It's now nighttime.

A sensible person would wait until morning before attempting a rescue.
But if I was a sensible person, I probably wouldn't be posting on 4chan.

NIGHTIME TERROR MISSION WITH A BUS FULL OF ROOKIES LETS GOOOOOO

NO DON'T DO IT IT'S A FOOL'S MISSION!

>>3564689

>NIGHTIME TERROR MISSION

DON'T DO IT, YOU MADMAN!

Well, that answers the question about who's doing the terrorisin'

I now feel a LOT more confident about my survival chances now. I mean, my mum could take floaters on and win.

The only real question for is, do I have the tank kill this guy, or do I move it, letting the squaddies behind it do it, risking reaction fire?

1. Bring a few tanks on the first mission
2. Research laser weapons and alien alloys
3. Manufacture armor and laser rifles for everyone
4. ???
5. Slightly less casualties

Don't want to hijack this thread, just thought some of you might be interested.
Some guy posted an entire series of youtube videos of himself playing X-com;

- On superhuman difficulty
- Only one base
- Which is located in Antarctica
- No saving allowed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8zpB0Gw46g&feature=PlayList&p=D7DE1C42D89C81C0&index=0&a
mp;amp;playnext=1

Good times to be had.

Is this Xcom?

>>3564720
Nope its Dawn of War 2 IG expansion

Well, nobody died, but considering that the floaters reaction fire very nearly missed the tank and nearly hit the guy in the back of the bus, I don't think I'll be doing that again.

On the plus side, first blood to me*

*well, apart from all of the indians they've been killing in the 12 or so hours it took me to get here.

>>3564689
Jesus when I opened that image I instinctively went to click "yes" even though nothing would happen.....

What the.. Is that a reaper? I'm not really worried, it's sort of stuck behind some fences, it'll take at least a couple of turn to get to me.

Heck, I might as well toss a grenade at it.

I'm sure it will be fine.

I DEMAND SOMEBODY POSTS THE LOCATION OF THE XCOM UTILS


NOW

>>3564726
Cannon tanks suck. Rocket tanks are the only good tanks pre-plasma. Fuck civilians, saving them is only a bonus to the purge.

>>3564759

WHY ARENT YOU POSTING UTIL LOCATION HERETIC?

>>3564736
>Jesus when I opened that image I instinctively went to click "yes" even though nothing would happen.....

Oh wow. I just did this with one of the image I'm posting up here. Clicked on it, wondered why nothing was happening.
Moslty it's because these images are the same size as my DOSbox window.
Of course, in my defence I HAVE just been down the pub, so that's probably what's causing it.

I'm sure this wont effect my tactical ability at all.

Also: FFFFFFOR FUCKS SAKE YOU JUST LOOKED UP THERE, WHY DOES THIS GUY ONLY POP UP NOW?
Well, it's not like I don't have the APs, and if he hasn't shot us yet, then he's probably out as well. Let's Autofire his ass.

>>3564779
Because cheating is a going on the path of CHAOS

That was...weird. I told the guy to autofire the Floater, and he instinctively seemed to direct all of his shots towards this civilian here. The guy in that shot is fucking lucky to even be alive.

What the hell?

What kind of a trooper instinctively shoots at civlians?
Oh, he's french.
Well this explains everything.

>>3564759
Whoah dude, best tanks are Laser Tanks. No vital Elerium needed, and they still pack enough power to wreck most stuff.

>>3564804
No one shoots like Gaston....

Oh fuck. NOT ENOUGH ACTION UNITS. I've a feeling that I'm about to loose a cluster of rookies to an autofire incident here.

>>3564810
No flight ability marks them down in my book. I like cracking a hole in the side of one of those big alien ships and bringing hot plasma death floating through the gap.

>>3564811
>>No one shoots like Gaston
No one misses like Gaston
No one kills innocent bystanders like Gaston!

>>3564707

You know it's funny, I'd take snakemen and chrysalids over floaters any day.

I can DEAL with chrysalids, I have proven systems and strategies for them. Floaters, on the other hand, seem to cause far more of those unpredictable pointless deaths with long range plasma fire and grenades from the top of buildings.

>>3564835
Floaters make me lol, and Reapers are just hueg targets.

Snakemen reaction shots always seem to be the worst, till you get to Mutons and they just don't DIE.

>>3564823
You'll be alright unless he nades you. Floaters and accuracy don't go together. Plus he's using a pistol.

Post Alien Turn 1 update.

No one died.
Remember that civvie that Gaston tried to kill? Well a floater joined in and shot the guy with a plasma weapon. The Civvie took it.
That civvie is now hardier than most military personnel I have under my command.
The floater I couldn't kill took a potshot at me, missed, and caught a laser bolt in return. Still alive.
The Reaper ran the fuck away.
No one died.
A LOT of hidden movement
There's a floater across the street, running the fuck away from my tank.

Have I mentioned that absolutely no-one died?

>>3564858
You've jinxed yourself... prepare for TPK.

Also DRAFT THAT CIVVIE!

I had Maria (one of my 3 Laser Rifle troopers) move up, and crouch, because I know there was a floater behind those blue cans last turn.

The Floater across the street noticed and took a reaction shot.
Missed
Hit the Civilian AGAIN.
As you can see, the guy is STILL ALIVE.

HOLY FUCK.

We are HIRING this guy after this mission is over. I don't care if we have to PRESS GANG him to do so.

>>3564880
He has a tower of beer cans in one corner. He's that HardCore

>>3564880
Get a medi kit to that civvie! He deserves it.

Irritated at being shot at, Maria scored our second alien kill.

2- 0 to the Murderford Posse.

My tank failed to do much of anything, Gaston however... with his first autoshot, proceed to kill the guy he missed last turn, his second shot went wild and his last shot... narrowly missed the civilian by about a meter.

GODDAMNIT GASTON WHAT IS YOUR BEEF WITH YOUR FUTURE COMMANDER?

SUDDENLY CHRYSALIDS, EVERYWHERE

Between the two of them, Rene and Gunter manage to kill another floater, and my attempts to use a grenade goes a bit off when I realize that the game won't let you hurl them in a parabolic arc over obstacles.

Which sort of defeats the point.

Anyway, time for Aliens turn 2.

>>3564939
fogot ya pic

>>3564890
He also has no bed. His house is one big empty square with a table, 3 chais and a sink in the corner. Something's not right.

>>3564719
Haha, I just marathoned this last night.

I concluded that he is a fa/tg/uy. Also that he was playing like a lunatic simply for amusement factor and had he been just a tiny bit more careful, he could have won it.

>>3564952
Do you mean he's an ALIEN INFILTRATOR!!!!

or a cyborg from the future sent to save mankind..

Our first casualty of the game. Alas poor Maria we hardly knew ye, and will miss your sharpshooting skills.

We also had a lot of fire from places I couldn't see, and a lot of civilians opening and closing doors.

>>3564719

His commentary almost makes up for the incredibly retarded way he plays. Fucking first rule of X-com is to always leave enough TUs for overwatch.

AHHH! FLOATER IN THE AIR! SHOOT IT DOWN!

Oh... That was easy.

>>3564980

It's like listening to Arnold Rimmer play XCom.

I think I'm going to try for a HIGH EXPLOSIVE TRICK SHOT.

If he's still alive, I'll have the AC guy autofire at him with HE rounds.
Even if that doesn't kill him, it should leave him with shit all cover.

My base got attacked near the end of January. My defences were like 10 days from being completed and I ended up with a bunch of rookies and a cannon tank to defend.

Basically I withdrew all my dudes and stuffed them into a hangar that was still under construction and had only one entrance (starting base so it was laid out horribly). I covered my retreat with the tank, which took out two sectoids before a cyberdisk one-shotted it.

What followed was a circus of mental breakdown. Not a single one of those rookies was strong to psi. They alternated dropping their weapons, staring stupified into the distance, and blasting the wall. What few troops I could actually order, I equipped with high explosives and suicide charged the cyberdisks, however they all got cut down before getting close enough (though three more sectoids got bombed). It didn't help that only half of them were actually equipped with functional sidearms due to 80 ITEM LIMIT FUUUUUCK.

Anyhow, I was playing on experienced for the first time.

Pic related, it's my Xcom face.

>>3565023
Dammit Dwight. You are never getting the heavy weapons again. Not only did he miss and HIT THE FUCKING LAMPOST INSTEAD, but for a second I thought he'd managed to hit my TANK, catching the Iron Civilian in the process.

>>3564984
Haha, that reminds me of the time I discovered a floater sitting on top of a fucking tree. I had about three units with backs turned to it and it was only a fluke that I turned a unit around, kneeled, and somehow saw it.

Sadly even with their brilliant levitating powers, floaters are a joke.

Working XCOMUTIL mirror:
http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/index.php?act=attach&code=showtopic&tid=6430

You guys might appreciate this:
From the people who made this picture, this is all the music from their site. You crazy kids have fun.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=68YQHIA6

>>3565023
>>3565052
Didn't Hudson die in Aliens?

Alien Turn 3 round up.

Fuckers killed Rene.
Lot's of hidden movement, and somebody keeps taking shots at Iron Civilians house.

Also, It appears that Iron Civlian has accepted my offer of work and is now heading towards the Skyranger.

No doubt in order to grab a pair of laser pistols and bring the smack down, guns akimbo upon these filfthy creatures.

The reaper overcomes it's fear of dying and moves towards me.

>>3565044
Base attack occurs only after a successful recon mission by the Aliens.
The mission is not successful if the alien recon craft is shot down.

I got through the whole superhuman difficulty game without having my base attacked even once. You don't have to loot every downed UFO. You just need to shoot down every single bastard that gets near.

YOU WANT TERROR. REMOVE ALL SHEP FROM NEW ZEALAND. THERE WILL BE BLOOD

>>3565084
Fucking modders. Always raising our hopes and then dashing them.

I could kinda tell this one wasn't going anywhere.

>>3565097
So I guess two interceptors is a must then?

I'm pretty sure I got UFO-zerged shortly before this happened and I was only able to chase down one of them.

After some pisspoor shooting from both sides (Gaston Lives, but I still have no idea where the shooter is hiding.) I have decided to say FUCK IT and fire full auto at this guy with an Autocannon loaded with HE rounds.

Let us see what occurs.

>>3565104
Yeah, but the music is awesome at least.

>>3565119
I hate AC-HE after a traumatic experience involving point blank explosions while shooting over a hay bale.

Fucking rookies.

Bugger me. HE on full auto is a BIG step up in terms of FUN in relation to AP ammo.

Strangely HE doesn't do enough damage to actually destroy warehouse walls. Who knew?
Oh, the floaters dead.

Well, it would appear that some people in my organization went to the redshirts and Stormtroopers school for gunnery I'M LOOKING AT YOU ASTRA BELOV YOU HIPPY.
Two full auto burst, and you couldn't even hit a Reaper.
From less than 10 meters away
Whilst crouching.

You're gonna get raped Astra.

>>3565143
Rocket launchers and HE Autoguns are godly starting weapons.

>>3565143
Yep, most of my stronger guys early on in the game dual wield an auto-cannon or heavy cannon, plus laser rifle. Laser rifle is to make holes in walls and for point-blank execution, the cannons are against whatever stands in front of any wall even half the map away.

If one of my rookies shot a haybale he's hiding behind, I'd laugh: Natural selection at work, he got what he deserved, saves me time firing him.

>>3565138
Autocannon-HE is the closest thing the game has to a bolter. Giving it to a raw recruit is not advised.

>>3565176
>dual wield

Bad idea for rifle-class weapons and above.

Aliens Turn 4 round-up

No shooting at all from the Aliens. I must have killed enough of them for them to stop attacking and start hiding.

Instead of raping Astra, the Reaper decided to walk all the way up to her, but in the end the two decided to just be friends, and the Reaper turned around and ate some grass WUT?

>>3565188
Love bloomed on the battlefield.

>>3565196
We're gonna need a writefag on this one.

>>3565188
Well, after Astra proved useless yet again, as the Reaper politely took about 4 bullets to the face. Dwight turned around, and fired point blank.

Dwight is the guy with the rocket launcher.
He narrowly missed catching Astra in the blast and blew up the Reaper.

ALL IS FORGIVEN DWIGHT.

>>3565196
For once I am glad that I never got into C-XOM. Otherwise I'd be irresistibly compelled to FUND THAT.

/tg/ has corrupted me.

>>3565178

I respectfully disagree. Correct ability to use autocannon is an essential element of the recruitment process. Recruits, who fail to use the device properly during their test period, fail the recruitment requirements.
(the recruitment requirements = surviving the test period. My gaming style has a very high early mortality rate. If they aren't good to survive as rookies, they aren't good enough to be my soldiers.)

>>3565185
Why? I say, with tactic that involves 50 or so shots per round, with half of them being HE ammo, accuracy is really secondary. The only situation when I use Aimed Shot is when shooting the rocket launcher. And that's because it leaves enough TU to reload and I don't need any more anyway.

Well, I finally managed to find the guy who killed Rene, and Gunter lined up his rifle to take revenge...

And missed, spectaculary.

Only afterwards did I realise I had enough AP to crouch.
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

On the plus side, I think I managed to find and kill that guy who was taking potshots and Iron Civlians house.

>>and I don't need any more anyway.
(for clarification, the rocket launcher operator stands on top of a stockpile of 6 or so rockets on top of the nearest hill, and launches one rocket per round on the average. If there's no alien to shoot at, he launches at suspicious locations. He brought 4 rockets himself, another 3 were brought by some loser with only laser rifle. When (if) he runs out of rockets, he drops the launcher, heads back to the ship, picks up some weapon and goes to join others on the mission.

Alien Turn 5 (I think)

Gunter somehow survived, as the floater decided to simply star at him. Whilst the aliens decided that the best thing to do whould be to hit the tank.
The Tank takes it, fails to return fire. Leaving it to Kenji to once again save the day.
Curiously like last turn, he misses with each of his autoshots, but hit's with his snap fire, killing the target.

Let's see if Gunter can have his revenge.

>>3565279
>Let's see if Gunter can have his revenge.

He does

Aliens seem to be getting thin on the ground. I might have managed to deal with the worst of them. With only 2 casualties.

Well, it's that last one in the tree with a heavy plasma that's going to throw that into buggery.

Okay, question time Anons.

Under these circumstances what should I shoot at?
The reaper?
Or the EXPLOSIVE FUEL PUMPS?

>>3565322
You are a tank! Stop mucking about and shoot da biggest target!

>>3565322

Brotip: Reapers are furry, what do you kill them with? No, really, reapers are weak to fire.

>>3565334
In the end I decided to do both.

The explosion failed to kill the reaper.
As did the next two accurate snap shots from the cannon.
Once again, Kenji came in and kill the stuff that the Tank wasn't able.

What the fuck Kenji? Quit stealin' all of the Tank's kills.
Not that this is a bad thing, since the Tank doesn't gain experiance. But you get the point.

I've gotta play this. Can't believe my only experience of X-Com was Interceptor. Hows do I do it?!

MANY TURNS LATER...

Eventually that last hiding Floater decided to come out and take a potshot at the AC guy.
He misses.
The AC guy is having none of that, and returns fire.

And that was Murderfords first ever contact with hostile fire. Overall, I think that was a sterling effort chaps.

Now to find that one civilian and hire him.

Huh.

You know, out of all of the people I would have promoted from this mission, Gaston would NOT have been on the top of that list.

Seriously, no fruit salad for Kenji? Guy walked into a fire box, walked out the other side and basically killed every damn thing that got in his way.

Ah well, at least they're all squaddies now.

>>3565425
You Captured some Xenos?

>>3565425
Don't.

Civilians suck. Really, a BIG TIME. I tried.

Terror mission finale. Only one poor sectoid soldier, panicked to the brink of madness by my guys. And I take over one of the civvies, throw him a heavy plasma and an extra clip and let him execute the menace. So he stands 4 squares away from the sectoid and... proceeds to obliterate the building and fence behind the alien.

Two clips of heavy plasma ammo later, most of the building and fence is gone, and one of my own guys finally finishes off the poor alien.

>>3565482
He can be a base defending guy

>>3565178

Fuck that, I sell all my AP ammo. Raw recruits have no accuracy therefore Area of Effect weapons are gonna be a lot more effective. You don't need to hit that Sectoid to kill him - just hit the wall behind him.

Also, savescum.

am i the only one who's found that heavy cannons are awesome early game? i mean sure you need a guy with proper str to carry it around, but they just rip apart floaters and reapers and and shit.

>>3565515
same, first thing i do in a game is sell my AP ammo and get me a shitload of HE ammo.

>>3565571

I still think autocannons with HE are the superior all squad weapon. Autofire and explosions, what more could you ask for?

>>3565446

No, because when I asked Anonymous what I should build the answer was: Barracks and Laboratory.
So the one guy I DID capture died on the way back.
Also, I have no more money to build one either.

Also, I now have a Dilemma. That green blip is a landed UFO, and that yellow blip is my Skyranger on it's way back from India.

How should I handle this? Should I have the Skyranger divert to the landed UFO? Or should I sic an interceptor on it, and let my troops offload their loot back at Murderford first?

>>3565600

Sic 'em.

>>3565600
You gotta refuel

>>3565606

Fuck me that was a fast answer.

Uh. On later inspection, it turns out that Skyrangers CAN'T be redirected on their way back to base. But I sicced an Interceptor on him anyway (just in case he flew off whilst the Skyranger was trying to get to him) and that shot him down in the southern part of the Balkans.

Will launch a clean-up crew at dawn.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING

After RE-equipping people with rifles to Laser Rifles, I land in the Balkans.

My Tank cautiously rolls out, I pause to wonder where the UFO could be hidd...

Oh.

That was easy. Uh, good job pilot, nicely done.

>>3565718
Someone's getting a promotion.

AFTERMISSION Report

The Tank's accruacy is poor, but it's abilities as a firemagnet remain.
Unofrtunately this mission saw the death of Astra, the most innaccurate trooper I've ever seen.
Gunter maintains it was a Sectoid that did it. Quite how a Sectoid facing her managed to hit her in the back of her head, whilst using a laser rifle, he declined to draw an opinion on.

Still his bravery isn't in question, as you can see in this picture.

I on the other hand, nearly crapped my pants.

Seriously, I thought this thing was shot down? It's barely damaged at ALL.

It took Autoshots from Gunter, Kenji AND Gaston to take them both down. Hudson proved equally skilled with an AC as well as a Rawket Lawnchair, taking down the sneaky last Sectoid hiding behind the walls of the UFO by shooting at the ground to the left and catching him in the blast.

Loot from this mission include a UFO powersource, Navigation, Elerium and Alien Alloys.

Not to threadjack, but can anyone tell me if they can get XComUtil working with XComTotalPack? It seems the two were not made to work with one another, but I am thirsty for SAVED INVENTORY and RETAINED DIFFICULTY.

Also my only surviving member from the original team (I love to slowly build up, which results in dozens of recruits going into battle unarmored and reaction fired to death) is also my only captain, who survived two terror missions, but was wounded in a small UFO assault. He's had to sit, wounded at base for 30-something days while all of the friends he joined X-Com with never came back on that Skyranger.

IT'S PAYDAY.

CHA-CHING!

Also: I should say so 'India is very pleased with my progress'. I could have let Bombay burn. Heck, I SHOULD have let Bombay burn, my first ever mission, at night, on the other side of the world.
Let's face it India I don't exactly get major funding from you, well, I didn't.
I suspect most of this months bonus is coming from your coffers.

Time to buy some new soldiers, an Alien containment area, and time to FLOOD THE WORLDS ARMS MARKET WITH LASER WEAPONRY.

>>3565847
>FLOOD THE WORLDS ARMS MARKET WITH LASER WEAPONRY.

Ah yes, the old X-com standby, producing aircraft grade laser cannons and selling them on the open market.

I used to imagine the came with adapter kits letting you mount them (with generator, sold separately) on the back of some old beat up 4x4 or whatever for those war-torn 3rd world countries.

>>3565878
Can you charge them off a motorcycle as well?

After a slow february, things pick up on the 16th with a small scout getting shot down over the middle east.

A strangely green middle east.

Well whatever. I've been using the time to buy more scientists, and I've got them working overtime on Heavy Lasers (for Laser Cannons) and Heavy Plasma. Though I do wonder if I should concentrate on getting personal armour first.
But I thought naw forget it, yo home to bel-air!

>>3565971
Best stuff to produce are Laser Rifles and Alien Alloy. Alloy is the most cost-effective thing to sell (imo) and Laser Rifles are your best basic armament for a squad. You'll always recover plenty of Heavy Plasma and Magazines off aliens, so I use the Elerium for fuel and reloading my ships Plasma Cannons when I get them, otherwise I only use stuff I recover

>>3565954
Only with a very expensive sold separately kit.

>>3565986
http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Manufacturing_Profitability

I have also hired some extra troopers to replace my losses.
You may recognize one from our first mission possibly?

I give him 5 minutes before I get him killed in an unofficial mission in the heart of the middle east.

Question time, /tg/. I know for a fact I'm about to run into a terror mission at some point in the next 24 hours. I'm not too confident. Should I buy a tank, or should I try taking on those fucking enemy tanks with only cannons and autofire? Should I also dispatch my two sergeants and a bunch of squaddies from my first mission, or should I send a bunch of rookies who won't be missed?

Have laser pistols, but despite the fact I've had every scientist working on the problem since day two (now about day 14) progress on rifles is still unknown. I even drafted in a shitload more scientists to help out, but no luck.

>>3566051
Bring cannons, bring tanks, bring grenades. You'll want stuff that can take down whatever terror weapons are about in one shot.

>>3566051
Be sure to have at least 1 or 2 flares per soldier.

The missile tank is a pretty good buy at the start of the game since it can clear terrain and kill clumps of lower level aliens.

I really wish I could play X-COM again.

Any links?

Also, does it even work on Vista?

Well, the mission in the middle east went fairly well.

Apart from when my Tank got hit by 6 heavy plasma shots from 2 sectoids right on the ramp.

Oh well, time to buy a Rocket HWP.

Oh and Gaston continues to get promoted, he's now a Captain. Hudson's made sargeant and Guilty Guilty Gunter (who keeps having his partners killed) makes Sarge as well.

>>3566084
>>3566074
Many thanks. I actually got curious and saved just before it in order to see how I would do. Ripped through them pretty hard, actually, although they then deployed shitloads of completely unfair mind control stuff and caused my troops to slaughter each other and then SQUAD BROKEN pretty hard.

>>3566161
Works, but you have to DOSBox it.

>>3566178
Don't move on the first turn. Toss a smoke grenade on the ramp then end your turn. This forces the aliens to move around and use up their TUs which mean they don't get as many reaction shots. Plus the smoke gives temporary cover while you disembark your troops.

>>3566213
>Works, but you have to DOSBox it.

Right then.

I can find DOSBox easily enough, now how about X-Com itself?

Well, considering how I left it on Wednesday, I think now is a good time to call it a day. A good five hours well spent I think.

See you all tommorow at 5pm GMT, where we see how much trouble I'm in because I don't have a tank anymore.

>>3566260
They're after our rum and cigars!

theres an easy as hell to find download on /rs/ that has both the first and second xcom games along with an exe that (at least on xp for me) makes the game run perfectly without dosbox

no idea about vista though

good thread, looking forwards to the next one

Do want. Where can I get this.

I NEEEEED IIIIIIIIIIT

Steam version of X-Com: UFO Defense. No native copy protection, no installation needed. Simply run dosbox.exe to open the program. Vista compatible.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jzmeynzddz3

Steam version of X-Com: Terror from the Deep. No native copy protection, no installation needed. Simply run dosbox.exe to open the program. Vista compatible.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?i2njt3zojo0

>>3566465

Thank you, Anon. I will not forget this.

NEVER FORGET.

In the not so distant future…

Saturday, March 11th, 2084.

Midnight. Back in the old days of the first and second wars the night used to be the ally of our enemies. Now in this new age of low light vision helmets and ultraviolet level filters it’s become our ally. It’s under the cover of darkness we have to work. X-Com is no longer that lauded savior of mankind but is now nothing more than a black budget skeleton crew that pushes all the glory onto Marsec and Megapol whilst making all our mistakes disappear.
Because of that, because we’re ‘Megapol’ we find ourselves constantly doing missions we weren’t originally told about before signing up. We’re killing the very people we’re supposed to be protecting. Cultists, humans, mutants and androids alike given into fear and panic turned into religious zeal putting together arms caches to await the coming of the so-called messiahs. We’re the “law” today, putting down a violent religious cult with equally violent force. Megapol gets to walk away as heroes today, whilst we walk away with guilty consciences and maybe a few new battle scars.
For now though the adrenaline courses through me as Emile, our squad’s demolitions expert gives me the thumbs up as he backs away from his set charges. I give the word and HQ sets our armor to pump us with battle stimulants. A sharp explosion rips through the night sky as the charges go up tearing a breach into the cultist structure.
“Go! Go! Go!”

As we pour into the building from the sleepy streets we make contact instantly. Our entry was noisy, so of course the cultists were ready with weapons at hand but they had no time to set themselves up. We had the advantage. Our rookie was surprisingly battle hungry as she slid into cover, plasma pistol firing wildly to put down some suppressive fire. Maria Smith, our recently assigned psyker, a hybrid of Sectoid and Human often ousted from our society finding her place amongst an organization that would of have executed her at a moment’s notice if it wasn’t for her capabilities.
She barley had combat experience, just a single feet wetting mission with 2nd squad and the other recruits and now here she was eager to prove her worth amongst peers who had to trust those standing next to them.
Her shots were mostly ineffective, but they helped to keep the cultists’ heads down as Emile brought his good old M4000 to bare to put down more accurate suppressive fire as the rest of us lugged our heavy auto cannons through the breach.

I charged up the side with our rifleman, Otto. The assault team always get the raw deal as squad overwatch and heavy, Sylvie and Kevin take the time to get the suppressed cultists in their sights and drop two with AP rounds. This gives me the time for Otto and I to unleash several rounds ourselves at only a few meters distance. The poor cultist tried to fire a round off from his lawpistol but AP rounds hurt, they shatter bones with ease and several impacts break his arms almost cleanly in two and send him in a limped panic clawing away at the curtains behind for some form of escape only for another AP slug to smash it’s way through both sides of the skull.

We lost the element of surprise incredibly quickly as cultists rushed in from the connecting rooms. Several armed with machine guns were ontop of me and Otto before we realized what was going on. We were rattled about as rounds impacted against our armor but we held our nerve as we reacted with a few shots ourselves.

GTFO of here apoc faggot

It was quick, and dirty, barely lasted a few seconds as our rounds tore off limbs and ripped apart flesh as if it were nothing and despite Otto taking twelve rounds to the head he remained unscathed, armor absorbing every round. This just didn’t feel fair. I felt a pat on my shoulder, Sylvie moved up to help hold the door against anything else. Emile put down 30-40 rounds in covering fire with some plasma pistol rounds from the rookie.

I've read this at Let's Play.

>Midnight. Back in the old days of the first and second wars the night used to be the ally of our enemies. Now in this new age of low light vision helmets and ultraviolet level filters it’s become our ally. It’s under the cover of darkness we have to work. X-Com is no longer that lauded savior of mankind but is now nothing more than a black budget skeleton crew that pushes all the glory onto Marsec and Megapol whilst making all our mistakes disappear.

You are now reading this in the voice of Cancer Man.

>>3566019
You can recruit civvies?

That was that, it was over, a little under 10 seconds of actual combat. The guy Emile chewed up turned out to be the last one after we sweeped the cache. Our casualties? A few dents in a helmet and the need to pick a few rounds out of my own chest plate. Another astounding ‘victory’ for the good guys.
I found the rookie sitting in the back of the Wolfhound APC after combat operations clasping her hands over her face, hiding her sectoid eyes from the world. I guess she realized what she had gotten herself into now. This wasn’t just another alien invasion with a clearly defined Black and White. A panicked populace looking for some form of escape, politicians always waiting for that one mistake to shut us down and our own desperate yet questionable tactics in controlling a city walking a high wire over total anarchy.
We weren’t the X-Com of old, saving cities from genocide and destruction, in fact we ourselves were the ones conducting such operations against our own people as a form of damage control.
I wanted to tell her things got easier the more you did it. Lying was never my forte. In the end I just sat down next to her and though of the service men and women in the first two wars. This wasn't the meat grinder it was back then but I would of preferred to have been born in those times and take my chances.

>>3566299
DOSBox supports Vista. That's why both versions mentioned work.
>>3565837
Looking at it, it already has Xcomutil. Just go into run\xcom_1\ in it and run xcusetup.

>>3566626

...

DAMMIT

>>3566626
I don't know who that is and apparently neither does Youtube.

>>3565878
Laser-equipped technicals?

FUCK YEAH.

>>3566260
>>where we see how much trouble I'm in because I don't have a tank anymore.

Running around without tank support is begging for casualties.

I did a Harvester recovery mission with no tanks, only a fourteen-man infantry squad. Lost NINE people to FLOATERS. (admttedly, one died from smoke inhalation, and two died to friendly fire, but still...)

>>3564759
Cannon tanks are actually pretty useful if you mostly use them to scout. I mean they get you a cannon to blow down walls in the early part of the game without the stupid-slow Heavy Cannon guys or the stair-destroying explosives.

>>3567091

I'll do okay, if I hit them during the day and don't get gang-rushed right off the ramps.

Maybe send a rookie out first to see who's about. Consider throwing smoke if it seems pretty bad.

Ok, so looking on steam I decided to get one of the x-coms (i can't be arsed pissing about with dosbox and they're only £3). Given that this all looks way complicated which one should I go for as a way of easing myself in. UFO, Terror or Apocalypse?

>>3567186
UFO Defense. TFTD is hard and Apocalypse is arguably best saved for after you experience the originals.

>>3567186

Steam version of X-Com: UFO Defense. No native copy protection, no installation needed. Simply run dosbox.exe to open the program. Vista compatible.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jzmeynzddz3

Steam version of X-Com: Terror from the Deep. No native copy protection, no installation needed. Simply run dosbox.exe to open the program. Vista compatible.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?i2njt3zojo0

>>3567195
Not to mention that TFTD is the same as original, but under water (mostly).

>>3567317
>TFTD is harder than the original and has been rebalanced to be more rageworthy. Autofire has been turned into a joke and you'll be wondering why your underwater weapons won't fire during port invasion missions.

>>3567200
If I had any virgin daughters, I'd be offering them up to you. Especially if you can pull a Vista-ready copy of Apocalypse out of your magic hat.

>>3567503
I do have the steam version of apoc too buts its 250 megs :-(

Anyone know where i can upload 250 megs?

>>3567509
.rar it into 3 pieces and upload them to mediafire?

>>3567528
ok its going to take awhile please be patient

>>3567554
Dude, no pressure. It's not li--RAAAAAAGE! THE DELAY MAKES ME RAGE WITH THE RAGING RAGE OF A RAGEFILLED RAGEFAG!

...so have a centaur.

>>3567580

Stop that.

Also, why do we ALWAYS get so many people asking for a version of X-COM that works in EVERY single X-COM thread we ever have?

I think the links have been posted 5 times in this thread alone.
Jesus guys, how on earth do you even OWN a computer which doesn't have a working copy of it on it's harddrive in the first place?

>>3567652
Better yet, anyone got a torrent of UFO: Aftermath that doesn't have the CD images saved in some esoteric format that can't be mounted properly?

And that DOESN'T download at 10 kb/s a second?

Also, an artist's interpretation of Iron Civilian Saji.

>>3567652
Because X-COM: Apocalypse didn't actually work under Windows *or* DOS when it came out, and that hasn't improved with age?

How do you press-gang civilians? Seriously.

Steam version of X-Com: Apocalypse. No native copy protection, no installation needed. Simply run dosbox.exe to open the program. Vista compatible
.

Part 1
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ajzozmymdnm
Part 2
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?djkykoyighm
Part 3
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?m4ikzkiazkg

>>3567692

Don't be silly.

Sectoids are even weaker than normal humans. Everone knows that.

This guy's got the same hardiness as a muton, but they'd make terrible spies, so my best guess is that he's some sort of Indian made Android, sent back from X-Com Apocalypse to alter the time line so that... I don't know, he hasn't done much of anything yet.

But in the future he's going to take a shot meant for someone else, kill something that was going to kill a certain civilian or trooper the next turn. Something that's going to alter the timeline so that back in the Apocalypse time, the head of X-COM looks in his bank balance and goes: Funny, I don't remember having that extra naught there...
Or he gains some sort of SUPER SCIENTIST.
Something like that.

Today for the first time I tried experimenting with using extra troops instead of tanks in the early game.

I recommend it. The troops that survive advance much faster with the extra kills, and I'm pretty certain it works out a little cheaper too.

In other news, I've been playing this game six hours straight. I had no dinner. It's 2am. I fucking love X-Com.

>>3567815
> It's 2am.

Oh shit! It is as well. Goodnight guys, see you all tomorrow.

>>3567815

Wait. No, if I had no food this evening it must have been more like eight hours. Jesus, time flies when you're scared out your mind trying to find a single Chrysalid in a large city map.

>>3567799

I was wondering the same thing.

>>3567802
You sir get my (non-existent) virgin daughters to do whatever wicked things you choose to.

Seriously. This is pretty awesome of you dude. Thanks!

>>3567815
huh, silly me. I always thought the game was intended to be played without using HWPs. Using a Fire Emblem analogy, they're XPhogs just like Marcus if you use them too heavily. And they'll die to sustained Plasma fire all the same.

And how will you develop your Xeno hunting Corps to their full zenith of potential without proper fire experience?

(I will rue the day when my 80+ TU, 60+ Reactions, 94+ Firing Acc Captain falls to enemy fire)

>>3567802
thank you my brotha from anotha motha

>>3567802
If anyone else is having a problem with the graphics stuttering and not drawing right, etc. in Vista 64-bit, if you edit dosbox.conf (make a backup!) and change "fullscreen=true" to "fullscreen=fale" it'll run it in a window and draw everything the way it's supposed to. It's very awesome.

And thanks again to the uploader. I'm picking a random picture which I hope will be sufficient tribute for you.

>>3568044
false, not fale.

I fail. :(

>>3568072

you fale

final destination

What happened to the Iron Civilian?

So I notice that in games I've been playing recently, sooner or later one of my major funders always signs a pact with alien powers and cuts my funding completely. How do I stop this from happening?

>>3568523

Basically, you can't let the aliens establish a base or go on a bunch of unopposed missions in a country. The way to stop this is to set up detection and intercept bases to cover the United States and Europe.

A detection base consist of only a storage room, elevator and radar. Add hangers and interceptors when you can afford them, using them to shoot down UFO's you detect.

Base creation tip: If your base gets invaded, they can only enter by the elevators and hangers. Put those on one side of the base, then a narrow hallway to act as a choak point where your solders can hold it without having to worry about getting flanked.

Store lots of proximity grenades and some weapons in the base, rather then just in the skyranger. You won't be able to use weapons in a transport when defending.

>>3568554
I've heard Chicago is a good place to set a base in the U.S., but whats a good place to cover Europe? I've been going somewhere on the border between Russia and Germany when I finally get my second one going.

Also, is it sufficient to just shoot down a U.F.O. even if I don't go recover the crash right away? Say if I'm in the middle of replacing lost soldiers or something

Your first base should be in the US or Europe. Your next base should be in the place you didn't put the first, and your third base should be a detection base in Asia.

If your like me, you will want to put a training/research base in Antarctica. It's a great place to do psi testing on new recruits and keep your research and engineering staff out of the way and safe.

>>3568581
The alien mission isn't successful, even if you don't visit the crash site. By the same token, a alien craft that has finished it's mission and is on the way back has a successful mission, even if you intercept it and pick up the crash site.

>>3565084
>>3565104
excuse me sirs, but you do know that game was finished don't you?

>>3568583
I opt for Europe, usually. I also like the XComUtil improved starting base layout, but I go Europe so I can guard more paying countries than the US alone.

>>3567843

GET LASER RIFLES

SHOOT ENTIRE CITY TO PIECES FROM SKYRANGER

>>3568583

Seconding this. I always use one of the poles as a manufacturing/Research base.

Somehow Aliens always ignore them.

I am a cheapo, I always use two Rocket Tanks and just spam rocket death for the first few encounters.

>>3568649
To detect a base the aliens need to scout it out. Bases that aren't having a lot of UFO's shot down nearby won't have scouts hunting them.. That and, few UFO's cross Antarctica on there way to a mission site.

>>3568683
Mind Shield, though expensive, would certainly lower your chances of detection too.

My second Terror Mission today was a success. It's July 1999 and I already have flying suits. I took two of those, a power suit, and five with personal armor. Chryssalids were not as dangerous as I had thought, though I did lose one man to a beserking snakeman.

Only two bases, a research base in Antarctica and my main base in Europe. I'm thinking of expanding into Asia, but I know I need to take care of an alien base in Russia but I'm unsure how to proceed with that.

hyperwave decoder is in the works, more research coming down the pipe, engineers are manufacturing laser cannons for profit, it feels good to run a tight ship

Hyperwave Decoder turns the game around. Before I was struggling to find UFOs and catch them. Now I'm intercepting terror missions before they begin.

>>3568610
Bullshit, where is it?

>>3569486
*crickets*

Fuck, it's almost 9 AM.

I gotta get some sleep.

At least I have power armor now... Wait, I'll just play a couple of more missions. I need to finish that research too.

>>3570312
Power armor? What are you, some kind of pussy?

No my friend, wait until you've had a taste of FLYING ARMOR. Research that shit dawg.

>>3570326

I used to have XCOM, but that shitty ripped version neevr allowed me to save. So, this time will be the first I'll try and research it.

So, how good is flying armor anyway? Got any advice on weapon combo's?

>>3570359
Flying armor is awesome because it lets you FLY.

Haven't you always wanted to fly and look down on people? It's like wish fulfillment, with blaster bombs.

Seriously though, it's nice but not essential. Has a habit of making whoever's wearing it (probably an officer) into a floating target. Great for recon and sniping though, and blaster bombs can't get you all the way up there.

>>3570376

Well, when you put it like that...

Oh, speaking of which, what use are the examination of the corpses, besides knowing what they are resistant to and vunerable too? Will it yield some research down the road?

>>3570394
I don't know the tech tree too well...typically you just get grisly UFOpaedia entries and nothing else. Nab some high-ranking aliens LIVE though, and...

...well really, you don't have any choice in the matter if you actually want to beat the game. kekeke rookie stunprod rush

anyone know of a complete idiots guide to playing Apocalypse? All the ones I've seen seem to think that I even know what the buttons do etc etc.

>>3570558

Old games are funny like that.

Click them and see what happens is always a safe bet.

>>3567802
that third link isn't initiating the download

is this some complicated prank on me who has never played apocalypse before, but has played the others?

>>3570558
RTFM

Even idiots know that.

>>3570684
Yes, the download never gets bast starting on the third and last file.

Oh, how cruel of a trick to play.

can somebody please re-upload that third apocalypse link? I need it so bad, so bad I might die.

currently running with a pair of interceptors with one plasma beam and one avalanche launcher each, will double up on the beams when i have the resources

researching power armor and new xcom crafts soon

woe is I who has no apocalypse

>>3570752

Just you wait until you'll be strapping that gear on a FIRESTORM.

>>3571175
give me the third part of the apocalypse thing

>>3571225
It's just mediafire being stupid. Probably a server went down. Give it a few hours and try again.

WHAT

I had a rookie single-handedly clear an alien ship with 4 sectoids, taking several plasma shots and win the day. He is still a rookie.

>>3571855
The medal of honor was probably enough of a reward.

>>3571596
works fine now

Alright, I've had five hours of sleep and... I need more.

God, ya gotta love thems old gaems.