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 malfred wrote:
How do you manage all the combats?

I started Long War (yeah, screw you!) and there seem to be
conflicts every 2 seconds. Combine that with battle fatigue and
I barely get to use the same soldiers more than once. How
large should my barracks be?

Well the key is to have several fire teams prepared, and to resarch things that gives you an advantage in the early game so that you can build a wide pool of experienced troops. I have somewhewre around 50 or so troops ready for action at most times. But less when I end up with severely wounded troops. As I did in my last engangement with the E.T.
Also make sure to get a SHIV or two

Research has taken so long that something on the order of
3 to 4 combats have occurred since I started.

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:
OPERATION BRUTAL SERPENT: 21 June 2015, Central African Republic

"Look, I like StreamDragon. I think the guy is a solid squad leader, but he seemed way too confident for this mission. Maybe that's his job and maybe that's why he's a squad leader and I'm not. I pulled him aside you know. Told him to take it slow. I know third squad has always been a little more cautious than some of the other squads like first squad and those psychos over in 2nd platoon, but I meant it. I told the legionnaires to pack for a long operation. We weren't getting off that ship for a while."
--Bullockist

Slow, steady, professional. Same as we always do it.


Before boarding the Skyranger, Stream made sure to stop by the Commander's office. "Commander, before we go I have a request. There is a rat in my bunk, Avalon. I think she escaped from Vahlen's lab somehow. If I don't make it back, under no circumstances is she to be returned to Vahlen. I don't know what the doctor did to her, but that little rat freed herself and she deserves to stay that way." It was an odd request, especially one to make of the XCom Commander, but who else had a say. He didn't know if the Commander agreed or not, just kept staring at him unblinking until Stream nodded, saluted, and walked away to the Skyranger's boarding ramp. Time to get your head in the right place...

Frankenberry watched the Ranger dash off into the distance, silently wishing he could be on board, but with required downtime after each mission, he wouldn't see combat for awhile yet.

He walked back towards the range, continuing the practice of venting whatever blackness or hate he could on the dummies there, and ran into the legion trooper he'd threatened earlier.

The man averted his gaze and started to walk around Frankenberry when he spoke. "Trooper. Before, with the food, I'm sorry."

The man turned, eyes wide and a stunned expression on his face. "This fight isn't worth doing if we go right back to killing each other." Frankenberry said quietly.

They stood for a moment in silence before Frankenberry nodded and went off to the range, the legion trooper standing there dumbfounded by the psychopath's rather poignant remark.

"God, that guy freaks me the feth out. I almost feel sorry for those aliens."

OPERATION BRUTAL SERPENT (continued)

"The Muton was falling back and StreamDragon kept telling us to hold our fire. He wanted that plasma rifle and those alien grenades. We had plenty of other issues to take care of anyway. 2 Seekers and 3 drones were charging into our guns across the no-man's land. The squad held fire until Carlos initiated the fusillade, as usual."
--Talizvar




.3rd Squad takes cover at the main entrance to the terror ship.



"The aliens suffered horribly for it. If Talizvar hadn't thrown that battle scanner earlier that kept the seekers from cloaking it may have been more of fight, but as it stood the seeker and the most of the drones were disassembled quickly. The Muton was still retreating and by this time was out of sight. Did the robots sacrifice themselves so that the muton could escape?"
--Streamdragon

A common tactic in the early war period, CPL Talizvar uncovers enemy position with the hand thrown micro-uav known as the battle-scanner. This intelligence is fed directly to Carlos13th's sniper rifle giving him updated wind information, elevation, and range.
Talizvar exposes the remaining enemy troops

Carlos takes advantage of the now exposed enemy


"Sir, third squad reports that they have secured the entrance. Resistance is still light. Currently engaged with one floater. They are requesting permission to capture the floater for extraction. May I give them permission?" Major Illifan seemed quite pleased. Brutal Serpent was going swimmingly.
"Permission granted Major. I want them to save a charge for that wounded Muton though. Eventually we will need to take him down."
"Understood, Sir. Lt. Morton, please relay the commander's instructions."



The Legionnaire takes great pains in only wounding the stranded floater.


"Stream Dragon cleared the corner even as the Floater raised it's weapon, arc thrower already aimed. Blue electricity enveloped the floater and the hapless alien writhed on the ground. We had him, I was sure... but the charge ended and the alien slowly started to get up. Damn, didn't work. I ordered the squad to shot him then at point blank range. Win some you lose some, I suppose. At least we were in [the terror ship] now."
--StreamDragon



The squad secures the first chamber. Streamdragon decides that it will be best to seek out and eliminate or capture the Muton before delving deeper into the ship. Skyranger has reported some Meld canisters, but they are very far away and StreamDragon has already written them off. Gold phase of Brutal Serpent is complete. Sword phase is now beginning.


"Dr. Vahlen had showed us how to shut down alien power sources for transport back to base. Since this was a landed UFO and we were no where near the bridge, we were shutting them down just to insure they didn't take off with us."
--Bullockist

The squad searches for the muton.


Eventually, the search was called off. The Muton had clearly kept running and probably sought to lead us into a trap. StreamDragon sought to take Legion 9 up on the roof to ambush any aliens waiting in the next part of the ship. Meanwhile, Bullockist would lead the rest of the squad into firing positions in the doorways.


"That fething Muton came back for more. Jumped the gak out of Talizvar, Comata, and I. Commata bless him, put so many holes in that already dead muton he had to reload afterwards."
--Bullockist
The Muton charges through the door way 3rd squad was preparing to breach. The capture is ruined.


"Slow and steady wins the race. We were well established in good firing positions when the Seekers appeared. I don't know if they knew we were there of if they were investigating the fire that killed the Mutons. Still, I was uneasy because all of this was too easy."
--Bullockist

Three seekers and a drone are caught in an ambush by third squad

Legion 9 takes down the drone

Legion 11 also takes down a seeker

Bullockist finishe off another seeker while Carlos and Stream Dragon take down the third seeker.The ambush is perfect and the alien machines never even get a chance to fire.


"We were orbiting overhead. Apparently, third squad had taken out power to the primary weapon's array because no plasma fire was incoming. We could see the firefights (at least the ones that were happening outside). So far everything looked good, but there was a lot of alien ship left to secure and we could see the contrails of floaters as they darted in and out of various chambers on the ship. Third still had it's work cut out for it."
--Jihadin
Image captured from Skyranger as they orbited, waiting for the call to extract. The ship parts to the left of the image have been secured. The northern 2/3 of the ship have yet to be explored.


"Sword phase was characterized by repeated alien assaults on our positions. Third squad has always been a very good defensive squad. We put out a lot of firepower and our legion support for this mission just enhanced it. Stream Dragon was content to let the aliens charge us at our position at the head of what we now call the warehouse on terror ships (long corridor 6 rooms that appear to carry supplies.)" Floater packs were trying to come at us from the roof, but we held our ground."
--Bullockist

Alien reinforcements inbound


Carlos13th once again initiates the firefight with a devastating head-shot.


Talizvar and Legion 11 take the western roof of the warehouse (from here on known as roof 1) and engage the floaters.



Carlos13th continues to rack up kills from his sniper perch at the head of the warehouse.


"Steam Dragon took Legion 9 and Commata up on the eastern roof (here on known as roof 2). I think the plan was to advance down both roofs and clear out each storage area in turn. As it turned out, that plan went all to hell."
--Bullockist

Half of third squad takes roof 2. Third squad would strive to (and largely fail) to maintain a height advantage throughout Omaha phase.


"We almost had no warning. The floaters were right on top of us before we heard them and the firefight erupted at point blank range. I think we had the smallest element of surprise. Maybe we just have quicker reflexes than they do. Anyway, we managed to strike first. Probably saved some lives. Definitely saved mine."
--Bullockist



"Many of us had been caught out of position. As it stood, we managed to get into what little cover there was and a few of us managed to get some overwatch laid down. I think that spooked the floaters. Instead of opening fire, most of them tried to find cover. In essence, we got lucky."
--Bullockist

A floater dashes for cover in the face of XCOM overwatch

Carlos, Bullockist, Legion 11, and Talizvar find themselves in close combat with 4 floaters.

Bullockist takes a punishing leg wound. He is still in the fight though.


"SON OF A B#*^$#! I'll kill you for that! I'll KILL YOU ALL!" Bullockist snapped up rifle and laid down a fusillade of fire - each shot puncturing a vital organ in the floaters surrounding him. One floater crashed to the floor with several laser burns while another barely clung to life - his hover jets keeping an otherwise lifeless body afloat.
Bullockist takes his revenge



Galia Comata destroys a floater


Talizvar sees his chance and charges the barely conscious Floater while bringing his arc thrower to bear. He'd hoped to snag a muton, but a floater would do.


"Yeah, it hurt. Plasma burns eat through armor and skin with firghtening ease. Luckily it wasn't so deep that I was crippled. Carlos was already next to me bandaging me up. That guy doesn't talk much, and I don't trust a guy who spends as little time with squad as he does, but at that moment he was the most welcome sight in the world."
--Bullockist
Carlos 13th bandages Bullockist's wounds.


"We stopped and re-assessed the situation. Stream Dragon knew there was another floater out there that they hadn't managed to kill near roof 2. There was a strange sound coming from the other side of what we called the warehouse. It sounded like a rhythmic thumping sound. We dug in and trained our weapons as the sound got louder. We thought we were prepared. We weren't even close to being ready."
--Bullockist



Stay tuned for the third and final installment of Brutal Serpent later today!

Don't forget Carlos to bend the needle over after you stick him with the antropine sets. Three sets max. Breast pocket flap. If Bullickist starts doing the kicking chicken just stand him up and point him in the direction of the aliens

Jihadin, you have some of the best commentary ever.

Keep it up Scruffy, I'm on the edge of my seat!

Scary as heck running on ahead.
Made me feel good thinking Mutons are stupid till I got that one tagged: he withdrew, not ran off, not staggered, just bided his time.
Feels like Carlos is perched over my shoulder half the time "You see him? Zaap! Yep, he saw him.".
Stream doing all the right stuff, I almost had a heart attack when the Floater would not drop: the lethal alternative could not have happened fast enough.
Gotta watch the fething Mutons, they sure like their surprise visits, worse than a bloody PT-61 pop-up with the smell as a bonus.
Warming up to the new troopers, steadily taking out the enemy, making the environment all the more comfy.
Really not liking the combination of a roof and floaters, felt like I was in a shallow fox-hole in no-man's-land with what little cover there was when they sprang up.
Bullockist took a heck of a hit, could have been any one of us, guess he got picked for being at the end, got angry and gave more than he got.
Galia opened up on them, cluing me in on zapping the flying corpse I almost tripped over.
After I was done breathing the o-zone, noticing heavy thumping through ship plates didn't mean anything good... at least it found us rather than me finding it.

Been out of it for a few days, moving and the interent wasn't up until yesterday. Glad to see Dakka Corps is doing well... of course, we haven't seen how this mission ends yet.

I feel a new type of alien is about to make an entrance...

squidhills wrote:
I feel a new type of alien is about to make an entrance...

Fer Gawdsake if it jumps out say "NUTS" and empty the MAG. If the toe twitches afterwards empty another MAG into it.
Ensure you leave a Death card on the steaming warm puddle.

Tallizer....always remember....better yet....don't forget to breath.

Bullock running on pure "piss off." All that antropine that Carlos stuck in his left butt cheek got him moving......well....Carlos Blessed him in the typical High Speed Low Drag way....

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX1. "YOU!" Points at Bullock XXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
3. "Check your weapon" OOOOOOOOO4. "Move the Hell Out to over there"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX2. "Pick up your gear"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Man up and get back in the fight Bullockist. Walk it off." Carlos finished patching him up and then turned and looked down the scope of his rifle towards the aliens,

"If you feel the desire to thank me you can do so in whiskey later. " he said without looking back.

 carlos13th wrote:
"Man up and get back in the fight Bullockist. Walk it off." Carlos finished patching him up and then turned and looked down the scope of his rifle towards the aliens,

"If you feel the desire to thank me you can do so in whiskey later. " he said without looking back.

Make sure he drinks water to.

Did not see this big guy coming, that is my job, hope no-one pays for it.
"The primary responsibility of the tactical component is to defend itself during the course of the observations so that crucial intelligence is retained thoroughly and can be deciphered in its entirety.
Tactical movement is critical as it returns intelligence, and shows the range of mobility and likely résistance, as well as probing potential weaknesses of defenses, detection systems, but most importantly it represents the ability to take the strategic initiative into new areas of operation."
Now the battle comes to us...

Gotta remember the main tenants of APA where you are forced into confrontation:
1) "If safe passage is denied and to hold is untenable": We are exposed and too many possible vectors of threat.
2) "In order to avoid over-whelming counter-force": This guy looks loaded for bear, we got to take him out before more "help" arrives.
3) "When the need to rescue or extract outweighs the danger in doing so": Bullockist looks fine but we have no time to be sure.

Looks like things are going to get interesting... I got one more charge on the zapper...

“Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading,” — Thomas Jefferson

"Boom, baby." -malfred

OPERATION BRUTAL SERPENT PART 3: Trench Warfare

"Incoming!" Legion 11 screamed as the monstrous alien thing stomped into view. A seemingly infinite tide of sectoids followed in its wake. Already, plasma bolts and laser blasts flickered back and forth across the alien cargo bay. The mechanized sectoid - a vile fusion of metal and alien flesh took several hits, but didn't even slow. Perhaps emboldened by the appearance of so many reinforements, the lone surviving floater made for first squad's right flank and set up an overwatch position.

"Fall back, fall back. Base of fire on the roof. I need all fire directed at the enemy mech. Comata, kill that floater before he kills us all! Explosives are authorized! MOVE!
--StreamDragon


With so much overwatch pinning 3rd squad in place, Talizvar is once again given the unenviable job of drawing fire. This new threat is heavily armed and seems to be particularly good at overwatch (he has opportunist). Talizvar will have to thread the needle...


"I tried to flashbang the giant ... whatever we're calling it [mechtoid - ed.], but it didn't have any affect. Luckily, I managed to blind just about every sectoid in the area."
--Talizvar


"We had to get off the eastern roof. It was exposed, and we had no lines of fire to the sectoids or the robot they brought along with them. I ordered the squad back to the southern end of the cargo bay where we had engaged the seekers. This was all contingent on getting rid of that god-$#@! floater. The thing was quite far off and tough to hit. Carlos13th wounded it, but Comata missed and no one else really had a shot."
--StreamDragon




"We'd already hit the robot a couple of times and it was barely scratched. I think it was Bullockist who made the call to take out the sectoids first to reduce the amount of incoming fire we had to worry about. It was a confused situation. The mechtoid was jamming our squad frequency so everything was scrambled. I'm not sure Legion 9 got the order to withdraw to the south end of the cargo bay. Still, we laid into the sectoids and two went down quickly along with the wounded floater."
--Talizvar



"The fight against the mechtoid was the toughest fight I've ever witnessed. The thing is a tank, and third squad had no way of penetrating its armored core. Instead, they were forced to aim for weak points in the bio-mechanical interface. It was like shooting spit-balls at a tiger tank. Legion 9 is a fine soldier. I think we all knew what kind of fight we were in for when the Mechtoid truly opened fire."
--Lt. Morton in Central Command


"Shrapnel and chaos is how I would describe the fight at the carge bays. Other people can probably give a more coherent story - I was riding high on a combination of pain-killers, atropine, and blood coagulants. I was moving (slowly) towards what we've since called the Alamo. Streamdragon had designated the rally point when we exited the alien assault bay. I heard the explosions behind me and knew legion had taken a hit. I also vaguely knew that Galia Comata was the only one on the ship with an unspent med-kit. Things couldn't get much worse - well... that's what I thought."
--Bullockist

StreamDragon dashes to the rear to lead Comata and Legion 3 from the eastern roof to the western roof. They have only minutes before Legion 9 bleeds out.


"Talizvar," Carlos13th was probably the only one not in a direct line of fire, but he still had a good visual on the mechtoid. "The machine is moving, he's broken line of sight with Legion 9. There's some sort of energy field surrounding it, I think the sectoid supplying it is on the north western side of the cargo bay. You're in range. Can you confirm?"
"Roger, moving. Cover me." Talizvar sprinted A tank is only invulnerable as long as it has infantry support. Remove the infantry and we may be able to close on this monster.
Talizvar destroys the mechtoids psychic support.


The mechtoid reverses course after it senses the loss of its support


"Commander, we need to evacuate the squad. Resistance is too heavy. Skyranger 1 reports heavy alien reinforcements inbound on 3rd squad's position. I'm ordering the evac..."
"Belay that, Bradford. Third squad is not evacuating. They will complete their mission." The Commander's tone brooked now arugment.
"But, Ma'am! You can't sit by and watch them die!"
"Lieutenant Colonel Bradford, you are dismissed. Go to bed. You need the rest." The Commander's eyes never left the live feed.
"Ma'am! You can't let them die!!" Bradford wasn't going anywhere.
"Sgt_Scruffy, please remove the colonel and see that Dr. Vahlen provides him with a sedative. Colonel, one more word out of you and I will relieve you."
Bradford looked stunned as Sgt_Scruffy gently led him out of the room. Major Illifan had a hard time covering his smirk, but he almost succeeded.

Galia Comata gets to Legion 9 in time to stabilize her. It will be to no avail though if the squad is wiped out. Carlos13th has fallne back to the Alamo in the lower right corner of the picture while third squad desperately tries to find a way to destroy this murderous new alien.



"Dammit, how do we kill this thing?" Legion 3 tossed another grenade over the edge of the roof that had become third squad's redoubt. The satisfying *whump* of the grenade explosion was quickly replaced with the whirring mechanical sound of a fully functional mechtoid. "CPL Dragon, I'm running out of grenades. This thing doesn't want to die. Legion 9 did manage to hit it fairly good before she got fragged. We're going to have to shoot this thing."
"I know, It's too accurate though. Anyone caught in the cross fire will be killed. Our only hope is to lure it into an ambush and shoot the hell out of it before it can react. Talizvar, you get to play bait. Everyone else, prepare for an ambush on the northwest corner. Execute..."
--Legion 3 and StreamDragon
Carlos disables the gun


SteamDragon pours on the fire as the mechtoid's weapons are temporarily off-line.


"StreamDragon, you've got heavy alien reinforcements inbound. Multple drones and unknown designation. You've got to kill that robot quickly." The Commander for once, sounded worried.
Oh for feth's sake.

*mental note to self: get a .50 cal bolted on the drop door of the Sky Ranger. Just like them Hookers have.*






*throws a Mountain Dew can at the Aliens in fustration*

That looks like a Cyberdisc rolling in with the last batch of aliens...

I think this op has gone from "suck" to "blow".

That is most definitely a cyberdisk.


Looks like 3rd squad will get both the first Mectoid and the first Cyberdisk kills!

 streamdragon wrote:
That is most definitely a cyberdisk.


Looks like 3rd squad will get both the first Mectoid and the first Cyberdisk kills!

Yeah... we'll see. This mission is a melonfether.

Sgt_Scruffy wrote:

 streamdragon wrote:
That is most definitely a cyberdisk.


Looks like 3rd squad will get both the first Mectoid and the first Cyberdisk kills!

Yeah... we'll see. This mission is a melonfether.

I gotta stay positive here Scruffy...

I hate those cargo ship battles. They're so long they can really grind a squad down. Plus two new enemy types!

"Situation Normal All fethed Up"

"The aliens are almost impossible to read but they sure do behave different when I pop-out and get in their face.
I had seen that weird link the sectoids do with each other but with the big guy is was impressive and looked like it needed to stop.
Glad I was able to neutralize the help, it was bad enough before where it looked like we were only scratching the paint job.
Heard Legion 9 got hit, glad I was not able to see it: those guns look like they would leave a really big hole.
Never thought I would like my sniper to spend his time messing up an enemy's aim rather than the business of killing, but I think that is why less of us are on the ground.
Just as it looks like the big fella is showing some holes, then a giant metal Frisbee shows up... I will play catch with him later if big bro is kind enough to drop.
I am thinking three clips for this one...

From the scuttlebutt passing between the techs, 3rd were getting a hammering from some kind of battle-mech. Silver remembered watching hulking automata smashing and shooting the hell out of each other on the Saturday morning cartoons and from what was being reported what 3rd was facing something that could go toe to toe with the best of them.

Sweat dripped from her nose as she heaved on the torque wrench, powering the thick bolt into the overlapping armour plates. She hoped the dense weave would fit her frame a little better with the adjustments she and the techs had made to her combat gear.

Despite her relative good luck so far in the war, she knew it was only a matter of time; she had a feeling that she was going to need all the protection she could get.

Trondheim watched the unfolding mayhem on one of the screens, his hearth was thumping wildly as he watched the streams of plasma fire and return fire flicker back and fourth. The thing was like a walking nigthmare, armed with powerful dual linked weaponry and backed up by scores of those grey devils.
As he thougth it had gotten as bad as it could something else came drifing into view as the circeling skyhawk caugth a glimp of a new mechanical nigthmare about to join the fray.
"By Odins beard, we definitly need bigger guns!" he mutterd as he continued to watch, unable to tear himself away from the live feed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Jihadin wrote:
*mental note to self: get a .50 cal bolted on the drop door of the Sky Ranger. Just like them Hookers have.*






*throws a Mountain Dew can at the Aliens in fustration*

Feth Id say we need a 40mm rapid firing cannon and a hellfire missile

OEPRATION BRUTAL SERPENT PART 4: The Last Stand of Third Squad?

"Yes, the situation was bad. The alien robot later designated the "mechtoid" had already seriously wounded Legion 9. This new designation of alien was fast approaching, but not yet decisively engaged. I trust StreamDragon, otherwise I wouldn't have made him third's squad leader, but for a moment, I considered ordering the withdrawal."
--The Commander

The wounded mechtoid opens fire on StreamDragon - luckily missing.


"Okay boys and girls. We've got exactly one shot at taking down this monster. Command says we've got more Allen (slang for alien) in bound. I haven't fought through all these ugly feths just to turn around and run now. Legion 9 needs evac, but we can't carry her. Carlos, get off your ass and shoot that robot. Comata, we've got one shot. We'll distract while you flank right. Go!"

Comata lands the final blow on the mechtoid


"I swear on my mom's grave that a cheer went up in central command when the mechtoid finally went down. Even Illifan seemed happy I've never seen that guy smile!"
--Lt. Morton
A resounding "feth yeah" might have gone up when I finally killed it.

"Unfortunately, there was no way we hadn't drawn the ire of the ... whatever the hell it was. Legion 3 immediately engaged the drones and managed to shoot one down actually. I was still coming out of my drug haze and could only watch what happened."
--Bullockist


The full fury of the Cyberdisk is revealed. Legion 3 is torn to shreds in the first volley.



"Elation turns to utter despair in the span of hear beats in battle. At least, that's what it felt like in the command room. I'm the administrative officer for the Legion and it tore my heart out to see one of our best and brightest go down. The watch rotation had long since passed, but everyone was glued to their stations. We felt like we were witnessing the end... or maybe our greatest triumph yet."
--Lt. Morton.

"Fall back! Fall back! Rally point Alamo. NOW!"
--StreamDragon

"I knew what he was up to. We had to lure the enemy away from each other so we could engage with overwhelming force. At this point, we didn't know if the disc thing could be killed. It made sense, but we were all low on everything except enemy - I'd say we were in a fight."
--Bullockist.

The squad falls back across hard won ground as the new alien threat advances.


"Even Major Illifan looked concerned and that guy cares about his soldiers like Dr. Vahlen cares about medical ethics."
--Lt. Morton.

As third squad advances, the cyberdisc and remaining drones advance into the kill zone.


"GRENADE!!" Comata cowered under cover as plasma infused shrapnel sprayed his armor. The world went black... and snapped back into view as Galia found himself on his back. He felt his body for injuries. Arms? check. Legs? check. Groin? Please God, let the groin be okay... check. The entire blast had been absorbed by his armor.


"Sir, they are dying out there and the mission is going to fail. I suggest we evacuate the squad as best we can." Even Major Illifan doubted third squad by now.
"Major, have faith." That was all the Commander said. The Major, having witnessed Bradford being removed, fell silent and watched - helpless like the rest of them.

Carlos13th, now in his 8th straight hour of combat, misses a rare opportunity to disable the Cyberdisc's weapons. The stress is beginning to show.


He quickly redeems himself as the cyberdisc attempts to take cover from the fusillade of fire. Apparently there is a threat from the laser fire.[i]


"Look, I could tell you the story of our battle with the cyberdisc, but it basically amounts to the same as our fight against the mechtoid. We ran and hid until we could ambush it and then run and hide some more. It was dirty fighting and it took forever. The drones... they can repair those discs. It's sickening. I'll spare you the gory details, but let's talk about the 'highlights' shall we?"
--Bullockist
[i]Galia Comata supressed the mechanical monstrosity as 3rd squad manuevers


Bullockist whittles down the drown swarm.


"That seeker came out of nowhere. No one had spotted it although it was captured on camera right before the disc engaged. Regardless, it ambushed Carlos and we were in a world of hurt."
-Bullockist


Galia_Comata and Bullockist manage to shoot the seeker off Carlos with minimal difficulty. This gives the Cyberdisc the freedom to reposition.


:Even as we had been pouring fire onto the drones and the disc, the drones persisted in repairing the damned machine. We were going to run out of ammo. The last drone would not die. I think at that point everyone's adrenaline had worn out. We were all fighitng on empty."
-Bullockist
Seriously, I missed three 65% shots in a row trying to kill that god-forsaken drone that was repair the disc. Luckily, carlos was able to disable the disc's weapons so we could close and finish off those drones.



The fight against the drone rages back and forth across the cargo bay for another hour. Eventually, third squad manages to partially surround it. There Galia Comata continually suppresses it while Carlos, Stream Dragon, Talizvar, and Bullockist pour on the fire.


Stream Dragon dashes in attempt to flank to finally bring down the alien monster

More fire from Talizvar as the Disc will simply not die.

The disc, perhaps sensing it's imminent destruction, opens up with everything it has on Bullockist. Luckily, he barely manges to duck out of the way.

Several torrents of fire later, Bullockist finally finds a weak spot in the armor and the disc explodes


"We were spent. We knew the cargo bay like the back of our hand now. We'd fought over it for almost 6 hours. Already we were low on ammo packs, we were completely out of medical supplies, and almost out of grenades of any kind. two-thirds of the ship was ours. Hopefully the last third wouldn't break our backs."
-Bullockist

Next time on the Adventures of Third Squad: How Many Outsiders?

Nothing like the first volley of an enemy making a smear out of someone to enhance focus, or at least speed of response.
When that armadillo opened up, man it is ugly, even worse all the guns that get pointed around.
When I saw a drone stitch-up holes in the disk I found my #1 target priority.
The hours of playing whack the undead Frisbee is a lesson in frustration.
So after a merry go shooting the dodgy guys we hear a gurgle over the com... I hate seekers.
Hate it even more when they grab my cover-guy... you do not get to touch my sniper without me going after you, mind: the guys took care of it.
Drone and Disk were an army all their own.. just couldn't touch the one or kill the other.
Bullockist has become my new favorite in the group: he gets angry he just kills better: mental note to review what combo of drugs he got, I may want some of that.
After all that "fun" I am concerned what the aliens will do for an encore.
Two of Legion down, one permanently... not even close to a fair exchange, this ship is going to get emptied.

I better get on point: lesson learned that it is better finding them than them finding you.

Frankenberry watched from a vantage point near one of the exits into the command room. Watched as third squad did their deadly work.

Eight hours. From the moment of the drop until now, third had been stuck in, knee deep, for eight fething hours.

And they weren't all dead.

They weren't second squad, that was for sure, no karma around to feth things up - but third certainly had their share of interesting luck this go round. Frankenberry was impressed they had held as long as they had - it was a truly terrible fight.

He saw the feed and heard the screams of the legion trooper and he closed his eyes, shaking his head in disgust. One more name to add to the list, how many more needed to die before XCOM truly took the fight back to the E.T.?

Well.....Murphey Laws..
When you run short of everything but the Enemy then you are truly in combat.











*throws a pilot at the Disc's in fustration*