Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Games that are not ArmA2 or Flight Sims

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Kefirz
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Re: Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Post by Kefirz »

Terminal Boy wrote:Woo hoo! I'm coming home a hero Ma!

Most likely a closed casket funeral due to eating a face full of plasma on my next mission...
Cargo 200 :commissar:
''I am not going against tanks'' - Tryteyker, MAT gunner.
''Downboated so much, it's an u-boat now.'' - Boberro.
''Sorry, I meant hon hon hon baguette baguette Eiffel Tower'' - Mabbott

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Ferrard Carson
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Re: Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Post by Ferrard Carson »

It's real. Oh my god it's real. I cannot deny this. I was on the treadmill in the barracks with a bunch of the troops on base - this guy next to me, P.V.T. Bones ("My initials," he said. "No, I'm not telling you what they stand for. Get a kill first, Rookie.") was giving me lip about my music choice when all of a sudden his beeper went off. So did five others in the room. Bones did a rally up gesture and the six of them tromped out of the exercise room and turned towards the armory. Five minutes later, I heard the signature sound of the Skyranger blazing out of the hanger.

Barely five minutes after that, I was seated in a briefing room, and one of the personnel files was open in front of me. P.V.T. Bones's face stared up at me from his headshot. Except the file was for one "Mr. Eric Taylor" instead. He thinks I'm a rookie. One of them.

He didn't recognize my voice when I ordered him forward. They must distort or mask me when I'm giving commands. He obeyed like a good soldier, a good scout, and he kept his cool throughout the entire mission.



When the squad returned, I was back on the treadmill. "For all the time you spend on that thing, you sure as hell aren't getting any faster, Rookie."

I stayed silent as he clucked and tromped past, helping the medic carry a stretcher bearing the man my files call "Klaus Vogel." I need to find out his real name. I'm the reason "Vogel" is going to need a month of intensive burn treatment and reconstructive therapy before he can use that arm again.



:clint: ~ Ferrard
"Take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turnin' of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' before she keels... makes her home."

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Kefirz
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Re: Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Post by Kefirz »

Nice video Ferrard!
Only one thing... either you are kind of quiet or the in-game music is too loud, but either way... I enjoyed that piece.


Would like to see how L.CPL. PVT. Bones utilizes his newly acquired YOLO targeting :D
''I am not going against tanks'' - Tryteyker, MAT gunner.
''Downboated so much, it's an u-boat now.'' - Boberro.
''Sorry, I meant hon hon hon baguette baguette Eiffel Tower'' - Mabbott

lietuvis10
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Re: Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Post by lietuvis10 »

I would love to apply as glorious scout man.Cuz CQC is cool and blindly irresponsably charging in is aswell.

Also,nice vids.

EDIT:Also,up the audio of yourself

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Ferrard Carson
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Re: Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Post by Ferrard Carson »



"...we will be in touch, Commander."

The transmission terminates and the Situation Room lights come back up. The four field-operatives around the table look at one another. "Hulk" is silent in his blood-stained fatigues. Finally, one stands, prompting the rest of them to follow. They file out of the room, looking suspiciously at me, the out-of-place rookie who had no place in this debrief of an elite field-team.

Somehow they didn't pick up that the debrief was really for me.

"Commander," Bradford stood and reached for the pitcher of water in the middle. He placed a cup in front of me and the water poured in. "I know what you're thinking." I stared pointedly at the cup. "You made decisions," Bradford continued.

"I made mistakes," I corrected him. "Commanders don't make mistakes. Mistakes get people killed."

"Commanders don't make mistakes," Bradford agreed. "They make decisions. Decisions that lead to situations that you adapt to."

"I killed them."

"No sir, the X-rays did that. You made decisions that got the other four out of a shitty situation. You saved a pod-full of civilians. You accomplished your mission, Commander."

I reached out and took a sip of the cool water. Looked at Bradford and asked, "Does it get easier?"

"...No."

---

They have a memorial wall now. I came to it when LCPL Lietuvis was paying her respects. I picked up the shot glass after she set it down. "Take two shots, Rookie," she said. "That's how it works."

I poured. 3-year and one month-old whiskey. Burned like hell going down, absolute shit, but it was the only thing Kozlov would drink. Shot #2 was no better.

"When are you going to go into the field and get blooded, Rookie?" I stared at her, set down the shot glass and walked off.



:clint: ~ Ferrard
"Take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turnin' of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' before she keels... makes her home."

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Ferrard Carson
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Re: Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Post by Ferrard Carson »

A friendly reminder: If you'd like to join the roster, just let me know which Long War class you'd like to be!

Here's an itty-bitty preview of what's in my rendering buffer right now:
Image

:psyduck: ~ Ferrard
"Take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turnin' of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' before she keels... makes her home."

Terminal Boy
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Re: Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Post by Terminal Boy »

I was just about to post "Yay Me!" and then I saw the annotation in the last screenshot. :shock: :o

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Ferrard Carson
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Re: Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Post by Ferrard Carson »

Video documentation of how fucked Terminal Boy was not. Because upon reviewing video footage, it was actually Bones who was super-fucked by all those Chryssalids.



:dance: :dance: :dance:

~ Ferrard
"Take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turnin' of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' before she keels... makes her home."

Terminal Boy
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Re: Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Post by Terminal Boy »

Nids with over-watching Floaters and no lasers = very scary.

I think Bones had a mobility penalty due to soiled fatigues after all four Nids headed straight for him...

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Ferrard Carson
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Re: Carson's Long War (X-COM: EW / LW vignettes)

Post by Ferrard Carson »

Operation Silent Savior

Strike Team Alpha:
  • LT. Aleksandr "Juggernaut" Novikov (Gunner)
  • SGT Terminal "Batman" Boy (Assault)
  • CPL Ashley "Chief" Williams (Infantry)
  • LCPL Patricia Martinez (Medic)
  • SPEC Fiona Morrison (Scout)
  • SPEC Hans Mulder (Rocketeer)
  • PFC Andrey Ignatyev (Rookie)
X-Com "Zander" HQ - Cheyanne Mountain, Colorado
Hanger Prime, 0103 hours, May 16

The klaxons blared as I strapped the laspistol to my holster and hefted the heavily modified G-36 in my hands. It was still warm from the exercises Strike Team Bravo had been going through. It should've been in Corporal Bones's hands, but he was still in quarantine after the last abduction, and I was here in his place.

My name is Andrey Ignatyev, and I am the best of the best Mother Ukraine could offer. They've sent me to America on a mission of the utmost importance and secrecy. My own wife does not know where I am or what I am here to do, though I am sure she suspects.

I am here to fight aliens.

My boots followed in the footsteps of six others out of the armory. A German weapons specialist, Mulder, with rocket in tow. Morrison, a nervous Scots-woman with frightened eyes peering out from under her fritz helmet. Martinez the medic. Ashley "Call me 'Chief'" Williams, the rifleman (rifle-woman?) who'd been instructing all of us rookies on how to use these frighteningly effective laser weapons. Terminal Boy, Strike Five and my team leader for this run. Lastly, Strike Six: Lieutenant Novikov, a Russian. Not three months ago, I'd be on the other side of the Donetsk DMZ from the lieutenant, our Special Forces teams vying for advantage in that pisspot of a "nation." But now we are here, united as humans against the alien invaders.

His eyes fixed on mine as we settled in the jump seats and pulled the harnesses down over our shoulders. No doubt similar thoughts had run through his head. For all I know, he may have been the gunner that caught my team in terrible enfilade fire one September afternoon, but since I arrived he has been my mentor and closest friend. It was with joy that I sprang to my feet when he asked me to be a part of his Alpha team.

Lieutenant Novikov's briefing was quick. A UFO hunting for our satellites had been shot down in the Kansas farmland. It crashed into a field right next to a huge industrial farm. The kind with tractors and combines and machines and automation that would make papa green with envy. Americans. They don't know how rich they have it. A quick Aurora flyover told us all we needed to know: some aliens survived. Opposition expected on the ground. We'd split into two teams on the ground - Lieutenant Novikov leading Yellow team and Sergeant Terminal Boy leading Black. I was part of Black, the maneuver element to Yellow's base-of-fire.

"Sergeant?" the other Black Team member asked. "Why're you called 'Batman'?"

"Because I am the fuckin' night!" Terminal responded.

"Don't you believe him none, Fiona," Ashley said. "He's 'Batman' because he's blind as a bat. We were both on that Supply Barge last month and Sarge here couldn't see an outsider who was literally five feet in front of him. Blind as a bat. 'Batman'."

"Shaddup, 'Chief,' you ruin a good story!" Terminal pouted. "You believe me, right Ell-Tee? I'm the night!"

"Sure, you're the night," Novikov grumbled with a grin.

Terminal waved his hand dismissively. "Pah, unbelievers, all of you!" He turned to me. "Andy, if you've been listening to 'Chief' when she's talking, you might one day be as cool as me. You might be the night too. So tell me, what's most important about aliens?"

What was most important? What did 'Chief' always stress? "They die if you put a laser in 'em."

"That's right, Rook. Now, this is just as important: what about their behavior? Did 'Chief' go over that with you?"

"They panic easy if you overwhelm them the moment you see them."

"Also right, Rook - 'Chief' did a good job with your grey matter, didn't she?"

"Yes, sir."

"Sir? I ain't no sir, he's a sir!" Terminal pointed to the lieutenant. "I am the night."

-----

"Comms check," Lieutenant Novikov said from my right ear. "Zander HQ, this is Strike Six, do you read?"

A distorted voice emerged from my left-side earpiece. "Strike Six, Zander HQ. I read you five-by-five."

"Orders?"

"Fan out and secure the LZ. UAV is deploying now, I will have intel and orders for you shortly."

The ramp opened and slammed into the rough, patchy grass of a Kansas farm in the midst of renovations. Lieutenant Novikov and Chief's lasers were already propped on the sides of the cargo door, ready to open fire, but nothing greeted us but the shrill whine of the Skyranger's VTOL jets. Terminal stepped off, and Fiona and I followed close behind.

All was quiet as the Skyranger buttoned up behind us and Strike Team Alpha fanned out through the farmland. Terminal gestured me forward, and I stepped over to a stack of rectangular hay bales ready for loading. My hands were tight around my lasgun as I scanned the darkness for something that thirsted for my blood. In the corner of my eye, something twitched.

The Commander's voice came from my left again. "Be advised. Incoming. North. 50 meters. Two seekers, one cloaked, one high. Engage immediately."

Lesson #14 from "Chief" - look up more! I swung my lasgun up, finger in the trigger guard, praying that it wasn't too late, and suddenly the world was filled with nothing but the swarming, wriggling seeker flying directly towards my head, an angry, seething mass of smoke and tentacles and--

--TO BE CONTINUED--

-----

X-Com Procedures: Strike Team Rotation

Three Strike Teams are maintained on rotation at any time, codenamed Alpha, Bravo and Charlie by their level of readiness. Strike Team Alpha is held on call at all hours of the day, always on-base and ready to deploy in ten minutes. Strike Teams Bravo and Charlie are held on base and expected to conduct tactical exercises both in Central Officer Bradford's simulations and against one another. Bravo is held on base on a twenty-minute deployment order, while Charlie is given leisure time up to half-an-hour off-base, with a one-hour deployment order. Troops not assigned to a Strike Team are on individual training regimes and form X-Com's reserves until such time as they are rotated onto a Strike Team (generally Charlie). Teams remain on-call for 48-hours, after which Alpha is returned to the reserves, the other two Strike Teams move up the listing, and a new Strike Team Charlie is formed from the reserves.

-----

OOC Notes - I didn't record this run, but it had some really great moments in it, so I figured I'd share them with you via text and show you how I think the abstract mechanics of X-Com could be translated into something we might see in one of our ArmA missions. Plus, as you'll see later Andrey is a total BAMF. Maybe not right now making contact on his first blue-move though...

Also, I totally envision Seekers moving and attacking like a miniature, airborne version of Edge of Tomorrow's mimics.

~ Ferrard
"Take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turnin' of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurtin' before she keels... makes her home."

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