The Let's Play Archive

X-COM: UFO Defense

by GuavaMoment

Part 18: Wonderful And Sad

Psion posted:

PS: UPDATE MORE




Chapter 19: A Highly Ionized Gas Containing An Approximately Equal Number Of Positive Ions And Electrons



: It was humiliating to watch this.



: UFOs were flying around the world, and we could do nothing to stop them without Interceptors.



: It took a few days for the new ones to arrive, and we saw quite of lot of ships in that time.



: We sent the Skyranger to follow important targets, but most got away. A lot of ships either fled from Europe north-west to the Arctic, or east across Asia towards the Pacific.



:We FINALLY detected one of the ground just as our new Interceptors had arrived. This was to be our first mission with Heavy Plasma and Stun Launchers

code:

UFO 25 - Germany

Waddle Dee operating the tank

Otto Zander, Sugary, Terashell, Loden Taylor, X-Future, Nick Buntline, Roar, Gruff McGuffin, The Deadly Hume, Heinrich von Paxicon attending




: We landed and began exploration of the surroundings. Nick was the first to eat it.



: He was ambushed walking around a corner.



: Roar did good here. He could hear what was happening nearby, and showed off the power of the heavy plasma. He shot through the wall and killed the Floater.



: A large group had surrounded the UFO, and Heinrich killed one trying to escape. X-Future saw inside. He had been issued with a Stun Launcher.



: The plan was to knock-out the entire crew at once, leaving all the equipment intact.



: All X had to do was hit this one Floater a few feet away from him and everything in there would have been out cold.



: He missed.





: It was up to Sugary and Heinrich to then shoot the remaining Floaters after they killed X.


code:

Casualties: Nick Buntline, X-Future


: After the mission our Hyperwave Decoder went online, and we could finally see what the aliens were up to, to a point. A lot of floater ships were scouting for bases in the north. Others-



: -were searching for an X-COM base, but they were scouring Asia, not Europe. I didn't figure out the reason until later, but I should have been suspicious.



: The detection of a Terror ship sent everyone into a frenzy. Ulysses was hesitant to send Interceptors out after seeing that it was a large ship and knowing what the alien craft were really capable of. The possibility of capturing a leader on this ship was worth the risk though.



: Both Affi and TTBF followed the ship.



: Thos two had studied the tapes from the disastrous attack on the very large UFO. While they knew they were in danger, the tactics used previously couldn't be faulted.



: The two Interceptors launched simultaneous attacks-



: -and brought it down without taking any damage. We knew that this ship would have quite a large number of Sectoids on board, as well as the "mini-UFOs" they used as terror units. Cyberdisks are incredibly dangerous and explode when destroyed. In the close quarters of a UFO explosions like that would be amplified. We were all quite wary of the Cyberdisks, and we weren't expecting what we actually found. Looking back on it though, it was probably one of the most important missions in the war. Everything changed after this one...




SELECTED FAN ENTRY BELOW

The Deadly Hume posted:

LOG: The Deadly Hume, 28th March 1999.

Holy crap have the past few days sucked! First two ships were lost trying to take out a big bastard, didn't know the pilots well but they must've had balls the size of beachballs. I hope the new guys are just as potent, as long as they can shoot better. Before they arrived we just had to watch blip after blip go uncountered, though that should change now.

All I wanted to do was go down to the range and shoot things. The scorch mark from ... what's his name, I've forgotten already, Crunch's "funeral" puts me off doing even that.

Also, all the old guns and shit are gone, but because most of us have gotten upgrades that's fine. We were laughing at Terashell's purple suit because it practically says "HERE I AM BOYS" but now they're being doled out to the rest of us. I received mine before the last mission, which was pretty routine, two casualties, a couple of prisoners, some more crap for the lab. Par for the course. I've survived three missions so apparently that makes me a veteran of some sort. *gulp*

Terashell is, how can I put it, a complex man. He grumbles all the time on missions and stomps around like Hardass McHardass and then goes into the fray and goes BLAM BLAM BLAM and there's bodies everywhere. But back at the base there's been times when I've seen him skulking back to the mess hall with a dumb smirk on his face. What's that all about?

Still, good to have him on my side. Him and Otto, who seems to live a charmed life.

Also, grenade explosions look like skulls. How do they do that? It's just one more thing that I try not to think about. Oh well. See an alien, shoot it, hope they die. Don't think too hard. Novelty of PEW PEW PEW has worn off, even with the new weaponry.

Anyway, gotta go, red alert's gone up, the new pilots have actually taken down a big one. They're assembling the squad, I think this is going to be pure
ass. I hate to be morbid, but I've just gone over my will to make sure there are no loose ends if the worst happens. But uf I get out of this alive...