XCom: Goodbye My Vet.

Anathrax · Feb 2, 2013

This thread is for you to post the death of a squad member of your XCom team, that you really loved and hated to see go.

Mine was Boris "Xeno" Sokolov, my first ever Major. He was a sniper, he died in Operation Dying Dream, which was an assault on an alien base in South Africa. Bastard Purple Aliens(The ones that create zombies) ambushed him in his vantage point. Worst part is, he never got to using the Laser Sniper Rifle or the skeleton suit. Rest in Peace Boris. Your 28 kills will not go unforgotten.

Now, I have a question. My current objective is to autopsy/interrogate(The commander was standing right in front of me with 1 health, and I had an arc thrower.) the sectoid commander. Let's say I postpone the research in favor of researching other things. What would happen? Would I just be fighting the same current enemies or would new events pop up, ones that need whatever I earn when I interrogate/autopsy the commander. Thanks.

Doclector · Feb 2, 2013

Anathrax said:
This thread is for you to post the death of a squad member of your XCom team, that you really loved and hated to see go.

Mine was Boris "Xeno" Sokolov, my first ever Major. He was a sniper, he died in Operation Dying Dream, which was an assault on an alien base in South Africa. Bastard Purple Aliens(The ones that create zombies) ambushed him in his vantage point. Worst part is, he never got to using the Laser Sniper Rifle or the skeleton suit. Rest in Peace Boris. Your 28 kills will not go unforgotten.

Now, I have a question. My current objective is to autopsy/interrogate(The commander was standing right in front of me with 1 health, and I had an arc thrower.) the sectoid commander. Let's say I postpone the research in favor of researching other things. What would happen? Would I just be fighting the same current enemies or would new events pop up, ones that need whatever I earn when I interrogate/autopsy the commander. Thanks.

Generally, whatever they tell you to do next progresses the story. New enemies will appear whether or not you do this, but as far as I know, there's no time limit.

This means that it could be actually a good strategy to put that off in favour of research into new weapons, armour, stuff like that.

As for losses, the time I lost my best sniper was pretty hard. Especially since he pretty much died because I took a risk putting him into a position where I couldn't be sure if he was vulnerable to flanking.

He was. Bunch of the big bastards whose name escapes me. He didn't stand a chance. Within one turn, he was dead.

Worst thing? Shortly after that the research into the latest armours finished, and I got the money necessary to use officer training to give higher ranked soldiers a better chance of surviving.

I worry most about my two best troops though. DJ and Doc, the best Assault and Support troops I have respectively.

DJ has been there since the first mission, and Doc the second. Honestly, if they go, I'd feel better if they both did. Being the kind of person who becomes personally attached to my soldiers, I don't think I could fully take the feels if only one died.

tippy2k2 · Feb 2, 2013

Just about everyone has died at some point in my XCOM "Let's Play" (and some have been revived and then killed again....and again if you're Gigastar; those aliens HATE him for some reason). My "Let's Play" is for The Escapist members who have joined my army so it is likely that you will recognize some of the names in this list.

I have my own Memorial Wall setup for my poor soldiers. It shows their user picture, their rank, their mission amount, their kills, and a little story about how it happened.

A lot of them get killed right away since a green soldier is pretty useless but there were some big ranks in there.

SHREK was a Captain
SCORP was a Major
SHEPARD was a Colonel

Lieutenant; 10 Kills in 9 Missions

Janjotat pushed forward in line with the rest of squad. He discovered a group of Muttons. Instead of charging in like a fool, Janjotat stayed back and kept the line held. The other members of the line went into Over-watch in order to try to protect their comrade. Unfortunately, while one mutton was killed and the other severely wounded, Janjotat was hit twice and killed instantly.

Sergeant; 11 kills in 5 missions

Jojo never thought of himself on the battlefield; only his squad. During hostile action against a downed ship, Jojo threw a smoke grenade in order to cover his team. Unfortunately, the smoke grenade was not enough. It took two Muton's getting direct hits but they succeeded through the smoke, killing Jojo instantly.

Rookie; 1 kill in 2 missions
After seeing his comrade Jojo killed by Muton's, Antitonic moved up in order to avenge his fallen comrade. Unfortunately, his luck was pushed too far. While Antitonic was able to slay one Muton, the other Muton scored a direct hit, killing Antitonic instantly.

Corporal; 5 kills in 4 missions
Fire moved up to the top of a high building in order to fire down upon the five Muton's. Only one Muton gets a shot off but unfortunately, it is a Critical Hit, which severely wounds him. He is stabilized but unfortunately the squad has to retreat, sealing Fires fate.

Squaddie; 1 kill in 2 missions
While the squad was hurting, they were not out. Kaleion moved forward to fire upon the Cyberdisk who was firing upon his squad. The Cyberdisk got a grenade off, killing Kaleion instantly.

Captain; 18 kills in 11 missions
Someone must have had it out for Shrek. Gigastar, upon seeing his friend Kaleion killed, panics and fires at the closest target. Unfortunately for Shrek, he was the closest target. Wounded from before, the shot into his back killed him instantly.

Squaddie; 4 kills in 2 missions
Like so many during this operation, the loss of life proved to be too much for Janjotat to handle. Feeling guilty for surviving when so many didn't, he ran forward at a Cyberdisk that just killed a comrade. The charge proved to be costly as the Cyberdisk shot and killed him instantly.

Squaddie; 1 kill in 3 missions
Eagle pushed forward, running into five Mutons and a Berserker. Even though multiple members of the party fired upon the Berserker, only one managed to hit. This proved to be Eagle's downfall as the creature was able to smash Eagle with it's massive forearms. Pinned down by the other Mutons, the squad was unable to get to Eagle in time.

Major; 35 kills in 16 missions
Once many of the Muton's were defeated, Scorp, seeing that Eagle was wounded, pushed forward to try to save his comrade. Scorp took a shot with a 89% success rate but luck was not on his side today. Not only did he miss the shot but the when the Muton returned fire, it was a Crit hit, killing Scorp instantly.

Corporal; 3 kills in 4 missions

Corporal; 4 kills in 3 missions
While the squad was short-handed, Intel knew that there were very few aliens left. Taco and Antitonic moved up together around a car. The sneaky Muton had climbed on top of a truck and fired down upon the two soldiers while in Overwatch, striking Antitonic. The Muton then threw a grenade, killing both Taco and Antitonic in one blast.

Squaddie; 4 kills in 3 missions
As Willem Dafoe famously said in the best movie ever: "It was a fuckin ambush". A very large group of enemies were discovered when the squad moved into the engine room. Gigastar fought valiantly but just plain bad luck kills our Heavy. He is hit by a critical shot and killed instantly by a Muton.

Colonel; 35 kills in 16 missions
Shepard is one of the few soldiers who was there from the beginning but his luck finally got the best of him. After breaking apart the ambush that claimed Gigastar, the squad moved forward. Risking his life, Shepard took out two Muton's single-handedly, saving the life of his squad. Unfortunately, this left him vulnerable as a Berserker was able to get on top of him, severely wounding him. Unfortunately, the medic was already out and he died of his wounds soon after.

Major; 15 kills in 6 missions
With only a few members in the squad left standing, Souplex knew that the mission had to be completed or else all the sacrifice would be for nothing. Fighting their way through the ship, Souplex, Eleuthera, and Rookie pushed forward. Unfortunately, they ran into an alien no one had ever seen before. This alien took over the body of Eleuthera. Not in control of his actions, shot and killed Souplex.

Squaddie; 1 kill in two missions
Eager to prove himself, Evilermine took up the Arc Thrower. After severely wounding a commander sectoid, Evilermine gave chase to capture. However, it was an ambush as three heavy floaters and a cyberdisk came out from behind the commander sectoid. He attempted to fall back but was unable to escape the trap...

Squaddie; 3 kills in 2 missions
After the inital ambush, Gigastar and company were able to fall back to a choke point where they came from. After Evilermine was killed, the squad held the line for another turn. Unfortunately, after trading fire with the enemy, Gigastar was fired upon by a Heavy Floater and killed instantly.

Squaddie; Kills 0 in 1 mission
Poor Eagle. He was just a young kid who wanted to do his parents proud by enlisting. He did everything he could to prove that he deserved their love and respect. Unfortunately, he was never given that chance. A few moves into his first mission, a Muton was able to flank him and killed him instantly.

Sergeant; 6 kills in 3 missions

Lieutenant; 9 Kills in 7 Missions

No Picture of ResonanceSD exists.
Sergeant; 7 Kills in 5 Missions

The first run-in with a new alien proved incredibly deadly for our squad. The dreaded Sectopod, whose abilities were unknown at the time, quickly demonstrated why people are afraid of it. It fired off multiple rounds, killing Whitefalcon instantly and causing fatal wounds to Scorp. While ResonanceSD was able to momentarily escape, the Sectopod's backup came in the form of Heavy Floaters. Caught in the open, ResonanceSD was shot in the back, and was killed instantly.

Lieutenant; 8 kills in 6 missions
Fire, like many other soldiers, just wanted to do his duty no matter the cost. Earlier in the battle, Fire fell after three Heavy Floater's concentrated fire on him. Wounded, he was patched up and insisted on going back into the fight. Even though he was put far back and only had one Heavy Floater in range, his luck finally gave out as he was hit and killed instantly.

Corporal; 6 kills in 3 missions
It just wasn't Gigastar's lucky day today. The squad was trading shots with three Heavy Floaters sitting in the open and not one squad member was able to hit an enemy. Unfortunately, the Heavy Floater's had no problem firing against our full cover. Two of those shots punched into Gigastar and he was killed instantly.

We thank you for your sacrifice

And I'm not even done with game yet...

The_Lost_King · Feb 3, 2013

Well my most crushing loss that I accepted was when I died. I ran up to an etherial in order to kill it, in the end my sacrifice saved the world

However, when my support, Scotch, died I redid the level. I really liked Scotch, probably because of his badass nickname.

I also lost a lot of snipers, but who cares about snipers?

Luca72 · Feb 3, 2013

I just beat the game on Classic (not Ironman though) so decided to give Ironman a go. Things were going pretty well - satellites were up, with more on the way. and the worst things had gotten were a few orange countries. There were some casualties, but in the first few months I got a team of soldiers as hard as coffin nails. Two were with me from the beginning. Then the worst possible situation happened. I think you know the one I'm talking about.

Fucking. Van. Dorn.

We made our way fairly easily to the site, and then as we dove into that hell-pit to rescue video gamings' most putrid, gaping asshole, everything went south. My support fell, and my heavy died trying to save her. Van Dorn was clearly no stranger to loss, so this didn't shut his stupid meatflaps. My assault managed to get him out, getting winged in the process. After that it was a war of attrition. Van Dorn was two turns away from the exit when my Assault succumbed to poison, and all I had left was my sniper. The one who got all the kills in the first mission, and had saved the day over and over again. She managed to take out one of the Thin Men with just a pistol, but she was overwhelmed.

It's hard losing a squad member. It's worse losing a squad member to "GET DOWN HERE! I CAN'T HAVE ALL THE FUN!"

gideonkain · Feb 3, 2013

Anathrax said:
Your 28 kills will not go unforgotten.

Your saying he will be forgotten.

Easton Dark · Feb 3, 2013

tippy2k2 said:
Just about everyone has died at some point in my XCOM "Let's Play" (and some have been revived and then killed again....and again if you're Gigastar; those aliens HATE him for some reason). My "Let's Play" is for The Escapist members who have joined my army so it is likely that you will recognize some of the names in this list.

I have my own Memorial Wall setup for my poor soldiers. It shows their user picture, their rank, their mission amount, their kills, and a little story about how it happened.

A lot of them get killed right away since a green soldier is pretty useless but there were some big ranks in there.

SHREK was a Captain
SCORP was a Major
SHEPARD was a Colonel

Lieutenant; 10 Kills in 9 Missions

Janjotat pushed forward in line with the rest of squad. He discovered a group of Muttons. Instead of charging in like a fool, Janjotat stayed back and kept the line held. The other members of the line went into Over-watch in order to try to protect their comrade. Unfortunately, while one mutton was killed and the other severely wounded, Janjotat was hit twice and killed instantly.

Sergeant; 11 kills in 5 missions

Jojo never thought of himself on the battlefield; only his squad. During hostile action against a downed ship, Jojo threw a smoke grenade in order to cover his team. Unfortunately, the smoke grenade was not enough. It took two Muton's getting direct hits but they succeeded through the smoke, killing Jojo instantly.

Rookie; 1 kill in 2 missions
After seeing his comrade Jojo killed by Muton's, Antitonic moved up in order to avenge his fallen comrade. Unfortunately, his luck was pushed too far. While Antitonic was able to slay one Muton, the other Muton scored a direct hit, killing Antitonic instantly.

Corporal; 5 kills in 4 missions
Fire moved up to the top of a high building in order to fire down upon the five Muton's. Only one Muton gets a shot off but unfortunately, it is a Critical Hit, which severely wounds him. He is stabilized but unfortunately the squad has to retreat, sealing Fires fate.

Squaddie; 1 kill in 2 missions
While the squad was hurting, they were not out. Kaleion moved forward to fire upon the Cyberdisk who was firing upon his squad. The Cyberdisk got a grenade off, killing Kaleion instantly.

Captain; 18 kills in 11 missions
Someone must have had it out for Shrek. Gigastar, upon seeing his friend Kaleion killed, panics and fires at the closest target. Unfortunately for Shrek, he was the closest target. Wounded from before, the shot into his back killed him instantly.

Squaddie; 4 kills in 2 missions
Like so many during this operation, the loss of life proved to be too much for Janjotat to handle. Feeling guilty for surviving when so many didn't, he ran forward at a Cyberdisk that just killed a comrade. The charge proved to be costly as the Cyberdisk shot and killed him instantly.

Squaddie; 1 kill in 3 missions
Eagle pushed forward, running into five Mutons and a Berserker. Even though multiple members of the party fired upon the Berserker, only one managed to hit. This proved to be Eagle's downfall as the creature was able to smash Eagle with it's massive forearms. Pinned down by the other Mutons, the squad was unable to get to Eagle in time.

Major; 35 kills in 16 missions
Once many of the Muton's were defeated, Scorp, seeing that Eagle was wounded, pushed forward to try to save his comrade. Scorp took a shot with a 89% success rate but luck was not on his side today. Not only did he miss the shot but the when the Muton returned fire, it was a Crit hit, killing Scorp instantly.

Corporal; 3 kills in 4 missions

Corporal; 4 kills in 3 missions
While the squad was short-handed, Intel knew that there were very few aliens left. Taco and Antitonic moved up together around a car. The sneaky Muton had climbed on top of a truck and fired down upon the two soldiers while in Overwatch, striking Antitonic. The Muton then threw a grenade, killing both Taco and Antitonic in one blast.

Squaddie; 4 kills in 3 missions
As Willem Dafoe famously said in the best movie ever: "It was a fuckin ambush". A very large group of enemies were discovered when the squad moved into the engine room. Gigastar fought valiantly but just plain bad luck kills our Heavy. He is hit by a critical shot and killed instantly by a Muton.

Colonel; 35 kills in 16 missions
Shepard is one of the few soldiers who was there from the beginning but his luck finally got the best of him. After breaking apart the ambush that claimed Gigastar, the squad moved forward. Risking his life, Shepard took out two Muton's single-handedly, saving the life of his squad. Unfortunately, this left him vulnerable as a Berserker was able to get on top of him, severely wounding him. Unfortunately, the medic was already out and he died of his wounds soon after.

Major; 15 kills in 6 missions
With only a few members in the squad left standing, Souplex knew that the mission had to be completed or else all the sacrifice would be for nothing. Fighting their way through the ship, Souplex, Eleuthera, and Rookie pushed forward. Unfortunately, they ran into an alien no one had ever seen before. This alien took over the body of Eleuthera. Not in control of his actions, shot and killed Souplex.

Squaddie; 1 kill in two missions
Eager to prove himself, Evilermine took up the Arc Thrower. After severely wounding a commander sectoid, Evilermine gave chase to capture. However, it was an ambush as three heavy floaters and a cyberdisk came out from behind the commander sectoid. He attempted to fall back but was unable to escape the trap...

Squaddie; 3 kills in 2 missions
After the inital ambush, Gigastar and company were able to fall back to a choke point where they came from. After Evilermine was killed, the squad held the line for another turn. Unfortunately, after trading fire with the enemy, Gigastar was fired upon by a Heavy Floater and killed instantly.

Squaddie; Kills 0 in 1 mission
Poor Eagle. He was just a young kid who wanted to do his parents proud by enlisting. He did everything he could to prove that he deserved their love and respect. Unfortunately, he was never given that chance. A few moves into his first mission, a Muton was able to flank him and killed him instantly.

Sergeant; 6 kills in 3 missions

Lieutenant; 9 Kills in 7 Missions

No Picture of ResonanceSD exists.
Sergeant; 7 Kills in 5 Missions

The first run-in with a new alien proved incredibly deadly for our squad. The dreaded Sectopod, whose abilities were unknown at the time, quickly demonstrated why people are afraid of it. It fired off multiple rounds, killing Whitefalcon instantly and causing fatal wounds to Scorp. While ResonanceSD was able to momentarily escape, the Sectopod's backup came in the form of Heavy Floaters. Caught in the open, ResonanceSD was shot in the back, and was killed instantly.

Lieutenant; 8 kills in 6 missions
Fire, like many other soldiers, just wanted to do his duty no matter the cost. Earlier in the battle, Fire fell after three Heavy Floater's concentrated fire on him. Wounded, he was patched up and insisted on going back into the fight. Even though he was put far back and only had one Heavy Floater in range, his luck finally gave out as he was hit and killed instantly.

Corporal; 6 kills in 3 missions
It just wasn't Gigastar's lucky day today. The squad was trading shots with three Heavy Floaters sitting in the open and not one squad member was able to hit an enemy. Unfortunately, the Heavy Floater's had no problem firing against our full cover. Two of those shots punched into Gigastar and he was killed instantly.

We thank you for your sacrifice

And I'm not even done with game yet...

I notice my character is still not on that list.

I'm a big dick alien hunter is what I am.

Quazimofo · Feb 3, 2013

The_Lost_King said:
Well my most crushing loss that I accepted was when I died. I ran up to an etherial in order to kill it, in the end my sacrifice saved the world

However, when my support, Scotch, died I redid the level. I really liked Scotch, probably because of his badass nickname.

I also lost a lot of snipers, but who cares about snipers?

I do, because my snipers get hurt alot but are badass as all hell

My sniper with "in the zone" has had single turns where he kills 6 enemies in a row who were all close enough to seriously hurt my squad even on their own.

For example, a landed cargo ship. 12 mutons came charging out every turn or every other turn in threes, taking cover and potshots. I blew up the cover with everyone else, but couldn't kill any of them. Then it was Emo's turn (his last name was shin, got the nickname Emo. puns, gotta love em). 7 mutons later, the remainder fled, and were promptly dispatched because they didn't run THAT far, and i had rockets.

BloatedGuppy · Feb 3, 2013

Quazimofo said:
My sniper with "in the zone" has had single turns where he kills 6 enemies in a row who were all close enough to seriously hurt my squad even on their own.

"In the Zone" is hilariously OP.

Of course, so is Double Tap.

And Squad Sight. And Gunslinger. And Opportunist.

Snipers are really OP, is what I'm saying.

OT: My most painful loss was probably on my first play-through. My A-Team had been together forever, and had suffered no losses in something like 15-20 missions, thanks largely to the heroic efforts of my Mexican Support, nickname Prophet. He was always on the spot, stabilizing the wounded, and bringing the men back from the brink of death. A real guardian angel.

We got ambushed in a construction yard, and were hemmed in on all sides. I'd pushed Prophet up to stabilize my wounded Heavy, and he took fire from a Cyberdisk, and collapsed. He needed stabilizing himself.

The backup medkit was on the Heavy.

I had to watch him slowly bleed out, as we couldn't push through the remaining aliens fast enough.

RIP Prophet.

Pink Gregory · Feb 3, 2013

Firaxis needs to add a memorial video function to the memorial wall. Maybe one moment of being awesome, then their GLORIOUS DEATH IN THE LINE OF DUTY, then a polaroid photograph and their name.

It would completely unnecessary, and add nothing to the game, but damn it I want it.

*salute and tear*

Catfood220 · Feb 3, 2013

Carl "Frostie" Frost...why oh why did you have to run through that door activating some enemies when the rest of the squad were otherwise engaged. You weren't even my main heavy, but my God, losing you hurt man.

tippy2k2 · Feb 3, 2013

Easton Dark said:
I notice my character is still not on that list.

I'm a big dick alien hunter is what I am.

You have indeed been the only original surviving member from the very first day (which is actually kind of surprising since as an Assault unit, you are always on the front line).

Terminal Blue · Feb 3, 2013

Anathrax said:
Let's say I postpone the research in favor of researching other things. What would happen? Would I just be fighting the same current enemies or would new events pop up, ones that need whatever I earn when I interrogate/autopsy the commander. Thanks.

You will no longer get Outsiders (which, as it turned out, were just remote operating devices for the alien leaders). From now on, Sectoid Commanders will show up on UFOs taking command directly. Beyond this, there's no rush, in fact it might be a good idea not to power through the plot and to spend some time on research and upgrading your squad. However, researching the commander does give you access to something pretty awesome, which I'm going to put in spoiler tags because the following description contains both detailed game information and plot points which you may want to discover on your own.

After researching the commander, you can build a psionic lab which tests your soldiers for psionic abilities (probability equal to 1/4 of their will score when you submit them for testing). Not only is this necessary to ultimately advance the plot, it also gives you access to some very powerful crowd control and defensive abilities. Psionics are pretty much this game's ultimate weapon.

I've been naming all my soldiers after my friends if they had the right nationality and actually the snipers are the only ones who are still alive now in the endgame, even the ones who I haven't built as ultra long-range squadsight monkeys. In future, I think I'm going to have all my really good friends be snipers.

Anyway, in the original squad I had a British support named after a friend of mine and who I nicknamed "Xerxes". I also had a heavy who was recruited later and who was named after the same guy's RL girlfriend. He was my best support and had managed to keep the entire starting team alive well into June, when we got called out to a "very hard" abduction mission in Brazil. The place turned out to be crawling with Mutons, who I'd only just encountered and wasn't really tooled up to deal with yet. Xerxes ended up hiding out in heavy cover having taken a hit already (he was only in skeleton armour at the time). Most of the rest of the team was in light cover and there was a Muton on a roof who was just tearing shit up, so of course he wasn't going to lie down when the team was in danger, right? He'd get up and lay down some suppression on that guy instead. Another muton immediately turns around and blasts him through full cover. He's critically wounded, and he was the only guy with a medkit.

The worst part is that, as I was hoping, the tide completely turned next round and we started mopping up. For a second I hoped I might be able to finish the mission in time to save him, and it might actually have worked if the heavy (named after his RL girlfriend) hadn't run out of ammunition on the final turn before he bled out.

Fortunately, they both found the resulting story hilarious, and I learned a few valuable lessons.

XCom: Goodbye My Vet.

Anathrax

New member

Doclector

New member

tippy2k2

Beloved Tyrant

The_Lost_King

New member

Luca72

New member

gideonkain

New member

Easton Dark

New member

Quazimofo

New member

BloatedGuppy

New member

Pink Gregory

New member

Catfood220

Elite Member

tippy2k2

Beloved Tyrant

Terminal Blue

Elite Member