XCOM: Enemy Unknown Sign-Ups (Smogon Edition)

[Elite Lord Sigma]

I've been meaning to play XCOM: Enemy Unknown for a while, but I wanted to do something a bit different than just play through the game. The idea to write mission logs and incorporate friends from online came from a similar thread by someone on the forums of another site I frequent. This board seemed like the best place to post this thread, so here goes.

For those of you who don't know what XCOM is, it's a series of strategy and tactics games that focuses on defending Earth from alien invasion. The first game in the series, from which this game gets its title, was released for the PC in 1994. Individual units in this game have customizable names, appearances, and so forth.

I already had a few people sign up for this from the Showdown chatrooms, so I already have a few logs written and ready for posting. If anybody else is interested in signing up to be a squadmate, just provide the following information. Anything marked with an asterisk is mandatory, but you can otherwise be as specific as you wish.

*First Name
*Last Name
*Nickname (Becomes available when the unit is promoted to Sergeant)
*Class (Your choices are Assault, Heavy, Support, or Sniper.)
*Gender
Character Customization (Physical appearance, armor coloration, etc.)
Equipment (I will inform the thread as new options become available.)
Perks (You gain these as you get promoted. I will notify anybody who has a perk selection to make after a mission.)

Since I anticipate this question will come up, I am not doing Enemy Within yet for two main reasons. First of all, I don't actually own a copy of the expansion. Secondly, I want to play through the base game at least once so I can better appreciate the changes made in EW. Nonetheless, if this thread manages to garner sufficient interest, I'd be more than happy to do an edition of this thread for an EW playthrough.

Current Squad Members
-HeaLnDeaL (Support)
-Animus Majulous (Heavy)
-Ria (Support)
-Darth Hlobe (Sniper)
-Koios (Sniper)
-Subject 001 (Assault)

If there is a name that is not listed above in a mission log, that unit is a character with a default name that has not been claimed by someone yet. If you sign up for a character that fits the request you made, your name will be retroactively added into any and all relevant mission logs.

As this is my first playthrough of the game, I decided to go through the tutorial for the sake of being thorough. The first mission is completely scripted, so I saw little reason to write a full mission log for it. All you need to know is that XCOM sent a team to investigate an suspected alien incursion in Cologne, Germany. A member of the German recon team sent to investigate earlier was being mind controlled by an alien as bait to lure the team into the ambush. Three members of the team were killed during the resulting firefight, but one member of the squad managed to return to base unscathed.

Anyway, now that the introduction is done, the first proper mission log is below. I hope you enjoy it.

After the commander was done being introduced to the various facilities of the base, XCOM was notified of two abduction missions in New York, United States and Guangzhou, China. We only had the resources to respond to one request, so it was elected to go to New York, as the US was offering scientists to the XCOM project. Considering the technological superiority of the enemy, it was felt that learning more about our foe was of utmost importance.

Operation Silent Hammer
New York, United States
March 1, 2015 2:33 AM
Squad: Animus, Romero, Subject 001, HeaL

The sole survivor of the first mission, Animus, led a group consisting of three other rookies. They landed in an industrial area filled with crates and pallets. Subject 001 advanced to a nearby building to check for enemy forces. The building was found to be empty, so the rookie entered the building and took cover by the first door.

Meanwhile, Animus climbed up the building via a drain pipe and dashed to an air conditioning unit for cover. Upon arrival, he spotted two small enemies, who immediately took up cover upon noticing his presence. These creatures have large heads and glowing eyes; Command has decided to call them Sectoids.

HeaL advanced along the side of the building, taking cover behind a portable toilet, while Romero took cover alongside an overturned cement pipe. One of the Sectoids took a potshot at Animus, but his shot only succeeded in reducing the A/C unit into scrap metal. Animus retaliated by unloading his LMG into the other Sectoid, killing it instantly.

Subject 001 opened the door he was near and advanced to a nearby window, while HeaL and Romero moved up to a pile of pallets. Both attempted to fire upon the Sectoid, but both of their shots went wide. Not wanting the Sectoid to possibly injure our troops, Subject 001 decided to lob a grenade toward the Sectoid, blowing it apart.

There were still more enemies in the area, so the squad continued to carefully make their way toward the end of the pier as Animus dropped down from the building. After reaching some cover near a shipping container, Animus noticed another Sectoid in the distance. HeaL decided to flank along a red storage barge, upon which she spotted a second Sectoid. At this point, the two Sectoids broke down a nearby door and took up positions inside. Subject 001 followed Animus along the right flank, while HeaL accompanied Romero.

At this point, one of the Sectoids began to glow with a purple energy that flowed into its comrade, increasing its health. The mind merged Sectoid took a shot at Animus, but his cover allowed him to evade harm. The squad continued to advance, with HeaL entering Overwatch along the red barge while Animus and Romero also entered Overwatch along some debris.

Both Sectoids fired upon Animus. While the first one missed completely, the second one hit him, causing him to temporarily panic. Since he could no longer fire upon his foe, all three Rookies attempted to fire upon the Sectoids, but all three of their attacks were off target.

The Sectoids took a few more potshots at Romero. One grazed him, but the other flew wide. At this point, Animus had regained his composure. Sick and tired of the Sectoids giving him trouble, he decided to give his new toy a try.

Taking out his rocket launcher, he aimed for a spot just inside the building where the two Sectoids were cooped up. The rocket flew true, slamming into the floor of the building and obliterating the last two foes. Mission complete.

Casualties: Animus is out with injuries for six days, while Romero will need to spend nine days recuperating from his wounds.

Promotions: Subject 001 was promoted to Squaddie and gained the Assault class.

MVP: Animus. He bagged three of the four aliens in this mission and managed not to screw anything up while being panicked.

I'm here with two more mission logs. Enjoy.


After our previous mission, the Council congratulated us on our success. Dr. Vahlen's team also finished their weapons research, allowing the newly operational Engineering to begin fabricating S.C.O.P.E. Attachments, which increase Aim by 10. Dr. Shen's engineers could also begin to produce Medikits for our soldiers, allowing for treatment of injuries and/or poisoning suffered by our soldiers on the field as well as stabilization of any squad members bleeding out in combat.

A few days passed as we scanned for alien activity with our satellite system. Soon, the Council contacted XCOM, requesting that we extract a woman who had escaped from alien imprisonment. As panic in Asia had risen after the abductions in Guangzhou went unanswered, the opportunity to reduce panic and learn more about the alien operations was too good to pass up.

Operation Hidden Tears
Fukuoka, Japan
March 5th, 2015 4:39 PM
Squad: Subject 001, Koios, HeaL, Thompson

As Animus was still recovering from his injuries, the squad for this mission was led by the newly promoted Subject 001. Three other rookies came along with him.

The squad touched down along an abandoned street in the city square, where a fountain lay at the center. Subject 001 moved into cover along a park bench and spotted a new enemy on the opposite side of the square. This foe was human in appearance and wore sunglasses and a suit, but something about it seemed distinctly alien. Dr. Vahlen theorized that it was some sort of infiltration unit and recommended capturing one for further study.

Subject 001 and Koios took up respective positions behind a lion statue and van on the left side, while HeaL and Thompson advanced along the opposite side of the square. The alien opened fire on the position of Thompson, but its shots flew harmlessly by.

HeaL sensed a flanking opportunity and attempted to fire on the alien from the side, but her shots only weakened the alien. Thompson was close by, and moved up to finish off the alien with a burst of his assault rifle, causing it to explode into a cloud of noxious-looking gas.

After regrouping and reloading, the squad began to advance up the square. HeaL spotted a Sectoid at the street corner as she advanced up the right side, while Koios noticed another Sectoid at the opposite street corner as he moved up.

The first Sectoid's shots at Subject 001 missed their mark, while the second Sectoid's plasma burst cut into HeaL's armor. However, she was able to maintain her composure.

Koios advanced along the side of the car he was using for cover. Seeing an opening, he fired at the Sectoid on the left side with his Assault Rifle and was rewarded with its screams of pain as it died. HeaL then moved up and was able to gun down the other Sectoid from her new position.

Regrouping a second time, the squad continued their search for Anna Sing. Thompson advanced to a garden near the edge of the square and sighted both the target and another Sectoid. HeaL and Koios both dashed to get into better positions, while Subject 001 took advantage of his new Run and Gun ability to flank the Sectoid. At that range, the Sectoid never knew what hit it.

Subject 001 was then able to approach Anna Sing and begin escorting her back to the Skyranger. Meanwhile, the rest of the squad began to clear a path back to the drop zone, keeping an eye out for any incoming threats. In the meantime, Koios took the chance to patch up HeaL's earlier injury with his Medikit.

Another humanoid alien dropped on top of a truck on the left side and entered Overwatch. Unfortunately, it had chosen a position right next to Koios, who promptly gunned it down before it could even bat an eye.

The squad continued to make their way to the Skyranger without incident, while Anna Sing kept her head down. Another humanoid soon dropped near the extraction point and entered Overwatch. Since he was the furthest forward, Thompson decided to break for a nearby piece of cover, managing to avoid the humanoid's Overwatch shots. From there, he fired with his assault rifle, staggering the alien.

The rest of the squad then began to advance to provide fire support. The alien's attempt to move to a better position was cut short by Koios's Overwatch fire. With all threats neutralized, the squad then dashed for the Skyranger with Anna Sing without further confrontation with alien forces. Mission complete.

Casualties: Due to her plasma burns, HeaL will be spending 11 days recovering.

Promotions: HeaL, Koios, and Thompson all gained promotions to Squaddie, becoming a Support, Sniper, and Heavy, respectively. Supports get the Smoke Grenade ability, which can be used once per mission to give a +20 bonus to all units in the cloud. Heavies get the Fire Rocket ability, which allows them to fire a rocket capable of doing up to six damage in a wide radius, but it can only be used if the Heavy has yet to move on their turn. Finally, Snipers get the Headshot ability, which has a +30% critical chance and boosted critical damage depending on the technological level of the rifle used, but it requires a two-turn cooldown before becoming available again.

MVP: Subject 001, for effective use of Run and Gun to take out some troublesome enemies.

After retrieving Anna Sing, the next several days were busy. First, Dr. Vahlen informed the rest of XCOM upon completion of the Xeno-Biology project that her research team had reached the limits of their ability to research alien corpses, so she requested that we attempt to capture one alive. To do so, her team began work on a device called the Arc Thrower after Xeno-Biology research was completed, which could potentially incapacitate aliens with an electrical discharge to allow us to capture and interrogate them.

Meanwhile, we also needed a suitable facility to hold alien captives, so Dr. Shen and his engineers began construction of an Alien Containment Unit next door to our Satellite Uplink facility. Speaking of satellites, the Council offered XCOM another satellite as a sign of gratitude for completing the previous mission. To compensate for my inability to assist China earlier, I decided to deploy the satellite over the country, resulting in panic reduction, extra engineers, and more monthly funding.

Soon, our satellite over Germany detected an unidentified flying object (UFO), so the interceptor Raven-1 was scrambled. After a brief exchange, the interceptor was able to shoot down the UFO, which crash landed in one piece. Upon learning this fact, Central Officer Bradford advised we send a strike team to investigate the crash site.

Operation Demon Thorn
Germany
March 15, 2015 2:38 AM
Squad: Animus, Koios, Subject 001, Ria

As the Skyranger landed, the squad noticed that the forest surrounding the crash site was lit ablaze. After Central advised the squad of heavy resistance from surviving alien crew members, they proceeded cautiously through the debris field, being sure to stay in cover. Animus and Subject 001 took up the front line, while Koios took up the rear with Ria in the middle.

After a few quiet minutes, the front of the downed UFO came into view; the front door seemed guarded by some sort of force field. As he moved closer to the craft, Subject 001 spotted two Sectoids to the left of the door, who immediately took up defensive positions. Koios hunkered down at the back, while Ria moved up and entered Overwatch. Animus began to move up the left flank.

One of the Sectoids mind merged with the other one. As the recipient Sectoid began to move toward the squad, Ria's Overwatch fire inflicted significant damage to it. The Sectoid then fired at Subject 001, who grit his teeth as the plasma fire burned through his armor.

Ria advanced to a new set of cover and attempted to gun down the Sectoid using Mind Merge, but his assault rifle fire missed. Animus then moved up and fired his LMG at the Sectoid receiving the mind merge, downing it. Subject 001 then took advantage of Run and Gun to dash up to the second Sectoid and kill it with a shotgun blast before it could react to the death of its companion.

After taking a breather, Animus led the charge to an opening in the hull of the UFO near where the Sectoids used to be. There, he spotted a new enemy: a being with a humanlike shape. Yet, Dr. Vahlen noted that the being seemed to be made almost entirely out of pure energy.

As the new foe advanced into cover, Koios noticed that he had a direct line of sight on the enemy from his current position. Deciding to hazard a shot, he used his new Headshot ability and drilled the enemy between the eyes, slaying it. Surprisingly, the enemy disappeared into thin air rather than leaving a corpse behind.

With the new enemy dealt with, Animus and Ria advanced into the UFO, with the latter reloading his assault rifle. Meanwhile, Subject 001 dropped back to reload his shotgun. Koios also advanced to establish a better line of sight into the aircraft and reload his sniper rifle.

As Animus moved toward what appeared to be the central control console, he spotted two more Sectoids on the opposite side of the crash site. They moved to a position that flanked Ria. Seeing that he was in a poor position, Ria relocated to the opposite side of the control panel he was at. His potshot at one of the Sectoids missed completely. As Animus took the time to reload his LMG in preparation for the next firefight, Subject 001 noted that the enemies were well out of his shotgun's effective range. Instead, he switched to his pistol and fired at one of the Sectoids, gravely injuring it.

The uninjured Sectoid responded by mind merging with its companion, who advanced toward the UFO. His plasma pistol fired at Subject 001, but the exterior hull of the UFO absorbed the rounds as it was disintegrated.

Koios advanced outside of the UFO to get into firing range. Unable to use his sniper rifle right away, he instead attempted to finish off the injured Sectoid with his pistol, but his shots missed.

Animus then realized he had a clear line of sight to the mind merging Sectoid. Pulling out his rocket launcher, he fired toward the tree the Sectoid was hiding behind. The rocket blew the Sectoid into smithereens, and the other Sectoid that had been receiving the mind merge fell over dead upon the death of its comrade. Mission complete.

Casualties: Subject 001 will be spending five days in medical to recover from his injury.

Promotions: Subject 001, Koios, and Animus all gained promotions to Corporal.

MVP: Animus. He killed three enemies, including a very nice rocket double kill to close out the mission.