UFO Fanfiction Discussion

[Bomb Bloke]

For those for whom it's not a given, I'm always game.

[The Veteran]

Fanfic is back I'm hoping that some more of the old writers will jump on board if we can get the thing moving again so BB get on with it I read through the whole abbreviated fic (and a few newer posts that aren't covered) and I made a list of topics to follow up before I started writing.

 

To be honest I was expecting to get more of them covered in my own post but it ended up being quite personal to my characters and the aircraft situation. It wasn't very clear in the past anyway so I think it's good to have a recap (for the writers and the readers!) We need to do the same thing with squad assignments and research as well as cover a few other thigns. All of my notes that I didn't follow up on in the last post are below if it helps you out

 

I thought maybe a news report concluding that the explosion in Buenos Aires was caused by problems with the gas station and volatile materials stored in the warehouse (as both were vapourised)

 

Terrick took a laser pistol in the mercenary mission and despite multiple searches for it I don't think it was ever located. He also took a bullet for Rick in that mission so he's not a purely evil character and may be saved. Remember he wants the tech to save his family, can't remember who from. Ah of course... When he made a run for it and shot down Trigger he would've been captured with the weapon in his possession. Interrogation needs to happen soon.

 

Apparently there are 2 prisoners from the merc mission but I only found one from a quick readthrough. Bernard (a diplomat who didn't believe the alien story) was nabbed by Rick and needs questioning. There may or may not be another merc/diplomat in custody but all of the named persons escaped safely.

 

Of note in the diplomat mission, the 50y/o with white eyelashes was behind the meeting and has developed a human/alien hybrid Ranger. They were meeting with the aliens to obtain more fuel for it as they're running low. She is said to have helped develop the Hurricane. 'Captain America' was the front of the operation but is revealed later to be a dumb soldier in WEyelashes employ. Red, anotehr diplomat, escaped on a chopper piloted by Marvin Rice who is in the same situation as Terrick. Rice rescued a bald merc/dip who had a plasma pistol and plans to trade it with some Japanese for the return of wife and son Alice and Charlie. (WE=Maria Shipley - CapnUSA=FrankBurns)

 

A live Reaper was rescued from Buenos Aires and transported by a private company to the base. It is safe and healthy in containment (don't remember building that) but has not been commented on or researched. Perhaps some preliminary observations should be reported to the commander so he can decide what research path to follow next?

 

Daniel made a breakthrough with moion sensors and should have the theory done by now, recommend he presents it to Genega who can pass it on to the workshops for final design and manufacture.

 

Dana has been working on personal armour for all troopers and gave a time scale of 1-2 weeks till completion. 3 days has passed as of right now so at least a handful of troopers will now have this armour.

 

Genega has given laser rifle research the go ahead but the early pistol designs still have flaws such as operating in mist/rain/snow etc.

 

Need to make further research choices. Currently assigned to laser rifles. Motion scanners presumed complete. New subjects are Sectoid autopsy, reaper terrorist, alien grenade, plasma pistol.

 

Need 3 new recruits to fill up all 3 squads (30 people) though Gaston is still off sick. Current roster follows though squad assignments need altering to allow for some cannon fodder.

 

Rick Osmond Chez "Ping"

Jack Thomas "Warlord"

Tamara Hilliard "Tammy"

Tim Day "Timmy"

Jack Donovan "Ripper"

Jack Howitz "Bomber"

Johann Ibsen

Bob Jennings "Stump"

Ki-tat Chung

Greg Conner "Ghost"

Hiroshi Escalante "Hero"

Kilam Chung "Tank"

Karl Green "Green"

Cleo Andrews "Poison"

Christel Keller "Mouse"

Bernard Dujardin "Gardener"

Norton Wexford "Stick"

Nathaniel Jacobson "Hankosha"

Paul Jasper "Jasper"

Gaston Duchante

Alexander Fitzwilliams "Fitz"

Igor Zhandovich "Sandy"

Isaac Rubenstein "Brick"

Jacob Mosovich

Samuel Thompson "Shades"

Rocio Lee

Sergei Ivanovich/Zaicev?

 

The last 4 are new recruits but there is some info on them. Will add it to the reference or something as necessary. Shades knows Hankosha. Sergei was introduced in a post I don't like (chapter 3 #3) due to matrix references and the fact he changes his surname mid post If Dumb Commander is still here we can do something with it, if not I'd advise we lose the post and bring him in later with the other new recruits we need.

 

Apparently Sandy was heavily injured but I left him out of the sickbay scene. Let me know if you think I should edit him in (can't be botehred to read up on the situation right now )

 

Thought we needed 4 more troops but unless I duplicated one the list above suggests only 3. Still we could use as much troop turnover as possible anyway so either way is fine Maybe we should get 13 new troops and make 4 squads? Seems rather ott but at least we can get more casualties that way and a mission with no expendable troops is no fun to write...

 

That's all I can think of right now (youll be pleased to hear!) off to put up curtains now

 

Edit : Just had to edit my post, so much for bringing continuity back to the fic. Left a glarer of an error in there but it seems now that noone will ever know

[Bomb Bloke]

Excellent! It may take me a little while to get entirely back up to speed on things myself, but I'll try to scribble something out within the next few days.

 

Fanfic is back I'm hoping that some more of the old writers will jump on board if we can get the thing moving again so BB get on with it I read through the whole abbreviated fic (and a few newer posts that aren't covered) and I made a list of topics to follow up before I started writing.

These days only FullAuto is still around; hopefully others will learn through imitation, though.

 

Terrick took a laser pistol in the mercenary mission and despite multiple searches for it I don't think it was ever located. He also took a bullet for Rick in that mission so he's not a purely evil character and may be saved. Remember he wants the tech to save his family, can't remember who from. Ah of course... When he made a run for it and shot down Trigger he would've been captured with the weapon in his possession. Interrogation needs to happen soon.

You of all people should remember what happened to that gun - he shot at TJ with it shortly before the rescue party arrived.

 

Apparently there are 2 prisoners from the merc mission but I only found one from a quick readthrough. Bernard (a diplomat who didn't believe the alien story) was nabbed by Rick and needs questioning. There may or may not be another merc/diplomat in custody but all of the named persons escaped safely.

There's a merc in a different cell. Had a bunch of knives but nothing in terms of identification.

 

A live Reaper was rescued from Buenos Aires and transported by a private company to the base. It is safe and healthy in containment (don't remember building that) but has not been commented on or researched. Perhaps some preliminary observations should be reported to the commander so he can decide what research path to follow next?

We've been kinda following all projects at once thus far (the science team has turned out a little like that of Apocalypse, with experts who are only good at certain fields), but it'd make a good "first sample" for live bio-research. We've already had someone looking at the Sectoid corpse, but the results have been just as unremarkable as they are in-game.

 

In terms of "physics"-type stuff (as Apoc would call it), I vote we go with weapons research. We've already got useable plasma weapons, but no way to build them or produce clips. The laser weapons are just about done, but luckily they won't go obsolete even if plasma research proceeds; unlimited ammo keeps 'em valuable.

 

Stun bomb launchers can also be fielded, but again, not yet produced. It may be a good idea to stick with this line of thinking for the alien grenades - have someone work out how to prime them, then leave it at that.

 

The other option is research into craft technology, which leads to either the Firestorm or powered armor; a bit early for either, in my opinion (and I realise things are over nine years in at this point ).

 

The last 4 are new recruits but there is some info on them. Will add it to the reference or something as necessary. Shades knows Hankosha. Sergei was introduced in a post I don't like (chapter 3 #3) due to matrix references and the fact he changes his surname mid post If Dumb Commander is still here we can do something with it, if not I'd advise we lose the post and bring him in later with the other new recruits we need.

DC pokes his head in on rare occasions, but I doubt we'll be seeing him any time soon. I'd rather keep the post as it is, as variety in writers is what makes this fun.

 

Apparently Sandy was heavily injured but I left him out of the sickbay scene. Let me know if you think I should edit him in (can't be botehred to read up on the situation right now )

I'm guessing he got better? I've got him down as "ready-for-duty", so I'm guessing someone got bored of him being in the sickbay and dragged him out again.

[The Veteran]

These days only FullAuto is still around; hopefully others will learn through imitation, though.

 

Well frankly even if it's just us and FA then it'd be back to what it was at it's best But yes hopefully we'll see some new blood if we get it kicked back into shape!

 

You of all people should remember what happened to that gun - he shot at TJ with it shortly before the rescue party arrived.

 

Haha I didn't re-read those posts! I actually forgot all about them when I wrote these notes down, that's why the bit with Trigger is just tagged on the end as an 'oh actually'

 

There's a merc in a different cell. Had a bunch of knives but nothing in terms of identification.

 

I read through all of the mission with these guys but I must have missed this. There was the bald guy who looked ready to be captured but then he escaped. If you happen to spot any info on his capture I'd appreciate you pointing it out to me so I can refresh my memory

 

We've been kinda following all projects at once thus far (the science team has turned out a little like that of Apocalypse, with experts who are only good at certain fields), but it'd make a good "first sample" for live bio-research. We've already had someone looking at the Sectoid corpse, but the results have been just as unremarkable as they are in-game.

 

In terms of "physics"-type stuff (as Apoc would call it), I vote we go with weapons research. We've already got useable plasma weapons, but no way to build them or produce clips. The laser weapons are just about done, but luckily they won't go obsolete even if plasma research proceeds; unlimited ammo keeps 'em valuable.

 

Stun bomb launchers can also be fielded, but again, not yet produced. It may be a good idea to stick with this line of thinking for the alien grenades - have someone work out how to prime them, then leave it at that.

 

The other option is research into craft technology, which leads to either the Firestorm or powered armor; a bit early for either, in my opinion (and I realise things are over nine years in at this point ).

 

Well based on previous conversations, Daniel said at the beginning of chapter three he could have a working motion detector 'before the weekend' which is why I think we should consider it complete 3 days later. There was also discussion of putting together a prototype 'hybrid craft' which will presumably be the firestorm too. Either Zager or Photon discussed it with Genega at the start of the chapter I believe. They said if the funds were forthcoming it could be done in a month or so I think. Bearing in mind we're rebuilding 1 interceptor and have just bought another one we may be a little low on funds for such a large project right now but it was also mentioned that Genega had some black market contacts who would pay 'bog money' for real alien corpses so maybe a meeting could occur soon.

 

 

 

Personally, as far as what comes next (or soon at least) I think the Terrick storyline needs addressing. That'll mean at least an interview/interrogation but ultimately it comes down to the fact he's left Earth's best hope at surviving an alien assault with no aircraft and a massive security leak. He needs to be dealt with fast! He knocked out the Commander in his own office for crying out loud! We also need to address the fact his family is being held hostage though...

 

Hey...

 

Maybe we could throw him in the big house somewhere and send a little commando team (just a few of our best specialised soldiers) to rescue his family. IT could provide an opportunity to make contact with that chopper pilot again, Marvin Rice. It would also help us track down White Eyelashes in the longterm as she's flying around in a hybrid Ranger which cant be good for us. Or we could set her up as a long term 'Cult of Sirius' protagonist perhaps? But then she is already 50 so she'd be well over 130 in Apoc

 

Anyhoo, it's a thought. We could tidy up this whole messy situation with people being hired to steal alien technology, it's not particularly convincing after all Besides I think we'll be getting some more security systems fitted after the whole Terrick thing so Pine Gap will be impenetrable to anything but an all out assault. Need more thorough screening procedures for potential 'Commies in the future too I think. Anyone who breaks down in tears when you ask about their family should probably be sent packing

 

I'm guessing he got better? I've got him down as "ready-for-duty", so I'm guessing someone got bored of him being in the sickbay and dragged him out again.

 

Agreed, he's not a huge character anyway so it's unlikely anyone will spot the inconsistency (if there is one) alternatively we can always edit it out. Do me a favour and if you do spot anything that doesn't quite fit the story while you're catching up to speed make a note of it. Now's as good a time as any to fix any minor discrepancies! Also what happened to Hankosha's artefacts? One of the posts in the Summary thread says 'Hankosha decides to keep the artefacts he found' or similar. Were they ever recovered as that's on the same level as allowing Terrick to smash up our interceptors while everyone else is looking the other way!

 

As a final note, I think we've had 'funding council' meetings twice so far, so is it safe to say we're now in March? Perhaps we should try and make each chapter a month from here on out? Though of course chapter one was only a few days long and two was 2 months according to my theory! Still, tell me what you think, seems it's up to us for now at any rate

[The Veteran]

Come on BB, don't have to wait another 3 years now do we

[Bomb Bloke]

I read through all of the mission with these guys but I must have missed this. There was the bald guy who looked ready to be captured but then he escaped. If you happen to spot any info on his capture I'd appreciate you pointing it out to me so I can refresh my memory

He was briefly held at gunpoint by Tim Day, but escaped with the rest of the diplomats on the chopper. He was the dude who got Rice his plasma pistol.

 

Speaking of the diplomatic mission - all the corpses left behind belonged to the diplomat's mercenary guards and the aliens. One of their pilots also died, but I'm not aware of any other neutrals biting it (edit: any neutrals who were killed have been attributed to Dodge, who himself died on the next mission!). Hostilities were opened by the mercenaries before the diplomats were ID'd as civilians, so the chopper they were in got sprayed with bullets. Didn't help that the remaining pilot then flew around trying to ram people with the thing.

 

The two captives are Bernard the idiot diplomat, and some unlucky merc Howitz half blew up. Neither of them really had much idea why they were there in the first place; about the only useful information they could provide would be who they work for.

 

... but it was also mentioned that Genega had some black market contacts who would pay 'bog money' for real alien corpses so maybe a meeting could occur soon.

Whose idea was it to blow up all the spare corpses at the end of the last mission?

 

Personally, as far as what comes next (or soon at least) I think the Terrick storyline needs addressing. That'll mean at least an interview/interrogation but ultimately it comes down to the fact he's left Earth's best hope at surviving an alien assault with no aircraft and a massive security leak. He needs to be dealt with fast! He knocked out the Commander in his own office for crying out loud! We also need to address the fact his family is being held hostage though...

 

Hey...

 

Maybe we could throw him in the big house somewhere and send a little commando team (just a few of our best specialised soldiers) to rescue his family. IT could provide an opportunity to make contact with that chopper pilot again, Marvin Rice. It would also help us track down White Eyelashes in the longterm as she's flying around in a hybrid Ranger which cant be good for us. Or we could set her up as a long term 'Cult of Sirius' protagonist perhaps? But then she is already 50 so she'd be well over 130 in Apoc

Rice only worked for Terrick's boss for the same reason Terrick did - extortion. His story has already achieved a happy ending, and while it'd be possible to work him back into the story at some later point, it'd be tragic to see him sucked into the same situation again.

 

Eyelashes is probably not in with Terrick/Rice's asian employers. They wanted any bit of tech he could get his paws on and were apparently quite happy with a plasma pistol; she has Ethereal contacts and functional alien flight technology. Plus some stuff that hasn't been identified yet. That is to say, she's already ahead of X-COM as far as technology goes.

 

In any case, I've been looking forward to gatecrashing that little party. X-COM is still struggling a bit against the aliens, but the dudes Rice/Terrick work for are presumably still trying to work out how their first captured plasma pistol works; X-COM lasers and motion scanners would make that fight somewhat one-sided, throw in some more of that personal armour and it'll practically be a field trip.

 

We're talking about a facility filled with captive scientific talent, many of whom already have access to classified technologies. They'd probably be quite happy to merge with X-COM once "liberated". Terrick knows this, but whether Genega will buy his story in its entirety is yet to be determined. Genega has every reason to be royally pissed at the guy - knocked him out, ruined a Hurricane, shot a guard, injured a pilot, stole a laser gun... The ONLY guy who would be in any position to stand up for him would be Rick, for whom Terrick took a bullet. Though Rick doesn't know that (yet), he'll probably work it out sooner or later, as Green knows Terrick's injury came from his last mission (and not from his attempted escape).

 

Once Terrick's family is in X-COM custody, he could ironically be "kept in line" under X-COM employ under the same "threat" his current masters have him under. Only this time around he'd probably be grateful for the opportunity. The other plausible outcomes are execution or "lock him up and throw away the key", though it'll be difficult to recruit his family if he doesn't get a happy end of some sort.

 

As a final note, I think we've had 'funding council' meetings twice so far, so is it safe to say we're now in March? Perhaps we should try and make each chapter a month from here on out? Though of course chapter one was only a few days long and two was 2 months according to my theory! Still, tell me what you think, seems it's up to us for now at any rate

Works for me. Chapter one mostly consisted of the month of December... Frankly, I'm not certain when we started...

[The Veteran]

Nice one BB, looks like we're back in action

 

The two captives are Bernard the idiot diplomat, and some unlucky merc Howitz half blew up. Neither of them really had much idea why they were there in the first place; about the only useful information they could provide would be who they work for.

 

I still can't figure out who the idiot diplomat is... Wasn't that Bernard? As for the half dead one, the base is pretty full so maybe we can let him pass on. After all he would be in the medbay if he was still alive but he wasn't mentioned. I think once you're half dead you don't survive three days so may write him off!

 

Rice only worked for Terrick's boss for the same reason Terrick did - extortion. His story has already achieved a happy ending, and while it'd be possible to work him back into the story at some later point, it'd be tragic to see him sucked into the same situation again.

 

Eyelashes ... she's already ahead of X-COM as far as technology goes.

 

We're talking about a facility filled with captive scientific talent, many of whom already have access to classified technologies. They'd probably be quite happy to merge with X-COM once "liberated". Terrick knows this, but whether Genega will buy his story in its entirety is yet to be determined.

 

Once Terrick's family is in X-COM custody, he could ironically be "kept in line" under X-COM employ under the same "threat" his current masters have him under.

 

I agree, I think this story should be concluded this game month. There will of course be armed guards but as you say we'll have personal armour and laser rifles by the sounds of it. Marvin Rics can stay out of the story now, unless we happen to raid the place and his family is still there. Remember these are bad guys, they've been known to fib before!

 

We should definitely make use of the scientists but maybe not at pine gap. Trying to catch up with all the personnel is already quite tricky and a bunch more eggheads won't make that any easier! As for Terrick's fate... Hmm... I'll get a post together in the next few days when I'm feeling a bit better but maybe the focus can be on interrogations and such this time round. Who knows who, who doesn't know who, who works for who, etc and so on... Will see, let me know any thoughts you may have.

 

Works for me. Chapter one mostly consisted of the month of December... Frankly, I'm not certain when we started...

 

I'm guessing the frist posts were very late in december and served only to introdue the troops/base/organisation etc. The end of chapter one was January first when X-Com officially became active and then in chapter 2 we had 2 meetings by the looks of it with one being right at the end of the chapter. That means it's probably the first week in March right now (3rd or 4th maybe?) What we need to decide next is how to keep things progressing apace as we don't want to cram in too many missions but we also don't want to miss out the R&D stuff or any character development. Any thoughts on how many engagements the game usually throws out per month?

 

Finally, if there's anyone else out there reading this, feel free to come and join in! It won't be all that exciting with just two of us writing and we can only be so fair when following the lives of so many different characters that we didn't create. Help would be much appreciated I'm sure

[Rasicar]

After finishing college, a job and a divorce, ....I'm back.....

 

Let's write this bitch... Still reading through everything and collating all teh characters (you guys added quite a bit.)

[Space Voyager]

After finishing college, a job and a divorce, ....I'm back.....

Yikes. That is a lot of new experiences, surely an inspiration. Welcome back!

[Bomb Bloke]

Welcome back, in any case.

 

Seeing your post in the TFTD section (which I usually ignore, as I've got it stuck in my head that these things should be done in order - which by my reckoning will see me join that fic about 2200 ) makes me hit on an important point - certain characters who appear there would logically be granted immortality for the duration of this fic. May need to run through and collect which names have to be "protected" to prevent a time paradox or something...

[Rasicar]

Welcome back, in any case.

 

Seeing your post in the TFTD section (which I usually ignore, as I've got it stuck in my head that these things should be done in order - which by my reckoning will see me join that fic about 2200 ) makes me hit on an important point - certain characters who appear there would logically be granted immortality for the duration of this fic. May need to run through and collect which names have to be "protected" to prevent a time paradox or something...

 

 

To my knowledge, just that one so far. I figured that Warlord, Rick and a few others would probably survive. I recall initially wanting Donovan to go out in style at some point, but figured... what the hell. I'm still thinking about what to contribute to the UFO. Despite reading it all, I'm still digesting it.