Let's play The X-COM Files, shall we?

[tkzv]

349.

Turn 11. Success. Finish him and go check the one sleeping in fire. And then check the buildings around. 3 aliens seems too few.

350.

Now that "coup de grace" no longer works, killing a sleeping enemy is a challenge. Somehow the agents kept missing the body. It took several attempts to hit him, but 1 bullet was enough.

Also had to drag the body away from the navigational equipment. So that the stray bullets wouldn't damage it.

351.

Turn 13. Not enough TUs to rush through this fire.

353.

Either the sleeping alien died, or he didn't pick his gun.

354.

Turn 14. Okoth ran to the spot and found the gun, but no body.

355, 357.


Here's the gunless body. Should they practice reaction shots?

360.

Hard to practice, the alien keeps walking out of sight.

362.

Believe it or not, there were only 3 aliens.

364.

Again Skjolsvold got more reaction practice.

I didn't make a screenshot, but Skjolsvold got promoted to sergeant. And I already decided to fire him

[tkzv]

365.

And some urgently needed money.

367, 368, 640.



Finished researching the farmer. The last piece of information is added to Ufopaedia silently. And the author likes it that way.

369, 370.


Finished interrogating the first cultist. What piece of supernatural knowledge will RNG give for that?

371.

I'm not impressed.

372.

I can investigate Dagon further, but the promotion is unavailable. Guess, I need to study all 4 cults for that.

373, 374.


I can now buy baseball bats.

[tkzv]

375, 376.


Finished studying the dead sloth. No autopsy picture yet.

377.

What? I don't need the full set of cults for the promotion? Great!

378.

Getting the promotion is the most urgent. I want the flare gun. You never know when bulletproof monsters appear.

Monster hunt 4 and UFO-5

380, 381.


I can spare 1 team. Hopefully, no UFOs appear in the meantime.

382.

Yes they did. At least, it's a day mission.

386.

The man most likely to go berserk or switch sides got promoted to sergeant. Rats.

388, 389.


Should I try to shoot 2 Sectoids, who have 100% TUs reserved for reaction fire? Or should I hide in this conveniently located cave?

[tkzv]

390.

Turn 2. Cave! Any other way the agents don't live to see turn 2.

391.

Shoot and hide behind the corner. Rinse and repeat. One Sectoid down, where was thee other one?

394.

There he is. Hopefully, this corner hides Okoth.

395.

What? How did the reach and panic Skjolsvold in the cave?

396.

Turn 3. Recovering from panic often turns units berserk.

398.

Turn 4. The second Sectoid is down. Should Okoth check the rest of the cave and risk facing berserking Skjolsvold?

399.

Okoth decided to wait it out. A wise decision — Skjolsvold still has ammo left.

400.

Turn 5. Okoth had no choice. The Sectoid shoots the cave through from here. And Skjolsvold is still useless. Either face this Sectoid in close combat or come out in the open.

402.

Turn 6. Skjolsvold is under alien control. Okoth is on his own. Hopefuly, no other aliens appear in this corner while he clubs this one.

403.

Whew.

[tkzv]

404.

Can't hide in the cave. Better look around. And shoot the sleeping Sectoid too.

405.

Yes, he's dead.

406.

Good thing berserks don't recharge guns.

407.

Turn 7. Panicking Skjolsvold blocks the cave exit.

408.

Turn 8. Panicking Skjolsvold still blocks the cave exit. Okoth will have to get out to look around.

411.

Turn 9. Panicking Skjolsvold finally dropped his gun and ran deeper into the cave.

413.

Turn 10. Skjolsvold mustered enough bravery to pick up his gun. Now Okoth can run to another cave and snipe aliens from there.

416.

Turn 11. Somebody trigger-happy with a lot of TUs and burst mode.

419.

Turn 13. Still alive. Skjolsvold and Okoth take turns shooting this alien.

420.

Got him.

[tkzv]

422.

A human can cross this open space in 1 turn if he runs.

423.

Turn 16. Anybody in this cave? Okoth needs to rest to restore energy. Skjolsvold will check another cave.

425.

Turn 20. Okoth is ready to fight again. Skjolsvold hasn't found anything of interest.

428.

Turn 22. Aliens are leaving the UFO going somewhere behind it. Will they change direction if we try to shoot and hide?

431.

Turn 23. Where did they go?

432.

Looks like a good place for an ambush. But a step to the right or left opens Skjolsvold to alien fire. To shoot he needs 2 steps.

434.

Turn 26. If Skjolsvold shoots, he is killed. If Skjolsvold tries close combat, he is killed. Okoth can't see this Sectoid. Ergo — run away.

437.

Turn 27. Another alien tries to explore this cave.

438.

Turn 28. Okoth won close combat, but the alien got reinforcements.

439.

Sleep!

[tkzv]

443.

Okoth hid in the cave. Skjosvold comes close hoping to snipe someone.

445.

Turn 29. Don't venture into caves alone. X-COM agents live there.

446.

The alien with the purple gun, whom Skjosvold failed to shoot, is still somewhere behind the UFO. Skjosvold shecked the area between the UFO and the hill, but saw nobody.

449, 647 (2nd sreenshot reconstructed from saves).


Turn 30. Skjosvold walked around the corner and saw a Sectoid. Agents hit him with clubs, but failed to stun.

450.

Turn 31. The Sectoid missed the agens and only set himself on fire. One of the sleepers woke up, but hasn't picked his gun.

451.

Yes, he's on fire.

452.

This is what unconscious burning enemy looks like.

453.

Found the purple gun owner. Probably, bled to death.

455.

Turn 32. Bug hunt mode activated. The game is trying to say "Finish this mission already".

[tkzv]

457.

The last one.

458.

Stunned don't count as killed. Even if they are on fire.

459.

All this panicking didn't make Skjosvold any braver.

460.

Enough to finish the 3rd base.

461.

And of course, I have no containment yet.


Monster hunt 4-5

463, 464.


Brazil this time.

466.

Meanwhile, the 1st team reached the monsters in Korea.

467.

The new agent to replace wounded Shaman.

468.

A mongorn and an unarmed civilian. Crap. Let's rush and try to save him.

[tkzv]

469.

Hard to see anything through the trees.

470.

Correction: 1 unarmed civilian, 1 hunter and at least 3 mongorns. Double crap.

472.

Turn 3. There are were 2 unarmed civilians and 1 hunter. The hunter managed to wound 1 ape before getting killed. The unarmed people rushed into the fight, but (judging from sounds) failed to land any blows. With apes running around disappearing beyond hills and reappearing, there seem to be many more apes than 2 currently visible. I'd say many more than 4.

That dead ape next to the hunter is the one he wounded. It did bleed to death.

Since there's nobody left to save, let's find a position easier to defend.

475.

Turn 8. On their way to the only climbable hill the agents met more monkeys.

477.

One down, one standing.

478.

Another one down. The first one is back up. Yeah.

480.

Nothing to see from here.

482.

Too far.

485.

Turn 14. Found another climbable hill. Still, not much to see. There was such a crowd. Where did they all go?

487.

Let's stun this one, shall we?

[tkzv]

488.

I can't believe there were only 5 of them.

This is why I hate monster hunts with civilians. With the introduction of fists they all got death wish. And I get negative score.

I tried a patch that allows to control civilians within view, but it sometimes causes the game to hang during hidden movement. The original authour hasn't been heard from for years. And I'm not qualified enough to fix it.

489.

Bagheri got some needed strength training. Not that he was bad for a rookie.

490.

And I did capture one alive.


Exalt apprehension

492, 493.


All right, all right. I'll get to it. Once the agents return from Korea.


Back to monster hunt 5

496.

A single monster. Good.

497.

Another hilly swapland...

498, 499.


A muckstar. I did play UFO: Aftermath, but somehow never met those. Here they are probably the best marksmen among monsters. Xeno armour does offer decent protection, but I haven't even reached leather coats.

500.

Turn 2. The beast hid beyond the hill. And a civilian appeared. Unarmed.

[tkzv]

502.

Here's the beast.

503.

Already bleeding.

504.

It did injure Skjosvold.

505.

There was another civilian? And both survived? Great.

506.

Experience is always welcome.

[tkzv]

Back to EXALT

507.

What I don't understand about those cults is: what attracted X-COM's interest? At a glance, EXALT are some unremarkable American drug dealers. As if X-COM got some insider information about EXALT dealing with strange creatures.

508.

Looks a bit too warm for North Polar Ocean island. An apartment complex. With a bit of luck, the agents will be shot at from a window. Maybe even on the first turn. Otherwise, they'll have to check every room in every flat. I wonder what's beyond the building?

509.

A parking lot. Now Chan will check the windows on his side and Bagheri on his side. Maybe they'll notice the suspect or open doors.

510.

Turn 2. Neither the suspect nor Bagheri noticed each other. Good.

511.

An infiltrator. I don't recognize the weapon, looks like some SMG.

512.

Too far. Taser range is 5, it takes 16 time units to shoot, and running will leave Bagheri only 14 TUs.

513.

Hide-and seek with firearms.

518.

Forgot to make a screenshot before capturing. 1 taser shot was enough.

519.

Chan had no chance to do anything.

[tkzv]

522, 523.


The summary report is ready.

524, 525.


The infiltrator was armed with Calico M960. Never heard of it in RL.

526, 527.


The dead hunter had a license on him. Studying it reveals stats of civilians.

UFO-6

528.

The last UFO this month. "Large" probably means the laboratory ship, which ends this wave.

530.

Night fell before I reached the landing site. Agents prepared flares. And there's already a Sectoid nearby.

I expected the other team to reach the site first. Skjolsvold recovered from the muckstar wound on his way back from Korea. Well, either way this will be Skjolsvold's last mission against telepaths for a very long period of time.

532.

The agents ran to the enemy and opened automatic fire from 1 step distance. Somehow, the Sectoid didn't shoot back.

533.

Turn 3. They spent turn 2 throwing flares. Looks like all aliens are still inside the ship.

[tkzv]

534.

Turn 4. Another Sectoid. Hopefully, this hill gives enough cover.

537.

Turn 5. Killed this one.

538.

Turn 7. Skjolsvold is busy panicking. Okoth goes in alone.

539.

There's an alien on the top level. If Okoth shoots, he's killed with reaction fire. Better wait.

540.

Turn 8. A Sectoid in the middle level conveniently placed himself. Okoth shot. Something exploded above him.

541.

The Sectoid has a "Small Launcher", which shoots stun bombs. Not lethal, but if Okoth is stunned while Skjolsvold is mind-controlled, the mission is lost. And it takes long to reload.

542.

Okoth ran out of TUs and hid out of sight. Skjolsvold continues panicking.

545, 546.


Turn 9. The Sectoid changed position too. It didn't save him.

[tkzv]

548.

The alien at the top floor is back in the lift. Can't shoot him now.

549, 553.


Telepaths continue assaulting Skjolsvold. He goes berserk.

555.

Turn 10. The alien on top vacated the lift. Let's check if he's good at close combat.

557.

Turn 11. Plasma bursts set much of the room on fire, but failed to hit Okoth. Reload and shoot.

558.

Hurrying to leave the burning room Okoth ran into another enemy. With only enough TUs for a single club hit.

561.

Turn 12. Skjolsvold is still panicking. The alien ran away from the lift into the eastern spoke, where Okoth managed to club him.

562.

And shoot.

565.

Turn 13. Skjolsvold is berserking without a gun. Okoth needs to choose which room to check first.

567.

Turn 14. Nobody in the SE corridor and S hub. Skjolsvold is mind-controlled.