XCOM - Terror From the Deep SG

[Ug the Barbarian]

Another day or so passes before we spot a medium sized alien sub
We launch a Barracuda in pursuit and circle its location when it touches down on the seabed.



A crack team is despatched to deal with this alien menace .

The pilot puts us down on the west side of the map.
Dicorian, Pling, Plako and Refsteel take the Gas Cannons due to their high strength and decent accuracy - everyone else gets Sonic Pistols and various grenades.

T-hawk (Uberfish's replacement) is first out of the door and he spots an Aquatoid looking at him immediately so he freezes in place.



Brian Shanahan throws a dye grenade out of the door to provide cover then Plako takes a couple of shots with his Gas cannon at the alien. The second hits and kills it.

No alien movement is spotted in response so the team starts to deploy.
Brian Shanahan spots an aquatoid to the east. Its facing away so Plako aims carefully & shoots it in the back.

As the team slowly spreads out into a line to sweep eastwards, an aquatoid pops into sight, fires a launcher and disappears. A big explosion rocks the seabed as a number of the team are enveloped in swirling debris.
Brian Shanahan, David Corperial, Meiz, Krill and Plako are all knocked unconcious - so luckily it was a thermal shock launcher and not a DPL.



Novice moves forward and spots the aquatoid for Dicorion who kills it with an aimed shot. Pling & Refsteel start reviving the sleepers with stimulants.

Novice spots another aquatoid and allows Dicorion another successful snipe.

All the sleepers are revived except Brian Shanahan who resists the effects of about 8 stimulant shots. We'll leave him snoozing as he obviously needs the rest.

Team starts to advance eastwards



An aquatoid is spotted briefly between turns and we take one MC attack which has no effect so can't identify target.

Kronoz spots the alien for an aimed shot from Pling. Unfortunately it misses as do ones from Plako and Dicorion. After Kronoz misses as well, haphazard2 finally picks it off with his Sonic Pistol.

After a couple more turns we finally spot the alien sub in the bottom SE corner.

We gradually surround the USO and can spot movement on the upper deck (Somehow) - 21 turns gone at this point and its been getting a bit dull.

Suddenly as we prepare to enter the USO we get bombarded by a whole series of MC attacks.
Refsteel and Serdoa fall under MC control with Refsteel shooting at Meiz and Serdoa shooting at haphazard2 (luckily both were missed) before disappearing into the USO.

Haphazard2 and Dicorian were also subject to multiple MC attacks - Dicorian went beserk from these.

Meiz runs away from Refsteel and Novice throws a Dye Grenade between them. Kronoz throws a particle disturbance grenade in front of the USO doors in case Serdoa re-appears under MC control.

Serdoa and Refsteel are again MC controlled. Refsteel again takes shots at Meiz but misses. Serdoa re-appears from USO door, gets caught in the PD grenade explosion but survives. He retaliates with a sonic pulser that explodes killing haphazard2, kronoz and Krill. Dicorian takes more MC attacks and beserks again. Plako takes MC attacks but no impact.
David Corperial panics due to the casualties. Not a good turn

The survivors seek cover behind the USO and Plako is disarmed for safety.
Serdoa and Refsteel again fall under MC control. Plako and Dicorian panic after multiple MC attacks.

A quick radio conference between the surviving team members decides that Serdoa and Refsteel cannot be saved and must be sacrificied so everyone else can survive.

David Corperial throws a sonic pulser next to Refsteels last known location.

A scream after the explosion confirms Refsteels fate. Serdoa again falls under MC control and so does Plako this time. Luckily he'd been disarmed. Dicorian again beserks after MC attacks and shoots Plako dead.

Novice carefully edges round the USO until he spots the MC controlled Serdoa near the entrance. Meiz throws over a sonic pulser, willing to loose the scattered equipment nearby to clear the danger.

The explosion kills Serdoa and the MC attacks now concentrate on Dicorian and T-Hawk. Both panic as do David Corperial and Pling leaving Meiz, Jkaen and Novice as the only three effective aquanauts. They advance towards the USO entrance.



Dicorian and T-Hawk now fall under MC control. Pling and David Corperial still panic.

The three man team moves to the entrance.

T-Hawk under MC control; Dicorian, Pling and David Corperial panic.

Team three moves into the USO but the experience panics Novice who runs outside and joins the other spectators.

Dicorian again falls under MC control and a beserk Pling shoots him down. However Novice and David Corperial recover and join the USO assault.

Jkaen leads Meiz, Novice and David Corperial up the stairs to the second level of the USO. As he does, he is hit by an MC attack which causes him to beserk, turning round and killing a previously unseen aquatoid on the second level.

Meiz follows up and shoots down a second aquatoid.

Aliens pop out of the two doors just south of the stairs to the second floor, exchanging shots with Novice. Another thermal shock bomb knocks Meiz and Novice unconcious.



Jkaen and David Corperial continue to trade shots with the aliens through both doors. Jkaen uses a particle disturbance grenade by one door which kills an alien but is wounded by the return fire. He retreats through the north door only to run into another aquatoids back. He quickly shoots it down and takes cover as does David. More shots are exchanged.



David C pops through the door and shoots an alien in the back then retreats. When an alien opens the door to confront him, he shoots, misses but kills another alien on the other side of the stairs. The missed alien is shocked, allowing David chance to take aim and shoot it down as well.

Jkaen also misses when an alien opens the door in front of him but recovers to bring it down.

Pling makes it upstairs with a medikit to stem Jkaen's bleeding arm. Jkaen and David C start a cautious advance again.

Pling scouts ahead of his armed colleagues. He moves into the main part of the second floor and is knocked out by a shock bomb fired from a third floor balcony. David C pops through the doorway and disposes of the alien with two shots.

Another alien is spotted as they move onto the third floor



Jkaen shoots it in the back to end the mission



Brian Shanahan wakes on the Triton as they make their way back to base. "Have I missed anything ?"

[Ug the Barbarian]

Save attached.

After action report - thought this was a good example of psi that we missed in previous XCOM game - it was quite exciting (and difficult) towards the end of the mission, especially Jkaen and David C's gunfight on the second floor.

Suggest we try and keep Jkaen, Meiz, David C and Novice alive if possible as they all likely have at least reasonable MC strength.

Transmission resolver has around 18 days until completion. Most of the completed plastic armour was destroyed in combat but funds aren't too bad now and there is plenty to sell.

Whoever gets the next terror mission must try and capture a live deep-one if they appear (with gill men) as we're in danger of being cut off from critical research areas - if this means high losses then so be it.

[pling]

A crack team is despatched to deal with this alien menace .

leaving Meiz, Jkaen and Novice as the only three effective aquanauts.

Uh, yeah. We had the wrong sort of crack, maybe?

Dicorian again falls under MC control and a beserk Pling shoots him down.

Still despite all the running around, shrieking and waving my hands in the air at least I killed some[strike]thing[/strike]one

Pling scouts ahead of his armed colleagues. He moves into the main part of the second and is knocked out by a shock bomb fired from a third floor balcony.

I, er, hope that was the unconscious sort of knocked out not the dead as a doornail sort?

Brian Shanahan wakes on the Triton as they make their way back to base. "Have I missed anything ?"

Best line of the whole thing

And Catwalk - based on that one small sample, if you can do a text report next time, please do! I'm reading this thread for the stories, and I loved the touching scene of Amelia's death

[Ug the Barbarian]

Uh, yeah. We had the wrong sort of crack, maybe?

I was going to use ROFL but couldn't find a really good smiley in a hurry. You get the point anyway

I, er, hope that was the unconscious sort of knocked out not the dead as a doornail sort?

Yes you survived unharmed (aside from a mild headache) - more productively than Brian Shanahan at least. I've never seen an aquanaut so hard to revive before

[Catwalk]

And Catwalk - based on that one small sample, if you can do a text report next time, please do! I'm reading this thread for the stories, and I loved the touching scene of Amelia's death

I'm really not much of a poet, but I promise to give it my best

Very tough mission Ug, and very good performance. If my soldiers get MCed, I tend to start panicking or going berserk

[Square Leg]

Ug that was very funny!

[antisocialmunky]

Wow, it'll get much better with Ion Armor though.

[uberfish]

Great reporting Ug, that definitely captured the "psi panic" feeling well.

ASM, Dazed - Either of you up to play the next turn?

[novice]

Well, the Amelia + Ug story is actually a really good one.

Amelia was peacefully going about her business, looking for aliens to wipe off the face of the planet, when one of said aliens rudely sniped her in the head from safe cover. Ug, all furious and barbariany, rushed to her side to see if he could spot the alien who did this heinous deed. Since it'd already been blown up by another aquanaut, he could not. So he sat by her side as she bled to death, holding her hand and whispering that everything would be okay.

A couple seconds later her pre-primed grenade blew him up in a bad way.

That's hilarious!

After action report - thought this was a good example of psi that we missed in previous XCOM game - it was quite exciting (and difficult) towards the end of the mission, especially Jkaen and David C's gunfight on the second floor.

That was intense. Great play and awesome report!

[Mardoc]

Is MC a constant feature from here on out, or is it limited to a particular set of aliens, like it was in the first one you played?