Fenn Vs. Terror From the Deep

[Fenn]

Great mission! One of your image tags is broken though.

Good catch, I wonder how I messed that up in the first place.

[Brian Shanahan]

Dear Diary,

Found another of those alien submersible things.  Didn't waste time shooting this time, since there weren't any barns to practice on - or at least not with their broad sides facing me.  I was a little ashamed of having to lob a grenade to take out one of the aliens - would've been nice to get its corpse back for the brass so they could ... uh ... whatever it is they do to get resources out of those things.  "Sell"?  Is that what humans do with things they want to... I mean, we humans?  I mean of course I know this haha!  What a kidder I am!

Anyway, I kind of made up for it at least.  I brought one back alive this time!  Its terrifying weapon is probably worth more than half the squad put together, which is definitely a good thing since poor REM got blasted while we were trying to secure the guy "safely".  Oh!  Speaking of which!  I was reading this really neat novel all about not panicking and outer space and aliens and that kind of thing!  You know, to brush up on my knowledge of alien stuff which I totally would not otherwise have any way of knowing!  And I found this line, which just seemed really apropos:

This is obviously some strange use of the word "safe" that I wasn't previously aware of.

Anyway, we're definitely safe now!  And so are all the humans!  The ... other humans!  Who are human like us!  We've done such a great job on these three alien craft that ... hey, hang on, the sirens are going - I'm supposed to report to the Triton again!  I'm sure it's nothing though.  Maybe a false alarm.

Back Real Soon,
RefSteel, Able Seaman

He read's Douglas Adams, he's a witch alien! Burn him!

PS Sign me up Fenn, I'm good at dying.

[Fenn]

Meant to put this one up yesterday but it slipped my mind. I'll be leaving on a brief vacation tomorrow, so no more updates for a few days as well. That said...

Part 6:

Soon after the Triton returns, a shuttle carrying our twenty scientists arrives. I assign them like so:


Five join the initial crew working on the Particle Disturbance Scanner (aka Motion Scanner), while fifteen start dissecting one of those Deep Ones. You might wonder why I'd prioritize alien corpses over their guns or fuel, but the Deep One is special - its autopsy is necessary to unlock research into Aqua-Plastics, which like Alien Alloys in the first game leads to improved armor for our troops.

I'm going to beeline armor technology once the PTS research finishes in a day or so, then double back for Medkits now that people can take a hit and not die instantly.


Now that shallow_thought and RifleAvenger have survived their first outing, here's a look at their stats. Neither of them are particularly good at anything, but there's always the possibility of improvement. Both of them will be coming along on the next mission to try and get better at their jobs.


After a few more days, another Small USO shows up near the Indian Ocean and lands on the seabed.


Just opening the Triton's door, the Coelacanth finds itself staring down an Aquatoid. It could fire a torpedo, but if it misses the Aquatoid would get at least three shots in retaliation which would probably trash our SWS. So we wait patiently.


The outlook is much better on Turn 2, with the Aquatoid unwisely facing away from the Triton and easily dispatched by the Coelacanth. It can't quite move clear after firing its torpedo, so everyone awkwardly shuffles out by its right side.


Unlike the usual seafloor maps, these Atlantean ruins have plenty of cover for humans and aliens to hide behind; we'll need to advance carefully here. Aquanauts Brian Shanahan, Molach, RefSteel, TankSinatra and our actual tank will head north; Bobchillingworth, Whosit II, Kaiser, Alhambram and shallow_thought have the souh side; Lewwyn will perch on top of the Triton and fire torpedoes down at any aliens he can.

Turn 4:


Despite the illumination from flares and Kaiser's phosphorous shells, Bobchillingworth can't see anything outside the dye cloud. It's a similar story up north - nothing jumping out just yet.

The alien phase is all quiet too but for the sounds of doors opening somehwere. On to Turn 5...


The west exit is too small for the Coelacanth to fit through, so it blows up some no doubt priceless stonework to look ahead. Seeing nothing, it turns to head back, only to spot an Aquatoid...right next to the north squad! I must not have checked the north edge of the map very thoroughly.


TankSinatra could use the experience, so he gets the kill.

Turn 6:

The south squad saw something move for a moment, but whatever it was can't be found - leaving the Coelacanth to discover this Aquatoid. Lewwyn tries a torpedo but it gets caught by some pillars near Whosit (not near enough to hurt him luckily). All of the south squad had moved already except shallow_thought, who makes a tricky proximity mine throw on the target.

Turn 7:


After that Aquatoid trips the mine, all's silent again. Both teams creep a little closer to the USO in the southwest.


Then on Turn 8, another Aquatoid, made visible by one of RefSteel's long-distance flares. This one's in a bad, protected from the Coelacanth by pillars and too close to a building for grenades to have a good angle; the best RefSteel can do is to land a proximity mine two tiles in front of it. Maybe the Sectoid will walk over it?


Meanwhile, I've been worried about the darkness along the south border, so Kaiser investigates. He finds two Aquatoids hanging around and elects to shoot the western one with his phosphorous rounds.


Sadly, this only angers the alien and it blasts Kaiser to death. Whosit does at least manage to hit it with a Gas Cannon shell and avenge his comrade's death.

The south Aquatoid gets a frag grenade from Alhambram, but survives the experience. It might be unconscious or bleeding out, but just in case Lewwyn moves to link up with the south team - don't want him getting snuck up on from behind.


The next turn reveals this Sonic Cannon-armed Aquatoid; Bobchillingworth misses him by a mile, so Whosit and Alhambram throw a pair of grenades instead. The Aquatoid that RefSteel threw the mine at is still at large, so the north team begins trapping the exits of the little structure it came out of.


That turns out to be unecessary, because it reappears by the same exit as before, and now the Coelacanth's close enough to torpedo it to oblivion.


Another Aquatoid shows his face in the south. We're fresh out of grenades to safely kill it with, but Whosit comes through again and threads the needle between those pillars with his Gas Cannon. Whosit's firing accuracy is actually really terrible, but for now he's doing much better than the others!


On the alien turn, an Aquatoid rushes from the darkness and shoots Lewwyn! That's a shame, but it does leave it open for Alhambram's Hydro-Jet to explode.


There's little cover closer to the USO, and without any more dye grenades it's unclear how to proceed safely. The squad moves west a little, trying to


Then, an Aquatoid walks back and forth in front of the south squad. I guess he doesn't notice them?


Whosit's in good position to get this guy. Can he go three-for-three?


Err...Sort of? He misses badly, but the Aquatoid perishes anyhow.


We can still hear the telltale sound of doors opening, so it's not over just yet.


Indeed, on the very next turn an Aquatoid runs through three doorways out of the craft and misses a shot at the Coelacanth.


Whosit defies the odds again with a direct hit, and the Coelacanth moves in.


On the alien phase the tank takes a crippling shot to the side from this Aquatoid - maybe the one that Alhambram grenaded a while back? Him and RefSteel throw a frag grenade and an explosive pack at it, respectively.


Mission complete! RefSteel crests 50 Strength, while Whosit's accuracy goes up a notch from "horrible" to "awful".


Several Aquanuats promote all of a sudden, making RefSteel our second Lieutenant after Dp101.


I can't say it's unwarranted either, he's making great strides in effectiveness. Perhaps one day he'll learn to shoot straight?


While the Triton heads back to base, the scientists finish their Deep One examination, paving the way for the all-important Aqua Plastics research to begin. More on that later.

[Whosit]

Aquanaut's Log: Whosit II

Considering how my predecessor died on his first mission despite his above-average abilities, I've been understandably nervous about going out on missions myself. After my poor results on the practice range, the boss said I should either stick to throwing grenades or using the gas cannon, because at least that way when I missed I might still do some damage. Well, this time I sure showed him (and the aliens)! I killed four of the little blue bastards this mission, and three were direct hits! Ha! I don't want to get too cocky, though. If the boss thinks I might actually be useful, I could end up being in the vanguard next time.

Anyway, due to my great exploits, I was promoted! Along with a few other people, including RefSteel who was made a Lieutenant. That RefSteel, there's certainly something completely normal about that guy. Maybe we should hang out some time and do completely normal things.

[RefSteel]

Dear Diary,

I think I've found my role with the squad: Human Undersea Trebuchet! (Especially the part about being definitely human!) Command even praised me today for the great progress I'm making, and guess what! I got a promotion! And if only more of our alien enemies were the size of major landmarks, I'll bet I could even hit them with gauss rounds occasionally! Although ... I guess I'm kind of glad we haven't had to fight any aliens big enough for me to hit 'em consistently. That actually sounds kind of scary.

Anyway, between chemical flares and undersea grenades and full-size depth charges, I've got plenty of stuff to hurl in the general direction of the enemy, even if the commander never does trust me to take a gauss shot at one of the bad guys when there are squadmates anywhere near the line of fire. Like, say, somewhere other than behind me.

Oh, and the powers that be have designated me hR apparently? I'm ... not actually sure what that even means. Maybe "human Ranger!" Or "heroic Revenge!" Or "help? RUN!!!" One of those, probably.

Either way, I'm wearing my new double-bars with pride! Until some Aquatoid show-off shoots 'em off my shoulder or something, but as long as they leave the other thing on my shoulders alone, that's okay with me!

Responsibly Yours, (Hey, I'm an officer now! It's a big responsibility!)

Lieutenant RefSteel, X-Com Aquanaut

[haphazard1]

I always liked the ruins maps in TFTD -- fun scenery that adds to the creepy atmosphere of the underwater setting. They do add a lot of places for the enemy to hide, though.

Two more aquanauts lost, but another alien sub recovered. And with Deep One research completed, X-COM is closer to being able to build some armor that might actually make being hit NOT an instant kill. Living through an alien hit -- what a concept!

[Fenn]

I'm back from vacation! Brief as it was, it was nice to get away from it all and spend some time in nature.

Part 7:

After the usual sell-off of alien trinkets, There's enough cash lying around to afford a second listening post in the Atlantic. The more USOs you can intercept or storm, the more of a buffer you have against the point penalty of difficult missions going badly.


Here's a first - a Large USO! That could be a huge windfall for X-COM if it can be recovered.


The USO first appears over the Indian Ocean and flies in the general direction of home base, but sensors lose track of it as it passes through the gap between the stations' ranges.


A few more days pass, and Aqua Plastics research completes - one more step on the path to improved armor.


Near the end of February, there's another Large USO! Where's it headed?


Oh, that's where. The Triton had already been following the sub, so soon enouh it's X-COM to the rescue!

But because the Triton had left base before the terror strike began, it was still loaded out for an undersea fight. As a result, there's not enough Gas Cannons and Gauss Pistols to go around; novice draws the short straw and wields just a Thermal Taser plus grenades.


How badly can it go?

For the sake of caution, X-COM remains inside the Triton for the first turn. This gives the aliens opportunity to kill at least ten civilians already. That's a little faster than I'd like, but civilians are even more of a hopeless case in TFTD than UFO - any that live are a bonus at the best of times.


Mardoc is first out of the gate, spotting an Aquatoid and one of their terror units, a Calcinite. These are melee aliens and not terribly dangerous, though at this early stage they're pretty resilient. RefSteel and Whosit start us off, throwing an explosive charge northwest of the Triton and a proximity mine under the Aquatoid.

The off-target explosive charge catches an unseen Aquatoid in the blast, while the mine does its job and blows up the alien we did see. The Calcinite is still at large, however.


He's not very far away though - Mardoc sees him advancing through the mist. Alhambram and Old Harry throw a grenade each,and rho21 lobs a mine for good measure. Now let's check around the left side -


Oh goodness.

Well, Dreylin and somebody else throw a pair of grenades up, but on a whim new recruit DaveV makes a snapshot with his Gas Cannon...hitting the alien and killing it instantly. There goes that corpse!


The alien turn sees Old Harry compromised by alien psionics (much like their landbound cousins, Aquatoid commanders have Psi powers). He flies into a berserk rage and fires his explosive shells at a Calcinite that just wandered by. It's very lucky he didn't fire that at our own bunched up troops. On the other hand, basically everybody here is armed with explosives and thus a walking timebomb if the aliens can get to them. Um, we'd better finish this quickly.


But just finishing off one Calcinite is hard enough! Four agents take shots at it with Gauss Pistols and Gas Cannons, only hitting occasionally. Finally, RefSteel steps up to the plate and brings it down with some pistol fire.

Turn 4:

This time the psi attack on Old Harry just makes him panic. Another explosive accident averted - maybe we can just run far enough away that he can't shoot anybody when he goes berserk?


The south team spotted this Calcinite walking through a garage door during the alien phase, and sure enough here it is still. Bob's explosive shell doesn't kill the Calcinite, but does kill an Aquatoid that was hiding behind it or something.


Naturally everybody else proceeds to miss badly - so now it's up to novice and his Thermal Tazer! Don't mind all those aliens you see, you'll be just fine.


See? No risk there at all.

As for the other aliens novice saw, the Aquatoid by the water tower is shot by Molach and the Calcinite gets an explosive pack from RefSteel.

Turn 5:

Old Harry goes berserk again due to alien prompting, and nearly gives me a heart attack - see that tight group of agents to the right? He fires his Gas Cannon directly...between all four of them, sending the shell into a nearby shed where the explosion grazes Brian Shanahan. He's now bleeding out, but that's a lot better than 4-6 aquanauts dying instantly.


In the process of getting far away from Old Harry in a hurry, El Grillo comes upon this Calcinite. DaveV is on target, and we kill it on the first shot instead of the eleventh.


Up north, while everybody else engages in Plan Escape from Old Harry the stricken Brian finds and shoots down an Aquatoid. It turns out that this may have been the Aquatoid leader giving Old Harry grief - the psi attacks cease after this turn.


Sadly, Brian Shanahan pays for his bravery with his life when a Calcinite runs up and...punches him to death? I'm not quite certain how these things attack.

Turn 6:

It falls to rho21 to avenge his fallen comrade. He (of course) misses the Calcinite, but one of those misses strikes an oil barrel, which blows up the alien just as well.


The south squad encounters another Calcinite moving through the smoke. novice stuns it (and Bob blows up the unconscious body a little later), but in so doing reveals an Aquatoid behind a fence. DaveV and Dreylin's shots miss, so it's back to grenades again: a frag from RefSteel and a proximity mine courtesy of Molach. Strangely, the mine doesn't go off during the alien turn...

Turn 7:

Indeed, an otherwise quiet alien phase leads to the redicovery of the little guy, right where he was last turn. Dreylin gets this one. But just remember that mine.

Apart from that, the turn is quiet - no aliens to be seen or heard. The alien phase is uneventful too, with only the sound of a door opening.


Not that there's no aliens - one had cleverly concealed himself around this corner to hide from the player's view, but thankfully Bob's sight indicator averts an embarassing mistake and the Aquatoid goes down to a Gas Cannon blast.


Old Harry rejoins the north squad having recovered his wits; Whosit pops open this garage door to find himself in an awkward position.


Luckily RefSteel and Quagma Blast had yet to move, and the alien goes down in a flurry of Gauss bullets.


During the alien phase, something in the northwest corner fires a stun bomb of some kind. Investigation by Alhambram and rho21 and report an Aquatoid mysteriously passed out and another wandering weaponless. rho can't land a hit with his Gauss pistol; nobody nearby can shoot or has any grenades to throw, so Whosit tosses one of his own from halfway across the map. On to the aliens...


All of a sudden, another projectile flies out of the office building, knocking out Old Harry, Alhambram and Mardoc.


The culprit is quickly found, but hard to get at - Whosit's Gas bolt misses the mark, and the others don't have enough TUs to shoot at him.


While walking over, novice suddenly explodes after he walks over that one unexploded mine. Whoops! Farewell novice.


At least the Aquatoid won't get a chance to do anything dangerous, as rho manages an unlikely long-range Gauss shot which puts him away for good.


Putting so many aquanauts close to windows comes back to bite me - RefSteel eats a sonic blast through the other side of the building and collapses dead to the ground. Argh! That's a big loss - it might have been better to wait for better armor before sending him out, but I'd figured one more mission couldn't hurt. As it is, he'll never live up to his full potential.


This last alien almost got rho21 too, but thankfully he lived to shoot back. That wraps up the mission.


That could have gone better. The civilian deaths are about as expected, but losing RefSteel and especially novice were blunders that could easily have been avoided. Hopefully the good results on the previous mission will make up for it. In any case, soon Aqua-Plastic Armor will be online, which should help with X-COM agents' survival rate.

One other thing: up 'till now I've been reporting on every mission undertaken. But I think there comes a point when the nth small Gill Man sub assault isn't interesting anymore. So I might skip those missions, or take them on with some unnamed Aquanauts, and only report missions that are 'new' in some way.

[Alhambram]

Not bad, surviving first two missions that I did participate, including a terror one. However I wonder how long it lasts, especially with bio drones and tentaculats in future.

[Brian Shanahan]

Told you I die well. You need to breed a new me for more experimental data though.

[RefSteel]

Dear Diary,

I've been practicing really hard for this mission! We're going after one of their large subs, like the ones that launch terror missions in human cities and try to murder their civilians! ... The ... uh, the cities' civilians is what I meant by that. Because we aquanauts live at our base instead of in cities, but we are definitely human like them! Just ask my good buddy Whosit! We do all kinds of completely normal human things together at completely normal times of day when humans ... when our fellow humans ... uh, likewise engage in totally normal activities!

Anyway, I think I'm getting really good with my gauss pistol now, with all this time in the shooting range, not to mention the whole Being a Human Trebuchet thing! I'll bet I hit a couple of different alien terrorists with pistol fire alone and even take one down! Look out, alien bad guys! You just try to stop me now!

Okay, hold on, we're coming in for a landing! Let's get these guys! I'll be right back after we've saved all those civilians to tell you how it went!

Back in a sec,

Lieutenant RefSteel, X-Com Aquanot

[file end]