The Challange of Commander Matt: No Alien Tech!

[Windwalker]

I knew it was time when I heard the unmistakable flops of a helicopter aproaching. I was both relieved and worried at the same time. Their coming meant that my foresight was accurate and my plan had worked, but it also meant the second alien war was about to start and it was going to be hell soon. I got out of my hut, which was my home for six years now on this island where I lived on isolation.

 

When I was young I used to believe I was an important person; one with special inner strength that may change the world for some good. I fought through small minded money-holders first, then corporations, then governments, then international agencies

[Windwalker]

Which I ordered to be built here:

 

 

At that moment I have this strange feeling, as if I had done this before, exactly like that. I miss the question of my Administrative Executer at first: "Sir? What will be the base name?"

 

 

Frederick tells me the base will be "possible to live in" within two weeks. I spend all my time figthing bureucratic skirmishers. Finally, sleeples I move to sup-pen to leave for base. But before I move to Triton, I arrange some last minute changes over X-Net. I won't let this Gray's lackeys know things beforehand. I quickly arrange new orders for base layout. Only my mastermind knows the details.

 

 

Right as we take off, I receive a message from Delilah Lane. She reports the arrival of her team to Deja-Vu. I quickly reply with my first orders to them:

 

 

During the sixth hour of our flight, I am awakened by Phillip Bere, the pilot of Triton. He has the arrogant aura all over him as he informs we are in contact range with out base and will be diving shortly. Before our underwater journey begins, I check reports on my computer and make order some items I believe will be neccessary. I also order the Craft Gas Cannon on Barracude 2 to be replaced with a DUP head launcher, courtesy of OREGON initiative. (Along with a personal note from Carmen : "Nucelar research is not all that-bad, huh?")

 

 

I was first excited by the chance of seeing some underwater life, but I don't see much in that high speed travel. Finally we arrive and Phillip carefully brings us surface inside the sub-pen. I find my squad of 8 ready and saluting me. I salute them back and move into my office.

 

 

After a short sleep I ask for a cup of coffee and send an order saying I want to meet my soldiers personally. I order them one by one into my office and talk at least an hour with each of them. That spends my day. Here are my files about them and the callsigns I gave them.

 

 

Overall, I am quite satisfied with what my old collegues have sent for me. For the first time I calculate that I may actually have a chance of success, all you need is some good men, after all...

[Windwalker]

I prepare myself to see the research team and meet them next, but before that a siren goes wailing on the corridors of our base. I haste to command office and my second leads me to sonar. We have just spotted an USO.

 

"Alredy?"

 

 

"Alright... Lets see our pilots. Launch Barracuda 01 and intercept!" I watch the sonar, unable to digest the speed of the craft. I wonder if our Barracude will be able to reach this thing, but we don't have to wait too much to see the answer. Our pilot, Dwayne "Shark" Hughes reports he has sight on enemy. I recall the attack patterns of our craft and order for a standart attack.

 

 

I throw a gaze on another video feed and see what enemy ship looks like.

 

 

But before I am able to inspect it further...

 

 

"This was... fast. Well done, shark, have a circle around target and return to base."

 

I turn to my second in command.

 

"Prepare squad and launch Triton now!"

 

He hesitates for a second and I know what he is about to say.

 

"Don't worry, son. They will make it before sunset. I know what time the sun goes down in that meridian, OK?"

 

He seems relieved... He trusts me after all. How I wish I had the same trust. I wait, hiding my anxiety and finally Phillip "Whale" Monet reports back.

 

 

I put the headset on and sit to commander's chair. Here I can receive all the audio and video feedback from squad intercom and their shoulder cams. I hear squad running through several checklists as they prepare to go out. But I am aware they are lacking a command chain in case we loose contact. I have to make a quick call here to assign someone as leader. I remember the LightSharp to be a cool and calm sniper from an elite Brezillian killteam.

 

"Alright everyone, I know this was quick but you know what? I like it better this way. The faster we finish this, the sooner we can go back to our facebook routine."

 

A couple chuckles fill the link.

 

"Well, it sems I hear some static over here, so I am promoting LightSharp as a field commander for now. This is temporary, though, we can discuss the details later when you all come back. You got that Light?"

 

"Sir! Yes sir!"

 

"Good. Don't make me regret this, girl."

 

"Sir!"

 

I quickly activate the battlescape algorithm, which will combine the visuals from every squad members video feed, turn them into a 3D combat area overlay display. Then I will feed all the info back to squads and they will be able to see in their wrist pads. Algorithm only takes a couple seconds to run and I receive first results.

 

 

I see mule scouting as he was told to do so, from cover to cover, taking it slow and steady. And Shaqqles take position on the wing of Trition. She is good with underwater grenade trajectory calculations and can prime the small proppelers on the grenade with unerring accuracy. I am still proud of Frederic for coming up with such a solution to be able to throw grenades underwater. He basically created an exoskeleton for our grenades, surrounded with small propellers in all sides. He also added some motion sensors, so the small processor reads the throwing motion of aquanaut, and primes the propellers motion routines to form an arc-shaped line of trajectory. Good aquanauts can also "fine tune" the propellers, increasing their accuracy.

 

 

One of my command staff, Lopez, comes up with a 2d tactical map of combat area. I want it on the big screen and relay information on how I want my squad to spread out from Triton.

 

 

"Allright, moving out!" yells LightSharp. She seems a little bit too eager but I don't interfere. It's still too soon. And as soon as she turns the Triton's cockpit around, she has sight on enemy sub. After a quick evaluation she reports: "Taking cover." Now, thats my girl.

 

 

Paranaim, our fastest runner lunches out next, running between the damaged petrolium line nexus and natural flora right next to it. I hear the voice of Frederick right behind me: "Tell him to stay away from the nexus. I have several reports of "accidently" exploding petrolium line nexii!"

 

 

The rest of the squad also prepares to spread next turn. Everyone out is safely spaced and in relative cover, and everyone inside is ready to rush out next. That's my way.

 

 

(Next Turn)

 

Paranaim and Mule continue their sweep. Although slowed down by the natural flora, they are at least in relative safey and extend our vision of zone quite a bit.

 

 

Hernandez takes the role of backyard scouting, and finds herself a good cover while reporting in "clear!"

 

 

GreenGirl, holding our Portable Torpedo Launcher finds a good spot in the middle of our deplyment zone, ready to react to which side neccessary. After all these aquanauts report "Clear!" LightSharp moves again. "I need someplace I can see everything better" she says. Next moment I see her climbing to foreside of Triton, right over the cockpit! "Thats better!" she says, as she places her feet in either sides of window panel holders.

 

 

I check the 2D map and I am happy with my squad. They are spaced out, well in cover, and doing everything by the book for now.

 

 

Mule reaches the edge of fauna and kneels, setting his sights on enemy sub. "It looks heavily damaged sir, I suspect anything can survive this."

 

Paranaim runs behind him, finds another underwater sandhill, and uses it as cover. "Everything is so eerily still here, sir. I don't like this."

 

"Neverlady, you take position at where Mule just left. It's another gun towards the enemy sub and we may need your Hydro-Jet Cannon any moment." I order. "Awright, sir!" she replies. I hear her breathing heavily as she tries to move the bulky and deadly weapon into position.

 

"This is Hernandez. Moving forward behind the Triton. I see some kelp, will try to use it as cover. No bug here."

 

 

(A couple turns)

 

Mule, Paranaim and Neverlady make our left sweep, while Hernandez does the backyard one. Our heavy weapon specialists make slight arrangements to their positions. But there are still no ailens in sight.

 

"Sir, I see the back of enemy sub now, and... half of it's ass is not here."

 

 

(Next Turn)

 

Hernandez runs towards next sandhill to use it as a cover, but she suddenly stops and throws herself to ground.

 

"Contact!"

 

 

We barely have time to inspect the alien, as it notices Hernandez and raises it's arm for a kill. Just then a harpoon hits its chest. Its mouth open, surprised, already leaking some blood. Thats where the second harpoon goes. The small body is thrown back by the power of the impact, and the last harpoon flies through just where it was standing.

 

 

"Enemy down!" reports LightSharp.

 

 

The squad spends another hour slowly exploring the area, but they find no other alien life form. They report a mission successfull.

 

 

I am not happy with what I see, but I keep it to myself. To bolster morale, which I believe will be our only weapon, I salute my soldiers for their fine work.

 

"Oh, by the way... LightSharp, you are now an Ensign. Permanently."

[MhBlis]

Yay Mule. Gotta have a mule on your team.

[Space Voyager]

Wow, good luck with this AAR! No alien tech seems near impossible...

[NKF]

I'll say good luck too. In a normal game it's an uphill battle until you get some good tech. Here you're going uphill all the way!

 

Coincidentally, if you would like to keep the discussion in a separate thread like the other AARs, let us know and one of us can split the thread for you.

 

- NKF

[Windwalker]

Thank you, guys. I don't believe it will be neccessary to split the discussion. We're just a bunch of friends here ain't we?

 

Tonight is the second battle... Though preparing the battle report takes more time than playing the game (which is not short per update either) I now appreciate what you guys have achieved even more.

 

If I was Mr.Spock I would have calculated my success chances as "less than worth mentioning" but hey, that's the spirit of the challange is it not?

 

Wish me luck.

[MhBlis]

Its not that bad. It's more like someone who has an allergy and a nest of these

Bad day on the midway

 

Though I'd just take it slower than usual always have snap shot available every turn teams of three and a base dedicated to manufacturing Guass ammo round the clock for the rest of the game.

 

Oh and a Jimmy every successful team needs a Jimmy.

[Alienated]

I guess you may be able to do it. I have already done this. My strongest weapon was the Heavy Gauss though I could use the Thermal Tazer a lot better. Especially if we count its bug in. You know the use of a tazer does not cause reaction shots. In the solo game I equipped The Man with a Gauss Rifle and a tazer. I sneak behind a Tasoth, use the tazer and then an auto shot. If you do an auto shot from close behind, it often fails to kill a Tasoth but if it has already been halfway stunned, it falls surely.

 

I did the T'leth battle without casualties; I always do every battle without casualties because I reload anytime the events do not fit my expectations, the point is you can not save and reload in the T'leth mission if I am correct. I don't remember well because I have been on T'leth only once, the only thing I remember I had some problem about the savegame, and somewhere I read that you can not save and reload the battle because the coders did not find it neccessary to create its save file format. The Enemy Unknown final battle is similar, you get a bigger map though you can save and reload there.

 

Can somebody here surely tell whether the T'leth battle interruptible in the PSX version? If it is, then I did it in iron man mode with earth technology, at least the last battle. You only have to do is avoid (ignore) lobster man missions. But what is the challenge then? Aquatoid and gill man are easy to kill by gas cannon and harpoons, not to mention Gauss weapons. The game is acually easier with gas weapons because their ammo is dirt cheap. You sell all the alien stuff and get a lot of cash.

 

My point is I don't know exactly what your rule is. Are you obliged to assault lobster and tasoth subs or not? And if you are, what is your objective then. If you assault it to lose, then you just assign a single seaman without any equipment. You get -220 point for a lobster mission, +500 points for a (successful) gill man mission, therefore a positive monthly score.

 

I guess the real challenge can be between iron man and reloader: you must complete every mission without casualties but you reload from the very start of the mission, just before landing anytime you lose an aquanaut. You always get a different map.

 

Still this isn't perfect because you may be successful in the easiest rolls of map. For example you have more chance to lose a man (or entire squad) if there are more grenadier and DPLer present and more chance to be successful if there are more thermal shok bombers.

 

There is a lot of challenge in a reloader game because you can never know what situation you have saved. A difficult situation may cause you to reload more times than a one-go mission. Especially on terror sites and base missions. For example: you suddenly bump into a big monster, big monster kills you. Reload. You go elsewhere. You bump into another big monster, big monster kills you. Reload. You go the third way. You bump into the third big monster, big monster kills you. Reload. You don't go anywhere. Three big monster comes to you and kill you. Reload. You start trying to eliminate one of the big monsters nearby somehow. You finally eliminate the monsters somehow but it took several reloads already. In iron man mode you just lose a soldier and maybe the others have better luck.

 

The game isn't hard. The situations in the game may be hard. It is very easy to lose an entire squad. It may be easy to lose the game and restart. The hard is when you must get through a difficult situation.

 

I guess the easiest iron man method is to down every USO but leave the crash site alone, only the easiest ones you have to recover: survey ships and at least one cruiser for the IBA and construction. Buy and sack aquanauts until you have 26-28 guys with 60 TU and 70 Stamina. Give them gauss pistols and tazers and they will sweep through T'leth, especially if their TUs get to 80 during the few missions you do until then. Keep some refuge bases ready to transport experinced soldiers in case the aliens decide to attack your base. I guess it is better to evacuate a base when lobster men and bio-drones attack. But in a reloader game this case is one of the most exciting things that can happen. Its equivalent is an ethereal base assault or defense. An early sectoid raid on your only base in february can also be exciting.