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[The Fifth Horseman]

Then all is set, get in the gear.

[Danny252]

*Tries to hop into suit*
Dammit, I've grown too much since the last time we played!

[Abi79]

You poor little shizzle fizzle Danny. My suit got bigger. :ranting:

[Danny252]

Teehee...
At least you didn't grow Boobs while we were on vacation from UFO...
<_<

[The Fifth Horseman]

Picking up from where we ended last time.


03:30:00 : Live Alien spotted at Senate.

Everybody re-equips quickly. Since - if you remember - Mats has recently been wounded, he will stay at the base.

Oh, and by the way... remember when I told you of that new android to defend Abandonia base? Here he is:


As you can see, he's capable of stalling a small army of aliens by himself. This will come useful sooner or later.

As our team is heading towards the Senate building, a quick list is made of soldiers assigned to this mission:
Valkyrie Transporter:
Bobbin, Danny, Chosen, Predjuice, Eagle, Doubler, Jones, Skumpaq, Toxik, Abi, Punch, SupSuper
Valkyrie Interceptor:
Reamus, Beef, Aristharus, Alpha, Quintopotere, Kearnsy

Total 18 soldiers.

Codename: Alien cockroaches from Hell

We're splitting in three groups and start clearing the building. The sweep plan is the usual infallible method. What worries me is that every infallible method must fail one time... I just hope it's not today...


03:30:42 : Predjuice spots an Anthropod and prepares to Terminate with extreme predjuice... :evil:

03:30:43 : Damn. The bugger was not alone.


03:30:45 : Team 2 managed to drive the aliens away. Quintopotere prepares for a gassing run.

03:30:54 : The aliens try to run away. However, Teams 1 and 3 are already moving in to pincer them. Team 4 descends via a gravlift to check the basement.

03:31:04 : Quintopotere has the Anthropods and (surprise!) a Hyperworm in sights. First grenade misses, the second and third are right on the spot. He then quickly goes round the corner to avoid harm.


03:31:16 : Surprise! The Anthropods are out cold. Team 2 moves in to collect. Team 4 continues their sweep in the basement, finding no obvious signs of alien activity (you know, cocooned bodies, slime dripping from the walls, traces of unusual resin-like compound etc).

03:31:25 : Team 3 checks one of the rooms. When she's been collecting the gear of unconscious aliens together with her companions in Team 2, Eagle spots a live Spitter. The alien moves out of her sight, for now it is safe...


03:31:49 : ...until Team 3 drastically reduces its life expectancy.

Mission Summary
Skumpaq was promoted to a Sergeant. We have captured a couple Boomeroids, two Devastator Cannons and a pair of Personal Shields, not to mention acquiring live Anthropod specimen. R&D boys will be truly pleased back at base.

Our exhausted heroes return to base for several hours of decent rest, at least until...


10:50:00 : Live alien spotted.
The sighting location are government-owned slums, very close to our base. Time to do some cleaning...

Codename: Slum Rats
Teams exactly as in last mission.

I don't like it. The first section of the slums is the road-and-bridge one we already know, and we find it clear in no time. That's too easy. It's too calm in here...


10:50:46 : Anthropod spotted.

I knew it.

Another Anthropood popped out behind the first, but both quickly found out just how immense firepower we have. Unfortunately, their Boomeroids exploded leaving us no hope for salvaging their equipment. There seems to be a third one, and he's sniping at Danny.


10:51:04 : And indeed there was one. He seems to posess a Personal Shield, so Team 1 and 5 are dropping to the sides, while Doubler and Beef try to knock the critter out with their grenades.


10:51:11 : Beef has forgotten to throw her grenade somehow and it exploded in her hand, knocking out her whole team. Team 4 has located a hyperworm on top of a staircage.


10:51:20 : As Team 3 nears the central gravlift of the building, Toxik is the first one to reach the destination... and find a FOURTH Anthropod that has been camping in there. Toxik has only one thing to fall back on... his stun grenades. The alien decides to start the throwing match, dumping two explosive devices next to Toxik. As Toxik throws his grenades, the devices explode, wounding him critically and killing the alien. He is also knocked out by his own stun grenades. Our only chance to save him is to succesfully complete the mission before he dies from the wounds.

10:51:28 : Team 3 finishes the Hyperworm. We must hurry, the clock is ticking for Toxik...

10:51:46 : ... and now it has ran out. Toxik is DEAD. Skumpaq, Kearnsy and Jones salute him and run into the building to destroy the kin of the alien monstrosity that has murdered their squadmate.


10:52:19 : With that many people, even this building can be swept quickly. Team 3 encounter a Spitter. Kearnsy - still furious after his teammate's death - shoves his twin Auto Cannons into the monstrosity's face and with a wicked smile pulls the triggers. That had to hurt...

Mission Summary
Reamus, Quintopotere and Kearnsy have been promoted to squad leaders. It also seems that we captured some alien equipment and a live specimen of some sort, but none of that can compensate the loss of Toxik.

You will be missed.

Since he had some pretty good stats, Toxik is given an option: Rebirth in flesh or steel. Note that if he changes to steel (ie resurrection as an android), next time he dies he CAN choose to revert his character to a human again. I have saved the hex string corresponding to his stats, just in case.
+EDIT+ Recent news: Toxik shall return, a weakling human no more, the frail human flesh replaced by unyielding steel and his mind encased in carbon and silicone. Yes, he chose to become an android. +/EDIT+

12:00:00 : We're starting Stun Raids. Marsec being our first target, Government the second. All teammates leave their armor at home, since they all need all the manouverability they can get. Predjuice, Quintopotere and Mats have to stay home, since their gear is not suitable for stun raids at all.

Note: The "points" I'm listing is what did we get for captured equipment by itself. Actually each of these raids gave us in between 200 and 350 points total. The cargo is how much cargo did the Transporter craft gather after each mission - as you can see, a real lot...

Marsec Arms factory on the north is our first target. We split into five three-man teams.
Raid 1 - 6 points for salvage, 485 cargo
Raid 2 - 24 salvage, 729 cargo
Raid 3 - 37 salvage, 959 cargo
3 Raids - 67 points for captured equipment, total 2173 cargo units of loot.
Second target are Government Apartments to the west.
Raid 1 - 22 salvage, 932 cargo
Raid 2 - 22 salvage, 1122 cargo
Raid 3 - 33 salvage, 1595 cargo
3 raids - 77 points for equipment, 3649 loot.

This makes total 144 points for equipment, which equals 5822 units of cargo. Nice score. Selling all that stuff gains us 124 950 credits.

A little break...

12:55:00 : Biologists have finished their authopsy of Anthropod. They are immediately assigned to analysing the live specimen we have recently obtained.

We already got some cash, but we'll need much more than that, since we have to furnish out our third base and buy at least two Hawk Air Warriors.

13:00:00 : We're going for a few further raids on Government...
Raid 1 - 15 pts, 870 crg
Raid 2 - 44 pts, 1707 crg
Raid 3 - 25 pts, 1198 crg
Raid 4 - 14 pts, 1003 crg
Raid 5 - 30 pts, 1289 crg
Raid 6 - 19 pts, 1073 crg

Total 147 points in 7140 cargo. Again, pretty neat.

We'll have to cut the raids for today, as we know what happened last time we got all raid-happy...

Selling that junk (keeping some extra ammo, though), including a prodigious quantity of Elerium, nets us 180 110 credits. Good.

I'm reorganising Abandonia base a little, so that we can build a large lab in there, and also start looking for a building suitable for a third base. I have two possible choices, one warehouse in the city and a bigger (but more expensive as well) building in slums. We'll see about it in a few hours.

At the same time, the raids have provided you lot a good amount of target practice. Altough "Duke" Super is still one of the best all-round soldiers, other soldiers begin to near his efficiency, or - like Punch - already outclass him in some areas.

The gear we have captured included a few extra medikits and motion scanners. The latter were dispensed among those troops who still didn't have one, including Jones. By the way, it's not true he didn't do anything... 5 days service, 22 missions (this means 10 non-raid ones), 1 kills and 3 % improvement. That isn't so bad...

12 Stun Raids: An hour of gameplay.
Two Hawk Air Warriors, including weaponry, equipment and engine upgrades: 236 608 credits.
The stupid look on aliens' face before they are blasted into oblivion: priceless.
There are things that cannot be bought. Everything else, X-Com can afford.

After the refit, these machines become powerhouses of rocket destruction.

Back to setting up a new base. Since we cannot afford the bigger of the two buildings, we're buying the cheaper one. It will be called ReD zone, since I'm out of funny ideas. Current layout is just of basic facilities, as we're almost out of cash. A few Stun Raids tomorrow should fix that problem.

Day 8

At midnight, the Biochemists have finished with the Spitter.

Finally a new Hybrid has appeared in the recruit pool - Vazdru has got his character in.

Furthermore, we have hired a couple more scientists and engineers. If the engineers keep making Disruptor Guns, we might earn some money.

12:30:00 : The soldiers are bored, especdially that hot-headed Hybrid girl named Rico. She's been getting on almost everybody's nerves with her unceasing eagerness to get out on a mission and kick some alien rear ends.

In order to get some decent financial backing _and_ end Rico's complaints, we're going on a Stun Raid, executable immediately.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Game Status:


Soldiers</span>

ACTIVE SOLDIERS (20) (stars mean, as in Super's game, no. of resurrections)
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Reamus11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Reamus</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Punch11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Punch 999</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Predjuice11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>PredjuiceSucks</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Kearnsy11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Kearnsy *</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Chosen11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>The Chosen</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/SupSuper11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>SupSuper</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Skumpaq11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Skumpaq</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Eagle11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Eagle of Fire</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Doubler11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Doubler</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Danny11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Danny 252 </a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Bobbin11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Bobbin</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Beef11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Beef</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Abi11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Abi79</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Quintopotere11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Quintopotere</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Jones11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Fruit Pie Jones</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Alpha11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>A1s</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Aristharus11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Aristharus</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Mats11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Mats</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Vazdru11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Rico (Lonely Vazdru)</a>
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Troops/Horseman11.png\' target=\'_blank\'>H-0453-MN (The_Fifth_Horseman)</a>

Note: My "character" is only there to keep an eye over the first base.

DECEASED (1)
<a href=\'http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/AbandoniaApocalypse/Misc/Toxikisdead.png\' target=\'_blank\'>Toxik</a>

IN QUEQUE (0)

<span style=\'color:BLUE\'>TOP FIVE
Punch 999
SupSuper
Bobbin
Beef
Abi79

Post-scriptum:

I'll look into preserving people's day/mission/kill records after resurrection, if there will be enough demand for that. Stat levels will still be reset to the inital levels.

I think I'll put some less experienced troops into a strike team to level Temple of Sirius... again :evil:
It is possible to request your character being put through a "crash course", ie several missions in a minimalized squad raiding Cult of Sirius. This is somewhat risky, but can boost your stats a lot. If you want to volunteer - just post about this.

As soon as the ReD Zone is operational, I'll need an android (or two) to protect it, and probably another android to protect the original base. The participants whose characters will be in the "Top Five" at that time will be asked for permission for android dopplegangers of their characters to be created for this purpose (and if their original character dies, they'll be able to choose to switch to the android duplicate instead). The dopplegangers will exactly copy their non-psionic stats.

[SupSuper]

Originally posted by the_fifth_horseman
10:51:11 : Beef has forgotten to throw her grenade somehow and it exploded in her hand, knocking out her whole team.

:roflol:

[Skumpaq]

Sergeant :Brain:

Btw, could you post the teams again?

[The Fifth Horseman]

Btw, could you post the teams again?

Here you go, the most recent setup:
Team 1: Bobbin, Danny, The Chosen
Team 2: Eagle, Doubler, Beef, Alpha
Team 3: Skumpaq, Kearnsy, Toxik (D), Jones
Team 4: Reamus, Punch, Abi, Aristharus
Team 5: Predjuice, Quintopotere, Mats (W)
Team 6: SupSuper

Team setup isn't fixed in stone, though, so you might end up in a different company on next mission. Also Rico hasn't been assigned to any of the teams yet, but seeing as she had to be equipped with a Marsec suit (Megapol one slowed her down too much), she will be most likely going with Team 5, from where Predjuice will be moved to join SupSuper in Team 6. He will also get a Marsec chest plate (or maybe an entire suit) so he'll keep up with his equally destructive companion.

[PrejudiceSucks]

Cool. It's been a while since I posted, but it seems to be going well.

Me and Duke Super, eh?

That'll probably finish the CoS off single-handedly.

If android stats ever go up (I'm unsure) then i'll go on this CoS mission. If not, I'll just go along for the top-class violence that will ensue.