Club PA 2.0 has arrived! If you'd like to access some extra PA content and help support the forums, check it out at patreon.com/ClubPA
The image size limit has been raised to 1mb! Anything larger than that should be linked to. This is a HARD limit, please do not abuse it.
Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it,
follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given
their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!
Let's Play X-Com: UFO Defense! (ironman, superhuman, starting tech & council funding only)
Posts
3DS: 0447-9966-6178
What did you think muscle butter was made from?
Steam profile.
Pax Arcadia(PC) Division Agent
it's not just muscle butter as in "butter for muscles". It's also muscle butter as in "butter FROM muscles"
3DS: 0447-9966-6178
It's not that bad, we have good chats all the time whenever I go get a midnight snack.
And 3am snack, pre breakfast snack, post breakfast snack, brunch snack, pre lunch snack, post lunch snack, afternoon tea snack, post afternoon tea snack, pre dinner snack, post dinner snack and pre midnight snack.
He doesn't talk much but that's ok, I make up for that. I know lots about the nutritional, medicinal, offensive, defensive, and anatomical properties and uses of muscle butter.
So he's at least learning something.
Mr Ray is on his way out.
But maybe, before he falls unconscious, he can do one last thing for the team.
Deafened by the explosion, half-blinded by smoke and shock, Mr Ray limps forward into a silent hellscape. Elderlycrawfish has put the forest up ahead to the torch. The inferno is a beacon drawing Mr Ray onwards.
Just shy of ground zero and HyphyKezzy's shredded corpse, Mr Ray catches sight of his target and calls it out in a croaking voice he cannot hear.
Nearby, Farangu makes a daring reconnaisance run along the hull of the Supply Ship. No Muton reinforcements have arrived yet.
At least, not from the east. But in the south, YerMum is now facing two aliens - one backlit by fire, the other by a flare. She clings to her useless rifle the way a child clings to a stuffed animal.
Her comrades in the Skyranger, on the other hand, already discarded their rifles. They disembark with more suitable weaponry hoisted on their shoulders.
Sir Fabulous's rocket flies true, and the Muton finally dies - not with a scream or a gasp, but with a pig-like squeal.
Confirmation Bias then tries to assist by knocking down the trees that are screening the other one.
It knocks down the Muton instead.
Antinumeric decides he's not going to let it get back up.
All that's left is a crater and a foul smell.
We're down to a single target remaining - the thing that murdered HyphyKezzy. Although we're out of rockets, Colonel an_alt has emptied her autocannon of its armor-piercing payload and reloaded it with explosive rounds.
Now she empties her autocannon again, this time into the Muton.
It takes half her ammunition, but the Muton is chopped to pieces along with the surrounding jungle.
We've exacted a small measure of revenge. It will have to suffice for now.
Having dragged himself to the top of the Skyranger ramp, Mr Ray's strength finally fails him.
Meanwhile, Mvrck draws the grim duty of retrieving HyphyKezzy's gear. He heaves the autocannon back to YerMum. Most of the other munitions are cheaply replaced, and can be abandoned.
However, there's one thing we won't be leaving behind.
Rest in Peace, HyphyKezzy.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
Mmm.
This makes me think.
@chiasaur11 maybe you should try Terror From The Deep with the same restrictions as Fanda here.
I mean you already went insane the first time around.
You can't go double-insane.
right?
I played through TFTD once before that LP. I'd be going triple insane.
...Or I likely would, if it lasted. 'Fortunately', I'm pretty sure TFTD on these rules wouldn't last four months. It might not make three.
Why I fear the ocean.
Destiny Profile : http://www.bungie.net/en/Profile/254/7028016
He's beginning to believe.
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online
Mr Ray remains unconscious but stable, swaddled in hastily-applied bandages. His IV bag hangs from one of the empty weapon racks above him, its line shuddering with every vibration of the fuselage. While we can't yet know how long his recovery will take, it's a safe bet he'll be out of action for several weeks.
It looks like Ray will be the only one getting any rest.
Lt. Mudzgut chases UFO-43 all around the coast of Japan and south into the Philippines, waiting for it to cross back over land before engaging.
It turns out to be a Medium Scout, and Mudzgut sustains light damage from its plasma cannon while bringing the UFO down east of Manila.
I've come to understand that a Medium Scout appearing on the first of the month is scouting for that month's terror mission. So whatever we find today in the Philppines is what we'll be facing later when the Terror Ships descend on Asia. Now that we're into June, it could be any of the alien races. Hopefully Mutons are not on the agenda.
Speaking of which, we still have two downed Scouts and a base full of Mutons to deal with in Africa. As you may have surmised from that last mission, Mutons are tough. They have 125 health, their armor cuts most incoming damage by 20-30 points, and armor piercing ammunition only inflicts two thirds of its normal damage on a Muton.
To combat them, we have the following weapons in our arsenal:
The rifle's day has come and gone. It will inflict, on average, precisely zero damage. Hitting an alien still gives experience, however, so a weak soldier can beef up by bouncing rifle bullets off a Muton's hide.
Number of hits required to kill a Muton with this weapon: infinite
Despite the cannons' higher damage, armor piercing is still a non-starter. Fortunately, direct hits with explosive rounds will go through the Muton's somewhat softer under armor, making the cannons good tools for softening them up and finishing them off - or, as an_alt recently demonstrated, killing them outright with sustained fire.
Hits to kill: 4.5
The larger high explosive rocket will be our weapon of choice against Mutons when we can get a clear line of fire.
Hits to kill: 1.4
Because of how many time units it takes to prime and throw explosives, the regular grenade - which for so long was our crutch and our salvation against the lesser races - is now a liability. It will be phased out and replaced with more powerful munitions.
Hits to kill: 3
Proximity grenades remain a great way to draw first blood, and the one-two punch of a proxy-rocket combo will prove fatal in most cases.
Hits to kill: 2
You know you're in some grim shit when the great barn-leveler can't reliably one-shot your enemy.
Hits to kill: 1.25
Obviously, close quarters is no place to fight Mutons - not when you're relying on multiple applications of explosives to get the job done. Therefore I've decided to let the Medium Scout crash site in Africa expire, because those maps are too small and too densely packed.
We're also going to let the alien base continue to operate for the foreseeable future. It will score points for the aliens every day it's in operation, but we can try to make up for that elsewhere. And if we ever have a dismal month that looks like it's going to leave our score in the red, the option to raid the Muton base will still be there as a last resort. We can't get a Commander out of it, but just blowing up the control room will earn us 500 points.
That leaves the Large Scout that EvmaAlsar shot down. After this next mission in the Philippines, a team from Haus von Trapp will take a crack at it. However, we won't be breaching it or any other UFO crewed by Mutons.
So, poll time!
Given that using explosives inside a cramped UFO is too dangerous to contemplate, how shall we deal with Muton ships?
Should we let crash sites expire unless we really need the score, or should we assault every wreck with relentless savagery?
For those UFOs we do assault, how should we go about it? We could try to grab the low-hanging fruit by killing aliens around the UFO exterior, and then dust off. Or we could die of boredom camping the UFO door until every last alien wanders out, allowing us to recover the craft.
Tell me what you guys think. The rules of engagement you decide on will also apply to Ethereals once they show up, since they're almost as hard to kill.
die of boredom
Steam profile.
Wait em out.
-How many troopers are Strategic Beefcake rated, auto or heavy cannon qualified? (Closer to 32, the max capacity of an Avenger, the better)
-Are we lacking any components required to construct the Avenger?
-What is left in the research tree for the Avenger? And Cydonia?
-If the known existing alien base is indeed Muton, are we going to gamble on other alien bases popping up being populated by something less formidable?
-Is the Commander itching to devote time to other games?
Pax Arcadia(PC) Division Agent
Of course, that's easy for me to say, never having been face to face with one...
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
We have everything we need.
This reminds me, though - I really should build more General Stores in the secondary bases in case we need to transfer materials out of Haus von Trapp in an emergency.
Once our current project finishes, we only have to research The Ultimate Craft in order to build the Avenger. We should be able to start construction early in July.
As for the endgame, we need to do the following six projects in order:
- Interrogate any alien
- Alien Origins
- Interrogate an alien Leader
- The Martian Solution
- Interrogate an alien Commander
- Cydonia or Bust
We can only do the first two with what we have on hand right now.All told, our remaining research should take about three months, assuming we can capture a Leader and Commander in a timely fashion.
We can also grab a Commander off a landed Battleship or in a defense of one of our bases, so an alien base assault isn't our only option. In any case, there will definitely be more alien bases constructed. It's just a matter of time.
Apparently I've sunk over three hundred hours into Long War over the past few months. If I need extra gaming time, that's where I should probably carve it out of. Although, to be unremittingly frank with myself, if I had extra gaming time, that's also how I would probably end up spending it.
All your fault, Iolo.
All your fault.
Only to keep our score in the black. Looking back on some of our previous missions, it appears the majority of the score on a recovery mission comes from alien kills and recovered corpses. The UFO materials count for about a third of the total.
So if we're doing well enough, we don't need to recover any UFO components. If we're doing really well, we only need to shoot down UFOs and respond to terror sites.
True enough. May was probably the last month in which we really needed to run up our score in order to boost funding. Apart from the Avenger, all our major expenditures are behind us now. We can afford to minimize risks and start conserving our strength for the final mission.
Beyond how we deal with Mutons, I suppose the broader question is this: should I try to speed things through to the endgame, skipping non-essential missions where it seems appropriate to do so? Or do you guys want as much X-Com as possible, right up to the end?
History is written by the winners not-blow'd-up.
3DS: 0447-9966-6178
I'll drink to that!
We are Diamond Dogs, smearing those comrade ashes all around.
And hence, in me.
*belch*
Pshaw.
Just because, on average, a bullet will just bounce off a muton's hide, and it would take north of a hundred rounds to drop a muton soldier, let alone an engineer, but they can, technically, be killed with bullets.
If they just stand there, I mean.
(Best case scenario? 8 rounds rapid. That's the absolute best case.)
Why I fear the ocean.
Steam - NotoriusBEN | Uplay - notoriusben | Xbox,Windows Live - ThatBEN
That's absolutely fantastic, @Fanda.
Steam profile.
X-Com Order of Battle:
Confirmation Bias
YerMum and Mvrck
Elderlycrawfish and Antinumeric
Sir Fabulous and Farangu
Durinia and @akajaybay
SutibunRi and Stormwatcher
Skyranger-2 makes a low approach over the Luzon Strait, setting down in a rural district east of Manila.
As soon as the ramp drops, the curve of the Medium Scout's hull is visible to our right.
It's a good thing we brought the tank.
I have well and truly had enough of your shit, Medium Scouts.
YerMum once made a horrifying hash of shooting a Sectoid at spitting distance under the Skyranger. She deserves a chance to redeem herself.
Wait. There's another one? Where?
Of course.
Anything YerMum and Elderlycrawfish do will risk retaliation from the roof. They could open fire, but what if they miss? Crawfish has an autocannon, and YerMum's career has thus far not been a tale of clutch shots successfully made.
I opt instead to move them back under the sheltering wing of the Skyranger, and breathe a sigh of relief when both make it safely.
It then falls to Confirmation Bias to take out the garbage.
The age of conserving expensive tank rockets has come to an end. The age of maximum xeno-fucking now dawns, rising like a glorious skull-shaped sun over the western Pacific.
Unfortunately, we still have a sniper on the roof, and no one can get a shot at it without it getting a shot at them first. Everyone huddles behind the ramp, where they should be out of sight from the roof, and far enough back in case the Sectoid drops to the ground and charges us.
When the attack comes, it's from an unexpected quarter.
A section of fence absorbed the heavy plasma blast meant for Confirmation Bias.
It will probably also block any rockets we try to sling back, so our tank trundles out of the way and lets its fleshy compatriots have a sally.
Antinumeric claims a firing position beside the ramp, but can't connect on a pair of long bursts from his autocannon.
Farangu steps in with his heavy cannon ...
... followed by akajaybay, firing her first shots of the war:
Close, but still off-target.
You know what's right on target, though?
Elderlycrawfish's grenade.