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

[tkzv]

UFO-3

179. Turn 16. No open doors on the top floor either. The alien must be in the next building (another stable?). Okoth will approach the stable from the other side and crouch by the brick fence.


180. Turn 17. The Sectoid opened the stable door and walked toward the car. He didn't notice the crouching Okoth. Let's try the alien gun...


181. Rats! I forgot that the menu appears even for items requiring study.


183. Turn 18. The Sectoid walked closer toward the topmost building before he finally died. He didn't return fire.

Okoth has no time to kneel. I hope nobody appears to shoot him.

185. A Sectoid did appear, but didn't shoot. Too far. Moreso for Glocks.

Okoth will crouch in the corner of the brick fence and wait for the alien to come closer. Skjolsvold will check the stables for more aliens.

186. Turn 19. Somebody unseen shot Skjolsvold through the open door. He wasn't wounded, but the floor caught fire.

When Okoth stood up, he found that the car blocks his line of fire.

188. Skjolsvold missed every time and closed the door instead of the last shot. Okoth moved, but now trees get in the way.


189. Turn 20. I think those 2 are the last Sectoids. The floor stopped burning. Skjolsvold is too far to hope to deplete shields, but he can draw aliens' fire from Okoth. At this distance it's almost safe.


190. Turn 21. Okoth ran through the right stable. The right Sectoid missed him when he opened the door. Okoth has enough TUs to shoot and hide, but I just noticed he only had enough energy for 2 steps.


191. Turn 22. Okoth hid successfully and wasn't shot in the back. Skjolsvold was psionically attacked again, but didn't panic.

[tkzv]

192. Still turn 22. Both agents ran out of ammo and need to reload...


193. ...just when the Sectoid nearest to Okoth started bleeding.


194. Hide in the corner and reload.


196. Turn 23.


201. I accidentally sent Okoth deeper into the stable in front of the open door, and looks like that saved him from the Sectoid's reaction shot. He killed the Sectoid and still has enough TUs for 1 aimed shot and 1 step inside.


202. Turn 24. Is this the last enemy?


204. Yes it was. I got no points for the alien shot by another alien.


205. No bravery reward for panic. Just meager +2 accuracy.


207. The artefacts are worth half a million. Plus 1 million more, if I'm really hard pressed to sell everything.


Tomorrow — another UFO.

[Bobit]

u survived first try with 2 men?

holy shit I suck at this game

please lose next round so I feel better

also, you might wanna try researching those artifacts, can be a huge boost

[tkzv]

u survived first try with 2 men?

I think, they died 5 times each. Not counting the deaths before hiding in the right stables. And 10 more reloads for panicking Skjolsvold running away.

And I played earlier versions of this mod untill the victory at least 3 times Back when Sectoids had no force fields and plasma didn't set things on fire.

also, you might wanna try researching those artifacts, can be a huge boost

I will. When I attract the 5 advisors and build the standard lab. Before that, only Sectoid corpse and Toxigun are researchable, I think.

[Bobit]

You mean you're not playing Ironman?

[tkzv]

You mean you're not playing Ironman?

Too hardcore for me. I'm doing this for fun, not to prove how good I am at this game.

[Bobit]

I'd much rather play on easy ironman than hard savescum. But okay.

[tkzv]

I'd much rather play on easy ironman than hard savescum. But okay.

There are many levels of save scumming. One can reload until all enemy shots miss, or one can reload and not send an agent to the probable death. I play the latter way.

[Bobit]

I do reload when it glitches / I misclick.

[tkzv]

UFO-3

208. UFO-3 appeared shortly after the 2nd.

213. This time I was lucky to get a daytime mission. The numbers are out of order, because I noticed an immediately reachable Sectoid, and I rushed to him so eagerly, I forgot to make screenshots.

211. Let's see how will this Sectoid fares in close combat against not 1, but 2 agents. Everything's on fire, but nobody's been hurt yet.

212. The UFO is an "Excavator". I forgot they count as "small" too, despite being bigger than a large scout.

There's another Sectoid on the hill to the right. I hope, trees provide enough cover.

216. The fire spreads, the smoke chokes the agents and the Sectoid, but nobody collapsed yet.

Later I found that Shaman lost half of his hit points. Fortunately, no fatal wounds.

218. One Sectoid down, one standing.

219. Two Sectoids down.

223. When Chan tried to approach the UFO, he found 2 aliens on the roof.

226. Turn 4. Chan successfully hid behind this fir tree.

227. This Sectoid jumped off the roof.

[tkzv]

228. The other one is still up there.

229. I love automatic mode. Too bad the range is so short.

230. Shaman tries to snipe the other alien. He'll fail and the Sectoid will set our car on fire.

231. Turn 5. The car hasn't exploded yet. The Sectoid jumped to the ground. Should agents shoot or take cover?

232, 233.


They shot him.

234. Looks like enough money to build 2 more bases. They won't help catch this wave of UFOs in Europe, but they'll be handy when monster and cult hunting intensifies.

235. Shaman will spend 2 weeks and a half recovering from those burns. Time to hire a replacement.


240, 241.


One base in southwestern Canada, covering Greenland, Cuba, Hawaii and Chukotka. One base in Taiwan, covering China, India, Japan, most of Indonesia and parts of Eurasia not covered by the other two. Too bad I miscalculated — not enough to finish the 3rd base.

[tkzv]

Monster Hunt 3 and Black Lotus

239.

Another pack(?) of monsters.

246.

A single Black Lotus worshiper.

249.

The monster is in British Columbia, the cultist is in Shanghai.

251.

The cultist was closer.

254.

Chan will have to go alone. Another TFTD-based port. Probably even without water. Let's look from above.

257.

Turn 2. Nothing to see from that roof, but there was the sound of the doors. Probably, from an office building.

258.

Turn 3. There he is.

259.

A tonfa and throwing knives. Shooting him from safe distance would be easy. Taking him alive one on one may prove problematic. Knives have longer range than taser pistol, if I remember correctly.

261.

Chan made a reaction shot, but missed. The suspect went left.

262.

There he is. Close enough for taser pistol. A single shot was enough.

[tkzv]

Monster hunt 3

269.

Time to hunt.

270.

When multiple enemies are visible from the default position, this usually indicates a "target rich environment". But agents can miss even there.

271.

Mongorn. "Mongolian orangutan"? Looks more like a gorilla to me.

272.

Always check behind your back!

273.

Whew. If that was a Reaper, they'd have to evacuate before ending turn 1.

274.

Turn 2. I'd rather keep agents on the exit grid. Just in case.

19 turns of grinding followed. Mongorns roamed around. Some were shot, some collapsed from wounds, some walked away. So far, only 1 came close.

300.

Turn 20. 1 ape on the NW (top) hill, 1 behind the north hill, and that seems to be all.

303.

Moving out to a better vantage point. This side of the hill is climbable in 1 spot.

Only 2 apes, and they don't want to come any closer.

309.

This makes me happy.

312.

I was indecisive whether to capture the last ones or bleed them some more, and in the end they both bled to death before I reached either.

[tkzv]

313. (from the monster hunt mission)

Reaction training is very useful.

316.

Tonfa was researched in 1 day.

317.

I need cultists and a monster corpse to get a promotion. Logistics will have to wait.

UFO-4

318, 319.


Another UFO. At least I can wait for daylight.

322.

A large scout.

323.

Run for it.

324.

Turn 2. Nobody shoots them. Is every alien inside?

326.

Turn 3. Found the 1st alien. Also, notice the smiley field.

328.

With a pistol.

[tkzv]

329.

Okoth hid himself. I hesitate bringing Skjolsvold closer, he will be panicked again.

330.

Turn 4. Somebody shot at Skjolsvold and set the field on fire.

331.

Skjolsvold's shots weren't enough. Okoth tries close combat. Those bales and fence should provide some cover. I'll move Skjolsvold out of sight to avoid psychic strikes.

332.

Turn 5. It worked. Okoth is unhurt, Skjolsvold is sane. Most of the cover burned, though.

334.

Turn 6. Okoth clubbed the Sectoid and tried to get out of fire to avoid burning like Shaman. The other alien kept missing him, destroying more of the fence and bales. The fire spread, but the sleeping alien is surprisingly unhurt.

338.

Okoth ran out of TUs and tried to run. The fence may provide some cover. Fortunately, Skjolsvold saved the day.

339.

Turn 7. Time to storm the UFO.

341.

Anybody home?

344.

Turn 9. The fire spreads. The alien either died or woke up. Fortunately, the algorithm to pick up weapons is still buggy.

Still nobody in the ship.

347.

Turn 10. Any time an agent tries to shoot, he's killed by reaction fire. Let's try close combat again.