Framerate Games Plays XCOM: Enemy Within (With Some Help From The KSP Forum)

[The Jedi Master]

Table Of Contents

Episode 1--Operation Blinding Shroud

Episode 2--VIP Escort

Oh, God, that has to be the longest forum thread title I've ever typed.

Here's the deal. I just got XCOM: Enemy Within--you know, the one with cyborgs--from GameStop. Seeing the success and non-banning-forever of the "KSP Forum Plays" threads around here, and wanting to join the fun, I had a brilliant idea. You may have seen Framerate Games, my Dad's YouTube channel, if you actually click links in signatures. I want to do an Enemy Within playthrough with him for the channel. I thought it might be a good idea to promote it here, especially since some of you like our KSP stuff. Not wanting to be 'That Guy', I thought I'd do it in a format that isn't pure spam.

This will be a little different from the typical "KSP Forum Plays" thread for a few reasons. First and foremost, it won't be as centered around the KSP Forum. You won't control our every move--you'll be more like advisers. That's the bad news. The good news? Well, XCOM has a very robust character editor. Hair, armor, vocie, name, even language are all editable. This means that you can request your own character. We'll get back to that in a sec.

Also, this won't be simple video posting. For each video, I will also write up a little story that gives life to the gameplay. A bit like the KSP AAR's, actually. You can request that a certain plot point happen to your custom character at base, but in battle, it's all up to fate--I'm just the scribe.

Now, with you all hyped up, let me give you the Custom Character Request Sheet!(add echo here)

Name: Do I need to explain this to you?

Preferred Gender: I can't guarantee this, but I'll try.

Preferred Nationality: See above, doubly so.

Appearance: Head, face and armor. I'll get this as close as possible as the editor allows. Specific numbers for each option would be great.

Do You Want To Be A MEC? You know, cyborg. This will depend on resources and strategy, but I'll try. Gene mods are based on strategy, sorry.

Now, I don't have the first video, but it should be up tomorrow! Sign up, and stop the alien threat!

Edited June 12, 2014 by The Jedi Master

[CEOIII]

Name: Charlie Owens

Preferred Gender: Male

Preferred Nationality: USA

Appearance:

Race 2

Head 4

Skin Color 3

Hair 1

Facial Hair 1

Armor Deco 2

Armor Tint 22

Do You Want To Be a MEC?: ABSOLUTELY NOT. (I'd prefer to be a sniper, but that's not something you'll have any control over, so yeah.)

[The Jedi Master]

-snip-

Done. I'll see what I can do.

First video today!

[The Jedi Master]

OK, so uploading to YouTube is taking longer than I thought it would, but if it isn't today, then definitely tomorrow! You can count on that--we're not Congress, we keep our schedules!

As a note, the first two episodes were pre-recorded, so nothing custom will happen in either of them.

[The Jedi Master]

Finally, Episode 1 is here!

And now, the story...

Operation: Blinding Shroud

Kaduna, Nigeria

0000 Hours, March 1st, 2015

It was a small team who went in first.

After the initial global attacks, the Council of Nations (founded as a more effective version of the UN) was in a panic. It was Nigeria that came up with the idea of reactivating one of the Council's old military projects, The XCOM (Extraterrestrial Combat) Project. Originally meant as a 'serious game' training simulation for possible global warfare, using aliens as an example, it was re-purposed into a crack unit of the worlds finest soldiers, organized to stop what was clearly an alien invasion.

However, even if you included the entirety of the science and engineering teams, XCOM was only the size of a small battalion. Many were needed back at base, so only four people could be sent. It was a good thing these were the finest the world had to offer.

There was an Argentinean man who was only refereed to as 'the Jedi Master', who was a sniper during the Falkland War that British troops outright feared. There was a Swedish woman named Ingrid Jensen, a heavy weapons specialist who was often jokingly cited as 'the reason nobody messes with Sweden'. There was a British woman named Abigail Robinson, an Afghanistan veteran who inspired all with her healing abilities. Finally, there was a Russian man named Mark B., commonly refereed to (by his choice) as 'Dude', a commando who had captured many members of a Siberian terrorist group by himself.

Unfortunately, none of them had ever fought an alien.

When the squad landed in the Skyranger, the Jedi Master noticed a strange pod. Of course, all the alien pods were strange, but this particular pod was nothing like the others he had seen in news footage. It was orange, glowing, but not quite as menacing as the green canisters. Doctor Vahlen wanted it for the research team, so he moved in to collect it. To his surprise, it opened at his touch, revealing an orange, pulsating crystal.

The rest of the team moved up. It was a slow advance, but eventually Jedi spotted something in the restaurant. It scuttled away, but Command confirmed it was a sectoid, the most common type of alien. Everyone got into firing positions and waited.

When the alien popped out, it was meet with a burst of gunfire. It dropped to the ground, dead. Earth had fired the first shot.

"Humanity one, ET zero!" Abigail called out.

"We're not out of this yet," Jedi replied.

He then spotted another strange canister in an ice cream shop, of all places. He moved up, using a sign of the cow mascot of the shop as cover. It could easily be destroyed by conventional bullets, but it made it all the harder for the aliens to hit him.

Two more aliens appeared, one from behind a nearby truck and one from the other side of the building. Ingrid hit the first one with a grenade (Vahlen whined a bit, but the alternative probably wouldn't have worked), but the other was still up. Mark moved in to get the sectoid, but was hit by a burst of plasma. It burned, like nothing he had ever felt before. In agony, he panicked and shot at the sectoid. He missed in his panic.

Abigail moved up and shot the alien herself. It dropped dead.

Operation Blinding Shroud was a success.

And that's it for the day! See you next time!

[The Jedi Master]

Shameless bump! I choose you!

Yeah. I just did that. Does anyone have any tips based on the first video?

[The Jedi Master]

New episode very soon!

[The Jedi Master]

Operation Burning Fear
2206 Hours, March 6th, 2015
Beijing, China

Hongou Marazuki looked over the four members of Strike-One. He blinked once, then twice. Finally, he said, "You are unlike any soldiers I have ever seen..."

Just a week ago, Hongou had been working with the Chinese government on a project to study the alien's supposed 'teleportation' technology, as well as to find where the aliens came from. Now, with Beijing swarmed by mysterious aliens that masqueraded as men, XCOM had ordered an immediate evacuation of all research facilities in China. As Hongou had files on the mysterious aliens, named Thin Men by him, he was top priority.

Jedi ordered him to move into cover near the door, just in case. The rest of the squad took their positions. Jedi slowly opened the door, and immediately caught sight of a Thin Man. The alien's attempt at disguise didn't fool XCOM--they appeared to be old businessmen at first glance, but on closer inspection, they appeared a bit more sickly than a human, just slightly unnatural. It had amazing agility--it managed to jump onto a nearby rooftop in one bound. This was not a problem for Jedi--he killed the Thin Man in one shot. As it died, it released a noxious cloud of poison.

Ingrid moved up, but discovered a sectoid just behind a nearby fuel tank. She had trouble lining up a shot, so instead she jumped to one side and into better cover. Mark, ever the brave one, charged at the creature with his shotgun. Unfortunately, this alerted another sectoid. This wouldn't have been as much of a problem if the shotgun blast hadn't missed.

The sectoids repositioned. Abagail tried to hit one as it passed by her sights, but an assault rife wasn't exactly the most accurate weapon at long range. One of the aliens hit Mark in the chest, although this only provoked a shot right into it's ugly face. The second sectoid came out of its hiding spot and hit Mark in the face three times.

Squaddie Mark Dude was killed.

Unfortunately for the aliens, his death did not cause the team to retreat in terror--in fact, it only enraged them. They went out with a vengeance, killing every last alien in the area. The rest of the mission was easy--after all, a man driven to war by vengeance is much more powerful than one driven by political, moral or religious conviction.

The commander decided to call Operation Burning Fear a success. There would be time for mourning later.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And there, my friends, is the danger of having a custom character. You can spend fifteen minutes making him just right, then have him get killed on his second mission. That's XCOM, baby!

I will begin recording tonight, so next weeks episode customizations will be open until 9:00 PM EST.

[Moss]

Has this project been abandoned?

[Moss]

You know what? If you're still doing this, I'll be in on it.

First name: Lukas

Second name: Moss

Preferred Nickname: The Boss

Preferred nationality: Australian

Language: English

Voice: 5

Race: 1

Head: 2

Skin Colour: 4

Hair/ Helmet: 18

Hair color: 3

Facial hair: 10

Armor Tint: 2

MEC: Wouldn't mind being a robot, but if so I'd like to choose my tech tree.

Good luck!

[The Jedi Master]

I apologize for letting this slack off. 'New' episode tomorrow, and we'll add Moss's char in the next actually new episode.

[The Jedi Master]

OK. Deadlines: Not my thing.

Probably later today, but I've got a lot to do today, so...

[The Jedi Master]

Getting ready to write right now! Get hyped!

[The Jedi Master]

Operation Cursed Engine
0233 Hours, March 7th, 2015
Mendoza, Argentina

It was to be a simple mission. Get in, kill the buggers, get out. The plaza would provide a strange cover situation, but other than that, it would be easy.

It is always the simplest plans that go wrong in the most complex ways.

When the dropship landed, the squad took defensive positions around the plaza. Signs, cars, trash cans--all became potential cover. Jedi covered as the rest of the team advanced on the building.

It was the new recruit, Scottish heavy weapons specialist Charlie Owens, who caught sight of the first Meld canister. He was not to eager to move in on the canister, but went in on the orders of the Commander.

The Commander soon realized he had made a mistake. Two sectoids appeared, and they both had a clear shot at Charlie. No one had a good shot at the sectoids, so everyone had to move up. Still, no one was too worried just yet.

As one of the aliens moved into Ingrid's line of sight, she opened fire. The bullets went wide, ricocheting off the wall. The other sectoid moved out of the new hole in the wall and fired at Charlie, damaging his armor. Deciding not to take any chances, the Commander ordered Ingrid to use her rocket to kill the two sectoids in one shot. Despite her doubts, she managed to get the aliens...

And destroyed the remaining wall, alerting two more aliens.

The Commander was starting to panic now. A panicked leader does not make good decisions. He ordered Charlie to move to nearby cover, but didn't realize that the cover was flanked on one side. Charlie's running alerted two more aliens, worrying the Commander even more. His top adviser was now giving him lip.

The next few minutes was frenzied panicking and running from cover to cover. Charlie was shot again, and threw a frag grenade in response, killing the alien and giving Vahlen reason to hate him. In a mad dash, he ran to another cubicle, dodging a plasma bolt in the process. Just as the last sectoid was about to kill him, Charlie shot the bugger in the face.

During the flight home, the squad listened as their Commander was questioned for his suitability for this job by the Council...
----
Well, it took long enough, but this chapter is finally here. Now you know: I actually suck at XCOM. Thanks for reading!

[Moss]

Good stuff, keep it up.

[The Jedi Master]

The other vid (and reminder to Mark B. about this) Soon.

[Dark Junior]

Name: Dark Junior

Preferred Gender: Male

Preferred Nationality: Canadian

Appearance:

Armor: 2

Armor Tint: 10

Everything else can be random.

Except give me the coolest helmet possible

Do You Want To Be A MEC? OH YES!