X-COM 2 - 2019 Campaign Thread

[Ayram]

(( Daud votes scientists as priority and will continue to contribute his +8 craft mech to improved manufacturing. ))

Daud was feeling pretty good about their first real field assignment with XCOM. The way he saw it, the only way it could've gone better would be if they had taken the scientist alive. But there were no big screw ups or setbacks. They did what they came to do and even got an ADVENT body out. Not to mention what they witnessed with the chilling experimentation on a person.

While they were en route back to HQ, Daud marveled privately about how it seemed like they actually accomplished something that wasn't just surviving. And they fought ADVENT. He had to remind himself that ADVENT had stomped out Angela and their old cell for a lot less to sober himself, but it still felt good.

When they got back, the team were given something else to think about though. They needed to recruit more personnel to help out, and XCOM had to prioritize who. Scientists, engineers, or medical doctors? Well, obviously they needed all of those desperately. Daud felt the pressure again, but for his money, scientists were top priority. It just seemed the right choice to make with all that they needed to understand.

[Mirgalen]

There was a kind of playground. The place where people went to practice sports and nearby it was the old fire station. Before going in they had to kill four security guys. JD wished they could have been disabled instead. Inside there was a secret lab where ADVENT scientists were conducting experiments on people. What exactly or why was not known. Worse, could have they done the same to him? After the explosion he somehow caused on the ship he tried to warn the others that something may be wrong with him and that perhaps they should lock him up and probe him for implants or whatever mind control procedure ADVENT could have tried on him but his doubts were not taken seriously by the others.

// Still helping Daud (Craft Mech 7 now).

// Anybody could clarify the bleeding rules we use: PC bleed from -1 to -9. PC is dead at -10. Bleeding may stop if... What roll? What DC? Thanks

// Regarding crashes or strange things happening on my side, should I post crash log here? e-mail it to LB/VM?

Equipment Background: Discovered/purchase NWN (Mac) around the time SoU got out. Used the PC extensions on Mac and played tons of modules from the old vault. At some point I had no Mac and played on a win7 netbook. After that I used Macbook Air but had to play nwn/sou/hotu PC with "Wine" (Wine is a free and open-source compatibility layer that aims to allow computer programs developed for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems.). Also got an old win10 Dell laptop with an ok graphic card. Since I got EE (from STEAM) I have installed it on the DELL (PC version) and on my new Macbook Pro (BEAM's Mac version). On the Mac I currently have the hak on a usb stick. I am getting about 25 FPS on DELL and 50 FPS on Macbook Pro when we play together. Also our broadband/wifi here is pretty good e.g. watching videos online works well.

[Ayram]

// I'm a layman at best when it comes to technical issues, but a friend of mine said his EE doesn't crash anymore after running it in compatibility mode. Something to try at least, maybe.

[Vanya Mia]

"Some of you might not remember, in fact those of you who've only known life under Advent control might not know at all. I'm not sure what the syllabus is these days but I imagine they ..." Bo shook her head, aware she was beginning to ramble. Speaking at dinner to any who were listening she seemed to feel the need to explain something.

"There was this man, or one biologically at least, who operated in Germany under a regime called the Nazi's." She toyed with her food a little disinterestedly. "Dr. Josef Mengele was his name running a 'medical facility' at a place called Auschwitz. The Nazis interred people there who didn't fit within their twisted world view, and what they did to them ..." She shook her head again. "Words alone can't describe it adequately, without images it seems unreal. Doesn't sink in, you know? He wasn't the only one but this guy was special, they called him "Angel of Death."

"One thing he did always stuck in my mind. He took sets of identical twins, useful for genetic research because they have identical genes and any differences between them are down to experience or environmental factors. Perfect for isolating genetic factors by comparing them." She stopped even pretending to eat her food. "Mengele measured hundreds of pairs of twins then experimented on one. Injection of substances, torture, exposure to extremes mentally and physically you name it, he tried it. When one died he killed the twin too and both would be dissected for comparison." She paused. "Pure evil, no other word for it."

"I remember reading ..." Yet another shake of the head and pushed the food away. "It doesn't matter, what matters is I always wondered if it were completely true and never quite believed it. Trying to understand how any human could ever disregard their fellows as completely as that. It never quite sunk in until today. Always wondered what I think or would do if I ever met one." She gave a hollow laugh rising.

"Guess I found out."


((On the subject of activity:
- Recruit scientists, most characters seem to have crafting bias and if that's the case we will need them.
- Keep Research Capacity on the Magnetic Weapons.
- Keep Manufacturing Capacity on the Improved Manufacturing.
- Bo however will throw in on the Alien Autopsy. Knowledge Physical or Earth & Life Science are both +10 or if it's more appropriate Treat Injury is +14.

With respect to "bleeding", when it starts the PC gain +1 point if you pass a Fortitude save that round and -1 if you fail. If you hit 0 you stabilise if you hit -10 you 'die'.

Concerning crashes, don't spam the thread by posting the log. Email it to us if you wish but I'm not sure it'll be a great deal of help, as it doesn't record that much.

While it may be a little more frequent I'm not entirely convinced your disconnects are that much more so than before we were using Modern, or EE for that matter, as you've always had a lot of trouble so I'm near certain it isn't that. It's probably a case of them being more unforgiving when you do crash. Even so, it's only you who suffers this level of difficulty too and more would if Modern or EE were to blame. It's only likely to be a hak issue, for example, if a crash only happens on area transition - which it doesn't.

As far as your gaming kit is concerned it only matters what you run NWN on now, so detail that but because you crash frequently from either machine, regardless of how 'good' your internet is I think connectivity has to be the cause. Video effectiveness is not likely a good guide as they buffer and you don't have the same level of two-way information exchange as you do when gaming. You could try timing the gaps between DCs to look for a pattern, or note what you were doing in game when you crashed, and try to isolate it that way.

Believe me when I say I have checked but there is no sign of my machine having disconnected you in my error logs. I'm really sorry but I'm not sure what more I can do.

[Klasa]

(Henderson is voting Magnetic Weapons for Research and Improve Manufacturing Capacity for the Project. He will also help on the Magnetic Weapons Research with Concentration which is +8, as I figure that's his most related skill to researching. Also voting more Scientists as well)

"The Germans did some horrible things during that war, that they did Doc. As a whole, we've done pretty awful things to each other throughout our history. Hard to top the Germans though, although the Japs and the Belgians rank up there as well. But you know, you reap what you sow and they paid for their crimes. Except for the Belgians and what they did to the Congos, I guess. But that's besides the point! ADVENT is merely taking on the role of the next group like them, and just as history has shown all we have to do is take them down a notch. Now I know it's not that easy, but nothing we've ever accomplished in history ever was." Henderson said in response to the Doc's monologue. It was not a simple topic, and the fact that the Doc had broke her Oath worried him too. She was strong, as were her convictions. And she had just broken her strongest one.

[Shadani]

((Likewise staying the course for research and manufacturing. +16 repair to help with the manufacturing project, now. Also concur with focusing on recruiting scientists, as it feels like that's the area where we're falling behind right now.))

"They're not like anyone else, though," Jess sad, sullenly. "All of that stuff you're talking about, all that ancient history... those are things we did to ourselves. Self-inflicted wounds. nothing bigger than what we can wrap our heads around. Just people being assholes."

"We don't even know what we're fighting."

[smartalec]

"What we're fighting might have changed," Vic says, from nearby. "But if you ask me, lots of things haven't. What's right, what's wrong, what's real, what's a lie." He fiddles with the small circuit board on the table. "We might not be wise or smart enough to see it, but it never changed. These things ain't new ideas. People were talking about them thousands of years ago and their answers're pretty consistent, overall. And what we're seeing is the same. Abuse of power, lack of respect for life, all that jazz."

He pauses, and looks up. "Damn, I should have gotten that poor guy getting beaten up on the camera. And the experiment guy. People need to see that."

He shakes his head and shrugs, getting back to it. "These bastards may be from another world, but that don't matter. This is our one, and all this fighting between ourselves, nations, people, recording it all, it's let us think for ourselves and figure out what's right and wrong. It ain't an easy question, sure, and sometimes the wrong thing to do yesterday's the right thing to do today. But we know it. Now we just got to show these newcomers what we've learned."

He gives a firm nod, tweaking the circuit board with revolutionary speed.

***

((Still helping on the man ufacturing, with +3 to craft mechanical! Also good with mag weps being researched, and scientists being recruited. Let's build us a think tank.

As an aside, I won't be here this week! Going to see some family on the weekend, it was my birthday this week have a good time, team!

Vic will give his video camera to someone this week and ask them to record anything dehumanising and grim they see.))

[Karvon]

//I guess Stanley can add his expertise to the ongoing efforts this time around. He can help out with the manufacturing output upgrade. Related skills craft electrical and mechanical are 10, structural and chemical are 9. Knowledge Physical Science and Technology are both 12. Research 11, Repair 15 and computer use 13.

Stanley had provided some tech support during the mission to the fire house. He'd helped access data and bypass security. He'd even taken a few potshots at the ADVENT guards that showed up. His efforts to build a few things in his free time hadn't yielded much. He'd put together an armored vest which gave him a little more protection, but had failed to correctly assemble a small computer and some goggles he worked on hadn't proved functional either. He decided he would pitch in and help get the manufacturing plant ramped up; he had plenty of useful knowledge to chip in, so made his way to that section of the ship.

[Lazybones]

Session 14

Since you should all be fourth level by now, +600xp for full-party posting.

I'm expecting my new dice today, so I'm going to wait on the tech rolls until later.

[Lazybones]

My new dice are pretty, but it looks like they will require some training before they will play nice. Fortunately your skill ranks are high enough that even a 1 isn't necessarily a disaster.

* * *

*snap*

The sound is loud enough to break through the general din in the cargo bay that you've been using as a training room, as the members of Alpha Team go through a series of tactical drills under the watchful eye of Master of Arms Gustav Steiner.

As the shouts go out for medical intervention, the group gathers around Victor. One look of the way his leg is lying is enough to tell the story, but the big Swede still asks, “Broken?”

Vic nods though a mask of pain. “Yeah.”

Gustav nods. As the medics rush into the bay, he yells, “All right, everyone without broken bones, get back to drill!”

* * *

It’s another wild week in the engineering bay. There’s another fire when Jesse plugs a live cable into the wrong receptacle, but the team continues to push the upgrades as if sheer determination can overpower the glitches that bedevil the manufacturing upgrade project. But at the end of the week the project is still not concluded.

There’s another incident a bit later as Bo walks into the crew quarters with a look of utter disgust on her face. A potent, foul odor hangs around her like a miasma, and her coverall is generously covered with ugly stains. After a shared look between her comrades, Daud is the one to ask. “How’s the autopsy going?”

Her eyes flash as she responds, “Turns out that ADVENT doesn’t add security features only to its weapons and other gear. We’d barely hooked the trooper’s corpse up to a scanner when the whole thing started to smoke. It made a heck of a mess in the containment room. We may need to get another sample."


* * *

FROM: LILY SHEN, X-COM ENGINEERING LEAD
TO: MEMBERS, PLANNING COMMITTEE
CC: CENTRAL
RE: Research/Manufacturing Progress Report, Week Ending June 21, 2035

I know that Doctor Tygan thinks that manufacturing shouldn’t be our top priority, but it won’t do us any good to research new technologies without the capacity to actually produce whatever new designs his team is able to develop. Improving our manufacturing capacity will pay dividends later on, and I'll say the same for our research and medical capacity once we finish the current project.

I know we’ve had some setbacks in the workshop, but we have to keep at it. On the plus side, we’re getting really good at fire suppression.

We’re also getting close to a breakthrough on the Magnetic Weapons project and should soon have a working prototype of a Mag pistol. I'm sure you're looking forward to having munitions that don't just bounce off those bloody suits of armor that ADVENT puts on their soldiers.

Base rolls:
X-COM Research Capacity: roll 7 (9 points total in Magnetic Weapons)
Bo: ADVENT Trooper Autopsy: +14 vs. DC15, roll 1 (Failure)
Henderson: Magnetic Weapons: +8 vs. DC20 (indirect skill), roll 16 (Success). +1 to project.

X-COM Manufacturing Capacity: roll 1 (8 points total in Improved Manufacturing Capacity, 3 points in Improved Medical Capacity).
All player character rolls below were on Improved Manufacturing Capacity. I didn’t roll for Vic since he’s in sick bay (player out for the session).

• Daud: +8 vs. DC15, roll 17 (Critical Success). +3 to project. +500xp
• John: +7 vs. DC15, roll 12 (Success). +1 to project.
• Jesse: +16 vs. DC15, roll 1 (Failure). -1 to project.
• Stan: +15 vs. DC15, roll 19 (Critical Success). +3 to project, +500xp.

X-COM Medical Capacity: 2 (2 new medikits produced this week)