Undefined Fantastic Object: Enemy Unknown (Let's Play X-COM!)

[Kasu]

Hey Hanzo.  You gettin' ready for an awesome upgrade?

Also, plasma weapons for the win.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

We've shot down and recovered another alien craft.





In addition, we've neutralized a ship which appears to be the same type as the one used for attacks on cities. The ship crashed in Siberia, far from civilization; recovery is not a priority.




Research division has finished analyzing another piece of alien munitions. It appears to use a combination of concussive force and gases to knock out targets. We're still working on studying the accompanying launcher.



Construction work at Savannah continues. We should be ready to launch intercepts from there in roughly a month.




An alien craft we were pursuing landed in Central Asia. It's been a long time since deployed ground forces to a ship without shooting it down first; hopefully we're still prepared.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

The UFO we planned to intercept on the ground took off before we could land, but was quickly shot down by interceptors overhead. It was recovered in good condition (?good condition? meaning we didn't blow the hell out of the engine like we usually do).




Another UFO was shot down over the ocean, where we can't recover it.





In the meantime, we appear to have a problem. Two UFOs have landed in Washington, DC. As the United States has already made a pact with the aliens, we believe that this is an attempt to extract more from the deal, possibly to obtain another base.

[Kasu]

I'm wondering if we should take this chance to destroy their American base.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Shortly after the alien envoys in Washington departed, we spotted two more ships.






One was a small surveillance craft that was quickly destroyed. The second, an unidentified medium-sized ship, was shot down over the southern tip of South America.

A team consisting of Kusanagi, Mr. Bob, Anthony and Hanzo's HWPs, and several rookies was deployed to the crash site.



KUSANAGI: Okay, we're ready to deploy.




ANTHONY: Looks like the ship has two entrances. There's a Jade in front of one of them.



ANTHONY: That wasn't exactly a direct hit, but still, how is something STILL standing after that?



ANTHONY: And of course, there HAS to be one in the blind spot. HWP's taken a bit of damage, but it's still running.



HANZO: I've got this one.



STRONGARM: I've got this one.
ANTHONY: Wai ? wha? A rocket didn't do anything and you bring it down with one of those puny HE rounds?



KUSANAGI: I'm spotting another Jade from overhead.



ANTHONY: Oh, this is just wonderful. I'm stuck in the god damned sand here.



STRONGARM: We've got another Jade over here!



HAWKEYE: One down!



KUSANAGI: The one here's down too.



HANZO: Spotted another Jade. Just how many are they packing into the ship, is it like some interstellar tin of anchovies?



HAWKEYE: Got it.



HAWKEYE: Hm, another one.





HANZO: Again, how many of these are there?



HANZO: Looks clear outside. Anthony's HWP is stuck in the sand and neither of us can get them in the ship, so it's up to you from here.



KUSANAGI: Bottom level of the ship looks clear. Looks like the interceptors blew out the engine again and...



KUSANAGI: Is that what I think it is?



MR. BOB: We're at the other end, and I think it is.



KUSANAGI: Okay, get ready to move up to the upper levels of the ship.



STRONGARM: We've got a Jade up here.



STRONGARM: It's down. Heavyset and Hawkeye are coming up after me.




HEAVYSET: Damn it! Hawkeye and Strongarm are down!



HEAVYSET: Hey, you!





QUICKDRAW: You too!





Despite two casualties, we were able to recover the ship. In addition, we have recovered weapons and ammunition for our use from the crew.

[Kasu]

Sucks about the casualties, but at least we got some more stuff.

[Doll.S CUBE]

Cows, seriously :/

[mad]

I want to get flight, if my stats support that.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

I want to get flight, if my stats support that.

We'll get the flying suits to all high-ranking agents as soon as we can, it's just a matter of how quickly we can produce them.

[Mr_Bob]

>Nooo! Hawkeye! Strongarm! You may not have been very memorable, but Mr. Bob will remember you. Rest well comrades. *Salute*

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

We've received four new agents at Firstlight to replace our combat losses. Americom and Pacific Watch should be receiving additional personnel as well; ideally, they should eventually be able to carry out field operations as well.


Some of the engineers from Firstlight's manufacturing division have been transferred to Americom to prepare for craft production there.





We've finished analyzing the power supply for the ?heavy plasma?, giving us access to one of the most powerful alien weapons.




A medium-sized ship was shot down over South America; we're preparing for recovery operations.

[Kasu]

Aw yeah.  Now we can use some epic plasma based stuff.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

After equipping the Firstlight team with new agents and equipment, we moved out to the crashed ship in Brazil.



KUSANAGI: Okay, we're ready to move.



HANZO: Can't see jack down here. Hopefully their vision isn't any better than ours.



?MULE?: I've got incendiary rounds ready to go.



HANZO: Grenade hit the HWP. It's damaged but still running.



HANZO: Hard to tell, but it looks like I'm picking up a Jade. It's like they have camouflage or something.



KUSANAGI: I can't get a clear shot through all the foliage.



?MULE?: Deadeye's in position to take the shot.



HANZO: Target confirmed down.



?PANIC ATTACKER?: Setting out flares.



?MULE?: Spotting another Jade.



?DEADEYE?: Got it.




HANZO: Picking up multiple targets!



KUSANAGI: One down!
MADNESS CHASER: I've got the other one!



?PANIC ATTACKER?: Another Jade coming this way!



KUSANAGI: We don't have a clear shot yet. Get behind cover!



KUSANAGI: Mule!



KUSANAGI: We've got a clear shot now... WHY WON'T YOU DIE?




HANZO: Another Jade down!



MADNESS CHASER: And another!



HANZO: HWP's down. Research division STILL doesn't have those better ones ready yet?



MADNESS CHASER: Yet another Jade down. These things don't stop coming!



?IRON LADY? I've set a proximity grenade next to the door. Something comes through there, we'll know.



?DEADEYE?: Looks like that ?something? showed up pretty fast. I got this one.

?PANIC ATTACKER?: That explosion knocked out the flares, I'm setting up a new one!



?PANIC ATTACKER?: Hoo boy.



?DEADEYE?: Got this one too. Hold on, another one's coming out!



?DEADEYE?: Damn it, Panic Attacker's down!
?IRON LADY?: Don't stop firing!



?IRON LADY?: There's another one!



?IRON LADY?: Stun bomb, huh. Stop wasting my time.




MADNESS CHASER: Sometimes I impress myself, even.



KUSANAGI: All right, does it look like there's any more?

[END TRANSMISSION]



Despite the loss of two rookies and a HWP, we did fairly well here, recovering several live aliens and alien craft parts. Selling the excess equipment we've recovered from crash sites recently has netted us large amounts of money, roughly on par with the money we receive from the international community. And to think, if we were doing this to humans it would be called ?piracy?.



A good amount of our field staff have been promoted. Purvis is now the commander of field combat operations for all of X-COM. Several other agents have also received promotions.

[Kasu]

Friggin' Jades always seem to show up in large numbers.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Pacific Watch and Americom have received new personnel; for now they're merely on security detail, but eventually they should be able to supplement Firstlight's field operations.









We've also received an influx of new rookies at Firstlight.




Research division's finished reverse-engineering the stun bomb launcher we've recovered from the aliens. We should have a lot less trouble capturing live aliens when we need to.



More important than our weapons development, research division has finally managed to obtain some intelligence from interrogating captured aliens. Coincidentally, one of the aliens we captured from the Phillipines base happens to be some type of high-ranking leader; interrogating it should net us further information on the source of the invasion.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Two superheavy alien ships appeared in American airspace. We don't have the firepower to bring one of them down, let alone two. We can only assume they're here to act as envoys to try and force a pact with another nation or to continue contact with the US.




We got two more agents at Firstlight.




Research division's finished the plasma cannon. At first I thought it would be a disappointment like the laser was, but I'm amazed. Superior range and power to even our Avalanches, and doesn't require reloading like conventional weapons. All I can say is it would have been nice to have this earlier.

While the plasma beam would make an ideal HWP weapon, it's simply too heavy. We'd have to design a new chassis outright if we'd want to use it on the battlefield.




We've had manufacturing at Firstlight cancel all other projects to focus on making the new plasma beams. Unfortunately, they require a significant quantity of Elerium, most of which we transferred to Americom to save space.



On the other hand, we know exactly where to get more.

[Kasu]

Who's ready for a base raid?

[Doll.S CUBE]

Me

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

A six-person team with HWP backup was sent to the American base. Kusanagi was put in charge of the ground team, Purvis overseeing the operation from Firstlight.

PURVIS: What's your situation?





DOLL SOLDIER: Deadeye and Anthony's HWP are on the east side with me, everyone else is on the west.



ANTHONY: I'm scouting the place out... looks like some sort of warehouse.



ANTHONY: Whoa... scanners are lighting up. Looks like snakemen. Knowing our luck, those OTHER aliens are going to be here too...



ANTHONY: Well, that's one down. Going to give the aliens credit for not storing anything too volatile down here.



DEADEYE: That's another one.



CHAORE: Okay, got it. We're moving out over here.



ANTHONY: I totally saw this coming, by the way.



ANTHONY: Hopefully the HWP can take the rocket's blast at this range.



ANTHONY: Well, on the other hand, we know who can't.



ANTHONY: Wait, another one?



ANTHONY: GET. OFF.



ANTHONY: Eh, I'm not going to miss that tank.



ACIDUS: Looks like there's some elevators back there. I'm setting a proximity grenade in case they try to ambush us.



HANZO: Well, judging by the the funky lights and the increase in things trying to kill us, I think I'm getting close to the core.




?DEADEYE?: Damn I'm good.



ACIDUS: Looks like there's a snakeman overseeing the warehouse.



?DEADEYE?: I've got the door if it comes back down.



ACIDUS: That won't be necessary.



DOLL SOLDIER: Another snakeman down.



HANZO: Continuing forward and ?



HANZO: Acidus, what was that about making sure we don't get ambushed?



DOLL SOLDIER: Snakeman at close range!





CHAORE: Snakeman's in the open... damn, missed!



KUSANAGI: I've got this one.
PURVIS: Not picking up many more life signs... proceed to the core.



KUSANAGI: Acidus brought down what looks to be the leader here, I've got the other one in my sights.

PURVIS: Scanners are still picking up something in the base. Proceed with caution.




?DEADEYE?: I'm seeing something above me in the gravlift here, bringing it down.



This mission was a grand success. Other than the destruction of two nearly-obsolete tanks, we suffered no combat losses during this mission.



While we recovered less Elerium than we hoped to, it's still enough to start production of enough plasma cannons for two interceptors. We're bringing some more Elerium back from Americom to build more.

[ES-Anthy]

Gaginger Zeta you shall be missed ;_;

[Kasu]

That went better then expected.

Does that mean the base is gone, or was that only a warehouse?

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

That went better then expected.

Does that mean the base is gone, or was that only a warehouse?

The warehouse was only a small portion of the base; the whole thing's been demolished.

[Kasu]

The warehouse was only a small portion of the base; the whole thing's been demolished.

Do we know how the Americans took to the news?

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Do we know how the Americans took to the news?

Unfortunately, they're still committed to that pact with the aliens and denying us funding.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Enough work's been completed at Savannah that we can start moving personnel in soon.

We've started equipping the interceptors with the plasma beams as they come off the assembly line.



Research division's been busy at work. They've finally finished their work on designing a new interceptor craft.



The so-called ?Firestorm? is an Elerium-powered craft built from reverse-engineered alien technology. It is significantly faster and more durable than our current interceptors, but has a smaller operational range.



They believe they should be able to develop a combination interceptor-transport by combining elements of the Firestorm and Skyranger designs.



In addition to the Firestorm, we've combined the concepts from the alien craft designs to design a new HWP chassis. With an Elerium-based engine and antigravity capability, it's easily capable of using the plasma cannons. In other words, Anthony and Hanzo have a kickass new toy.



In addition, we've finished interrogating the Indigo leader. Turns out they're called ?Floaters?. Hmm. We still need a bit of time to analyze the information we obtained.

[Kasu]

Hurray for new toys!

[Doll.S CUBE]

I wished the Firestorm craft looked better.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Several agents at Firstlight have been further promoted following a routine field operation.









Savannah has received their first batch of personnel. Once radar comes online, it will be fully functional.



As predicted, another nation has made a pact with the aliens, effectively leaving North America in extraterrestrial control. Americom will now focus mainly on operations in South America.




Another base has been discovered in the United States, not far from the one we previously shut down. Once we have rearmed with new HWPs and other weapons, we will go after this facility.

[Kasu]

Dammit Canada.  What the hell.

[Tamer Anode/Cathode]

Radar spotted an alien craft which had landed near Gibraltar; we recovered it completely intact.




We've retrofitted a few more interceptors with the new plasma beams.



A workshop at Americom is now functional, meaning we can start manufacturing Firestorm craft.




With the pricetag for building our new equipment, though, we should wait until we've salvaged and sold some more alien devices.





After losing several agents to ambushes, research division decided to go ahead with the motion scanner project they'd suggested early on. Its range is small, making it ineffective on open terrain; however, when investigating a building or alien craft it should prove valuable.



Despite our best efforts to intercept the attack craft, alien forces have launched a strike on Karachi. We are immediately deploying to the city.