Orgasm said:
Going for a longplay eh. I want to be a Commander!
It would be my pleasure to honor a fellow commander with a officer rank, but our current Commanders TripJack and Oscar might disagree. If you don't mind starting as a rookie and showing everyone how it's done, I'll gladly add you to the roster.
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UPDATE 36 - Aftermath
At the end of update #35, Pacific team had just failed to prevent the activation of an alien artifact site.
Here are the new, "improved" results with XComUtil 9.7 Beta. It's going to take some effort to go back in the positive, but if last month is any indication earning a couple thousand points shouldn't be too much of an issue.
We begin by hiring an entirely new squadron and a new transport sub for Pacific base.
Thankfully, scientists are here to brighten the day.
Even though it's just another alien autopsy.
Pacific base is started on M.C. generators, because why not ?
A small sub is found in South Atlantic.
Barracuda-1 shoots the intruder down with ease.
A whole batch of new soldiers take their quarters in Pacific base.
Another sub. Let's see if this very small craft will resist the dual oscillator treatment.
Nope, it does not.
Production of equipment quickly finishes thanks to Pacific-1's large technician workforce.
Research is also going well in Atlantic base.
Finally, a new interceptor has been designed. It can't carry any troop, but it's twice as fast as a Barracuda and four times as resilient. Its speed will be most useful in catching fleeing alien subs. It is powered by Zrbite, so we'll still keep some Barracuda on standby for everyday interceptions.
Scientists already have ideas about upgrading the last design to add troop transport capabilities.
But the best thing is, the new craft opened up new possibilities in Submersible Weapon Systems.
Let's take a look at the current Coelacanth chassis. Its armor is rather good, but won't withstand much sonic cannon or sonic rifle fire. It is however highly susceptible to alien grenades. It has barely more TUs than a trained soldier, and its weapon is inaccurate and has laughable power compared to our sonic guns. Worse of all, it takes the space of four soldiers in the transport. Its redeeming point is its immunity to stun damage and M.C. attacks.
The Displacer design is better in every single area. Thirty more TUs makes it the fastest unit X-Com will ever get. Armor values on all sides equal that of Ion Armor front plates, making it unlikely to fall from anything but heavy Sonic Cannon barrage or Disruptor Torpedo. Its ability to hover both on land and underwater renders it immune to alien pulsers. The Sonic Cannon on the Displacer equals that of our ground troops in terms of power, but has an extremely large 100 shot magazine, completely reloaded free of charge at the end of any mission.
This platform is worthy of our esteemed soldiers' brains, preserved since the beginning of the war. Finally, RK47 and Rabidredneck, who refused to sign the cloning papers but willingly donated their corpses to science, will come back on active duty.
They're expensive, but we have money. Two units are ordered for each base.
A small sub is discovered in the usual area.
It joins the debris of its friends at the bottom of the Atlantic.
Production of our tanks finishes quickly. Mantas are next on the production line, and will take even our 80 technicians per base a little while.
Another small sub, this time near Australia.
It is shot down by China-1's barracuda.
A soon-to-be wreckage appears nearby.
It has no time to escape, and is vaporized.
M.C. generators are designed. Looks useful, but it's too expensive for us right now : we have spent a lot of money on production, and Gauss Cannon factories have stopped in the meantime.
Pacific team is made up entirely of rookies, with chzr II as the only exception. They are sent to the latest downed small sub to prove themselves, as well as test the new Displacer in the field.
The trip is short and uneventful.
It looks like we're fighting Tasoths today. Let's hope our rookies don't get slaughtered right away.
The latest recruits are surprisingly brave but also very bad at shooting. Guns are handed to spotters, and they perform as expected.
Good thing our LT is here to give them a hand.
Merkwürdigson manages to score a hit.
Rabidredneck's brain adapted quickly to the machinery, and the machine scouts a wide area around the Triton. A Tasoth is found.
The Sonic Cannon's accuracy helps the SWS's rather poor aim. The Aimed Shot is too slow to be worth it, but the Snap Shot is decently accurate and also very fast : three shots can be fired per turn.
The second one hits and kills the Tasoth. As SWS don't earn any experience from kills, we'll try to avoid firing the Displacer's cannon from now on if a soldier can take a shot instead.
chzr II lives up to his 'P' tag, and falls prey to M.C. panic attacks.
Another alien is spotted by Rabidredneck. Geoffrey Chaucer, a scholar with an interesting theory about Disruptor Pulse Launchers, manages to aim the long range shot well enough to score a hit.
And again ! Maybe a change of role is in order.
chzr leads the assault on the sub, discovered by our tank to the west.
Geoffrey Chaucer proves to be as effective with grenades as he is with Sonic Cannons.
More pulsers are thrown the following turn, and aliens screams are heard.
Undead Phoenix II manages to aim a Thermal Shok well enough.
chzr isn't afraid of danger and charges the remains of the sub, armed with a drill. He is shot but the sonic rifle blast fails to penetrate his armor.
The next turn, he repeatedly stabs the Tasoth until it finally dies. The mission ends.
Although short, this mission was helpful. We captured some live Tasoths, and the Displacer passed its test with flying colors.
It also provides an opportunity to distribute promotions all around. Atlantic-1's soldiers take up most of the spots, but Pacific team manages to grab a few positions as well.