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Aquatoid Sushi and Lobsterburger


Grossbeer

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Seems the game is nearly over. There's pretty much no tactical equipment left to research, so I allow the Oscillators to continue for now. For whatever reason I find most of our fighting force is missing armour, so I hand out as many suits as we've got and cancel medkit production to get more aqua armour.

 

I order another two MC labs for the main base, and when the ones in the second base complete, I add a workshop there too. I've got no idea why, but I find the second base has no defences AT ALL. I install twenty troopers and ship over some gear for them. Just in time, too, as the month promptly ends and it's time to handle MC training.

 

Most of the units we've got are rubbish, complete rubbish. Only three I'd consider "good", one "acceptable", and another who could do in a pinch - five reliable units against Tasoth. TJ will be glad to hear Munty came through with a score of 94, not quite the highest, but great none-the-less.

 

Everyone with a revealed psi-score is out of training, everyone else who fits is in. I've started assignments from the TOP of the squad list, on the basis that high psi scores aren't worth much if the units don't know how to fire a weapon.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_01.png

 

Oscillator research finishes at some point and I get the scientists to work on sub construction. I haven't started building the sub weapons yet, as I'd prefer to see the bases secure with armoured soldiers before we start working on weapons to shoot down alien subs that are no longer of any value to us. All we need to do at this stage is research/build a Leviathan and some pulse launcher tanks, capture the aliens we need for T'Leth and go...

 

Anyway. A gillman fleet supply cruiser buzzed around to the north west of the main base for a bit but nipped off in no time flat. I sent the Barracudas to search for more alien bases in that area but didn't turn up anything. Fast forward to the mission, and I'm stuck with an artefact site. Terrific, ignorance was bliss and now I know exactly what I've got to send against the Tasoth freaks!

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_02.png

 

So I load up the squad - a couple of DPLs (one goes to Munty), a couple of Shok Launchers, as many cannons as I can get ammo for, blastas for whoever's left. A rocket tank would be great about now but meh. Can only fit so many dudes in the Triton anyways.

 

During the first turn a Tasoth fires an explosive weapon at the side of the Triton, taking out two of the units stationed there. Luckily it was a shok bomb, so this is a minor inconvenience. I start to wonder why a cold-based weapon would be at all effective against the sort of armour they've got on.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_03.png

 

I start spreading out (landed in the very NW corner), acting quickly to counter-act the MC attacks that soon start hitting the squad. I find this little group and decide that letting TJ test his DPL would be good for trooper morale.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_04.pngtftdmulti_bbturn05_05.png

 

He's quickly made to reload his weapon and get his butt back into the Triton.

 

The access lift is located directly to the east of the Triton, but I've no intention of going down it until everything on the surface is toast. Tracey gets shot by this alien and suffers fatal wounds, quickly patched up by Gerhard. Despite her accuracy stat of 85% the alien lives enough turns to shoot her again and then panic twice, during which time other soldiers (eg Javier) are racking up their kill stats.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_06.png

 

Thus far things are going well on the MC front. Jose was made to panic and beserk, but the DPL shell had effectively put a stop to that and he started to move around the field again. An alien is located in the very SE corner of the map and sniped to death. I eventually decide to start using medkits on the guys by the Triton, on the basis that I'm not sure what'll happen if they're still unconscious when all the aliens are killed.

 

Eventually I start to run out of targets, which is bad, because this means the aliens have a chance to regroup. A number of troopers storm this pyramid and kill an aquatoid; seems aliens in structures of this type tend not to wander - worth remembering if you ever need to go into one. Great place to get caught by Tentaculats.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_07.png

 

Anyway, sure enough the MC attacks start again and Rudi drops his gun (as pictured above). Interestingly it drops to the floor below. Wasn't there supposed to be a patch to fix that? In any case, I notice another mystery weapon in the main pyramid (where the higher-ranked aliens hang out), thereby betraying the location of an obviously unarmed alien on the floor above.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_08.png

 

MC attacks are now running full force, and about four or five units are routinely panicking. It occurs to me that sonic cannons are all over the place at the moment (due to all the dead Tasoth), and so I have some troopers run around picking them up. The two units by the Triton finally wake up, though I burnt out nearly two medkits worth of stims.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_09.pngtftdmulti_bbturn05_10.png

 

Tracey gets shot at (again), this time by one of my troopers who fell under full MC control. To my amazement she spots an alien hiding in the pyramid behind her, which only has an entrance due to that DPL; perhaps it woke from stun or something.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_11.png

 

A number of soldiers are attempting to reach the top of the primary pyramid, but panic attacks are seriously hindering their progress. Tracey dies to a fatal wound; my first casualty thus far, seems that last shot dealt a fatal wound I forgot to check for. :laugh:

 

Javier flies to the top of the pyramid, shoots his way through the wall, locates the final squad leader and ends the first half of the mission.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_12.png

 

Some how or other, I have EXACTLY enough weapons to rearm everyone who lost theirs. Mostly this upgrades my arsenal in that now only one unit has a blasta-rifle, though I'm kinda pissed Tracey didn't make it (standing there holding dual cannons and then just slowly bleeding to death isn't the most glorious way to go).

 

I'm gonna have to put off the next half of the mission until tomorrow, though I'm not sure how I'll play it. I want to take out everything down there, but it won't be easy. Much of the squad has low morale and the aliens start off knowing trooper locations (if the last alien on the first map hadn't been a leader I'd've been able to wait a few rounds to rectify both these things). On the plus side, the guys with the DPLs are all but MC-immune, and if I can locate the main control zone quickly they should be able to put a SERIOUS dent in the alien's ability to harass my units (as there will be a LOT of aliens around there).

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I cycle through the units at my disposal; seven are in the very NW-most corner of the map, while six are right down in the the SE. Three units from each team are made to drop all offensive items based on their morale scores. Sure enough, most of these units spend their first turn panicking.

 

Both Munty and Krug (the DPL wielders) are located to the north, so I decide to send TJ down first while leaving Krug one floor up. Alien movement shows what looks like a number of aliens to the east, and so off goes the second pulse shell of the campaign and another two aliens bite the dust. Mulch. Silt. Whatever it is you get underwater.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_13.png

 

To the south, Grigoriy wanders out and promptly gets shot. Luckily he takes no damage and his shok shell downs his assailant with ease.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_14.png

 

I discover that I had a Tracey in reserve - this is the one who got shot by that Tasoth Soldier earlier (the one that sat their panicking while she failed to kill it). I can't even remember who had been standing next to her here, but whoever it was, that Tentaculat got 'em. She shoots, she misses, she runs away. Sadly it doesn't work and she becomes another statistic.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_15.png

 

TJ gets shot from the south, taking three damage and suffering two fatal wounds. The disarmed troopers higher up the lift shaft already had medkits in hand, and Donna is able to rush down and patch him back up to full hit points. Another DPL shell reduces both the Tasoth and another Tentaculat to ooze. He's now out of shells, and swaps positions with Krug.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_16.pngtftdmulti_bbturn05_17.png

 

Gunter (also in the north) gets shot from south, and he falls dead. Krug's first shell heads there as a follow up to TJ's and another alien death scream is heard.

 

MC attacks are starting to kick into full swing, luckily I've got plenty of sponges on the upper floors. Still, there's no way I can sort out the Tentaculat mess going on in the southern corner; there're two zombies there already, and so Grigoriy throws his Tasoth victim over his shoulder and starts... well, running towards the Tentaculats at the bottom of the lift. Yeah, that's smart.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_18.png

 

Javier is busy heading from the north corner to the east, and spots the command module. He moves aside in preparation for shelling. I'd been considering this since the start, well before NKF suggested it could be done; I'm not ashamed to admit the need to bail, and I can't quite remember where the leaders would be in this map.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_19.pngtftdmulti_bbturn05_20.png

 

To the south, Charlie (a female, apparently) is re-granted permission to hold a lethal weapon, and makes to the lift in a half-assed effort to save Grigoriy. However, he somehow makes it up the lift unassisted despite a TU penalty due to excess weight.

 

Likewise, to the north, the team who did all the actual work are scrambling upwards as well, except for Donna who's succumbed to MC. Krug sends his third and final shell up to the command center, but though it reaches it, I fail to send it from there to any actual aliens (if it HAD hit I'd've considered staying, but I've got what I came for).

 

I get all units into the evac zone and have them collect every bit of equipment left on the floor. Donna, under alien control, has unfortunately started to wander south - she snaps out of it just as everyone else makes it to the (relatively) safe zone, and much as it pains me to do so, I have to leave her - she's heavily injured, facing down a Tasoth with a sonic cannon, and there's just no way anyone will get over there in time to save her.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_21.png

 

Mission ends.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn05_22.pngtftdmulti_bbturn05_23.pngtftdmulti_bbturn05_24.png

 

Edit: Checking the save game at the end of the mission indicates Javier didn't make it back, meaning he'd be the dude next to Tracey who first got zombified. Jose must've been the trooper who located the command module.

 

Edit 2: GAME_1.rar

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With the iPod shuffling about 600+ songs I have absolutely no idea what I'm listening to.

 

Geoscape segment

 

Initial housekeeping matters. I begin by starting new research topics and do a bit of cleanout of stuff we probably won't be needing.

 

Amongst the items I got rid of include the old magna-blast grenades and magna-pack explosives. I offloaded the Gauss Rifles as well, seeing as they've gone unused for quite some time. If we do need more they're cheap and quick to build anyhow. We also seem to have an unusually high number of sonic blasta rifles, so I only keep dozen and what's already on the Triton.

 

geoscape_000.png

 

Now with $6 mil in funds I begin construction of Listener-1 in the Indian Ocean. I have a daisy-wheel design intended for this base with modules sticking to the sub pen from all angles so it's going to be a slow build.

 

Next step is to take everyone off the Triton and put in a new lot of troops. A mixture of three experienced troops with Ion Armor and the rest untested seamen, with personal armour reassigned. I deliberately picked those that aren't in training from the new troops.

 

Outpost-1's shipment of aqua armour arrives, so everyone suits up. I also suit up those at the main base as well as the new suits are made.

 

The scientists have a breakthrough on alien sub construction and start working on a new fighter flying sub. A day and half passes and we can now build the Manta and a Sonic/Displacer. The scientists dig into their next project.

 

Meanwhile I halt work on the plastic-aqua armour temporarily to build a displacer. The day passes and it is completed. When I go to set the new armour build queue, I see we're low on Aqua Plastics. To make the best of the remaining plastics I order 2 suits of Ion Armour instead. We have plenty of Zrbite in comparison.

 

geoscape_001.png geoscape_002.png geoscape_003.png

 

Shortly after I exit to the Geoscape, a Lobsterman Cruiser is spotted on an infiltration mission heading towards the North Atlantic. I let it fly past the base and Barracuda-3 launches to intercept.

 

On contact, after three torpedoes are launched, the Barracuda only manages to hit with one DUP torpedo before the Cruiser flees. Worrying about the ammo supply, I have Barracuda-1 scramble to assist. Shortly after launching Barracuda-1, Barracuda-3 manages to get back into firing range and takes down the Cruiser with its last DUP torpedo.

 

 

Both interceptor subs are sent home and the Triton is launched. I order the Triton into a holding position near the crash site to wait for morning. With the crash site registering at normal depth, it would be best to fight in good lighting conditions.

 

Battlescape section is up later.

 

- NKF

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Tactical Segment

 

Turn 1

 

tactical_000.png tactical_001.png

 

A quick glance of the surroundings and it seems to be volcanic terrain. Feeling brave, I let the shiny new Displacer take a peek outside. It spots a Lobsterman in the darkness on the other side of the Triton. Now with an idea of what's out there it ducks back inside.

 

Turn 2

 

The Displacer take position on top of the Triton and Krug flies up to support it. Norton Krumpet (Who ?) walks out to maintain a watch to the volcanic rocks to the east - just in case.

 

tactical_002.png

 

Rodriego Martinez walks out past the nose of the Triton and finds the Lobsterman spotted earlier. The Displacer zaps a chunk out of the rock next to it.

 

Jose Estavez, one of our veterans, floats up and fires a snap from his Sonic cannon and misses. The Lobsterman returns fire and also misses.

 

Krug Portanov rises up above the Displacer to provide further long range support, though doesn't have much time left to follow up with an attack this turn.

 

Colette Dagallier arms a pulser and throws it to Uma Hand. If we can't hit the Lobsterman then at least we'll mess it up. She steps out the Triton and can't throw it exactly on the Lobsterman, but does her best to get it as close as possible.

 

tactical_003.png

 

Carlos Escobar decides to do the same thing Colette and Uma tried and throws a Pulser to Alfredo Alcala. But something inexplicable happens - the throw was wild and somehow the Pulser ends up outside on the wing of the Triton! Everyones scatters as best they can with what little time is available to them. Those not directly beside the central blast area look towards the grenade and brace themselves for the imminent carnage.

 

The turns ends.

 

The pulser by the Lobsterman detonates and frazzles it a bit, but it does not stop it from throwing a pulser at the Displacer. The explosion only chips off a few hitpoints.

 

The pulser on the Triton wing explodes.

 

Turn 3

 

tactical_004.png

 

It's baffling and yet it is also a near-miracle! What could've been a near total wipeout resulted in a very localised explosion that only killed Colette and Alfredo. The explosion never touched anyone else or the equipment pile. All those standing outside, who would've been at the most risk, were well beyond the blast area as can be seen by the damage to the sea bed.

 

tactical_005.png

 

On checking the Displacer, another Lobsterman is spotted on the ridge behind the first Lobsterman. After a reminder that Emelio's carrying a MC Reader, the new target is scanned and is identified as a technician.

 

The Displacer rises to make way for Jose, who then launches two Sonic cannon rounds into the lower Lobsterman and only stuns it.

 

Rodreigo takes a snap with his blasta rifle at the technician from his vantage point by the nose of the Triton and hits, he sneaks back behind cover.

 

The Displacer fires three times, two rounds hit the technician but it remains standing.

 

Turn ends.

 

Another Lobsterman is found at the base of the rock. It attacks Rodreigo and hits him in the chest.

 

Turn 4

 

tactical_006.png

 

Rodreigo is a lucky man to find he's taken no damage from the attack. His pal Norton fires three Sonic pistol rounds and hits twice. On a quick scan we discover it's just a soldier and has had at least a 3rd of its health taken away. Jose Estavez kills it with two well placed Sonic Cannon rounds.

 

tactical_007.png

 

Krug Portanov neutralises the Technician on top of the hill with a single Thermal Shok Bomb.

 

The Displacer is sent to scout that area of the map.

 

Turn ends. Rather short and we can hear the sound of doors opening.

 

Turn 5 ~ 7

 

Bill Knott and Uma Hand join Rodreigo at the nose of the ship. Emelio Carlos is designated the sober driver, so he stays back.

 

Carlos joins Norton and the two prepare their journey to the east, forming a second mini squad.

 

The Displacer counts as a squad on its own. It reaches the north-eastern edge of the map and starts heading south.

 

Bill from Uma's team climbs up the volcanic rock to check on the Lobsterman technician - for disposal purposes. Krug drops back into the Triton to get the Gas Cannon.

 

tactical_009.png

 

Norton's team advances to the north-eastern edge of the map. Norton drops behind Carlos as he spends most of his time arming a pulser. Though Carlos has reached the edge, their corner of the map is not quite clear yet, there's a volcanic outcrop that we haven't checked on the other side.

 

tactical_008.png

 

The Displacer finds the alien sub.

 

When the last of this series of turns is taken, the usual noises of doors being opened are heard, but this time the camera focused for a second on the sub.

 

Turn 8

 

Norton and Carlos clear their corner of the map. It turned out to be nothing, but better safe than sorry as underestimating a blind spot like that could easily lead to disaster had there been an enemy lying in wait.

 

Bill messes around and walks all the way around the way he came instead of walking up to the top of the ridge.

 

The Displacer dives so that it is low enough to cover the opening in the side of the Cruiser.

 

Turn ends

 

Moving the displacer was a good idea as it reacts twice and hits one of the two lobstermen seen inside the sub during the alien turn.

 

Turn 9

 

tactical_010.png

 

The displacer drops to seabed level and only sees one Lobsterman. It misses both of its shots and ascends to keep it clear of any return fire. Emelio scans the Lobsterman and it's a technician. Possibly no ranged weapons on this one.

 

Bill just can't seem to climb the ridge and he circles around it again! Fed up with the messing about, Krug fires and lands a perfect hit on the unconscious Technician with the gas cannon. Having had to drop his thermal shok launcher before firing, he goes to pick it up.

 

Norton and Carlos proceed their southward sweep.

 

Jose repositions himself closer towards the middle of the field, remaining at his high elevation.

 

Turn ends.

 

A Lobsterman with a Sonic cannon is seen walking back and forth past the hole in the sub - or it could've been several Lobstermen.

 

Turn 10

 

tactical_011.png

 

The Displacer drops down to level 1 and spots a Lobsterman. With its back turned we can't tell if it's armed, but Emelio confirms its an injured technician. The Displacer attacks twice and the Lobsterman dies and reveals that it was holding a Sonic Cannon.

 

Uma's squad and Norton's squad continue their line sweep of the map and advance their lines.

 

Turn ends.

 

Another Sonic Cannon Lobsterman is seen in the sub. Possibly a second one as well.

 

Turn 11

 

Uma has now linked up with Bill who is rather exhausted after his rock climbing adventure. The two are now in a position to shoot into the gap of the sub. Rodreigo is left on his own in the middle of the map (with Jose and Krug for long range support), and he makes his way down the other side of the sub, which is intact.

 

Norton climbs a large volcanic hill to Rodreigo's immediate east, Carlos walks around the other side.

 

Jose begins to swim over to the Displacer, feeling he would be of better value there.

 

Turn ends.

 

During the alien move turn, I estimate roughly 3 Lobstermen roving about inside the ship. Two move towards the sub's main hatch.

 

Turn 12

 

tactical_012.png tactical_013.png

 

Norton makes his way down to the seabed level and just as he runs out time, he spots a Lobsterman in the distance. Carlos moves around but doesn't have any time to attack. The Lobsterman, if you can't see it in the overhead map, is just next to the cursor.

 

Emelio does a scan and its a soldier with just over half of its time units left. What's interesting is that it has completely depleted itself of stamina. What was it running from to get so tired?

 

Krug fires a GC-HE round as a greeting It misses and damages the seabed in front of the Lobsterman.

 

Jose, still mid-way to the Displacer, takes aim and scores a direct hit. This takes about 1/4th of the Lobsterman's hitpoints away according to Emelio.

 

Rodreigo tries his luck with his Blasta Rifle and and hits once out of two shots.

 

Uma, who just happens to have a clear shot past the tail of the Cruiser (Assuming you imagine the Cruiser is an abstract manta ray), fires her blasta rifle twice and kills the Soldier.

 

Turn ends.

 

Two Lobsterman with Sonic Cannons wander about near the Cruiser's main hatch. I wonder if the one we caught outside had run from the sub?

 

Turn 12

 

Rodreigo links up with Norton and Carlos. The three decide that it'll be their task to watch their side of the Cruiser for any lobstermen that decide to move away from the sub on their side.

 

Jose completes his journey and is now besides the Displacer. Uma and Bill reposition for a better angle into the sub.

 

Turn ends.

 

One Lobsterman seems to step out of the sub. Another fires on the displacer and is met with immediate return fire. If either side hit, neither side seems to have been affected by it.

 

Turn 13

 

tactical_014.png

 

The displacer drops down and locates one of the lobstermen. It rises while Uma and Jose fire on it. Each aquanaut only manages to hit the Lobsterman once. Emelio does a scan and the Lobsterman is down to a quarter of its health and accuracy. The displacer deals the killing blow.

 

Turn ends

 

The lobsters by the door continue their meaningless dance and actually make it into the right engine room. One lobster decides to walk up to the hole in the hull and ends takes a near-hit from Bill.

 

Turn 14.

 

tactical_015.png

 

It's a technician. The Displacer attacks first to soften it up. Bill misses both shots. Jose shoots and hits, but it's hard to tell if it hit the Lobsterman or the little bit of hull that's blocking Uma from the attack.

 

In an attempt to make the hole wider, Uma carefully throws a Pulser by the hull piece that's in her way.

 

Norton, pulser in hand, hugs the side of the cruiser thinking that he might just blast the main hatch off.

 

Turn ends.

 

Uma's grenade does nothing to the hull.

 

A Lobsterman blows a few front armour plates off the Displacer, but it stays afloat.

 

Turn 16

 

tactical_016.png

 

The displacer sinks and then ascends to locate the Lobsterman. It's a soldier.

 

The displacer fires twice but barely grazes the Lobsterman. Jose aims his cannon and stuns the soldier.

 

Uma gets up to get a better angle and spots an injured technician, with hardly any time units left. She hits it with her rifle and backs off.

 

Norton follows through with his plan and places the pulser a good distance away from the hatch.

 

Turn ends

 

Turn 17

 

The pulser blasts off the hatch. The Displacer finds a Lobsterman Technician just by the ex-hatch. It's got plenty of time to react, but luckily Bill and Uma are well beyond its range. They both aim and stun it.

 

Turn ends

 

Turn 18

 

tactical_017.png

 

The Displacer begins to advance and spots a Lobsterman. Emelio reports that it's a half-dead Technician. Just how many Technicians does this ship need? This one's quite dangerous having a full compliment of time units.

 

Jose drops to the seabed and fires an aimed Sonic cannon round, killing the technician.

 

Turn 19 ~ 20

 

Rodreigo and Carlos advance to get a better look into the sub while Norton edges around the corner of the sub.

 

The displacer does a closer inspection of the hole but doesn't enter.

 

Turn ends

 

A pulser is thrown near the hatch. It kills the stunned Lobsterman in the entrance and while it doesn't kill Norton, he is badly hurt. At this point I notice we'd already reached the magic turn for the aliens.

 

Turn 21

 

tactical_018.png

 

Carlos patches up Norton while Rodreigo tries to sight the Lobsterman. He doesn't find any in the entrance, but as he's walking he spies another one hiding in the cleft of some rocks to the west. Emelio reports its a soldier with no ability to react.

 

Krug, still floating above the Triton, shoots his gas cannon but the explosive shell narrowly misses and sails over the soldier's head.

 

Jose aims and hits the Lobsterman in the head.

 

Despite two injuries to his torso, Norton manages to score a long range snap on the soldier with his Sonic Pistol, earning him some bragging rights when he gets home.

 

The Displacer manages to stun it.

 

geoscape_000.png

 

Mission ends.

 

GAME_1.zip

 

- NKF

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Here we go then straight into the next mission (please small cruiser...)

 

As usual I've not done much in Geoscape. Everyone is disembarked from the Triton and I put myself in the drivers seat only to realise I've attained Commander rank, nice work guys thankyou :P I can't decide between rookie soldiers or hardened vets so I decide to wait until I know what the mission is before I decide.

 

Construction of the Ion armour that NKF started soon ends and a quick headcount reveals just a touch over 40 troopers at HQ with only 6 mag.Ion and 8 Ion suits. I decide we should probably have more and seeing as there is plenty of plastic armour already I build another 4 Mag.Ion suits to give us a full squad of it provided a tank is going along too...

 

Not long after this, Alien sub-30 is spotted (really only 30 subs so far??) but it seems too good to be true. It's a Lobby vessel on a floating base attack mission but presumably only looking for us as opposed to assaulting us directly with 6 troopers :laugh:

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/01.jpg

 

No sooner than I 'centre on sub-time=5 Secs' the message I'm met with another one. This time a small craft on an interdiction mission. I forget what that means... But it's Gillmen this time who we haven't seen for quite some time which could be fun for me.

 

I'm quite chuffed at this point as even if one of these crafts escapes me I'm practically guaranteed a normal sub mission. I send one Barracuda to each enemy craft immediately as they're someway south of the base but moving towards it. The first ship arrives but it's too deep so he returns to base. God forbid he should stay on it's tail and wait for it to reach shallower waters...

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/02.jpg

 

The pilot is given a verbal slap and told to stay with the craft. Almost immediately the very small craft is engaged in the south and destroyed with a single torpedo. The next time our other pilot catches up with the Gillman Cruiser in the North it's in shallower water so we engage and it's downed after 2 torp hits.

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/03.jpg

 

I decide to take out some rookies for a bit of battlefield training and choose 8 with moderate stats, all Ensigns. I have no idea how to check which troopers are in training so I may have nabbed some from there but they shouldn't be at too great a risk on a Gillman Crusier anyhow... I also take NKF's golden boy Jose along for the ride as a double edged sword. He can hone his skills further with more combat action and also watch my back if the rookies do badly...

 

Everyone suits up in plastic armour except Jose and myself who don a suit of magnetic Ion armour each because we're cool. The Triton is loaded up with 4 Sonic cannons with the remaining troopers taking blasta rifles into the field. I've grown attached to the DPL so will take that along in case of emergencies but it's intended as a last resort. I took off all oher weapons and send the troops out with plenty of ammo, nades and med-kits with 1 MC Reader which I will use myself.

 

We arrive at the scene and have landed in the North-East corner which is nice. The Displacer pops out to take a look around but spots a Gillman right in front of the Triton wielding a blasta rifle and changes it's plan accordingly. We're in volcanic terrain again too it would seem, been a lot of that lately...

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/04.jpg

 

With such a healthy stock of ammo and TUs, the Displacer takes 2 snaps at the bogey but fails to hit. It retires to the Triton to end the turn then, seeing the Gillman unmoved, take sit out with an aimed shot next turn. We end one more turn inside the Triton before preparing again to sally forth. The Displacer rises up and spots a Gillman to the West, soon revealed to be a mere rifle wielding soldier by my MC skillage.

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/05.jpg

 

Jose rises over the Triton and takes a shot at the monster but it seems I didn't check his main armament so he has only a blasta rifle and the shot goes wide. Emilio Carlos throws a primed grenade to teammate Rudi but as I'd feared it's way too far and now we risk ending the turn with Jose in clear view of this freak...

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/06.jpg

 

In the alien turn we spot another Gillman with a cannon slightly to the south of the soldier but the only fire comes from our northern target, hitting but not damaging the displacer. With Jose already in place he takes another stab at the soldier and pegs him with his first snapshot.

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/07.jpg

 

Rudi isn't feeling very comfortable holding a primed pulser and I feel bad for leaving all the rookies in the Triton so he's given the order to engage the Cannon wielding Gillman to the south. A scan shows he's only another soldier so I'm not too distraught by Rudi's unwillingness to return to cover after throwing his grenade. Hans Geisler and our explosive supplier Emilio also leave the Triton now, ready to spread out in following phases.

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/08.jpg

 

Rudi's pulser annihilates our soldier friend for a pleasant 3-0 result early in the game. We hear sub doors but can't see it yet. The Displacer moves slowly and quickly spots another Gillman with a Cannon beside his recently expired colleague. It's just another soldier with 20 TUs left so I risk letting the rookies take some potshots at it. Hans and Rudi miss three times between them but Emilio scores his first blood with a well placed snap-shot from an accidentally issued Cannon. Everyone is very impressed.

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/09.jpg

 

The Displacer creeps along menacingly but doesn't spot anything and a good third of the map is now revealed. There is more door opening on the enemy turn but no enemy fire at the clearly visible tank which just ran out of TUs right in the middle of the map. Good luck or a good sign, either way I'm happy about it! Hans leaves the safety of the LZ now and begins to move West with Edward Parton while Emilio and Rudi, the two new killers, begin moving south The Displacer moves to the middle of the map, great visibility providing a commanding view, and then drops to the ground for cover.

 

As the tank continues southwards next turn it recieves a near miss from the west and promptly spots a cannon-wielding gillman. The troopers are miles away (by the cursor on this image) but the tank can't manage a shot either so it falls back a little to end the turn. A scan reveals another soldier with 22 TUs left and Rudi and Emilio make a dash along the East side of the map, knowing the Gillman is too far to spot them. Hans moves slowly West while Edwards runs to keep up.

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/10.jpg

 

As anticipated, no shots are fired and the door is heard again, guaranteeing at least 2 more foes on top of the current tally of 4. The Displacer hovers again to relocate the gillman and spots it in the same place as well as discovering the relatively intact cruiser during a sneaky flanking manoeuvre. The boys in the east still can't shoot at the Gillman but are running out of even the smallest piece of cover in their attempt to reach a safe sniping point. The tank again falls back and they advance some more, kneeling for slight protection.

 

The Gillman doesn't move again in the next turn except to face the part of the map Rudi and Emilio are moving through. Not wanting to risk rookies unnecessarily the tank is sent in to shoot the blighter in the back and then moves to investigate the crash site to the West. Emilio and Rudi begin moving west through terrain that is presumed to be clear.

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/11.jpg

 

As the troops converge on the cruiser, the door stops opening. Edward and HAns continue into the unmapped north-west region of the map and the Displacer moves to assist them. Much of the area is mapped in one turn due to good visibility and as the Displacer returns to the Cruiser it spots yet another Gillman soldier in the shadows inside. It seems this vessel has no Technicians at all, msut have been a mixup in alien personnel lately...

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/12.jpg

 

The Displacer is hit in the alien turn, being unable to flee from view, but no damage is done. As Edward and Hans finish their sweep of the surrounding area it seems we may be down to the last foe so Emilio and Rudi continue their march westwards. The displacer checks the main hatch while leaving the soldier to stew inside until the trainees arrive.

 

That turns out to be a mistake as the alien turn sees it peppered with sonic fire and what I believe was a shok bomb. As the door didn't open that means there's anotehr critter by the hatch so after a quick retreat by our tank, Emilio lobs a grenade to take care of it. It falls a little short and there is no death scream when it explodes. The door does open however so it seems we've at least scared it inside.

 

A great deal of door opening ensues as the next few turns are used to position troops. Emilio and Rudi take position to the east of the hatch while Hans and Edward move to the rear, ready to strom the sub through the damaged starboard hull. Hans prepares a pulser which destorys a corpse from the landing and kills one additional Gillman in turn 17.

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/13.jpg

 

Emilio takes a chance in the next turn by rounding the front of the vessel as the door didn't open last turn but he's met by 2 sonic blasts and 3 fatal wounds! He falls back and Rudi heals him but sadly this leaves no time to grenade the attacker. Luckily the door remains silent next turn so a pulser is promptly delivered to our foe when we regain control. It falls right beside him and deals the final blow for this mission.

https://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/TFTD%20playthrough/Mission%205/14.jpg

 

Thankyou for a nice clean straightforward mission! No promotions though :oh: Rudi did well, 2 kills AND healed a crippled team-mate. pff

 

Here is the download for whoever is up next! Good luck!

Game1.zip

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Save loaded. Done the usual cleaning stuff.

 

Now some maybe frustrated what I am doing now, but I guess that with finall outcome you will be pleased.

 

When Triton arrived I have made serious re-arengement in team and equipment. Loaded the Highest MC Capacity Crew at our disposal (8 soldiers) and additional 2 that were assigned non-leathal weapon at start. I have also thrown Sonic Displacer, because it is mean.

 

The Triton loadout starts with 2 DPL + 10 ammo, 10 medkits, 8 sonic cannons + 16 clips, 2 themal lunchers + 6 ammo, 3 MC Readers, 2 sonic pistols and 4 clips, 8 flares and rest goes to sonic pulsers that is 9 if I remember right (total 80 item aboard).

 

I guess that you should know what I am up to.

 

if not - here is a hint:

 

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Yep. I decided to invade colony. Now I have done only first part - the dangerous one and I guess it went ok, though I am very mad with one tiny incident.

 

So here we go.

 

Triton has landend on the north-eastern corner of the colony. It is dark that we can't see a thing. Good thing that I brought some flares. Our floating tank surveys the vicinity of the Triton - area looks clear. So first two brave man exit the sub and start tossing some flares to lighten up some area. Suddenly Krug spots some jely floating some kind of alien. Quick snap shot hits it but it still lives. Turn ends.

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The jely thing does nothing and nothing partical happens. On next turn Krug kills the thing and the two proceed to move on.

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Displacer moves on and scouts the window on the northen part part of the colony and spots aquatiod with DPL. Luckly quick snap shot takes care of the problem.

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So having secure the 'beach head' Munty uses his DPL to make a hole in the roof of alien colony main hall and more men exit the sub. Turn End.

 

Some aliens try to MC Grigory P. but fortunetly unsuccesfull.

 

Next turn.

 

Displacer moves to a hole that was made and is shot by some alien. Lucky the thick armor just shrug it off. As the displacer moves closer it spots Tasoth and in distance floating brain (ugh they give me the shivers when I see them). So Munty again uses his DPL and the torpedo enters the main hall destroying northen wall and killing one tasoth. Strangely it kills one behind the one that was spoted, and the first one still stands. How can this even be possible ? So next action was well placed aimed shot by Grigoriy and kills it. After that Uma uses her DPL and blows a hole in the western part of the hall, killing some alien and a tentaculat.

 

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My tactic was to fast demolish their upper 'command center' so the MC aliens would be killed as fast as possible. The other soldiers slowly advance ahead. Next turn - another MC attack on Grigoriy.

 

Sonic tank descends one level and spots tasoth on the upper floor. Well placed aimed shot takes care of the problem. Another DPL missle lunched at south-eastern corner - but nothing gets killed. Soldiers move forward. Some to the northen enterance of the base, some following south. Next turn - nothing happens.

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Displacer enters the upper floor of the main hall and spots some alien on the ground floor. Uma lunches DPL torpedo and kills aquatoid and tasoth with total destruction of ground walls.

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Next Krug peeks through the opening in the northen part and spots a tasoth. Quickly shoots and kills it and reveales aquatoid further back with DPL. So without hesitation Munty lunches his torpedo of doom. Next turn - nothing happens.

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On the south part Bill discovers another jely like monster. Soldiers fire, some hit, some miss but Krug does the killing blow - well placed aimed shot from half the map - you have to love Sonic Canons.

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Following turns Jose spots another one and it is swiftly taken care of by Rudi. On the northern part Krug opens colony doors and he spots another deep horror. Luckly he quickly snap kills him and ascends just in case for grenade.

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I am moving very cautios, try not to get hit by DPL or by surprise flanking attacks. I thought that I have taken care of the MC, but there is still one alien that can haras me and Jose goes crazy and panics. 69 M.C. Strength and still it is not enough. So many aliens killed yet they still dare ?

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Krug enters deeper into the colony and spots halucinoid and tentaculat - without hesitation he retreats and Munty uses his DPL to clear the room.

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Displacer moves through the main hall and spots another tentabugger at the farth south-west tower, but well placed aimed shot kills it outright

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On the south side tasoth appears. Using MC Reader I know it is a soldier so Rudi kills him fast.

 

Following turn Jose gets back to his senses and discovers another floating brain and kills it without hestiation.

 

On the northen side Krug spots tasoth, but is unable to kil it, luckly flanking Grigoriy shots it right in the back (like a rat :) ).

 

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Unfortunetly this flawless killing spree had to end and poor Rudi was eaten alive but the halucinoid - one direct hit and he is down. Grr so unfair.

 

I tried to avenge him but all the soldiers miss the bastard, so I had to use Hans shock luncher to freeze it.

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Death of Rudi also shaken Jose who goes berserk almost shooting Bill.

 

The northen team proceeds to enter the colony. Because Jose freaked out and run away Bill was left to flank alone. He spots the last MC capable tasoth - shoots with his luncher but the bugger didn't want to go to sleep. Curses. Fortunetyl all aliens drop their weapons and mostly they are harmless now. So Krug and Grigoriy L. rush to help lonely Bill. Caught in cross fire they dispose of the two tasots that were residing there.

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On the south side Melanie spots another tentaculat, but is uanble to kill it. She is just a seaman so I don't expect miracles form her. Luckly our Displacer helps much.

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Following turns on the north-western wing of the colony another tentaculat lurks. The displacers holds him in check so, Grigoriy primes his pulser and throws near the beast killing him in big explosion. On the south corner some movement was seen. Hans can't see a thing, so Jose helps him with a flare and we spot unarmed aquatoid. So I gave Melanie a chance and she has earned her first kill in battle.

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Following futher down south we spot three more tasoth soldiers, most of them constantly panic. Giving another chance to Melanie she kills one with pulser. The other two are killed by Jose and Krug, thus we entered deeper in to the colony.

Also Munty and Uma restocked with DPL torpedos form the fallen aliens.

 

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So our brave aquanauts descend deeper into the heart of colony - poor Rudi - he was goold seaman.

 

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Right from the start team gets scattered through out the base, and the action begins right from turn 1.

First goes Krug - he spots Tentaculat - because the game remembers his last 'position' he starts kneeling - he aims and misses (86% - god damn it). He turn to left and spots a lobsterman - 2v1 - just marvelous. Fortunetly Grigoriy L. is near the tentabastard, so he closes in and kills it.

 

post-7842-1300908371_thumb.png post-7842-1300908378_thumb.png post-7842-1300908387_thumb.png

 

Next goes Jose. He spots a lobsterman with DPL, luckly a lift is near him, so he closes to the lift, fires snap shot and goes up.

post-7842-1300908471_thumb.png

 

Rest ot the team spreads out. Luckly Bill and Hans both with thermal shock luncher are near the colony command center so they proceed in that direction. Rest of the team starts on the escape lift. End of turn.

 

Krug is being pincered by lobsterman but no scratch and displacer spots another tentaculat.

 

Turn 2.

 

Krug kills lobsterman with 2 snap shots. Grigoriy L heads t o meet with Krug while Displacer takes care of the tentaculat.

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Rest of the team searches the base. End turn.

 

Again Krug is being pincered by another lobsterman - no scratch again.

 

Turn 3.

Quick scan and we know that Krug is assaulted by Navigator. Two snap shots with no result. Grigoriy advances and is shot - just a scratch - he turns and spots lobsterman - quick snap shot and descends not risking being shot at again.

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Bill and Hans close in to the command center - Bill blows the fence above the synomium device and spots a lobsterman. Quick scan shows that it is infact a Commander - strangely it is wounded and I didn't fire at him - oh well longer he will be out. Displacer moves ahead and discoveres another lobsterman - fires and hits. Rest of the team search more. End turn

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This turn Krug and Grigoriy L were killed - one pincer shot killed them - ridicolous. Another lobsterman advances on displacer and tries to pincer him - no scratch.

 

Turn 4.

Displacer fires 3 direct hits on the lobster but he still is standing then Jose with great aimed shot kills it. Bill and Hans stun 3 lobsters in command center. Next turn.

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Turn 5.

Synonium device destroyed and Bill runs with Commander to the lifts.

 

Turn 6.

Uma sends torpedo to kill the lobsters that are sleeping in the command. Displacer spots another lobsterman, same with Jose who stuns it.

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Turn 7.

Displacer moves closer and hides. Jose primes granade and throws to kill the stuned alien.

 

Turn 8.

Displacer kills lobster. Munty spots another one and hides

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Turn 9.

Munty uses DPL on the standing lobster, displacer moves in and stuns it.

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Following turns. Uma spots another lobster - uses her DPL to weaken him, then Munty plays snake and kills it (had to use all 9 waypoints :))

post-7842-1300910413_thumb.png post-7842-1300910424_thumb.png

 

Next turns - Uma spots tentaculat but has not enough TU for DPL - she tries aimed with pistol but misses. Again Munty plays snake and kills it.

 

Turns pass, soldier search the base and suddenly Displacer is attacked by another tentaculat and Munty is pincered by woken up Lobsterman. Luckly no damage was done and both aliens are killed

post-7842-1300910773_thumb.png post-7842-1300910780_thumb.png post-7842-1300910844_thumb.png

 

Few turns later - another tentaculat attacks displacer lightly damaging it. Tank kills it and backs up. Soon after another lobsterman peeks out fires on Jose but misses. So tank destroys wall and door so Jose and Munty can have good aim at it.

Jose fires and hits and Munty uses DPL, hits lobster that lives but there was another tentaculat which was killed in the process.

post-7842-1300911191_thumb.png

 

This point is like half of the battle - there are 20 more turns, but I don't inted to write them, you will get bored instantly.

The summary of next 20 turns.

 

Jose gots killed by lobsterman who survives thermal shock bomb. Hans was accidently killed by Umas DPL. I tried to fire through hole on the first floor but I have probably send wrong waypoint and the blast reached Hans ( one step further and he would might have lived). Displacer survives with 1HP he was like tanking 4 Lobsters. Grigoriy P almost was turned Zombie - he faced eye to eye with tentaculat - he missed on the first turn - don't know why but the bugger didn't move.

Uma was heavly wounded - 5 critical wounds - was fortunetly healed.

 

Here is the mission result:

post-7842-1300911573_thumb.png

 

Save and rest of the pics that I have made - brutal action:

GAME_1.zip

 

By the way there should be 100 Zerbite - I picked it up in case I would flee - it is in base 330 total we have was 230 when I went.

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Geoscape summary:

 

Extra stuff is sold (1 of each item was kept just in case we need them later): corpses, various alien base items (implanter, reanimation zone, learning array, cloning, cryogenics).

 

Hired 7 soldiers to replace last mission's losses. Triton 1 returns to base and it was reequiped, mainly grabbed some soldiers from the last hired ones.

 

Destroyed a very small craft.

 

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Mag Ion Armor production complete, started cranking out 4 oscillators for the barracudas. Another very small craft was destroyed. General Stores is finished on Outpost I.

 

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Rearmed barracudas with oscillators. 7 more Mag Ion Armors being built for the new arrivals.

The new soldiers arrive, and I do a full review of the roster. Triton is reequiped with troops that are not in MC implantation and are not too good with MC skill (except Munty, who gets to be the team leader). Soldiers are also graded in Psi Strength (p/x)

Hammerhead research complete, Particle disturbance sensor is the next topic (wow, I have never researched this one so late!)

Lobby Escort downed - proceeding to salvage operations.

 

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Tactical mission:

 

The tank discovers our breakfast right after exiting the Triton. One DPL blast softens it up and with 24 hp remaining, Bill knocks it for good.

 

post-231-1300930091_thumb.png

 

A second lobby is spotted near the first one. After a shot from Billy, its health goes down to 73. The MC reader also displays that it's a technician, so an attempt is made to capture it. A shot from Grigory's launcher does the job.

 

post-231-1300930135_thumb.png

 

The tank barely moves to continue scouting, and another lobby is spotted. This time we don't have more TUs to read its status, so we try to kill it. After 2 shots it lies dead on the seafloor.

 

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The tank continues moving toward the sub, that appears to be intact. As it starts looking around, it finds a lobby hidden among the rocks. A DPL launch from Rodreigo seems to clear the rocks but the lobby is still alive. Munty tries to kill it from above but there is no line of fire. Once the tank regains control, another lobster is spotted right next to the first one, so the DPL has softened 2 aliens instead of one. A few soldiers look for their grenades that are stored in their shoulders, and another Rodreigo throws one in the backs of both aliens. The grenade explodes, taking both of them to the grave.

 

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There are a few sounds coming from the craft. When the tank turns to it, a lobster is found trying to come back to the sub. Klaus fires but misses. Munty fires and hits. the MC reader is used. Just a regular soldier, with 67 HP left. Rodrigo fires and hits it again (man, this one's tough!). Carlos fires and hits again, but the alien still stands. Bill tries his luck one more time, and succeeds.

 

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Another alien tries exiting the craft, but enters it again when it sees the tank. Another alien tries approaching from the north, trying to remain unnoticed, but the tank spots it on time. Another volley of shots are fired at this one too, and Munty closes the deal. The tank goes hiding at the top of the craft, trying to remain hidden to the lobby that is inside the craft. The deed works, and at the next turn the lobby is outside of the craft, ready to be slaughtered. Munty adds another line on his kill counter.

 

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The tank tries taking a look inside the craft. Unfortunately it's all destroyed on the inside, except from another lobster facing its shiny rear ends at the tank. The tank fires once, and the lobster retaliates, but the tank is unharmed and fires at it one more time, then it goes into hiding at the top of the sub. 90 HP remaining for the lobster. The tank fires twice again, getting another bullet in exchange, but no harm is done. However, the retaliation did not come from that alien because it didn't turn to shoot at the tank, so there is probably another alien inside. This ordeal is repeated one last time, and the tank kills the lobster. Seems that the lobster not turning to shoot was a glitch, because the mission ends afterwards!

 

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Savegame for the next commander: GAME_1.zip

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  • 2 weeks later...

I started out by moving all scientists away from the motion sensor project and putting them into the Tasoth Soldier sitting in the brig. Still doesn't make any sense to me why this hadn't already been done; even if you put aside the dramatic reduction in mortality rates a single MC Disruptor can provide, the things can be used to improve soldiers in areas such as TU and hitpoint counts.

 

Unfortunately (for me at least?), I didn't have a chance to get the research anywhere near done. Within seconds of leaving the base view, two Cruisers popped up - Infiltration (Lobby men) and Interdiction (Gillmen).

 

tftdmulti_bbturn06_01.png

 

Scrambled both Interceptors, but before I knew it I had USOs all over the place: a Supply Ship, Battleship and Dreadnought all turned up (Lobby men, Infiltration). With the exception of the Dreadnought, I had the Interceptors take 'em all down before coming home.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn06_02.png

 

So I sent the Triton to the Battleship that following morning. Someone else can clean up the smaller fry later.

 

The Displacer rolled out and quickly reminded me what happened the last time I took on a large Lobsterman craft. This time I was able to clean up the landing zone in short order, avoiding the initial Tentaculat rush.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn06_03.png

 

Or most of it. Didn't catch the name of this trooper floating up near the roof, s/he ended up being converted to $20k.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn06_04.pngtftdmulti_bbturn06_05.png

 

I'll spare you the lengthy particulars as to how the HWP flew around the map while the snipers back at the Triton racked up their kill counts from afar. Suffice to say, a great time was had by all.

 

One interesting moment was had when the troopers were mounting the roof of the Triton; not one but two Lobstermen threw grenades up there! These failed to do any damage to anything except the HWP, fortunately.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn06_06.pngtftdmulti_bbturn06_07.pngtftdmulti_bbturn06_08.pngtftdmulti_bbturn06_09.png

 

One of two Tentaculats by the entrance to the Battleship failed to fall to sonic fire, and rather then risk it floating half way across the map to bring ruin to my team, I had to resort to using a stun bomb against it. This worked, but it was still unconscious by the time the rest of the map was cleared out; rather then risk having it wake up, I threw a grenade at it. Splat!

 

With the craft doors destroyed, the HWP was able to spot and kill another in the foyer of the USO. A Losterman Squad Leader was reported as panicking on the next turn.

 

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Emilio was the lucky guy selected to enter. He shoots! He misses!

 

tftdmulti_bbturn06_11.png

 

Two other guys run in! They miss too!

 

Luckily, Javier has some understanding of this whole "aiming" concept and takes the looming Tentaculat out with a single shot.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn06_12.png

 

The squad hovers upward, neglecting the stairs. Two Lobstermen, one with a cannon and one apparently unarmed, run into the central chamber. The team then makes their way to the side areas so they can crouch.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn06_13.png

 

Ten million Lobstermen run out of every door and throw grenades everywhere. Emilio is left with 8 hit points, and makes a hasty retreat. Javier, to the south, is unfortunately killed. Everyone else is unharmed.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn06_14.png

 

More grenades are thrown on the following turn. Emilio floats back up to administer treatment to Martin, who took in three fatal wounds. About one alien is going down each turn, and a Technician is constantly panicking.

 

After a brief skirmish, obviously lasting a million turns (give or take), the Tech is the only one left, identifying himself to be the piggy in the middle.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn06_15.pngtftdmulti_bbturn06_16.pngtftdmulti_bbturn06_17.png

 

GAME_1.rar

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Cracked open a midi of the classical piece called Night on the Bare Mountain.

 

Geoscape Segment:

 

There's three crash sites out there, but the Triton's still on its way back to be followed by the imminent refuel period. There's going to be a few hours wait so I get to work on sorting through stores.

 

Hello, I see we've got our Barracudas armed entirely with Sonic Oscillators. Since that's the case, all the old munitions are sold this frees up quite a lot of space. A quick firesale of excess weapons and other alien junk brings our funds to $11mil.

 

Having also freed up a lot of space I dismantle one of the General Stores at HQ. We've got plenty of space and this will make way for the MC Generator once we can build one.

 

Meanwhile in Outpost-1 I install a new bypass by connecting some new stores to the central hangar. The old stores can be removed later.

 

New troops added to the Triton, I leave most of the previous crew on board.

 

geoscape_000.png

 

While waiting for the Triton to refuel, the Transmission Resolver picks up a lobsterman Escort on a floating base attack mission to the South Atlantic.

 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't, I launch Barracuda-1, but the alien sub seems to be on the last phase of its journey and is escaping and vanishes moments afterwards. By now the Triton has refueled, so away it goes to the Fleet Supply Cruiser.

 

The alien sub pulled a fast one on us! Barracuda-1 had only just docked and is starting its refuel/rearming phase, and the sub reappeared on the sonar. Barracuda-3 goes to intercept.

 

On contact the alien sub retreats instantly and leads the Barracuda closer to the base. Rather than play into their hands, I let the Barracuda follow the sub for about an hour until it has drifted back to roughly where it was, then shot it down.

 

All the while this is happening the Triton slowly approaches the downed Fleet Supply Cruiser. Unfortunately it's also getting dark, so it appears that it'll be a sortie in the darkness. Glad I remembered to pack a few flares.

 

Tactical Segment

 

Spent some time moving equipment about so that more troops in Mag Ion Armour have Sonic Cannons.

 

Turn 1

 

Seems like the Triton's landed in the south-eastern corner of the map as we can't see anything further that way. Nothing exciting happens on this turn except that the Displacer is sent out to have a peek over the top of the Triton. Being lower than an Aquanaut it can't quite see, so I have to skim it over the top of the Triton to get a glance of the other side. with only enough TUs to get back inside, we can't get a visual to the north.

 

tactical_000.png

 

All we can visually see is that it's dark out there. The overhead map is a bit more informative, showing a rather bare but hilly seabed.

 

Turn 2

 

The Displacer is sent to hover above the Triton to act as a turret. Knowing that we've got Disrupter Pulse Launchers out there, the troops inside the Triton take care not to disembark too quickly. All that happens for them at the moment is the troops in Mag Ion Armor get closer to the hatch and the two nearest the hatch start grabbing flares.

 

During the alien phase the screen blinked very briefly, so we must have a hostile nearby.

 

Turn 3

 

tactical_001.png

 

Grigory Portanov and Melanie Thompson deploys flares to the west and north. This reveals a Lobsterman in a thick patch of coral. Rodreigo Martinez scans it find it's a Soldier and it can't fire back!

 

Jaime Bonal steps out the hatch and lifts off the seabed. He tries to attack the Soldier but his aim is blocked by the Triton's sensory array. Rising one more level leaves him without enough time to fire. With his effort wasted, he drops back down to the ground. The Displacer takes two shots and kills the soldier.

 

Turn ends.

 

A lobsterman wanders near the flare that was thrown to the west.

 

Turn 4

 

tactical_002.png

 

 

Rodreigo checks it and it's another soldier, and this one may just fight back. Jaime Bonal rose to attack it, but decides to let the Displacer take the first volley.

 

The Displacer fires twice and hits once. The Soldier reacts and dents the front armour of the Displacer, but it's still fine. Rodreigo does another scan and the Lobsterman's now a sitting duck!

 

Melanie Thompson, who has better aim, lifts up off the ground and fires an aimed shot, taking the target down. Jaime raises his elevation and spreads out a little.

 

tactical_003.png

 

Louise Leferve grabs a flare on his way out and throws it into the north-western quadrant that's still in darkness. On checking the Displacer, another Lobsterman is seen near the flare.

 

The Displacer can't move, so Grigory Portanov rises to the occasion and a lucky hit from his Thermal Shok Launcher puts the Lobsterman down.

 

Turn ends

 

A sonic beam flies out of the darkness and hits the Displacer. The shot came from its immediate east.

 

Turn 5

 

No damage done to the displacer however it can't see its target.

 

tactical_004.png

 

Bill Knott picks up a flare on his way out and throws it between the two flares thrown earlier. The Displacer sights the target.

 

Melanie Thompson takes an aimed shot and hits the Lobsterman. Rodreigo scans the Lobsterman. It's another soldier, it can't shoot back and with only 21 hitpoints, another shot will kill it if not stun it. Jaime Bonal confirms this with a single aimed shot.

 

 

tactical_005.png

 

We're not done yet, the Displacer moves to scout, but one tile forward and another Lobsterman is spotted near the last one. Rodreigo confirms it's a Technician and it's still got half its time units left. Unusually, it's almost completely drained of stamina.

 

Not having a lot of firepower left with the Aquanauts that are already outside, Tim Cook comes outside but only manage to damage a bit of seabed with his shot.

 

The Displacer moves back a step and fires twice. One hits but doesn't drop the Technician.

 

Turn ends.

 

Nothing happens.

 

Turn 6

 

tactical_006.png

 

The Displacer moves ahead to relocate the Technician. It's found at the foot of the hill it had climbed, now even more exhausted than before. Rodreigo checks and it's still got plenty of fight left in it.

 

Tim, Melanie and Jaime aim their sonic cannons. Two cannon rounds hit, but the Technician stays standing. Rodreigo checks and says that one more round will do take it down. Louis Leferve's aimed sonic cannon round completes the deed.

 

Louis Dujardin, Bill Knott and Tatyana Dudeski are deployed out of the Triton.

 

Turn ends.

 

Only doors are heard.

 

Turn 7

 

Troops that have deployed start to slowly spread out. Carlos Escobar decides to stay with Rodreigo in the Triton and add an extra MC Reader user to the team. He however ditches all the rest of his gear (not that he had much, just a Sonic Cannon) and kneels down on the equipment pile by the hatch, where there's a loaded Disrupter Pulse Launcher by his feet - just in case we need some heavy shelling.

 

Turn ends.

 

Doors menace us but no attacks.

 

Turn 8 ~ 11

 

Our two external ground forces, Bill and Tatyana move out and we can now see an outline of the sub on the overhead map. Bill heads north while Tatyana sticks close to the south edge of the map and heads west.

 

tactical_008.png

 

Over the next couple of turns Bill and Tatyana make their way to flares, pick them up, throwing them and start heading towards the flares again. Louis and Louis hover close behind Tatyna while Tim Cook starts making for one of the two flares near the Displacer.

 

Turn 12

 

Tim arrives over his flare and throws it out towards the sub. It's placed about a fields width away from the sub to light up the immediate area in front of it.

 

tactical_009.png

 

The displacer moves closer to it and two shots out of the darkness hit the Displacer, chipping away more of its armour but it's still alive. It presses on. Another shot comes out of the darkness and misses it. This time it's given me a better idea where the shot's coming from. I'm worried I'm ordering the Displacer to move too far ahead, so I have it raise its elevation instead. This reveals a (if not, the) Lobsterman. Rodreigo says the Soldier can't fight back.

 

Louise Leferve begins the assault with an aimed sonic cannon round. Jaime Bonal misses. Melanie Thompson hits. Louis Dujardin misses. Tatyana Dudeski misses (I probably shouldn't have let her join in - being right out in front that's left her wide open for an attack on the alien turn). Rodreigo checks and only a bit more to go. However there's no one else with a lethal weapon who can fire on it. Rather than risk losing the Displacer to this Soldier, Grigory take aim and does a long bomb with his thermal shok launcher and stuns the Lobsterman.

 

Turn ends

 

That wasn't the only Lobstermen - the Displacer suffers more abuse by a hidden assailant.

 

Turn 13

 

tactical_010.png

 

Thankfully no further damage to the Displacer. It moves ahead to find its attacker but finds something much more pressing in the corner by the sub. A Lobsterman (Technician) with a DPL!

 

Not wasting time, Tatyana Dudeski drops to her knees and fires an aimed shot. I had't been paying attention but she's got some pretty good aim. Might have her hang back. Louis (Dujardin) takes a mid-water kneeled aimed shot and hits the Technician. Louis (Leferve) misses.

 

tactical_011.png tactical_012.png

 

With all the other snipers too far away to get into a clear firing line, desperate moments call for desparate measures. Carlos opens the hatch and starts plotting torpedo waypoints. But even with the clear waypoints, it missed and struck the upper level of the sub!

 

Grigory Partonov tries to land a thermal shok bomb nearby but doesn't manage it.

 

The Displacer fires a round and it hits, but doesn't drop the Technician. It tries to get out of sight by moving closer to the sub roof but something in the open area on top of the sub fires and damages the Displacer. The Displacer's now stuck.

 

Turn ends

 

I make it into the tank busters club - the Displacer is attacked multiple times from front and back and it gets destroyed after the fourth round.

 

Turn 14 ~ 15

 

Snipers are spread out to get a better angle of the corner of the sub where the DPL technician was seen.

 

Turn 16

 

Tatyana and Bill reach their flares. Only Bill has the time to pick up and throw his.

 

Bill starts moving to his flare while Tatyana throws her one out. Tim edges closer to the hot zone in front of the sub.

 

Turn ends

 

Tim gets hit.

 

Turn 17

 

tactical_014.png

 

Tim has sustained no damage. He drops down onto a flare and throws it out. He spots two Lobstermen, one being the DPL technician seen earlier. The other one is probably the tank slayer. Rodreigo says the one with the cannon is Soldier and can't fight back.

 

Carlos thinks about finishing the job and plots some waypoints between the two Lobstermen, but decides against it as it would destroy the flare. At the moment losing the light would put us at a disadvantage.

 

Tatyana Dudeski aims and kills the DPL technician. Louis Leferve and Jaime Bonal finish off the soldier.

 

tactical_015.png

 

Meanwhile Bill Knott continues his survey of the North-eastern corner of the map and is struck with a problem. He can't pick up his flare! On careful inspection it's resting precariously on a small rock that he just can't climb onto. Not taking any rubbish from it he attacks it with his cannon, but it remains intact. He calls Grigory over to help pick up the flare. Grigory manages to get above the rock but he can't land on it. Seems like this flare is as good as lost to until the cleanup crew can retrieve it.

 

Turn ends

 

Turn 18

 

Grigory finishes off the survey of North-Eastern corner of the map and declares it clear. There's no way to get past the tail of the sub so the two start for the front of the sub.

 

Turn ends

 

One of the Louis' sees a Lobsterman frolicking in the dark through the bed of coral to the east.

 

Turn 19

 

tactical_016.png

 

Louis Leferve tracks the Lobsterman and finds it near the flare by the sub. Rodreigo confirms its a Soldier and doesn't appear to be able to fight back.

 

Jaime Bonal starts attacking the Soldier but his 50% to-hit ratio lets him down. Louis Dujardin's aim is true, but as always one shot is just never enough with Lobstermen. Melanie Thompson, our high floating sniper extraordinaire - misses. Tatyana Dudeski's luck (and good aim) doesn't fail her, but even that's not enough. Rodreigo reports the Lobsterman's down to its last 30 hitpoints, one last attack to go.

 

Tim Cook, realising he's got an armed pulser on his shoulder, grabs it, notices it isn't the right one, drops it, grabs the right one and throws it at the Lobsterman's feet. He wonders if it's too close to the flare.

 

Turn ends.

 

the Pulser causes the loss of the natural habitat of the Polka-Dot Flounder and the Three Legged Sea Omelet, but the Lobsterman remains standing. The flare managed to survive a tile or two from the edge of the explosion.

 

Turn 20

 

 

On checking Soldier-boy it still has the same 30 hitpoints that it had before Tim threw the grenade. Does coral have HE Block? On the bright side it's moved a bit so can't return fire. Melanie hones her skills and stuns it.

 

Tatyana goes to retrieve her flare. Bill does a space-walk through two exposed gas pipes and reaches the corner of the sub. Grigory just floats over the pipes.

 

Turn ends.

 

Only the sound of doors and a very brief flash of the screen but not long enough to see what it was.

 

Turn 21

 

The magic turn has passed so there might be a bit of opposition from the sub.

 

The team start to spread out in a wide circle around the front of the sub. There's still the north-western corner to clear. I think I'll send Louis Leferve to survey the area, since he's hovering over the ex-coral reef, which is closest.

 

Turn ends.

 

Just as I was thinking that, Louis Leferve is attacked with two direct hits to his chest.

 

Turn 22

 

tactical_017.png

 

Louis has taken no damage at all. Tatyana assists by throwing her flare to light the area. A Lobsterman with a sonic blasta rifle is spotted. Rodreigo confirms it's a soldier and has 0 time units left.

 

Tatyana surprisingly has enough time to fire a standing aimed shot at the soldier. It hits. Louis (Dujardin) fires and misses. Louis Leferve manages a mid-hover kneeled aimed shot and kills the Soldier.

 

Turn ends.

 

Another brief flash, but that's it.

 

Turn 23 ~ 25

 

Louis Leferve spots a hole in the side of the sub. Carlos's earlier work no doubt. Could be useful. But first, securing the north-west corner takes priority.

 

tactical_018.png

 

He then secures Tatyanas flare and holds onto it, while Tatyana inherits the flare that's by the sole surviving section of coral. This one's destined for the top of the sub since it's dark.

 

Turn 26

 

Louis Leferve rather clumsily runs forward before remembering to throw out the flare. Luckily there's nothing in the reef ahead of him.

 

Turn 27

 

 

tactical_019.png

 

On the start of the new turn, Grigory has somehow spotted something inside the sub. For the heck of it Rodregio scans it. It's a Squad Leader at full readiness, though it has lostabout a third of its morale.

 

Louis Leferve retrieves the flare and declares his corner of the map clear. Time for the journey back.

 

Turn ends.

 

Turn 28

 

Perhap's it's a small blessing that Grigory can 'see' the Squad Leader - at least we know where it is.

 

Turn 29

 

tactical_020.png

 

Louis and Louis meet up near the hole in the side of the sub. Both aquanauts hover just above the gap. Their task to drop down every turn to report on or shoot at any Lobstermen that may be walking through the lower gallery.

 

Turn 30

 

Louis Leferve abandons his flare by throwing on top of the sub and the two aquanauts take peeks inside the sub in turns. No enemies. They decide to stay outside.

 

Turn 31

 

Louis Leferve treks a few step into the sub for a look around, but doesn't spot anything. He steps back outside.

 

Carlos unloads the disrupter pulse launcher and reclaims his Sonic cannon and heads out to join the siege.

 

Turn 32

 

tactical_021.png

 

Tim Cook moves in to swap places with Grigory to keep an eye on the Squad Leader. Grigory meanwhile lands on the other side of the sub. He's going to make an inspection of the roof access to see if the Lobsterman that helped destroy the tank is still there.

 

Turn 33

 

tactical_022.png

 

Thinking two would be better than one, Louis Dujardin floats up on the other side and beats Grigory to spotting the Lobsterman. It's dark, but it's there and it's a soldier. Grigory launches a shok bomb but doesn't hit. Both aquanauts slink back down the sides of the sub.

 

The other Louis does another quick look around in the sub.

 

Turn 34

 

A quick look by Louis shows the Soldier is still up there. Instead of shooting from where he is, Grigory moves further along the side of the sub and waits.

 

Turn 35

 

 

tactical_024.png

 

Grigory's decision was a good one as he can now see an extra target. Making three confirmed hostiles. Both soldiers, including the Squad Leader inside.

 

Grigory attacks the closest Soldier and knocks it out, but the other Soldier reacts twice. On shot strikes Grigory but no damage is taken. He drops back down out of sight to reload. Knowing which direction the soldier is now facing, Louis and Louis pop up and fire at the Lobsterman. Only one hits, and it doesn't fall. They drop back out of sight.

 

Turn 36

 

The soldier was ready for Grigory this time and opens fire on him the moment he pops over the side of the Sub.

 

tactical_025.png

 

Getting fed up of the dark, Louis Leferve rises and lands on the top of the sub and sneaks forward until he can see into the pit. Rodreigo says the Lobsterman's very groggy.

 

tactical_026.png

 

Grigory takes the shot and Louis Dujardin throws a Pulser into the pit with the two unconscious Lobstermen. Grigory rearms but is down to his last Thermal Shok Bomb.

 

On the end of the turn, the pulser takes out both unconscious soldiers.

 

Turn 37 ~ 41

 

The Squad Leader still hasn't moved.

 

He hasn't been forgotten, but Carlos has finally arrived in front of the sub.

 

tactical_027.png

 

The two Louis and Grigory take positions on top of the sub. Thinking of a way to get at the Squad Leader.

 

Turn 42 ~ 46

 

tactical_028.png

 

Louis Dujardin explores the doors of the roof entrance and spots a Lobsterman in the lift well. Rodreigo advises caution, the Soldier has full time units. Louis levitates out of the way.

 

After several turns of waiting for the Lobsterman to come out on its own accord, a more direct approach is taken. Grigory hangs back at the far wall while Louis opens the door and quickly gets out of the way. This ploy doesn't work - Grigory manages to fire his shot but is killed with a single reaction shot to the chest. Louis drops down and opens fire but this isn't enough to stop the Lobsterman.

 

Turn 47

 

tactical_029.png

 

With both Louis kneeling near the door, Louis Dujardin fires and hits, but the Lobsterman returns with two reaction shots that don't hit. Rodregio checks and it's half stunned but barely any physical damage has been done to it. The other Louis shoots but doesn't drop the Lobsterman.

 

Turn 48

 

Rather than get Louis Dujardin to fire this time, Louis Leferve starts off since it seems to have focused its attention towards Louis Dujardin, putting him out of its immediate field of vision (probably). He manages to stun it.

 

Jaime Bonal is sent to back up Louis and Louis, and just as he starts off, he spots another Lobsterman inside the third level of the ship near the Squad Leader. Turns out to be a Navigator.

 

Turn 49 ~ 50

 

Wondering if we can blow the floor out from under them, Rodreigo proceeds to man the DPL.

 

tactical_030.png tactical_031.png

 

While he didn't quite rip the floor away, he did open a nice big hole in the side. The Squad Leader's packing a thermal shok launcher. Melanie takes aim at the back of the Navigator nearby.

 

Strangely, now Tim Cook can no longer 'see' the Squad Leader. He can't hit either Lobsterman. Carlos, directly underneath Tim, takes a single shot and kills the Navigator.

 

Tatyana's luck fails her. She has to stand up to see the Squad Leader and her aim falters because of this and misses.

 

Jaime Bonal has line of fire so he attacks. However while he cannot officialy see the Squad Leader, it can see him. It retaliates with its Thermal Shok Launcher and knocks him unconscious.

 

Turn ends and the Squad Leader is reported going berserk. It doesn't do much damage with its empty launcher.

 

Turn 51

 

Tatyana stands up and tries attacking the Squad Leader again and manages to knock it unconscious.

 

Turn 52

 

Louis and Louis race through the upper level doors and secure the top of the lift. Remembering the Lobsterman is still alive, Louis Leferve picks it up and drops down to the level below. He's so shocked to find a Lobsterman with a DPL next to him that he forgets to drop the Lobsterman Soldier he was carrying and brings it back up with him. He drops it upstairs. With both sides of the lift plugged this Lobsterman shouldn't be able to come up. Rodreigo says it's a Technician. Ho hum - another one.

 

Had it been any other alien race, Louis could've stayed next to it and called it nasty names. Lobstermen tend to be more physically reactive about those sort of things.

 

Tim goes to Jaime to administer stimulants.

 

Turn 53

 

tactical_033.png

 

Louis Dujardin hands Louis Leferve an armed Pulser - then realises he threw it in a pile of Pulsers. Louis Leferve's second guess is right. He picks up the lobsterman and goes down the lift where its other comrade waits. He casually drops the Soldier and the pulser on the ground and proceeds back upstairs.

 

Remembering there was another live Lobsterman out in the field (one of the first few at the start of the mission), Carlos Escobar wanders out to look for it.

 

Jaime meanwhile won't wake up. More stimulants are administered.

 

Turn ends

 

The soldier meets its demise. Not sure about the DPL Lobsterman, but I'm sure it's still standing.

 

Meanwhile a Lobsterman with a Thermal Shok Launcher walks past the lift, walks back in and fires at point blank range. Knocking itself out as well as Louis Dujardin.

 

Turn 54

 

tactical_034.png

 

Not missing this chance, Louis Leferve grabs the Thermal Shok Launcher and a reload as it will be a good indoor weapon since we lack drills for close quarter combat. He indentifies the silly lobsterman as a squad Leader. He steps out the far doors as a minor attempt to make it more difficult for the technician to chase him.

 

Carlos meanwhile finds the unconscious Lobsterman. He picks it up to throw it over to the pipeworks nearby, but it's too heavy. He has to walk it over and drop it.

 

Tim Cook overdoses Jaime on stimulants but the man won't wake up.

 

 

Turn ends

 

The Lobsterman Carlos was going to dispose of instead wakes up and disposes of him.

 

Turn 54

 

Bill Knott avenges his friend, but only stuns the Technician. Technicians are tough!

 

Tim Cook throws away his Medikit and picks up Jaime's.

 

Louis Leferve makes his way back to the top of the lift - crossing his fingers that the DPL Lobsterman below won't try to come upstairs.

 

Turn 55

 

Louis drops down a level and hits the Technician in the face with his Sonic Cannon. He's smart enough not to try the Thermal Shok Launcher at this range - it is for mid-range indoor fighting. He goes back up and runs for it.

 

 

Taking the smarter approach, Tatyana moves to assist Louis by standing in front of the sub's main hatch. It has a direct line of fire to his target.

 

Tim Cook pumps 5 more stimulants into Jaime - this must not be good for his health.

 

 

Turn 56

 

tactical_035.png

 

Tatyana opens the doors and attacks. Unfortunately she only stuns the technician.

 

Louis starts administering stimulants to the other Louis.

 

Tim Cook makes one more attempt and after 4 more stimulants, Jaime is awake - who is probably going to be bouncing off the walls any minute now.

 

Turn 57 ~ 60

 

Now back in the game, Jaime and Tim join Melanie by the hole at the top of the sub.

 

Bill Knott arrives to help Tatyana at the doors.

 

After 6 stimulants from the other Louis, Louis is up. He reclaims his weapons.

 

 

Turn 61

 

Attempting to pull the same stunt they did earlier, Louis Dujardin drops down to pick up the unconscious Technician. With the Lobsterman in his arms, he decides to descend down a level but finds he can't. Ho ho - seems like something may be down there. He drops the Technician and goes back upstairs.

 

Turn 62

 

tactical_036.png

 

Tatyana and Bill open their door to find a Lobsterman (Soldier) with its back away. Having a full compliment of TUs, it's deemed unwise to try to attack it at this stage. The three that had breached the top of the sub back out and form a floating firing line behind Tatyana, beyond the lobsterman's visual range.

 

Turn 63

 

The Lobsterman hasn't moved. Tatyana and Bill walk down the steps to get out of the way while Melanie, Tim and Jaime each take a turn. The three manage to kill the Soldier. It was a rather neat conveyor belt move with Melanie shooting, dropping down a level, then Tim droping down in her place, etc.

 

Louise Dujardin races down the lift, grabs the Technician, goes to the lowest level, does a quick whip around to see that it is clear, drops the Technician and rides back up to the top. Louise Leferve rides down drops a pulser and back up. This turned out to be overkill as the Soldier was the last alien.

 

geoscape_001.png

 

The end-mission screen is a bit off. All the numbers seem doubled in the Item tally. I only lost 2 soldiers and 1 tank by the way, not 4 and 2 tanks!

 

Tatyana and some chap by the name of Emelio Estavez make Ensign. Bill Knott gets promoted to Lieutenant.

 

On to the next commander.

 

GAME_1.zip

 

P.S: If you're wondering what the game's complaining about replacing on the Triton, it's the missing Displacer.

 

- NKF

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Sorry for the delay. Life had to get some of my attention ^^

 

Checking the situation, selling stuff, equipping the triton, i couldnt fight the urge to recover the small subs as well. We dont really need money or very much exp for our aquanauts (we have a lot of nice mArksmen), but i cant skip a sub. So i went for one of the lobster ships:

 

The start was pretty much standard scouting work. we had a rock/smoker map. Our tank found the first lobby:

post-7585-1301916406_thumb.jpg

Our Snipers back at the triton took care of that.

During the aliens turn outr tank took 2 blaster hits and survived. 3 Lobbies were hanging around very close together :):

post-7585-1301916412_thumb.jpg

Funny enough a lobsterman sneaked up on our tank too:

post-7585-1301916417_thumb.jpg

Luis took care of all 3 lobbies with a well placed thermal shock bomb, and the snipers minced the sneaky lobby.

Soon after that we spot the sub:

post-7585-1301916423_thumb.jpg

Our tank went inside to check for tghe last alien but it seems to have abandoned ship too.

After all was explored but one lil area we spot the last alien and snipe it to death:

post-7585-1301916429_thumb.jpg

 

mission complete

and here is the save: https://rapidshare.com/files/455829750/GAME_1.rar

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As I start out my turn the Triton is on it's way back to base, leaving behind it a downed escort and 2 cruisers. The MClab and living quarters finish in some base or other but I have a look round and determine the next commander can build the bases as I don't know what we're doing with them!

 

I cancel the manufacture of 20 Mag Ion armour to free up space for construction of a new sonic displacer whcih will be done in 17 hours. In the meantime we have the Coelecanth to tide us over anyway.

 

The Triton is loaded with a bunch of low ranked troops and myself but the weapons loadout remains the same. I order some more rounds for the tank but they don't arrive before the Triton is ready to launch again. Sadly it's still night but with 3 downed craft still in the area I don't want to wait. We head to the site furthest east which is marked as a Gillman Cruiser. It's still dark when we arrive...

Mission6_01.jpg

 

It's immediately apparent that I didn't allocate armour before we cam eout so our technology is going to suffer somewhat on this mission. I give myself a torp launcher and MC reader and Carlos (the only other swimmer in the team) has a shok launcher. The rest of the troops are in aqua armour and armed with cannons. On the plus side we're in the NW corner of the map and the LZ appears clear. Plus we're fighting Gillmen...

Mission6_02.jpg

 

At this point it seems I don't even have the ability to swim myself! And the other trooper in yellow armour is Melanie Thompson, not Carlos, giving me a grand total of one sniper! Noone spots anything on turn one so we end it early with only the tank outside.

 

We spot a Gillman moving through the fringes of darkness to the south but he doesn't seem to know we're here. The tank quickly spots him and my avatar identifies a soldier with only 17 TUs left. Somehow, clicking to close the stats screen also ordered me out of the sub where I promptly ended on 0 TUs. Melanie took up a sniping position and killed the only visible alien with a single aimed shot but this left her too stuck in the open.

Mission6_03.jpg

 

The alien turn is thankfully very brief with no visible movement or fire and not even an opening door. I retreat back to the Triton and the tank pushes South. The unarmoured rookies stay inside while Melanie keeps watch from the heavens.

 

Another soldier is spotted in the next turn who fires at but misses the tank. Again my click to dismiss the stat screen sends my avatar out of the Triton. Very irritating... Melanie once again puts the green meanie to death with a single aimed shot, the girl is amazing!

Mission6_04.jpg

 

Turn 5 for X-Com sees 2 dead aliens and over half the map covered. The tank has already started moving east so it continues in a similar fashion, soon spotting a third foe with a rifle. Anotehr soldier with 19 TUs, this time a right click prevents unwanted movement when I exit the stats screen! Melanie goes for a hatrick and she pulls off her longest shot yet making it 3 for 3!!!

Mission6_05.jpg

 

As the tank continues East it spots another Gillman with a cannon this time but we're unable to scan or snipe it this turn so the tank gives it a go. It's a miss but the Gillman doesn't move so I have no choice but to end the turn.

Mission6_06.jpg

 

In the alien turn the Coelecanth takes a direct hit but it doesn't damage the thick front armour and the Gillman retreats south in dismay. We also hear the USO door for the first time to date so we know there are at least two greenies left.

 

The tank mocves one tile to spot the Gillman and a scan reveals a fourth soldier with only 13 TUs left. Melanie goes for the long shot and remarkably she makes it 4 for 4!!! This girl is amazing!!!

Mission6_07.jpg

 

Finally the tank spots the Cruiser, just behind the recently deceased gillman in the SE corner of the map. Emilio leaves the Triton to secure the NE but runs into trouble when he spots a cannon toting greenskin with only 16TUs left. I can't scan it or shoot at it this turn so instead I bring Carlos out from the Triton and he sends a Shok bomb at the new foe. With only time for a snapshot my hopes are not high but I'm once again impressed by the troops accuracy as a direct hit fells the monster! Carlos moves out with Emilio and we end the turn.

Mission6_08.jpg

 

The subs door is heard again in the hidden movement so I'm convinced the outside is clear but push Emilio and Carlos to finish exploring the North as the tank guards the sub's flank. Next turn I send the tank closer to the sub to determine the extend of damage taken from the interception and it spots a Gillman with a cannon who seems to have emerged from the hidden flank of the craft. It's revealed to be a soldier with full TUs so this time we really need Melanie to hit but it's her longest shot yet! (in fact it's practically the longest shot possible so good luck to her)

 

She's told there is no line of fire so swims up to the highest level until there is but by this point she can only manage a snap shot. This is worrying but absolutely unbelievably she pulls it off!!! I'm shocked, amazed and downright dumbfounded but she's only gone and hit and killed every single alien she's shot at this mission! 5 rounds for 5 kills!

Mission6_09.jpg

 

We end the turn but once again hear the sound of a door being opened so there is still one by the sub at the very least. Emilio and Carlos finish clearing the North of the map so only a small sliver to the east is now unmapped and they begin moving there next. The tank keeps a close watch on the sub but noone emerges.

 

Finally in the next alien turn we see some movement through the broken hull of the alien sub. There are 3 seperate flashes of a cannon wielding gillman but it's probably the last one. A scan reveals a Gillman Soldier with 18 TUs once the tank reaquires a visual so it could be one or two of them based on the amount of movement witnessed. We also spot anotehr corpse inside the craft.

Mission6_10.jpg

 

With no chance of our resident sharpshooter getting a good enough angle to fire on this enemy the tank has two shots but misses. It promptly moves out of sight and ends turn while Melanie moves to secure the stunned enemy in the centre of the map.

 

In the enemy turn we spot 2 Gillmen in the lobby so my hunch was right. It seems that a single shot from a cannon is somehow enough to destroy our tank though so I'm in the club twice now :) Emilio and Carlos are now our Obi-Wan's of hope so they move to the tail end of the Cruiser while Melanie deprives the stunned Gillman of it's weapons and heads back to the Triton.

 

Emilio and Carlos proceed down the right flank of the alien sub but someone is wa\iting for them and in the enemy turn Emilio is killed by a cannon shot from the dark! Carlos pulls back and calls in the torps. It's only me armed with the launchers and somehow I manage to hit the sub roof so must reload and try again next turn. Carlos narrowly avoids becoming pulser bait in the enemy turn as well as this mission becomes rather more difficult than it should have been!

Mission6_11.jpg

 

Next turn I reload and fire again, this time killing Emilio's murdere and vapourising 2 corpses. I'm certain there is another alien at the front of the craft though so Carlos comes back to investigate before ending the turn. He needn't have bothered as this final explosion ends the game!

Mission6_12.jpg

 

Carlos get's what he deserves and is promoted to Ensign but with one dead trooper and a tank out of action this doesn't feel like a victory. If only I'd checked armour before we left Emilio would probably have survived the shot that killed him but that can't be helped now.

 

On the bright side the new Displacer will be ready for the next commander and here is the file for whoever that may be!

GAME_1.zip

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Geoscape:

 

I sold most of the extra stuff at base - mainly extra corpses and a few extra items (we don't need so many MC readers or Magnetic Navigations). I didn't sell the sonic cannons though, I think 30 is too many, but I guess it's ok if the base is ever attacked.

 

The Triton is then reequipped, and a couple of soldiers were assigned. I also gave Munt the Mag Ion Armor he deserves. Then it heads to the downed escort ship as soon as it is refueled.

 

post-231-1302143084_thumb.png

 

Tactical:

 

The 11 soldiers slowly deploy on the LZ, setting the usual dye grenade to cover the door. No aliens are spotted yet. Once Munty and others try to peek from the cloud, two aliens are spotted. The first one is promptly killed, the second one gets a DPL on its back but is still alive with 40 HP remaining.

 

post-231-1302143095_thumb.png

post-231-1302143118_thumb.png

post-231-1302143113_thumb.png

 

After the end of turn, two lobbies came close to our troops touting their claws and cannons. I think it's safe to assume they are not there to talk, so the troops open fire at them, taking them out without too much effort. Gerard tries to stun the injured lobster but fails. Rudi takes care of it, stunning it instead of killing it though.

 

post-231-1302143126_thumb.png

post-231-1302143141_thumb.png

 

Gerard spots an alien walking far near their first casualty but the hill blocks his vision. When goes up one level to peek the alien reacts though, the shot vanishing in the distance. After a few shots, Rudi downs it.

 

post-231-1302143150_thumb.png

 

Since no more aliens are spotted the troops start to fan out. Munty quickly spots one in the east corner of the map. Tatyana stuns it with one greatly aimed shot, ending the mission!

 

post-231-1302143156_thumb.png

post-231-1302143160_thumb.png

 

Savegame for the next commander:

 

GAME_1.zip

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Little has been done on the geo since there was a mission waiting for me. So I have sold unneeded stuff, equiped sub and went on a lobster cruiser mission, hoping for quick easy win. Guess I was either too confident or I had very very bad luck this time.

 

 

The mission is at daylight, sub parked at south weast corner near the cruiser. The scenery is a wreckege of some plane.

 

I scatter the team with Mags in two parts - 3 man part goes north east, the others advance to the sub doors.

Plenty of turn pass and no lobster is spotted outside the sub, plenty of door opening and a brief visual of aliens in a sub. Suddenly the silence was over and north eastern group was attacked by lobsterman and a soldier died by one shot.

The sub assault squad rushed to the doorway and prepared for attack.

 

First went Louis, he spots three lobsters, he shots the middle one, hits, it returns fire but misses, Louis D. goes up. Next goes Rudi, blank shot hits and he goes up. Next Louis L fires two snaps but completly misses. Next goes Carlos and Melanie - Carlos primes and passes pulser, while Melanie tosses it at Lobsters.

 

Boom. No deaths. Lobsters tries to play our game and throws the nade one square inside the sub and I don't know how but he tosses it on the roof right above him (Impossible curve ball !!! I call it bullcrap). Boom - Louis D. dies, Rudi is heavly wounded.

post-7842-1302559474_thumb.png

 

Next turn.

 

Wanting revange Rudi descend and is killed by reaction fire by some lobster bastard.

 

post-7842-1302559483_thumb.png

 

Next went Louis L. with Melanie and Carlos, they stun the first two lobsters and enter the sub. In the sub they spot 3 more lobsters who are either killed or stunned.

 

post-7842-1302559664_thumb.png post-7842-1302559668_thumb.png post-7842-1302559672_thumb.png

 

This is not over yet, so there must be alien on the norh eastern corner so Munty and Gerhard take point while the others regroup outside the sub.

 

Few turns later Gerhard spots lobster who is in the cockpit of the plane, they exchange fire (all direct hits) and the lobster goes out of sight. Gerhard follows his path and spots another lobster at ground zero. He aims at the first one, misses and was retaltion killed. God damn it how much luck. Then Munty aims and kills the lobster at ground.

 

The rest of the team was catching up and Melanie spots the last alien, she fires hits and is killed by retaliation fire - again one shot kill - this is ridicolous battle. Fortunetly next direct hit kills the bastard thus ending the mission.

 

post-7842-1302560004_thumb.png post-7842-1302560008_thumb.png

 

I think that mission should be a reminder that lobsters are threat even with all high tech gear.

 

post-7842-1302560032_thumb.png

GAME_1.rar

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It's me day off so I'm skipping Grossbeer's turn again.

 

Production of an Oscillator completes right off the bat, so I start churning out more Mag Nav Armour. We've got materials/cash/etc out the wazoo, and I can't think of anything else worth making at the moment.

 

To my amazement, the Tasoth project I started on my last turn is still under way - and finishes within about a day. Work begins on the MC Disruptor.

 

My USO appears. It's a Gillman Heavy Cruiser. A 'cudda catches up to it, and down it goes.

 

I'll spare you the boring particulars as to how I killed everything outside the sub. Seriously, the Sonic Displacer got shot twice and maybe lost ten accuracy points as a result. Meanwhile, the aquanaughts back at the sub (every single one of which were rookies) racked up their kill counts from long range. In the end, the tank only had to make one kill itself.

 

Long story short, if you read my last mission transcript, then you might as well have read this one. Except that was a Battleship with Lobstermen and Tentaculats, while this was just an outright massacre.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn07_01.png

 

There were two moments of note. The first was when an alien fired a DPL shell at the HWP... and missed it by two whole tiles. It was promptly killed the next turn.

 

The other was when the HWP floated near the door of the USO, and had a grenade thrown at it. 'cause it was up a level, this did nothing except blow the doors off the craft (... same as last mission...), allowing me to spot another DPL-wielding alien inside. That also got sniped from just a few tiles away from the roof of the Triton.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn07_02.pngtftdmulti_bbturn07_03.png

 

Given the all-clear, the troopers swarm over to the sub and head inside.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn07_04.png

 

A shok launcher is spotted on the stairs. Oooh, scary, I'm up against an unarmed technician or something.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn07_05.png

 

Yet another DPL is spotted on the floor above, so presumably there's at least two unarmed aliens to gun down. Uta goes up the stairs, and... gets shot twice with a Sonic Cannon.

 

No injuries, but not enough TUs to return fire nor retreat. Christel comes to the rescue, but an all-rookie crew means very low movement points and she's not able to help either.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn07_06.png

 

During the alien turn, the cannon-holder takes one shot at Uta and hits the guard rail next to the stairs.

 

The two aliens are each executed.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn07_07.png

 

I search the entire sub but find no aliens - must be something outside woke up. Suddenly Uta has a grenade thrown at her! It blows up the hull, exposing her to the outside environment!

 

tftdmulti_bbturn07_08.pngtftdmulti_bbturn07_09.png

 

She wanders outside and kills the now-apparently-unarmed alien. Odd, did it pick up the grenade after waking up? Or did I somehow miss it with the first sweep? Ah well, no matter.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn07_10.png

 

GAME_1.rar

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Music tonight are AMF files taken directly from Crusader: No Regret/Remorse

 

Geoscape Segment

 

A quick scan of the facilities and everything seems in order. Head to stores to start clearing out the excess items.

 

I note we have a lot of sonic pulsers, so 75 are sent to Outpost-1, since it's not very heavily armed.

 

The next day the MC Disrupter is ready for production. The scientists start work on the M.C. Generator right away - this is going to be a good addition to the bases.

 

Mag. Ion Armor production is temporarily halted to build three M.C. Disrupters. One for the garrison, one for the Triton, and one for Outpost-1.

 

Since Outpost-1 has two sub pens but no craft, a Barracuda is purchased. A Sonic Oscillator is commissioned at HQ for the new Barracuda as soon as the Disrupters are built.

 

Five new crew are hired for HQ. Before they arrive the troops on the Triton are reassigned, with mostly seamen and able seamen put on board with a couple of officers for support. My avatar seems to have recovered, so in he goes. Crew placement normally means he gets shoved to the back of the Triton - though with a tank and Triton being as full as it can be, he's he's placed in one of the two side spots immediately next to the tank.

 

geoscape_000.png

 

In time a Lobsterman Escort is spotted on a floating base attack mission. A Barracuda is launched to take it down. The dual sonic oscillators only knock the sub down, not vapourise it as I was hoping.

 

geoscape_002.png

 

As I wait for morning, another sub is spotted, a Tasoth escort on an alien resource raid. Another Barracuda takes to the waters. The escort flies into the Mediterranean and vanishes off sonar once it's past Italy. The barracuda only manages to do an hour of patrolling before it has to return home.

 

A clever idea just struck me. I'm shifting the top-most living quarters in Outpost 1 immediately to its right. A series of criss crossing long corridors would make the base much easier to defend. Also the new entry point into the sub pens will be ready in a day. I'll have to let the next commander isolate the airlock from the rest of the base.

 

Dawn arrives and Triton-1 heads out.

 

 

Tactical

 

Pre-equip phase, I go through the troops and see that Munty has been rather appropriately been given the token disrupter. He's got not skills worth mentioning at the moment but strength like a rock. I decide he's going to teach the Lobstermen the meaning of fear.

 

 

Turn 1

 

The Sonic Displacer heads out for a cursory glance of the surroundings. I probably should have given it a turn as the moment it rises, two shots fly over the top of the Triton and chip off some of its hit points. The displacer moves over to the edge of the Triton and spots a target, it then drops back down for the relative safety of the Triton's side. I don't have it return inside, as I use this opportunity to move aquanauts closer to the hatch.

 

tactical_000.png

 

With the initial survey aside, it looks like we've landed in plain seabed terrain with the occasional coral cluster and some junk that must've dropped off the side of a cargo ship. Now to check on the target.

 

tactical_001.png

 

Munty initiates a jam implant attack on the lobsterman. Though a misclick cause by a force of habit on my part results in the lobsterman getting controlled. Munty's only got 20 MC Strength at the moment, but it was a success. Quite the lucky first try!

 

tactical_002.png

 

It's a soldier. Since I wasn't going to control it, I mimic a panic attack and have it throw its weapon and turn left and right a few times and make it run south. In doing so another lobsterman is spotted to the north east of its (former) position. Munty starts projecting an image of a pot of boiling water to this lobsterman.

 

Annette Northcott, the one designated to stay behind in the Triton for emergency dustoff and also MC Reader operator, reports that Munty's spooking worked. The soldier lost a fifth of its morale.

 

Turn ends

 

A Lobsterman with a sonic rifle appears to the south of the 'panicked' lobsterman. Another one to its immediate west, in the darkness. Something out of the darkness hits it in the back. Another one (which I later note was viewed by the Displacer) is spotted wandering to the south.

 

Turn 2

 

tactical_003.png

 

The Displacer, still on seabed level, heads around the front of the Triton and spots our unarmed soldier. One tile further and it spots a Lobsterman to the south.

 

Norton Krumpet, walks outside, kneels and lands a direct snap onto the lobsterman with his sonic cannon.

 

Annette's analysis shows it's a Technician.

 

Jose Marillo does the same trick and kneels beside Norton and lands a snapshot with his Sonic Cannon. Klaus Unger does a standing aimed shot from just outside the hatch (to clear the displacer) and kills the technician.

 

tactical_004.png

 

Martin Thompson exits the Triton and floats up an elevation and spots a Lobsterman behind the unarmed soldier.

 

Annette doesn't have the time to scan it, so she tosses the reader over to Rudi Richter who determines it to be Munty's spooked soldier. It's out of time units and half of its energy. Since it seems safe, the Displacer moves out and does a quick loop back to where it started to scan the area ahead. No further contacts made.

 

Munty sends more fightening images to his target.

 

Turn ends. Sounds of doors.

 

Turn 3

 

The displacer floats up and relocates the frightened lobsterman. Before Rudi hands the reader back to Annette, he scan its and we see that it's nearly down to half its morale. Munty's next two implant jams don't do a thing to it.

 

tactical_005.png

 

Deciding they've toyed with it enough, Martin Thompson rises up and does a kneeling aimed shot with his Thermal Shok Bomb and knocks the lobsterman out. Two steps ahead, and the Displacer finds the unarmed soldier and the other one with the blasta rifle nearby.

 

Norton and Jose double team and take down the rifle lobsterman with two well placed aimed shots. The Displacer harms the unarmed lobsterman with a snapshot.

 

Nothing happens at the end of the turn.

 

Turn 4

 

Martin pulls out his GC-HE and finishes off the stunned soldier. Job well done, he repacks his Gas Cannon away and reloads his Thermal Shok launcher.

 

tactical_006.png

 

One tile ahead and the Displacer spots the unarmed lobsterman, it had moved a tile to the south. Munty sends images of butter and salt, twice to this lobsterman. Jose, then Norton fire aimed rounds into it, and end its life.

 

tactical_007.png

 

The Displacer scouts ahead a bit more and finds the crashed sub to the west of the Triton.

 

Various snipers are sent out to take positions above the Triton - I forget their names at this time. Munty, having had enough fun with the M.C. Disrupter, packs it away and will join the snipers in the next turn. He has to. With 86% standing aimed accuracy even with the MC Disrupter in the other hand, he's definitely going to lead the sniping.

 

Turn ends. Something causes the screen to flash just outside the enemy sub for a second.

 

Turn 5

 

tactical_008.png

 

Displacer and Annette identify a Lobsterman Technician. Munty takes position and has enough time to do a kneling 86% snap at the lobsterman. Uta Ulbricht's aimed shot lands four tiles too early. Jason Kemp slams it in the back. Louise Dreyfus knocks it unconscious. Martin Kemp kills it with his GC-HE.

 

tactical_009.png

 

Walkers Norton and Klaus, with floater Jose form a team and they start traveling south to start investigating the rest of the map.

 

Turn ends. Something causes the screen to briefly show the sunken boxes and a filing cabinet near the dead Technician we just dealt with.

 

Turn 6

 

tactical_010.png

 

The Displacer finds it and Annette is a little puzzled to see that it's a nearly dead Lobsterman soldier. No one remembers having attacking it at all.

 

Uta Ulbricht has a go at it and hits this time, killing the soldier.

 

Norton's team continue southwards.

 

Turn ends

 

A lobsterman walks out of the damaged hull of the alien sub.

 

Turn 7

 

tactical_011.png

 

It's a lobsterman soldier. Munty makes an impossible-to-miss 124% accurate aimed shot at the blighter. Jose takes a short break from providing elevated cover for Norton and Klaus and finishes off the lobsterman with an aimed shot.

 

geoscape_003.png

 

Mission ends, and with no redundant live technicians this time!

 

For the next commander.

 

GAME_1.zip

 

Note: Outpost 1's new choke point is almost ready. Just need to detach the old one.

 

- NKF

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Back in the bosses chair I spend the first day waiting for said module to finish in Outpost 1 and as soon as it completes I remove the old stores from the west side of the airlock. Reading back over NKF's feng shui instructions I've no idea if that was what needed to go as he mentions only living quarters but it moves the chokepoint anyway so it's good enough for me!

 

We soon spot a Lobbie Cruiser on a probing mission flying North through the Atlantic. HQ launches a single Barracuda to head it off near the base but it doesn't get far. The Transmission Resolver at Listener-1 completes mid interception but as always I don't do anything about it as I really don't have the first clue what we're doing with these bases... Irritatingly, the research finishes now too, further impeding the interception effort by HQ...

 

We can now build MC Generators and although they're not cheap (1.3million each) I decide it's worth investing in them as they'll help protect investments we've already made. I know HQ has been attacked already so it's probably a waste of money but we still have over 14million left so I built one there too! Scientists are allocated to research Alien Origins so we'll soon see where this buggers come from, but first...

 

The Barracuda is finally allowed to intercept the lobsterman cruiser and it easily knocks it down with 2 volleys of oscillation! Again my progress is hampered by popups as the Barracuda en-route to Outpost 1 finally arrives. I equip it with the only weapon available, 1 sonic oscillator... Feeling that 2 of them may be better I swap the techies at HQ onto production of another one which will take a mere 6 hours. It'll then need shipping to outpost-1 and equipping asap. I had to cancel mag ion armour production to free up space so that'll need reallocationg too.

 

Now onto the fight though (finally) I keep NKF's weapon loadout as it has cannons for everyone as well as an assortment of other weapons for those hard to reach places. The tank comes along and my avatar will once again lead the way. I notice that the letters by my name now splell 'MrP' which is quite cool but tragically I haven't got a single P in my name so it should really be 'MrT'!

 

I take along every ensign we have but 2, they will be making the coffee on our glorious return. I'm also pleased to see our friend Uma Hand is still with us as I haven't seen her fly any missions lately. It's nice to see a friendly face in the messhall once in a while though so we trade pleasantries and debate what the weather will be like on the surface. We decide it'll probably be raining...

 

I spoil the rookies and send 6 of them out in new suits of Mag.Ion armour. The 3 remaining non-swimmers look nervous when they're told they'll be at the front of the sub...

 

To add further to my delays, new troops arrive at HQ to help with the alien wake, now we can have sandwiches and little sausages on sticks too! The sonic oscillator is also finished in HQ now so I send it over to Outpost-1 where it will need equipping later. An attempt to renew armour manufacturing hits a brick wall as I realise the engineers threw out all of our Zrbite when I told them to cancel the last batch. Idiots...

 

Being virtually midnight when we shot down the Cruiser, we manage to wait until the midday sun is right on top of us before landing and everyone is amazed at how well the light carries through so many leagues of ocean... We land in a fairly featureless part of the seabed but I make a whoopsie in the inventory and don't equip anyone with MC readers (though I do give mini-me the disruptor) I'm unsure how well rookies will do with the readers anyway but it's always nice to know who you're about to kill!

 

Regardless, the tank is now sat on top of the extra equipment and although it's floating, noone has arms long enough to reach the readers. For that reason, the turn is ended immediately when we spot a lobbie in the dark.

Mission6_01.jpg

 

Things don't get any better in turn 2 as the tank now spots 3 contacts, one of which seems to be unmoved from last turn.

Mission6_02.jpg

 

There is one target with a blaster rifle ahead of them however so the displacer takes a shot. It hits with 2 out of 3 snap shots and the alien becomes unconscious. Pressing the advantage I have Munty get to panicking the 2 other contacts in the north.

 

On the next turn, one of the Lobbies from the North is running past our hatch so the tank again lays down some fire. I'm becoming increasingly frustrated that I left the readers on the floor... The Displacer hits twice but although the alien doesn't move it also doesn't die. We throw some more implant jams at the only visible foe with no results.

 

Next turn the alien is gone and another is visible (or invisible rather) in the darkness behind the sub. With a 2-tiered plan to both reveal the aliens AND allow access to the readers, the displacer creeps out of the hatch but immediately spots a lobbie by it's stunned comrade staring right at it...

Mission6_03.jpg

 

The tank refuses to move just one more square forward so I risk it and move it 2 so that Norton Krumpet and Jaime Bonal can grab the readers. A quick scan by Norton reveals the target staring at us is a nearly dead lobby with only 10 health left. Jaime spots another contact to the north after grabbing his new gear and tells us it's a soldier with 31TUs. We can't see the third alien but this one is looking away.

 

The Displacer takes one more snap shot at the alien in the east and a distinct moan carries through the still water as it crumples up beside it's still living friend. The tank retreats inside again to end the turn but no longer has a LoF on the other aliens so we end it there.

Mission6_04.jpg

 

In the alien move we hear a sub door opening but this turn the displacer doesn't spot any enemy units. It exits the craft and immediately spots a rifle wielding main course with it's back turned. Munty tries to panic the blighter but we don't scan it as it's almost certainly the soldier from last turn. The tank shoots it in the back, hitting once with 3 shots. That's all...

 

Anotehr turn, another door and the same alin in the same spot... With anotehr possible contact behind the craft I'm not ready to leave the tank outside so again it shoots from the safety of the hatch. It hits with the first shot and for the first time draws some reaction fire losing half it's HPs!

Mission6_05.jpg

 

Jaime gives it a cursory scan and it IS the soldier. It has one more reaction shot left by the looks of it but only 28 health left. Morale is down to 45 and accuracy is low so the tank takes another shot to finish the job and misses completely... Munty hits it twice more with implant jams and thankfully it panics in the alien turn, dropping it's weapon and running.

 

Knowing this foe poses no threat, the tank moves out of the Triton on the next turn and rises 2 levels to relocate the other contact in the north. It does after a little movement in that direction and Norton tells us it's another soldier wh's been running a lot lately. It has 45 TUs left but only 4 energy...

Mission6_06.jpg

 

The tank decides it's as good a target as any and hits it with the second snapshot, attracting return fire which misses. Mini-me hits it with some jams and a second scan show's it's down to just 13 TUs and 49 morale. Rodreigo Martinez moves to the hatch and spots the panicking Lobbie in the east but misses with a kneeling aimed shot.

 

In the alien turn, the northern soldier moves east but doesn't fire and a door opens again. The panicker has moved behind a low hill but is for some reason stood on a rock so the cover doesn't help him and Rodreigo shoots him in the head. It doesn't die so Louis Dreyfus moves up to assist and misses a standing aimed shot by miles. The tank relocates the northern soldier and kills it with a single snap but attracts the attention of another unseen foe, taking reaction fire but no damage.

Mission6_07.jpg

 

The tank moves further North but fails to locate his attacker. Then I realise that he's already spotted a new alien this turn which I failed to notice! It's in the east by the panicked Lobbie and it's packing... We jam it and take a reading which shows yet anotehr soldier on 66 health and low TUs. Not sure who hit this guy, maybe it was the wide shots from the troopers in the hatch? Either way we end the turn with at least 2 aliens who can fire at the disruptor...

Mission6_08.jpg

 

Thankfully all we get in the alien turn is another door opening and the only visible armed opponent moving towards the tank without so much as a single shot... Next turn the tank has a visual on it and the troops in the hatch can fire on it. Louis has a kneeling aimed shot of 67% so he takes a long shot and nails the swine! It's another stunned alien but that's better than a conscious gun-toting one!

Mission6_09.jpg

 

Rodreigo notches up a kill next by killing the panicked alien with the second of two snapshots. The rookies are most pleased with tehmselves! I realise now that the top of the enemy sub is visible to the north so the tank makes a beeline for it to survey the wreck. The other troopers begin to leave the craft and those with the ability to swim do so to form a firing line above the triton. We spot yet another soldier with a mysterious injury... It's stood by the USO doorway with it's back to the tank and is missing 20 health and all of it's energy.

Mission6_10.jpg

 

We give it a panic before ending the turn but it fires on the disruptor none the less! It misses and the tank returns fire with a direct hit. It fires again as the alien flees but narrowly misses, scarring the wall beside it's intended target. Creeping forward in X-Com's turn, we relocate the target but Louis, the only sniper in position with TUs, misses by miles. A scan reveals the same soldier with 57 health and no TUs so the tank takes it on. 2 direct hits extract a groan but leave the displacer stuck in view of the doors.

Mission6_11.jpg

 

This turn there are no doors and I decide to redirect the tank to the unexplored SE to find some targets for the snipers. The next 2 turns show the southeast as clear and reveal more aliens in the sub by way of renewed door-opening. More turns pass and the northeast is cleared but a cannon wielding foe is spotted near the USO as the displacer returns to the wreckage.

Mission6_12.jpg

 

The firing line is put to action and Carlos hammers home a 77% midair, kneeling aimed shot! A quick scan reveals a technician with 38 health and full TUs and energy remaining. He's a camper! Louis Drefus is next in line and his 67% finishes off the monster, scream and all!

Mission6_13.jpg

 

In the alien turn a door is heard opening so the displacer moves in to investigate. It soon regrets spending an alien turn right by the sub doors as it takes a sonic cannon blast right to the under armour. It doesn't fire back and is down to just 24 health... Not wanting to risk a repeat, it moves onto the sub roof and promptly spots an unarmed technician with full health and half it's TUs. It is promptly shot through the roof and handed some implant jams by my avatar and the tank ends the turn on the roof.

 

In the alien turn we spot one or possibly 2 aliens moving around inside the craft and the technician disappears. Moving slightly we spot him but after 2 direct hits he still has 60 health left so we flee back to the roof after dropping his morale to 30. Next turn the Displacer finally stuns it after twice hitting the roof... It's hit with a grenade in the enemy phase and drops to it's last 15 health.

Mission6_14.jpg

 

Moving slightly to get a view inside the USO, the tank spots 2 more enemies, one inside and another outside to the west of the UFO. The snipers open up and hits from Rudi, Louis and Carlos succeed in ending it's life. A scan of the remaining enemy reveals another Technician with 56 health and full TUs. We can't see a weapon as his back is turned but I have Munty try to drop his already low morale just a little more to ensure he's unarmed. Sadly it fails and he ends the turn on 53...

Mission6_15.jpg

 

As I turn the tank to move out of sight another Lobbie is spotted out front and he's very much armed! The snipers have all fired so we're limited on responses now. Uma Conway and Jaqueline Lecointe exit the craft but can't swim and don't make it into firing positions that turn. It's all down to the tank now and as a final scan reveals a full health soldier with 46 TUs it decides on a tactical withdrawal...

 

Frustratingly it's the presumed 'unarmed' foe inside that opens fire next turn and the Displacer loses another 3HP leaving only 12 more till failure! Unable to relocate either alien, the displacer sits on the roof and bides it's time but by turn 26 the doors still hadn't opened again... That meant they were both inside. The displacer drops off the west side of the USO to check out the interior while Uma and Jaqueline move to storm the front doors.

 

3 turns later the troops were in position by the doors and the tank had still not spotted any movement inside. We prepare to breach the downed wreck...

Mission6_16.jpg

 

The tank moves in first and immediately spots a cannon wielding lobbie looking right at the doors. We try to mess with his implants but the sucker has 82TUs and full health. The tank fires twice from the rear but misses and doesn't draw attention away from the door. Jaqueline decides enough is enough and throws open the doors! A quick snapshot ctaches the lobbie offguard but he soon fires back and hits her twice in the chest! She's unhurt and more determined than ever, killing the monster with a second snap shot!

Mission6_17.jpg

 

This reveals the last remaining alien which seems to be unarmed again but we know it isn't... Or is it? As I turn the tank to leave the sub and wait out the alien turn it spots anotehr Lobbie with a cannon. So perhaps the technician really IS unarmed! It would certainly explain how he had full TUs after the alien turn that saw a grenade thrown at me from that direction!

Mission6_18.jpg

 

Scans show a technician with a staggering 115 health and full stats! On the next turn, Uma and Jacqueline pull the old one, two and each pop into the craft and lay a snap shot on the unarmed alien. The tank has already determined neither one have moved and the second shot proves fatal to the monster.

Mission6_19.jpg

 

Victorious assault aside, I'm not about to sacrifice the tank against this beast left inside so I try some implant jams and leave it with 58 morale as the turn ends. Next turn it drops to 28 as the death of his last companion sinks in and he goes beserk in the following turn.

 

With the final foe all out of TUs, the tank enters and blasts away but 2 hits aren't enough to stop this monstrously tough crab. Instead it takes a woman's touch as Jaqueline enters to polish the swine off with an aimed shot.

Mission6_20.jpg

 

We end the mission on turn 32 with 8 kills, 4 stuns and no losses!

Mission6_21.jpg

 

Here is the game for the next commander;

GAME_1.zip

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  • 2 weeks later...

Geoscape part:

 

I started by selling extra corpses and stuff. Noticed that we have technicians idle and that we actually are very low on Zrbite, so we need to be conservative for a while...

 

Triton is reequiped, actually only the dyes are added to the mix, the rest is unchanged. Roster was also modified to exclude people on MC training. Barracuda 4 received its second sonic oscillator.

 

Barracudas 1 and 2 go on patrol around the US, since the Graph shows high alien activity in zones (probably related to the previous wave of downed USOs), but nothing comes up. Time passes, and Alien Origin research is completed. Research is started on a Lobsterman Navigator.

 

Then this shows up:

 

post-231-1304308009_thumb.png

 

I immediately send Barracuda 3 for interception, knowing that it won't survive if by any chance if the USO attacks. However, the alien vessel patrols twice in the eastern coast between Miami and New York, then flees and vanishes. Barracuda 1 is sent to the last known position but to no avail.

 

In the meantime, the scientists have successfully interrogated the navigator, giving the key to investigate the Ultimate Threat, which is started right away.

 

post-231-1304308021_thumb.png

 

Barracuda 3 is resent on patrol, and discovers a second alien base north of Canada:

 

post-231-1304308029_thumb.png

 

Just before it returns to base, another alien ship is detected, which is downed by Barracuda 1:

 

post-231-1304308040_thumb.png

 

Troops are alerted and Triton 1 is dispatched to salvage the remains of the USO.

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Tactical mission:

 

The tank starts scouting around, the first alien is detected almost immediately. Munty's MC abilities are put to the test, and his first attempt at MC is successful. The soldier starts looking around for his comrades, but a shot from the east takes it down. The tank goes into the general direction came from, triggering reaction fire but the shot misses. After a few more meters, the alien is spotted:

 

post-231-1304312061_thumb.pngpost-231-1304312039_thumb.png

 

Carlos Bonal throws a pulser, which lands on its left foot. The alien dies after the pulser goes off.

 

Another alien is spotted, and most of our troops have a bad angle for shooting or throwing pulsers at it, so the tank has a go in exchanging shots. After the turn ends, I consider myself lucky not to join the tankbusters club (for now anyways) as the tank has only 2 HP left. Charlie takes the alien with a snap shot after kneeling on the Triton's roof.

 

Another alien is immediately spotted afterwards by the tank, which is quickly dispatched by Norton. The tank discovers yet another alien, and retreats to avoid reaction fire during the alien's turn. Carlos Bonal shoots but misses, and Louis Dreyfus makes the kill. Rinse and repeat for the next alien!

 

post-231-1304312130_thumb.png

 

The troops slowly move outside of the protective dye cloud, and in doing so, Uma spots another one. She steps back, and then shoots at the alien, downing it. The tank resumes scouting, and discovers yet another camper (what's up with that, never seen so many gillmen on the second floor :P). Charlie takes it down.

 

The next turn is unevenful, and the troops expand their search area. Munty goes to a sniping position at a small natural peak on L3. A gillman is spotted hiding on the next turn, and Charlie continues improving his shooting skills, the alien biting the dust.

 

Another gillman is spotted hiding among the shadows near the entrance of the craft. Munty is the only one that has a relatively good angle, and has to move for a bit before he can make the shot. The alien's heart stops beating shortly afterwards. The tank attempts to move, but immediately discovers two more aliens who stand next to the last alien's corpse. Carlos kills one of them on the next turn, but the other one is lost for the moment.

 

Since the path to the alien's vessel seems to be clear, most of the troops make a run for it. An alien holding a thermal shock launcher is temporarily spotted inside of the USO. After dancing back and forth, the alien starts coming out of its hiding place, and Carlos seizes the opportunity to kill the alien. The thermal shock launcher alien is identified afterwards and Jaime Bonal (Carlos' brother?) downs it with his own termal shock launcher.

 

post-231-1304312160_thumb.png

 

Our troops manage to get a look at the interior, spotting 4 aliens at the same time! Munty MCs one to wreak some havoc, killing one alien, MCing another one, and apotting two more :-S (and I was thinking that we were almost done...). Jaime opens the craft's main door and stuns 3 more aliens. The last MCed alien kills the first one and disarms itself. Jaime kills it with a sonic pistol on the next turn. Billy wets his suit when a gillman with a DPL opens the door and almost shoots at him at point blank, but the alien goes hiding. He still kills the alien though, which turns out to be the last one.

 

post-231-1304312175_thumb.png

 

Mission successful, no casualties, no zrbite either:

 

post-231-1304312195_thumb.png

 

Savegame for the next commander:

 

GAME_1.zip

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Beacuse I feel good about playing TFTD I didn't do much in the geo. The next mission was just round the corner. Just sold some extra stuff and a load of sonic pulsers - we had like 170 - no one is going to use that much, so I sold 100 of them.

 

I also have shifted through our aquanauts personal files trying to match soldiers for the next mission. Not many changes were made to the team except equipment.

 

The mission I am refering to is another colony attack. Feeling that I did well last time and my plan worked well in the first turn I loaded 3 DPLs with 18 ammo (6 for each - screw pistols). Rest was assigned standard sonic cannon with 3 clips each and a sonic pulser. I have assured men that if they will follow exact orders they will be fine. So off we go then to the colony assault mission. Commanding officer for this mission is Munty, with second in command Tatyana D. (I think I will make her my avatar if she survives).

 

Triton lands in the SW corner of the map. Displacers moves on to survey the area. The report that was given didn't bode well. We were surrounded by 6 aliens from the get go.

 

post-7842-1304324261_thumb.png

 

Men had to act quickly. First Jamie took care of the nearest problem. Then Munty and Tatyana used their DPL to kill the two other humanoid aliens at the rear of the sub. On aliens turn the northen halucinoid acts crazy - he tries to charge the displacer but falls back and again and again.

post-7842-1304324599_thumb.png

 

Displacer then shoots at it and stuns it, the other halucinoid is killed. Men in a hurry exit the sub trying to clear LZ ASAP. On the SW corner Munty spots another halucinoid and Carlos takes care of him fast.

 

post-7842-1304324513_thumb.png post-7842-1304324584_thumb.png

 

Following to the north tank spots aquatoid with DPL and quickly kills it. Men slowly take position beacuse bombardment of colony command post will begin.

 

post-7842-1304324704_thumb.png

 

Following still north another halucinoid is being spoted and again Carlos takes care of it.

 

post-7842-1304324788_thumb.png

 

The bombardment of command post begun. Tatyana munty and Jacqueline lunch their torpedos. The result is almost total destruction of the upper floor and also a death of several tasoth, aquatoids and 2-3 tentaculats. Also a tasoth soldier paniced, who was later dealt by Louis D.

 

post-7842-1304324917_thumb.png

 

The bombardment continues more aliens die. Tank still follows north and spots a tasoth. Men fire and Jaime kills it.

post-7842-1304324991_thumb.png

 

Three turns of bombardment ought to annihilate all the high ranking aliens in the command post. The team tries to scout other corner of the colony. Going east team spots halucinoid which is stuned by Carlos. On the north tank scouts northen part of the colony. Beacuse I know there are some aliens Tatyana uses her DPL to blast any resistance in there. She kills tentaculat in the process but the tasoth that was there too avoids death, but again Carlos puts his marksmenship to test and kills it.

 

post-7842-1304325235_thumb.png post-7842-1304325239_thumb.png post-7842-1304325244_thumb.png

 

Entering the interior of the colony Norton spots tasoth and kills it swiftly. On the north side displacer spots another tassoth. At least 6 men shoot at it and finally Bill kills it.

 

post-7842-1304325431_thumb.png post-7842-1304325435_thumb.png

 

Next turns all seem quiet but suddenly 3(!) Tentaculats attack displacer. My hear beat rised suddenly and I squeezed my teeth in a hope that it will survive.

 

Praise the lord nothing has happend to it. So I sayed - GOOD BYE you bastards. The tank went "up" and Tatyana used her doomsday device - bang - dead buggers.

 

post-7842-1304325663_thumb.png post-7842-1304325668_thumb.png

 

Scouting the interior of the base Norton spots aquatoid and again he proves he is the man. Dead alien. While other following east spot another tassoth and Jamie kills it outright.

 

post-7842-1304325758_thumb.png post-7842-1304325762_thumb.png

 

Another tassoth was spoted on the ground floor in the northen corridor. Jacqueline used her DPL but the torpedo missed its waypoint somehow and didn't descend like it should (or I ordered the waypoints incorrectly). The result was that torpedo hit some tassoth on the upper floor but the blast rendered Norton unconcious. So I have ordered the nearest aquanaut to race and try to revive him. Correcting the mistake Tatyana used her DPL correctly this time, killing the tassoth and a tentabastard that was behind him

 

post-7842-1304325995_thumb.png

 

On the eastern side displacer spots another halucinoid and Bill delivers the killing blow. Following further south displacer spots aquatoid and kills him with well placed snap shot.

 

post-7842-1304326079_thumb.png post-7842-1304326083_thumb.png

 

Norton has been revived - 5 HP left - 1 critical wound to the head. That was too close.

 

post-7842-1304326232_thumb.png

 

Next turn gave me almost a heart attack. Jaqueline with DPL was mind controlled - fortunetly her luncher was not loaded and aliens didn't try to move her. I then again raced men to find the missing bastard. Tank spots tassoth on the eastern edge behind some kind of tower and kills it. Louis finds his target too and kills it. Munty used his DPL to destroy the ground floor of the northern watchpost killing tentaculat. Also I have ordered someone to prime the nade to kill the stuned halucinoid. This made him to panic and I knew where he was at, killing him instantly thus proceeding to the next part.

 

post-7842-1304326510_thumb.png post-7842-1304326513_thumb.png post-7842-1304326516_thumb.png

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Second phase of the colony wasn't that tense, beacuse I had strict set of goals.

 

Step 1. Locate synonium device

Step 2. Blow it to hell

Step 3. Find Zerbite

Step 4. Get out.

 

Step 1,2,3 was actualy done in first turn. Munty and Jacqueline were actualy standing near it. Actualy one of the exits was in the vicinity of the main HQ of the colony. A well placed DPL destroyed it fast. Also I took the plesure of sending additional torpedos to kill some lobsters that could be there - 1 was killed.

 

The only problem was that Jame was in very hot zone. On the east side tentaculat, above him tentaculat, on the west side lobsters and tentaculats. Plus second exit zone was guraded by two tentaculats which were disposed by Tatyana

 

post-7842-1304329650_thumb.png

 

Rodreigo and Louis grabed zerbite and we high tailed from the colony.

 

post-7842-1304329941_thumb.png post-7842-1304329945_thumb.png

 

 

post-7842-1304329948_thumb.png

 

This was a very succesfull and swift colony assault - due to her bravery I have renamed Tatyana to be called Jade - and she in now my personal avatar.

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Ok so jumping into the hotseat I speed right onto the first event which just so happens to be payday! Pretty good news as most countries are pleased with our work but sadly we lost the USA this month so funding takes an overall hit of -22k

Mission7_01.jpg

 

Immediately following this I'm left to allocate MC training but I have no idea who to put on and who to leave off so I just stuck all 60 of our troops on the program. It's free right? Who cares...

 

We speed on a little longer and spot a small cruiser travelling East from the states to scout the EU for a surface mission so my guess would be a port attack in the near future. The Barracuda from HQ quickly loses the target over Western Europe and patrols for some time before relocating the same craft just as it run out of fuel. It returns to base and is immediately replaced with HQs other craft which makes it all the way to Scandinavia before being told we can't engage over land (even though sonic weapons work just fine over land) and then it too runs out of fuel.

 

As it returns to base, it spots another landed craft in the UK and the Triton is sent to investigate. On arrival an additional sub is spotted flying west, probably the same one that just eluded us twice... That will be a job for someone else however as we land at the touched down sub just as night falls.

 

We've landed in the Southeast of the map and light is not great. Hopefully we won't pay for it later, for now only the tank is sent to brave a possibly hot LZ...

Mission7_02.jpg

 

There's not a peep in the first alien turn and so the displacer pushes bravely forward, the USO it's primary target. Meanwhile Louis, Carlos and Jaime form a sniping line above the Triton in the event that any hostiles should reveal themselves. The displacer spots the sub at the end of it's move and a door is heard opening in the alien turn.

 

In the next turn, the tank moves right up to the front door and the alien turn reveals a gillman holding a rifle. I should probably have known that already but I didn't check the popup for race. Not important now and it's a nice easy foe :)

 

Next turn the displacer moves away from the sub and scours the northeast region of the map for any alien activity but none is found and thus 1/3 of the map is essentially clear. With the terrain consisting mainly of large rock formations, I know the snipers will have a hard time engaging any enemy units so they move slowly east on the third level. Munty, Uma and Jacqueline take their old spots above the Triton as a rearguard.

 

A misclick last turn sent one of the snipers north instead of west so this turn they return to the original plan and move west again. In the alien turn there was just the familiar sound of an opening door. Still no shots fired or additional sightings. Seems very quiet for a landed sub...

 

By turn 9 there is still no movement, the first team of snipers has set up south of the sub entrance and almost all of the map has been cleared. Of course poor light doesn't rule out the possibility that we've missed some and the door opening could be early warning of a flanker but still it's odd that it's so quiet at a landed USO site...

 

By turn 10 things are getting so boring I simply have the tank charge the only remaining shadow on the map. Unsurprisingly there's noone there so both sniper teams begin to converge on the sub when disaster strikes! I seem to have mistaken my foe as Gillmen can't do what comes next and Carlos bonal (the sharpshooter!) goes under alien control next turn! He immediately turns his weapon on a nearby friendly and a single shot proves fatal to Jaime!

Mission7_03.jpg

 

Carlos' remaining teammate, Louis, retreats to cover just in case and the tank makes a beeline for the hatch hoping to find some hostiles for target practice. It's in luck and as it moves over the top of the sub it finds reaction fire twice without any damage. A few tiles later and we spot a Tasoth with a sonic cannon.

Mission7_04.jpg

 

With utter disdain for his foe, Munty bypasses implant jams and quickly seizes control of this soldiers weak mind. Good thing too as it has full TUs which means he's not alone down here... A quick search of the area is fruitless as we fail to discover another alien who we can hold responsible for attacking the tank. The soldier is forced to open the front hatch of the sub and quickly dispatches a friendly unit inside before fleeing the scene of his transgression.

Mission7_05.jpg

 

In the alien turn, another Tasoth emerges from inside the craft and fires on their former friend but it stays standing. Carlos is assaulted again this turn but only panics. Sadly he keeps hold of his weapons so the remaining troopers don't move in to comfort their tortured friend. The soldier falls to X-Com's side once again this turn and provides a quick scout of the alien craft before finally losing his marbles and throwing his gun at an ally.

Mission7_06.jpg

 

In the next alien turn, the Tasoth Soldiers act of redemption doesn't save him as another cannon wielding trooper callously guns down the unarmed alien. It serves as a lesson to the remaining aliens that weakness will not be tolerated and no more molecular control will be possible in this mission. Carlos is under alien control again this turn and the snipers are getting way too close to his position but thankfully he does nothing at all with his TUs.

 

The Displacer moves right up to the USO lobby this turn and wedges itself in the doorway for some reaction fire. Sadly 2 tasoths walk right by it in the alien turn with no shots fired but at least the same is true of the aliens who also failed to engage! Carlos is attacked again with another panic leaving a tight grip still on his cannon. No aliens remain in the lobby on our next turn so the tank reopens the jammed door and holds position while the 3 eastern snipers move onto the roof to provide cover shortly.

 

We finally have a successful alien turn now as a Tasoth emerges from the UFO and fires right past the displacer to hit Carlos! He's injured pretty badly but he'll live and the best part is he panics next turn and finally drops his weapon! Meanwhile the displacer returns fire on his assailant and knocks it clean out while a further Tasoth opens fire on it from the east wing through an open door. No damage is done...

 

Our next turn sees 4 Tasoths down for the loss of one trooper but once again there are no sightings in the lobby. All four remaining snipers move onto the sub roof now, with Carlos no longer an issue, and they begin discussing a forced entry into the sub. Noone really approves...

 

Next turn sees Uma and Jacqueline move into the back of the lobby whilst quietly soiling themselves. The tank holds position outside and everyone hopes that it doesn't miss with it's reaction fire.

Mission7_07.jpg

 

In another interesting alien turn, an unarmed Tasoth and a cannon-wielding one walked right by our troops and noone fired a single shot. Everyone is though, still alive. A plus point following any alien movements! With nothing left to do but storm the wings, Uma breaks west first in pursuit of the unarmed foe. It's spotted just inside the door and pulverised with a point blank snap shot, just allowing TUs to retreat. Now it's Jacqueline's turn to pursue the armed foe and as soon as the door opens she spots it. Well, she spots one, it's weapon isn't visible so this could be a new one...

Mission7_08.jpg

 

Jacqueline takes it on with a snap shot and it falls in a heap. As she retreats, the tank moves into the front of the lobby and spots another Tasoth which is most likely the one seen last turn. It lets off a snap shot which hits home but doesn't kill the cannon-toting foe. It does however reveal yet another alien in the back of this wing!

Mission7_09.jpg

 

Another snapshot kills the armed Tasoth and the unarmed one in the rear doesn't react. Munty hits it with some implant jams to mess with it's morale even further (he's lost 3 friends this turn!) and the soldier panics next turn. Before this a Tasoth armed with a rifle takes a shot at the tank but no other activity occurs on the alien turn.

 

Uma once again breaks west this turn but finds noone to shoot. Jacqueline finds two however, the panicked soldier and the rifled other. The other is knocked unconscious but there aren't enough TUs to engage the remaining foe so the troops fall back to end the turn. First though, the displacer has a score to settle and it takes out the last visible foe with it's first snapshot.

Mission7_10.jpg

 

It seems that this was our last enemy and the level ends with one loss! Poor Jaime, and after escaping the colony against all odds too... Still victory is victory and this was a victory :P

Mission7_11.jpg

 

Here's the game for the next commander! Good luck!

GAME_1.zip

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Workshop completed at Outpost 1. Why does Outpost 1 need a workshop? Ah well, I ordered 30 techs to be sent out there, which along with the 20 soldiers already stationed, maxes out the current personal capacity there.

 

The workshop space at HQ was unused, so I set them to make some more medkits (running a bit low, for whatever reason). I re-organised the Triton, which involved selling a ton of stuff as our stores were overflowing (solid harpoon bolts? What've we still got those for?). Also transferred a ton of cannons/clips to Outpost 1, as they didn't have much in the way of "real" weapons over there.

 

I noticed HQ only had 80 engineers. Sure, it's a waste, but I brought it up to an even hundred and also hired another 10 troops, maxing out personal capacity there too. We've only got $20mill, so it was tough making all these frugal decisions...

 

Research into the "Ultimate Threat" completed, and the scientists went to work on the next Lobsterman Commander.

 

A Lobsterman Cruiser showed up and sunk like a rock when a Barracuda caught up to it. It was dusk, so I allowed the clock to tick around to dawn, during which time medkit production completed. I ordered tons and tons of mag nav armour.

 

Mission begun, with yet another rookie crew. Munty was the only ranked officer, brought along for the MC training - interestingly, the game again automatically assigned him the Disruptor. Hmm. I wonder if it does this if the most potent MC user hasn't gone through training yet? Probably not, but if it does, there'd be quite an obvious exploit there.

 

Anyway, Volcanic terrain, Triton to the east, Cruiser to the west. Sonic Displacer flew around the map and aliens got sniped like crazy, while Munty burned off Implant Jams aplenty.

 

I sorta get the impression there's an unofficial boycott on actual mind control usage here? Normally I wouldn't bother with panic attacks at all, but at this stage of the game (and in this sort of terrain) the aliens have no hope regardless as to what the Disrupter is used for.

 

This unfortunate Technician (I brought along the MC Readers) was first spotted right next to the dropship. Injured on the first turn, he fled towards the NW, and it wasn't until the tank flew all the way up to the corner that he was eventually gunned down:

 

tftdmulti_bbturn08_01.png

 

I probably should've scouted to the north a bit more thoroughly before sending the tank for a lap around the map, as two aliens appeared there. One shot a Yuri Bulakov, who took in two fatal wounds as a result. Quickly patched up and the perpetrators dealt with.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn08_02.png

 

The Cruiser itself was in a sorry state, with quite a large hole blown in the side. Note the LOS glitch that makes it possible to see the alien in the entrance area without actually opening the door. Triggered entirely by accident here, honest! Didn't stop me blasting it with panic attacks, though.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn08_03.pngtftdmulti_bbturn08_04.png

 

Next turn it'd moved, so I opened the door and used yet more panic attacks. The tank flew upwards out of the way, next turn the alien berserked, leaving it a sitting duck.

 

Thinking it to be the last target, I ended turn, only to have another alien in the ship throw a grenade at the tank. It did a massive 3hp worth of damage.

 

For whatever reason, the alien in concern didn't have a gun, so it crawled around pitifully for a turn or two before the tank finished it off.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn08_05.png

 

Due to recent recruitments, there was room to promote Jade to Commander rank. Munty also achieved a MC skill boost of six (the maximum), bringing him up to 45 thus far.

 

tftdmulti_bbturn08_06.pngtftdmulti_bbturn08_07.png

 

GAME_1.rar

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Geoscape Segment

 

Music tonight was silence during play, though I did play The Invasion of the Gabber Robots' "All your Bass are Belong to Us" at the end.

 

I go through the usual housekeeping ritual and scan through stores, research, etc. I don't sell too much stuff.

 

geoscape_000.png

 

After organising troops in the Triton and rearranging the equipment, I construct a new base in Pacific ocean and immediately place a new sub-pen, a transmission resolver and living quarters in this base. Stores to be built off the quarters once that's finished.

 

The idea is to ship one of the Barracudas from HQ to this base once we are ready to build the Leviathan.

 

On second thought, I place a MC Generator at Guardpost as well. It'll take well over a month to complete so may as well build it early.

 

A few hours later the scientists are quite excited and propose two new projects, one that'll get us a new super-advanced-do-everything submarine, and the other will point us to where the aliens are coming from. Can't put the cart before the horse, so I go for the cart and have them start on "The Latest Flying Sub".

 

geoscape_001.png

 

A few more hours later we spot a Gillman Dreadnought on an alien interdiction mission to the North Atlantic. I'm not going to attempt interception on this behemoth and instead tail it with the HQ Triton.

 

My Gas Cannon replacement still hasn't arrived, which worries me - I was going to pair that up with the Thermal Shok launcher. Oh well, I'll just substitute with the sonic pulsers for now.

 

geoscape_002.png

 

While tailing the Dreadnought, a Lobsterman Cruiser on a floating base attack recon mission is spotted. HQ's Barracudas scramble for this ship. On contact, the Barracuda pilot complains that the enemy sub is too deep for it and proceeds to head home. I order the pilot to get back to work and patrol the area until the enemy sub changes depths.

 

Once the Lobsterman sub is in shallow waters I heave the Barracuda resume its attack and the sub is knocked down.

 

Meanwhile the Triton is failing to keep up with the Dreadnought over Alaska. The Dreadnought seems to touch down on solid ground, and moments later the Triton loses contact with it. Shortly after I let the Triton go to the sub's last known coordinates, another enemy sub pops up.

 

geoscape_003.png

 

It's a lobsterman survey ship on an interdiction mission. It's too far away for any interceptor subs to deal with it, and it eventually vanishes over Africa.

 

geoscape_004.png

 

The very minute the Triton relocates the Dreadnought, a Tasoth Survey Ship is spotted in the Pacific, heading for the Carribean for an Alien Probe Mission. Rather than go out of my way to greet it, I decide it would be best to wait until it got closer to HQ.

 

The Tasoth ship vanishes near the new outpost, no doubt it'll pop up again soon, so I'll leave it up to the next commander to deal with. As it's currently daylight around the Dreadnought, I have the Triton touch down.

 

And away we go!

 

Tactical Segment:

 

Munty gets the Disrupter again - though probably because he's the first troop in the list with any training to qualify using the device.

 

Some equipment is shuffled about, and one of the more more promising high MC Strength candidates is given the DPL Launcher. I expect there'll be some MC attacks to contend with in the form of a Gillman Commander.

 

Turn 1

 

Triton's touched down in the south-eastern corner of the map. Can't see much from this vantage point. Turn is ended with only Stefan Zander priming a sonic pulser.

 

Turn 2

 

tactical_000.png

 

The displacer goes out for a quick look around. It first looks left and right, then rises up to start heading over the top of the Triton. Before it can do this it verifies two targets in the darkness on the other side of the Triton.

 

Scans show both are Gillman soldiers. One can't do anything, the other hasn't moved.

 

I considered deploying the DPL Launcher for this pair, but as I only stocked 5 torpedoes for it, I think I better save it for more important matters.

 

How fortuitous that I had Stefan prime a Sonic pulser beforehand!

 

tactical_001.png

 

While I'm pretty sure Stefan did a clear toss over the Triton, I can't see the tell-tale item dot on the target in the overhead map. There aren't any stray pulsers left on the floor in the Triton so I'm fairly sure it has landed where it should have.

 

I leave the Displacer just outside the door, and then get Munty to play mind games on one of the soldiers. He then hands his disrupter to Lyudmilla, our other promising high MC aquanaut, who will be the primary disrupter user this mission to hone her skills (with Munty as backup in case we need something stronger).

 

Gunter Unger primes a pulser.

 

Turn ends.

 

The very natural conclusion of both Gillmen being killed is reached when the pulser explodes.

 

Door noises.

 

Turn 3

 

tactical_002.png

 

The Displacer rises up over the Triton and is immediately attacked with a Thermal Shok Bomb. Once the slushy crystalline ice around it clears, it spots two more targets in the darkness at the rim of the explosion.

 

Annette Garnier reports one's a nearly exhausted soldier, and the other soldier appears to have been very badly roughed up by the blast.

 

Gunter steps outside and lobs his pulser over the Triton. Lyudmila jams some implants.

 

Munty, who has incredible accuracy levels and generally doesn't need to bother with grenades primes one anyway.

 

Turn ends

 

I don't think there's much left of the two Gillman soldiers once the pulser is done with them.

 

Turn 4

 

tactical_003.png

 

The Displacer spots a directionally challenged and oversized nautilus in the darkness. While it can't see the terrain, the Xarquid is fully visible.

 

tactical_004.png

 

Rather than waste the Displacer on the Xarquid, it edges forward to survey the terrain. It spots another Gillman on the other side of the Triton, looking away and carrying something big in its hand - presumably a thermal shok launcher. Where they scrambling to get to the Triton I wonder?

 

Gunter Unger floats above the hatch and fires on the Xarquid but misses. Munty walks outside and lobs his pulser with considerable ease clear across the Triton, the displacer and lands it underneath the Xarquid.

 

tactical_005.png

 

Lyudmila tries to control the Gillman soldier and is very lucky to succeed on her first attempt. The Gillman soldier spots another Xarquid in the distance and fires its Thermal Shok Launcher at it, taking it out instantly.

 

Three other random aquanauts are selected to go out and join Munty and Gunter.

 

Turn ends.

 

Munty's grenade kills the Xarquid instantly.

 

A thermal shok launcher is fired across the bow and fails to hit anything. A Xarquid appears out of the darkness and misses the Displacer. Another Xarquid further along kills the controlled Gillman.

 

Turn 5

tactical_006.png

 

Thermal-Shok-man is a soldier and can't react, and one of the two Xarquids spotted during the enemy turn is off to the south-south-east.

 

Stefan Zander and Gunter Unger raise over the top of the Triton. Stefan wipes out the Xarquid with a single Thermal Shok Bomb and Gunter does a kneeling aimed shot with his Sonic Cannon and kills the soldier instantly.

 

tactical_007.png

 

The other Xarquid is seen by the Dreadnaught. Boris Gakanovich takes aim and Munty does a shot from the hip. Both shots strike it in the tentacles and it falls silently.

 

tactical_008.png

 

The Displacer then spots something very dangerous behind the stunned Xarquid. Astra Kurkenko does a wide shot that misses the Gillman entirely.

 

Since I figure one PWT Torpedo for 5, I step Gerhard Gunkel out of the Triton and he sends a torpedo its way. This not only kills the Gillman, but also the stunned Xarquid.

 

Turn ends

 

A thermal shok bomb flies underneath the Displacer from the direction of the Dreadnaught, but hits nothing.

 

Turn 6

 

tactical_009.png

 

The shot came from inside the Dreadnaught, from one of the balconies. Since the gillman is only carrying a shok launcher, it's not a threat to the Displacer. Lyudmila has some fun jamming its implant. Gerhard Ulbricht (Who now's taken over from Christel as the MC Reader user) confirms that Lyudmila's two implant jams really did a number on this Gillman.

 

tactical_010.png

 

While all this fun is being had, Stefan Zander reports a Gillman with a Sonic Cannon just near where the first Xarquid was spotted.

 

Boris Gakanovitch misses. Gunter Unger scrapes the seabed next to the Gillman but it is otherwise undamaged. Stefan Zander reloads his Thermal Shock Launcher and fires an Aimed shot at the Gillman, knocking it out cold.

 

Annette Garnier and Karin Hafner are sent out of the Triton to bolster the floating sniper team.

 

The Displacer is sent northward to scout the area - not worried about the Gillman in the Dreadnought balcony at this stage.

 

Turn ends.

 

A thermal Shok Launcher is heard being fired. Where-ever it ended up, no one saw it. No explosion either.

 

Turn 7

 

The Displacer continues its survey of the North-Eastern corner of the map. The Gillman in the balcony is still seen there - Lyudmilla has more fun messing with it.

 

Since the troops floating above the Triton are in veritable shambles, I get them better organised so that they don't end up shooting each other in the back. First person to move is Gunter Unger, and he sees a Xarquid. (I failed to take a picture of it - but imagine one just beside the first Xarquid I spotted in the mission)

 

Hang on, did this one wake up? No, Gerhard Ulbricht confirms it's a new one. No stun damage or physical damage to it. Can't fight back either.

 

Annette fires on it and the sonic blasta rifle round seems to head for the Xarquid's centre. Annette is suddenly puzzled as the bullet continues right through it without stopping.

 

Not wanting to waste time, Stefan Zander reloads his thermal Shok launcher and scores a one-shot on the Xarquid, taking it out of the battle. This man's on a roll!

 

Turn ends

 

Another Shok bomb is heard being fired, but no visual.

 

Turn 8

 

Team around the Triton slowly start spreading out while the Displacer is on its return trip from the survey of the north-eastern corner of the map.

 

Turn ends

 

The Gillman with the shok launcher, or it doesn't seem to have it now, walks about behind its window, but not much else happens besides lots of doors opening and closing.

 

Turn 9 ~ 10

 

The team spreads out slowly some more. The Displacer checks the window and can't spot anything. It then heads north to survey the area along the far end of the Dreadnought and northern edge of the map.

 

Turn 11

 

tactical_011.png

 

Not a lot to look at behind the Dreadnought, but at the lost moment the Displacer spots a Gillman soldier in the balcony on that side of the sub. Lyudmila tries to help the displacer but can't control the Gillman. The soldier can't shoot back, but rather than put the Displacer at risk, it has just enough time to pull off to the side out of the Gillman's view.

 

Our large entourage of ground forces (consisting entirely of Annette) as well as the floating team of aquanauts around the Triton expand some more.

 

Turn 12

 

The Gillman the Displacer saw doesn't seem to be carrying any weapons this time. The Displacer tries to attack it but just can't seem hit. It gets out of sight.

 

Turn 13

 

The Gillman has now vanished. The Displacer resumes its survey of the back of the Dreadnought (and north-western corner of the map). Not finding anything exciting, it heads to the top of the Dreadnought to do a trek across the roof to rejoin the other aquanauts. There's no room for it to travel around the Dreadnought.

 

Turns 14 ~ 21

 

Just general scouting of the map to look for stragglers, and to get the Dreadnought surrounded. Part of me has forgotten where all the lower entrances were.

 

tactical_012.png

 

When I do locate them, the Displacer can't get through the narrow paths to them. Seems like we're in for some ground combat - everyone ends up touching down on the seabed and make for the two main entrances.

 

At the end of turn 21, the Gillman Commander, and there's no doubt it's a commander, starts playing MC tricks on Astra Kurkenko. She goes berserk and luckily fires away from her comrades.

 

Turn 22

 

tactical_013.png

 

The aquanauts breach the lower levels of the Dreadnaught. Annete walks past Astra and sees a disarmed Gillman in a lift along one of the four corners of the lower lobby. It may be disarmed, but could still have a pulser. Annette dispatches it with a single shot to the elbow with her Blasta Rifle.

 

Meanwhile outside Munty, Lyudmila and the Displacer gather along one edge of the sub, waiting for a torpedo from Gerhard to make them a top-side entrance.

 

Turn ends

 

Astra Kurkenko falls to mind control and trudges into the Dreadnought. However, instead of attacking her allies at point blank range, she seems to miss them entirely and walks around the corner into the central lift.

 

Turn 23

 

tactical_014.png

 

Stefan, Boris and Gunter quickly rush to their nearest lifts at the corners of the sub and stand in them to block any traffic coming up or down. Annette meanwhile spots her mind controlled friend in the main lift. She can't do anything about it so runs back around the corner to safety.

 

Back at the sub, Gerhard sends a PWT Torpedo into the hull of the Dreadnought but only manages to create a tiny entrance. That should be sufficient for Lyudmilla to take a quick peek inside.

 

Turn ends

 

Astra is controlled again. Now the Commander is setting its sights on Karin.

 

Turn 24

 

Karin didn't succumb to the attack, but well over half her morale gone, she gets ready to (manually) drop her weapon. Annette is shot in the side and killed by her comrade when she goes to have a look around the corner of the main lift.

 

Stefan, Gunter and Boris ride up their lifts to check what look like empty rooms what with them being filled with a couple of the blue globe doohickeys. They are otherwise dead ends, but are useful hiding places to keep them well and truly protected from their mind controlled comrade.

 

Turn ends.

 

Astra is controlled again - this time two attempts were required so the second round isn't wasted on Karin.

 

Turn 25

 

Stefan Zander drops down his lift and fires a thermal shok round in the general direction of where Astra was last seen, then he rides back up the lift. It wasn't enough to knock out the aquanaut but it should help take her out of the picture if we can get a second round in later. This never eventuates, but was worth a try.

 

Karin flees for the safety of the northern Ion Beam Accelerator room and is nearly shot in the back by Astra. She makes it through the door and drops her cannon again.

 

Gerhard launches a torpedo from the Triton and takes out a reasonably good chunk of the side of the Dreadnought this time, which even the Displacer can fit into.

 

Turn ends

 

Astra is controlled again and chases after Karin, but doesn't fire.

 

Turn 26

 

I have Karin pick up her weapon and flee as far as she can and drop her weapon again. We need to find that commander soon - this is getting dangerous.

 

tactical_015.png

 

The Displacer goes deep into the top-most level of Dreadnought as far as I can send it. It doesn't find the commander, just dead ends.

 

Turn ends and Astra gets controlled again. Karin is also attacked with an implant jam, but there's no noticeable effect. Astra resumes hunting Karin but all she does is slink in and out of view and doesn't attack.

 

Turn 27

 

Karin can't see her stalker. She drops anything that might be used against her allies, rushes to the nearest lift, where Gunter is, rides up and gets into the room while Gunter plugs the lift. She should be safe now.

 

tactical_016.png

 

Lyudmila finds a Gillman soldier in the room beyond. Seems to be unarmed. She can't attack at this stage. She steps aside while Munty gets in and points his cannon in the general direction of the door.

 

I need not say what happens to Astra at the end of the turn.

 

Turn 28

 

Lyudmila tries to control the Gillman she spotted in the room beyond, but fails.

 

tactical_017.png

 

Meanwhile the Displacer manually widens a doorway and while it can't do anything further, I discover a neat bug. It can't seem to open doors, but I can get it to make the door opening noise every time I try to open it.

 

Turn ends

 

Astra is controlled and the next attack on Karin causes her to panic. Luckily she's panicking in a secure environment, and not carrying any harmful objects.

 

Turn 29

 

I find the Displacer really can't get through most of the narrow angled passages in the Dreadnought. Instead of going along the outer edge, it cuts through an interior door.

 

Lyudmila tries to shoot the Gillman soldier at short range - and misses. Munty finishes the job for her instead.

 

Turn ends, Astra controlled, Karin gets Jammed.

 

Turn 30

 

tactical_018.png

 

The Displacer finds a squad leader as it's turning the bend of one of the inner passageways. That shok launcher on the floor by the shopping-till-shaped thingy looks interesting. The Displacer introduces the Squad Leader to some terminal rock music.

 

Turn ends

 

Astra is controlled, and now fed up with Karin, the commander sets its sights on her companion, Gunter. Karin panics.

 

Turn 31

 

Gunter's morale been sliced in half in one attack! 60% gone to be precise. Gunter immediately drops all his weapons - then decides to hang on to his medikit.

 

tactical_019.png

 

The Displacer finally finds the blasted commander! That shok launcher must've been his. Rather than kill the commander, we want to try and get Astra back before taking it out. Not sure if it's the last alien, but still better not leave the mission with anyone MIA.

 

For this task Lyudmila hands the Disrupter to Munty. He can't attack this turn as the two of them had spent most of their time exploring the small chamber with the gillman they killed most recently.

 

Turn ends.

 

Even though he's got an underwater tank nearly crushing him, the Gillman commander is persistent and controls Astra and tries to break Gunter's spirit.

 

Turn 32

 

Munty starts messing with the commander's head. After two implant jams, he completely obliterates every shred of the commander's will, leaving it with 0 morale.

 

Turn ends. A technician and the commander panics.

 

Free from her mind control, Astra panics.

 

Turn 33

 

The displacer slays the commander with a point blank round.

 

tactical_020.png

 

Wait, there's more. Lyudmila opens the door to the next room to find a Gillman soldier - with no TUs to react. Lyudmila gets her first kill of the day - she couldn't possibly miss it.

 

Turn ends. The technician goes berserk, and not having a weapon, starts beating its head against a wall. At least that's what I'd like to think it did, not being able to see it and all.

 

Astra Panics.

 

Turn 34

 

Gunter grabs his weapon, and with medikit in the other hand goes downstairs and gives Astra a painkiller. With her morale above 50, she should calm down. Karin goes and gets her weapon from downstairs as well.

 

Boris and Stefan drop from their hidey holes and proceed to secure the central lift. Stefan picks up a dead Gillman's Sonic Cannon along the way since he's down to his last shok bomb.

 

The Displacer tries to make another wide door but is unsuccessful this time.

 

Turn ends, a Gillman soldier is reported going berserk.

 

Turn 35

 

Stefan switches his newly pilfered Sonic Cannon with the late Annette's Blasta Rifle, as it's a friendlier indoor weapon. He also discards his trusty Thermal Shok Launcher, as it's an even less kind indoor weapon when fighting in cramped quarters.

 

tactical_021.png

 

With Astra calmed down, I have her investigate the north-western spoke that was denied to to us while she was working for the other side. There's a disrupter pulse launcher lying in one corner, so there may be someone there.

 

Gunter meanwhile has a better look in the Ion Beam Accelerator room to the north and whoops with delight as he notices one of the machines has a zrbite crystal in it.

 

Karin, Boris and Stefan converge on the main lift.

 

The tank tries to widen the door again. This time it damages a wall, but not the one it wanted blown down. Trying to select which wall to shoot when a tile has both a west and north wall does get tricky.

 

Turn ends.

 

Lyudmila, her reactions much better than Munty's (though her accuracy could use a bit of work), slays a Gillman that pops its head around the corner she was watching.

 

Turn 36

 

tactical_022.png

 

There it is. Lyudmila and Munty take better positions to watch for any traffic coming around the bend but don't progress any further.

 

Trying a different approach, the displacer realigns itself and tries widening the door one more time. Again, the bullets seem to be hitting the wall it had destroyed earlier. It decides to give up and try something different and heads over for the door on the other side of the room.

 

Astra meanwhile checks the room above the lift, and can't find any aliens. She wastes the rest of her time unloading the disrupter pulse launcher that's on the ground.

 

Gunter, Stefan, Boris and Karin pile into the central lift and face different directions.

 

Turn ends.

 

A squad leader panics - and we're briefly shown the other side of the central room that the Displacer is currently in. Hmm.

 

A technician panics.

 

Turn 37

 

tactical_023.png

 

Gunter, Stefan, Boris and Karin go up the central lift. Aha, it looks like this lift leads to the four balconies. There's a shok launcher lying on the floor inside, and no doubt to the north the panicking technician. There's a large lift in that direction too, and it appears to be the only upper-level access from this floor.

 

Lyudmila and Munty progress further around the corner.

 

At the end of the turn, Lyudmila fires on an (unarmed) gillman that walked through the door. It promptly runs back out. I presume this is the technician that's been panicking.

 

Turn 38

 

tactical_024.png

 

The displacer finally widens a door and pushes its way through - into a dead end, or rather a narrow room that it can't get into. On turning it spots two squad leaders beside it. One is definitely unarmed - not certain about the other. This room looks like a sniping nest for attacking anyone bold enough to come through the lift or doors to the north.

 

When the displacer backs out, it's noted that the other gillman has dropped its shok launcher as well. Excellent - seems like most of the opposition so far are fumbling their weapons.

 

The four aquanauts in the central mid-level lift scan all four balconies projecting out from the central lift from the doorways.

 

Turn ends. And bold as brass, an unarmed gillman walks into the room with Lyudmila and Munty - and manages to get out again without being shot.

 

Turn 39

 

The four aquanauts push their way to the north balcony and make it half way along the bridge.

 

Turn ends, Lyudmila catches the cheeky Gillman this time.

 

Turn 40

 

The four aquanauts reach the lift and brace themselves for assaulting the upper level.

 

tactical_025.png

 

At this stage I can easily shoot the two gillmen in the sniping station in the back with the Displacer, but decide to let Munty take control of one to see what is down the passage to the lift that the four aquanauts are about to climb. Not a lot - it's empty.

 

Turn 41

 

Boris pops up attacks, misses, then drops down again. Stefan Zander goes up and puts Sonic Blasta Rifle rounds into each squad leader, killing both of them. This man is definitely on a roll. Karin climbs up and protects Stefan by covering the door to the west - no one knows what might be coming from that direction.

 

When the turn ends, two technicians panic and reveal their locations for all to see - if only for a moment.

 

Turn 42

 

tactical_026.png

 

One was in the passage behind the displacer. The displacer heads back the way it came and comes right up to the Gillman and delivers a point blank sonic blast. Unfortunately its world isn't rocked enough - it only falls unconscious.

 

Karin walks into the door she was cover and finds four sunbeds? There is also a Disrupter Pulse Launcher left on the floor here as well.

 

Lyudmila and Munty head into the main hallway.

 

Turn 43

 

tactical_027.png

 

The displacer backtracks and finds the other Gillman that had panicked earlier. One shot kills it.

 

geoscape_006.png

 

And that, as they say, is that. Mission ends. Got heaps of stuff too, so it was worth it.

 

Save for the next commander.

 

GAME_1.zip

 

- NKF

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