It's all ammunition, in Chaos Gate you merely need to open them to "flag" them for post-battle recovery.
A single Chaos Marine tries to stop our charge, but he gets melted so fast I fail to even screenshot it. We're near the Inner Sanctum and the Chaos Relic is close by.
I grab it annnd....
End the mission.
Ahh, Second Edition art-style. Wait, I started playing in Third Edition. Why should I be nostalgic?
I got eight cultists and a nice Laurel for grabbing the relic.
Brother Scribe, most likely for his ratty ways, got only six.
Brother Porkbelly got a promotion to veteran and four dead Chaosies. Armoured Chaosies. They count for more.
Brother Baud has killed eight cultists and a Marine. An excellent result.
Eight cultist kills for Brother Grimlock too. That makes.... Thirty-one cultists and five Chaos Marines? And I didn't even clear all the map and trigger all the reinforcements!
The Screenshot function bugs out if I try to screen some of the very nice 90ies cutscenes. Pity.
Brethren! We were victorious with no losses and we gained great glory for Mankind and the Emperor. Pity I no longer have the time for LPs, Chaos Gate is a great game (also on GoG, also now functional without having to sacrifice your firstborn to the Machine Spirits).
EDIT: do spoilers work so I can avoid cluttering the thread?