chiasaur11

I lean towards live. "We kicked their ass" doesn't feel like a prerecorded, even by X-Com standards, and from the talk about "The crazy bastards made it" and "get a rescue squad", the game seems to want to imply your team got home safe. Especially since there's no precedent in game from a SHIP to survive but leave the crew dead.

Wasn't an unmanned ship. That was the Annihilator, the bus your team rode over in. And from the chatter, the team made it back alive and well. Except one moron who stayed back to watch the boom.

Paul "Twitch" Thompson Lt. Thompson, formerly of Australia's elite SASR special operations force, was a cherished member of XCOM, one of the first four soldiers to make contact with hostile extraterrestrial life. Although his marksmanship scores were well below the average, his exceptional reflexes and boundless courage saved the first contact team from disaster when Pvt. Sven Johannsen, formerly team leader, was nearly incapacitated by a plasma rifle. He lead the team with distinction until a routine UFO examination, when a careless rookie destroyed the wall he was using for cover with errant laser rifle fire, leaving him exposed to a Sectoid critical. Rest... Wait. Late breaking. He survived the incident, clinging to life, and terminated the hostile that injured him, bringing the mission to a successful conclusion. Major Thompson continued to serve until Operation Confounding Light, where he died activating a tracking beacon that allowed XCOM to track and claim a battleship class UFO. Surrounded by five thin men, under withering fire and already injured, Major Thompson was shot while in poor cover and... Excuse me. COLONEL Thompson was... fine. Took a break after the mission to soak his plasma wounds, but he returned to service not long after. He served with distinction until Operation Avenger, where, after taking friendly fire from a blaster bomb, he suffered psionic backlash from... running up to the leader of the alien invasion and shoving his alloy cannon into its face, firing until such time as it was dead. Truly, this man was a representation of the finest XCOM had to offer and we offer him a posthumous medal of honor. For he... Oh. I'm being informed I cannot award Colonel "Twitch" Thompson this award, as he, technically speaking, is not dead. Or even severely injured. For pete's sake, Paul.

So, saw Cabin in the Woods today. Seemed like Friday the 13th, 2012 demanded a dead teenager movie. It's a good one, Smart, funny, gutsy. And, well, not just a dead teenager movie. Wouldn't have gone if it was. Worth seeing. And Fran Kranz was delightful.

Firestorms can also manage it with plasma. Just less of a sure thing.

Laser rifles and flying suits were my standard loadout. Little less power than plasma, but it made logistics a lot easier, and lasers shoot faster, which is very handy when keeping on the bounce. For anything below Mutons and 'lids, laser rifles are good enough. Eh. Lot of money. Maybe a little interceptor spot, or an engineering hub if you're drowning in cash. Otherwise, I'd just keep up on the bases you have. Casablanca can fend for itself. It is good for that. Best transport, best fighter. But it guzzles fuel, and takes forever to repair if it gets dinged up. By now, you should be nearing endgame. Keep one for your main assault team, maybe one more for dogfights. Most duties can be handled by Interceptors with plasma without costing E-115. Eh. Corpse research is worth points. Nothing more. What you want is live aliens. Research those. Let me tell you a story. (Big king with a golden crown). There is a weapon spoken of in myths across the galaxy. The Nar call it ""Gaze in Stunned Disbelief at the Tool of Our Destruction." The Nebulonians refer to it as "The Big Floaty Thing What Kicks Our Asses." The Pfhor, its foremost proponents, call it "Utfoo Heavy Assault Craft. " This is not that weapon. That weapon would be carved up like a Christmas turkey by a Heavy Plasma. Laser rifles are easier to handle, and there's another weapon you can research later that could hold the title "Vengeful Hand of God" without looking pretentious, but for general murder work against heavily armored enemies, the heavy plasma is as good as it gets. 26 and 14 is probably enough. I'd also keep some heavy tanks around, just to be safe. But I love tanks. Hypothetically, one guy with the really good gun, a good base design, or a trooper with a great secret stat could solo an alien attack if you planned right, but you don't want to run that narrow a margin. And no problem.

Welcome aboard. There's a lot of little tactics to make the game easier in individual skirmishes. Snipers, small fire teams, never take the front door when you can help it. The game gets a LOT less lethal when you learn the angles. Still nasty, but more manageable. Which is why people can beat superhuman. Well, that and the absurd gamebreaking power of endgame tech. As for my tech recommendations? Laser rifles and pistols can do more or less whatever you need done most of the time. If they don't cut it, switch to heavy plasma. Plasma rifles just complicate things.

[X-Com data cannister 1344: The “Ultimate Alien”] Thanks to interrogation of captured Gilman officers, we finally have some idea of who or what is directing the alien forces. Like the first war, our enemies seem to have a single commanding intelligence directing the majority of their operations. If we neutralize this one target, our foes will go from a single army to, at most, a handful of directionless Aquatoid and Gilman raiding parties, with the remainder of their forces entirely destroyed. Unfortunately, even if we find the commander of the alien forces, we may not be able to destroy it. Early studies have been discouraging. The exact nature of the creature is obscured by alien myth and folklore, but it is obviously a very powerful psionic entity. What we have called “molecular control” may be a form of brain rewiring intended to make the victims naturally connected to the entity, with temporary subversion being merely a side-effect, eventually turning the victim into a mere channel for the creature’s will. In fact, some studies suggest a certain percentage of humans are naturally in tune with the creature, especially poets and the artistically inclined. Which brings me to the most controversial portion of the report. Historical reports compared to alien interrogations indicate that T’leth came close to waking some time around 1928, and created a brief surge in worldwide psychic activity. Due to a combination of environmental factors, the most influenced area was New England, with an epicenter in Providence. To put it bluntly, sir, we may be fighting Cthulhu. Well, the inspiration for him. It killed our world once. It feels like a joke, but the facts are the facts. I don’t like our chances, but we’ll continue interrogations. [X-Com data cannister 1345: Followup report on the “Ultimate Alien” ] I have seen His love. I was wrong. So wrong. I only hope he will forgive me. No. There is no forgiving my crimes against Him. As soon as my confessions are finished, I will pay for my crime. A shame the others have left. Slaying the heretics would be the beginnings of a penance. They are at the door now. Johnson and Anderson and the rest. Johnson, O’Malley, Vincent, they may someday be forgiven, if I can. Their crimes against Him, like mine, were committed in ignorance, and His love may embrace them when it cleanses the world. Rogers and Chen, they know Him and reject Him. Clinging to a criminal’s corpse or science or ‘honor’ when His majesty and strength is offered to all. They betrayed Him, refused His mercy and cannot be forgiven. This is my last report. Commander, cease your crimes against Him. Surrender to His servants. We are chaff before them, and resistance only brings agony. Praise the dweller in T’leth.

Well, it's old and dusty in here, but I kinda felt the urge to write one of these. X-Com data canister 902: Memorandum from Dr. Peter Vincent on the subject of Chryssalid Memory transfer Commander, strictly for the record, I said this was bullshit when the investigation started. But the case of Sgt. Brooks and several field reports recently have forced me to reevaluate the whole thing. Obviously, victims don

This is why X-Com scientists deserve their absurd salaries. They see those things and go "I can deal with it."

What? That's totally crazy. [black seven to mother bird. The sheep are poking the fence. I repeat the sheep are poking the fence!]

This can't be happening, man! This isn't happening! We're all gonna die man.

Oh yeah, sure! With those things runnin' around? You can count me out.

No, it's based on Iron Man, the popular Marvel super hero. It means you use power armor, drink while playing, and when the UN comes with the suitcase, you act like a gigantic dick and alienate everyone. Also, be awesome while doing all of the above.

With TFTD, it sounds like it could be a glitch. LOS gets all kinds of messed up there, to the point of invisibility. Never fun when that happens.