XCOM - Terror From the Deep SG

[uberfish]

Finished DPL ammo research and started on New Fighter/Transporter for displacers

Noticed our manta will take about a month to build because it takes up so much workshop space which is annoying, make a note to hire engineers at the start of the new month when our 2nd workshop finishes.

Started alien containment and another general stores in the Atlantic base, it should get a garrison and maybe psi-lab at the start of next month too.

Shot down yet another small gillman sub on floating base attack mission. Since these were getting very boring, I decided to ignore it and wait for the usual end of month terror mission, then this showed up:



Our barracuda was able to shoot the thing down.

Switched the loadout on the triton to 6 cannons, 3 rifles, 4 stun launchers, a DPL plus a bunch of melee weapons as pistols are mostly useless against lobstermen, switched a couple of the incompetent troops out for veterans and equipped everyone with Ion or better armour.

[Ug the Barbarian]

Excellent - potential casualties for the bloodthirsty lurkers

[uberfish]

Novice stepped out of the door and spotted...



"Aiiieeee! Tentaculat!" yelled Novice.

"Don't worry, I'll save you!" called out Dave, shooting his sonic cannon. He missed completely.

Amelia tossed a sonic pulser out the door as Novice chickened out and ran back into the triton before the door could shut. The alien grenade went off and when they opened the door again the Tentaculat had been blown up.

The squad started deploying, with the 5 Mag Ion armour users splitting themselves between 1 and 2 levels up to minimize the effect of DPL/grenade attacks.



Dave spotted a lobsterman behind the triton and shot it with his cannon, hitting this time. He failed to kill it but Amelia's followup stun bomb knocked it out.

A second tentaculat was hiding behind a rock to the NE. Cyneheard tossed a grenade behind the rock but failed to kill it.

Seifer spotted two more lobsters emerging to the SW and a firefight broke out between them and the floating Dave/Pling/Amelia. The lobsters lost.

To the SE another lobster sneaked out and shot T-hawk in the back but only inflicted a mild scratch through the armour for 1 damage.



Another tentaculat appeared to the SW near where the lobster firefight had taken place and was shot down by v9mark. Cyneheard, Serdoa and Selrahc focused their sonic weapons on it and killed it.

Sandover attempted to blow the NE tentaculat up with a grenade again, failing to kill it but flushing it out for Selrahc and Tatan to kill with cannons.



Another lobster popped out from cover to the SW and tossed a grenade at v9mark, injuring him but fortunately no one else.



Dave and Pling shot the lobster, failing to kill it. v9 missed but Seifer knocked it out with a stun launcher.



The squad moved up to sweep the map



T-hawk spotted the large alien sub in the opposite corner and the team advanced on it.



A lobster popped out hiding behind the UFO and shot Novice, but didn't do any damage. A tentaculat then charged out the door but had second thoughts and turned around before reaching Novice. Novice tossed a grenade at the tentaculat and long range cannon fire did for the lobster.



"These tentaculats aren't very smart for something with that large a brain," commented Tatan.

"Probably think with their tentacles" said Amelia.

"That's what she said," added Novice.

Novice's grenade went off blowing up the tentaculat, making a hole in the UFO wall and destroying the doors. Yet another tentaculat was revealed behind the hole.



v9mark tried to grenade the tentaculat but incompetently hit a nearby rock instead. No one was hurt fortunately. Serdoa and v9 managed to shoot it down as it exited the UFO.

Pling opened another entrance in the top level of the ufo with her DPL revealing a lobsterman and blowing out some of the internal walls. Seifer took it down with a stun launcher.



On the bottom level Zakalwe charged in thermic lance at the ready and killed a lobsterman, but Jkaen missed and no one else could get a good shot at the tentaculat.



"Save us from being turned into zombies Pling!" shouted Jkaen hysterically.

Pling started pushing controls on the DPL



"Er are you sure you know what you're doing?" said v9 suspiciously.

Serdoa and v9 stared in fear as the rocket flew past them, into the UFO, up to the second level, over Zakalwe's head, then blew the tentaculat up along with a large area of the second level. The tentaculat died but unfortunately it revealed three more lobstermen that had been hiding in the lift shaft.



One of the lobsters shot v9mark at close range shooting his leg off. v9 collapsed unconscious. A second lobster then tossed a grenade out the door blowing him to pieces. T-hawk and Jkaen were injured by flying body parts as the aliens dispersed.

Sonic fire and a stun bomb from Novice took care of a lobster that remained in the lift room



Zakalwe charged the two that had retreated to the east near some coffins. The lobsters clawed at him but did minimal damage through the tough ion armour.



A few quick stabs with the thermic lance disposed of the lobsters as XCOM troops rushed in to secure the second level.

Unfortunately one more lobster popped out of the southern lift room door and shot Selrahc in the face killing him immediately.

T-hawk was injured but wouldn't take the death of Selrahc lying down. He ran up the other stairs and stabbed the offending alien in the back with his vibroblade, killing it.



Turned out that was the last alien.




KIA

v9mark: Leg shot off and blown to pieces by a lobsterman grenade
Selrahc: Shot in the face by a lobsterman

Wounded: T-hawk, Jkaen and Zakalwe

[Ug the Barbarian]

Another excellent & exciting turn

Turn Order :

Haphazard <--- up
Catwalk
Ug
Dazed
Uberfish

ASM - on indefinite skip

[pling]

"Save us from being turned into zombies Pling!" shouted Jkaen hysterically.

Butbutbutbut how else do I get new things to shoot once we run out of aliens?

Wait, was that my outside voice?

Pling started pushing controls on the DPL



"Er are you sure you know what you're doing?" said v9 suspiciously.

Serdoa and v9 stared in fear as the rocket flew past them, into the UFO, up to the second level, over Zakalwe's head, then blew the tentaculat up along with a large area of the second level.

Muahahahahahahahaha! "Launch Rocket" -- that sounds like the best button

[haphazard1]

Nice mission, uberfish! And a very nice haul of loot as well.

Bigger lobsterman USOs appearing, tentaculats appearing...I think it is safe to say the aliens are not playing around any longer.

I have the save, should be able to play in the next few hours. It looks like we need to be planning for when the new workshop finishes, plus getting the second base up to speed with MC lab and garrison, etc.

[Catwalk]

Sorry for my absence, I'm playing another SG and thought I'd remembered to report it in both. I'll be home May 27th.

[Brackard]

That's a little better....

Mission 16 Update:

Active:
Sandover - MC vulnerable
Pling - MC vulnerable, can fly, shoot, AND command
DaveV v2
Rego v2
Iainuki - MC Vulnerable
Jkaen - potential MC STR
T-Hawk - MC Vulnerable
Seifer MD - MC Vulnerable
Brian Shnahan - potential MC STR
Amelia v2
ASM v2
Zakalawe2
Haphazard v4
Cyneheard v2
Fire ande Ice v2
Tatan v2
TheShiningOne v2
Ug v2
Mardoc v2
Kyan v2
Novice v2
Dicorion v2
Serdoa v2
Plako v2

MIA: PocketBeetle

Mission 16:
v9mark2 v2 died by a grenade blast, AFTER having leg blown off. Icky.
Selrahc v2 - shot in the face. Should have stayed in the rec room.

Mission 15 -
No losses!

Mission 14 -
No losses!

Mission 13 -
No losses!

Mission 12 -
Brackard v2 - Died of sonic blasts during alien ambush
Sareln v2 - Died of sonic blasts during alien ambush
Gustaran - killed by shockwave of alien grenade
Rho21 - killed by shockwave of alien grenade
Haphazard v3 - viewed head as unnecessary and had it removed by alien fire


Mission 11 - Aborted
ManBehindTheMask v2 - Reports unclear, likely torn to pices by reaciton fire
Sunrise v2 - Reports unclear, likely torn to pices by reaciton fire
David Corperial v2 - potential MC STR - Reports unclear, likely torn to pices by reaciton fire,

Mission 10 -
Ichabod - Had torso removed in response of tossing sonic pulsar (Gillman)
Lewwyn - Picked off by unseen sniper
Bob Chillingworth v2 - Killed by Sonic Cannon by Gillman (insane shot through entire building)
Darkmantle - Killed by Bob's killer while checking Bob's body

Mission 9 -
Noblehelium - died by Aquatoid grenade explosion
Meiz - Annihilated by DPL - tough loss, was MC STR
Dazed v2 - Annihilated by DPL (wasn't even showing him on active roster...)
Catwalk - Annihilated by DPL

Mission 8 -
No losses!

Mission 7 -
haphazard v2 - Killed by Serdoa (mind control), sonic grenade
Kronoz - Killed by Serdoa (mind control), sonic grenade
Krill - Killed by Serdoa (mind control), sonic grenade
Refsteel - Intentionally killed by David Corperial as a threat to the team success (mind control issues)
Plako - shot by Dicorian in Bezerk mode
Serdoa - killed by Novice as threat to team success (mind control issues)
Dicorion - klled by Pling in Bezerk mode
Novice - Hit by stray shot while unconscious

Mission 6 -
Serlhac - taken out by Aquatoid from hiding position upon early scouting
Kyan - taken out by Aquatoid falling neatly right next to original point man early scouting
Amelia - looked like she was hit while trying to throw a flare, avenged by Plako
Mardoc - last one to leave the shuttle, wishes he had as he was shot down in advancing on the sub
Ug - Undetermined
TheShiningOne - Undetermined

Mission 5
No losses!

Mission 4
Tatan - Ambushed by alien behind rock - loss of internal organs (Aquatoid)
Fire and Ice - ambushed from behind same rock as Tatan - loss of head (Aquatoid)

Mission 3
Sareln - Killed by shot of sudden appearnce of gillman
v8mark - Killed by gillman in response to Fire and Ice disgracing it with a grenade shot
ASM - killed by gillman who suddenly appeared
Zakalwe - Fried by deep one leading the charge between some buildings

Mission 2
Dazed - shot in chest by Aquatoid
Sunrise - shot in the back by Aquatoid when scrambling for cover
Cyneheard - killed by grenade by Aquatoid
Brackard - killed by grenade by Aquatoid
David Corperial - killed by grenade by Aquatoid
Selrahc - killed by grenade by Aquatoid

Mission 1:
Bob Chillingworth - Shot by Aquatoid ending in crumpled heap
Haphazard - shot between the eyes by Aquatoid
Man Behind the Mask - Reaction fire from hiding Aquatoid
Rego - shot in head by Aquatoid
Dave - shot in heart by Aquatoid inside ship

Recruits:
Skyranger Pilot
Refsteel v2
Krill v2
Kronoz v2
Meiz v2
Catwalk v2
Noblehelium v2
Dazed v3
Ichabod v2
Lewwyn v2
Bob Chillingworth v3
Darkmantle v2

[haphazard1]

OK, turnset played, quite an exciting struggle. Unfortunately my brain failed to remember which game I was playing and I used the wrong key for screenshots, so I have no images. Would have worked fine in Wesnoth....

Turnset started on May 28th with about $3.7 million, so we are in very good shape. I don't want to recruit anyone so close to the end of the month, but I go ahead and start an MC Lab at our second base. We will have troops there to be assigned for July, we might even want two MC Labs there so we can screen more troops per month. I do go ahead and transfer some weapons and gear to the second base, so our soon-to-be-recruited defenders will have something to fight with.

I leave the small gillman USO alone and it vanishes during the night. The next day a small lobsterman cruiser on an alien interdiction mission appears but it outruns our Barracuda -- the new fighter sub can not be finished soon enough.

A General Stores module finishes at our second base, and the same lobsterman cruiser is briefly (like 5 seconds) visible over the Med (its reported destination). I send the Atlantic Barracuda to search but it finds nothing.

All remains quiet for the rest of May. Our sponsors are very happy with our excellent month (2135 score!) and boost funding by $760 000.

I assign 20 aquanauts to MC Implantation at our main base, and recruit 10 aquanauts for our second base. I also recruit 36 additional techs, as the second workshop will be done by the time they actually show up.

Less than 30 minutes into the new month, we receive an alert for a shipping attack off the west coast of North America. Time to get to work, so I assign some extra soldiers and tinker with the equipment load, then send out the Triton. Too bad I forgot that DPL launchers do not work out of water...oh well.

The Triton lands at the north end of the ship on a playing field of some sort. We are surrounded by a balcony on the deck above us -- perfect sniping positions for aliens. I would complain about the Triton pilot, but I guess there aren't really many places you can land an assault sub on a cruise ship.

Round 1

Cyneheard v2 opens the hatch and moves south after not seeing anything at first. He spots a gillman on the upper balcony (what did I tell you?). Novice v2 steps out of the hatch and calmly shoots it in the head.

The squad starts deploying, moving for the two exits from our landing area: a stairway to the balcony in the west, and a door to the east.

IBT we hear a single civilian die.

Round 2

Pling leads a squad through the east door, finding some rooms and a corridor leading south. Dave V 2.0 leads the rest of the troops up the stairs to the west. No aliens are seen, and IBT nothing happens. Where are the aliens?

Round 3

Seifer MD leads several soldiers upstairs in the east, gaining a vantage point on the second deck. The west squad also reaches the second deck.

IBT we hear two civilians killed, then we see a glimpse of a grenade being thrown. It explodes, and an alien death scream is heard. A poor throw, methinks.

Round 4

Sandover on the west deck approaches the stairs back down and gets shot at by an alien lurking below. No one has LOS, so he pulls back. (This was a perfect opportunity for a DPL...and I discovered they don't work out of water. )

Iainuki on the second deck moves towards the doors into a large dining area, and is shot through a window, fortunately for no damage. He looks but can not see the shooter.

On the lower deck Pling continues advancing south down the east corridor, coming to an intersection. There is a dead civilian, but no aliens visible.

IBT we spot a gillman in the dining area elevator, and a deep one in the cross corridor.

Round 5

Sandover approaches the stairs down from the north this time, and sights the lurking gillman who shot at him last round. He kills it with an aimed shot.

Iainuki enters the dining area and spots a gillman behind the bar. Sampling earth's alcoholic beverages, perhaps? Iainuki shoots but misses, and the gillman fires back and hits twice. No damage, though -- Ion armor is great stuff. Iainuki fires and this time connects, killing the gill man.

No one can get LOS on the gillman in the dining area elevator; hopefully it won't kill anyone.

On the lower deck Pling kills the deep one spotted last round.

IBT a gill man walks out of the west corridor and shoots Novice v2, injuring him badly (6 health left). Our reaction fire misses.

The elevator gillman walks around a bit but doesn't fire. A civilian on the third deck is shot from the southeast.

Round 6

Pling plays medic and heals Novice v2's two critical wounds. He somehow manages to prime a grenade and pass it to Amelia2 during this, and she throws it to the west corridor corner where the gill man walked out of sight.

SeiferMD mvoes south along the eastern edge of the second deck and spots a gill man, probably the one who shot the civilian. Serdoa v2 fires twice and kills it.

Inside the dining area, Iainuki moves to the elevator, opens the door, and blasts the gill man. Cyneheard v2 is also in the dining area, and spots 2 aliens down some stairs to the south but can not get LOS.

(I regret not having the screenshots to make the layout of the ship clearer; there are stairs and elevators and balconies all around, with lots of places for aliens to lurk. I have to split the squad up into smaller and smaller groups, trying to cover all possible areas while slowly sweeping south. It is a very difficult environment.)

IBT the grenade kills the gillman in the west corridor. A deep one moves around on the third deck's west side.

Round 7

Dicorian v2 goes down the dining area's east elevator, finding nothing. Iainuki goes down the west elevator and finds a deep one. He fires and misses, so he retreats back up the elevator. (I realize after the move that this was a mistake -- the bottom armor is the weakest aspect of our defenses. )

Cyneheard v2 moves closer to the stairs down and spots a gillman and deep one lurking below. He shoots the gillman but can not get LOS on the deep one, so he retreats again.

Dave V 2.0 climbs some stairs to the third deck's west side, and spots the deep one to the south which was seen moving earlier. His angle is bad, so Kyan v2 throws a grenade next to it.

IBT the grenade kills the deep one. Iainuki is shot but takes no damage, but a deep one and a gillman rise up the elevator next to him! Another deep one is spotted on the third deck near the just exploded one; it heads south into the gaming area.

Round 8

Iainuki blasts the gill man and deep one sharing his elevator at point blank range -- "This is a fancy restaurant! No shirt, no shoes, no service!"

Cyneheard v2 moves south and spots yet another gill man down that same set of stairs, along with the same deep one as before. In a repeat of last round he shoots the gill man but can't get LOS on the deep one, and retreats.

Squads are continuing to move south through the east and west corridors on the lower deck, along the sides of the second deck, and moving onto the third deck. With lots of rooms to check and angles to cover, progress is slow.

IBT something shoots at Cyneheard from below the same set of stairs, but misses.

Round 9

Amelia2 is moving south in the west corridor, and finally gets LOS on the deep one below Cyneheard v2's stairs. She kills it with an aimed shot.

We continue advancing south. Serdoa v2 has moved up to the third deck and is heading for stairs to the top deck. Brian Shanahan finishes checking the northwest area and moves to rejoin the group moving down the west corridor.

IBT...zzzzzz.

Round 10

More moving south. Serdoa v2 reaches the top deck, so we finally have someone on all levels.

IBT...zzzzzz.

Round 11

haphazard v4 has been checking rooms, and opens a door to find a gillman. He blasts it with a shok bomb.

Cyneheard v2 has moved south into the second dining area, and spots a deep one behind some crates. His first shot blasts a crate, but the second kills the alien.

Dave V 2.0 enters the third deck gambling area through a destroyed wall and spots the deep one which was moving around a couple turns ago. He blasts it.

IBT...zzzzzz. The alien round is getting shorter, which is a good sign.

Round 12

Kyan v2 reaches the south end of the ship. More rooms are checked....

IBT...zzzzzz.

Round 13

Only the south end of the bottom deck (state rooms) and the south end of the top deck remain to be checked.

Round 14

More checking.... IBT a gill man squad leader goes berserk, revealing his location.

Round 15

Pling kills the berserk gill man, and the first part of the mission is over.

Throughout the first mission segment, I had our troops picking up weapons from dead aliens so they would carry over to the second mission segment. This was also helpful for our troops armed with DPL (useless) and Shok Launchers (not really needed against gill men and deep ones).

First mission segment honorable mention: Iainuki (4 kills)

We descend the cargo elevator to the lower decks....

Round 1

Our troops are overloaded, so everyone drops extra weapons and gear. Now that the second mission has started, nothing will be lost. Assuming we complete the mission, of course....

The lower decks are a horrible maze. Tons of little rooms, with lots of areas that are multi-level with mesh gratings on the upper levels so you can sort of see between levels. Many upper levels have open sides where your troops can drop through to the lower levels, and there are many stairs and elevators. The layout is even tougher than the first mission segment, IMO.

Sandover spots a deep one on the grates above but has no LOS. Serdoa v2 has an opening and kills it.

Cyneheard v2 spots a gill man above and kills it with an aimed shot.

IBT a gill man pops out from behind some crates and kills a civilian. Sandover reaction fires but misses.

Round 2

Sandover tries again and this time connects, killing the gill man.

IBT two more civilians are killed. Lots (lots and lots) of door/elevator sounds are heard.

Round 3

The starting area is very cluttered, so movement is slow as our troops shuffle in file towards the two exits. Pling is leading the way through the hatch on the second deck, while Dave V 2.0 leads a squad to the elevator.

IBT we see 4 gill men and a deep one moving about. Amelia2 reacts and kills a deep one when it opens the door in front of her. Pling is shot 3 times and injured, but reacts and kills one of her gill man attackers.

Round 4

Amelia2 moves through the hatch and drops off the grating to the lower deck, where she finds a deep one and kills it.

Brian Shanahan breaks out his medkit and heals Pling's 3 critical wounds. Our fearless leader dismisses them as "just flesh wounds" and sets off in pursuit of the other two gill men who shot her.

Dave V 2.0's troops deploy out of the elevator onto the third and fourth decks, which are more corridors lined with state rooms. Lots and lots of places to check...I wish I had more soldiers, as there are not enough to cover everywhere. I prefer to have a bit more support and not be so spread out.

IBT two more civilians die. A gill man shoots at Tatan v2 but misses; Tatan v2 reacts with accuracy and the gill man is killed.

One of the gill men she is chasing takes a shot at Pling but misses; she blasts it apart with her sonic cannon. Two more gillman are visible to her north and east.

Round 5

Tatan v2 spots another gillman and kills it.

Pling goes through a hatch and finds another gill man, and kills it. Checking the next hatch she spots yet another gill man, but is low on TUs so she hides behind the wall.

IBT Serdoa v2 is shot by a gill man but takes no damage. He returns fire but misses. Somewhere, a gill man squad leader panics.

Round 6

Serdoa v2 advances north, and takes another shot at the annoying gill man who shot him. This time he kills it.

Pling opens the hatch again and spots the same gill man. With plenty of TUs this round she kills it with an aimed shot. Since she was shot, Pling has killed a gill man each round for four consecutive rounds -- wounding her only makes her more dangerous!

Brian Shanahan on the level directly below Pling moves through two hatches and spots a gill man. He kills it with a snap shot, only to reveal a deep one directly behind it. SeiferMD drops down from the level above and kills the deep one.

IBT a gill man is spotted north of Serdoa v2. The alien round is getting shorter.

Round 7

Serdoa v2 moves north and spots the moving gill man; a quick aimed shot removes the problem.

Sandover opens a hatch and finds a gill man staring him in the face. So he shoots it in the face.

IBT we hear a door open; the alien round is very short now, maybe one or two aliens left.

Round 8

Serdoa v2 moves north into another multi-level area and spots an alien lurking in the darkness on the lower level. He shoots and kills it, revealing that it was a deep one.

Lots of rooms are being checked and cleared, but there is still a LOT of ship left to check. Bug hunt underway!

The TFTD AI pathing algorithm for your troops isn't very good -- Pling walks off the side of a grating and falls to the level below when given a simple command to advance to a door.

IBT we get a glimpse of movement, but I can not pin down just where it was.

Round 9

From her new position on the lower level, Pling moves north and spots a deep one. She immediately shoots it. I take back what I said about the pathing algorithm -- there is method in her madness!

IBT is just a brief blink; there must be only one more alien somewhere in the ship.

Rounds 10 - 12

More rooms to check, corridors to advance down, etc. Finally in the IBT after round 12 the gill man squad leader panics and reveals his position.

Round 13

Amelia2 is closest, and manages to gain sight of the last alien. She shoots the gill man and the mission is complete (at last!).

We score 890 points and collect a lot of loot. And no losses, although Pling will be in hospital for 2 days and Novice v2 for considerably longer. With the new soliders recruited for the second base we also get a bunch of promotions -- Pling is now a Captain, and Sandover advances to Commander.

Overall mission MVAK (most valuable alien killer) is Pling with 7 kills. Amelia2 and Serdoa v2 got 5 each, and Cyneheard v2 and Iainuki got 4 apiece. In fact, if I have tallied correctly only Dicorion v2 did not get a kill; everyone else got at least 1.

I sell the fresh corpses but nothing else; we now have $2.74 million. There are plenty of weapons if we need to raise more cash. I play through the end of June 1st (about 4 hours game time), and the second workshop finishes. I assign the 14 idle techs to the Manta project, cutting the time to 10 days or so. Once the 36 new techs arrive in 2 more days this should drop to about 4 days, so maybe 6 more days total.

Once the new sub is done, we need to build sonic oscillators to arm it. Then maybe some more armor, a few more medkits -- we are getting a bit low.

Research on the new fighter/transporter Hammerhead completes as well, and I start Heavy Thermic Lance for lack of better options. We should probably start researching some of the live aliens, although the new alien containment at the second base will finish soon. Also we should research Alien Origins now that Hammerhead is done, just so that we do not forget to have it done before we capture and interrogate a lobsterman commander.

From Catwalk's message he will not be back until the 27th, so I believe Ug is next.

Ug <--- up
Dazed
Uberfish
Haphazard

Catwalk - out until May 27th
ASM - on indefinite skip

[Ug the Barbarian]

OK got it & will try and play later today.

Well played turn (apart from the screenshots & DPL )