[AdmiralRalwood]

"Woah! Get the hell down from there!"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v307/ngtm1r/ngtm1r031/2013-12-13_00142_zps39f37520.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v307/ngtm1r/ngtm1r031/2013-12-13_00142_zps39f37520.jpg

I spy with my little (cybernetically-enhanced?) eye a pair of identical URLs.

[NGTM-1R]

Derp. I'll fix it when I get the chance.

[BLARGHER]

I'll take one of those spots if they're still free.

[NGTM-1R]

Indeed they are.

[NGTM-1R]

Aliens are setting a plasma bomb in Kano.

Gutsy of them, that's almost on our doorstep. Scramble Strike.

Operation Unceasing Summer (bomb disposal), Kano, Nigeria, 11:00pm
Deployed: Admiral "Marauder" Ralwood (MEC-3, mission commander), StarSlayer "Tiradora" (sniper, psy-ops), MP-Ryan "Spike" (assault, psy-ops), Mongoose "Strobe" (heavy), Enioch "Chops" (assault), Annette Durand (sniper, psy-ops)

"We're clear to deploy! Go!"


"Thin Men."


"One is down."


"More."


"Christ!"



"Oh come on, you can hit me but not Ral?"


"Suck it up, Mongoose. Target down."


"SUCK IT UP, RAL!"



"Children, please."

"Suffer."


"All right, let's try this again-BURN."


"Firing. Target is terminated."


"More of them."



"Entering the crypt-target down!"


"Oh **** off! DIE!"



"They really don't like you, Ral."


"They don't like you either!"


"Killing the one nearest."


"And the next."



"Screw off, buddy."


"Bomb is disarmed-we've got more dropping in! Kill!"


"Dammit, missed him! Central, request permission!"

Permission granted.

_{Blaster Launcher awaaaay!}




"Kill."


"Oh come on!"


_{Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound~}


"BURN!"

Strike, Central. Negative contacts. Cleanup crew is inbound.

[NGTM-1R]

_{So Phantom once asked if he was going to have to dogfight a battleship. Guess what: the answer is now yes.}

We've got a really big contact over France.

We've also got really big guns now. Scramble Phantom with the Firestorm.

Central, Phantom. Target is turning to engage.

Central, Phantom. Target is down. No damage to the bird. Two rounds expended. Remaining on-station.

_{With help from the Aim and Dodge Matrixes, Phantom just went FRAWESS VICTORY over an alien battleship in about five seconds. Fusion Lances and Firestorms are an amazingly lethal combination.}

-------------------------------------

Operation Sacred Pipe, Southern France, 9:00pm, September 17th
Deployed: Admiral "Marauder" Ralwood (MEC-3, mission commander), StarSlayer "Tiradora" (sniper, psy-ops), MP-Ryan "Spike" (assault, psy-ops), Mongoose "Strobe" (heavy), Enioch "Chops" (assault), Annette Durand (sniper, psy-ops)

"Okay, get that door open-BERSERKER!"


"Firing! ****, here they come-"




"Well done folks."

"No problem."

"Mechtoid and friend."


"Popping a mine."


"CHRYSSALIDS!"


"Crap! Just waltzed through it!"


"Mongoose!"

"Armor held, just barely!"

"Central, request permission-"

Do it!

"Firing Blaster Launcher!"



"Activating the jump jets, moving up. Launching a remote sensor... Contacts! Firing!"




"Target terminated."



"From mid-air now?"

"Why not? Are we not the Angels of Death?"

"Annette, less boasting, watch your back! Burn!"


"Think you scared him, here he-target down!"


"Okay, ready to breach? Go!"


"Mechtoid and friends!"



"Damn, damn-"


"I have him. Target down."



"Enioch!"

Warning, warning Enioch's vitals have gone wonky.

"****! Pull back, pull back, get away from him!"

"Not quite far enough!"


"Oh for ****'s sake-HEAVY FLOATERS!"



"Dammit I wish I had a second damn blaster bomb right now!"



"I have this one. Suffer!"


"MP! I need you to pull Enioch out and away from that door so StarSlayer can get in and kill the Sectoid! Star, stay down; that Chameleon augment means Enioch should just walk right past."

"Copy-whoa!"


"Oh this is all bull-"


"Returning fire!"


"Merde! Armor breached!"



"Ryan!"

"I'm okay for now!"

"I have had ENOUGH OF YOU!"

"Annette!"

"That Floater just fired on one of the others!"

"Engaging! Hit two, still up!"



"Copy, I've got this. Activating flamethrower."


"Not happy now are you?"



"Christ Star, you better find that hostile!"


"Target negated thanks to the, uh, friendly Floater." _{Also Ralwood pinup.}



"Sectoid located. Firing-terminated."

Enioch's vitals are returning to normal levels.

There is a second Sectoid.

"Did the Floater just TALK!?"

Engaging. I have missed.


"**** **** ****! Sorry guys, moving back to the fight!"


"A pistol? Now? Way too late, punk. Returning fire, target dead."



"The Floater-I lost control of it! Ralwood!"

"You were actually mind-controlling the-****!"



"Burn! Damn, this just isn't powerful enough."


"Merde! I missed him!"


"Target is terminated."


"What the hell's that?"

A fusion reaction, Ryan. I would avoid shooting near it.

"Copy Doc."

"Okay, let's fix some of this crap."


"Cloakers!"


"Popping a mine...no explosions. Damn, they've moved."


"THERE!" _{Awfully Dead Alien Syndrome: Revengeance.}


"GOT THE OTHER!"


"Central, Strike. Mission complete. Send in the cleanup crew. Annette's going to-"


"Non!"

"Shush. Annette's going to need a medic. And another eval. She mind-controlled one of them."


So Annette can mind-control people.

I think it's time for another soul-searching session in the cantina at this point. Still...she was in very bad shape when she did it, which might have affected her ability...in either direction. We really don't understand psionics that well, and the field reports suffer from a trying-to-describe-yellow-to-the-blind problem. Star's seems to be best at explaining things, but only just.

[NGTM-1R]

We have a couple of missions before I start switching over to mostly rookie teams to train them up before testing for psykers.

And then there's a minor detour because Burning EXALT To The Ground.

But if your character hasn't appeared recently, expect them to do so before the end of the weekend. Unless they're a Colonel already.

Also, I can confirm that Site Recon dropped for our November Council mission, so if you feel this Let's Play has been lacking in Chryssalids...don't worry.

[Phantom Hoover]

i am a sexy cybernetic god of war

[AdmiralRalwood]

Any chance I could get that in a higher resolution to use as a wallpaper?

[NGTM-1R]

Please see attached attachment, if this works.

[attachment deleted by an evil time traveler]

[AdmiralRalwood]

Please see attached attachment, if this works.

Awesome. Thank you!

[Gortef]

At the moment we're kicking so much arse that it's hard to believe that anything can stop us.

Then again X-Com has the habit to smack to the face when you least expect it.

[NGTM-1R]

I came really, really close to having to field-court-martial Enioch last time, to be fair. If they'd mind-controlled someone from the other group, welp.

[Phantom Hoover]

Then again X-Com has the habit to smack to the face when you least expect it.

Not as much as you'd think, nuXCOM has problems with snowballing towards victory in the late game.

[FlamingCobra]

 "We are confident you will handle this matter with... discretion."

[StarSlayer]

Commander, I swung down to medical and brain stormed with Major Durand after the docs stopped fussing with her.  We're pretty confident that all our psy troopers are capable of mind control if we focus the development of our gift that way.  I think we intrinsically knew it was possible, but it hasn't been till now that Annie was bull**** enough to try it.  Best part of all, in the future we won't even need to take a plasma round through the armor to do it.  Seems like the gift opens up new paths of development the more we utilize it.  Mind control is going to open up some rather interesting tactical options especially if we have multiple psy operatives...

[Gortef]

Not as much as you'd think, nuXCOM has problems with snowballing towards victory in the late game.

True that

[NGTM-1R]

Terror attack in India.

Scramble the Firestorms and Strike. Inform India to keep the MKIs out of our hair, they probably can't tell the difference between a Firestorm and alien tac air.

Operation Lazy Star, Mumbai, India, 2:39 AM September 20th
Deployed: Micheal "Gipsy D" Sanderson (MEC-3, mission commander), Mongoose "Strobe" (heavy), Enioch "Chops" (assault), Droid803 "Scotch" (support), Annette Durand (sniper, psy-ops), TwentyPercentCooler

"India again?"


"Uh, I think you're the only one who was around for the first time, Mike."

"He's got a point, though. They really don't like the subcontinent."

Strike, Sky, landing in 3, 2, 1-

"Go!"

"Oh shi-SECTOPOD!"


"**** me. Firing!"


"Target is hit! Why do these bastards have to be so hard to kill!?"


"Dropped a drone! Christ, he's right next to a civvie!"


"Son of a *****, I'm real sick of you robotic cockmonglers ruining my Paladin!"



"HE'S MARKING A TARGET! MOVE!"


"That way, GO! Damn, missed it!"



"He's hurt, but not bad!"


"Merde! Why must it always be Sectopods anyways?"


"Christ on a pogo stick! Enioch, you okay?"

"Armor held, just barely."

"Returning fire. Target terminated."



"The damn car's on fire! Move!"


"Mutons...oh hell, they're right next to a civvie..."


"Firing! Winged him!"


"Target is negated. Firing on Berserker...damn, he soaked it! SECOND BERSERKER!"



"Firing-I missed!"


"I hit him, but he's still up!"


"Damn, we lost a civvie!"


"You stupid ****s don't even recognize the real threats."


"Got the first one."


"Crap! Paladin functional!"



_{Insert Kaboom Here}


"Target is severely injured."


"I've got him. Berserker stunned."


"Damn, missed!"


"I got this."


"You two mind watching where you put your plasma? You damn near killed the civvie."

"Oh come on! Did I bash my rifle against something?! Displease the gods of accuracy?"


"Lady, this is not a good place to be!"


"X-ray down!"

Strike, Central. We have no more contacts in the AO. Evac the civilians and prepare for possible redeployment.

I am incredibly sick of Sectopods. Their armor is just too good; our weapons are half as effective against them as anything else. Plasrifles just scratch at them; Plas DMR or heavy weapons are necessary to make any kind of real impression, and even then it takes four or more hits.

[Scotty]

Sectopods and Mind-Control are the only real late game threats.  Even MC later becomes fairly trivial unless it's a bonafide Ethereal, and that becomes more of a problem of figuring out which attack he's going to redirect than it is a genuine threat.  At least, in my experience that was the case.

[StarSlayer]

They're a major pain in the ass but that made Cherno Alpha rocket punching them for the K.O. so much more satisfying.



"До свидания мудак"