Fenn Vs X-COM

[haphazard1]

Nice work clearing the base! Those are tough missions. So many, many corrners and elevators and rooms for aliens to hide in. But the haul of loot is huge, nd will pay for a lot of X-COM expansion. Losing a funding nation this early hurts, but I believe it is guaranteed to happen when a base is established. I am sort of surprised the base was not actually in the UK, though.

I am amazed I survived, and even more amazed I managed to hit anything with that accuracy score. Hopefully this clone will improve a bit, or he is not going to be very useful. "I can hit the broad side of a barn -- sometimes! I can throw accurately -- but not very far! And I can't carry very much." Not the most impressive soldier on the X-COM roster....

[Fenn]

Part 15 - Paris Terror

Selling stuff from the alien base raises a massive five million - enough for Hyper-Wave Decoders in Australia, South America and Canada with more left over. Presently, interrogation the Floater Medic finishes, giving info on Floaters themselves and Cyberdisc wrecks. Neither are especially illuminating, but it's more points at least.


Not half an hour later, reports come in of an all-out attack on Paris - revenge for the alien bases's destruction perhaps? Either way, X-COM had better get over there before they topple the Eiffel Tower or something.



Joining the team for this mission are two new recruits, both pleasantly accurate. Hopefully they won't die immediately.

Since this is a terror mission, we're going to go in heavy:

Okay, maybe not that heavy. Here we go:


The aliens have rolled out the red carpet as usual. That Floater with the black gun looks the most dangerous, so the rocket tank kicks off the proceedings like so:


The pistol-toting Floater shoots up the tank but only scratches the paint off.


haphazard has an angle on that guy, and practices his aim. It's a direct hit, and the second Floater goes down! Nobody else can move with the tank in the way, so the squad drops smoke and waits.


The first alien turn takes about a minute to resolve, as countless civilians are pitilessly gunned down or eaten. No X-COM agents died however, so overall it's a great success.


There is something of a Reaper congregation around the Skyranger, though.


More like a mob of them. The tank rockets the western group, killing one, and moves forward to let the humans step off the ramp.


haphazard reports another Floater behind this Reaper. This place is thick with aliens, isn't it?


At this close range haphazard has no trouble hitting them both in one burst.


Lewwyn burns a hole in this Reaper with his Heavy Laser...


El Grillo blasts the northeast one and throws his smoke grenade...


...And there's another one. A rocket here, if it hit at all, would certainly obliterate the civilian as well, so Quagma Blast instead throws his smoke grenade and steps aside -


Into sight of a seventh Reaper.


It's a good thing those weren't Cyberdiscs, or everyone might well be dead by now.

Now the rest of the squad takes turns missing the Reaper off to the west. That civilian is on her own.


(She died.)


Turn 3 opens with two more Reapers incoming. The rocket tank knocks one unconscious...


And haphazard scores a lethal shot on the other.


The other Reaper, jaws no doubt dripping with gore, is still around. REM gives it a laser shot and steps aside for Quagma to blow it up.


Or, for his rocket to sail overhead and blow up some gas pumps instead.


RefSteel and his Autocannon do a better job of it.


Old Harry doesn't get far before catching sight of still another Reaper; he drops it with an auto-burst. Someday this squad will make it out of the landing zone.


Turn 4: Molach checks the alleys to the west and finds only a civilian.


Lewwyn has better luck, though he misses his snapshot.


More for REM, then.


El Grillo moves north before coming under fire; turning, he sees a Floater using a civilian as a human shield. There's no easy way to shoot around the civvie.


Lucky for her, DaveV is on the job; he lines up his shot and drills the Floater with two laser bursts.


Old Harry and the tank are going to clear out the north end; the tank will sit out in the open to act as bait.


Turn 5 gives OH two targets to shoot at. This Floater gets an auto burst...


...As does his Reaper friend. It's not enough to kill though.


Meanwhile, El Grillo's been checking the houses in the east end. He spots a Floater just as he's about to run out of TUs, so it's all he can do to duck into cover. Maybe the soldiers still near the Skyranger can help out.


haphazard and DaveV try shooting a path through the house, and even manage a hit, but the Floater stays standing.


But as it turns out, Quagma Blast now has a line of fire; his rocket flies true and blows up the Floater, capping off an unprobable attempt on its life.


In the north, Whosit has some success sending a rocket up the Reaper's nose.


In the west, Mardoc, RefSteel and Lewwyn have cleared the gas station and found nothing moving.


The only ground not covered is in the northeast, and it's here that the tank finds a Floater. It retreats into the smoke and manages to escape notice.


Next turn, Old Harry spies another Floater off in the distance. He tries a pair of aimed shots but neither land.


Whosit gives it a go; his rocket flies way off, striking the house Old Harry's in and killing...an alien? Old Harry is barely injured from the blast. I can't believe that worked out.


Anyway, the tank solves the Floater problem.


The turn after that, the tank reveals the eastern Floater again. DaveV crouches, takes aim and shoots him right between the eyes.


During the alien turn a Floater went berserk on this lamppost; the tank moves forward and sees both him and a panicked comrade.


This tank is more accurate than the last model; it's dead-on with this shot.


DaveV disposes of the other one.


El Grillo finds one more hiding against a house. It strikes me that I should probably capture some of these guys...


Just kidding, Quagma Blast explodes him.


A flawless victory! Not often you see that.


The new recruits acquitted themselves very well too. There's a new sense of confidence around X-COM headquarters; if this is all the aliens have, maybe this war won't be so difficult.

[Fenn]

I am amazed I survived, and even more amazed I managed to hit anything with that accuracy score. Hopefully this clone will improve a bit, or he is not going to be very useful. "I can hit the broad side of a barn -- sometimes! I can throw accurately -- but not very far! And I can't carry very much." Not the most impressive soldier on the X-COM roster....

About that...

Your soldier is making great strides towards usefulness:


He's at least hitting the gym.

That said, DaveV has everybody else beat:


I don't know if I've ever had a soldier live long enough to make it above 80 Firing Accuracy - it's great to be able to snipe with Laser Rifles. It'll be all the more devastating when he dies, of course. Maybe he has horrendous Psi Strength too.

[DaveV]

DaveV has ... above 80 Firing Accuracy ... Maybe he has horrendous Psi Strength too.

That's usually how it works. I'll probably get mind controlled and use that phenomenal accuracy to slaughter my mates.

[Mardoc]

So do soldiers get better over time, or per mission, or what? I take it improvements are random? Can soldiers go backward?

Do they improve enough that you should plan around it, or is it just a bonus?

[RefSteel]

Dear Diary,

The squad's getting good at this! I didn't see much action myself considering how many aliens we took down, but score one more for me and Blazing Betty! Plus the Eiffel Tower is saved! ... I think! None of our stray rockets knocked it over, right?

Better still, nobody died! ... I mean, except all those civilians, but I'm pretty sure we saved more of them this time around than in all the previous terror missions combined!

...although, okay, so maybe that's kind of faint praise.

Yours always,
Colonel RefSteel (Clone #3)
(I was gonna have Blazing Betty sign it too, but then the page would be on fire. And my desk. And the room.)

[Whosit]

From the Desk of Squaddie Whosit
May 5, 1999

What with all the alien attacks going on, I thought I should finally do something to help out. That's when I heard about X-COM: "We're always hiring!" they said. That's never a bad sign! So I put in an application and I got a call back the very next day! Strangely, the only interview questions were "can you hit the broad side of a barn, sometimes?" and "do you have a good life insurance policy?" They hired me right on the spot! The pay isn't great, and the job doesn't have a lot of health benefits, but they say I'll get a neat gun and a cool uniform. Oh, and they took a blood sample then put a weird helmet on my head to "scan my brain signature." I asked what for and they told me I'd find out eventually. Not ominous at all!

Sounds like I'll be having my first mission soon. A "Terror Mission" in Paris. I've always wanted to see France. I asked the more experienced guys what I should expect and they all just got really quiet and a few started to freak out, I think. Weird. Well, I'm going to give it my best!

--------

2nd Entry:

As soon as the landing ramp went down I thought we were going to die! The aliens had the ship completely surrounded! The tank and the rest of the squad got them cleared out, but I don't think I'm ever going to forget those screams.... At least I got to blow up two of those alien scum! I think it was two. I think I singed Old Harry a little there. In any case, the brass gave me a promotion as soon as I got back! I asked if I'd get a pay raise along with the promotion and they just laughed. But, hey, at least it's a nice ribbon to put on my uniform.

[Fenn]

So do soldiers get better over time, or per mission, or what?  I take it improvements are random?  Can soldiers go backward?

Do they improve enough that you should plan around it, or is it just a bonus?

Soldiers improve their stats as they go on missions (stats never decrease); which stats and by how much depends on the stat in question.

Primary stats like Firing Accuracy, Reactions and Bravery go up when you perform the associated action - for instance, every time you hit an alien with a shot adds to your chances of increasing Firing Accuracy after the battle. If you land 1-2 shots during a mission you can expect a 0-2 point increase, whereas if you land 11 or more you'll gain between 2-6 Firing Accuracy afterwards.

Secondary stats (Health, TUs, Strength etc) have a chance of going up as long as the agent performed at least one primary action (except throwing) during a mission. The amount that a secondary attribute increases ranges from zero, to two plus a tenth of the remaining increase possible (ie the stat cap minus your current value). So, weak soldiers gain strength pretty quickly, then slow down as they approach the maximum strength, which is 70.

Putting it together, weak secondary stats can be expected to improve quickly, while primary stats tend to increase steadily. Low Strength will fix itself in a few missions, but bad Firing Accuracy will take a while to go away, especially since making those successful shots is harder! In practice, while agents can become quite a lot stronger as they go on, it's very easy to die no matter how good your stats are. And if you place your best soldiers where they're most useful, they're at constant risk of death. In an Ironman game like this, they don't last long enough on average to become supersoldiers.

Does that all make sense?

[haphazard1]

Another successful mission! And I even hit some aliens!  Practice does pay off -- more time down at the range with the other agents is on my schedule. Assuming any of us survive that long, of course.

[Dreylin]

 more time down at the range with the other agents is on my schedule.

Just so long as we're not using each other as targets again; now that was Initiation taken too far!