UPDATE 11 - ...and Consequences.
The aquanauts have made their decision. They set off and approach the closest large sub, hide in a rift and begin to wait for daytime.
The sub doesn't stay down for long. It's very early still in the morning when the aliens go away. In the distance, aquanauts spot a large construction, teaming with activity. An alien colony.
But there is another large sub nearby, still touched down. The Triton moves closer to the intimidating dreadnought, and keep watching the horizon in hopes of seeing the sun..
Meanwhile, alien activity continues near China.
China's barracuda catches up, but after one torpedo the sub goes away.
The second large sub sets off. The dreadnought is still there, and morning is getting closer now.
Near China, our barracuda catches up to the fleeing alien sub, and sinks it.
The sun was almost up, when the dreadnought moved away.
But another large ship took its place only a couple hours later. This time, it's daytime and nothing can stop our aquanauts from acquiring their loot.
It's still relatively dark but aquanauts can see well enough. Our snipers are eager to test the newly researched Sonic Cannon.
Trash takes a few steps and discover our foes for the day. Lobstermen. A whole large ship of lobstemen. That's pretty bad, but at least that means no M.C.
Three pulsers are thrown at the beast's feet. We won't take chances anymore.
But this lobster sure has a tough shell. It survived the successive explosions.
Lightbane takes a few steps and aims his Sonic Cannon. The blast hits the monster in the back of the head, and it falls down in a scream.
The sub is very close to our Triton, but the entrance is at the far end of the map.
Warcupine finds a lobsterman on the roof of the submersible.
eklektyk kneels, takes aim and feels rather confident about his chances of success with the new weapon.
He hits! But doesn't kill.
Canus is next in line. He hits as well and the lobsterman falls down without a sound.
Warcupine is shot as he follows the hull of the ship.
RIP Warcupine II
. Your eyes were keen, too bad you couldn't see death coming from your side.
Trash finds an alien camping in a wreckage. We have our own campers, and eklektyk takes a shot. He misses...
Canus doesn't, but one hit is not enough to kill a lobsterman
chzr II tries his luck, hits but doesn't kill.
More lobsters are lurking in the southwestern corner, right on our path to the sub entrance.
Trash finds even more aliens in the corner. eklektyk shoots at the top sniper, and hits. No kill yet.
Canus shoots, hits and finally kills the beast.
Trash moves one step too far and is shot by something near the planks. The tiny sound is characteristic of a sonic pistol. This spot will be very tricky to clear.
RIP Trash
, yours was a fate that many others will share.
Joka discovers a heavily armed lobsterman on higher grounds. None of our snipers have a line of fire, and MacGond can't throw high enough to go past the sunken ship.
Joka runs back and hides in bubbles from the previous pulser explosions.
The west side of the map is guarded by at least three lobstermen, in unreachable positions for our snipers. The east side looks clear. The team will therefore take the long way around. Hopefully dealing with the camping aliens from the east will be easier.
Desmodus finds an alien guarding the southeast corner.
Our snipers shoot and hit. chzr II earns the kill.
All our snipers lined up, ready to unleash sonic devastation to anything the spotters discover.
Desmodus gets tired of waiting and goes for the sub doors. It's guarded by an unarmed lobsterman, time to kill.
Oh, make that two lobstermen, one armed with a Sonic Cannon.
Desmodus runs for the nearest monster, using it as a shield for eventual reaction fire. No shots are fired, so Desmodus drills the monster in front of him to death.
Desmodus and Juggernaut both make it one step short of reaching the second lobsterman. Things aren't looking good for these two.
Some goes wrong in the crustacean brain. It begins to flee instead of shooting our aquanauts down, then comes back, but is too exhausted to shoot anymore.
Desmodus apparently can't attack something on level above, so Juggernaut goes up and deals with the alien.
Desmodus opens the sub doors and finds an alien standing right in front of him.
A good attack and the threat ceases to exist.
Juggernaut bravely enters the sub and does not get shot. He was lucky, because an alien was in a perfect ambush spot.
No time to lose, Juggernaut runs up to the alien to deliver a melee killing blow.
Desmodus Rotundus enters the sub as well but isn't as lucky as Juggernaut. He gets shot by a lobsterman waiting in ambush.
RIP Desmodus Rotundus
, your death will be avenged.
Merk goes up and finds the responsible alien before it has time to recover.
He spots an alien while on the way as he glances towards the small balcony. The Sniper Team begins unleashing sonic rifle blasts at it. Canus goes first.
And eklektyk finishes the salvo with a kill..
Merk has just enough TU to attack the lobsterman once. He prays as he begins stabbing the beast.
It falls down in one hit.
A lobsterman goes down the elevator, apparently unarmed.
Azael carefully considers the distance separating him from the monster.
He makes it with enough time left to perform a couple attacks.
Once again, a single strike is enough.
Azael goes up the elevator and spots nothing. Joka goes down and finds a sonic rifle blast heading straight for him.
RIP Joka
, another fine addition to the team to fall before lobstermen.
This one will be very tricky to kill, it's got a good view of the elevator exit and won't let anything through. chzr spots the lobsterman through a crack in the diagonal junction of the hull. Can he shoot it as well?
Why yes, yes he can.
Azira III does the same. This is revenge for the grenade that killed Black II through one of those faulty hulls. Alas, neither hit get rid of the monster, it's still alive.
Azael begins exploring the top level, and camps being doors. Alien can't seem to open them and will usually just stand on the other end. This lobsterman wasn't smart enough to run away.
Its death is swift. One hit, one kill.
Juggernaut takes care of the eastern side of the top level. A lobsterman walks right past him into the room, then doubles back on the other side of the door.
It walked too much, thankfully, to reaction fire Juggernaut as he closes in for the kill.
lightbane mk2 gets ambushed by a lobsterman coming from below.
RIP lightbane mk2
, will mk3 survive any longer?
Azira III takes revenge with a Sonic Cannon blast. This must have been the wounded lobsterman from below, as it dies in a single shot.
Juggernaut gets on the roof of the submarine and finds one of the tricky campers to the southwest.
Sniper team deals with him. eklektyk hits.
Canus misses, despite 97% odds.
KickAss doesn't disappoint, and kills the alien.
The sub is completely cleared of monsters, only the southwest portion of the map remains.
Juggernaut is shot down by the sonic pistol wielding lobsterman, as he tries to uncover its location.
RIP Juggernaut
, that drill of yours sure brought about alien death.
An alien throws a grenade at our snipers!
It falls short by a couple of squares. We narrowly avoided disaster.
Despite the shot being extremely tricky, having to go through stairs and then through a small windows, KickAss hits the lobsterman.
So does Canus.
And eklektyk as well. Finally this alien is down.
Azael tries to discover the last alien, and is shot repeatedly. All bullets hit the hull.
He manages to find the ambusher, but cannot get away.
He dies the following alien turn, repeatedly shot by the sonic pistol with deadly accuracy.
RIP Azael
, let's make your sacrifice worth it.
The remnants of the aquanauts move in and get ready to strike. Azira II is in good position to stab the monster but will get shot if he tries to approach. Canus walks north and shoots at the lobsterman to get his attention.
And he succeeds. The alien shoots once, and Canus survives. It shoots once more. Canus survives the second hit!
It shoots for the third time. It's too much even for Canus to endure.
RIP Canus
, as an excellent sniper, you will be sorely missed.
Canus's sacrifice made the beast look away, and Azira III approached from behind and killed the lobsterman, ending the mission.
The completely intact ship gives us a whole lot of things to sell and research. We lost more than half our soldiers though, hopefully we won't have to go on a terror mission before we receive reinforcements.
The live aliens were both Lobster Technicians. More UFOpaedia entries, always good.
We sell most of our capture, except the pulsers and sonic cannons. We end up with a large amount of money, enough to fund the backup science base in Pacific when the next month comes. I just hope the aliens haven't successfuly swayed one of our funding countries, which is why I don't spend it all right away.