#xcom central

[purple-nautilus]

Yuri commandford pt3

[korbensoi]

Bradord waited 20 years for his chance to shine.

First invasion version from 2024

[ionjuno]

some old (and new) sketches of my commander

[xcommatriarch]

Is this Volk/Central

Well, first of all, yes. And secondly,

A little? A LITTLE???

[anaveragedisaster]

I've been thinking of how a Nine Sols story set on a modern Earth would play out, as one does.

So far I've had two ideas. One's a follow up to the Shooting Star ending that involves the Solarian ship used by Kuafu and the Apemen getting unearthed that I might post separately about if I can actually get my thoughts in order. The other is basically 'what if New Kunlun showed up in the Solar system in our time.'

The thing is, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the Solarians/Sols and the Ethereals from the Xcom games. Both are technologically advanced civilizations being driven to extinction by a disease and have invaded Earh to harvest humans in their efforts to find a cure, all the while presenting themselves as benevolent gods to those humans.

So now I've spent a considerable amount of time brainstorming how a Nine Sols and Xcom crossover au / total conversion mod would look like lore- and gameplay-wise. Here's the setup:

After realizing that the sapients on the Pale Blue planet are more advanced and numerous than initial images from the Haotian Sphere suggested (though still primitive by Solarian standards), the Tiandao council decides that instead of abducting a few hundred (or however many Apemen there were on Kunlun in canon) and leaving the rest of the species to fend for themselves in an ice age caused by the Fusang blocking sunlight, they'd colonize the planet proper. Not only would this make it easier for them to access their precious livestock. In their minds, it would also only be fair, even noble of them to uplift the remainder of the species with their science (or at least it's how the Sols that aren't Jiequan cope with the abject atrocities their plan involves).

For their invasion, they bring along a larger number of the biomechanical soldiers we see in the game, a fleet of Yuanbao ships (which do kind of look like flying saucers and by extension the xcom UFOs), as well as unseen warmachines from the Turbulent Era.

Right before Kunlun launches, like in canon, Yi discovers the secret behind Tianhuo and is murdered by Eigong.

After warping to the Solar system, the Sols spend maybe a few years preparing for the invasion, during which they abduct some humans to more thoroughly study what they're like. The actual invasion goes the way it does in XCOM 2 canon, with the Sols defeating any resistance and creating their worldwide regime (I haven't thought what it would be called yet, but it wouldn't be something as western as ADVENT). The date New Kunlun makes landfall on Earth is celebrated like Unification Day at the start of XCOM 2. Though I haven't decided whether it should be situated in the middle of the Pacific like the Etherals' facility or somewhere closer to land.

Instead of XCOM 2's Psionic network, there's a Rhizomatic/Fusang network created by the spread of Fusang roots from Kunlun throughout the Earth, generating clean energy and allowing for communication and maybe even teleportation due to their connection with the Limitless Realm.

The Gene therapy clinics are still a thing in this version of the story. We know Solarians in canon did gene modding. The Apemen were modified and the reason Tianhuo even exists is because Eigong tried to make Solarians genetically immortal. Like in XCOM 2, the clinics are also used to disappear an increasing number of humans, to be harvested for their brains, as well as biomass for Jiequan's transmutation factories and after a certain point, for Eigong's experiments with Tianhuo and the Tianhuo mutation.

As for Tianhuo itself, it is obviously kept secret from the humans. The official narrative as to why most Solarians are still in cryosleep is that humanity still needs to be 'raised' some more before they are ready to mingle with such an advanced species. The few non-Sols that have been woken up to help administer the planet are ones Eigong's made sure are loyal to her and even then, still closely monitored so they don't reveal anything.

Again, like in XCOM canon, at a certain point, survivors of the invasion led by Bradford get together to reform XCOM to start a guerrilla war against the Sols, steal an alien ship to use as a mobile base etc, etc. But no matter what they do, they can't seem to find the Commander. It's at this point that Yi wakes up.

Because Yi becomes the Commander in this au.

Instead of getting revived on New Kunlun, the Fusang roots, which stretch across the Earth now, spit him out in rural China. He's found and nursed back to health by Shuanshuan, whose parents left to get gene therapy in a city center some time ago but haven't been heard of since (the local representative insisted that they decided to stay, since the Sols make sure life is so much better there and as soon as there's an available spot, Shuanshuan will be able to join them).

At this point, I'm split on some key details. An idea I have is that initially, the roots revive Yi in a human disguise, specifically as a dead ringer for the missing Commander. This would make it easier for the rest of XCOM to trust him at the start, but would cause interesting conflict later (plus it would be so wonderfully karmic for him to have to be one of the humans he condemned into the role of cattle, and also I like me some TF in my fanfic). However, I'm worried about the effect this would have on Yi's and Shuanshuan's relationship. We know he's older than he looks in Solarian form, but still not that much older, so them as brothers still works. The Commander would have to be an older human, so if he looked like that, it'd start feeling less like a brotherhood and more like a father-son thing, which I'm not sure I want.

Otherwise, he'd claim he's a random defecting Solarian, demonstrating his hatred for the Sols in some way that convinces the humans to let him join them (though his getting the Commander's role is harder to justify in this case).

Either way, Shuanshuan refuses to part from Yi and is begrudgingly let on board the Avenger (which Yi realizes is his former personal transport and research ship, even being partly modelled after his Pavilion back on Kunlun). Either way, Yi gets to witness the devastation caused by the colonization that he masterminded and to work to dismantle it.

I haven't fully thought up how the rest of the story would play out, what the missions would be like and whatnot.

One thing I want there to be is XCOM being the one to discover an actual cure for Tianhuo, preferably through a method that combines science and the supernatural power of the Limitless realm. I like the sci-fi trope where humanity is the key element in figuring out something important, even when more advanced civilisations are involved. And I know that accepting the inevitability of the Solarians' extinction is a main theme in 9s, but it would also be fitting and nice if genuine help from humans (instead of them as cattle) proved to be the salvation not only for Yi, but for all remaining Solarians, giving them some hope.

Though Yi still gets to die heroically at the end and reunite with Heng within the infinite Tao, as a treat.

I''ve got more ideas about this that I want to share, but am too tired to rn. As a final note for now: Advent Burgers (or a differently named equivalent) are also very much a thing in this au and are enjoyed by both humans and awoken Solarians.

[etherealvoidechoes]

Mobile post ~

Old sketches of Bradford with bonus off model Jynn in the middle. Have to edit them a fair bit before slapping them on the other blog.

[psystirene]

living like me is so scary because every piece of media my brain needs to find a character to latch onto, usually in a semi-crush way, and in some media that's so fine but then in some others it ends up as a weird addendum in my list of fictional characters i am in love with

[companionwolf]

f/o takeover !

Like a lot of others, me and my F/Os are participating in the general idea of 'it's November, so the F/Os get their turn on the tumblr blog' -- I'm not sure how long we'll do this, if it'll be the whole month or not, but I thought I'd make the introductions now!

Note: I have many iterations of my F/Os, but the ones you'll be able to interact with are somewhat 'archtype' -- that means they're a) all post their canons, b) aware of being a F/O, c) aware that they're fictional, and d) exist in a weird sense in both my life and in the garden (my imagination).

Also, this has no connection to my dissociative disorder experiences.

Ok, onto the lineup--

Central: 🩵🍊🌊 [XCOM 2] (romantic)

Parker/Pvrker: 🩷⚾️🍰 [Blaseball] (queerplatonic/alterous)

Trunk Buddies (Roger, Jordie, Magdelana, Gavin, Caesar): 💚🔦🚘 [Glass Canon Network's Get in the Trunk] (platonic/alterous?)

Laudomia Crew (Schafer, Roman, Barker): 💙🚀🌠 [LoadingReadyRun's Heat Death] (platonic/alterous)

Kitchens: 🩶✨️📀 [UnMadeGaming's Alien: Dotverse] (platonic)

Tim: ❤️⚠️📼 [Marble Hornets] (platonic)

Jay: 🤎📷🧢 [Marble Hornets) (platonic)

Strasky: 💛🐕☄️ [SOMA] (platonic)

Ever: 🤍☀️🌲 [OC] (platonic?)

Lucky: 🖤✨️♠️ [OC] (platonic?)

Rusty: 🧡🌐🪙 [Geomon] (platonic)

The Reader: 💜👁✨️ [Blaseball] (platonic/alterous)

Prime: ❤️⭐️🔥 [Blaseball] (platonic)

Three: 💙⚾️🩸[Blaseball] (platonic)

Four: 💚☕️🌼 [Blaseball] (platonic)

Sam Yao: 🧡🎧💌 [Zombies Run] (platonic)

F/Os will tag any asks or posts with their ship tag, their name + associated emojis, and 'wolf's f/o takeover 2024'. They'll also sign off with name + emojis.

Nothing is really off limits, just be cool.

[st-just]

if you ever find a game that fits the concept you described of an RPG style leader and separate dungeon crawl party will you be sure to shout it out? It's a real interesting concept. Theres a warhammer tie in game of all things that gets like halfway there imo, its mostly an xcom knockoff but the player character is an actual character, the head of a war council making subplot decisions based on his bickering advisors morso than you do with the resource leaders in xcom. It even has the ground team split between persistent heroes and disposable mooks but then never went that final step of giving those heroes actual character or personality

Oh, I absolutely promise I will. The closest I've ever actually come across is still Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which has the twin demerits of a) the strategy layer being both utterly trivial and a little bit ass and b) not actually dealing with my central petty pet peeve of the same people running the crusade also spending 90% of their time schlepping across the kingdom poking at weird landmarks and roughing it dungeon crawling.

Though like, what's the warhammer spinoff? Half sounds like Mechanicum, though your actual POV in that hardly has much of a personality so not sure if it's what you mean.

[purple-nautilus]

Yuri commandford pt.2

Central: I don't have a rose-tinted sunglasses for the commander

Also Central:

[themorrignasystem]

On the opic of OCs

As a player of XCom Enemy Within, Xcom 2, and Xcom Chimera Squad, i have my commander is technically an oc

My fan cannon is that after the defeat of XCOM with the ending of XCOM Enemy within, the commander was sufficiently injured, so in a last ditch effort Central, Dr valhien, and Shen put the commander into a MEC to stabilize them.

The aliens caught the Commander, and put him into statis during the 20 year gap between Xcom Enemy within and Xcom 2, analyzing the tech to create the Advent MEC

During Xcom 2 the commander is found, and once rescued, reintegrates with his MEC suit to lead the charge, using SPARK weaponry

During Xcom Chimera Squad the Commander leads Chimera Squad, not choosing to go on missions due to his programmed combot doctrines.

[queenmuzz]

Playing XCOM 2 for the first time. (It's really cheap right now on steam) And hoooo boy, am I getting a lotta romance/pining vibes from it. Short spoiler-free summary: Aliens invade earth, You (Commander) lead the resistance (XCOM), but get captured. Xcom's second in command, Brantford, (also known as 'Central') has spent TWENTY years looking for you, never losing hope that he could rescue you. So the first mission has him rescue you from some sort of tank, carry your unconscious body to the evacuation site, and being by your side while they revived you, and when you wake up, he's beside your bed. He then awkwardly shuffles out, saying he's not good at explaining the situation, but it's good to have you back. And immediately hands control of And I know it's not because of my tactical brilliance, as the first few missions have shown. For a tactical game, I never expected something to hit me in the feels

[xcommatriarch]

[Welcome back, Commander]

Xcom-themed blog is now up and running! Main blog: @korbensoi

[TAG Navigation]

[Media] Art | Writing | Misc | Reblogs

[Timelines] Xcom: EU | Xcom 2 | OC!AU

[Relationships] (EU/Xcom 2) Zhang x Anton | (EU) Commander x Bradford (Xcom 2) Commander x Tygan | (Xcom 2) Bradford x Volk (Xcom 2) Elena Dragunova x Pratal Mox (Xcom 2) Victor x Resistance Radio DJ

[Character Masterlist]

[Senior XCOM Staff]

[OC] Ensoi Lesnaya | Tag: Ensoi Lesnaya Callsigns: (XCOM) Commander / (undercover) Chit-Chat / (chosen) Matriarch Role: The XCOM Commander

[Canon] John Bradford | Tag: John Bradford Callsign: (XCOM) Central Role: Operations officer, (previous) Avenger's Pilot

[Canon] Dr. Richard Tygan | Tag: Richard Tygan Callsign: (XCOM) Hamburgler Role: Chief Science Officer, (previous) ADVENT gene therapy clinic employee

[Canon] An-Yi Shen | Tag: Lily Shen Callsign: (XCOM) Lily Role: Chief Engineering Officer

[Canon|MIA] Dr. Moira Vahlen | Tag: Moira Vahlen Callsign: - Role: (Previous) Chief Science Officer

[XCOM Troops]

[Canon] Shaojie Zhang | Tag: Shaojie Zhang Callsign: (XCOM) Chilong Role: (EU/LWR) Assault | (XCOM 2) Ranger

[OC] Anton Smits | Tag: Anton Smits Callsing: (EXALT / XCOM) Vector Role: (EU/LWR) Medic | (XCOM 2) Specialist

[Canon/OC] David Jones | Tag: David Jones Callsing: (XCOM) Big Sky Role: (EU/LWR) Skyranger Pilot | (XCOM 2) Avenger Pilot/Specialist

[OC] Stepan Kononov | Tag: Stepan Kononov Callsign: (XCOM) Wombat Role: (XCOM 2) Specialist

[OC] Lucinda Del Rosa | Tag: Lucinda Del Rosa Callsign: (XCOM) Heavens Spear Role: (XCOM 2) Templar

[Canon] Elena Dragunova | Tag: Elena Dragunova Callsign: (XCOM/Reapers) Outrider Role: (XCOM 2) Reaper

[Canon] Pratal Mox | Tag: Pratal Mox Callsign: Mox Role: (XCOM 2) Skirmisher

[Resistance]

[Canon] Konstantin Volikov | Tag: Konstantin Volikov Callsing: (XCOM/Reapers) Volk Role: Reaper faction leader

[Canon/OC] Jake Levy | Tag: Jake Levy Callsign: (XCOM) The DJ Role: Resistance Radio Host

[Aliens]

[Canon/OC] Victor | Tag: Victor Lesnoy Callsign: (ADVENT) The Speaker Role: (EU) Infiltration Unit | (XCOM 2) ADVENT Speaker / Resistance Radio Co-host | (Post XCOM 2) Actor

[Canon] Chosen Assassin | Tag: Assassin

[Canon] Chosen Hunter | Tag: Hunter

[Canon] Chosen Warlock | Tag: Warlock

[modded-xcom2-aar]

The Tutorial: Part 1

Dan's Notes: Due to the more cinematic, cutscene-heavy nature of the opening tutorial mission, the whole of it has been depicted in video form. This will not be the case with most missions. It should also be noted that the tutorial is skippable, as are the DLC missions, but for the sake of storytelling, I have enabled them. In addition, this update will be a fair bit longer than most updates will so I can get all the tutorial stuff out of the way.

Operation Gatecrasher After Action Report

After 20 years of struggling and acting underground, XCOM was finally able to perform Operation Gatecrasher, a combined effort by XCOM and the Reapers to locate and rescue Commander , the original operating commander of XCOM. Due to the high-priority nature of this mission, XCOM was forced to execute the mission through unusual and unconventional means.

Operating in this mission were rookie-level soldiers Jane Kelly, Peter Osei, Ana Ramirez, Reaper soldier Elena "Outrider" Dragunova, and Central Command Officer Bradford. Osei and Ramirez were killed in action while the surviving rookie, Kelly, was promoted to a Squaddie-class Ranger. In accordance to XCOM's agreement, Dragunova fled the scene before the deployment of XCOM's forces, rejoining with the nearest group of Reapers.

Thanks to the distraction created by Bradford and Kelly, as well as the efforts of Dragunova, city center forces were minimal during the rescue operation, limited to a handful of troops and a group of reinforcements.

Tutorial Geoscape, Part 1

Dan's Notes: During the recording, this cutscene stuttered, causing audio lag and making it a pain to watch. I have taken this footage from a compilation of cutscenes from the vanilla game. Credit to LFP Gaming for creating the original video, XCOM 2 All Cinematics / Cutscenes / Movie. All other cutscenes posted in this update were taken from my personal recording, and any future instances of outscourcing cutscenes will be noted.

Excerpt from Central Officer Bradford's Journal:

While I was acting undercover, I noticed a lot of commotion about it being the 20th anniversary of the "formation of the ADVENT Coalition". That's a load of bull. Just about any world leader that didn't willingly turn on humanity was being manipulated into doing so, usually with psionic mind control. 20 years, huh? You know, they say you get older your perception of time starts to speed up, but I remember every agonizing moment that led up to this point. Years of travelling and scraping by, slowly finding any other wandering survivors, hearing word of resistance groups until ultimately forming my own and branding it with those four letters I held onto to remember what once was. Osei and Ramirez might have just seemed like just another dissident to the ADVENT troops that slaughtered them, but I'll always remember their parts in reassembling XCOM.

One shower and a set of fresh clothes later, the Commander was ready to go to the science labs.

Dan's notes: The Commander is never given a canonical name, gender, speaking lines, or appearance. The Commander is effectively you, the person playing the video game. I think it's fun for players to create some kind of commandersona, so I have decided to create one. The core idea was to make someone comically unassuming for their elevated status within the fiction. One thing to note is that there isn't really any way to make a fat character in this game, and I'm pretty sure it would be a pain for a modder to pull off without serious clipping issues. As such, I decided to make the Commander fat.

Excerpt from Commander Stumpe's Journal:

Gosh, it's all so darn confusing. It felt like I had been on the longest war of my career, but then one day I find myself getting pulled out of a spacesuit and I'm told the whole thing ended 20 years ago. Jeez, I really hope maybe I can turn things around this time.

At the behest of Chief Science Officer Tygan, Commander ordered the Science team

Excerpt from Commander Stumpe's journal:

Dunno why he called himself a Chief Science Officer when it was really just him and any guy he trusted enough to handle equipment. Odd fellow, that guy. Wonder what happened to Vahlen.

Having survived Operation Gatecrasher, Jane Kelly was promoted from Rookie to Squaddie. Kelly had decided to specialize as a Ranger.

Dan's notes: Although they served as scout units in the vanilla game, their real specialties are their shotguns, which have a higher crit rate than other weapons, and goes up the more up close and personal the Ranger gets. Reapers and Templars outdo them on both stealth and melee terms.

Shortly afterwards, Commander Stumpe was invited by Central Officer Bradford to come to the research labs.

END OF PART 1

[etherealvoidechoes]

Can either of you learn how to let go?

Sad-ish future scene of that VoidWalker AU.

[phantomoftheshoppera]

Central: Commander, you ordered an XCom soldier to shoot a rocket into a diner to kill one alien?

Central: That’s why you’re the best tactician Earth has Commander!