As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

Let's Play X-Com: UFO Defense! (ironman, superhuman, starting tech & council funding only)

1626365676872

Posts

  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    edited July 2016
    That dank smoke yo.

    Btw... Blaster bomb survivor here... Still not panicked.

    NotoriusBEN on
    a4irovn5uqjp.png
    Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    blaze it

    Steam: Stormwatcher | PSN: Stormwatcher33 | Switch: 5961-4777-3491
    camo_sig2.png
  • IoloIolo iolo Registered User regular
    Oh god those fingers in my brain...

    Lt. Iolo's First Day
    Steam profile.
    Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
  • FandaFanda Hang a shining star upon the highest boughRegistered User regular
    CONTACT SOUTH!

    plk4mSO.png

    For three turns, we've crept warily past this pyramid while YerMum's proxy guarded its north door. We've heard not a peep, and seen not a flicker of motion from the southwest corner of the map. Antinumeric was making one last cursory sweep before we declared the region clear of hostiles.

    If this little bastard had waited one more turn before tipping its hand, its long con would've paid off in blood.

    Unfortunately, everyone with an autocannon is currently out of position or out of their mind, so...

    1EHom02.png

    Proportionate use of force just prolongs conflicts. Grotesque overkill brings them to a swift and decisive end. It's the only humane option, really.

    ofqXG8d.png

    I don't have any high-minded excuse for Iolo setting this one on fire, though. It's just hilarious.

    Ryak0Qt.gif

    Confirmation Bias lands another low-percentage snap shot rocket. Everything else aside, at least we've been hitting our shots.

    EiqkG5U.png

    Leaving the crash of rockets behind her, Colonel Talus creeps up to the very edge of the smokescreen. It's not safe this far forward, but there's something curious about the pyramid ahead ... a green luminescence, pulsing faintly in the cracks between the stones.

    Then she remembers: Oahu. The glow at the end of the tunnels. The grav lift down.

    If everyone can pull themselves together and hoof it east, we might still make it off the beach intact.

    ogS8DSY.gif

    Everyone pulling themselves together is looking like a tall order right now, though.

    In the midst of the screaming chaos, another smoke bomb goes off unexpectedly:

    qGFLuiK.gif

    You held out for a good long while, Iolo. There's no shame in it.

    Alas, you were our forward incendiary gunner, and the fires of a moment ago have already guttered out in the thin air. To compensate, Phoenix-D coordinates a barrage of electro-flares over the pyramid.

    9AvKnF8.png

    The way is lit. The path is clear. We require only the strength to follow it.

    ldJipul.gif

    If we fall short, it won't be because Confirmation Bias let us down.

    SKwY5FB.png

    As Morning Butter moves in to finish off the disc, he spies a small grey figure scuttling between the craters, no doubt fleeing from the blast.

    B1XhgTb.gif

    Elderlycrawfish drops a proxy on the Sectoid, while Butter, assisted by the low Martian gravity, makes the throw of the campaign.

    2Hrvqwd.gif

    A colossal spume of red dirt jets into the air, as a new crater is carved into the surface of this little world. Mixed in with the rock and ash are chunks of flesh and metal - all that's left of the Cyberdisc and a hidden footsoldier annihilated along with it.

    YwWSCCS.png

    The Sectoids have played a cagey defense - remaining elusive, harrying us from the shadows, sowing chaos with their psychic gifts. But now, as we catch them in the open, that defense is unraveling.

    SQm8MX1.png

    With it, their confidence wavers.

    W7r0KXI.png

    And their malevolent will begins to crumble.

    When the next round of psi-attacks comes, it's sporadic and unfocused. For the first time since the Avenger's landing gear touched Martian soil, everyone is once again in their right mind.

    J9QJtke.gif

    Well, almost everyone.

    You know what? I'm not even upset. You stick to what you know, Rend.

    cilrp0r.png


    c4RtvgK.pngStrike team, we've got movement near the front of the ship. Far corner of the pyramid. I can't make it out through the smoke, but it wasn't there a minute ago.


    RHos9uz.pngWe haven't heard anything but screams for awhile now. D'you reckon any of them are still in possession of their faculties?


    hG2bPVy.png


    m7BfjLd.pngREVENGE.

  • EvmaAlsarEvmaAlsar Birmingham, EnglandRegistered User regular
    Bigity status:

    tumblr_lelhr72rwh1qzjg61o1_500.gif

    6YAcQE8.png
    Steam profile - Twitch - YouTube
    Switch: SM-6352-8553-6516
  • TeeManTeeMan BrainSpoon Registered User regular
    Despite toting autocannons and rocket launchers, it's clear that Morning Butter has the biggest guns

    steam_sig.png
  • VelmeranVelmeran Registered User regular
    So many questions I have, but far too many of them would Jinx this whole operation up.

    Vechloran.png
  • ElderlycrawfishElderlycrawfish Registered User regular
    Blew up a Martian.

    Christmas came early this year!

  • PhaserlightPhaserlight Boca Raton, FLRegistered User regular
    That was a long way to heave Hi-X...

    ...I would know...

    Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online
  • MvrckMvrck Dwarven MountainhomeRegistered User regular
  • TeeManTeeMan BrainSpoon Registered User regular
    @Mvrck you are clear to engage B)

    steam_sig.png
  • manwiththemachinegunmanwiththemachinegun METAL GEAR?! Registered User regular
    I did sneak a look at what the next level has in store.

    Fun!

  • RendRend Registered User regular
    It's time to groove!

  • FandaFanda Hang a shining star upon the highest boughRegistered User regular
    pt2PLos.gif

    m7BfjLd.png TRY GETTING A RESERVATION AT DORSIA NOW

    iJqUqev.gif

    The humble grenade's day may have come and gone, but it's still enough to kill you little snots.

    mARmOls.png

    For this, however, something with a little more punch is needed. Probably a one-two punch, in fact, with Talus setting up Confirmation Bias for -

    yQgSgTk.gif

    Oh. That'll do, then. Carry on.

    I0oxL6l.png

    nTsPCBQ.png Form up against the pyramid, and let the tank round the corner first! Keep it together, everyone. Just a few more meters, and we're home free!

    l6EOW9A.gif

    In the crater field north of our exit pyramid, green lights strobe wildly...

    R4QIQJL.gif

    ... while near the Avenger, bright yellow flames bloom from one of the proxies we planted so long ago.

    OrtmQiq.png

    You can feel it, can't you, you little devils? It's all slipping away from you.

    OWnCm3x.png

    But not quickly enough for Rend.

    I had hoped Rend would get ahold of himself as the momentum swung in our favor, but he's remained paralytic or possessed every turn since we first made contact. With the lion's share of our force now in range of the objective, Rend is in very real danger of being left behind.

    There's nothing else for it. We'll have to stun him and drag him out.

    c93kZwC.png

    nF9rof4.png Rend ...?

    YyUuJl5.png

    Cheeseliker and Farangu join Commander TeeMan in a frantic search, but it's useless. Rend is gone. Despondent, they turn back south.

    The pyramid doors and the lanes between them are riddled with proximity grenades. Any one of them could spell Rend's doom as he moves heedlessly through the night. Worse still, we have to add to his peril by replacing the proxy that just exploded. If that gap in the perimeter remains open, we risk everything.

    With a heavy heart, Farangu throws a proxy out into the darkness that swallowed Rend.

    3BthZCu.png

    In the east, Antinumeric is first to reach the door of the exit pyramid. He sights the berserk Sectoid Commander, furiously trying to jam a fresh magazine into its heavy plasma gun, and another Sectoid in the shadows beyond.

    It's the perfect target.

    ZYcRaFO.gif

    With Morning Butter feeding him a primed demolition charge, theSquid makes a throw that leaves even Butter impressed.

    Let's see them psychic their way out of this.

    569V7VW.gif

    Oh what the dickens.

    aw2dong.gif

    HOW ARE YOU ALIVE

    OrtmQiq.png

    It doesn't matter. With that thunderous blast, the Sectoids' hold over us has finally, irrevocably been broken.

    While they held domain over Rend's mind, they spoke to him in insistent whispers. The words were incomprehensible, but by a horrid sort of dream-logic, their meaning was nonetheless clear.

    Come to us, they urged. And so he came - shuffling at first, resistant, then breaking into a shambling run. He had to reach them. The yearning filled him. There was nothing else.

    Now, at last, the veil of whispers recedes; his gait gradually slows, and he stumbles to a confused halt.

    gxizZly.png

    Two steps away from a proximity grenade.

  • FandaFanda Hang a shining star upon the highest boughRegistered User regular
    Talus soloing the Cyberdisc came as quite a surprise; rockets don't ordinarily do that much damage. I found something interesting, though, while I was making the .gif of Morning Butter's HI-X:

    MPnQiB0.png

    For a single frame following the explosion, another disc was visible in the blast zone. It must've been the same one Talus engaged on the following turn.

  • GONG-00GONG-00 Registered User regular
    We used a hell of a lot of grenades of varying types and Hi-Ex. What's our inventory like for the next part?

    Black lives matter.
    Law and Order ≠ Justice
    ACNH Island Isla Cero: DA-3082-2045-4142
    Captain of the SES Comptroller of the State
    xu257gunns6e.png
  • fedaykin666fedaykin666 Registered User regular
    edited July 2016
    I don't know exactly how much ordinance we packed on the Avenger, but I would be willing to suggest that smoking is not recommended in a 5 mile radius. She also has about twice the cargo space of a skyranger, so I don't think we'll be running out of ammo before we run out of soldiers to fire it.

    You can interpret that as an optimistic comment if you like.

    fedaykin666 on
  • FandaFanda Hang a shining star upon the highest boughRegistered User regular
    GONG-00 wrote: »
    We used a hell of a lot of grenades of varying types and Hi-Ex. What's our inventory like for the next part?
    Electro-flares: 4
    Stun rods: 8
    Smoke grenades: 10
    Grenades: 3
    Proximity grenades: 19
    HI-X: 12
    Armor-piercing autocannon ammo: 7
    Incendiary autocannon ammo: 2
    Large rockets: 20
    Incendiary rockets: 9

    Plus the ammunition in everyone's weapons.

    They wasted a lot of our smokes for us, and I had to blow up or abandon most of the flares, but those were meant more for the surface anyway.

  • GONG-00GONG-00 Registered User regular
    Oh right, OpenXcom's inventory system.

    Black lives matter.
    Law and Order ≠ Justice
    ACNH Island Isla Cero: DA-3082-2045-4142
    Captain of the SES Comptroller of the State
    xu257gunns6e.png
  • WhiteZinfandelWhiteZinfandel Your insides Let me show you themRegistered User regular
    Fanda wrote: »
    m7BfjLd.png TRY GETTING A RESERVATION AT DORSIA NOW

    I got so pumped when I saw this.

  • PhaserlightPhaserlight Boca Raton, FLRegistered User regular
    Nice going...

    I'd say things are finally looking in X-Com's favor, but I don't want to jinx us.

    Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online
  • Gabriel_PittGabriel_Pitt (effective against Russian warships) Registered User regular
    I'd say things are finally looking in X-Com's favor,

    You haven't seen the deployment matrix for the aliens in the next part of the mission.
    Super Human
    Ethereal Soldiers 4
    Ethereal Leaders 3
    Ethereal Commanders 5
    Chryssalids 5
    Silacoids 5
    Celatids 5
    Sectopods 4

    Totals 31
    but I don't want to jinx us.

  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Fanda wrote: »
    GONG-00 wrote: »
    We used a hell of a lot of grenades of varying types and Hi-Ex. What's our inventory like for the next part?
    Electro-flares: 4
    Stun rods: 8
    Smoke grenades: 10
    Grenades: 3
    Proximity grenades: 19
    HI-X: 12
    Armor-piercing autocannon ammo: 7
    Incendiary autocannon ammo: 2
    Large rockets: 20
    Incendiary rockets: 9

    Plus the ammunition in everyone's weapons.

    They wasted a lot of our smokes for us, and I had to blow up or abandon most of the flares, but those were meant more for the surface anyway.

    Please remember that I'm guarding the explosives back on the space-bus.
    So, those counts may be just a tad bit on the optimistic side.

    Just saying, I got a buyer and a retirement plan to consider if we make it off this rock.

  • ElderlycrawfishElderlycrawfish Registered User regular
    At first glance, I thought you had plans to sell Mars after this is done.

    For Sale: planet "Mars", quantity: 1. Some wear and tear. May have some smoke damage. Serious offers only.

  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    At first glance, I thought you had plans to sell Mars after this is done.

    For Sale: planet "Mars", quantity: 1. Some wear and tear. May have some smoke damage. Serious offers only.

    Oh, I do.
    But, my planned retirement castle is going to need a spacious breakfast nook, and selling Mars isn't going to cover everything.

  • El SkidEl Skid The frozen white northRegistered User regular
    edited July 2016
    Guys guys....

    The rules of engagement are very clear. If we beat the mission, Mars has to go into the giant cash fire along with all the other loot.

    Sorry about that!

    El Skid on
  • HeartfinderHeartfinder Registered User regular
    Well, we could transfer everyone to Mars and then blow Earth up for a better view of Venus.

    steam_sig-400.png
  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    Well, we could transfer everyone to Mars and then blow Earth up for a better view of Venus.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec-8A5k16Ak

    a4irovn5uqjp.png
    Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
  • AntinumericAntinumeric Registered User regular
    I'd completely forgotten about this!

    I'm on MARS?! I was hoping for a few quiet missions killing greys, someone else sorting out all this "invasion" mess, and a sweet retirement package.

    Mars was not in the plan.

    In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony god’s blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my intelligence.
  • RendRend Registered User regular
    Somebody dropped an explosive

    Hey

    Hey did anyone drop an explosive here? Check your bags guys

  • FandaFanda Hang a shining star upon the highest boughRegistered User regular
    Moving under his own volition at last, Rend makes a break for the south and for safety.

    vtXV0qu.png

    He reaches the boulder formation just west of the exit pyramid, where YerMum and fedaykin666 meet him. Each places a comforting hand on his shoulder and lays a firm grip on his arm.

    Pinned by the rocks on one side and a converging wall of bodyguards on the other, Rend's not going anywhere we don't want him to. For the rest of his journey, he'll have a phalanx of soldiers escorting him.

    Meanwhile, theSquid takes another crack at fragging that Sectoid Commander.

    FRDhMjg.gif

    His grenade only knocks it down. Good lord. This isn't a Sectoid Commander at all, is it? This is the Sectoid Primarch. It's the Ur-Sectoid from which all lesser Sectoids were formed.

    c8KW3jL.png

    This one, however, is not made of such stern stuff. Weaponless and alone, it scurries frantically along the base of the pyramid, wide black eyes peering nervously into the night.

    LkhoGdB.gif

    The last thing it sees is a vapor trail rushing out of Confirmation Bias's turret.

    P2AIEmy.png

    Beyond the stunned Commander, another Sectoid has cast aside its weapon in terror.

    There'll be no surrender, little man. That's not how this works.

    jvAD2Zh.gif

    A grenade from see317 turns it into bloody gray confetti.

    OrtmQiq.png

    The dominoes are falling rapidly now, and there can't be many of them left. Only a couple of doors hiss open and closed in the distance as Elvenshae, bringing up the rear, drags the last of our spare ordnance across the crater field. Soon half the team is inside the grav lift.

    VCTNFgf.png

    And then the Sectoid Commander clambers back to its feet.

    It survived a HI-X blast at two tiles away from ground zero.

    It survived a grenade detonating directly under its feet.

    hkR0mLZ.gif

    It doesn't survive Confirmation Bias.

    What a trooper CB has been for us. Five rockets fired, five direct hits - and five man-portable rockets saved for the underground. That could be what the fate of the mission turns on, in the end.

    But now the time has come to part ways. I wish it was possible for us to give this plucky tank a better send-off. All we can do is stand and salute as the grav lift door slides closed.

    OIjpUL7.png

    I0BmRxU.png We're on an express elevator to hell, going down!

    GpdtvkO.png

  • DuriniaDurinia Evolved from Space Potatoes Registered User regular
    I forsee a possible ending where we all die, Earth is destroyed...

    ...and Confirmation Bias continues to terrorize the Martian surface conducting an endless guerrilla campaign against sectoids as a last remnant of human civilization.

    For business reasons, I must preserve the outward sign of sanity.
    --Mark Twain
  • italianranmaitalianranma Registered User regular
    I like to imagine it as a weaponized BB-8.

    飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    Can't it blow a hole in the wall and get on the lift?

    38thDoE on steam
    🦀🦑🦀🦑🦀🦑🦀🦑🦀🦑🦀🦑🦀
    
  • DuriniaDurinia Evolved from Space Potatoes Registered User regular
    38thDoe wrote: »
    Can't it blow a hole in the wall and get on the lift?

    Pyramid walls are impervious:
    LkhoGdB.gif

    For business reasons, I must preserve the outward sign of sanity.
    --Mark Twain
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    I like to imagine it as a weaponized BB-8.

    arflu7u9d8v6.jpg

  • 38thDoe38thDoe lets never be stupid again wait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered User regular
    It looks like sand!

    38thDoE on steam
    🦀🦑🦀🦑🦀🦑🦀🦑🦀🦑🦀🦑🦀
    
  • see317see317 Registered User regular
    Fanda wrote: »
    jvAD2Zh.gif
    A grenade from see317 turns it into bloody gray confetti.

    Goodbye retirement jacuzzi. I'll miss you.
    Hopefully, some of the other high explosives I've looted helpfully carried from the ship will survive the coming engagement.

  • NotoriusBENNotoriusBEN Registered User regular
    Durinia wrote: »
    I forsee a possible ending where we all die, Earth is destroyed...

    ...and Confirmation Bias continues to terrorize the Martian surface conducting an endless guerrilla campaign against sectoids as a last remnant of human civilization.

    opportunity.png

    a4irovn5uqjp.png
    Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
  • MolybdenumMolybdenum Registered User regular
    Durinia wrote: »
    I forsee a possible ending where we all die, Earth is destroyed...

    ...and Confirmation Bias continues to terrorize the Martian surface conducting an endless guerrilla campaign against sectoids as a last remnant of human civilization.

    opportunity.png

    http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29132/29132-h/29132-h.htm

    Steam: Cilantr0
    3DS: 0447-9966-6178
Sign In or Register to comment.