#unionhack plays

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me and @softcoremilk being cute in acnh

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Arathir from Level 20 to 110.

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I recently got XCOM 2 for the PS4 because my computer could barely handle it in the first place and it would have no chance to run War of the Chosen, so I went into the character pool and recreated a lot of my favorites from the PC version.

I’ll probably post about each of them individually as time goes on. While they’re not all from the same campaigns, I loved playing all of them! They’re labeled according to which of my 3 playthroughs thus far they were a part of; Alpha, Beta, and Gamma.

Descriptions and bios under the cut.

David “Deacon” Palmer (Canada, Medic/Specialist, Age 42, Beta) - A combat medic from the original XCOM project, David went AWOL after the initial invasion proved to be too much for him to handle. After living as a drifter for the rest of the invasion he settled down in a small town in rural Ontario, found faith, and became a priest in his new home. When the local resistance set up shop nearby however, the ADVENT retaliation was swift, and David was one of the few survivors. He sought out and joined XCOM not long after, intending to atone for his desertion 20 years prior.

Taryn “Passover” Pax (Israel, Sniper/Sharpshooter, Age 27, Alpha) - When the aliens occupied Tel Aviv in Israel, the local resistance was quickly flushed out and dispersed. As ADVENT worked to seek out the displaced rebels, they found themselves the victims of a streak of assassinations from an unknown, unseen assailant. The locals came to call their savior “Pesach”, the Hebrew word for Passover, in reference to the final plague God called down upon the Egyptians. Taryn Pax, claiming this kills as the mysterious assassin, later enlisted with XCOM after the Tel Aviv resistance was able to recover. It is unknown if the Passover assassinations were the work of one person or several shooters sharing an alias, but most agree that Pax’s skills speak for themselves.

Naomi “Neon” Montefiore (America, Hacker/Specialist, Age 20, Alpha) - As the youngest of five orphaned siblings in ADVENT-occupied Manhattan, Naomi grew up as a loyal citizen of the elders while looking up to her older siblings, particularly her oldest brother Isaac. As she grew up, however, she discovered a penchant for technology and robotics, and as this was expressed with tinkering, Isaac pulled her aside for a private conversation. There he revealed that their mother was an XCOM operative killed in the late days of the invasion, and that he was an agent for the local resistance. Minutes later their door was kicked down as ADVENT peacekeepers stormed the home, and Naomi escaped to the folds of XCOM as Isaac sacrificed himself to ensure the escape of his siblings. It is unknown if the other 3 Montefiore children survived.

Keiji “Hex” Nakamura (Japan, Sniper/Sharpshooter, Age 52, Alpha) - A high-ranking soldier from the original XCOM project, Keiji was Japan’s first and most prestigious offering to the ranks of XCOM during the original invasion. With shooting skills honed to perfection since childhood, Keiji went on to an exemplary service record with XCOM, achieving almost two-hundred confirmed kills before the project’s defeat. He went into hiding and prowled the deserts of New Mexico, eventually becoming one of the first soldiers of the renewed XCOM initiative when he found Bradford near Roswell. He has returned to bring his fury upon the alien menace, and to look out for the younger generation of soldiers as well.

Franz “Deadeye” Richter (Germany, Gunslinger/Sharpshooter, Age 46, Beta) - Franz was a talented soldier in the German army who was passed up in the recruitment drive for XCOM in favor of other recruits. He served the German army during the invasion, but abandoned his post when his home was threatened and escaped with his family. Life on the run, however, was unsustainable, and instead the Richters joined a resistance cell in Northeastern Europe. From there he joined the newly founded XCOM project to take the fight to the aliens. He holds a resentment towards the XCOM organization for ‘abandoning’ the nations of the world in their darkest hour, but is more than happy to oblige their call to arms against the ADVENT occupation.

Mei-Li “Whisper” Jingfei (China, Scout/Ranger, Age 25, Alpha) - Despite having no ties to the original XCOM project, Mei-Li’s parents were wise enough to escape the ADVENT occupation during its early stages in order to join the Chinese resistance. Her parents died in the pursuit of freedom while she was still a teenager, and in order to contribute she became a runner and scout for her resistance cell. She grew to be exceptionally talented for the role, and was specifically sought out by XCOM recruitment efforts to join the fight in earnest.

Ophelia “Phantom” Grey (China, Psionic Operative, Age 17, Beta) - During the long campaign against ADVENT, the XCOM intel team uncovered a signal leading to an alien facility related to the avatar project. Upon raiding the location, soldiers on-site recovered a test subject, unconscious but still alive, and brought her aboard the Avenger to be treated. Ophelia awoke and relayed how she had been a normal citizen under the ADVENT regime until she was inexplicably kidnapped from her home in Seattle and brought to the testing facility, where they subjected her to intense and invasive mind control to unlock her psionic abilities. While the experiments were incomplete at the time of the raid, and while Ophelia’s powers are still developing, it was from her psionic capabilities that Dr. Tygan drew up the plans for the Psi Lab in which to unlock the Psionic potential of soldiers in gentler, more humane ways. Ophelia now serves as her unit’s main psionic operative, and also as the youngest soldier in the XCOM project’s history.

Ryan “Highlander” O’Connell (Scotland, Assault/Ranger, Age 34, Beta) - Ryan was 14 years old when the ADVENT occupation of Earth was instituted, and was 21 when he was incarcerated in a high-security prison after a string of high-profile bombings and other terrorist activities conducted in major Scottish city centers. Within the prison he orchestrated a mass prisoner revolt and destroyed the ADVENT infrastructure from the inside-out, gaining control of the fort and using it the base of a city of convicts. When other prisoners began acting out for leadership roles and larger shares of supplies, O’Connell left out of frustration and lent both his combat skill and boundless anger to the new XCOM project.

Vadim “Doc” Sokolov (Russia, Medic/Specialist, Age 47, Alpha) - Vadim was offered by Russia to the original XCOM project, in a pair along with his twin brother Dmitri, as combat medics. Dmitri was killed in an early mission, codenamed “Operation Devil’s Moon”, along with two additional operatives. Vadim received the news at XCOM headquarters in Roswell soon after, and committed himself to being the model soldier in the fight against the aliens. Throughout the original campaign he was known as an oppressively strict drill sergeant, feared by recruits but respected and thanked by veterans whose survival could often be attributed to his hard work ethic. During the fall of XCOM HQ he was captured and detained by ADVENT as a high-value suspect, but was broken out by XCOM holdouts led by Bradford. He later went on to run a distraction mission during operation Gatecrasher, and then served the new XCOM; once again as a fierce drill sergeant.

Erin “Moonsong” DeCroix (Argentina, Gunslinger/Sharpshooter, Age 30, Beta) - Erin was one of the initial recruits for the new XCOM project, a colleague known to other soldiers as a resistance colony operative out of Argentina. As a rookie she was sent on Operation “Moon Song”, along with five other soldiers, to destroy an alien transmitter beacon. However, the mission took a deadly turn upon the arrival of a sectopod, and Erin escaped as the sole survivor after destroying the beacon via grenade. She adopted the callsign “Moonsong” in memory of her fallen squadmates, and is known as one of the quickest shooters in XCOM’s arsenal.

Martin “Thunder” Bishop (United States, Gunner/Grenadier, Age 32, Beta) - Martin Bishop has perhaps the highest bounty on an XCOM soldier’s head on ADVENT record, and for good reason. After growing up in the ADVENT occupation with undercover former XCOM soldiers as parents, he sought to do more than to hide in the shadows. He instigated the famous Chicago Square Riot in which the civilian populace of occupied Chicago banded together and torched a city block, then claiming the surrounding areas as the base of a resistance cell. Martin, only 19 at the time, took charge of the organized rebel band known as the Chicago Mavericks and earned international notoriety as one of the biggest thorns in ADVENT’s metaphorical side. After 11 years of fighting, the Mavericks’ numbers began to dwindle, and thus Martin took his unit to join the newly formed XCOM. He soon became the poster boy of the resistance, featuring heavily in pro-XCOM propaganda, and is known as one of the fiercest soldiers in XCOM’s roster.

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While I'm in the subject of my current XCOM 2 run, I've got this fucking crazy Scottish ranger named Ryan O'Connel who is decked out in the Alien Hunter gear; I'm talking the Bolt Caster, the Fusion Axes, the Viper armor, the whole nine yards. And like this dude could either be ridiculously lucky or unlucky, I'm not sure which. As a ranger I've built him to be a close-combat berserker, and granted I've put him in a few bad spots by accident and thus contributing to his status as one jammy sonofabitch, he always ends up surviving by the skin of his teeth Like okay on this recent retaliation mission, I'm a single civilian away from failing the mission because the Archon King showed up and starting bombing the place. So my only option is to send O'Connel to the end of his movement range to pick up two civilians. The first flees the AO and clears the mission requirement, the other one transforms into a faceless. To make matters worse, by moving this far O'Connel activated not one, but two groups of aliens onto his position; including an Andromedon (big daddies from Bioshock but with aliens), stun lancers (what they sound like), and a fucking Sectopod (walking tanks like AT-STs from Star Wars). All of them pissed at the weird screaming Scotsman who intruded on their position. So my sniper gets a free Overwatch shot on the sectopod and a lucky crit reduces it to about half health, and O'Connel also gets a free axe throw against the faceless which kills it instantly. Then in the same turn he one-shots the Andromedon with his bolt caster, only for the sectopod to approach his position to put an end to him. So what does he do? He pulls out his goddamn axe and just slices the fucker. Just bashes this fifteen foot tall robotic abomination like it's nothing. And this works. The sectopod explodes and O'Connel avoids the damage from it because he has an ability that grants him a free dodge after the kill. The two stun lancers move in, and he gets a free axe strike on anyone in range. Neither of them die, but are set on fire from the axe strikes. From there they both do their stun attacks and the first one misses, but the second critically hits Ryan and brings him to about a third of his health. The next enemy to.move is the dead andromedon's suit (which can still operate without the occupant), and he again critically hits O'Connel with a shot to reduce him to zero HP. And the fucker just does not die. He instead goes into bleed-out status, and just as one of my medic stabilizes him, the two stun lancers die from their burning status. Even when he's unconscious on the ground, bleeding to death, O'Connel STILL manages to kill shit. And the best part? When we returned to base, he was given a four day recovery time for "moderate wounds" and a promotion to Colonel, the highest rank. I fucking love my crazy Scottish berserker guy

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I know not many of you guys following me play XCOM but because it's a game with elements of procedural generation that means that the most random stories could crop up through gameplay and I just LOVE stuff like that So I've got these two rookies I recruit around mid-campaign, names are Contance Girard (France) and Kate Martin (UK). I'm running low on medic-oriented specialists so I take them together on plenty of missions to get them trained up as field medics. Over time the game tracks relationships and these two became really solid friends, to the point that they provided stat bonuses when in the same battle. They both got up to Sergeant rank at the very least which means they earn nicknames, giving us Constance "Templar" Girard and Kate "Scorch" Martin. These two became my go-to medics when I needed one but couldn't risk my main medic, David "Deacon" Palmer, on a lower-end mission (because something could ALWAYS go wrong). Over time I started only sending them one at a time because two medics on one mission can get redundant. Well, this came to a head when I needed to destroy an Alien facility in East Asia, just on the outskirts of a town in China. Things are going swimmingly until we start to skirt around the side to get a better path to the extraction point outside of the building, when we run into a big, hulking monstrosity; the Berserker Queen, back for revenge after we slapped her around in a previous mission. Scorch was the first one in the Queen's way, and took a really hard hit that struck her unconscious. We had to keep going because doubling back to grab her unconscious body would put more of my squad in the way of an EXTREMELY dangerous enemy. I had my team double back, hold their position, and lay down some reactive fire which ended up actually killing the Queen, but before we could go back and recover Scorch enemy reinforcements cut us off. We had to leave her behind while the facility exploded underneath us. She was captured and declared MIA, but a few months later we get a mission from the informant in the ADVENT network that not only is there a VIP in need of rescue from an alien prison; and it's none other than Scorch, ready to be picked up and returned to the fight. So we suit up and get ready to go on the mission, named by the random mission name generator to be "Operation Fading Tears". Okay, morbid, but the RMNG does that. I decide to take "Templar" Girard along as my medic because hey, that's her friend since they've been recruited and it's only right that she come along for the rescue. When I say we absolutely tore the aliens up on the approach, I mean there was absolutely no chance of resistance the way that I had my squad tear up that facility in New India. When we bailed Scorch out of the prison, no one had taken a single hit. To get a good bead on the extraction point, I had Scorch, Templar, and my favorite sniper "Moonsong" take position on the top of a roof while the rest of the troops forge ahead on the ground to cover their advance. That's when disaster struck; a heavy ADVENT MEC had slipped around our back flank and launched a grenade cluster on the troops on the roof. Ordinarily this would have been survivable, but the explosion destroyed the roof and sent the three operatives plummeting down two stories. My armed soldiers survived easily; the recently freed Scorch did not. I've never had one of my psi operatives test apart an enemy so far before, but rest assured that there was nothing left after she null-lanced the MEC to dust. After this, I did the only thing I could; had Girard pick up Martin's body and carry her to evac. At least then she wouldn't be leaving her best friend behind in an enemy position, to be experimented on or worse. Everyone was dejected on the helicopter ride home. Girard got a promotion afterwards for exemplary performance in the rescue mission, but that kinda felt a little hollow. Not only did I lose one of my favorite medics; one of my soldiers lost a dear friend from day one of her service in the resistance against the alien menace. I will never cease to be amazed at the stories that can just crop up while playing this game, just through take play alone. I'm gonna miss Scorch, but I think Girard's vengeance is going to be fun to play out.

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I MODDED A PISTOL FOR NICK

I’M SO FUCKING FUNNY

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Let's try this again.

More Fallout if y’all are interested!

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I'm streaming Fallout 4 for a bit before rehearsal, y'all come check it out. c: