Lets Play X-Com: Redshirts with Jobs, Launch Party Edition

davet010 wrote:

Guys, guys - I didn't join up just to sort the ammo into neat piles...can I have a go ??

*watches a single loose 5.56mm round roll across the floor. Looks at davet010 with the very personification of contempt and disgust.*

That's one of the blanks you wanted. Still don't understand why you use them...

(Remembers Die Hard 2, lightbulb flicks on)

Mixolyde wrote:

Bad bookkeeping! Use a google doc and link us!

Dammit, I copied the wrong AAR. Fixing now.

kexx wrote:

Oooh! Oooh! Me! Me! One of the bases name will be....Cosmic Antfarm of Doom!!

There is a character limit

A couple days later we spot a large scout UFO and down it on the southern tip of Africa. Squad 1 is up again! The teams will remain the same for this mission to help spread the experience around.

Mission Begins. Lobster spots an alien right off the bat! D-man drops down and takes him out!... on his 6th shot, having missed terribly with the first 5! Quintin steps off the ramp and takes cover behind a nearby fence!

New turn. Another sectoid advances from the south and stops on the body of his friend! He turns and attacks Lobster, cratering his front armour! Lobster returns fire, landing a direct rocket hit and sending the sectoid to the moon! Another sectoid briefly appears to the east. Lobster advances in his damaged tank and spots the alien in a cabbage patch as well as the UFO. D-man pulls out a grenade but can't throw that far! Quintin stands and shoots the alien right between the eyes! Meanwhile Duoae exits the ramp and comes under fire from the north! He bravely advances, but the wheat field blocks all sight! Deftly fires a rocket through the wheat and into a fence, blasting the unseen sectoid with splinters and shrapnel!

New turn. We hear the ominous sound of doors opening inside the nearby house. The building is immediately condemned and scheduled for demolition! Lobster advances to the east and spots another sectoid. Prozac, fresh off the ramp and with little time left casually snaps off a shot across the map and downs the alien with a single hit! The rest of the squad begins to disembark.

New turn. We hear doors opening again, then Lobster is attacked! Plasma bolts carve into his badly damaged tank and he spins to spot his attacker as he retreats back inside a farmhouse! Lobster fires a rocket, knocking down one whole side of the building and exposing the alien! D-man attacks, landing an embarrassing one hit out of 7! Kexx opens fire next, managing only to knock down some walls! Coldstream lands a single well aimed shot, but the alien tanks it! Prozac aims through the gap... and misses too! Quintin moves back from the wheat field but can't get a hit! Finally Duoae stops the failtrain and downs the alien, nearly giving Quintin a haircut in the process!

New turn. D-Man comes under fire from the house roof! Laarrs throws an HE pack up there. Lobster continues east towards the UFO and spots yet another alien by the UFO's south wall. He barely has time to report the situation before Prozac casually puts the alien to bed with a single shot!

New turn. The HE pack obliterates the roof of the house and another alien! With the south clear we begin to advance on the UFO while Lobster scouts the north and spots a deadly barn! Not trusting the treacherous structure one bit he fires through the open doors and guts it with a rocket! Rolling through the shattered remains his suspicions are justified as he spots an alien to the north! Quintin fires from inside the wheat field, downing the alien with a shot to the neck!

Couple turns later. With the outer grounds secure we form up to breach. Nevin and D-man stand by at the door. Meanwhile the squad preps two charges to knock holes in the UFO's west wall.

New turn. The charges detonate, but the north one fails to punch a hole! Laarrs creeps up on the smoky gap, peers through and spots a Sectoid with his back turned! Laarss guns him down in two hits! Meanwhile at the door Nevin enters... and spots two aliens! The power plant has exploded leaving the inside of the UFO bare and open! Nevin lands a shot on the floor in front of the alien, but the autocannon shell doesn't have enough punch and the alien turns and shoots him in the chest! Nevin is badly wounded! D-man leans around the doorframe and finishes off the wounded sectoid! Kexx enters the gap in front of Laarrs and guns down the second sectoid from behind!

Mission Complete! No fatalities, but a LOT of close calls. Nevin is heavily wounded and will be out of action for over a month.

Tamren^^ - Assault 3-0 3 points ____ *Coldstream^^ - Assault 1-0 1 point
*D-Man777^^ - Assault 6-0 6 points ____ *Kexx - Assault 3-1 3 points
*Prozac - Redshirt 5-0 10 points ____ Mixolyde^ - Redshirt 2-0 8 points Laser+
*Duoae^ - Redshirt 9-0 22 points ____ *Laarrs - Redshirt 4-0 8 points
Hypatian^^^ - Heavy 5-0 5 point ____ *Nevin^^^ - Heavy 2-0 2 points Wounded 45 Days
*Deftly - Heavy 3-0 3 points ____ *Higgledy^^^^ - Heavy 5-0 5 points
*Quintin^ - Commissar 4-0 8 points ____ *LobsterMobster - Tank 6-0 6 points

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/kib0pir.png)

I hear ya davet, I think I have cobwebs forming on me too. Spec OPs gets no respect! It's NOT a shortform for Special Olympics you know!

Tamren wrote:

Mission begins. We land in the Egyptian desert and find a badly trashed UFO laying in the sand. First off the ramp is Wink and he immediately spots an snakeman to the west! After a couple false starts and several destroyed cactuses later he finally lands his 6th shot to the aliens flank and claims first blood!

Ohhhhh, you mean my eyes are supposed to be OPEN?!?

The_Judge wrote:

I hear ya davet, I think I have cobwebs forming on me too. Spec OPs gets no respect! It's NOT a shortform for Special Olympics you know!

Office Interview Location:

The_Judge: So, what kind of operations would I be doing?

Tamren: Oh, you know "special" operations!

The_Judge:

Tamen: Yes, very "special."

The_Judge: I don't think you were supposed to use actual air quotes around that...twice.

Malor wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:
Tamren wrote:

Quintin stands and shoots the alien right between the eyes!

Gun-kata!

Yes, the ancient/modern mythical gun-kata technique known as, "aiming." ;)

It is a mystical rite of great power.

IMAGE(http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2118/5709992769_1622a18e35_o.jpg)

Quintin_Stone wrote:
Tamren wrote:

Quintin stands and shoots the alien right between the eyes!

Gun-kata!

But do you prefer the hard form or soft form of the art?

Gun-jutsu vs. Gun-do?

Poor Coldstream. I know he would have wanted me to have his parking spot.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Poor Coldstream. I know he would have wanted me to have his parking spot.

Bad news for you, it was reserved for captain rank and above!

Argh! This cold won't go away! I can handle coughing and sneezing while playing something like FTL, but it does bad things to strategic thinking. So of course, a new mission appears!

Now apologies to the back bench as I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that squad 1 will be doing this mission. The good news is that our new bases are complete and ready for aircraft and staff! There will be about a weeks delay while the soldiers travel and we order in new supplies. CosmicAntVille squeaked in under the character limit and will begin operations the moment squad 2's guns catch up to them. The third base in Siberia which I have named Frarkinville give then amount of booze consumed there will also begin operations soon. Since Spec Ops deploys in an interceptor they can shoot down their own targets, but new hangars are under construction for the planned addition of experimental craft.

With Nevin out Hypatian takes his place and Duoae and Prozac swap for Mixolyde and Tamren. Two more suits of armour have been completed and given to Laarrs and D-man.

Mission Begins. We land next to a house, always a danger. Lobster has a look around but doesn't spot anything in the immediate area.

New turn. We hear doors opening and closing! Lobster knocks a hole in the wall of the house with a couple rockets and is attacked! Plasma fire hits the tank and burns into the crew cab! Lobster spots one snakeman by the front door! Mixolyde in the middle of preparing an HE charge spots another snakeman emerging from the house to the northeast and lobs the charge, taking cover behind the house!

New turn. The first alien is obliterated, but the second is shielded by the house! It comes looking for Mixolyde! Mixolyde attacks, getting in a single hit from his new laser pistol. The alien drops! First blood!

New turn. Lobster scouts around the UFO to the south and spots a snakeman entering the UFO! The squad moves up around the house using the smoke as cover.

New turn. The alien emerges and shoots Lobster! Lobster jumps and hits the switch for the rockets, missing the snake and nearly hitting everyone else! The squad moves up again with Coldstream and Laarrs watching the door.

New turn. Lobster roams the farm, taking out his anger issues on several innocent barns! Tamren, Laarrs and Coldstream move up to the door and prepare to breach!

New turn. Coldstream enters the door and bumps into an alien! He fires a burst into it's chest but the alien recovers! It shoots Coldstream dead! Laarrs steps into the door and it shoots him too! The blast carves a crater into his leg but his armour holds! Laarrs returns fire and guns down the first snakeman! He shoots twice more at the second alien, his second shot hits and the alien spins around! Plasma streaks towards Laarrs but hits the doorframe! Laarrs falls back and Tamren enters the UFO, gunning down the snake in a hail of rifle fire!

Mission Complete! The UFO was a one room small scout. When the power plant blew it wrecked the inside and seems to have killed many snakemen who could not get out in time. Our enginners scrape the remains into a bin and assure us there is enough material to make a suit of armour.

Coldstream is DEAD! Duoae is promoted to Captain.

*Tamren^^ - Assault 4-0 4 points ____ *Coldstream - Assault 1-0 1 point DEAD
*D-Man777^^ - Assault 6-0 6 points ____ *Kexx - Assault 3-1 3 points
Prozac - Redshirt 5-0 10 points ____ *Mixolyde^ - Redshirt 4-0 8 points Laser+
Duoae^^ - Redshirt 9-0 22 points ____ *Laarrs - Redshirt 5-0 10 points
*Hypatian^^^ - Heavy 5-0 5 point ____ Nevin^^^ - Heavy 2-0 2 points Wounded 45 Days
*Deftly - Heavy 3-0 3 points ____ *Higgledy^^^^ - Heavy 5-0 5 points
*Quintin^ - Commissar 4-0 8 points ____ *LobsterMobster - Tank 6-0 6 points

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/dyA3j0o.png)

On the 22nd of February we spot a large scout destination unknown and accidentally shoot it down over the ocean. Oops! On the 25th we spot a new UFO and the chase begins and ends in southern India.

Now in the mean time I have been doing a lot of bookeeping, stocking weapons and equipment for three whole squads takes a while. Just around an hour before this UFO crashed all of the equipment ordered for squad 2 arrived except for Devil's new tank. I can simply deploy the entire squad on foot with no tank, but the weapons in the armoury only add up to 11. I know squad 2 has been wanting some action for quite a while so I just need to know if any of you want to carry a laser pistol for the next mission as opposed to me sending another team.

Laser pistols pistols cost 4 points, you can still buy one at 0-3 points it just puts you into negatives which I will allow once. They are of most benefit to Commissars and Redshirts, other classes might want to wait since new weapons will be available soon.

Current status of Squad 2. New recruits have arrived and phishposer is back from the dead and eager to test drive his new clone!

cartoonin - Assault 1-0 1 point ____ *phishposer - Assault 1-1 1 point
*Vector - Assault 1-0 1 point ____ *Redwing - Assault
*Vega - Redshirt 1-1 2 points ____ *bighoppa - Redshirt
Itsatrap^ - Redshirt 1-0 2 points ____ *Slacker^ - Redshirt 2-0 8 points
*Hobbes - Heavy ____ *Davet - Heavy
*Baron - Heavy 1-0 1 point ____ Tanglebones^ - Heavy 1-0 1 point
*MikeSands - Commissar 1-0 1 point ____ *MrDevil - Tank 4-0 4 points

Yeah, OK, I'll try out one of these fancy new "rayguns" as kids call them.

Not me, I am going to stick with HONEST HUMAN WEAPONRY.

Yeah!! Boycott the alien scum!!!

...I want one, but I'm short 1 pt. I'll wait for that 4th point. Also, Large, 4square alien threats should count double, since they take A LOT of pepper to take down. Also, I suggest this because I've killed 2 reapers.

Got to play by the rules I say. No laser for me.

Iirc, lasers were a purely human tech (along with: medkits, motion detectors). Couldn't you research them without ever researching any of the alien items?

No Reagans for me either.

Yup, the only human items you need alien materials for are the armour suits. (speaking of which, laser rifles are ready to be produced and motion detectors are in the queue) Not using a laser is fine too. The whole point of this is to have fun with the pathetically weak default gear. Given the silly amount of pistol headshots Quintin and Prozac have between them they certainly are not totally useless. But I have to point out that things WILL get tougher, especially the aliens. You all saw how much damage it took to put the reapers away. Sectoids Floaters and Snakemen are at the low end of the threat spectrum. This is why we have rockets.

can we have a screen grab of the global view so we can see the twinlking bases

I'm sorry guys (and barns). It's hard to aim with a wad of searing plasma in your lap.

Ya, I'm back from the dead! I'll take one of them fancy rayguns (even though it will put me in the negative). I will avenge the previous me!

I'll take a fancy laser pointer, please. Those giant sectoid eyes have to be vulnerable to focused light beams.

Giant Sectoid Eyes wrote:

You're not the boss of us.

Tamren wrote:

Laser pistols pistols cost 4 points, you can still buy one at 0-3 points it just puts you into negatives which I will allow once. They are of most benefit to Commissars and Redshirts, other classes might want to wait since new weapons will be available soon.

Wait, wait, wait... We can choose to use our points for things?!

Duoae^^ - Redshirt 9-0 22 points

What's my load-out? Daddy wants to go shopping!! >:)

IMAGE(http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/165/550/fireallthelazors.jpg)

omnipherous wrote:

can we have a screen grab of the global view so we can see the twinlking bases :-)

+1

Also, give us a peek of what our bases' layouts look like!! Also, am I blonde with Guile hair? Latin? Asian? Girly girl?

Here are pictures of the globe. Camp Mootz is in northern Madagascar. CosmicAntFarm is in the mountains east of Vancouver. Frarkinville is in southern Siberia.

Squad 2 soon reaches the landing site. It's a small UFO but still needs to be cleaned up and squad 2 will be on rotation for the time being. Due to a lack of guns MrDevil and Tanglebones are given spare pistols.

Mission begins: In the absence of a tank it's up to the first men off the ramp to do the scouting. Slacker takes one step forward and is shot in the leg! Slacker is clinging to life! He slides bonelessly off the ramp and barely lands on his feet to come face to face with his attacker! Determined to take the bastard with him Slacker opens fire! Two laser bolts streak into the wheat field, the third hits the snakeman in the leg! The snakeman returns fire! The plasma bolt barely misses Slackers shoulder and hits the back landing gear! Slacker attacks again with the same result! The snakeman shoots back and the bolt flies to the other side and hits the ramp! Slacker attacks one more time and shoots true, hitting the snakeman in the shoulder! The battered alien falls! Vega, Itsatrap deass the ramp to make way for Redwing who stops the arterial gushing!

New turn. A snake appears to the west and tries to shoot Redwing! Redwing dives into the wheat and is pinned! Mr. Devil moves up to assist and spots the snakeman! No one can get a clear shot, so Slacker leans around a tree and takes him out with a single shot! MikeSands advances and takes cover in the wheat, spotting a new snake to the north by the corner of a fence! Cartoonin takes a knee inside the skyranger and manages to land one shot out of two bursts, sending the bullet between the fence boards and into the snakes gut! Phishposer moves up in front and accomplishes the same! Finally Baron walks down the ramp to level his heavy cannon! The first shot is a whiff, but the second hits the snake in the chest putting it down for good!

New turn. MikeSands spots movement in the shattered UFO! A snakeman emerges from the wreck and shoots Devil twice in the chest! Devil returns fire, landing a shot to its chest! Redwing flanks from the side and shoots the snakeman dead!

Mission Complete! We salvage the UFO though not much is left. Devil and Slacker are extremely wounded and will be out of action for 34 days. Slacker's side armour was 4 and took two points of damage! That means the jumpsuit saved him! I forgot to take a picture but Devil was just as beat up as Slacker with even MORE fatal wounds. Thanks to advances in teleoperation Devil can drive the tank remotely if he wishes, though his accuracy may suffer.

cartoonin - Assault 1-0 1 point ____ *phishposer - Assault 1-1 1 point
*Vector - Assault 1-0 1 point ____ *Redwing - Assault 1-0 1 point
*Vega - Redshirt 1-1 -2 points Laser+ ____ *bighoppa - Redshirt -4 points Laser+
Itsatrap^ - Redshirt 1-0 2 points ____ *Slacker^ - Redshirt 4-0 8 points Laser+ WOUNDED 34 days
*Hobbes - Heavy ____ *Davet - Heavy
*Baron - Heavy 2-0 2 points ____ Tanglebones^ - Heavy 1-0 1 point
*MikeSands - Commissar 1-0 1 point ____ *MrDevil - Tank 4-0 4 points WOUNDED 34 days

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/Gy2NUek.png)