HoC X-Com Enemy Unknown – the first day

Who will be the first to die in action?

There is no easy way to say this. Rookie A. Fadumamai did not return from his first mission. It was tragic. And sad. Next mission please.

My team before their first mission

X-Com Enemy Unknown is a game I have been watching since it was first released last October. I was interested and the reviews were solid at 89%. But I waited. I decided to wait until it dropped in price.

Last month Microsoft put the games on demand downloadable version on sale for $19.99. I decided to wait for the physical copy to match that $19.99 price and just this weekend it did.

During my waiting period I did read about X-Com Enemy Unknown and a large portion of the coverage was based on how attached players became to their soldiers. Many were naming their soldiers and mourning them when they died in combat. X-Com Enemy Unknown had no forgiveness. If your teammembers died in combat, that was it, they were gone for good. Along with all their experience. People became so attached that they started a Memorial Wall on Facebook.

Players named their soldiers, trained them, nurtured them and mourned them.

So when I started playing I thought long and hard about how to name my players before committing to Herd of Cats clan members. I had to be careful. I didn't want to use any of my primary gaming friends, particularly not right away as I was learnig the game. I had to pick clan members who where, well, let's just say "on the bubble."

That's how my first team of Rk. D. Nightowl, SQ, H. Wood, Rk. S. Blade and Rk. A. Fadumamai were formed.

Our first mission, Operation Stone Ring, was a learning process for both them and their commander, Cmd. B. Walt. One of the first lesson learned by Cmd. Walt was the cost of sending out one of his team members to die.

Rookie A. Fadumamai under the field command of Cmd. Walt and the on-site command of Squaddie H. Wood returned from his first mission in a body bag. He died performing his duty and protecting his team mates and the residents of Earth from a group of Sectoids.

Rookie Fadumamai ended up in a position where he had a 25% chance of being hit by the enemy. The good news was the first Sectoid missed. The bad news was there were two Sectoids.


KIA? I guess that means someone else is getting promoted.

In his condolence call to Rookie Aku Fadumamai's parents Commander Walt was heard not only to praise Fadumamai's performance in the field but to comment "I honestly thought he was behind cover."

The mission to protect Earth continues and Commander Walt will be promoting Rk. Q. Bert onto active field duty. The Commander had this to say about his newest recruit, "I look forward to serving with her."