I’m making some progress in my X-COM campaign. I’ve had some great victories, but some things are starting to go south. I really want to start over, but I’m trying to resist that instinct. Because you never know how a campaign will go until the end.
My current campaign has been going well. The base is fully expanded with research and manufacturing facilities. But I’m running out of storage space. I haven’t built a second base yet, but I will when this month ends. I’m seeing from the charts that Australia has heavy activity, so I’ll probably build a base that covers the continent.
I’ve hooting down UFOs and mopping up alien forces. One of my greatest successes came when a huge UFO was detected. I didn’t want to send my interceptors after it as they would get destroyed, but then it landed. I sent in the Skyranger and, despite some heavy casualties, we captured the entire UFO.
Another time my interceptors followed a UFO and lost tracking. I sent them to where I thought they might be and they found an alien base. I deployed ground troops, and they cleared out the base. Many resources were gathered after this mission, and they will be put to use in the fight against the alien threat.
Scientists have researched Heavy Plasma Rifles and Personal Armour to improve the lethality and survivability of my soldiers. I want to research UFO technologies next. The skies have been swarming with them recently, and my interceptors aren’t equipped well enough to bring them all down.
But I made a mistake. A big one. For about a week or two the scientists were left idle. I forgot to assign them to the research project, and that lost time is having a heavy knock-on effect on the campaign.
The last couple of missions have been tough. I’ve been encountering Mutons, and they are accurate with their plasma weapons, and have high reactions. Even if we spot them first, if we don’t take them out with the first shot there’s a good chance it will lead to casualties.
They are intelligent, and difficult to kill even with plasma weapons. Our troops are suffering many losses. I’m close to giving up and starting again. But if I do that I know I’ll just hit another wall and start over. Again and again.
Did you know that I have never completed this game? It is one of my favourite games of all time, and I never beat it. Not even on Beginner difficulty. And the reason should be obvious by now. I kept quitting, and trying again.
But not this time. I will see it through to the end. Even if I lose. At least I will still have learned a few things in the journey. I will finish what I started this time.
I will resist restartitis.
