[Grizzly]

Savegame edit the special spez in .

He asked for the other one! It's Gunslinger or Damn Good Ground, and he asked for Damn Good Ground.

Fair enough .

[NGTM-1R]

We have a UFO over South America; scramble jr2 and have Phantom back him up.

Central, jr2, scratch one down in flames. Three Avalanches expended. Remaining on-station for Skyranger.

Bradford, have Ralwood take a team. Less-experienced preferably, it's a small, be good to get them some combat experience. And make sure he takes the MEC-2 Sentinel chassis, I want a combat evaluation of it.

Operation Dark Apollo, Brazilian interior, June 2nd, 3:25am
Deployed: Admiral "Marauder" Ralwood (MEC, mission commander), Irina "Casino" Ignatyeva (heavy), Droid803 "Scotch" (support), MP-Ryan (assault), Gortef (support), TwentyPercentCooler (sniper

"Got a truck here, no sign of whoever drove it. Dead...something, in the back."


"You don't recognize it?"

"No, dammit, I'm a soldier, not an expert in Brazilian wildlife. I hear stuff to the north."


"Found the skid mark the UFO made as it went in."


"And eyes on the target. Move in folks."


"Contact! Mutons!"


"Target down." _{Ralwood doesn't care it's your spot-move, Ralwood has a railgun.}


"Got an Outsider on the flank!"


"Oh frak! Lot of fire here-SON OF A *****!" _{And Twenty gets shot because I wasn't expecting an Outsider, forgetting I've actually not yet hit the alien base. Derp.}



"Flanking the target-oh ****, he's still up!" _{70% crit chance and it doesn't happen, curses.}


"Dammit, he just backhanded MP off his feet!"

"Muton down. You okay MP?"


"He hit armor. Think it hurt his hand, actually. I'm good."

"Missed the Outsider."


"Firing-missed. Oh this is gonna suc-" _{I should have gone for cover rather than fired here. Derp.}



"TWENTY'S DOWN!"

"Still breathing! Outsider down! Droid, we need you over here now!"


"Floaters rolling up. They missed me."


"I've got Twenty stabilized! Take down those Floaters so we can get back to the Skyranger!"


"Scratch two. Move people! Central, Strike Lead, medical evac priority one!"



Strange. Now I know how everyone felt when I went down. Droid is not as skilled as Deathfun, so we could not get Twenty upright again, but still. That moment of panic. It's not as Micheal described it, where you feel as though you are suddenly clawing for ground where previously you strode confidently forward, but a sense that one terrible mistake has been made and now everything rests on fixing it. Perhaps the relative weakness of our enemies helped, we were not forced to struggle forward just to reach the fallen.

[StarSlayer]

I don't mind being re purposed to straight up Designated Marksman/Covert Operative.  I'm curious how this works though, I have an operative I'd like to do something similar to.

[Droid803]

Yay I was useful.

[NGTM-1R]

I don't mind being re purposed to straight up Designated Marksman/Covert Operative.  I'm curious how this works though, I have an operative I'd like to do something similar to.

Basically, it's your regular Sniper build, only you substitute Gunslinger for Damn Good Ground, kit them out with a Plasma or Laser Pistol and secondary items of choice. (Gene Augs to get to high ground are also useful, since you can hide on a roof and the Exalt types won't look for you though they can actually get to you.) Gunslinger+Plasma Pistol is as powerful as a standard plasma rifle most of the time.

[deathfun]

Man, you've been busy there NGTM
Helluva update binge!

Quite the few missions to boot. I'm impressed on how many EXALT soldiers you had to take out that mission though. I hardly recall seeing those high of numbers even against aliens

[Mongoose]

Given my flag, I'm just going to assume that I'm spouting off Spy lines at every given opportunity.  I guess a Russian Heavy would have been too obvious though.

[NGTM-1R]

Commander, we have a report of alien activity in Germany, on the outskirts of Berlin. The appear to be interfering with a cargo shipment. This raises some questions we'd like answered

Ralwood, Mike! Assemble a squad, we're going heavy on this one! The aliens are trying to hijack a cargo truck near Berlin, and we don't know what they're after but if they want it this bad we're not letting them have it!

Operation Lone Heat, Germany, Berlin, 5:50pm, June 6th
Deployed: Micheal "Gipsy D" Sanderson (MEC-2, mission commander), Admiral "Marauder" Ralwood (MEC-2), Trashman "Walker" (sniper), Popolion "Polly" (support), Mongoose "Strobe (heavy), Deathfun "Fabulous" (support)

"Move out people."

"Sectoids! Lots of them!"



"We should have given this mission to the rookies."

"Can it."

"Firing. Target down." _{Damn fools, why do you always try to trigger Polpolion's Covering Fire which lets him reaction-fire you before you shoot?}


"Their accuracy leaves something to be desired."


"Ow! Son of a-"


"Your armor stopped it, don't get shot again, you'll be fine." _{He should have been too, but for some reason got sickbay time.}

"Miss. Gah, the targeting gear on the MEC-2. I need more time on the range to get used to this stuff."


"I got it." _{Why yes, Trash just oneshot a Sectoid with a basic pistol; if only I'd known I'd have brought Arc Throwers so it'd be plasma pistols for all. Whoops.}


"Target down." _{Actually a really good shot Mongoose made here.}


"Swing and a miss. You're right Ral, bit of information overload going on."


"Jesus, watch it will you Polly!?"


"Minor damage."


"There, got one."



"Target down. Two targets actually. We're clear." _{If you hear Pistolero playing in the background, it's only because it should be.}


"More Sectoids!"


_{Trashman doesn't care it's your spot-move, Trashman has squadsight.}


"Missed again! Dammit."


"Incoming-oh man..."


"Relax, there are safety systems. It's just a pump."

"At least they suck as bad as I do!"


"Target is toasty."


"Other target is down."


"Nice shooting, Trash."

"More, in the back end of the store!"


"Frak, missed him!" _{Sadly, even Squadsight and Opportunist don't always get a hit.}


"Missed as well."


"When are they going to learn that their pistols don't stop MECs?"


"Missed! Reloading!"


"Target down."


"Nice shot Polly. We're done here. We should have given this one to the less-experienced crew."

<sub>I mistook this for a different mission, alas. Whoops!

Meanwhile...</sub>

"StarSlayer, you volunteered, and Trash is again in the hospital. We've confirmed there's an EXALT cell active in France; they went after a Council member and failed. We need you to go in."

[AdmiralRalwood]

Bradford, have Ralwood take a team. Less-experienced preferably, it's a small, be good to get them some combat experience. And make sure he takes the MEC-2 Sentinel chassis, I want a combat evaluation of it.

There are few things I enjoy as much as evaulating 'Mechs MEC chassis.

_{Ralwood doesn't care it's your spot-move, Ralwood has a railgun.}

Firing railguns is one of those things.

And another post while I was typing this? Wow.

...Wait, when did I get promoted to Major?

EDIT: Oh, last mission, apparently.

[Scotty]

Mongoose's callsign is Strobe?  Eerie.  That's what I go by pretty much everywhere that's not HLP (or the BT forums).

[TrashMan]

TrashMans log.

I got shot. Again. I'm a like a plasma magnet for aliens, so I end up skiping every second mission (and despite that I got the second highest kill-count. Go me!). This is why I keep asking for a helmet.
XCOM has a budget to field MECs and Gene-mods and laser rifles, but aquireing a simple helment is aparently too problematic.
Doesn't matter. Just minor wounds, like usual.
As the old saying goes, you can't keep a good man down.

Word of those Exhalt celsl got around. Can't say I'm thrilled about fighting humans.

[NGTM-1R]

_{I'm glad to see everyone writing up stuff. \o/}

Abduction attempt in Mexico. Ready team, saddle up.

Operation Blind Engine, Leon, Mexico, June 15th, 2:00am
Deployed: Micheal "Gipsy D" Sanderson (MEC-2, mission commander), Deathfun "Fabulous" (support), Polpolion "Polly" (support), Enioch "Chops" (assault), Irina "Casino" Ignatyeva (heavy), Euclidean "Spitfire" Geometry (assault)

"What the hell is that?"


"It looks like a MEC with a Sectoid in it."

"Okay, let's see how well the aliens build 'em then. Firing."


"Damn, good armor! Never seen something soak a railgun slug that well."

"I got this-woah!" _{Lightning Reflexes is god-tier for this sort of situation. Never leave your assaults without it.}


"Firing! He's leaking stuff, but I can't tell if it's blood or coolant or lubricants."


"Polly! He's gotta be on the ropes, drop him!"

"Copy! One to the head!"


"He's stumbling...got some discharges-target down! Good shooting Polly!"



"Cloaky ****s!"


"Sectoid moving-he's down!"


"Second Sectoid moving-also down!


"DEATHFUN, HIT THE DECK!"


"Christ Irina!"

"Hey, if you like tentacle monsters that's your problem."

"Well, one's grabbed Enoich! Got it!"

"Cyberdisc moving-oh god! Missed me, thank god."


"Those little things sting!"


"Yeah? Sting this." _{This is rank cruelty, really; a railgun is a 6-to-8 with a crit 8-to-12, being used on a pair of things that have a max of three health.}


"Cyberdisc is hit and not happy, it folded up again. Cyberdisc is down."



"Mutons in the last building-"


"Christ Irina, having fun with that rocket launcher?"

"Stun that one. I'll kill the other. We can go home."

"Fine, fine."


_{Ultimately it was the drones that actually injured Enioch enough to get a sickbay stay. Weird his armor worked when Trash's didn't.}


The Mectoid, as we're calling it, has been turned over to the science team. As efforts to get more mileage out of a Sectoid go it worked pretty well, absorbing nearly six times the firepower it would normally take to kill a single Sectoid.

But the design seems poorly optimized. Using both arms for fixed heavy weapons systems seems a limiting decision in terms of CQC options, ability to manipulate the environment, and even stability and getting back up after falling over. The weapons have a different form factor from other alien designs, and it seems to use both of them in its attacks every time. Possibly to make up for an insufficient rate of fire?

They also don't protect the pilot as well as our MECs do. Admittedly we originally adopted the helmets as an almost stylistic choice, but the MEC-2 Sentinel design added improvements in head and chest protection for the MEC wearer. It will be interesting to hear the science team's conclusions, particularly whether IronBeer thinks the Mectoid is reactionary or whether we've developed our own suits in parallel to theirs.

[Grizzly]

To COMMAND
From Joshua Vandenberg
Subject: Potential of genetic modifications

After researching the bone marrow modifications found on EXALT operatives, and after testing this in on animal subjects, it seems that this technology can be applied to our XCOM soldiers without much issue. The bone marrow modifications increase the blood regeneration abilities of the body, but do not cause any harmfull side effects. As such, I believe that this sort of technology will help to mitigate the effects of blood loss in our operatives, which is very usefull for a lot of purposes. Aside from that, the body's inert ability to heal bleeding wounds seems to be much improved as well, which can be of an effect even within the field.
As "Trashman" has often expressed regret about how often he is down in sickbay, he might want to volunteer for this kind of modification.

Of another note are genetic modifications which are of a less intrusive kind. I am talking about eye modifications. EXALT operatives seem to have used the same eye modifications as we have theorized about in the past.

Some EXALT operatives seem to have the eyes of an hawk, having a much better depth perception. Applying this technology to our own operatives can make them more accurate whilst on higher ground. I highly recommend every sharpshooter in our unit to be equipped with this modification. It is suprisingly non-intrusive to boot, a far cry from the other gene mods I have witnessed thus far.

Another modification I have seen seems to involve modifications to the pupil muscles, which are much more... athletic. This could help operatives eyes'  adept better to changing circumstances, which is especially usefull when trying to correct their aim. I highly recommend that just about everyone else is outfitted with this gene mod. It is very non-intrusive.
Both eye modifications require very little resources on our end. If Command would like to test this technology, I highly recommend we start with these.

Our tests have revealed one caveat, however: The gene mods can only be applied by stimulating growth a bit. As a result, the bodies of operatives may not be entirely the same when they come out as opposed when they come in. Although this should not be a significant problem for the operatives themselves (heck, I am sure Deathfun would love it), their armor might have to be refitted to accomodate.
Since this growth can not be readily controlled, it is very likely that it will override changes made to accommodate the body for cybernetic augmentations. Although this can not be ascertained for sure, I highly suspect that MEC troopers will suffer from extreme side effects when we try to genitically augment them in another way.

--- Message ends.

[Phantom Hoover]

Is this an attempt to justify why genemodded troops don't have sleeves joshua

[Gortef]

Ooh promotions, and I got to be useful again. All is well.
That one UFO mission seemed rather worrysome though, but we all got home more or less alive at least.


(hehe and tanks for the sniper remark as I mentioned being one in the previous LP's, intentional or not)

[Grizzly]

Is this an attempt to justify why genemodded troops don't have sleeves joshua

Yes.
It's also to explain to the layman the current gene mods we have available.

[IronBeer]

Professional log: Dr. Vincent "IronBeer" Zokus
June 16, 2015 - Entry #14
_____________________________________________________________

Busy busy busy. Everybody's under stress by now, but obviously it would be petty to complain about my lot in comparison to the field operatives. Yesterday was the third night in a row I'd passed out at my MEC Bay workstation in the wee hours- so much to do, but so little time. Between examining the tissue samples of aliens and EXALT operatives, and now the new alien "Mechtoid" exosuit, I need to remember to be outraged at EXALT and disgusted by the invaders. Or was it the other way around? Of course by now everybody's head the story about Dr. Vahlen's autopsy of the EXALT operative. Steely, unflappable Vahlen, who had borne up-close witness to the aliens' biotechnological nightmares, vomiting at the realization of EXALT's modifications. Yeah, that rattled us all a bit. I wouldn't say we're "scared" per se, we're HLPX-COM after all, but a lot of people, especially support people like myself, are nervous. We can only RESPOND to EXALT actions, we can't really take the fight to them, and we're all wondering when their next act of sabotage will happen.

Focusing on "business" is about the only thing keeping me functional right now. The Commander specifically asked for my opinions/impressions about the Mechtoid suit, so I best deliver. I'll need to wait on some comments until Dr. Vahlen's team has completed their autopsy/disassembly, but I do have some preliminary notes ready based on combat footage and external observations. The long, folded digitigrade legs should afford a Mechtoid considerable mobility, though what little footage I've seen hasn't really demonstrated such. The smaller torso is obviously smaller due to the diminutive size of the Sectoid pilot, but likely also smaller due to more efficient/powerful power generation. Obvious use of "alien alloys" in the machine's construction results in a lighter overall frame and generally more graceful locomotion and bearing. Now, about the plasma cannons. Without seeing a Mechtoid's internals, I have no hard conjecture on exactly why the aliens went with a twin gun-arm setup. Perhaps by taking hands out of the equation and directly linking the guns to the operator's mind, the aliens are able to address the years-old problem of akimbo accuracy.

Long story short, I'm going to need to wait on the autopsy results before I can offer "backed-up" conjectures. On the topic of design parallel-ness, I really can't say. Sectoids already come with some pretty heavy implants, so it might be easier or even trivial for a Sectoid operative to hop into a Mechtoid suit. But again, until the cutters have opened up the suit and counted the pilot's limbs, the previous statement is raw spitballing. I do suppose though, if somebody held a gun up to my head and demanded I decide if the Mechtoid suit is "parallel" or "convergent" design, I'd say "convergent". The aliens generally seem to have a better grasp on robotics than we do, which does raise the question of why they'd bother with a pilot at all, but an exosuit seems to be a fairly natural derivation from their other robots. I re-iterate, however, that I don't know. Perhaps if we could interview a compliant captive, we'd know for certain...

[NGTM-1R]

_{Welp, I need to try and capture some more Sectoids. And find out if Mechtoid is capturable.}

Alien terror attack on Canada. Scramble all the Intercepors. Inform the appropriate governments we're requisitioning tanker support. Heavy strike team on the Skyranger, now.

Operation Morbid Pyre, Montreal, Canada, 6:58am, June 18th
Deployed: Micheal "Gipsy D" Sanderson (MEC-2, mission commander), Admiral "Marauder" Ralwood (MEC-2), Polpolion "Polly" (support), Deathfun "Fabulous" (support), Euclidean "Spitfire" Geometry (assault), Irinia "Casino" Ignatyeva (heavy)

"We got bugs!"


"Dammit there's a civvie over there! Target down, get the others!"


"Dammit, no shots!"

"They're charging, open fire!"


"Oh you chitinous bastards you're going to regret that, you're going to regret that so much."


"Target down!"


"Stay out of Euclid's personal space!"


"Moving up! You, get the hell out of here, go for the plane, go!"


"Firing! Chryssalid down!"



"Firing! Target's still up!"


"You can thank me later Mike."


"Dammit, missed the bastard!"


"...the civvie, they just got back-not using the z-word?"


"Zombie. Damn, missed him."


"Bad luck, Irinia!...jesus, did you see that thing jump!?

"Oh you piece of-"


"Die, you vermin."


"Zombie again."


"...he just fell off the roof. Onto his head. It's...visibly compressed...and he's moving."


"Not for long, Polly, we're taking this thing down."



"Cyberdisc!"


"Suckers!"


"I wouldn't get too enthusiastic about that, Euclid. One of these days they're gonna hit you."

"Fat chance."

"No hit, damn!"


"Ralwood!"

"I'm all right, MEC-2's giving me some warning lights, but nothing I need."

"Drone just shot a civilian...they're still alive!" _{I have honestly never seen that happen before. I'm pretty surprised.}


"You, get out of here, go!"


"Firing."


"...did I just see some of those limbs go flying?"

"Doesn't matter, still up! Ralwood!"

"Copy. Target negated."


"Anyone have a shot on the Drone?"

"Negative!"

"You little-"


"X-Ray terminated."

Strike, this is Phantom. Alien tactical fighters are down, and the Canadians are reporting that the remaining aliens have disengaged and bugged out. We have a UFO retreating from local airspace, heading for the Atlantic at low-hypersonic.

Phantom, this is the Commander. No survivors. Drop him in the water. Scotty, assist. Hobbie, jr2, stay with Strike.

Complying. Phantom is outbound.

Central, Scotty. UFO is down over the Grand Banks. He wasn't maneuvering well; must have been overloaded. Phantom and I are Winchester, request permission to rearm at the North American field and then return to base.

Permission granted. Strike, status.

"Armor damage to both MECs, but no injuries. Remaining on station to provide assistance to the civilians, Commander."

[StarSlayer]

_{Welp, I need to try and capture some more Sectoids. And find out if Mechtoid is capturable.}

I don't believe you can.  I mind hacked one with a Psi Trooper and had it whittled down and in position to zap when it came to.  Unfortunately it didn't show up as targetable so I had to put it down.  Still I mind hacked it out from under a SecCom's Psi Shield.  I then forced it to plasma incinerate said commander, I tend to believe that must have been quite horrifying for the little bastard.

[NGTM-1R]

HQ, StarSlayer, requesting extraction.

Bradford, scramble the ready team and tell them it's Exalt.

Operation Silent Hunter, Caen, France, 4:30 am, 19 June
Deployed: Micheal "Gipsy D" Sanderson (MEC-2, mission commander), Deathfun "Fabulous" (support), Mongoose "Strobe" (heavy), Irina "Casino" Ignatyeva (heavy), Euclidean "Spitfire" Geometry" (assault), MP-Ryan "Spike" (assault)

"What are they like?"

"Aggresive. They're still using projectile weapons, though, so your armor offers pretty good protection. Watch out for grenades or rockets. Tough, too, moreso than most aliens you'll have fought MP. You may not be able to stop them with one shot."

Strike, the contact area is a mess. It looks like somebody hit it with multiple car bombs or something similar. Still have a beacon from StarSlayer, though.

"We're going in as long as there's a beacon."

In position, Strike.

"Go!"



"Star! You called?"

"Yeah! They didn't like me uploading the data, and bombed the place, but I set up the transmitter and encoder in spots they couldn't get at. Their next step will probably be to try and get to them physically and hack them."

"Got it. Defense in depth people."


"Here they come! One down."


"I know you said they were aggressive, but closing into CQC range with a MEC? These guys are crazy."


"That is entirely possible, MP. Armor scratched only."


"Target negated." _{You know, these screenshots make fighting EXALT a lot more brutal than it seems in the game, because you can actually see the gore effects...}


"Missed him-no, scratch one!"



"Kill. They're not even firing as they close..."


"The hell they aren't!"


"Winged one!" _{I think you said something about a Russian heavy, Mongoose?}


"This is getting kinda hairy here!" _{See the desk Deathfun's at? It'll burn away in a moment, when the turn flips. Wish I'd know that.}

Strike, Sky, radar contact moving over the site-squawking civilian.

"Sky, negative, negative, contact is not civilian, it's dropping EXALT."


"Surprise! Damn, he's still up!" _{I was terrified this heavy would fire his rocket launcher at us, but instead he just charged ahead to try and hack.}


"Deathfun!"


"Vest stopped most of it! Gah, I need to move!"



"We got a bunch dropping out front, I could use some help!"

"Mongoose, hold this down, I'm gonna go help Star."

"Copy."

"Kill." _{The movement range on a high-level MEC is amazing; he ran from the back of the building to the front and killed a guy.}


"EXALT popping smoke! Firing-target down!"


"Second target down."


"EXALT down."


"Heavy is down. Think they popped smoke to try and disrupt our lasers?"


"Got some moving through the building!"


"That one's not going to make it in."


"Exalt trooper down."


"Last one at the back is down."

Strike, Sky, we have Exalt dropping in from a helicopter, they're on the roof. Will attempt to interfere.

"Star, get inside. I'm going to the roof. Mongoose, cover the front door!" _{Jetboot Module. Normally a little bit superfluous, but occasionally a must have, like now; there's no normal way to get the to roof here.}


"Target is spatter."


"Sky, if you're going to do something about that helo it's dropping more so do it! Scratch one!"

Wait one-helo down! He just hit a warehouse!

"More moving through the building! He's hurt bad, but not down!"


"I got one running for the edge of the roof! He's gonna break his legs-" _{This guy decided the correct response to a MEC-2 was to take the quickest route out of its LOS. Which is actually pretty rational.}


"No, he's still on his feet, moving! Firing-target down!" _{Unfortunately, he dropped in front of Irina. Whoops!}


"Last one is history. These guys push hard, but they weren't very smart."


"Considering what they do to themselves squicks me right the hell out and I gave up my limbs for this job, are you surprised?"


"Yes, dammit, even the aliens have some basic self-preservation instinct!"

_{Star got a promotion too; apparently it IS a fast route to promotion}

Sky got an air-to-air kill; he hit the helicopter EXALT was using with a close supersonic pass and knocked it out of control, and it went in. Frankly, I'm not sure how to take that one; it was always believed that the Skyranger would have an escort in any situation where there would be any kind of air opposition. We're going to have start deploying Interceptors for cover; if they can get a helicopter and a sufficiently large set of bombs to do the damage we saw, then we need to consider the possibility they'll try to interfere with Sky.

They pushed hard...it was like the Chryssalids, in the previous mission. They just charged, straight at you, straight into your fire. Not a hint of hesitation. It's stupid; not as if they can win charging into our prepared kill zones. There weren't enough of them for that. I guess on some level, if this group was civvies in real life like the last one...they might not have known

But the fact they had an EH101 Merlin...that's a military helicopter. And it's not in French service, either. They had to bring it in from the UK or Denmark, maybe Italy or Portugal. Any of the other operators is far too unlikely. The French haven't been able to determine where it came from, but they were quite insistent it was a military version.

That said, we did uncover another cell, active in Russia. Proactive approach, this time. The Commander sent Trash, but there's also a UFO over Argentina...no rest for the weary.