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Speedball posted:Flashbangs work on chrysalids!? I'm pretty sure the only things Flashbangs won't affect are robotic types. While they're mainly advertised to debuff aim and remove overwatch, they also tack on a -50% movement penalty, which makes Chrysalisids a whole lot less threatening. I know it does that in Long War (Beaglerush just did the mission recently and used it to great effect), and i'm 90% sure flashbangs do it in vanilla EW, but I haven't used or needed to use them recently. Speaking of long war and chrysallids, if you would like to know how awful that mod can be, be aware that it makes "squad leader" type enemies for all groups, and Chryssalid squad leders have lightning reflexes. Which is even better in LW than it is in EW.
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Sep 30, 2014 22:25
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SpookyLizard posted:While they're mainly advertised to debuff aim and remove overwatch, they also tack on a -50% movement penalty This makes them really, really useful if you still need to capture something you haven't already vivisected in Brazil.
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Sep 30, 2014 22:37
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Might sound strange, but Sectopods (-podes?) are my favorite alien. Can probably skip the philosophy/psychology derail but I don't think I really hate anything... either way Thin Men can lick a hairy dysphemism.
silentsnack fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 22:41
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And yes, the worst alien is the douchedisk. Cyberdisks in general tend to kill the gently caress out of my soldiers, but that specific encounter sucks big fat hairy dicks.
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Sep 30, 2014 23:32
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SpookyLizard posted:And yes, the worst alien is the douchedisk. Cyberdisks in general tend to kill the gently caress out of my soldiers, but that specific encounter sucks big fat hairy dicks. It's like a toll that you pay for the DLC goodies.
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Sep 30, 2014 23:45
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Honestly, stuff like that and apparently some of the DLC maps where you really have to memorize the drop locations to have a chance at survival just make me not want to play at all. But then I'm the kind of hopeless babby who thinks about restarting if even one little thing goes wrong, so.
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Sep 30, 2014 23:50
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Chard posted:This makes them really, really useful if you still need to capture something you haven't already vivisected in Brazil. That is pretty much EXACTLY why you would want flashbangs. Unfortunately I happen to know that they don't work on psionic enemies.
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Oct 1, 2014 01:15
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DivineCoffeeBinge posted:I have never played this game. I have, however, played the original XCOM. Yes.
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Oct 1, 2014 02:12
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Ciaphas posted:Honestly, stuff like that and apparently some of the DLC maps where you really have to memorize the drop locations to have a chance at survival just make me not want to play at all. But then I'm the kind of hopeless babby who thinks about restarting if even one little thing goes wrong, so. That's much more the exception than the rule - most of the game consists of reacting on the fly, not pre-set situations. It's also worth noting that ever since Enemy Within, Normal difficulty is a lot more forgiving (and Classic, conversely, is a lot more punishing). XCOM is definitely not usually a "puzzle" game.
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Oct 1, 2014 05:00
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Never really had a problem with Thin Men, but then again, I only play on Normal with vanilla Enemy Unknown, so I guess I haven't seen them be humongous assholes yet. Chryssalids are annoying, but I can usually gun them down before they make it to melee range to threaten my guys. The aliens I hate the most are probably Cyberdiscs and Sectopods, just due to the amount of damage they can take and dish out, especially the latter, due to their AoE attack, which I had no idea about until I let it go off on the final mission, hitting a bunch of my guys for quite a bit and making me use medkit charges that I really needed at the end. The douchedisc does get a special mention, since it almost murdered one of my rookies that I was using to fill out my squad during that mission, since my main team had taken some injuries in the previous mission in that sequence and the mission in question fired a couple days later before they were out of sickbay. Wound up chain panicking one of my more experienced guys that mission when he got shot and left bleeding out. Since I don't have Enemy Within yet, I haven't yet played this Site Recon mission, but it does look amazing. Also, I watched Beaglerush's take on the Long War version of this mission as it was linked earlier in thread, and that was pretty drat satisfying in watching him deal with the whale. If you hate Chryssalids, watching that video can be pretty drat cathartic. GhostStalker fucked around with this message at 06:02 on Oct 1, 2014 |
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Oct 1, 2014 05:59
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GhostStalker posted:Since I don't have Enemy Within yet, I haven't yet played this Site Recon mission, but it does look amazing. Also, I watched Beaglerush's take on the Long War version of this mission as it was linked earlier in thread, and that was pretty drat satisfying in watching him deal with the whale. If you hate Chryssalids, watching that video can be pretty drat cathartic.
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Oct 1, 2014 06:04
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FredMSloniker posted:Does Long War fundamentally alter the mission in some way, or did he just park some guys around the whale and shoot Chryssalids until they stopped coming out? (They do stop, eventually, though I believe they start up again when you hit the switch.) The latter. As I said, it's really drat satisfying if you hate Chyssalids, and even if you don't, it's still pretty awesome.
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Oct 1, 2014 06:24
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FredMSloniker posted:Does Long War fundamentally alter the mission in some way, or did he just park some guys around the whale and shoot Chryssalids until they stopped coming out? (They do stop, eventually, though I believe they start up again when you hit the switch.) It's the latter, but it's done in a clever way, and it's incredibly satisfying watching the chrysallids get mowed down. He also uses the increased squadsize of Long War to block off ledges, forcing the Chrysallids take the long way around of some structures to be able to jump up on top of them.
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Oct 1, 2014 07:15
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Chryssalids, for the simple fact that, when things go badly against most enemies, it's bad. when they go badly against our 4 legged friends, things get WORSE. Plus when you face the later enemies, you generally have some sort of tool to handle them. Chryssalids can hit you when you're still fighting with basic armour and rifles. Veloxyll fucked around with this message at 12:24 on Oct 2, 2014 |
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Oct 2, 2014 12:20
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My current most hated enemy is definitely Seekers. Not because of their vanilla incarnation, but due to Long War: Stealth, damage reduction, increased avoid from flight and the entire group can attack at the same time. And even if you manage to peel them off your guys, if you don't kill them the same turn, they will attack and crit-kill your guy they were just choking. In short: gently caress Long War.
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Oct 2, 2014 20:33
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While it sounds like it has some interesting ideas so much about Long War feels like they decided to make Kaizo X-Com for some bizarre reason. Like, they started with the laudable goal of adding a bit more depth to new X-Com and somewhere along the way decided 'this game needs more casual sadism built in at every level'.
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Oct 2, 2014 21:10
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It's rather the opposite way around. They started with the goal of creating a Long War(aka a much more difficult and mission packed campaign), and then their modders started increasing the moddability of the game and introducing cool stuff that no other mod has. The difficulty of Long War was intended from the start, all the cool things and depth was stuff that they chanced upon by being by far the biggest and most capable(and really only) XCOM EU/EW modding team.
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Oct 2, 2014 21:42
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As I understand it(As a outsider to X-Com-following it, don't own it), the base idea was 'make the game longer and give more reason for that time, because finishing a massive war with an alien power(And their collaborators) in a matter of months is ridiculous'. Also maybe 'stop beelining being a requirement'. Also because the massive rush that the game had concerning satellites and such was also an issue. The remit has seemingly extended, but the baseline has been lost. Beelining, as I understand it, is now more of a thing than ever, and whilst it takes more time, the game is still decided in those first few months.
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Oct 2, 2014 21:48
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I mean it's kind of hard to make a game with an economy and not have the optimal play in the early stage be to focus as much of your resources as possible on increasing that economy. You'd have to radically change how X-COM is funded to make the best play not to be 'purchase as many satellites as possible as quickly as possible right up until the point where it's compromising your ability to purchase necessary things'. I mean you can make there be more things you have to buy early on to limit how much of your money can go into improving your economy but that doesn't actually change the optimal play.
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Oct 2, 2014 22:01
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Feinne posted:I mean it's kind of hard to make a game with an economy and not have the optimal play in the early stage be to focus as much of your resources as possible on increasing that economy. You'd have to radically change how X-COM is funded to make the best play not to be 'purchase as many satellites as possible as quickly as possible right up until the point where it's compromising your ability to purchase necessary things'. I mean you can make there be more things you have to buy early on to limit how much of your money can go into improving your economy but that doesn't actually change the optimal play. You'd have to go back to the older style where you were rated on your performance over the week/month and have the council adjust your funding on that basis, as opposed to satillites.
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Oct 2, 2014 22:58
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Might it work for you to have to derive a majority of your income from hocking alien crap on the grey market? Then your budget is directly tied to how many missions you do, and satellites become primarily a way to keep panic in check so you don't lose your job, rather than being powerful moneymakers in their own right. Of course, you'd need to add extra loot types so that you wouldn't get the same amount of funds from killing a Sectoid as from killing a Muton.
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Oct 3, 2014 00:18
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I was stuck on Site Recon for a bit (on Classic) because I brought very bad equipment, and my tech level was not that great because I had researched mostly armor (that the Chrysalids go right through) and medkits and regen mutations (that don't help when you are killed in a single hit). I had to reload an earlier save, and even then I only made it because I cheated and blew up the whale carcass with a missile, as well as the other big fish with grenades. It kept the spawn rate a lot more manageable. I hate Chrysalids, but with EW they are a lot more manageable since you get better close-quarters options (MEc punch, flamer) and the flash bang to get extra time to punk them. In the end, it was Heavy Floaters that gave me a few nasty turns overall. They are fast enough to flank your forward guys in most maps, and have grenades to punish you for keeping people close to your medic/support, not to mention leveling your cover, and just durable enough that you need to direct proper firepower to kill them in one.
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Oct 3, 2014 03:14
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Finished my second run of the game on Ironman Normal. Aside from the three-death disaster I had when I assaulted the ship with the Ethereal Device in it, it was a lot easier than my first run, so I figure it's time to either move up to Classic or try Long War. (lesson learned: don't gently caress with a Sectopod if you're still rocking Carapace and Lasers.) Never used a SHIV in my first playthrough, so I decided to make some. I had no idea that Hover SHIVs were so good. I manufactured a bunch of them as backups once the money started piling up in the late game, decided to do an abduction mission with all 6 of them, and proceeded to clean house faster than I would have with my six Colonels. The defense they have in midair is absurd.
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Oct 3, 2014 09:26
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Vicevirtuoso posted:(lesson learned: don't gently caress with a Sectopod if you're still rocking Carapace and Lasers.) how is that even... Is this really possible? what did you DO all the time? How did you manage this?  Although i can see them Rookies, charging the 12 Ton death machine, no one can fault their bravery, only their results.
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Oct 3, 2014 16:46
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Vicevirtuoso posted:Never used a SHIV in my first playthrough, so I decided to make some. I had no idea that Hover SHIVs were so good. I manufactured a bunch of them as backups once the money started piling up in the late game, decided to do an abduction mission with all 6 of them, and proceeded to clean house faster than I would have with my six Colonels. The defense they have in midair is absurd. Hover SHIVs are amazing. If you can get them before the Newfoundland mission it just completely trivializes it, shooting-gallery style.
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Oct 3, 2014 16:48
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Chard posted:Hover SHIVs are amazing. If you can get them before the Newfoundland mission it just completely trivializes it, shooting-gallery style. I'm kind of glad I hit the Newfoundland mission before that then as it allowed for a modicum of dramatic tension. ...which I thwarted by having everyone get out without a scratch, but hey. Ruining dramatic tension is what I do. Next update being finalized, just gotta do some Real Life stuff and it's here.
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Oct 3, 2014 17:23
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Speedball posted:I'm kind of glad I hit the Newfoundland mission before that then as it allowed for a modicum of dramatic tension. That mission gets a lot more dramatic very quickly when you wind up like me with all 5 of your squad just outside or on top of the fishing ship before actually finding the whale. That turned into a running battle and a half back to the evac zone.
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Oct 3, 2014 21:22
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Just burned my hands pushing an old man's broken-down Gremlin out of the way. There's my good deed for the day. GRRRRRRGH.
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Oct 3, 2014 21:23
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 You monster
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Oct 3, 2014 21:26
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Speedball posted:Just burned my hands pushing an old man's broken-down Gremlin out of the way. There's my good deed for the day. GRRRRRRGH. An AMC Gremlin? Man, that's an old car, and I should know. My dad had one 20 years ago before it died of car cancer. I do hope your hands get better soon though. That sort of injury never helps the creativity.
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Oct 3, 2014 22:07
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Part 20: Confounding Light  No time to rest, XCOM. We’ve figured out what the black box Zhang delivered to us was, a navigational transponder linked to an alien battlecruiser heading towards earth. Holy poo poo! But there’s an upside. It’s got a skeleton crew and is operating on autopilot. If we pull off a daring mission in the next hour and put a bunch of transponders all along a running train, we’ll fool the battlecruiser into thinking it’s a landing strip. It’ll fly within striking distance and we’ll be able to steal it right out from under the aliens’ noses. (The ones that have noses, anyway). We need speed and firepower for this mission. Zhang is with us, since it’s over China, his territory. Watkins, Hugo, Bar-Lev, Leroy, you’re going. No snipers, they take too long to set up. And the new Laser-SHIV will be commanded by…General Peter Van Doorn! Oh my God this will be the coolest mission ever.  Heh. Hey, Zhang. Ever kill a man just to watch him die? No. *snort* Pussy. Whoah! To ensure a man died I once unloaded two full magazines into him with magnums in both hands. Ah, that’s more like it! But it doesn’t compare to the time I had to kill a bank robber by burying him in his own stolen gold. …and after fighting my way through his maze of death, I met the Game Master, beat him in a sword fight and fed him to his own tiger. Heh. Nice. As for me, after we killed the assassins, I married the baroness, we had a daughter, and we lived happily ever after until aliens invaded. I, uh, arrested a few drug dealers once… Pfft. Wait a minute, you married a baroness? Princess actually is a princess? Focus, we’re here!  You’re going to have to attach a bunch of transponders onto different points along this train, then start the train. We’ve already cleared its path with the Chinese transit authorities, we just need to hurry. In a matter of minutes the battleship will move out of the path of the train and we’ll fail the mission. Additionally, the aliens seem to have been alerted to our presence, so watch yourselves. Ah, so that’s what this little radio in the SHIV’s tiny grippy-arm is. Time for some Grand Theft UFO! Thin men! Take cover, move up and slap a transponder down. First transponder down, I see two more Thin Men who just ran for it on the right. Four total. Hold still, you skinny gently caress! Not so good at video games, are we? gently caress you, I once killed a man with a game of Tetris. One down! I got the one in the open! Hmmm. The cyborg. How well can you play chess without your queen? Ow! OWWWW! GAAAAuuughhh! Mimi, hang on, I’ll patch you up! Holy crap, they’re beaming down reinforcements from the alien battleship! I didn’t know they could do that! Zhang, back me up! Let’s both hit it at once! RRRRAAAAAAAAAA! Got one! Nice shot, kid. By the way, rear end in a top hat, I’ve been working through my existential crisis much better these days! Huh? GAUUUUGH! Enemy down. G…Good job. G-guys in the back, move up. Oh, no, you’re bleeding. It’s just a scratch. You don’t have many organic parts left, you need all the blood you’ve got! *sigh* Let me patch you up. I placed the second transponder, watch the poison and keep going! We only have seven minutes before this train needs to roll! There’s a big cloud of poison around the next spot. Fine, I’ll get it, I’m immune to their gunk. Third one down! One on top of the train, guys! Looks like he’s ready to shoot anything that moves. I’ll distract him, I’m good at ducking. Another right next to me! Grargh! Finish him off! Right! X-ray down. Mimi? Painkillers are working, I’m fine. Hugo, NOW!  Hey, cool, our lasers make an “X” when we shoot them at the same target. Another enemy down. Only one more transponder to place and we can activate the train. Hah! I FEEL NO PAIN! …bit less of a boast when you’re just remote-controlling a robot, sir. Regardless! Alien bastard, stop ducking out of the way! I can’t believe I missed with a laser machine gun. Don’t worry, sir, I got him! Nice work, kid. You’ve earned a dinner date with my family. Please don’t turn the SHIV to face me when talking, sir. You’re pointing a gun at my head! Pfft. You think dinner will be any different? Another Muton on top of the train! Ready for another X-shot? Go for it!  Perfecto! Good job, man! Last transponder set. Mimi, hit the throttle on the train, now, before they beam down more Mutons! Good thing they make such big buttons, it’d be hard to hit with these hands… right, that’s done! It’s working, Strike-one! WHOOO! I love trains! We’re lucky the train can still move with all the damage we did to it. The alien battlecruiser’s autopilot has been sufficiently hosed with. It’s coming within range of our interceptors. But all of its external defenses are offline, so we don’t need to scratch it. We just need to herd it into a safe spot, then raid that sucker by killing off its remaining crew. They must have only a few guys left on it now. How are we going to get it back to XCOM? In pieces. This is where I come in, again. I know a very talented chop shop. VERY talented. Well, nice. Our supports and Zhang have earned pay upgrades. Mimi, you’re hurt! I’m…fine… No, you’re not! You can’t go into battle on that ship like this! The SHIV’s banged up too. Looks like it’s down to the mere mortals… We have about 24 hours before we’re ready to move on the thing. Everyone, get some sleep and some food.  Oh my GOD did he tell you the baroness story? It’s not true! Don’t listen to him! Is it just a story, or is she so embarrassed she’ll never admit it’s true? You’ll never know! Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Do we, uh, do we really need to play pool with a loaded pistol on the table over there? Yes. Because I’m not allowed to wear it during a game any more. …Ugggh, I’m just going to turn invisible and slink away while you two have the “don’t touch my daughter” talk…TO BE CONTINUED! “Commander’s Survey” posted:
Speedball fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Oct 4, 2014 |
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Oct 4, 2014 00:18
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Van Doorn is quite simply, just the best character. The best.
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Oct 4, 2014 00:27
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Speedball posted:
 I don't imagine we'll meet much in the way of friendly aliens in an XCOM game...
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Oct 4, 2014 00:36
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We may one day meet 'friendly' aliens. Whether they are legitimately good intentioned or just loving terrified of pissing us off after what we'll do to these guys is another matter entirely.
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Oct 4, 2014 00:43
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I don't believe we'll ever find friendly aliens, as much as it would be nice not to worry about getting gang banged by aliens.
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Oct 4, 2014 00:49
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The Commander posted:
Yes. But not today.
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Oct 4, 2014 00:50
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The aliens who are currently attacking us are obviously some form of multi-racial collective, led by some sort of intelligence we are not yet aware of. I would surmise that there is some sort of elite class that forced a number of lesser alien races to join them... you know, like the Covenant in Halo. I wouldn't be surprised if there were holdouts of the other races not entirely under their control out there. Imagine, tribes of Mutons that are just kinda dumb and prone to anger, but not necessarily in a constant homicidal rage. Or Sectoids who have their own little society much like humanity, but everything is shorter and accommodates their larger heads. If we survive this invasion, and can use the alien technology we acquire to improve our own spacefaring technology, I would not be surprised if we found these holdouts for ourselves. All these aliens are probably in the same general sector of the galaxy as we are. Maybe we could form some kind of... federation.
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Oct 4, 2014 00:50
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Who's to say that every member of the various races we've seen in this war would be hostile to us? Who's to say if, assuming we survive and win this war, that any remaining aliens would remain hostile? (Me and my spergy ideas about a sequel on a post-war Earth where X-COM competes with other human factions for alien detritus, and some alien remnants can be bargained with. Wanna hire that Thin Man cell you found for spooky work? They'll take alien food for payment!)
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Oct 4, 2014 01:07
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Those we subjugate will no longer be in a position to be hostile to us.
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Oct 4, 2014 01:13
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berryjon posted:An AMC Gremlin? Man, that's an old car, and I should know. My dad had one 20 years ago before it died of car cancer. quote:
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Oct 4, 2014 01:15
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