*RECORDING STARTS*
[The sound of a middle aged man sighing deeply can be heard, before he starts speaking in a gravelly, weary voice.]
Personal log. Director Nathaniel Kessler. December 31, 2013.
Chicago, Illinois, United States of America. November 20, 2012.
We discovered that we were not alone in the universe... the hard way. A massive alien vessel entered Earth's atmosphere at approximately 2100 hours, heading straight for the American Midwest. No one knows where it came from. Satellites and early warning radars detected the craft while it was on approach. The National Guard and Air Force assets stationed within the region scrambled to respond to the extraterrestrial threat, and an emergency evacuation notice was sent out on all channels throughout the city.
It wasn't enough. The invaders made landfall before we could even get our birds up into the air. Chicago's police force was ill-equipped to fight an enemy vastly more advanced than them. The evacuation process had been met with several difficulties, leaving the majority of the city's population vulnerable to attack. By the time the National Guard arrived, the situation had devolved into complete chaos. Charred, twisted bodies and the smoking, half-melted husks of vehicles littered the streets. The local police had dispersed, completely ineffective against the aliens' superior firepower, and the alien battleship pounded the skyline with heavy plasma fire. They showed us no mercy.
The Battle for Chicago lasted a little over three hours. The defenders sustained heavy casualties, being vastly outclassed by the aliens' advanced weaponry and armor, but they were able to push the aliens back through sheer strength of numbers. The alien vessel retreated, exiting Earth's atmosphere, having only sustained minor damage during the attack. The death toll exceeded five thousand, most of which were civilians. The attack sent a fervor throughout the world. It was our first encounter with extraterrestrial life, and it was out to destroy or enslave our species. Nobody knew for certain, as the aliens made no attempt to communicate, nor did they respond to our own attempts to do so. All we knew was that they were completely hostile. Every nation mobilized its forces. The world was paralyzed with fear. Many believed that the invaders couldn't be stopped... but not everyone fell to despair.
The majority of Earth's leaders agreed that surrender was not an option. A solution was proposed; the creation of an independent organization dedicated to combating the alien menace. It would have access to Earth's finest scientific minds, most proficient soldiers and most advanced technology. Not every nation agreed with such a bold plan, arguing that it would be impossible for such an entity to fight an entire war on its own, but the majority supported the plan. Earth's nations were too busy keeping their panicked citizens under control to take the fight to the extraterrestrials, and any breakthroughs in the war effort would not be easily shared. Old rivalries ran deep, so establishing an independent team that centralized these efforts was the best option. The decision was made, and thus, the X-COM Project was born.
Construction of Central HQ took a year. In that time, Guangzhou, Tel Aviv and Barcelona were hit. The attacks were becoming more frequent, along with the probing actions and abductions being carried out across the world. We've been letting the aliens have their way with us ever since this war began, but that changes now, for we are ready to carry out our mission.
We are X-COM. We are humanity's first and last line of defense. We will hold the line against our unknown nemesis at all costs.
We will be watching.
We will drive them back into the void.
Vigilo Confido.
*RECORDING ENDS*
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Hello, and welcome to my playthrough of OpenXCom! This LP will be a little different from what you may be used to. This is going to be a narrative screenshot LP, which basically means I'll be writing it much like I would a story, and I'll be screencapping key moments to show to you guys. Truth be told, I'm a little nervous, since there's nothing else on this forum like this, but if you guys like it, I'll be more than happy to keep on providing for all of you.
I'm going to be playing with some big gameplay-altering advanced options on, like Sneaky AI and range-based accuracy, plus a bunch of more minor ones, like death notifications, building queues, auto-end battles, globe tilted lighting (for REALISM), strafing, inventory stats and psi-capture. Options I may or may not include are auto-sell, instant grenades, TFTD manufacture rules, researched items will be spent, psi-training at any time (extremely tentative), and explosion height. If you guys have any suggestions or complaints concerning advanced options, please, let me know! Also, I'm not playing with any mods, save for one that changes the starting date to 1/1/14, 'cause those have the potential to be unbalancing, so I'm playing it safe.
Now, before we begin, two things need to be decided. One, our location. We need to select a region of the world to set up shop in. Nothing ridiculous like the poles, please.
Second, what's an X-COM LP without community involvement? As always we start with eight soldiers, and we will recruit god knows how many more in the future, depending on how lethal this all turns out to be (I'm guessing extremely). You guys can rename those soldiers if you so wish, otherwise, I'm keeping their generated names (I expanded on the name lists, so we probably won't see the same generated name twice.) If you wanna sign up as a trooper, feel free to fill out this little sheet.
Name: (Real names would be nice)
Callsign: (If you wish, but not required. Also, keep in mind that the name-box has limited space.)
Nationality: (It's a global affair, after all. Also needed for the following section, should you choose to fill it out)
Previous Unit: (A little something from
Xenonauts that I really liked. I believe that, despite gameplay proving otherwise... rather often, at that, X-COM gets its manpower from the best. I.E., various spec ops units from all over the world ((including police units like GSG-9 and SWAT)), and regular troops that have
Personality: (Not required, but for those who like to fluff out their characters, this is for you. I'll gladly work it in as best I can. Doesn't need to be long, just enough to give me a sense of what this trooper is like.))
Also! We can rename the Skyranger and our two interceptors, as well as any future aircraft we buy or develop, so go ahead and list names for them too. Hell, if you really want to, you could fluff up their pilots, too.
If you have any questions or grievances, please let me know. Enjoy the ride!
