Xenocide Underway

[silencer_pl]

Hell everyone.

 

This will be the third challenger in X-Com vs XCOM vs Xenonauts challenge. The final challenger is of course Xenonauts made by Goldhawk Interactive, soon to be officially released. Currently we have version 1.04, but I've started playing on 1.03. There is not much difference between both versions. Although fresh game, I'll be using few mods, that change some graphics in game and one that allows additional tactic while entering UFOs. The mods I'm currently using:

 

-Skitso's Oprresive UI mod - it changes some colours in the Geoscape making the game more darker.

-Fire in The Hole - modifies the interior of the UFOs and adds a possibility to breach UFOs from other sides. Originally you can't destroy the outer walls of the UFO

-Skitso's alternative rank insignia

-Jsleezy's Real Fighter Portrait Pack - revamps all the soldier faces - in current version there are 20 faces that weren't yet remade.

-Jsleezy's Real Armours - modifies the looks of armours in soldier equipment screen and inventory during ground combat.

 

I'll also be adding Lore+ mod which adds a bit of information about aliens, but recently there were some changes in the files that the mod alters so I'm waiting for update to current version.

 

The difficulty will be of course Insane. So without any delay.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIbwUdrDXZ8

 

Same as in OpenXcom, we can decide were to put our base and can see, how much range will our basic radar system have. So obvious choice will be Northern Africa.

 

 

On the start we must add few buildings to the base:

 

-2x Hangar

-2x Radar Array - it increases the range (and only max 3 arrays are allowed)

-1x Living Quarters

-1x Medical Bay.

 

To have vehicles we need to build a garage, but I'm not going to do that just yet.

 

 

We must also hire more scientists.

 

 

And order 1 more Interceptor.

 

 

At that point there is nothing else to do, but wait and pray that aliens decide to show up in our territory, rather than for example of Americas.

 

We spot 2 UFOs, but their trajectory didn't include to hang around.

 

 

Instead the wreak some havoc somewhere else.

 

 

In the meantime scientists tell us what is currently happening and that we can't fight forever.

 

 

Their proposal for next research is faster Interceptor and armoured scout car. So we chose the new Interceptor.

 

 

A few moments later we detect another UFO, but this time our Aircaft catches up and manages to shot it down.

 

 

Having our first ground mission let's prepare the team. Overall I found the first batch of soldiers to have very decent stats.

 

 

So let's head out to the mission.

 

 

On the first two turns our soldiers don't encounter any aliens so they slowly move towards the UFO.

 

 

On the third turn corporal Conk spots a reptilian type creature on the corner of the building. Having no possible line of fire soldiers move to a better position.

 

 

Meanwhile corporal Loris spots another one, so sergeant decides to unleash to rocket. The blast however wasn't strong enough to kill the alien.

 

 

On following alien turn, the first spotted alien moved closer and corporal Glinka manages to take a reaction fire, but missed.

 

 

When it was our turn, soldiers unleashed hell upon the creature and corporal Jackson scores the kill.

 

 

Following further towards the UFO, cpl. Peters spots another one on the upper floor.

 

 

So, soldiers move in and blast the the bugger.

 

 

The one that ate rocket to the face probably run back to the UFO, so our men move in and proceed to enter UFO.

 

 

There were 2 aliens inside, but in close quarters our machine gunners mowed the down.

 

 

And thus ends the first combat. First artifacts are sent to the eggheads and rest is sold to the local government.

 

[Space Voyager]

The name of the base is awesome, that much I can tell!

[silencer_pl]

 

Upon return to base, the eggheads performed quick dissection of the alien corpse that was returned. Strong reptilian creature called Sebillian has been analyzed. It's main advantage is regenerative power, which means he can instantly heal if left alone after wounding. His eyes although short sighted have unique ability to avoid any obstruction made by smoke, meaning smoke grenades don't affect their accuracy.

 

 

Scientists also examined the datacore of the UFO.

 

 

And shortly finished the research of the High Speed Interceptor, which the engineers will now produce.

 

 

The next in line of research will be plasma weaponry. Our knowledge of energy weapons is almost zero due to fact that we don't have the energy to make them lethal and small.

 

 

As soon as our radar arrays are finished, another UFO is spotted and I didn't noticed it was a little bigger than previous one, but still represented as small object.

 

 

The first Condor almost was shot down, but managed to deliver heavy damage to the UFO. The second Condor however shot it down.

 

 

Since no one was injured or killed in last mission, the same soldiers will arrive at the crash site.

 

 

The aliens must be well hidden or most of them might be dead, since we can't spot them, having moved half the map.

 

 

As soon as I've said that, one of the aliens was spotted.

 

 

He moved towards upper corner and fired at cpl. Jackson. Poor accuracy made him miss - lucky for cpl. Jacskon.

 

 

Cpl. Loris being on firing position, unleashes his LMG, hitting and suppressing the alien. However 1 stray bullet hits and almost kills sgt. Caron.

 

 

Cpl. Jackson and Peters rush towards her ready with the medkits, while cpl. Glinka snipes the alien.

 

 

It looks like there are no more aliens outside the UFO, so the team advances and begins to breach the UFO.

 

 

The alien guarding the first room gets mowed down by LMG fire, the soldiers prepare for the next room, but sneaky alien manages to take a shot at cpl. Glinka. Wounded but alive he patches himself, while cpl. Loris eliminates the threat.

 

 

Upon entering next room cpl. Fujita throws a flashbang suppressing the alien, giving other soldier an easy entry and cpl. Jackosn with cpl. Peters kill the alien.

 

 

Being foolish and not noticing that there is also room to the right, a sneaky alien moves from behind and downs cpl. Fujita.

 

 

Some of the men rush back and dispose the bugger, while cpl. Peters and Jackson breach the final room where they dispose the last alien.

 

 

Upon collecting the bodies it looks like that cpl. Fujita is alive but her situation is critical. Upon arriving to base she is immediately send to med bay. (This situation is unique to the Xenonauts. A soldier who receives fatal wound, but the damage was not that big beyond total HP, the soldier has a chance to survive. For example soldier with 70HP upon receiving 75 dmg can survive at the end of the mission)

 

 

 

 

 

[silencer_pl]

 

Xenonanuts is a game where UFOs attack in waves, so sometimes there will be few missions in consecutive row, without big time progress. So after the last mission, another UFO was detected. It looked like it was heading in other direction, but ultimately it turned towards Africa and was shot down.

 

 

It was once again a small scout. Since on the last missions few soldiers got wounded and there was not enough time to get more, Cpl. David Zeman will replace Cpl. Glinka as a sniper and the team will only consist of 7 men for now.

 

 

On arrival, an alien is already in sight. Cpl Brianson firmly held his LMG and was so accurate that his burst killed alien in 1 go.

 

 

Following further, another alien was spotted.

 

 

This time Cpl. Brianson feeling the challenge also gunned down it, but a stray bullet Cpl. Bianchi. Nothing serious this time.

The team spreads further and witness a local militia guy being gunned down. (Yes in standard battles there are some civilians and armed forces. Not many but the militia may sometimes be helpful).

 

 

Cpl. Peters spots the culprit and manages to wound him. However rest of the team either fails to hit, or doesn't have any line of fire.

 

 

The alien feeling surrounded flees back, but is eventually gunned down. Again Cpl. Brianson shows skill with his LMG.

 

 

What was left, was to enter the UFO and finish two aliens that hunkered down in one of the rooms.

 

 

Easy mission, almost perfect if not the friendly fire incident.

 

 

Also now Sgt. Brianson gets a medal for having kill score of 5 aliens. (medals improve bravery).

On way back, we get a intel report on the last UFO we have encountered.

 

[silencer_pl]

 

This episode starts with finished research on alien plasma pistol. But don't get excited - we can't use them, because their handling isn't designed to cope with human hands. Though during battle soldiers can use them with penalty to accuracy, but at the end of the mission they will be sold either way.

 

 

The next project will be improved combat armour that should give some form of protection.

 

 

We've also run out of money to finish production of second Foxtrot and 2 soldiers arrived - the ones I've probably forgot to mention after I've hired them after 2nd mission.

 

A day later 2 UFOs were spotted and one was shot down nearby our base.

 

 

The new privates will be joining the team and cpl. Peters will be assigned a Rocket Launcher.

Arriving at the crashsite, a new type of alien has been identified. A gray alien that sort of looks like human.

 

 

Sgt. Brianson and Sgt. Loris perforate the alien with bullets and the team exits the transport.

Unfortunately there was an alien hiding in a corner and Sgt. Jackson lies motionless. With the help of armed police officer private Turunen kills the assailant.

 

 

The team was also a witness of alien killing a civilian. So Sgt. Brianson, Peters and Conk move towards that direction while other move forwards.

 

 

Sgt. Brianson is first to spot the alien and on the next turn with Sgt. Peters blow him to smithereens.

 

 

All now was left to storm the UFO, where only 1 alien remained.

 

 

It looks like Sgt. Jackson was tough S.O.B. and survived the killing blow.

 

[silencer_pl]

 

For the next mission we didn't have to wait that much, because as seen in the last episode, there was a second UFO (or rather first if counting detection order) to be shot down.

 

 

Before I've sent away the team, I've hired another soldier, because the number of injured soldiers increases.

The team is getting the hang of the light scout missions or maybe aliens are already giving up, as this mission was too easy.

At the landing site, we've already caught one. Who was immediately gunned down.

 

 

The team spreads out after this, but we couldn't find any aliens roaming outside.

 

 

But suddenly there was a flash on the second floor of nearby house.

 

 

So I've split the team. 3 men went towards UFO, while other 4 where to surround the building and wait for the alien to pop out.

But he didn't want to come out. That's all right we have other means, like rockets.

 

 

Sgt. Peters has blown a nice hole in the building. But due to some strange anomaly, soldiers from the ground could not fire through collapsed ceiling. So Private Blom, had to personally come up.

 

 

And aliens inside the UFO as usually peed their pants.

 

 

Couldn't have been easier. The privates get a promotion and all the nice benefits from being official Xenonauts.

 

[silencer_pl]

 

While returning to base, the science team has finished the autopsy of the gray alien. They called him The Caesan. Similar to humans, but has better developed brain. Probably some other units may have some hidden powers?

 

 

Anyways, there is another UFO to take care of.

 

 

While the transport was returning home, the UFO has landed somewhere in Syberia. As soon as the transported returned, it launched again. Though UFOs stay on the ground for long time, the speed at which our current chopper flies is not fast enough, so a Condor is launched to overwatch the UFO. Because it landed at the edge of our radar range, a second one had to be sent as soon as the first one had to return. The UFO in the meanwhile taken off, but the second Condor managed to shot it down. I hope the quartermaster gave some warm coats.

 

 

Let's finish this mission quick or our soldiers will freeze. The pilot landed in the hot spot, because as soon as we exit the chopper, there was an alien waiting. But he was taken care of pretty fast.

 

 

When the team was scouting the area, suddenly something shot at Sgt. Peters.

 

 

This is it I thought... so sneaky bastard... but he didn't want to come out of his hiding hole. Probably if he did he would be gunned down anyways. At least Sgt. Peters will live another day.

 

The way towards the UFO was blocked by another alien hiding behind trees.

 

 

Being overwhelmed by gunfire he eventually exploded to bits, by grenade thrown by Lt. Conk.

The path looked clear so 4 soldiers moved inside the UFO to proceed with cleaning operation.

 

 

But suddenly there was a plasma shot coming at others. It appears there was another one hiding behind rocks.

 

 

However being in the open and outnumbered vastly, he and his mates in the UFO were shot on sight.

 

 

A little lucky this mission was.

[silencer_pl]

 

Time slowly passes in Xenonauts. But we can't complain on the number of missions. While in OpenXcom campaign we slowly are getting towards the end of second month, in "new" XCOM we are almost near the end of the first one. Here we are still in the middle road, and another wave of UFOs appeared.

 

 

Since our transport is so slow, the soldiers are prepared for some triathlon. I could airstrike the crash sites for some small amount of cash, but doing proper mission grants twice the amount. And we are in need of cash.

 

Let's head out to the farthest one first.

 

 

We are in the corner and no aliens in sight. The sound of shots however indicates that there are aliens are around the corner.

 

 

Thankfully Sebillians are poor shot, (though sometimes they are too accurate) and they miss Lt. Loris. Unfortunately a third one is also nearby.

 

 

The team has to speed things up. Lt. Peters removes some walls that gain better access to the first alien. This allowed the team to finish him off and later it was just shooting the other two.

 

 

Upon moving closer to the UFO, another alien was spotted inside the building. It had very good cover, so he had to be flanked somehow.

 

 

But lucky Lt. Peters managed to shoot a rocket through window and perfectly hitting the alien. Unfortunately nothing remained from it. All what was left is to check the UFO.

 

 

First mission complete with only 1 injured soldier, so he will have to be more cautious on next mission.

 

[silencer_pl]

 

On to the second UFO.

 

The team arrives at some village.

 

 

Spreads out but finds no aliens.

 

 

However on the second turn Cpl. Bianchi spots one and Lt. Loris does his magic with his LMG. Moving further Cpl. Bianchi spots second alien.

 

 

The alien hides behind the building, so Lt. Peters tries to demolish the wall. However the wall wins and he only destroys the door.

 

 

Meanwhile while approaching the UFO, Lt. Lorris spots another alien. He goes back and Sgt. Zeman, Bloom and Lt. Conk focus fire on it, killing on the spot.

 

 

The battle with the alien on the other side lasts 2 turns but the alien finally drops dead. Luckily he didn't manage to hit anyone.

 

 

The team that was assaulting UFO finds out that it is empty.

 

 

The last alien was hiding in some building. So Lt. Peters aimed at the building leaving the alien in the open so Sgt. Zeman could snipe him with ease.

 

 

[silencer_pl]

 

Well it's the third mission. And because our transport is so slow, it will be a dreadful night mission.

 

 

 

There are two aliens spotted not near the landing craft. However we can't get aim on them on this turn. So a smoke is deployed for some cover.

 

 

The closest one makes a bad move and is mowed down by Lt. Brianson.

 

 

When it came to the second one. He had quite a character shield. Lt. Peters missed fatally and hit the bus station. This resulted in return fire from alien. He was lucky enough to survive the shot.

 

 

The team continues focus fire on the alien and Lt. Loris finishes him off. Soldier carefully moves on until some plasma shot just misses Lt. Zeman.

 

 

We couldn't get him on our turn, but on next one the alien tried to run away.

 

 

A failed attempt as Lt. Loris plows him with his LMG.

 

Near the UFO another alien runs out. Looks like they are trying to flee. Well bad choice.

 

 

A standard small scout breaching position has been taken and another alien inside was killed.

 

 

But this wasn't the end. There was one last alien somewhere. And Cap. Conk was almost shot.

 

 

The team gathered at the door and some from the other side of the wall. They kept firing until the alien died.

 

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

If you have time Silencer from your play through, would you consider giving a full review?

[silencer_pl]

I'm bad at reviews. And maybe I will a little biased on this. The game is good. But could be much better. The game tries to be better X-COM - it does it's job at certain points but fails bad at other. There are some technical flaws that will not be fixed, because the devs don't have any money to do so. The AI is average. It doesn't make any good moves - the only thing that keeps it making your life hard is because they are accurate and tough. Even with good armours. The soldiers will be easy kills. If you watch the videos, you can see that breaching the UFOs (at least the first ones) is to block the doors. Time progression is slower than in X-COM. I'm still on 1st month despite having 9th video and on X-COM it's third month. Xenonanuts are more tactical than X-COM, but for me I think the ground combat in original is more fun.

 

I wouldn't scratch the game, but my score in 10 points scale would be something 6.5-7 right now. I am definitely enjoying XCOM with Long War more than Xenonanuts. (though I spent almost the same amount of time in both of games 154 Xenos, 204 XCOM). Maybe because I like the fast paced action? The battles in Xenonanuts are feeling repetitive. I'm waiting with map packs till the game will not be patched anymore. There are plenty of mods for Xenos, but I am currently using the ones that don't change gameplay (except Fire In The Hole which remodels the Interiors of UFOs but this doesn't change that much).

[NoXTheRoXStaR]

Those are some good points. A friend of mine invited me over to play the game earlier this week and I had a chance to play it for about an hour. On the first mission the location was in Brazil it was a Snow landscape. Result mission success I lost one they lost 3. Second mission, the location...Mexico it was a Snow landscape......Mission result loss I lost 8 they lost 3. What pisses me off is I had one alien surrounded think it was the lizard dudes, Sebillian or w/e. I mean completely surrounded. I get a soldier 3 tiles away from it and get two shotgun blasts at point blank range and he misses on 2 turns = 4 shots....I doubt we will see an expansion or sequel to this game.

 

Thanks for your input silencer.

[silencer_pl]

The sequel will be quite later in time. For now they will create a new game. I too hate point blank misses. It's unrealistic. The thing is if shotgun if you use snap shot the pellets have bigger spread, while using more aimed shot the pellets are more tight so even point blank shots should be aimed, unless the soldier has very high chance of hit. To be honest in XCOM and Xenonauts I had like more shots with high % chance miss more often than those with lower one

[silencer_pl]

 

So the triathlon is done and soldiers can rest for a while. Meanwhile the scientists now understand how alien plasma rifles work. With this they can now analyze how aliens generate plasma and maybe will be able to create energy based weapons of their own.

 

 

All was peaceful until 3 more UFOs were picked on radar, including one faster UFO which means standard scout UFO. The birds are sent and the UFOs are downed.

 

 

The team gets the first issues of the Jackal Armour. It's protection is meaningful, but when it does save the soldier, your happy it's there.

 

 

Let's head out to the farthest UFO, which is the Scout. The UFO has landed in some NATO or US looking base in Africa. I might be mistaking but this looks like a very top secret base and those should be M2 Bradley prototypes?

 

 

Anyway the team moves from cover to cover, when suddenly Lt. Loris finds an alien, who takes a pot shot at him. He then takes his LMG and sprays some bullets. But it is Sgt. Bianchi who finishes the alien.

 

 

Further north, Lt. Loris encounter another alien - a sniper wannabe, hiding at the top of the building. Two can play this game as Sgt. Caron delivers a rocket to his face.

 

 

The aliens pissed by that, ordered their Psionic to fiddle with the minds of soldiers. Private Fisher was his target and even though he was in close proximity to higher ranking officer, he panicked.

 

 

Closing to the UFO, another alien was spotted just outside. Fortunately he didn't do any harm and was quickly disposed.

 

 

The Psion, surely had his fun with Private Fischer.

 

 

Once inside, we find the git. He manged to take a pot shot at Lt. Brianson, but thanks to his vest, he survived the shot.

 

 

On the other side of the UFO, Lt. Bloom interrupts the alien bursting inside the room, and with grace eliminates him.

 

 

In the next room Cap. Conk and Lt. Bloom play pick-a-boo with another alien.

 

 

In the last room the alien was treated with a flashbang and the team took some potshots at him.

 

 

The other two UFOs are very close to the base, so we can go back and let Lt. Brianson take a few days off to heal those wounds.

 

 

[silencer_pl]

 

The Xenonauts return to base and the scientists finish analysis of the plasma technology. They can now start researching human based laser technology.

 

 

But there are 2 more UFOs that await our arrival. The first one is located on some farm. While moving out Cp. Fischer spots a Sebillian, but is out of TUs. And nobody can help him. Smoke will not cover him as Sebillians, have a unique trait that smoke doesn't obstruct their vision.

 

 

But it wasn't time for Cpl. Fisher. The alien missed. The Xenonanuts however weren't that useless and killed the alien. While scouting on the bottom of the map Lt. Loris spots another one. He is covered by the hay for now.

 

 

On the other side Capt. Conk discovers that the side of the UFO has damaged hull and can see an alien hiding in the engine room.

 

 

The alien noticed him, moved closer and fired. The hit was powerful but thanks to the armour, Capt. Conk will live. Filled with rage, his LMG perforated the alien and not even their amazing regenerative skill will save him from death.

 

Meanwhile Lt. Loris leads the assault on previously spotted alien. When he moved closer for better firing position (and not to block a view for a sniper), he spotted another one.

 

 

The firefight continued 1 more turn as the first alien run like he didn't know what to do, while the other hid in the barn. Taking advantage of the "panic" of the first alien, Cpl. Glinka finished him off. Hoping that the second alien will hide in the barn, Lt. Caron fires at the wall, destroying the corner completely. But the alien wasn't there.

 

 

The alien run into the open road. Without cover, he was killed quite quickly.

 

 

There was also an alien in the second room in the UFO, but that encounter wasn't that scary.

 

[silencer_pl]

Heh I've just noticed that the first video was loaded ~200 times... I find it impressive for a playthrough without any special advertisement. Though some jealous person had to put a negative

[silencer_pl]

 

The last UFO from this wave. The pilot decides, that the cabbages are very important to save, so he lands on a field full of cabbages. He was right too. Just to the left, an alien was trying to abduct them. So he ate a rocket to the face.

 

 

To be honest I didn't expect him exploding but oh well. The team splits into 2 groups. One lead by Captain Conk. The other by Captain Loris.

 

On the left side, Cap. Conk finds an alien on the open path. However nobody can have an aim over there. So Lt. Blom throws a smoke grenade.

 

 

On the other site Lt. Zeman spots an alien behind the barn, and the group finds some cover.

 

 

Alien from the left side has run away, but Lt. Caron, blows those bushes.

 

 

No one could hit the alien, so Lt. Blom throws a flashbang. On the right side the alien moved inside the barn. Lt. Loris used his LMG to suppress the alien and Lt. Zeman moved inside to flank the alien. Now here is one broken part in Xenoanuts. Lt. Glinka aim is blocked by a wall of the barn, however the alien has perfect line of fire. Thanks to the armour - Lt. Glinka lives.

 

 

Thankfully Lt. Zeman had a perfect round and all 3 of his shots connected. Also Cap. Conk killed his alien.

 

 

While moving ahead another alien was spotted right behind the barn.

 

 

A flashbang thrown by Lt. Zeman ensured that he won't get away, from the LMG of Cap. Loris.

 

[silencer_pl]

 

After returning to base I've recruited 3 more soldiers just in case.

 

 

This month has finally come to an end. We've made quite a nice increase, although South America was hit pretty hard.

 

 

To resolve this a base is created somewhere on the Cuba.

 

 

After a day another wave of UFOs appeared. One fighter type UFO and 2 Scouts.

 

 

Since both UFOs were shot down it close range, it will be a double mission with one flight.

After reaching the first UFO, team spreads out, but no aliens in the vicinity.

 

 

But just around the corner - there they were.

 

 

The alien thought he could be all sneaky and hide in corner. But all he could do is hide in the corner and cry. Once he received a rocket to the face (sort of), it was all over for him.

 

 

Further down the street was another one. But Cap. Loris and his LMG are like soul mates.

 

 

Since the UFO wasn't in the left corner of the map. The team moved to the other one, when suddenly one of the aliens moved out.

 

 

Well it was his mistake. Being in the open is not good at all.

Here is another fubared situation in Xenonauts. Lt. Blom is on second floor. How possibly can a car block her view. Fortunately she hit.

 

 

So it's time to storm the UFO. Lt Bianchi spots one in the room to the right. But it felt to risky to take a shot so everyone prepared for next turn. The alien felt cocky but he missed twice.

 

 

And the alien next door also had to die.

 

 

A nice clean mission.

 

[silencer_pl]

 

It's time for the second UFO. It's also in the industrial map. The aliens aren't nearby the landing zone, so the soldiers move to cover.

 

 

But they were near. Captain Zeman finds one, but he is standing in currently inaccessible position.

 

 

The alien moved forward to a perfect trap. First Cap. Zeman throws a flashbang, so just in case he wouldn't be able to run, then Lt. Caron gives him a rocket to the face.

 

 

Meanwhile a spotting shenanigans in action. Another Caesan, who is residing on the upper floor of the building to the north, manages to hit one of our soldiers. He is so far away, the he couldn't possibly see him + all that cover....

 

 

While closing to the UFO Cap. Loris spots another alien just behind a wall. Unfortunately Lt. Turunen is in bad spot and without any TUs. The alien takes advantage of this situation and fires at Lt. Turunen - who is only saved by the armour.

 

 

Captain Loris later does his magic of course. We've also got the position of the cheating bastard. In few turns his days will be numbered.

 

 

In the UFO Lt. Bianchi starts operation cleanup.

 

 

And Mr. Cheat has no place to run.

 

 

[silencer_pl]

 

Alright lasers. Now the engineers will not have time to eat, sleep, drink and whatever else engineers do when not engineering.

 

 

But producing such advanced equipment requires more engineers. So we need another workshop.

 

 

Back to the geoscope, 2 Scouts were detected and Foxtrots were sent to intercept. One of them kept running away, but was caught over the Atlantic. The Foxtrot didn't have much fuel to keep tailing it and I didn't want to risk the UFO to get away, so it was shot down over water. The second was shot down over land and the team will proceed to the crash site.

 

 

At first the aliens were nowhere to be found.

 

 

But soon we found their possible location.

 

 

Ant then they get plowed by LMG.

 

 

The second alien was just behind the corner where Sgt. Fujita was. It also was plowed by LMG.

The third alien was outside the UFO and it had a strong character shield. It took 2 turns of LMG barrage to take him down (well not only LMG fire).

 

 

Next was the UFO, where shotguns rule.

 

 

Here is a funny situation. The Sebillian is overseeing the door to the left, but Cap. Zeman shots him in the back. The trick is every time someone gets hit, he rotates to face the shooter. So when the alien turned it was Cap. Caron turn to pop him with pistol.

 

 

The last two aliens were hiding in the back of the UFO. Which was pretty much a duck hunt.

 

[silencer_pl]

 

(From this episode Xenonauts are in version 1.07, which means that aliens have learned door opening technique. This dreadful skill will make breaching UFOs harder and my tactics will have to adapt).

 

The last episode ended on Foxtrot interceptor chasing a UFO. The UFO was caught over water and not waiting if it decides to go over land, it was shot down.

 

The second base command room is ready and a full expansion of the base can begin.

 

 

While waiting for next UFOs, laser sniper rifles are made. Next production will be laser carbines which will replace shotguns.

 

The next wave of UFOs were 2 scouts once again. Soon we should see bigger UFOs.

 

 

The first alien was hiding in the building to the left of dropship. We've managed to get few hits on him, but couldn't kill him on turn 1.

 

 

He wanted to run away, but changed his mind and fired at Maj. Loris. Maj. Lorris replied him with his LMG.

 

 

Next alien was further north in a building. Cap. Caron aimed with rocket launcher. The rocket passed the glass of the bus stop but exploded in the window of the building. There was no access to the alien yet and Cap. Caron needed some cover. A smoke grenade was thrown. It forced alien to move closer.

 

 

Meanwhile on the other side, another alien was spotted. Maj. Loris and Lt. Fujita sang a LMG song.

 

 

The alien on the north after 2 turns was finally cornered and put down to the ground.

 

 

My gut feeling told me that there might be another alien.

 

 

Lt. Caron again fired at the building, but I've made bad calculation where to hit, and Cap. Bloom didn't have line of fire. The alien was treated with flashbang.

 

 

The alien however decided to make a shot at the group that was about to start assaulting the UFO. He missed as was expected and was put down after that.

 

The last alien decided to exit through the hole in the UFO hull.

 

 

Cap. Bianchi made 2 accurate shots at the alien, but once the second shot connected the alien retaliated. He was so damn lucky that scored a critical hit. Lt. Bianchi lies motionless on the ground.

 

 

Cap. Zeman rushed out from the building he was in and killed the alien. Cap. Bianchi however is a tough SoB and didn't die after all.

 

[silencer_pl]

 

(From this video another mods have been added to the game. Lore+ and Skitso's Ultimate Mega Map Pack 2000. The first one adds a bit of background flavor, the second adds high quality maps, because the standard one are getting repetitive).

 

When we last left the Xenonauts, they were returning to base from a mission, but there is a second crash site. The wounded get replaced, and the team moves to engage. The UFO crashed in a farm land. The first alien was just around the corner.

 

 

The alien was first treated with flashbang, then Cap. Caron blasted the wall, next Lt. Fujita hurt him with LMG and finally Cap. Bloom present him our first Laser Weapon.

 

The second alien was just around a corner. We saw him killing poor farmer.

 

 

After he was suppressed, he didn't even put a fight. Cap. Blom put him out of the misery with a well placed head shot.

 

 

Alien number 3 was also skulking about not far from the LZ.

 

 

Maj. Zeman threw a flashbang at him, so he could not escape. And on next turn he was blown to kingdom come by Cap. Caron.

I had a feeling that there will be alien somewhere in the other corner of the map. I was right but Sgt. Jackson was in quite a bad situation.

 

 

Maj. Loris failed with his LMG magic and didn't even land a shot close enough to at least suppress the alien. I've moved Lt. Fujita under the cover of the stone wall, so maybe the alien would focus at her. He of course did, but also managed to hit her. The hit was not so strong, but she was frail enough and she now lies motionless.

 

 

The alien had a very strong character shield, and when I see such an alien I know I must send heavy ordinance. He could have all the character shield he want, but you can't dodge a missile to the face.

 

When it came to the UFO, it was Maj. Zeman who shined the most. Well others help too, but he was the star inside, killing 4 aliens.

 

 

Unfortunately Lt. Fujita didn't make it. The shot was fatal and she is reported as the first casualty of the war.

 

[silencer_pl]

 

So after our first KIA, I've recruited another soldier, but I don't know why I've picked this guy when Ferenc Bartok was obviously better.

 

 

While we were waiting for more actions the scientists have unlocked the Heavy Laser guns. After that they've started to work on the Allenium - an Alien mineral that can generate extreme amounts of power.

 

 

Also the Lore+ information kicked in.

 

 

And after a while we've got medium sized UFO on radar. That is a Corvette. It will require 2 Foxtrots in squadron to take it down.

 

 

After we've waited for some daylight upon the crash, a scout UFO has appeared on the radar as well.

 

Right so the Corvette UFO. It's bigger and badder in the sky, but will it be bigger and badder on the ground?

The map is surely covered in lots of hiding holes. Maj. Loris almost died because of it on the first turn.

 

 

The alien who shot him, retreated way back. But we finally caught him.

 

 

It didn't took long to kill him, and we also found his buddy too.

 

 

He didn't receive a rocket to the face. But it made clear shots for everyone else.

 

 

In front of the UFO was another alien. He also didn't last long.

 

 

The Corvette UFO is very tight to navigate. There are lots of rooms and in each an alien could be hiding. Their new door opening technique troubles me only because opening doors don't provoke return fire. So it's hard to position soldiers and wait for aliens to be shot on sight first.

 

 

The last alien was finally located. He did some small damage. But all in all he got wasted.

 

 

And by the report it looks like it was an officer (well I knew that but wouldn't want to spoil too fast )

 

[silencer_pl]

After completing the Corvette crash landing, there was also the Scout UFO to do.

 

 

But before that we have new intel to read.

 

 

The UFO was inhabited by Sebillians. Those lizard can put a fight sometimes.

 

 

The mission went quite smooth, up until it was UFO breaching time. It's there when Maj. Caron was mortally wounded. But despite being of medium health she survived back to the medbay.

 

 

That last Corvette also had some more advanced aliens, thankfully most of them died in the crash.

 

 

That was quite some information to read. On 21st October, the base at Cuba has received basic stuff to become somewhat operational.

 

 

But with 1 Dogfighter it will not be able to take down new type of UFOs. Also the scientists have finished the study of Alenium mineral.

 

 

They now proposed explosives based on it's depleted form.

On the next day 2 Medium sized UFOs were discovered and a Scout over Africa. Unfortunately the medium sized UFOs had to spawn over the base that can't shoot them down and Foxtrots from HQ don't have that range.

 

 

The crashed UFO landed in a forest in Western Africa. The team slowly pushed forward.

 

 

But when it came to assaulting the UFO an alien run out with banzai attack and mortally wounded Lt. Peters. I'm amazed that he also made it back.

 

While the chopper was returning to base. One of the medium UFOs changed course towards Africa. It was in range for Foxtrots. As soon as they were in closer range, the UFO turned back. With no option to shoot it down over land, the Foxtrots down it over Atlantic.

 

 

5 days later we have new type of rockets for our planes. It will help in fight, but a new type of Dogfighter would be preferable, as Condors can barely keep up with both range and speed. With our new knowledge about energy weapons we can now focus on those alien alloys.

 

 

On 29th of September another Medium UFO was spotted almost right above our base. It was shot down over Greece. Soon after 3 more UFOs were sighted. 2 Scouts and 1 Fighter.

 

The Corvette was piloted by Sebillians. And on this type of ships we can have additional monsters depending on crew. When it comes to Sebillian, they bring their pet The Reaper - which is the equivalent of Chryssalid. So yeah this creature is nasty and you have to kill it with everything godly you have - including fire.

 

 

In third mission in a row we got mortally wounded soldier who survives. I bet this luck will run out soon.

 

 

The scouts that remained constantly evaded our pursuits, but we've managed to down one of them in central Africa.

At that point I always forget to pack the breach charges as aliens can now safely open blocked doors. But if the side is opened from the crash we can always flank the aliens.

 

 

Unfortunately the last room proved fatal to Lt. Young.

 

 

During this month, both Americas were bombed extremely high. South America decided to sell their souls to the aliens.

 

 

From now on aliens have increased their fighter patrols, and some of the UFOs will have dedicated escort. Just like in UFO: Aftermath. But our upgraded Condors eat fighters for breakfast.

 

 

The aliens also have deployed new UFO type: The Bomber. It's only mission is to perform aearial bombardment, destroying cities to rubble (or just simply causing heavy damage). However it is pretty defenseless in air combat

 

 

It's also month full of Corvettes. And did I tell you I'm starting to hate Corvettes?

We also get introduced to new type of Aliens - The Androns. As the name suggested they are Androids, programmed to kill anything that moves. What is so dangerous about them. They don't give a fuck about suppressing fire. They also don't give a fuck about low cover. They will just walk over it.

 

 

Fortunately we only encounter the basic ones, which aren't big threat yet. Also on the first picture is that drone scout, that was in ruins when we first encountered Corvette Type UFO. I've also started to using those breaching charges.

 

 

This in theory should help infiltrate those UFOs. But only in theory. But it is still better than cramping everyone in the entrance.

 

 

Because we've intercepted the bomber UFO. Intel got new stuff for us.

 

 

And here is those Androns stuff.

 

 

So I was saying forget about small UFOs now. It is month of Corvette. And yes that one over America was shot down in the Arctic region. And yes rookies will handle it, somehow, I think. Well we will bring plenty of body bags that is for sure

 

 

But in the meantime our veteran crew which recently got a little bit of trimmed, will have to deal with those 2 other Corvettes.

 

 

The left side was too close to the edge of the map. But it wasn't necessary to finish the mission.