Completed Xenonauts

[Azira]

Yeah, that's right. I've decided to post a new LP. I've chosen a strategy game where humanity is fighting an alien invasion. Just like 4 of my other LPs.

I know others have done LPs of this game, but as far as I can tell, none have completed the game. Shame.

I don't plan on failing like all the other chumps. So this is your chance for taking down the alien threath alongside myself.

I won't be self-inserting as a soldier. So any soldier you see is up for grabs. At least until som other codexer claims him/her. I don't judge.

Anyways. I'll start off very mildly, with just 25 screengrabs. So here we go:

We'll do the unmodded game, veteran difficulty. There's a plethora of mods out there, some sillier than others. You go ahead and play around with them if you like. I'm going to be showing off the base game, with all its flaws and imperfections. Why? Well, to tide me over for a while, and in anticipation of Xenonauts 2, which I helped kickstart (along with several thousand others). I might even do an LP of that one too. Only, I'd certainly self-insert in 2, as I spent cash on having my actual name in the game.

Anyhow, here's a list of soldiers up for you to claim:

Spoiler

Our first base:

Spoiler

I've chosen Europe, as I'm a Eurofag. Deal with it.

The basic base layout I'll not muck about with. I haven't played this game since 2017, and that was the community edition. I'm almost going in blind here. Should be fun.

Anyways, we order a lot of new buildings, gotta spend some of that cash, right?

Also, I want a lot more scientists as soon as possible. We need better equipment and we need it yesterday.

We've not even wet our feet in the game yet. Just started it and put down our first base. No missions yet. No new research unlocked. All is a fresh plate. I'll chuck the current Xenopedia at you, so you can read it if you'd like:

Spoiler

So, any bets on whether I'll actually finish the LP?
I'm married, got three kids, the oldest now a teenager. I am the co-owner of a medical clinic employing 10+ people. I got plenty of stress in my life. Will this LP be a retreat for me, something I'll return to, to unwind? Or will it add unnecessary stress so I'll abandon it by page 3?
You tell me.

 

[Luka-boy]

You have a good track record, so I trust this will not die until at least page 4

Are you using Community Edition?

Anyway, I'll claim Alexis Duval.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I claim Ralf Schnitzel. That way I will secure my long life in this LP

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

I will take Eli.

 

[Azira]

Table of contents:
1: Short introduction to the game.
2: First blood drawn.
3: Who wants to live forever?
4: Want to have near-death experiences? Xenonauts deliver!
5: Requiescat in pace.
6: Explosives are fun!
7: Do Androns dream of electric sheep?
8: With a helping of plasma and nightmare fuel.
9: Alien bases are blue on the Geospace. Funky.
10: Time to ditch da choppah!
11: I was told save-scumming is a Bad Thing, so this update is 100% free of that.
12: I don't care you didn't ask for it. You'll get it whether you like it or not.
13: Planned obsolescence.
14: Damned Registrations gets turned into a walking tank.
15: The life of a Xenonaut - Being shot at the ground at a thousand miles an hour.
16: This update is not like #11. And I'm not the least bit ashamed.
17: Short and unexciting. There's a joke to be made here, I'm sure.
18: The Black-Hole gun.
19: Operation Endgame - a choice to be made.
20: The fat lady sings.

 Current roster:
Luka-boy, Colonel, Assault
Darth Roxor, Colonel, Sniper
WhiskeyWolf, Colonel, Sniper
Jaedar, DECEASED, Assault
Andnjord, Colonel, BHG rocketeer
Strange Fellow, DECEASED in the final mission, Assault
Damned Registrations, Colonel, BHG rocketeer
Jaedarsdottir, DECEASED in the final mission, Assault
ValeVelKal, Colonel, Sniper
Demo.Graph, Colonel, BHG rocketeer
Unclaimed mook, Colonel

 

[Azira]

Alright gents. That's three soldiers taken out of the initial 10. Not a bad start.

I did start playing before people replied, so I shot down a couple of UFOs and did the first mission already:

Spoiler

Doesn't take long before the first UFO appears. I scramble interceptors.

I got two interceptors ready to launch. It'll be fine for the first UFOs that appear.

I only just send the interceptors out though, and then a second UFO appears, this one closer to our base. So I have the interceptors change targets.

These initial UFOs are easily dispatched, even with the autoresolve option.
I like that the game will warn you if you're intercepting something over water and gives you the option to tail it until it's over land.

Yep. Easy. I'll remember to fight it manually next time, to show that part of the game off.

Also, you can just airstrike the crashed UFOs if you cannot be bothered to send in a cleanup crew. You get a small bit of cash for doing it, but you'll miss out on experience for your troops and possible loot.
On the other hand, it's perfectly safe. You will lose soldiers when taking on downed UFOs unless you're either very lucky or very careful.
Or savescum.

Anyhow, this early in the game, you really want to do the missions so you can get stuff to research. So we scramble the Condor.

If you chicken out, you can still abandon when you're over the landing site. Seems a bit silly to do that though. Might as well just airstrike then.

Briefing screen with some tips.
Remember kids, in this game, smoke SAVES lives.

Pretty shitty deployment really. Only luck saved us from losing one or two soldiers on the first alien turn. I got shot at twice, but both shots missed.

Other than that, the rest of the mission was simple and clean. Move in teams. Superior firepower is key here.
As you can see, I've got a lot of soldiers lined up just outside the UFO. This is a great way to commit mass suicide, if the aliens decide to chuck a grenade.
That doesn't happen often in the start of the game, so I figured we'd probably be safe..

Yep. Just a single red-shirt alien.
Remember the part I wrote about chucking grenades? This seems like a prime spot for some flash-bangs, as they also cause stun damage.

At this range, you can still miss, but it's unlikely. The redshirt goes down.

I also heavily wounded one of their soldies and finished him off with a flash-bang. It's nice to get some prisoners.

And this is what it is all about. Wars are won on intelligence, and we're sorely behind.
All of this research will shorten the gap once it's completed.

Also, troops were claimed!

Luka-boy is this strapping fella. Are you satisfied with your role as an assault soldier or do you fancy something else?

Darth Roxor has chosen a sniper. Clever boy. That should keep him behind the front lines.

Same goes for WhiskeyWolf.

Again, speak up if you want another role or some other piece of equipment.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Briefing screen with some tips.

I... had no idea you could win UFO recovery missions through 'take and hold'. So THAT is why the assholes are hard-coded to NEVER leave the control room, holy shit.

 

[Luka-boy]

Luka-boy is this strapping fella. Are you satisfied with your role as an assault soldier or do you fancy something else?

Nah, that's great. With that much health there's at least a small chance of surviving two or three more missions.

The Shotgun is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

 

[Jaedar]

Give me Andrei and a shotgun please.

 

[Azira]

Alright, buckle up guys, 'cause I'm still high on starting the LP, and not slowing down yet.

...

To be fair, we've barely scratched the surface, and I expect to post fewer screenshots as we progress, and keep it to the important stuff.

Speaking of which;

Spoiler

Another crash site. Nothing can go wrong here, right?

I've positioned our two snipers so they can look out the side-doors. The two shot-gun wielding maniacs flank our heavy gunner, followed by three riflemen.

This UFO was carrying Sebillians. They're annoying because they regenerate wounds really fast. So they're hard to capture alive and can soak a lot of damage.

Our snipers quickly put one flanking our dropship down though. Nice start.

Oh, and we've even got civvies toting AK47's!

Here we see to Sebillians huddled close together. If only our explosives packed more of a punch... Had they been Cesarians I'd have grenade spammed them.

Instead we try to play it cleverly, kill them with prejudice, then spot another Sebillian huddled behind a wall

It'll display the blast radius of whatever you're chucking. In case it lands where it's supposed to that is.

A hit! Red numbers is damage, blue is stun.

Here there are numbers. Wasn't fast enough to catch them on the first throw.
Unfortunately, he regenerates so fast that I have to put him down instead..

So, we managed to get through without casualties. Just some wounds. And promotions. I'm happy with that.

Our first couple of research projects finish up.

Background lore. It opens up a couple of other research avenues.

A new fighter plane, and a "tank". I'll start working on that tank, as we need a proper damage sponge. And I seem to recall that vehicles have a better spotting range than our regular troops.

First though, we want to know what kind of weapons they're using against us. I know that this'll unlock new armour, and I rather want that armour quickly.

We do get some free research projects finished as well, a couple of autopsies and info on the downed UFO.

Again, research opens up new avenues, some more worthwhile than others. Alien Biology will get us new capture options IIRC.

Finally, the extra scientists I ordered arrive.

They're immediately put to work. On interrogating aliens. Must be their favourite pastime. Would be mine, certainly.

Also, now we get more space for people, aircraft and vehicles.

With that it's time to embarass myself, by showing how inept I am at aerial combat in this game.

Same size as before. Auto-resolve let's us finish these off without any damage done to our own interceptors.

In aerial combat, you get this screen. You can see the target of each interceptor in the upper right corner of their HUD.

And there's a button to engage afterburner.

And one to do a barrel roll. Handy for evading missiles.

I don't do much, so the interceptors and the UFO just slug it out, and I win. I do take some damage though, being an idiot pilot...

Speaking of damage. Whiskey took some hits on the last mission. Still, should be safe to bring him for another one, right?

Well, none of the claimed soldiers died. That's good, I guess? I really dislike Sebillians. And they're not even the worst.

At least the interceptor is fixed up again.

And our replacement meat arrived. I chose one with good accuracy and timeunits.

To finish this one off, our research on the plasma rifle finished.

And we really want better armour, so get working science-dudes!

 

[Darth Roxor]

Rip Harry, you were the deadest of us.

 

[Andnjord]

I’ll take the Heavy Weapon expert, Sara Naggy. I get to have all the DAKKA and nag on you others from behind.

 

[Azira]

Funny you should choose that soldier, Andnjord

Might update tomorrow after work, if I can find the time.

 

[lightbane]

Wow, it's been a while, Azira. Sadly, the last Xenonauts lp done here practically reached the ending IIRC, so yours is not the first one that will get to the ending.
It also used base game without mods.
Still, thanks for the effort!
Scrensho lps are slowly losing their steam nowadays, even in S. Awful.

 

[Modron]

With that it's time to embarass myself, by showing how inept I am at aerial combat in this game.

Yeah right there with you after 2-3 attempts to do aerial combat manually I just autoresolved everything.

 

[Andnjord]

Funny you should choose that soldier, Andnjord

Might update tomorrow after work, if I can find the time.

I’m sure if anything I happens to me the good doctor will have plenty of anal candles to patch me up. Failing that I can always claim another red shirt.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Oh cool, another X-COM LP. Hopefully it will last longer than the average hopeful recruit with a stunrod and a dream.

I'll take Petr, or someone less dead if he happens to be dedr.

 

[Azira]

Wow, it's been a while, Azira. Sadly, the last Xenonauts lp done here practically reached the ending IIRC, so yours is not the first one that will get to the ending.
It also used base game without mods.
Still, thanks for the effort!
Scrensho lps are slowly losing their steam nowadays, even in S. Awful.

I've checked. Our LP database links 4 other Xenonaut LPs, none of them get to the endgame. The one that gets closest ends in a wipe with all Xenonauts dead and then LP abandoned at page 12.

I plan on being victorious. No other Xenonauts LP managed that yet. At least not here on the Codex.

 

[Darth Roxor]

With that it's time to embarass myself, by showing how inept I am at aerial combat in this game.

Yeah right there with you after 2-3 attempts to do aerial combat manually I just autoresolved everything.

It never ceases to amaze me that people suck this bad at the aerial combat when it's not only super easy, but also much more effective than autoresolve, and can allow you to shoot down UFOs much stronger and with MUCH less damage taken when played properly.

What's so effin hard about just manoeuvring your planes to shoop the ufos from the rear where they're safe? FFS.

 

[Azira]

With that it's time to embarass myself, by showing how inept I am at aerial combat in this game.

Yeah right there with you after 2-3 attempts to do aerial combat manually I just autoresolved everything.

It never ceases to amaze me that people suck this bad at the aerial combat when it's not only super easy, but also much more effective than autoresolve, and can allow you to shoot down UFOs much stronger and with MUCH less damage taken when played properly.

It's this funky thing called patience and focus.

Who knows, once auto-resolve doesn't just roflstomp any opposition, I might lean into manual combat and do better. :p

 

[Modron]

What's so effin hard about just manoeuvring your planes to shoop the ufos from the rear where they're safe? FFS.

If all you do is get behind the enemies and guns go brrr safely what's the point of the minigame besides wasting time?

 

[Darth Roxor]

I dunno, but given that so many people say they get rekt in that minigame, it seems it's not 'wasting time' that's the problem here

I also remember it could lead to plenty of fun dogfights later on.

 

[Modron]

The flight minigame was going to be more involved at one point with pilots gaining experience but the developers let kickstarter users vote on the order of stretch goals and they put pointless cosmetics like female soldiers over it.

 

[lightbane]

I've checked. Our LP database links 4 other Xenonaut LPs, none of them get to the endgame. The one that gets closest ends in a wipe with all Xenonauts dead and then LP abandoned at page 12.

That's odd. I swear there was a LP that arrived to the last mission and got a victory, even if the entire squad got wiped out.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I dunno, but given that so many people say they get rekt in that minigame, it seems it's not 'wasting time' that's the problem here

I also remember it could lead to plenty of fun dogfights later on.

From what I recall (I tried playing this with community edition and eventually ragequit) the autoresolve gets a bit funky when enemies that can dodgeroll get involved. IIRC the only way to hit those guys wtih missiles is at point blank, while the autoresolve gives them a 50% hit chance or something? I recal it being an annoyance at any rate, havng to figure out which planes to auto resolve against and which to dogfight. And the dogfights were kinda RNG as depending on initial placement of your planes it might be a cakewalk or impossible.