JellyfishGreen

Awesome work, guys.

Excited to see the Snakemen make a return! ...or Snakewomen. Equal opportunity employer!

Just a note that Humble Bundle's latest promotion is a 2K Games special with 2012's XCOM:Enemy Unknown, Bioshock, and The Bureau. (humblebundle.com) They also have all the classic 90's XCOM games available if you pay more than the average. Cheers!

In the end it was anti-climactic. There was only one sectoid commander left, my snipers were up high, he stopped directly beneath one, and he had a really big head.

Hi All! I got the game for my birthday Friday and stormed through the first 8 missions on Normal with only 1 KIA. Even he did not fall in vain, we got an Outsider crystal out of the same mission. That plus some interrogation got us the Alien base approximately March or April. We were still on conventional weapons but kicking butt and fielding a full squad of 6 soldiers, so I figured why not try the base mission. Chrysalids, is why not. OK, here come the first two. Panic, panic, no line of fire, oh wait, we can save our scout by hitting them with grenades. The damn thing took two frag grenades point blank and is still standing. "Grenades do 5 damage." Chrysalids have 15HP. Between three team members, we take down one - ONE! of these things. This is rather a jump from Floaters, even. The surviving Chryssie attacks with claws and blades, and I know what happens next. Luckily the Heavy guy they attack has our new carapace armor, even so, he survives with only 1 HP. Can he stun the thing at point blank? No, they must be immune to Arc Throwers, its not even an option. The full team response takes down the wounded alien. Rookie gets to our guy afterwards and applies medkit. All right, what's next? We blow through four sectoids and get to an open area. Two thin men. Some robotic probe. We can do this. A second wave of Chrysalids. Ok, they're at some distance; the wounded Heavy gets a rocket into the midst and hit two of them. Rockets don't kill them?! The third unzips the Rookie like a sleeping bag full of offal. But he gets back up. Go on there, Rookie! He lurches towards the Lieutenant, who finds himself literally shoulder to shoulder between this zombie and the sauntering Chrysalid, who hesitates. Maybe it doesn't like the Lieutenant's smell. He's had better days, but judicious use of Bullet Storm by the wounded Heavy and some careful point-blank Sniping saves the Lieutenant's bacon. The 5 remaining soldiers cautiously advance. Its... a third wave of Chrysalids. Despite our caution, and some sniper shots, we can only take down one and the other two slay our Assault "Spitfire" and zombify the wounded Heavy. NO! Yes. I don't know how we pulled it off exactly but we're left alive, with the Lieutenant badly wounded, and only the two snipers backing him up. It's time to abort... we can't abort. OK, forward, squad wipe or glory for team, so... screw those "capture the commander" orders. Very very cautious, overwatch leapfrog, narrow corridor into what please god is the end of this chamber of horror. Both snipers overwatch as the Lieutenant tries sticking his neck out (one move) and pulling it back quick (second move). He walks forward and sticks his neck out into the far room. Two Chryssalids perk up, and get pantswettingly close. He pulls back quick, and uses his second move to run back up the corridor for the slim protection of the snipers, run, run from the nightmares. The first chryssalid comes around the corner blind. It staggers from one sniper shot. The second goes straight for the Lieutenant and shreds his armor away. Down to one HP- and it's our turn. Headshot. Headshot. LMG. That's the end of the fourth Chryssalid wave, thanks be to F*(&. I save the game. Its 1 am. I don't know how it ends yet, but I need sleep. I need sleep like those soldiers needed that lucky break.

Yay! The fact I am not ready to buy and don't own a computer up to spec does not diminish my joy that this game exists!

Maybe I can be excited about the next demo? I'm quite enthusiastic after watching this hour of footage from, er, last month: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/08/29/enemy-yours-watch-an-hour-of-the-xcom-remake/

The glam-cam headshot at 3:05 officially started my crush on this game. Time will tell...

Anyway, very interesting news, nice way to start the year!

http://wearscience.com/imgproduct/robot.jpg http://wearscience.com/design/robot/ Increasing volume by 30dB increases power by a million.

I can attest the boardgame version of this is one of my favorites - I had the privilege of playing with a wargaming group that had their own painted figurines and rules for co-op mode (shared command of a side between left flank, right flank, and the general). Rules were understandable even with my short attention span, and I loved pushing tiny tanks around. (Of course the online version wouldn't have the same tactile appeal, tho.)

Enjoyed NKF's North Pole Rocket mission AAR - man, using rockets for close-quarter-battle is a new level of fun. I might avoid it myself for a little while yet.

Oo, giant hexes! I like the proposed tasty mix of strategic bribery and negotiations with tactical tank traps and fortifications.

They say any landing you can walk (float?) away from is a good enough landing, but that one looked more like a crater.

The Cobra Kai don't practice good nutrition; 20 years later they''re all overweight with low stamina. Easy to outrun but still not a good idea to take them all on at once. Aikido and other joint locks will be more useful than you might think in child-rearing, I've certainly put my limited jiu-jitsu to good use keeping a toddler pinned to the changing mat while changing extremely biohazardous nappies. (The trick is to see them as your sparring partner, not your opponent, and keep up a jaunty grin, so they struggle less and instead wonder what you're up to.)

I earned my Kenpo Karate blue belt on Monday night. (Yay me!) I was quite proud to get this far, considering I only show up once a week and I'd taken most of last year off when my new recruit came along. (Jellyfish Jr, that is.) So compared to the dedication of our brown belt students, one of who started the same time I did, I've been using it as an interesting form of exercise rather than training It's pretty relaxed and an easygoing instructor. And it's only a 10-minute walk from home. On the downside, I once came home with kicked ribs that were sore for four weeks. :/

A Floater base in Scotland? I guess we know what they have under their kilts - antigrav generators. I'm surprised you didn't send stun-rod jockeys in after the commander, though. Enjoying this. Got first blood with my recent(ly deceased) clone. My vote's for Japan (Tokyo-3 base). Gotta protect Novoborisk.

Aaand there went my productivity for the afternoon.

1:31: If it's worth killing, it's worth overkilling.

Yeah, I remember one night terror mission where the scouts got new jetpacks. They were flying around pretty cocky, leaving the chryssies snapping frustrated below. Then they got shot down by snakemen with plasma rifles. That ended with the last two survivors throwing everything out of the Skyranger that would explode, before dustoff. Wipe!

Finally, someone's taking care of that heathen problem. Seriously, though, I like how Big Flags Waving Over Your Troops is becoming quite common in RTS. Serving much the same purpose as it did in real life, solving "Where are our guys? Are those our guys? What are they shooting at?" and other fun fog-of-war questions.

ACHIEVEMENT Cape Town UNLOCKED! GAME OVER! Insert coins to continue. Actually when I posted this I didn't notice FullAuto already had me on the duty roster. Thanks man, I'm genuinely touched. Harrumph. I appreciate the meatshield, NKF, but those potatoes are killers. (Mmmm, meat and potatoes.) Good thing we're using Avatar technology. Clone me up another meatsuit, and ring me when its ready. I'll be playing Minecraft.

Hell, I always wanted ta' see Cape Town before I died. Any seats left on this Ruskie flyin' bus?

Thank you, Matri.

I think the line is "'Tis better to have Loved and lost, than never to have Loved at all." The odds of success are much lower than that over successive rounds... a lot depends on your choice of partner, and what your partner thinks of you. And of course bias from previous relationships, good or bad. What, you thought this was just a game? It's not a game. It is, however, a song. OMG that's pretty much my story too. Here's to not having a plan, not being self-conscious, and living in the flow of the moment. look at me, all romantic-like, maudlin and passed out on the floor. As the Irish dating guide says, you have a narrow window between being brave enough to talk to women and being too drunk to control your bladder. Go on, you kids, have fun.