After Red November, we need to rebuild and re-tighten our collective anuses.
The month starts on a high note. The research of advanced battle armour is completed and production begins.
The next wave of UFOs arrive. Since we can only have 3 planes in a squadron, the extra condor is sent to the Asian base to help intercept UFOs in the east.
2 Foxtrots and a Condor are enough to handle most enemies, now that we have Alenium missiles and gatling lasers. Unfortunately, we've yet to recieve the new recruits. Rather than sending 3 soldiers to a crash site, it is nuked from orbit. $50k is collected. Way less than clearing it on foot would've netted. But beggers can't be choosers.
A medium scout—and we've yet to clear one of these on foot—is downed. A perfect baptism of fire for the newly arrived recruits!
Storyfag joins us from the French marine commandos. His accuracy and health leave something to be desired. But the batch of candidates was truly abysmal.
Eklektyk leaves his buddies in the Jægercorps behind and changes this snazzy uniform:
For denim pants and a frag vest.
His adequate strength and impressive amount of hitpoints makes him a suitable Shieldmaiden.
He is joined by Comte. Aziras fellow Cybernegro, formerly of the Navy SEALs.
ERYFKRAD joins us from the Swedish Kustjagarna. He hopes to one day succeed LundB as designated Shotgun Murderswede. CIS Sis will not relinquish her shotgun for now though.
We've had time to manufacture a sniper rifle. Azira exchanges his rocket launcher for it, since his accuracy has skyrocketed during his time with us. We don't have a scatter laser yet, but it is being assembled.
Scrooge is still in transit, and will not join us just yet.
The UFO is crewed by Sebilians. As luck would have it, we spot them at range. Since the reptiles have lousy aim, the rookies are instructed to keep their distance and take time to make sure their shots fly true.
ERYFKRAD cares not for womanly tactics and uses full auto to claim the first kill among the new rookies.
Meanwhile, the veterans are moving up the flank for a pincer maneuver. They are ambushed by a sebilian hiding in an abandoned house.
Eklektyk weathers the return fire from behind his riot shield.
Then pops a cap in the mole for our second kill claimed by a rookie in the mission.
The Medium scout. The first time we've seen one up close.
The lizard leaves the safety of the abandoned house. It is swiftly suppressed by stabby.
And softened up from afar by Azira.
Meanwhile, CIS Sis gets inposition for a Murderswede Glory Rush™.
Executed the next round. POint blank buckshot to the back of the head!
And Azira claims the skull of the other lizard.
Breaching is easier than medium UFOs. The door opens directly into a large room. All the defenders are within range of a flashbang.
CIS Sis takes out the first two defenders
Storyfag suppresses the last defender.
Since the remaining lizardmen won't have enough TUs to both move and shoot, we close the door and deny them the chance to return fire.
Also, at some point during the exchange, ERYFKRAG got shot in the back by an overeager Comte
We open with another grenade.
Sniper fire.
ERYFKRAD takes care of the unsuppressed lizard.
And the UFO is cleared.
All in all, that was one of the smoothest baptisms of fire imaginable. While recruits perform this well in service of the Emperor, there is still hope for Terra.
The eggheds report on the medium scout:
Despite his lack of kills, Storyfag won the weightlifting competition back at base to determine who could carry the heaviest gear. He is granted the chapters scatter laser, fresh from the foundries of our techpriests.
And Scrooge shows up fashionably late. With excellent stats in everything except strength, I have high hopes for her. Once we get a bigger dropship, she'll make a worthy secondary sniper.
The Eggheads also finish researching Alien Electronics, which leads to a wealth of new research topics.
We can't afford the Corsair yet. And I've never liked tanks in XCOM games, so the Scimitar is not a priority. The EMP Grenades however, are really nice. They have a shorter stun range than flashbangs, but deal lethal damage to terminators and cyberdisks.
Another wave of UFOs. Asia still hasn't got the planes to deal with escorted mediums. But 2 unescorted light UFOs are shot down in northern Africa. This is a godsend. The soldiers are in desperate need of experience before the next terror site pops up.
Furthermore, we're blessed with Caesarians. Their psions aren't too terrifying just yet. And they're reasonably fragile, sllowing the recruits to rack up kills and experience.
Storyfag claims his first kill.
As dees Scrooge
The Caesareans are utterly outmatched. EMP grenades and CIS Sis cleans house.
A couple of milestones are hit. Azira passes 5 kills while CIS Sis passes 10. It took a while, but our replacement Shotgun Murderswede is finally finding the rythm.
Since there's plenty of fuel left in DA CHOPPA, it's redirected to the other crash site.
A second Condor arrives in asia. They're scrambled to attempt to fight off the medium UFO with escorts.
....But Condors are shit.
The second UFO is a small scout, crewed by Lizards, in broad daylight.
...they didn't put up much of a fight.
With weapons production completed, we turn our engineers towards the newly developed battle armor. CIS Sis pulls rank and claims the first set. But the remaining troops are kitted out in short order. Except for Azira, who's still too feeble to carry both armour and rifle.
The mid-month wave of medium UFOs arrive. Without escorts for some strange reason. We cannot do anything about the ones over Asia—the shitty condors are still beign repaired. But the UFO over Russia is downed.
It is a night mission of Caesarans and Cyberdisks.
Our streak of luck continues. No tasteful rape occurs. CIS Sis and Scrooge perform some synchronized bleeding, but return to normal after about a week. Stabby claims his 10th kill.
The eggheads develop jetpack armor. It is too expensive and offers too little protection to issue ot front-line troops. Snipers, however, can make good use of this.
Azira rejoices as he is finally granted a new uniform.
A landed UFO tends to yield greater rewards than a crashed one. DA CHOPPA is sent out with a condor for cover
A large number of Caesarean troops are lurking in a field just north of our landing site.
Azira makes good use of his new jetpack. Jumping over the walls, and deliverign swift death to the Alien.
Scrooge graduates from the academy of Skeet Shootan
A few rounds later, resistence outside the UFO is silenced. The actual breaching was rendered trivial by spamming flashbangs, since Caesarans are vulnerable to those.
2 of the rookies both claim their 5th kills during the breaching.
ERYFKRAD and Scrooge are no longer noobz.
The dropship is redirected to the crash site (cheap XP is cheap XP). The condors are finally repaired in asia, and sent to inestigate our first "Very Small" UFO.
Turns out it's a heavy fighter. They don't yield a crash site, but they will intercept and attack your aircraft if your squadrons are weakened.
The fighter is met head-on. The condors scatter to determine which one is being targeted by the Xenos.
Having determiend who the bait is going to be, the other Condors break off to get behind the UFO
And it is easily destroyed.
Another medium UFO is shot down, this time over Norway.
This time it is crewed by Androns. the new EMP grenades prove highly effective against them.
Storyfag is beginning to get used to his scatter laser. Another entrant into the 5 Xenos killed club. After a relatively peaceful month, the recruits have been molded into efficient killing machines. They still haven't got the stats of the old Krew, but they should be ready for the next terror site.
The eggheads continue studying the heretical technology of the foul Xenos
Finally! We need these babies badly. The corsair is a vastly superior version of the Condor. It matches speed with the Foxtrot (so they aren't slowed down in mixed squadrons), and is more maneuverable and durable. Plus it has a longer range before running out of fuel. They require a signifigant investment in alenium and Alien Alloys. But they're well worth the cost.
More UFOs descent upon Holy Terra as December draws to a close.
A new ttype of UFO is spotted—the Landing Ship. Foxtrots are scrambled, but fail to bring it down.
Our fleet of aircraft.
December is the first month in which we've had a positive change in funding. Is this the turning poitn we've been awaiting?
