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Martian

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Posts posted by Martian

  1. Goose Fishkin is The Stig of Xenonauts.

    They say he once impregnated an entire Brazilian volleyball team. Some say that he is a better shot with his feet than his hands but he wanted to give the aliens a sporting chance. They also say that his spine has to be oiled twice a week. All we know is that his name is Goose Fishkin.

  2. One thing about Xenonauts that irked me is the soldier's vision limits.

    I am fine with it being severely curtailed at night, but during the day when you look down a road, you should be able to see all the way down that road, not just to a certain distance.

    I'm thinking that a soldier's vision during the day could clear the black-square fog of war entirely down their field of view, but their ability to distinguish detail will be limited - as in, after a certain distance, a possible target will just show up as an 'unknown contact' until they get close enough to identify. So, the trooper could open up on something that is on the opposite side of the map if they have the line-of-sight, but they have no idea if they will be cutting down a civvy or an enemy.

    If you tie that into severe penalties for killing non-combatants, it would get interesting.

  3. The conspiracy of the higher rank your Xenonaut, the more effective and accurate the enemy's attack is against them.

    More than once has my Majors or Captains, geared up in full Wolf armour, get killed outright by some no-name alien guard with a standard-issue plasma rifle at extreme range.

    When the game breaks out the Bullsh!t bullets, I turn it off and go have a little rest..

  4. Awww yiss.

    You need a Marty, though I wonder if I can pester you for a custom class? When I got soldiers with good all-around statistics, particularly with TUs, I class them as Commandos and give them a useful assortment of gear. Rifle, Pistol (Or shotgun if they are strong enough,) Medkit, a C4 charge and as many grenades as they can carry. I use them to scout the flanks and outskirts of a map.

    High attrition rate if you aren't careful, but useful soldiers.

  5. Just crashed the game by firing a Plasma Cannon off the Scimitar.

    Did it three more times in a row and same effect every time. I have the game saved at the moment before firing, so if someone can just tell me where to find that save file on a Mac, I can copy it out and send it to a tester to see if it can be replicated.

  6. 'The Hoser and his toy,' the LT laughed, setting down the steaming mug of coffee. The range was usually quiet in the evenings, save when the troops were bored or wanted to try out their new toys. Marty took those opportunities to set up at the centre post with his prized air rifle and just drop pellets into the targets at the extreme end of the range. The gun never made a sound louder than a polite cough, and the strike of the pellet impacting a second or two later was louder by far.

    'Aw c'mon, LT. This is a precision piece of engineering! It ain't one of them fiddly Daisy's you give to a ten year old.'

    'Uh huh.' A chair squeaked as it was drug across the concrete, then creaked slightly as the LT settled down. 'You can't tell me that thing tops what we issue.'

    Marty snorted and waved a hand dismissively, 'I'd rather keep using the Enfields the Canuck Rangers have, to tell you the truth. Hell, I'd rather use a sling shot over that damn .308 they gave me. And yeah,' the soldier continued, patting the somewhat lumpy-looking rifle on the benchrest, 'This beauty is still miles beyond the standard issue rubbish.'

    'Uh huh,' Fend looked amused, stretching back on the chair, blowing the steam off his coffee.

    Marty rolled his eyes, 'Yeah well, it won't hit like a .308, but take a peek through the spotter.'

    Humouring the young canuck, Fend rested an elbow on the bench and peered through the bulky scope set up at Marty's elbow. The paper target was the familiar head-and-shoulders silhouette, outlined by various lines and markers to denote hit zones. The head and heart bullseye's looked like they had been peppered by buckshot at very close range, leaving just a ragged mess half the size of his palm. The target was hung at the furthest station; 150 yards. It would be a competent display for any decent marksman, but nothing to crow about.

    The look Fend gave Marty spoke this. The look Marty gave back suggested that Fend didn't quite understand the gravity of the situation.

    'This gun fires tiny pellets a quarter of the weight of a bullet at roughly a quarter of the velocity,' he said. 'Putting a pellet into a target at a hundred yards takes the same kind of math as dropping a .308 round into the same target at five hundred yards. Holdover, windage- all of it is nearly the same.'

    'Uh huh,' said Fend.

    Feeling somewhat slighted, Marty broke open the action of the air rifle ad levered the barrel down to cock it for a fresh shot.

    'Just a thought,' said the LT, taking a sip of the coffee as the soldiers braced against the shooting rest. The rifle coughed politely, and roughly a second later, there was a thunk as the fired pellet found its mark. Fend waited for the young soldier to glare at him. 'Do you think that thing will kill a lizard? How about a grey? Do you think that pea-shooter will help you out there where it counts?'

    Fend held up a hand to stall the outburst. 'Yeah, I can tell it helps for practice, but this isn't your backyard anymore, Marty- you gotta get used to our guns now. The boys upstairs are cooking up some new gear for us, and you're going to have to adapt in a hurry, and probably with things breathing down your neck with the intention of stringing your spine up as a decorative piece.' Fend pointed to the ugly little gun on the table, 'Pack it in grease and save it for a hobby when you retire, kid. Time to grow up.'

    The LT hadn't been an asshole about it- it was just a matter-of-fact statement from an old hand. Marty hadn't been much pleased after the LT had strolled off, but after a couple more shots, the words had sunk in. The Canadian hadn't been in a proper shooting war as yet, but the history was there, and something about the LT's words struck a chord. Eventually, Marty had packed away the Weihrauch he had so prized, and dragged the ugly, unwieldy battle rifle they had issued him over to the bench.

    ---

    The talk had helped the kid open his eyes to just what he would be facing, but it had been the assault on the crashed ship that had solidified it. The crash and roar of the guns, the stink of burning flesh, the panicked screams, the unfamiliar and heavy laser rifle in his hands.

    The LT had just fallen in a spray of friendly fire from the left, then MSV was shouting a command from the right, then the door to the ship opened and the thing strode out. The laser rifle felt like it weighed a ton, felt like it was the size of a car- he couldn't get it to his shoulder in time, couldn't get a sight picture before the thing cut MSV down.

    The laser rifle spat death, and the thing's neck burst into a haze of red and violet as the bolt of light vaporized flesh and bone...

    ---

    Marty blinked.

    He was at the firing range, in the centre post. The black behemoth of a rifle was on the bench, its frame and barrel making soft clicking noises as it cooled. Downrange, a series of targets was gently smouldering. The furthest was a hundred and fifty yards, the closest no more than ten, and all of them spread across the range from left to right. Six targets, six holes through the center-of-mass. Marty's eyes swivelled to the sound-activated timer at his elbow.

    Ten-point-three seconds between the first and last shot.

    He bumped the magazine eject and slotted a fresh battery in place in one smooth motion. The charging lever clicked and the weapon hissed back into life, a hellish red glow pulsing in the chamber's indicator.

    He'd get faster.

    He wasn't going to lose another teammate.

  7. And a second one: had an Interception sortie engage a bogey at the very same instant a dropship team arrived at a target LZ.

    Went into an Air-to-Air game, and was interrupted to have the dropship team engage on the ground. The Air-to-Air game was paused in the background and was showing up on the fog-of-war tiles.

    Rather odd.

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