The Let's Play Archive

X-COM: Apocalypse

by GuavaMoment

Part 36

Thursday, April 27, 20:00

*BEGIN RECORDING*

Today has been one of the weirdest days I can ever recall having. Starting with Tynam's strange and misguided attack on the city, to learning the fate of most of our missing squad to teaming up with our new ally, I won't be forgetting this day for a long time. I've got a lot to write about, so I start with the beginning - Our secondary squad landing in the alien farm, looking for our missing squad.


----


Booyah: Alright, land us beside the other ship.

Booyah: That's odd, 'We Come In Peace' is still right where the probe said it was.

Teppec: Maybe the aliens haven't found it yet?

Tynam: This whole thing feels weird. If the first team fell into a trap, how do we know we're not going to suffer the same fate?

Booyah: We don't. Be ready, I think I see something in the building up ahead.

Booyah: Uh....well isn't that the damnedest thing.

Evil Astronaut: THOSE ARE OUR MISSING ANDROID SOLDIERS.

Booyah: But why aren't they moving? Have they shut down?

Lt Smash: Maybe they were forced to shut down...

Booyah: Shit, look over here, I got human bodies. Looks like Sad King Billy and Schlock. Dammit, what the hell happened here?

Evil Astronaut: PERHAPS THEY ENCOUNTERED A-----

Evil Astronaut: ....

Teppec: Astronaut? Hello? Uh guys, Evil Astronaut's just shut down.

Booyah: Hold on, I see something...

Booyah: YOU! IDENTIFY YOURSELF NOW!

Mindfish: Mindfish! I'm Mindfish! Look, you guys got to get back to your ship, now! It's reacting to you, you have to go, NOW!

Booyah: Alright, we'll go, just tell us what happened!

Mindfish: Jim! He was waiting for us, he came at us unarmed, we thought he was OK and friendly and then he blew up and killed Billy and Schlock!

Booyah: Blew up?

Mindfish: Just like a popper! Then the aliens came! We tried fighting back, but nothing works here! Guns, shields, grenades, androids, even our toxiguns stopped working!

Lt Smash: Uh oh, we got poppers coming in, a lot of them! Taking them out!

*click*

*click, click, click*

Lt Smash: What the fuck! My gun isn't working!

Lt Smash: AAAAHHHH! Help! Tynam, get over here, something's wrong with my gun!

Teppec: I've heard enough, let's get the fuck out! I'll try to drag Astronaut back to the ship.

Evil Astronaut: BEGIN RESTART SEQUENCE.

Teppec: Whoa!

Teppec: Astronaut, what the hell?

Evil Astronaut: I APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN OFFLINE FOR TWENTY SEVEN SECONDS. REASON, UNKNOWN.

Booyah: Alright, I've heard enough, everyone grab an android and get back to the ship, double time!

Tynam: Whoooaaaaoooohhh....

Lt Smash: What's wrong?

Tynam: Uh, what the...OH SHIT! I *KNEW* IT! DIE YOU BUG-EYED FREAK!

Lt Smash: I'm don't feel very well...

Tynam: Oh crap, more of 'em!

Tynam: It's all over now! I have to get away!

Booyah: TYNAM!!! What the hell?!

Teppec: He just killed Lt Smash and ran off!

Mindfish: THAT'S WHAT THIS BUILDING DOES! We got ambushed, our weapons stopped working, and we had to split up. I know there's some of our guys still here, but if we don't leave now, they're going to get us again!

Booyah: What exactly does this building do?

Mindfish: Remember when we thought the organic buildings might have some kind of immune response? We just encountered it. It's some kind of energy damping field. Renders electronics useless, prevents grenades from exploding, and projectiles are rapidly decelerated somehow.

Booyah: But the poppers worked.

Teppec: So did Tynam's sword.

Mindfish: Somehow it doesn't effect the aliens. And then there's the psionic attacks. They cause you to panic, that's why we all ran.

Booyah: Like with Tynam...

Mindfish: We felt like we had to run to survive, mainly because it was true.

Teppec: Speaking of running, there's the ship.

Booyah: But what happened to We Come In Peace? It's gone!

----

From the reports of the surviving soldiers, this energy damping field will be a difficult obstacle to overcome. We've been overjoyed at the return of Mindfish and all our missing android soldiers, but they'll be of no help to us. Without weapons, without grenades, it will be incredibly difficult if not impossible to destroy the required targets in the building, even with the help of our new ally.

Sad King Billy and Schlock have been confirmed dead, killed by Jim. El Nato, Striker, UberJew, YourWay and Redeker were last seen by Mindfish running away from the battle, deeper into the building. Without working electronics, the built-in maps and positioning units in their armor stopped working, and the soldiers became lost. Mindfish told me of his story of having to survive and hide inside the alien building, waiting for a rescue transport to arrive. He saw Welcome From Earf arriving, and used that visual to re-locate the entrance.

We don't know exactly what happened to Jim. It's most likely the result of alien psionics, brainwashing or a combination of both. We beleive it's similar to what happened to Tynam. And as for Tynam, I'll think it's best to let him tell the story himself.

*RECORDING CONTINUES*