Azira
Arcane
Alright, welcome to this, my first attempt at a Codex LP.
Inspired by the recent X-com LPs I decided to replay a series of games that were themselves inspired by the X-com games, but which I have yet to see be the subject of an LP here. Being a naturally lazy sort of person, I had hoped someone else would do an LP of any of these games, but finally I manned up, and here we go.
I'm pretty certain I'm going to regret this decision, and it's entirely likely that I'll abandon this LP before long, but I can handle the name-calling and jeers so I'm good.
Table of contents:
1: Introduction
2: First mission, cutting our teeth
3: Mutants, aliens and UFO dogfighting
4: An update on the soldiers
5: Research, Area 51 and more recruits
6: A look at the roster
7: Lasers, plasma weapons and weird and unlikely mutants
8: Armour, mutant autopsies and biomass appearing
9: Aircraft upgrades, a secret russian facility and biomass researched
10: Proper soldiers now
11: Requiescat in Pace
12: Turning aliens into fine red mist
13: Aliens join the team..
14: The end..
15: Victory!
There are three games in this UFO series, and I'll start out with the first one. There are two reasons for this:
A) If contrary to my initial assumption, I actually complete this LP there's the possibility of moving on to the other games in the series.
B) This first game in the series has an option to auto-resolve combat missions. There's a "delegate" button that lets the local militia try to handle the aliens.
Anyhoo, on to the screenshot part:
Behold! The title screen! I'd hoped to catch the intro video, but apparently, windows7 and this game doesn't like eachother that much. Be prepared we might also run into some rather strange graphical glitches later on. In this game we will be playing the role of the "Phoenix Company" and our job is to combat alien invasion.
This is the background story:
[EDIT]
Found the intro movie on youtube. Could've searched for it earlier, but apparently, I'm a lazy fuck who doesn't give a shit.
Of course, we play this game on hard difficulty, and me being a european, I decided that's where our initial base would be located.
This is a view of the Geospace. The territories outlined in light blue are those we currently control. The two white dots are our current bases, and the weird, broken-up circle with red and white edges is a mission. There are three kinds of bases currently available, military which can launch air interceptions or host a transport chopper for our squad, research which handles research obviously, and engineering in which we can manufacture new equipment. Later on we'll be able to construct anti-biomass bases to complement these initial three types.
We'll tackle the mission as soon as I get some volounteers for the first three recruits.
From the Geospace screen though, we can also reach the R&D screen which is broken up into two parts, the Research part and the Development part..
Not much to see in either yet.
And now, the recruits, accessible via the Squad button. There's currently 3 available. Two male, one female. I'll try to keep my recruits alive during these missions, but casualties will be unavoidable. It's not as simple to get new recruits as it is in the X-com games though, so do not expect that kind of bloodbath.
Here are the currently available recruits:
Each recruit has six attributes, three physical and three mental:
These attributes determine when a recruit is eligible for training and there's currently 7 different fields available for training in. Each training session improves a recruits skills, and cross training is possible, but you can only improve a skill through training once. So picking two trainings for upping your rifle skill for instance, will not give you +2 in said skill. Each level-up will see you with the opportunity to raise one of your attributes one level. The trainings available are these:
The skills and attributes are expressed on an eight-point scale which has these values, from poorest to best:
Awful => Poor => Average => Good => Very Good => Excellent => Heroic => Super-heroic
The manual claims that
And here's a further dump from the manual, on the skills and attributes, so you can better tailor in which direction you would like to see your recruit advance
Alright you grunts. Can't be arsed to write any more right now. Instead, I now crave at least 3 volounteers. Pick a career path, tell me how you want your recruit to train and I'll try not to get them killed too soon. Let's get on with this LP, shall we?
Inspired by the recent X-com LPs I decided to replay a series of games that were themselves inspired by the X-com games, but which I have yet to see be the subject of an LP here. Being a naturally lazy sort of person, I had hoped someone else would do an LP of any of these games, but finally I manned up, and here we go.
I'm pretty certain I'm going to regret this decision, and it's entirely likely that I'll abandon this LP before long, but I can handle the name-calling and jeers so I'm good.
Table of contents:
1: Introduction
2: First mission, cutting our teeth
3: Mutants, aliens and UFO dogfighting
4: An update on the soldiers
5: Research, Area 51 and more recruits
6: A look at the roster
7: Lasers, plasma weapons and weird and unlikely mutants
8: Armour, mutant autopsies and biomass appearing
9: Aircraft upgrades, a secret russian facility and biomass researched
10: Proper soldiers now
11: Requiescat in Pace
12: Turning aliens into fine red mist
13: Aliens join the team..
14: The end..
15: Victory!
There are three games in this UFO series, and I'll start out with the first one. There are two reasons for this:
A) If contrary to my initial assumption, I actually complete this LP there's the possibility of moving on to the other games in the series.
B) This first game in the series has an option to auto-resolve combat missions. There's a "delegate" button that lets the local militia try to handle the aliens.
Anyhoo, on to the screenshot part:
Behold! The title screen! I'd hoped to catch the intro video, but apparently, windows7 and this game doesn't like eachother that much. Be prepared we might also run into some rather strange graphical glitches later on. In this game we will be playing the role of the "Phoenix Company" and our job is to combat alien invasion.
This is the background story:
Code:
On May 25, 2004, a giant spacecraft approached the earth. Silent, it hovered
ominously over the world and began to release great clouds of spores into the upper
atmosphere. Rapidly multiplying, the spores soon darkened the skies, and before long
obscured the sun completely. In later days, this period would be known as the
“Twilight.”.
The spores, having reached critical mass in the skies, began to rain down. Over the
course of several days, they began to clog and streets and bodies of water, smothering
people in their homes and burying animals in the wild. During the "Nightfall," as it came
to be called, most of the higher life forms on the earth were wiped out.
During the Twilight, all human responses were futile. Choosing caution over
aggression, the governments of the world didn’t realize how quickly the end could
come, and were buried alongside those that they governed. A few, however, did
survive, sealed in underground bases with stocks of food and oxygen. After several
weeks, the spores seemed to have disintegrated, decomposing and settling into the
soil. The world seemed safe again, for a time. This is where you come in: You must
gather together the remaining peoples of the planet, find out what has happened and,
if possible, get your revenge.
[EDIT]
Found the intro movie on youtube. Could've searched for it earlier, but apparently, I'm a lazy fuck who doesn't give a shit.
Of course, we play this game on hard difficulty, and me being a european, I decided that's where our initial base would be located.
This is a view of the Geospace. The territories outlined in light blue are those we currently control. The two white dots are our current bases, and the weird, broken-up circle with red and white edges is a mission. There are three kinds of bases currently available, military which can launch air interceptions or host a transport chopper for our squad, research which handles research obviously, and engineering in which we can manufacture new equipment. Later on we'll be able to construct anti-biomass bases to complement these initial three types.
We'll tackle the mission as soon as I get some volounteers for the first three recruits.
From the Geospace screen though, we can also reach the R&D screen which is broken up into two parts, the Research part and the Development part..
Not much to see in either yet.
And now, the recruits, accessible via the Squad button. There's currently 3 available. Two male, one female. I'll try to keep my recruits alive during these missions, but casualties will be unavoidable. It's not as simple to get new recruits as it is in the X-com games though, so do not expect that kind of bloodbath.
Here are the currently available recruits:
Each recruit has six attributes, three physical and three mental:
These attributes determine when a recruit is eligible for training and there's currently 7 different fields available for training in. Each training session improves a recruits skills, and cross training is possible, but you can only improve a skill through training once. So picking two trainings for upping your rifle skill for instance, will not give you +2 in said skill. Each level-up will see you with the opportunity to raise one of your attributes one level. The trainings available are these:
The skills and attributes are expressed on an eight-point scale which has these values, from poorest to best:
Awful => Poor => Average => Good => Very Good => Excellent => Heroic => Super-heroic
The manual claims that
Code:
It is not true that Average is 3 and Good 4. The differences between the various levels increase as one ascends the scale, so these descriptions are actually more accurate than numbers would be.
And here's a further dump from the manual, on the skills and attributes, so you can better tailor in which direction you would like to see your recruit advance
Code:
There are fourteen skills in all. For easier orientation, we divide them into four groups.
Combat Skills
The combat skills are only used when calculating the chance of hitting. Each skill
applies to a different type of weapon. For more information, see "Attack Resolution."
Marksmanship Influences the chance of hitting with sniper rifles
Rifles Rifle skill influences the chance to hit with assault rifles.
Handguns Influences the chance of hitting with pistols and machine guns
Launchers Influences the chance of hitting with rocket/grenade launchers
and other heavy weapons
Throwing Influences accuracy and range when throwing grenades and
other objects
Defense Skills
Defense skills are a motley collection. The first skill, Psi power, is half an attack skill,
Hit points are not used in any calculation in the game, and Speed influences many other
things beside defense. Still, defense is one thing these skills have in common. For more
information, see "Attack Resolution."
Psi Power Psi power influences the chance to hit with psionic attack and is
also the measure of the ability to withstand them.
Hit Points The number of hit points – the amount of damage the soldier can
withstand – is calculated from this skill.
Speed Speed governs how fast the soldier walks, runs, handles weapons
and generally the timing of most actions.
Dodging Dodging is the soldier’s ability to avoid being hit.
Detection Skills
This is the smallest group of skills. Both pertain to the chance of spotting or being
spotted. For more information, see the section "Spotting Enemy."
Observation Observation is the ability to notice enemies.
Stealth Stealth is the ability to avoid being spotted by the enemy.
Other Skills
The following skills do not fall into any of the previous groups:
Capacity Capacity influences how much the soldier can carry.
Aliens Aliens skill enables the soldier to hit enemies more effectively.
Medical Medical skill is the ability to heal wounds in the field.
2.4.3 Attributes
Attributes are the fundamental statistics. The Skill values are derived from them. See
"Relationship Between Skills and Attributes," below.
Physical Attributes
Strength Strength influences mainly Capacity and skills with respect to
heavy weapons.
Agility Agility influences mainly Speed and Rifles.
Dexterity Dexterity influences mainly Dodging and Handguns.
Mental Attributes
Willpower Willpower influences mainly Psi Power and Marksmanship.
Intelligence Intelligence influences mainly Aliens and Medical skills.
Perception Perception influences mainly Observation and Stealth skills.