[SpardaSon21]

Can't we just blaster ALL THE THINGS in Cydonia?

[Alex Heartnet]

Can't we just blaster ALL THE THINGS in Cydonia?

No, we cannot.  We will not become what we fight. The less collateral damage, the better.

By all means, do what you have to do to stop the invasion.  But don't go around blowing stuff up just for the sake of blowing stuff up - keeping Cydonia mostly intact would not only make it a treasure trove of technology for us, but will also make it much easier for the snakemen to rebel against their former masters.

[KyadCK]

Can't we just blaster ALL THE THINGS in Cydonia?

No, we cannot.  We will not become what we fight. The less collateral damage, the better.

By all means, do what you have to do to stop the invasion.  But don't go around blowing stuff up just for the sake of blowing stuff up - keeping Cydonia mostly intact would not only make it a treasure trove of technology for us, but will also make it much easier for the snakemen to rebel against their former masters.

You know we launched like, 500 nukes at mars earlier right? 

[NGTM-1R]

This is true. However, we know their orbital trajectories and their travel times; with the Avenger, it wouldn't be hard to intercept them and prevent their arrival on Mars.

Likewise the backup plan for the Cydonia assault is to have the Avenger deploy nuclear weapons. Still, Alex is correct. Taking Cydonia reasonably intact would be good. I do intend to Blaster Bomb all the things on the surface portion, though.

(There's also a practical cap in that IIRC we have only 59 Blaster Bombs, and the 80-item cap items sent along on the mission...though I doubt anyone's Heavy Plasma will run dry, if it's going to happen anywhere it'll happen at Cydonia.)

[Scotty]

So, wait.  They're expecting you to double your squad size but not give you any more cargo capacity?  That's dumb.

[NGTM-1R]

The 80-item cap is a limitation of the game engine, and it exists in every mission. Base defense in particular can get nasty because of it. Really, at Cydonia it just means that you stack in a few tanks.

I did send 26 people to Cydonia once, but most of them had lasers. (And the entire mission came down to two guys who made it as far as the brain, one of them got MC'd, the last guy would never have survived another turn, but shot the brain and won.)

[NGTM-1R]

Live-fire practice continues, with both Squad 1 and Squad 2 getting some done. Squad 2's intensive deployment schedule has gotten many of them close to the 70 TU mark, though some lag behind. Squad 1 has a second soldier closing in 80 TUs.

The Avenger is proving, despite its superb combat performance, to be a serious maintenance problem. It shot down the alien battleship slightly less than two weeks; it's still in repairs, and is getting close to having been there longer than it was in construction. The introduction of so many new technologies to service in one vehicle was perhaps begging for engineering and technical troubles, but considering its near-flawless combat performance this is an unwelcome development.

[z64555]

Well I tried to tell the guys that the subatomic crystal structure where prone to abuse, but they insisted that the quadruple carbon structure was as durable as any diamond you could find on Earth.

While that would be true in most cases, the presence of the experimental anti-grav device's coolant lines (which tend to leak on an hourly basis) near the drive crystals caused undue amounts of coolant spraying directly on them, thereby rendering the surface of the crystals as resilient as tapioca puddin!

I've put a work order for some sort of containment vessel or shield to be designed so that the crystals will have some sort of protection, but it seems that the engineers in charge of that have suffered some sort of mental breakdown.

I also put a notice to the psionics department to research the effects of the unshielded drive crystals on the human nervous system, but it seems they've either taken a vacation or are too busy getting the kinks out of their new training regiment...

[Cyborg17]

So..... we should .... use duct tape?.....   

[z64555]

So..... we should .... use duct tape?.....   

Hmm... yes... yes... I think the chemical composition of duct tape should belay the leak to at least a day or so. Great Idea!

Although, I'm not sure if NGTM can requisition more than 1 roll to the trip...

[Alex Heartnet]

I've put a work order for some sort of containment vessel or shield to be designed so that the crystals will have some sort of protection, but it seems that the engineers in charge of that have suffered some sort of mental breakdown.

Bring the Avenger over to the nearest UFO yard.  The specialized equipment over there is specifically designed to handle and dismantle potentially dangerous UFO's, so they should be able to fix the problem with the crystal.

[NGTM-1R]

Although, I'm not sure if NGTM can requisition more than 1 roll to the trip...

I have effectively no civilian oversight and 45mil $. How much Duct Tape would you like? 

[z64555]

Although, I'm not sure if NGTM can requisition more than 1 roll to the trip...

I have effectively no civilian oversight and 45mil $. How much Duct Tape would you like? 

Letsee, I think 4 rolls per drive crystal plus 1 more should cover the 2 day travel, the 1 day of kicking ass, and 2 days of return travel. That gives us 10 rolls for two crystals. (There's also an auxiliary crystal as a backup, but that one seems to be shielded from the coolant lines by some aluminum foil.)

Might also want to toss in 2 extra rolls for Squad 2 to play with.

Bring the Avenger over to the nearest UFO yard.  The specialized equipment over there is specifically designed to handle and dismantle potentially dangerous UFO's, so they should be able to fix the problem with the crystal.

I've already gone over the paperwork from them, but I'm waiting for them to unearth my request forms from the peat bog.

[NGTM-1R]

SQUAD 3, YOU'RE UP! Gortef brought down a Muton Medium Scout over China and this was the first ship to have the misfortune of coming down in Squad 3's area of responsiblity since their Skyranger came in. We drafted Goober 5003 to fly it; figured he'd have more trouble getting killed this way. Tank Operation will be provided by Son of Headdie.

Cyborg17 expresses concern over the fact he's the only person on the team still on their first life.

He is unanimously told to stop complaining, it's not like he got Heavy Plasma'd or something.

A shot is taken at the tank. Based on the angles involved, Polpolion Mark 2 realizes there's only one place it could have come from. He then demonstrates terrible aim trying to kill a Muton through a window, but finally does it for Squad 3's first kill. Pity about that other one he exposed but didn't hit...


Cyborg17 throws a six-shot no-hitter. redsniper two puts out six shots for a scratch hit. Turambar Turin doesn't even come close with six shots. Darth Jeff Vader gets another scratch with three shots. Ravenholme Dos finally puts the alien down with a third Heavy Plasma round in the chest. In all, 24 rounds were fired for three hits at an intermediate range. Squad 3 will need intensive target practice drills when they get back; note the amount of scenery they killed in the process of getting kill number two.


At this point I'm just glad they haven't shot each other or the tank. Jeff Vader makes up somewhat for the previous fiasco by getting a first-round kill on the next Muton encountered.


Cyborg17 gets one of the aliens lurking inside their crashed UFO by shooting it through the large hole in the roof. Turambar gets the other. (The last one was dead when we got here.)


Mission Complete. A modest, messy, but successful beginning.


Squads 1 and 2 are currently undergoing psi training in addition to continued deployments for live-fire practice. We plan to launch for Cydonia at the beginning of December, as soon as transfers of personnel to make the launch are complete. (It's currently November 10th.)

[StarSlayer]

Hey at least nobody died and no HLP_XCOM equipment received FF....

and I made sure our Skyranger and SpzKpfw III have the most *****ing nose art.

[Goober5000]

We drafted Goober 5003 to fly it; figured he'd have more trouble getting killed this way.

Wait, did we go through Goober5002 already?

[NGTM-1R]

Wait, did we go through Goober5002 already?

We told him not to look down the barrel of his Heavy Plasma, but he wouldn't listen...

[Pred the Penguin]

So now you're putting him in control of a Skyranger... lol

[TrashMan]

So now you're putting him in control of a Skyranger... lol

You're all gonna die when he crashes and burns.

[NGTM-1R]

So now you're putting him in control of a Skyranger... lol

Deus Ex Machina. He's unstoppable, except for cargo containers.