Dramatis Personæ

We're going to begin in medias res because (1) I like the phrase "in medias res" and (2) its no fun trying to write about something that hasn't happened or characters that haven't been created. So...

Our Story Thus Far:

Aliens have come to earth! They're not nice aliens like ET, nor are they blow-everything-up-aliens like in Independence Day; they're more the randomly-abduct-a-few-people-here-and-there-while-sinisterly-plotting-evil sort of aliens. A council of nations, led by a bald guy whose face we can never quite make out, has created an international organization tasked with figuring out what these invaders are up to, stopping them, and in the mean time, saving as many people as possible. The world is on the verge of panic; it's up to us to keep things under control until we can sort this situation out. We have a giant underground base in Europe (which can be expanded later), a small force of interceptors, a squad of elite soldiers to work with.

Our base, or "the ant farm," as it's known.

So far, results have been mixed. Our first contact with the aliens went rather badly, which was, I'd like to emphasize, NOT MY FAULT! Mission #1 (operation "Devil's Moon") is an in-game tutorial which, no matter what you do, kills three quarters of your soldiers. It's kind of depressing. After that, things went better for a while; we launched a satellite, developed a weapon capable of stunning an alien but not killing it (the "Arc Thrower"), built an Alien Containment Facility in our base to house the little buggers once we capture them, saved some people from abduction, rescued someone who managed to escape from alien custody, and shot down a UFO! Not too bad if I do say so myself. And in all that time, we only had one additional fatality, so, thus far, the most deadly force we've encountered was a poorly scripted tutorial.

We join our team at a time when things are a little bit somber. After in-game weeks of success, we've just had our first "failed" mission. The squad was tasked to retrieve a military officer whose unit was pinned down by an alien abduction force in India. I don't want to go into the details of this particular mission, but to make a long story short, remember this: when cars are on fire, they sometimes explode. So, don't put anything you want to keep (like a military officer you just risked your life to rescue) next to a burning car. That's a tip; write it down.

At least the entire squad made it out alive. And, without farther adieu, here they are: the people who will save humanity (also, one person who tried but is dead now).

David ‘Zed’ Ziegler (Heavy Weapons)

Zed is the cornerstone of the XCOM squad, the ‘old man,’ our highest ranking member and the lead combatant on most missions. He’s been with us from the beginning, since the first tutorial mission of the game which forces you into a specific sequence of moves to walk you through the basic mechanics of tactical combat and, incidentally, kills off all but one member of your team.

Zed was the sole survivor of that mission and the experience changed him in a deep and personal way. For instance, going into that mission he was a young Latino rookie named Humberto Gonzales, but in the wake of that initial tragedy he felt the need to embrace the Israeli nationality randomly assigned to him by the game, to age about 30 years, and grow a nice thick mustache.

He also got a promotion and developed a special talent with heavy weapons, which gives him a rocket launcher as well as the standard grenade that most soldiers carry; which is to say, Zed blows stuff up. The game discourages the overuse of explosives because they prevent you from capturing alien weaponry and equipment intact for study purposes. The game’s scientist persona, Dr. Vahlen, regularly complains when valuable artifacts are reduced to debris. Zed doesn’t give a damn about research. He knows that the best way to keep a Martian plasma rifle from blowing a hole through your squad mate is to turn it, and the alien holding it, into a pile of ruble. And that’s good enough for him. 

Zuzana (Support, KIA – operation “Lazy Crone”) and Alexi 'Spectre' Morozova (Sniper)

The Morozova siblings joined XCOM together. Zuzana’s credentials were as a former Spetsnaz operative; Alexi’s credentials were as a dropout with a drinking problem who had no life…and as Zuzana’s little brother. Zuzana wouldn’t accept a position with XCOM unless they brought Alexi into the program as well. It turns out that several months of intensive physical and mental training, without access to vodka, television, or strip clubs was just what the doctor ordered; his mind and hands steadied and Alexi earned a place as the team’s foremost sniper.

Zuzana was our first fatality since the scripted tutorial/massacre that was Zed’s first mission. The team went after a crashed UFO in Australia, took out the ET lookalikes lurking outside without any trouble, but ran into a towering figure of glowing death once they breached the hull. This “Outsider,” the ship’s captain and (apparently) a ‘being of pure energy,’ materialized and took out our senior Russian operative in a single shot. Did I mention that deaths are permanent in this game? R.I.P. Zuzana. I’m sorry you weren’t around long enough to get a nickname.

We’re still waiting to see how Alexi deals with this loss. His sister was the reason he was in the program in the first place, but he seems devoted to pulling his own weight, especially now. So far, he’s only become more withdrawn, quieter, steadier, more focused…just what you want in a sniper. Now, I’m not saying that XCOM wants to profit from the bereavement of a sibling…but when it came time to replace Zuzana we did decide to hire twins. 

John 'Shep' Shepard (Assault)

Shepard is the last component of our initial foursome. His background is police, not military. A former SWAT officer, he developed a reputation for charging straight into the jaws certain death, shoving a shotgun in those jaws, and making certain death seriously reconsider its life choices. His general disregard for his own safety is second only to his obsessive concern about the lives of his squad mates.

When the Outsider took out Zuzana, Shepard WAS out of cover and charging forward before the collection of wet materials that used to be her body hit the ground. We don’t know if you can really kill beings of pure energy with point-blank shotgun blasts to the head, but thanks to Shepard we do know that you can make them go “Arrrgh!” and dissipate in an explosive, sparkly sort of way.

As an assault soldier, Shepard can cover more ground than anyone else and still fire his weapon. Officially that means he’s the point man on most missions; unofficially it means that, if you find yourself facing deep trouble with no way out, he’s the guy most likely to come charging out of nowhere in an attempt to blow deep trouble to kingdom come.

 

Mary and Daniel Ryan

The Ryan twins are the latest recruits to the XCOM program. They were both with the British SAS, albeit in separate units, and pleased to find that XCOM had no restrictions on them serving together. As the only woman currently in the squad, its important to Mary that the other members take her seriously and treat her as an equal; she tries to make her presence felt on the field and around the barracks. It hasn't been a problem with her brother, Shepard, or Alexi, but I think Zed is going to have trouble not thinking of her as a daughter-figure, especially if she keeps that ponytail.

Daniel, like Alexi, is a quiet, reserved sort of guy. But where Alexi is brooding, Daniel is just plain shy. He's taken the time to read everything available on the extraterrestrial threat, the XCOM project, and he organization backing it.

The twins are too new to have nicknames or specializations yet. We’re hoping one of them will end up as a Support operative to replace Zuzana as our primary medic tactician. I hope it’s Daniel, because if the game randomly makes assigns both of my first female agents the role of “nurse,” my wife will take umbrage. Also, Daniel Ryan sounds like a great name for a medic, don’t you think? Hopefully it won't take the loss of a sibling for him to really embrace the role.

That's everybody. At the moment, the world is mostly holding together. The council that funds XCOM is made up of 16 member states. Every successful alien attack increases panic in the target nation and decreases their confidence in XCOM. If panic goes too high the nation will withdraw from the program, effectively surrendering to the aliens. If 8 nations withdraw their support the program is canceled and we lose the game. 

Looking at the screen below you can see that panic levels are pretty low everywhere except India, which might have something to do with our letting their general get blown to smithereens by an exploding Volvo in that last mission. You can also see our base in Germany and that we have a satellite up over China on the lookout for UFOs. Satellite's decrease panic so we'll try to put one up over India as soon as possible.

Next time I'll take a stab at describing an actual mission.