UFO Fanfiction Discussion

[Bomb Bloke]

Oooh, the fics rolling along now! Haven't seen this many posts for months!

 

I'll be sure to add something tomorrow...

 

*looks at the clock*

 

Uh, later today, I mean...

[JellyfishGreen]

Glad to be of service (5 HOURS that took me! Including dinner and TV though.)

 

storm_turmoil: Anti-tank rockets! HELL YEAH! Bring it on!

 

Edit:

snickers: You've got a reference to Jasper talking to Keller, when he was already on the way (with Pickering) to DC, can you change it?

BB: I resolved the Osprey/Skyranger situation best I could, basically the Skyranger came back from DC and led the merry chase for Terrick while the Osprey slowly brought Pickering to DC. According to my notes you've got an anomalous Osprey reference still, would it be any problem to make it a Skyranger?

[Alitorious]

Yeah, I should get me a post in while I have a week of break.

Here's a hint to any of you post-secondary wannabes. Do not get sick, unless you don't want to survive. It's not even a matter of choice.

 

Oh, and Brute's dead. There kinda was a whole, you know... big... thing about that?

 

And I'll start me typing up something right now. Maybe bring in Bighorn. (Which would make... 4 pilots and 1 plane, now? )

 

So, yeah. Me. Post. Ignore the assignment due electronically 25 hours and 43 minutes from now.

[Bomb Bloke]

Hrm. Good point. We spent ages killing Brute.

 

I still can't locate the post which put Pickering and Co in the Osprey, but I'm happy to change my posts. Just gimme a while to find 'em.

[JellyfishGreen]

Oh, and Brute's dead. There kinda was a whole, you know... big... thing about that?

(searches fic) Ah. Yes. Terror-1. Sorry, Brute, go out and lie down again, you're still dead.

shouts offstage. "Kilam! Front and Center"

 

Oh, and by all means, buy us another Interceptor or two and some Avalanches, if Genega gets his budget in.

[Alitorious]

Hey, you know what? There aren't any references at all to what Davies looks like! The best reference I can find is in JFG's Character Guide:

"Kyru-Kai foil for Trigger."

 

So... I make my own stuff up about him, kay?

Edit#1:

(Hey, something else I've noticed: Whatever happened to the "print topic" option? That thing was really handy!)

Edit#2:

Actually, there's 2025 words right there. I decided to just post what I have and finish up some of the other stuff I'm working on. Still to go are Pickering&Co vs. The US Diplomats, Davies + Ramson fetching a couple F-22s (I'm actually going to throw in some description of Davies here! Gasp! Shock! Awe! omgwtfbbq!?!?), and the eventual discovery of how to make motion tracking work. (I know how I'm going to do this, actually.)

 

About the Hurricane: Wouldn't it just be easier to airlift that crashed one back to base and patch it up? If Terrick was contemplating flying it out, it can't be in that bad shape. I don't know if we have enough hangar space for a third Hurricane; I was just figuring the F-22s would use the regular air base part of Pine Gap.

I figure that Genega might want a couple of the next-best things he could get in case of emergency, and those two Raptors are it. But if anyone else thinks that it's a bit much bringing in those planes, just say so.

 

 

And I might take a break from my own characters for once and help out with the battle.

(Heh heh... flamethrowers + reapers? Anyone else thinking what I'm thinking? )

[storm turmoil]

another post up, and the reason for David's inability to use the mind probe is revealed...

 

or not. If this is too whacked out tell me and I'll remove the post, but it seemed a fairly logical step. Without knowing it, David has some of the same abilities as an Ethereal; the same ability to enhance physical strength and fortitude, and the same Psionic defence aura that makes them so tough. the only differences are that he hasn't known about it till now, and that it consumes all the Psionic energy he comes in contact with, both his own and outside sources. Unlike an Eethereal, it's the only power he manifests, and he has no telepathy or mind control ability.

 

This is why he's so strong yet lightly built, and why he cannot use the mind probe: it's psionic interface's Psionic energy field is leeched away and converted into enhanced physical ability and toughness. (what a Psi-Amp would do I don't know.)

 

And yes, I know that X-com hasn't encountered Ethereals yet (except Howitz...) and that in game humans can't have that kind of psychic boosting power, but I thought that out of game it might be an interesting thing to play with. it might even be a way for us to hold back the psionic research while all the efforts concentrate on the 'wrong' type of Psionic powers, rather than on enhancing Telepathy and mind control.

 

anyhow, let me know what you think of this post. Rick has been recognised as a kind of de facto Psychic, and Now we have a second, different type.

[Zager]

I thought that it had already been established that humans needed psi-amps to use psionics? Humans are not actively psionic in X-COM, they need mechanical assistance. It's pretty much part of the X-COM mythos.

 

Plus, when Zager looks psionically strong individuals, he's going to use neuroimaging. He'll do it logically. Psionics originate within the brain, therefore, to determine their presence, you have to look in the brain.

[storm turmoil]

Point taken, though I confess, I thought it was only 'Active' Psionics that required an Amp. I thought that 'Passive' psionics like defensive abilities were always on and couldn't even be affected by Amps. you either had defence, or not.

 

in any case, I'm not going to argue over it, since it was perhaps the wrong time to raise it anyway. Post removed.

[Bomb Bloke]

This forum skin doesn't support the print page option, I'm afraid. No one's had the time to fix it properly since the last forum upgrade made it obsolete.

 

In the bottom left hand corner, there's a drop box which will let you change the skin to "IPB 2.1 Default". Then you can use the option button near the top of the page to bring up the printer friendly version of the thread.

 

Unfortunately, the thread is now so large that it won't fully load up on the printer page. I'll have to split the fic into seperate threads, one per chapter or something, before it gets any further out of hand.

[The Veteran]

Blimey I'm a bit behind on this topic now!

 

Alitorious: The surface airfield was removed from Pine Gap early on in its conversion to a top secret installation. So probably the Raptors would be a bit of overkill... Besides 2 hurricanes and 2 raptors don't give the battleships a chance to cause such widespread destruction as just two hurricanes do! That's my thoughts anyway...

 

Alitoious again, and Bomb Bloke: The print topic thing isn't so bad, I have the whole topic as a word document but I'm a little way behind now so I need to do some catching up! So really I don't have the whole topic yet but eventually I will! lol

 

Zager and Storm Turmoil: I see where both of you are coming from with this one but I can't comment to much as I never saw the post in question! ST, I know what you mean as Rick is similar in the way I've started writing his latent powers. He can't control them at all, even with the probe he had no idea what was happening it was all in the machine. He does however have a higher than normal psionic defence inbuilt so he is well protected against psionic attacks. As you say again he has no means of mind control or telepaty with or without aid, that will need to be taught to him just as it will everyone else. I would suggest all psionic charachters should remain that way for now and we should be careful not to introduce too many too close together so let's tread carefully with these two. As for the strength he draws from psionic attacks I think that's maybe a bit much as it doesn't draw from anything. If he has high latent psionic powers then they should lie dormant for a while, at least until everyone begins training and so on. Like I said though, he and Rick will be in a good defensive situation when they go up against any psionic aliens, even without training.

[Alitorious]

Well, even the Hurricanes have trouble keeping up with most UFOs until they slow down at their destination. Also, the Hurricanes go about 25-40% faster than the Raptors, so it's unlikely that if the two types of planes are deployed at the same time the Raptors will get any action at all.

 

But I was never too sure about the idea in the first place, really. I was just trying to remember why I brought Davies up to the states in the first place. Oh, well. Maybe I just won't mention him doing anything.

 

I did just realize what having four pilots and two planes can mean: Shifts! That way, at any given time they're guaranteed to be able to launch two alert pilots, though it does mean no more hallway racing to get the plane.

 

And shame about the printing thing not working properly. At least I know how to find it if I need it again. Thanks.

[Snikers]

Wait wait wait - flamethrowers and urban combat?

 

Look, I know we're trying to stay as close to the game as possible, but I don't think we can actually level a city block here, guys!

[Zager]

I also question the wisdom of wearing a backpack full of flamable liquid when the enemies shooting very hot bolts of plasma at you. Not to mention that burning down buildings as a method of clearing them is not proper protocol when there could very well be civilians inside.

[The Veteran]

Although, as Snikers said in a roundabout way, we are trying to keeep close to the game... Now who here has ever played a perfect terror mission? Warehouses always get nuked or set on fire or holes in the walls etc. Civilian houses always lose windows and doors, shops lose their entire stocks in minutes to stray hand grenades. Not to mention the death-throes of a cyberdisc... As long as everyone is nice and careful with the flamethrowers we should be fine! Besides what better way for a rookie to die than to get his backpack ignited!

[Bomb Bloke]

I'll admit I'm a bit trigger happy with rockets, but only because I know that you don't lose points for leveling buildings. I don't think reality works like that, though.

[storm turmoil]

If this were real life, terror sites would be Tac-Nuked at the least, and might even justify strategic Nuclear weapons, civilians or not. Becuase it's the only guaranteed way of maintaining containment and making sure no nasty Alien gribblies, diseases, chemical weapons or other nasties got out of the site.

 

if it came down to it, the button would be pushed, because it would be the only guaranteed safe option.

 

now, reality aside, it'd make the fic boring if all the sites were getting nuked before X-com got there. (and as for not using nuclear weapons in X-Com, the Avalanche missile has a tactical Nuclear warhead acccording to its deleted ufopedia entry text, so Nukes have already been used.)

 

that being said, A flamethrower is orders of magnitude less controversial than an outright Nuking (which may have happened anyway; we never did find out how the Chinese Government made their terror site 'safe'; by now it may glow in the dark...)

 

and no, the troopers won't be torching civilians. yet. That comes after they've seen Chrysalids in action (or some of the X-Inv vets like Pickering tell them about them.)

 

As for Flamethrowers versus Plasma weapons: it's a calculated risk. For burning out buildings A flamethrower is the thing to have. Will it blow up if hit with a plasma bolt? yes. The point is anything and everything blows up when hit with a plasma bolt, so it isn't really that much more dangerous than grenades or explosives, or even a rifle.

 

The last terror mission showed them that an alien holed up out of sight in a building is dangerous. if you can burn them out...

 

it's also an extension of the ingame incendiary ammo for rockets, autocannon and heavy cannon. Fire works, and is also a powerful psychological weapon as well (and even more so after Alien origins is researched. Fire is the proof that humans aren't just slaves to the alien overmind, and can make their own decisions and advancements)

 

and as veteran said, its a great way for some rookies to go out. imagine a rookie with a flamethrower getting chowed down on by a reaper, until his fuel tank ignites? talk about the biter bit!

[Zager]

Although, as Snikers said in a roundabout way, we are trying to keeep close to the game... Now who here has ever played a perfect terror mission? Warehouses always get nuked or set on fire or holes in the walls etc. Civilian houses always lose windows and doors, shops lose their entire stocks in minutes to stray hand grenades

 

I don't toss around explosives when there are civilians nearby. Remember, our primary goal here is to save lives.

 

If this were real life, terror sites would be Tac-Nuked at the least, and might even justify strategic Nuclear weapons, civilians or not.

 

I rather doubt it. The UN doesn't have access to nuclear weapons, and that's who we report to.

 

Not to mention that terror sites happen about once a month, and going by the game, only target major cities. We'd very quickly run out cities to save, as well as the fact that every government on the planet would have collapsed with all these deaths. If New York, LA and Chicago all got nuked within several months of each other, it would result in a complete breakdown of civil order, as everybody tried to get out of the cities, fearing they'd be next.

 

if it came down to it, the button would be pushed, because it would be the only guaranteed safe option.

 

You're forgetting the human factor. No politician or leader is going to want to nuke his own citizens.

 

Fire is the proof that humans aren't just slaves to the alien overmind, and can make their own decisions and advancements)

 

Er, what? I don't follow. I think the fact that we shoot back whenever they attack us would adequate proof that we aren't slaves to the alien brain.

[The Veteran]

Crikey... You're on a bit of a downer eh Zager? While I expect it would take a lot more than one or two painfully fatal terror missions to provoke the use of nukes I also think you've never played a terror mission if you're claiming to not blow things up that weren't your target! Let's just play through this next mission and if or when something goes wrong we'll deal with it. Speaking of Chryssalids however... Are we having them this mission? I'd very much like to be able to contribute in their first encounter and I tend not to write much in missions that Rick isn't in!

[Zager]

Crikey... You're on a bit of a downer eh Zager?

 

I only seem that way because I don't comment on the good ideas.

 

Let's just play through this next mission and if or when something goes wrong we'll deal with it. Speaking of Chryssalids however... Are we having them this mission?

 

We have to see floaters and reapers first before we run into chrysalids.

[Dumb_Commander]

Chryssalids, yes, maybe 1 or 2 chryssalids.

[Zager]

Chryssalids, yes, maybe 1 or 2 chryssalids.

 

But they only show up with Snakemen, and we're not there yet. We're not even at floaters yet.

[Dumb_Commander]

But they only show up with Snakemen, and we're not there yet. We're not even at floaters yet.

 

, but what if the sectoids loan one, it happened to me in the game, a sectoid ship with 2 chryssalids, 4 sectoids, one cyberdisk.

 

What if, when you meet a chryssalid, there will be a sectoid near him with a mind probe in his hands, consertrating his energy on chryssalid control, when you kill a the sectoid is dead, the Chryssalid will go on mindless killing rampage.

 

The idea is that near snakemen, chryssalids are stable, because of the snakemens unique psionic emnation, that keeps them under control.

--

One more thin, create a TFTD fic to.

[Bomb Bloke]

Chryssalids always go on mindless killing rampages. There's no point in controlling them, that's their function. They aren't any use for anything else.

 

No Chryssalids until we start facing Snakemen. This mission has already been defined as Floaters and Reapers; which means we'll "win" for a change.

[The Veteran]

Hah too true, it would be nice to take more heads than losses for a change! I'm sold, Floaters and Reapers it is. I'll hold off until our next encounter, although I hope I get a soldier in it Knowing my luck I'll be one mission out