[TrashMan]

So much for "great, challenging Exalt AI".

[NGTM-1R]

So much for "great, challenging Exalt AI".

It can be, but that particular mission was a combination of a good defensive position and the fact that it evaluates its objectives and realizes what it needs to do to win is hack the terminals, so it tries to do that instead of other things unless you provide it really really tempting targets.

Also we're extremely powerful comparatively at this point, to make a fair fight of it they'd need laser weapons and upgraded versions of the Exalt Operatives. (Who can duke it out with you fairly well into the Plasma era.)

[deathfun]

One of my saves in XCOM right now has my troops armed with Plasma and the Exalt soldiers have just come around. Two encounters with them, and I'm armed to the teeth with plasma already

Just how long before these upgraded guys roll out?

[NGTM-1R]

One of my saves in XCOM right now has my troops armed with Plasma and the Exalt soldiers have just come around. Two encounters with them, and I'm armed to the teeth with plasma already

Just how long before these upgraded guys roll out?

Not sure what triggers it, honestly.

[Phantom Hoover]

They showed up on my third EXALT mission, and I'm still running lasers all round.

[deathfun]

Not sure what triggers it, honestly.

Looks like it'll be an unpleasant surprise...

Not to draw much attention away, but I've picked up a spare Assault Class if anyone is interested in the slot
And the best part is his original name is "Ramirez"

[NGTM-1R]

And the best part is his original name is "Ramirez"

RAMIREZ, DO EVERYTHING.

[AdmiralRalwood]

And the best part is his original name is "Ramirez"

Was his first name Tomas?

[NGTM-1R]

Central, Phantom. Engaging UFO.

Central, Phantom, breaking off-wait one-target is going down. Interceptor has sustained extreme damage. Have a crash team ready. Eight Avalanches expended. Jettisoning remaining ammunition as an explosion hazard.

Understood Phantom. Crash team is ready. Informing nearby airstrips to clear their runways in case you need an alternate. Bradford, who's on deck?

Both the MECs are down with maintenance issues. Nothing serious, but...

Then we'll deploy the team without them. I know it goes against our usual practice, but it's an informal one. We've done without them before. Inform Mongoose to assemble a team.

Operation Cold Palace, Argentinian Andes, 5:17am, June 19
Deployed: Mongoose "Strobe" (heavy, mission commander), StarSlayer "Tiradora" (sniper), MP-Ryan "Spike" (assault), Euclidean "Spitfire" Geometry (assault), The E (assault)

_{Just now I realize I forgot to put The E in Carapace Armor. Crap.}


"Okay, nobody here is new to this, move in. We've got dawn at our backs so you can be a little less careful closing the UFO."


"Damn, Phantom did a number on this one. What do you think, six hits?"


"Most of it's surface damage. I count three hits, but there were some nearby safety detonations. Got to remember, the Avalanche is normally a kinetic kill hypersonic weapon; it only blows up if it misses."

"Mutons to the north!"


"MP, get your ass out of there, I'll cover!"


"Got Thin Men rolling up-****!"




"MP, MOVE! Star, drop 'em!"

"Copy. Firing."


"Contact with the main force, firing."



"I guess they don't think this thing will ever fly again. They don't seem to care about it."


"They're moving up, more of them!"



"Thin Man down!"


"Muton hurt, Thin Man down." _{Mongoose and Irina basically turned this whole thing around because they had Bullet Swarm and could take two shots a turn. For some reason the aliens managed to find positions StarSlayer couldn't see them from despite Squadsight very rapidly.}



"Moving up-firing!"


"They're...they're running! I missed the Muton! They're running!"


"Have the aliens ever run before?!"


"First time for everything! Up and at 'em X-COM!"

"Muton injured, E-"


"Copy. Thinks he's awesome beating his chest. Stunning target."


"Target stunned."


"Found the Thin Man-dammit!"



"I got this."


"Nice work Euclid. Okay, let's sweep the ship. We're probably looking for an Outsider."

"Found it!-****!"



"X-Ray terminated."


"Central, site secure. Please inform all personnel: the aliens ran. Repeat, the aliens ran from contact."


"Strike, Central, we copy. Wait one for the Commander."

"Strike, this is the Commander. Come on home. The bar's open."

"E? You remember what happened last time you stunned a Muton?"

"Yes."

"You're crazy."

"Yes."


They ran from us. Oh, some of them, the Chryssalids, they've run away before. We had to set them on fire first, and if the bugs did not react to being set on fire I think we'd be barely surprised. They've demonstrated little wit.

A Thin Man running...honestly, having seen them interrogated, it would not be a surprise.  They are...not human enough, but rational enough by human standards, to understand when they face enemies they cannot hope to defeat. They will usually attempt to sill their lives dearly. Even aliens can have courage. But they are also capable of fear. I have seen the panic in their eyes when Doctor Vahlen enters the room.

But today, a Muton ran from us. It tried to flee rather than face our guns, and we chased it down like a dog. A Muton. We did not even know they were capable of feeling fear. I have seen Mutons charge MECs, run down the barrels of massed rifle and LMG fire, take a rocket and then shrug off an Arc Thrower hit. The best the aliens had broke and fled before an HLPX-COM strike team.

[Rodo]

And the best part is his original name is "Ramirez"

Was his first name Tomas?

No, he's Rodo Ramirez, back from the grave!

[NGTM-1R]

Trashman's requested extraction.

Heavy team. Sanderson in command.

Operation Devil's Fog, Chelyabinsk, Russia, 12:05pm June 21
Deployed: Micheal "Gipsy D" Sanderson (MEC-2, Mission Commander), Mongoose "Strobe" (heavy), Admiral "Marauder" Ralwood (MEC-2), Starslayer "Tiradora" (sniper), Euclidean "Spitfire" Geometry (assault), The "Psycho" E (assault)

"Okay, Trashman needs extraction. He was about to complete his objective by hacking EXALT comms when enemy forces moved in, so we need to cover him while he does that, then extract him safely. Preferably the rest of us too. You can get shot all you want but you die on me and I'm going to be very cross, people."

Strike, Sky, dropsite reached.

"We got hostiles!"


"Get rid of them."


"Woah!" _{Exalt Supports have the Covering Fire ability like your own do; this one, on overwatch, fired on StarSlayer when StarSlayer was trying to fire on him.}


"Dammit, flinched, missed him."


"Moving in-SUCKERS!"


"Firing-miss, hit! Target is toasted!" _{We have pump-action shotguns. Pump-action laser shotguns. Because it's awesome.}



"More hostiles moving in, look sharp people!"


"Returning fire. Target negated." _{This is the MEC's Colonel-level Reactive Targeting Sensors ability in action; if you have ammo, the first person to shoot at you gets Overwatch'd, over and above any overwatch you might be doing.}


"Target down!" _{StarSlayer was shooting at Exalt here, the guy on the roof. Killed them too, but the shot apparently had to burn through Ralwood's Restorative Mist canister to do it.}


"You mind not singing my suit to do it, Jesus!"

"That's not my name!"

" Moving-Got another one." _{First rule of urban fights: get as many angles on the targets as possible.}


"Mike, be careful where you point that thing!"


"Crap, sorry."

"Lotta fire her-ow!"


"You okay?"

"Vest stopped it. Bringing him down."


"We got hostiles moving from the alley! Firing!"



"I got this one-" _{I think Euclid basically pressed the lense array on his gun against the target, here.}


"Dammit, missed him!"


"Target down."


"Nice work E. MECs, move up, we're going to clear in the opposite direction. Where the hell is Trash?"

"Right here. Was waiting for you to clear the street before I opened the door. First comms hacked, by the way."

"There's the second comm array. Trash, do your thin-Incoming! Firing!"


"Second target! Firing!"


"I need earplugs if you guys are going to keep firing Railguns next to my head."

"Probably. I hear Doctor Vahlen has a gene aug for that in the works, though."

"Move back. We're out of here."

"More hostiles moving in from the direction of the LZ. Got one on the roof, too."



"Ralwood. Deal with the sniper."

"Copy. Jetboots active."


"I got this one-dammit, no I don't!"


"Sniper's jumping from the roof!"


_{Everyone fires; only Trash actually hit.}


"In pursuit."


"He missed, he missed!"


"Target is crispy."


"More moving in! Firing-target down!"


"We got another on the roof."


"Jetboots online. Killing him with fire."

Strike, Sky, in position for pickup.

"Trash, go!"


A perfect op. No hostiles survived, no team members were injured. Doesn't feel...entirely right, to be doing it against EXALT, but having seen them up close... I don't know, it's like they're trying to look shady with those outfits they wear. There's got to be better methods of concealing their face than looking like Old West bandits or modern gangbangers.

[MP-Ryan]

I said it before, I'll say it again - I am totally setting  a new record for greatest kills per number of missions and most hours spent in sickbay.

[StarSlayer]

Slayer needs more MOLLE   Could I get Deco 3 Color 9?

[NGTM-1R]

So I finally got a foundry built (because yes I hadn't yet) and did about fifteen projects. You will notice a definite improvement in, well, everything in the next mission.

I'll give a complete list of the completed projects sometime soon, but at the moment the ones you're most likely to notice are the Shaped Armor/Servomotors upgrades to Ralwood's MEC based on our successful autospy of the Mechtoid and the fact we've got the Tactical Harness and thus everyone gets a second item in combat. We'll deal with the mission tomorrow.

[deathfun]

Quite nice
Tactical Harness in my opinion, is probably one of the best things ever

Question though: Has anyone encountered a glitch where your Operative on an EXALT mission just... dies? I lost a soldier early during one of the cell missions, but when I had finished up and extracted the operative via the Skyranger... she showed up as KIA when we all returned to base

The operative was never shot once and survived the mission, only to turn up dead when we got back to base

[NGTM-1R]

_{Nope can't say I have. Sorry people, we've had a family emergency here. My updates will be erratic for this week. Also, we had our second casualty, though not in this mission.}

UFO on the ground near Chelyabinsk. It's a heavy, Abductor-class, so we're going in hard. Ready team saddle up. Star, Deathfun, we've got some new stuff for you. Grab the plasmas. Arc Throwers and grenades people. We've got a

Operation Black Grave, Russian Interior, 5:45pm, June 23rd
Deployed: Mongoose "Strobe" (heavy, mission commander), Deathfun "Fabulous"(support), Admiral "Marauder" Ralwood (MEC-2), Euclidean "Spitfire" Geometry (assault), StarSlayer "Tiradora" (sniper), The "Psycho" E (assault)

Strike, Sky, we're down! Go go go!

"Mechtoid and friends at the aft hatch!"


"These guys even design their transports like we do."

"It's aerodynamics and structural engineering. Math doesn't change by species, genius, there's only a few good ways."

"Mechtoid's moving up! Firing!"


"Taking some heat."


"Firing-plasma pistol's got a kick. He's hurting!"


"Target negated."


"Contact on a Sectoid. Target down."


"These guys can't hit ****."


"There was a time where the little grey bastards were the scariest thing they had, you realize?"

"For real? Shame it didn't stay that way."

"Dammit, stun failed!"


"Mutons on the right flank, moving up! Got a weird one!"


"Fir-god DAMN it! No hit!"


"Target hit, still up. He doesn't even look hurt much-**** he's coming straight at me!"


"Firing-he's hurt but he's still moving!"


"Miss-HIT! Target's still up, still up! Jesus, he's right on top of us!"




"X-ray terminated."


"Trying to crawl up-Target down!"

"Dammit we wanted the little buggers alive, cheaper than building new pistols."

"I'm not getting plasma'd for that. I think the Commander will understand."

"Fir-Oh come ON!"


"Moving up! Missed me, suckers!"


"Euclid, seriously, you've got a deathwish."

"No contact with the target."


"Winged him-WOAH!"



"No hit-****!"



"Euclid's hit bad! Vest's flat gone!"

"These guys pack the big guns, be careful people."

"Oh come on goddammit! I'm going to kick the ass of whoever set up these sights!"


"Take it easy trooper, you'll be fine."


"Target hit, still up!"


"I'm hit, still good-****! I've got red lights across the board!"



"Flanking-Target terminated!"


"Missed the target!"


"Firing-YEAH! Target is history!" _{18 damage crit? Why yes, you can oneshot most enemies with the Plasma Sniper Rifle!}


"Second Mechtoid and friends."


"He's charging-what the hell is that!?"


"Taking heat."


"Likewise!"


"Third Mechtoid!"


"Firing-hit! Target is still up!"


"Closing in-firing!


"Ow! Son of a *****!"


"Firing-he's hurt bad but he's still moving!"


"Smoke out!"


"Firing!" _{That's the second time the "get within four tiles and get reaction-fired" of Close Combat Specialist has saved Euclid from plasmaface syndrome.}


"Woah! I'm hit, but not bad!"


"Deathfun, hit me."

"Literally?"

"Don't be a dick."


"Target stunned. That ought to make the Commander happy."


"Killing the other one."


"Firing! Target hit! Shield down!" _{The shield is incredibly resilient, very high natural resists. Unfortunately,  when it comes to raw alpha we've already seen that the Plasma Sniper Rifle rolling a crit will tear faces off.}


"Popping mist." _{Restorative Mist subsystem for the MEC-2; it basically acts like an AoE version of the Medikit, but can't stabilize a soldier who's bleeding out.}


"Firing! He's hurting, leaking stuff."


"All right, let's see if this HEAT round IronBeer suggested does what it should. ROCKET OUT!"



"Holy ****. It blew a whole straight through his midsection. He's going over."

"Sectoid moving up! Firing! Target is toast. Going to pop my other round of Mist."



"And here's the last one. X-Ray down."


"Okay people, sweep the ship, we're probably looking for an Outsider."

"GOT TWO!"


"Kill."


"Moving in! Kill!"

Strike, Central. Sky confirms negative movement. Think you're done.

"Central, Strike, inform IronBeer and Doc Shen the MEC-2 is going to need some serious repairs and have medical standing by."



The Medikits and Mist Cans work. We should have had people out of action for weeks, frankly, but patching them up right away reduced their total downtime. It's still only the second time we've ever had a MEC pilot out of action in sickbay, but it could have been much worse. We took a lot of fire this time, and the Commander's talking about reevaluating procedures.

[deathfun]

Major(ly) "Fabulous" Deathfun's Log:

Took me a while, but I guess now is a good as time as any to start with these things. I didn't expect myself to have made it this far to honest. Afterall, I was one of the first to have been sent in with technology so inferior it amazes me that there weren't more deaths. But now look at the team, completely badass.

It also feels really good to have a plasma rifle in my hands. This thing is light as all hell! Basically makes anything we've ever had feel so unwieldy and useless. Seeing the plasma sniper in action though... hodamn that thing is killer. You can feel the power from meters away, and see how targets fly when they get taken down by it.

On that note, this most recent UFO landing was something else. We came up against resistance in the form of strength, and not as much in terms of numbers. Sure, they're were still quite a few of them for our sniper to pick off (or more accurately, keep missing but redeem by pulling off the top section of a Muton) but it's different now. It would appear that Mechtoids are more common and are starting to capitalize on the shielding abilities from the suit. Not only that, but there was this strange looking Muton who simply ignored lasers and plasma alike. It took a good beating before finally going down, but if we were to come across something like this in an urban scenario...

I suppose this is why I'm on the field. I do my job as a medic, and I do it well

[EuclidianGeometry]

Dammit i'm good   
On the other hand, what is The_E's armor? I don't remember assault's armor being that bulky. I've only played EU though.

[NGTM-1R]

On the other hand, what is The_E's armor? I don't remember assault's armor being that bulky. I've only played EU though.

I'm actually using armor deco to denote class, kind of. Supports and Snipers have the default. Assaults get a 2 (I think? I'd have to check and the game is saved mid-mission currently; it's the version of Carapace that has a combat knife on one shoulder) and heavies get 3. I did something similar with the original vests, giving the assaults the high-collared one.

[NGTM-1R]

_{****ing irony man. **** that stuff.}

Abduction attempt in the US. Have Polpolion assemble a team.

Operation Fading Throne, Houston, United States, June 24th
Deployed: Polpolion "Polly" (support, mission commander), Irina "Casino" Ignatyeva (heavy), Deathfun "Fabulous" (support), StarSlayer "Tiradora" (sniper), The "Psycho" E (assault), MP-Ryan "Spike"

Strike, Sky, at drop point.

"None of you are new at this, move out!"


"TV store is empty."


"Mechtoid and a buddy on the side street!"


"Moving in-woah!"


"Rapid firing!"



"We got you covered MP-here it comes! Firing!"


"He's looking lonely, isn't he? Stun 'em."


"Done."


"We got stuff in the alley or across it."


"Thin Men-taking them down!"



"****! Mutons! Both sides!"


"He's coming over the damn counter! Need help here!"


"****, he's still-"

"Target terminated."



"Thanks MP."

"****-Deathfun, the wall-"




"****!"

"DEATHFUN IS DOWN! DEATHFUN IS DOWN!"

Strike, Central. How bad?

"The worst."

"Damn. You ****s are going to pay for this! DIE!"


"Target terminated."


"Polly!"


"I'm fine. Kill these bastards."

"They missed!"


"Rapid firing-dammit, target's still up."


"Same with mine!"


"Not long. Rocket out."


"Die you ****."


"Central, Strike, we're done here."

Understood Strike. Wait one for the Commander.

Strike, this is the Commander. Come home.

_{For the curious, Bjarne and Anish from the first mission morphed into The E and Deathfun; hence the reference.}

They had a gurney for him, at the Skyranger.

We didn't use it.

Me and Irina and E. We carried him. We had to. It was just us, the four of us, the first time we deployed. Now he's gone. Rodo was bad, yeah, but...it's not the same losing a rookie. You don't really know them, you don't know how good they are, how many missions they've survived, how many aliens they've dealt with. You can always tell yourself a rookie just didn't have what it takes to make it through.

You can't say that about someone as veteran as Deathfun was. Yes, his luck was ****, yes, he got screwed by circumstances, but...****, haven't we all? We were all this close to dying each time it happened? God damn it these aren't thoughts I should be thinking, but it's not like I have a choice anymore.

Irina, our Terminator, she won't stop crying. Never seen her shed a tear before. She was standing right there and she couldn't do a damn thing about it. Polly was in charge and the Commander won't let Polly out of his sight now, afraid something stupid will be done. I've got somebody from base security tailing me discreetly and I'm pretty sure E does too. It's all ****ed up.

You feel sorry for them at times, the Sectoids, Thin Men...even the Floaters. They get in over their heads and die or worse get turned over to Doc Vahlen. Sympathy for the grey devils, just a little. Not anymore. Not any goddamn more. If we can lose Deathfun, we can lose anybody. There's gonna be a lot of heavy drinking tonight. To remember and to forget both.

I've got to check on Irina.