Well, I am a big fan of X-COM: UFO Defense. (which IGN awarded best pc game of all time) and one of the reasons I am, is because of all the crazy stories that come from playing it. For an introduction, and a good time, read GuavaMoment's LP here:

http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/XCOMUFODefense/

All good stuff.
Any other fans of X-COM out here?

These stories are the standard XCOM experiences:

Walk out of shuttle, grenade kills everyone.
Walk out of shuttle, blaster bomb kills everyone.
Walk out of shuttle, guy with rocket launcher mind controlled, kills everyone.

Nighttime Snakeman terror mission with 20 civilians, no flares, no incendiaries.
I think you know what happens.

http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Murphy%27s_Laws_%28X-COM%29

Walk out of shuttle, shot by plasma.
Second person walk out of shuttle, shot by plasma.

You know, that really about sums it up. Why do I enjoy this game so much again?

Oh right
I'm a sucker for punishment.

Does anyone have a download link they'd like to PM me? TheUnderdogs might've had one at one point, but it went under.

There you go mate.
I think there might be some changes, but it's still the same game.

And you know what really sucks, having all your guys "in the clear" and then getting shot by a stray shot aimed at a civy.

What also sucks is Ethereals. Had a crashed craft with three on. One was swiftly gunned down, before the other two decided to make half my team panic. Then, someone got MC'd, and threw a HE bomb at someone else.
I managed to gun down one of the others, and (slowly, due to Panics) arranged three outside the ship's door. Dropped all my laser rifles, and had them holding stun rods (so nobody else died). Swarmed the last guy, took three bashes to knock him out. Mission won.

I'm torn as to whether to use Heavy Plasmas, which eat up ammo with every mission (due to used clips counting as empty on mission over), or Laser Rifles, which fire faster and with no ammo.

HEAVY Plasma. if you unload the clip at the last turn, it doesn't count as used. Laser weaps are a good backup, but HP is definitely superior.

I used all laser weapons and didn't have problems.

Never fought Ethereals though.

did you face mutons? In my experience, their armor is pretty resistant to laser weapons. Heavy plasma seems to make 'em the most dead fastest.

Lasers kill mutons pretty well. I oneshotted them several times a mission.

I use the Laser Rifle as my standard weapon. Selling Heavy Plasmas gets me a lot of money, which can be used for manufacturing important things, like armor and such.

huh, interesting. I've always immediately switched to the HP as soon as I can research it, but elerium and manufacturing can be expensive...maybe I'll try sticking to lasers next time. Out of curiosity, what difficulty level do you play at?

For fun? Beginner. Though if I feel like a challenge, I play Veteran.

ok. about the same for me. Have you tried any of the various utilites for X-COM? I find they are quite helpful.