Part 3: Best IntentionsWe pick up where we left off last time, the heroic X-Com assault team having just returned from a successful UFO recovery mission.
Here, I'm selling off most of the loot I recovered from the mission. In fact, the only thing I'm keeping from it is the one unit of alien alloys. As for the rest of the artifacts, even though we haven't researched any of them yet, we can still see what they're called and how many of them we have in base stores. Given that it was a very small UFO we recovered, there isn't really a whole lot right now, but what we did get was just about the best of the best.
The mind probe is one of, if not the most profitable item you can get from a UFO, so my ailing economy is very glad to see one of those. After researching them, they are also very handy for a different reason: They can be used in-mission to see the stats and rank of an alien. For its part, the heavy plasma is by far the most powerful hand-held direct fire weapon in the game. If that thing had hit Carter when the alien fired its reaction shot at her, it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference even if she -had- been wearing armour. And we got that off the very first alien aboard the very first UFO. Welcome to Superhuman.
So why am I selling it, then, if it is one of the best weapons in the game? Three reasons. First, I don't need it yet - aliens are still fairly weak, and my current weapons will deal with them just fine. Second, I need the money. Oh boy, do I need the money. And third, I'd need to research it before I could use it, which would take a long time. In that time, I can research a number of other technologies instead which I can then put to use, giving my troops a better chance to survive until the point where I might actually -need- the heavy plasma.
With my newfound wealth I head straight over to the purchase screen to flesh out my armoury a bit. Pistols are great starting weapons, if rather short-lived, but there's always the risk that some situation will come up where you need more serious fírepower. I supplement my pistols with a second rocket launcher in addition to the one I kept from my starting stocks, and finally buy some ammo for them: Heavy rockets and incendiaries, enough for a full mission load plus a set of spares for each launcher.
Additionally, I grab some high explosives which, while quite heavy and difficult to throw far, are pretty much the only offensive grenade-type weapon worth using and great for those emergencies where only total demolition of everything in the immediate area will do. Finally, I add some electro-flares in case I'm forced into a night mission. Be prepared, that's my motto. Well ok, it is actually the Scout motto, but it applies very well indeed to playing X-Com as well.
Luckily, nothing more happens before my weapon shipments begin to trickle in. Finally, I'm able to equip a full squad. Admittedly, only with pistols as yet, and my tank isn't here yet either, but it is a start. And the rest of the shipments won't be all that far behind.
And there is the real firepower. I now have the means to deal with pretty much anything the early game is likely to throw at me. In theory, at any rate. While decently armed, my troops are still wearing just coveralls, and getting them into some armour is going to be a priority since that might just let me make the occasional mistake without instantly losing an agent. Still no tank. Tanks take the longest to ship out of any items you can purchase. I suppose the shipping company might be having a bit of trouble passing them through customs... I certainly wouldn't want to declare a main battle tank to the airport customs officer.
Those items arrived not a moment too soon. Not ten hours later, another UFO shows up on X-Com's radar scopes. Another very small UFO, and guess what, it's night time again. Unfortunately, between the arrival of the pistols and the arrival of the heavy weapons, I also recieved my avalanche missiles and promptly replaced all previous craft weapons with them. So I can't shoot this one down without destroying it.
On the other hand, I did also recieve my shipment of electro-flares. And given that this UFO type has only a single occupant, it might be a decent opportunity for demonstrating why night missions are a whole different ballgame from daylight missions. Plus, another 500k of sales income would not hurt my economy one bit either. I order the Skyranger into action.
The fact that this UFO is numbered two is a good thing. UFOs are numbered consecutively, even if you can't see them, so this being number two means I haven't missed any between the first one and this.
One neat thing about intercepting UFOs in X-Com is that you can also order your craft to simply hang back and follow at a safe distance, and then minimize the air combat window and let time pass. In this case, as you can see from the top-left of the screen, I have both my Skyranger (top) and an interceptor (bottom) tailing the UFO. When doing this, the moment the UFO lands the Skyranger will then swoop down and initiate a ground assault without my having to order it in. Very handy.
The interceptor is there in case the UFO starts accelerating instead of landing. A slow moving UFO which is not engaged in combat will generally, if planning to leave, accelerate in a number of stages instead of going straight to top speed, which gives you a chance to react and take it down before it leaves... assuming you have an interceptor or other combat craft in close enough proximity to engage before the UFO reaches too high a speed for them to follow.
Unfortunately, accelerate it did, and I was forced to have my interceptor pulverize it a little north and west of Oslo, Norway. Bye bye, 500k cash. At least I avoided the bloody night mission, though.
Next midnight, my laser weapons research team produced results. Yay.
Unfortunately, developing the base technology is one thing. I still need to weaponize it in a compact and portable manner, which is a seperate research topic from the laser tech itself. This shouldn't take too long though, as in the meantime I've had a batch of twenty more scientists arrive, effectively tripling my research speed. A couple of days, at most, and I should be able to start construction of laser pistols.
I can barely wait.
Thus ends part three. This was a bit of a letdown, really, with the UFO deciding to run for it rather than landing, and spoiling the night mission demo I was hoping to do. But in X-Com, not everything goes to plan. And besides, it is the thought that counts, right?
[Edit] Images lvlshotted.
