Let's Play: X-COM - UFO Defense

Move my dude to the top of the queue and then make him better than everyone else because obviously he would be better than everyone else.

If he dies, you die. I will find you.

Sure, why not? This'll be grand.

Wow so I guess I've been recruited into this? Fine.







But I'll read the rules later when I feel like it.

I'll sign up for the queue!

I love X-Com, and it is also one of the first games where I really got into the math of everything.

Sign me up as a new recruit, please.

Count me in.

Welcome back! We've "captured" our first alien wreckage, so now we'll take a peek in and see what's inside!



Nothing too out of the ordinary, aside from a lone Heavy Plasma rifle. Despite having obvious looking "shooty" ends and "trigger" ends, we'll need to research any plasma weapon (and its accompanying ammunition) before we can use it.

You can see that these aliens weapons are worth a pretty penny to sell; I was thinking about selling the plasma pistols and clips, but I don't need the money for anything at this exact moment. They'll be sold the minute I get Plasma Rifles tho. We can probably sell the grenades too, we'll be swimming in them later (and like the Plasma weapons, they need to be researched first to use them).

The Mind Probes are worth a lot too, although they're not really useful items, but we'll keep one around. They let you find out an alien's rank/statistics, but it takes a lot of TUs (50% of them). The general rule for any item is to keep one for research, and then sell the rest. The Sectoid corpses are worthless save one (to research), so they're sold to various gossip tabloids and whoever makes Lady Gaga's wardrobe.

Now let's check out some new recruits that came in!



Mogri here is an above-average soldier. The effectiveness of units is determined through a combination of all of those above stats, although some are more useful than others. Enemy units have the same stats too! The two most important (in my opinion) are Bravery, and Firing Accuracy. I'll explain why a bit later, but here's a quick rundown of what each stat does:

Time Units (TUs): This determines how far your character can move in a turn. TUs are refreshed at the start of your turn. Recruits start with between 50-60 TUs, and can raise it to about 80 through training.

Stamina: Also known as "Energy". When units perform (most) actions, they lose stamina. A unit that has no stamina cannot move, as they're simply too tired to do so. Units regain an amount of stamina at the start of each turn equal to 1/3rd of their initial TU value, but it's generally not too big of a problem to worry about recruiting high TU rookies. Recruits start with between 40-70 Stamina, and can raise it to about 100 through training.

Health: How much damage your character can take before they die. If you remember how much our Tank, PHILLIAM, has, you'll see that these values tend to be quite low compared to other stats. Injuries that don't kill a unit outright can cause "fatal wounds", which reduce your health each turn. Health only recovers outside of missions, with mandatory leave that can take over a month. Recruits start with between 25-40 Health, and can raise it to about 60 through training.

Bravery: How psychologically tough the unit is under pressure. As X-Com agents are killed, morale can start to suffer. A character with a high Bravery is less likely to panic or go berserk. Morale can be seen in combat; below 50% morale, you have a chance of losing control of the unit for the turn. Recruits start with between 10-60 Bravery, and can raise it to 100 through training.

Reactions: This governs both the unit's chance to "react" to enemy movement (i.e. fire back with a weapon, if they've got the TUs to do so), as well as to prevent enemy's from taking reaction shots. This can be pretty important! Recruits start with between 30-60 Reactions, and can raise it to about 100 through training.

Firing Accuracy: Simply, how good a shot your unit is. Recruits start with between 40-70 Firing Accuracy, and can raise it to about 120 through training.

Throwing Accuracy: Like Firing Accuracy, but for stuff like grenades. Not very useful, unless your unit also has a high strength and wants to chuck something really far (the great thing about grenades is that you don't need to be that accurate with them). Recruits start with between 50-80 Throwing Accuracy, and can raise it to about 120 through training.

Strength: Determines how much you can carry, and how far you can toss stuff. Items all have "weight" units, and if you exceed it, you suffer TU penalties. Unless you're carrying a LOT of stuff around (or corpses), you don't need to worry about this. Recruits start with between 20-40 Strength, and can raise it to about 70 through training.

There are also two hidden stats, which won't be seen until much later in the game, but we'll get to those when we get access to them.

Training is done, simply, by doing related actions. "Reactions" is trained by taking Reaction shots with a weapon (you don't need to hit with it). Hitting enemies with bullets (or weirdly, grenade explosions) helps train your Firing Accuracy. Four can be raised just by doing stuff: TUs. Health, Strength, and Stamina. Not every action works, but in general, having one "reaction" shot, hitting an enemy in combat with a bullet (or grenade blast), or having the unit's morale below 50% for a turn will be enough. Stats tend to increase slowly, but hitting killing enemies tends to help improve your stats quicker.



Here is Teferi, and *whistle* what a beaut! Aside from a slightly middling Firing Accuracy, this kid will go places (as long as he isn't killed first).



We dump those other losers for having the gall to use proper names. It's the first test of X-Com: can you come up with a forum alias?



We're going to want a nice stable of soldiers, so we'll keep recruiting and dumping them until we get some decent units.



Here's an example of a mediocre unit. You can see (thanks to the lighter bars) where the unit began, and where they're going to. In general, Bravery is the hardest thing to raise (to do so, you need to risk having your guys go berserk), so it's why I'm looking for soldiers that have at least a 40 in it. Firing Accuracy often rises quickly, but it can be difficult to train a soldier with Accuracy below 55.



Merus (drat that jerk) is head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the other units (and probably many that we'll recruit). He didn't manage to get a useful action in last mission, but he started with max TUs, Reactions, and Bravery for a soldier, and had 65/70 Firing Accuracy. You want to try and hang onto men and women like this.



Nunix was our other star recruit, although that +5 Firing Accuracy doesn't make up for the 27 Reactions that Merus has over him. Also, his Strength is kind of junk, but hopefully that'll get trained quickly. Once it hits 25, we'll probably have no problems.









Our LASER research finishes! I don't think researching Laser Rifles is really worthwhile right now, so we'll go with Medi-Kits (normally my first research topic).



As the first thing we can build, we're going to start using our Engineers to make one of these for each of our units. They'll be a pretty substantial upgrade over the Rifles we're currently using.



Our second UFO was detected!

We send an Interceptor after it, and a pair of missiles ends up destroying it outright. Oops. Well, no harm. We've still got Laser Weapons to build first. Still, this one might have landed, allowing us to take it's core. NEXT TIME.



Our next good recruit! This one is pretty solid.











Our General Stores finish, as does our Medi-Kit research. I don't really want to spend time researching Plasma Pistols, so I'll get our scientists started on Heavy Plasma. We probably won't finish it before something else comes along, but might as well get a start.



Our third UFO was detected!





We managed to cause this one to crash land, once again in Canada. What are the Aliens so interested in the Canucks!?

(or perhaps, why is the U.S. OF. A. So interested in shooting hostile alien craft into their northern allies!?)





By this time, five of our Laser Pistols has finished, so we'll bring those (no ammo needed!) and leave behind all but three of our Rifles. We bring two of our new recruits, Mogri and Tefari, along. We could have brought shivam too, but this early in the game you shouldn't need more than eight, as it can be a pain to do turns once you are using more than that.

My only regret is that I have but one life to give to this planet. That, and the fact that I will give my life running in terror as alien zombies ransack Moscow.

Merus here didn't get the memo and wanted to bring a Rifle. C'mon man, this is no time to showboat!

I bring Flares because I think night might have just fallen, but I'm lucky (once again) and we'll do this with full vision.







Our Skyranger lands just south of the enemy base, with a direct line from our landing ramp to the UFO entrance. PHILLIAM finds an alien out front, who appears to not have seen us land (it's a well known fact that Skyrangers are like helicopters).





Sven is first off, and lands two hits to the Sectoid's back. But the alien is still up!





He then turns around and retaliates, killing Sven. Weaksauce; Sven was kneeling and behind cover and everything!







Merus gets his first alien kill with that Laser Pistol he almost refused to bring along.



We then take cover near the Skyranger's wheels and ramp, hoping to get everyone out by next turn.

Another Sectoid appears near the UFO entrance, but misses with its shot.





We move PHILLIAM around to see if there's any hostiles sitting behind the ship.



Nunix moves up to spot that alien we saw on the enemy turn, so other units can fire without being in the alien's sight...





..and Merus gets his second kill, albeit it takes him over 10 shots to do so. Thankfully, Laser Pistols don't use ammo.



I'll keep saying this: cover is important! It won't double your odds of survival, but it will increase it slightly, and that's sometimes the best you can hope for.







Another alien (to the left of the ship) pop out and ineffectually fires. Nunix gets a reaction shot off and hits, although not well enough to kill the Sectoid.



Meanwhile, PHILLIAM moves around the UFO, and spots that there is indeed a Sectoid waiting to ruin our day. The tank backs off and I send a pair from the ship to deal with it.



Nunix spots again for his allies...



...and lets Mogri take some shots.

Success! Mogri notches his first kill.







Uneventful! Be sure to listen to sounds on this phase; I don't hear any alien doors opening, but I'm sure there's still at least one inside that ship (there usually always is).



PHILLIAM peaks around the corner and sees that the alien is advancing. Tanks can't get experience/training, so I'd rather have my flesh and blood units kill this Sectoid.





Pictured: How not to move units. I try and be careful (that box was meant to be on Makkara, so I could select her), but instead I up moving SlimJimm completely out of position.

(It happens to the best of us.)





Makkara moves around the corner, and PHILLIAM backs up. He'll probably get shot at next turn, but he should survive.



Mogri and Merus move to enter the ship next turn...



...and nunix finds a fourth Sectoid jerk lounging around outside.



Tefari misses...



...and ringworm's missile goes wide.

Surprisingly, nunix manages the kill. Well, his accuracy isn't crazy for nothing...





We end our turn, and that Sectoid around the corner puts some serious hurt into PHILLIAM. That guy is obviously not using a Plasma Pistol!



Makkara jumps out and plugs the guy.



You can see here that PHILLIAM is hanging to a shred of life (9!). Like all units, injuries can really affect firing accuracy, as seen here.



We duck him around the corner to safety; losing a tank costs you points at the end of the mission, and as long as PHILLIAM survives he'll be 100% for our next foray into hostile alien territory.

Anyway, he's too fat to fit into the UFO door.



I was surprised to see an explosion here, until I remembered that ringworm had shot a missile this way last turn.



Rocket launchers are single use weapons, so remember to reload them!



Merus primes a grenade before he opens the door. Better safe than sorry...



We hear nothing. This isn't unusual, but it probably means the remaining aliens are stuck near the ship's core.



SlimJimm figures out what that alien that put the hurt on PHILLIAM was packing: it's a Plasma Rifle.



Merus runs in... and nothing.

We toss the primed grenade away: last thing we want is Merus getting killed and him dropping it. It will explode harmlessly at the end of the turn (harmlessly, because there are no hidden aliens over there, sadly).



This is how I like to take ships; those corners that Merus and Mogri are in have no cover, but the give you vision of both doors leading to the back of the ship. If I had the TUs, I'd move more soldiers against that wall to the north-west.



I'm seeing no other aliens outside, so I bring ringworm up. As she has miserable stats, we're going to use her for "door breeching" duty.





Ringworm moves through the door, and sees the backside of a Sectoid.



She moves back out the door, letting Tefari plug the bastard from behind.



We then move everyone into position; ringworm is ready to look first (so others can shoot question lasers later).



Seeing nothing (and with the mission still on), the last Sectoid(s) are almost assuredly hanging in the ship's core.









Ringworm tosses a grenade in and blow the last Sectoid up, ending the mission!



In hindsight, this was actually kind of dumb; the grenade explosion ended up destroying the precious Elerium inside of it (you want that stuff) but we now we've grabbed some Plasma Rifles (yeeessssss) and even managed to snag a UFO Power Source too. They're worth a cool quarter of a million bucks to fund our lavish kid's camp on the surface above!



Quebec is saved! We'll check out our new loot next time!

Remember to sign up if you haven't already!

Next time on Let's Play X-Com: Base Defense? ALREADY?

Who throws grenades into the cores?! That's crazy! Not only did you lose Elerium, you could have blown the power source as well!

Actually, I'm kind of surprised it's there seeing as you shot this ship down. The power source is usually the first thing to blow!

Crazy like a fox!

OUR CURRENT HEROES

SPACE CAMP
Alixsar: Captain. 12 missions, 8 kills.
CaptBlasto: Colonel. 12 missions, 8 kills.
Pajaro Pete: Sergeant. 12 missions, 8 kills.
Stiv: Sergeant. 12 missions, 6 kills.
BEAT: Squaddie. 12 missions, 5 kills.
sraymonds: Squaddie. 12 missions, 4 kills.
Kishi: Colonel. 11 missions, 12 kills.
Red Hedgehog II: Squaddie. 11 missions, 10 kills.
jpfriction: Sergeant. 11 missions, 5 kills.
Rai: Captain. 10 missions, 6 kills.
Austin: Captain. 8 missions, 14 kills.
ajr82: Sergeant. 8 missions, 12 kills.
Meditative_Zebra: Sergeant. 7 missions, 8 kills.
Lucas: Squaddie. 4 missions, 11 kills
Alpha Werewolf: Squaddie. 4 missions, 6 kills.
djSyndrome: Squaddie. 4 missions, 3 kills.
Kirin. Squaddie: 4 missions, 2 kills.
Torzelbaum II: Squaddie. 4 missions, 0 kills.
Son of Sinistar: Squaddie. 2 missions, 0 kills.



HEY AFRICA!
Kylie: Squaddie. 13 missions, 4 kills.
Mightyblue: Squaddie. 12 missions, 13 kills.
Destil: Sergeant. 12 missions, 10 kills.
Mogri: Captain. 12 missions, 16 kills.
Nodal: Sergeant. 12 missions, 9 kills.
Nich II: Sergeant. 12 missions, 10 kills.
Gerad II: Sergeant. 12 missions, 8 kills.
Epithet: Sergeant. 10 missions, 2 kills.
Falselogic: Sergeant. 9 missions, 12 kills.
Soren Highwind: Captain. 8 missions, 12 kills.
Tefari: Commander. 8 missions, 10 kills
PapillonReel: Squaddie. 6 missions, 0 kills.
Olli T II: Squaddie. 5 missions, 2 kills.
Balrog: Squaddie. 3 missions, 5 kills.
Tomm Guycot: Squaddie. 3 missions, 5 kills.
Yimothy II: Squaddie. 3 missions, 4 kills.
Guildenstern II: Rookie. 0 missions, 0 kills.
kaisel II: Rookie. 0 missions, 0 kills.
shivam II: Rookie. 0 missions, 0 kills.
Droo: Rookie. 0 missions, 0 kills.

OUR FALLEN HEROES

reibeatall: killed by a Sectoid. 11 missions, 12 kills.
StriderDL: killed by a Sectoid. 8 missions, 7 kills.
Yimothy: killed by a Floater. 7 missions, 7 kills.
kaisel: killed by a Cyberdisc. 7 missions, 5 kills.
Gerad: killed by a Sectoid. 6 missions, 9 kills.
Merus: killed by an ill-placed grenade. 6 missions, 5 kills.
Son of Sinistar: killed by a Cyberdisc. 6 missions, 3 kills.
MCBanjoMike: killed by a Sectoid. 5 missions, 5 kills.
nunix: killed by a Sectoid. 5 missions, 3 kills.
TheSL: killed by a Sectoid. 5 missions, 1 kill.
Dizzy: killed by a Cyberdisc. 4 missions, 7 kills.
Loki: killed by a Sectoid. 4 missions, 6 kills.
Calorie Mate: killed by a Sectoid. 4 missions, 5 kills.
SlimJimm: killed by a Floater. 4 missions, 3 kills.
Guildenstern: killed by a Sectoid. 4 missions, 3 kills.
namelessentity II: killed by a Sectoid. 4 missions, 1 kill.
LancerECNM: killed by a Sectoid. 3 missions, 5 kills.
Zef: killed by a Snakeman. 3 missions, 4 kills.
ringworm: killed by a Sectoid. 3 missions, 3 kills.
Oscar Hudson: killed by a Sectoid. 3 missions, 3 kills.
Makkara: killed by Merus. 3 missions, 2 kills.
shivam: killed by a Floater. 3 missions, 2 kills.
McClain: killed by a Chryssalid. 3 missions, 2 kills.
Octopus Prime: killed by a Floater. 3 missions, 1 kill.
TK Flash: killed by a Sectoid. 2 missions, 2 kills.
Olli T: killed by a Floater. 2 missions, 2 kills.
Junk: killed by a Sectoid. 2 missions, 2 kills.
Torzelbaum: killed by a Floater. 2 missions, 1 kill.
namelessentity: killed by a Floater. 2 missions, 1 kill.
Sven: killed by a Sectoid. 2 missions, 0 kills.
Adrenaline: killed by a Sectoid. 1 mission, 4 kills.
Nich: killed by a Cyberdisc. 1 mission, 3 kills.
Grant: killed by a Sectoid. 1 mission, 2 kills.
alexb: killed by a Sectoid. 1 mission, 0 kills.
Red Hedgehog: killed by a Cyberdisk. 1 mission, 0 kills.
Brickroad: killed by a Floater. 1 mission, 0 kills.
Sarcasmorator: killed by a Sectoid. 1 mission, 0 kills.

# of PHILLIAM tanks destroyed: 10 (Sectoid x4, Cyberdisc x2, Floater x2, friendly fire x1)
# of CASSIUS tanks destroyed: 2 (Floater, Ethereal)

Sign me up for a tour of duty, sir! Surely the recruiter wasn't lying when he said I would be in no danger.

I thought I saw the image wrong, and then when Eddie confirmed it I was wondering if there was a strategy that I had never known about.

I just love X-Com explosions. And I forgot that can happen. Maybe.

I wanted to join the Mobile Infantry but they're not accepting recruits.
So put me on the list! ... I'm not sure why I was excited about that.

So... wait. The power source was intact, but the grenade blew the Elerium right out of it?

X-Com explosions are the best.

I want to go to Space Camp!

You missed my enlistment request! Perhaps I should sign a deal with the aliens instead.

Why do eager to join? Perhaps you've made a deal with them already HMMM?

I was on the recruitment list, and was all =D. But then you took me off the recruitment list and I was all =O. So you should put me back on, because I am totally ready to die for my planet. Hell, I've played like 40 hours of XCOM Enemy Unknown in preparation! And it's the least I can do, given that you just saved Quebec from the sectoid menace.

Seriously, though, how did I miss this game when it first came out? This is exactly the sort of thing that I would have loved when I was younger and playing tons of PC games. At least, I have to assume as much, since I'm totally obsessed with Enemy Unknown right now.

This is my favourite game, I need to be on the list!

The original list of 20 was simply generated by the top 20 active posted in Talking Time. I was honestly not expecting so many people to want to join up! You have been put back on!

Speaking of aliens... PRO SEGWAY

Welcome back! Can you tell that I'm bored during Christmas?



Space Camp is looking as groovy as it will ever (it's actually a horrible layout, but I'll make our future bases more tactically better). You see, if aliens ever decide to invade our base (they'll occasionally do that if you've pissed them off a lot) they'll attack! Aliens enter at either the lift, or a plane hanger. Our layout means that they've got four places to choose from, and all of them ensure we'll be surrounded!

Well, let's hope that doesn't happen!



We found some Plasma Rifles from that last mission. I love me some Plasma Rifles, so we temporarily stop our research on Heavy Plasma and switch to the Rifles. Once we research these and their associated clips, we'll be able to use them!



I decide, as a precaution, to build a few more laser pistols. I don't know if I'll build more than 10; we'll see.



We also dump some of the spoils of our last mission. We'll quickly find ourselves with tons of spare weapons, and since we won't be researching Plasma Pistol for a while we'll sell all but one. The clips are worth a decent amount too!

We will want to hang onto a few UFO Power Sources and Navigation units later, but for now they're just taking up space.

Quadrupled my funds from that! Not bad!



More living room! This will let us hire more than five soldiers (for inspection purposes) at a time, as well as allow us to add some new scientists. I'm probably going to wait until next month for that tho, so I get full worth out of their salary.

That reminds me, one last thing about base defense missions: if you play on an easy difficulty, you'll rarely see them.

When suddenly...



*GASP* If only I had properly foreshadowed this!



Out of my inventory Plasma weapons!

(note: you can "equip" alien items that you haven't researched yet, but you won't be able to use them!)



Our crew of eight + tank - noting that I still haven't replaced the loss of Sven last mission - is roughly split into two groups, with ringworm, Tefari, and Makkara (she's behind the door) in one area, Merus, nunix, and Shivam in the living quarters above nearby, and PILLIAM, Mogri, and SlimJimm kind of south of the Access lift.

Basically, we're surrounded.

ringworm sees a Sectoid immediately, and takes him out...



... revealing a second one hiding behind the first! This game can be kind of weird about how terrain and objects block people. Usually it's not so bad, but honestly ringworm.

He takes a shot...



... and is killed with reaction fire. Well that's a great start now isn't it?







Tefari avenges our comrade.



PHILLIAM is kind of all that stands between the lower-right Interceptor hanger and whatever Sectoids spawned within.

As a note, Aliens will generally focus their attention on you, but given a chance they'll run around trying to ruin your base! They can actually destroy individual base modules, although it really will only happen if you're being scared and hiding from them.