Old-School XCOMmies Sam Ashen the Alien Invasion and Saving the World!

[Sam Ashen]

Hello everybody and welcome to my April Challenge!  The last Challenge Cycle featured an introduction to a Bulgarian-style training program, so we were Marching on some Evil Eastern Empire.

 

Commies!

 

But we are no longer in the 1980’s.  Commies are no longer evil.  They are cool!  In fact, they are no longer Commies!

 

They are XCOMmies and they are working with us to save the world!

 

So enter old-school XCOM!  In the near-futuristic year 1999, (hah!  This game was written in 1994!) planet Earth is under attack!  XCOM has completed its very first base of operations to start fighting back!  16 countries around the world have funded this project.  And so the story begins…..

Elements of the game include:

A.  Building the Bases.  This is where everything starts.  Choose a location and start building up the base.  Normally I choose Switzerland, but to honor all the evil exercises and training programs that originate from Bulgaria, I will locate the first base in Bulgaria.

 

Goal 1:  Continue following Miss Broki’s prescribed Evil Bulgarian Program.

 

B.  The base comes with some radar to detect UFO’s.  There is also a graphing tool to measure Alien activity in different parts of the world to give some idea where the action is.  The next thing to do is detect a UFO and track it.  So…..

 

Goal 2:  Tracking.  Continue tracking Macros and Weight.

 

C.  We also have Interceptors to send after the UFO we do find.  They are the very best the world can produce with top-secret technology that might as well be shared because – What the heck, we are all being invaded.  We shoot it down and send a Sky-Ranger and our XCOMmies after the wreckage and battle it out with the Aliens and take home the loot.  If we are really bold, we can go after one that is intact and landed on the ground.  So here is where we do Battle like honorable Warriors!

 

Goal 3:  Lift!  We have test days coming up next week on April 5 and April 7 to work out our openers and come up with a Battle Plan.  Currently, I am thinking:

Squat:  135 / 150 / 160 kg

Bench Press: 90 / 100 / 105 kg

Deadlift: 190 / 205 / 215 kg

The total is 480 kg and I checked the Wilks Calculator and that will barely put me over 300 Wilks if I stay under 93 kg.

 

D. In battle, the game is very unforgiving if you are stupid.  Sometimes it is unforgiving if you are not stupid.  It is painful to watch people play stupid on Let’s Play.  So be careful.  Advance slowly.  Look around corners because they like to hide around corners.  Keep the soldiers healthy.  Try not to get shot.  Certainly don’t get bombed.  (Getting hit by an Alien Grenade or a Blaster Bomb just sucks.)

 

Look at that sneaky little guy!

 

Goal 4:  Stay healthy!  All this Evil Bulgarian training has been taking its toll on my shoulder.  This time it is the opposite shoulder.  I am currently working rehab and prehab drills for the shoulder and reduced volume on pressing motions.  I will use the same method to measure shoulder condition.

 

Lift kg x (0.96 + 0.03 x Reps + 0.01 x Sets) expressed as a percentage of 100 kg = Shoulder Condition.  It is 91% as of tonight.

 

E. Our Base also has a team of the world’s best Scientists to research new projects and Engineers to produce cool new toys for our XCOMmies on the field.  Personally, I like to go straight down the Laser Weapons line, because Laser weapons are good in the early game and there is an exploit to produce Laser Cannons and make tons of money to fund more Bases around the world.  Then we will develop Motion Scanners because they are handy and Medikits because they will become handy once our brave XCOMmies can actually survive a shot from the Alien bad guys.

 

Goal 5:  Work on building that Spell Book!

 

Learning how to do stuff like this has been a very liberating experience for me.  It means I do not have to be at my office at my computer to do my work.

F. Armor up!  After all of this, we need to protect our XCOMmies!  The body armor they start out with is simply no good against Alien Plasma weapons.  So we will research with the goal of getting the best armor available in the game.

 

Goal 6:  The lifts will get better when the shirt game improves!  Go shopping for shirts!

 

G. Fly to Mars and Fight the Epic Final Battle!  Eventually the story develops.  In order to stop the Alien Invasion, there is a base on Mars that must be destroyed.

 

Goal 7:  Tournament Day is April 23!  Lift heavy and kick butt!

 

H. AAR's are fun!  So play along and....

Goal 8:  Adopt an XCOMmie!  Everybody is invited.  I will try not to get your adopted XCOMmie killed.   Fair warning, some situations are just ugly!

Somebody drew the short straw!

[Rookiebeotch]

Dude. I can only like a post one time at the most. 

[Sam Ashen]

4 minutes ago, Rookiebeotch said:

Dude. I can only like a post one time at the most. 

 

Yay!  Zero Week!

 

And we open it out with Gainz!

 

Squats:

20.4 kg x 10 x 1 (45 pounds / 13.4%) - Empty Bar

61.2 kg x 10 x 1 (135 pounds / 40.3%)

83.9 kg x 5 x 1 (185 pounds / 55.2%)

102.0 kg x 3 x 1 (225 pounds / 67.2%)

124.7 kg x 1 x 1 (275 pounds / 82.1%)

136.1 kg x 1 x 1 (300 pounds / 89.6%) - Belted up and started taping.

145.1 kg x 1 x 1 (320 pounds / 95.5%)

149.7 kg x 1 x 1 (330 pounds / 98.5%)

136.1 kg x 2 x 3 (300 pounds / 89.6%) - Taped the last set.

 

Here are the singles:

 

And the last Double:

 

Does this weight look like a good opener so far?

 

Bench Press:

20.4 kg x 10 x 1 (45 pounds / 20%) - Empty Bar

43.1 kg x 5 x 1 (95 pounds / 42.2%)

61.2 kg x 3 x 1 (135 pounds / 60%)

70.3 kg x 1 x 1 (155 pounds / 68.9%)

79.4 kg x 1 x 1 (175 pounds / 77.8%)

90.7 kg x 1 x 1 (200 pounds / 88.9%) - Shoulder Rating 90.7%

79.4 kg x 2 x 3 (175 pounds / 77.8%)

 

Pull-ups:  8 Sets of 5

 

Score for Today:

2488 Calories

289 Carbs

76 Fat

174 Protein

 

-5.1 Overall

 

Not a great day.  Missing eggs.  Microwave meal.  Hard to hit decent macros.  So try again another day.  Should boil some eggs for tomorrow and work on that Chili.

 

Tomorrow is Deadlift Day!

[Secret Agent John Courage]

Following for the algorithms. Let me know if you need cheat codes. *innocent whistle*

[Sam Ashen]

6 minutes ago, Secret Agent John Courage said:

Following for the algorithms. Let me know if you need cheat codes. *innocent whistle*

 

Right now, the only cheat code I know is save early, save often, and save soldiers!

 

I should also look up how to preserve the difficulty level.  RB also says there is a patch out there.  Or I can just play at the no0b level where the Aliens shoot kind of like Stormtroopers.

 

Like this!

 

 

[Rookiebeotch]

Seriously though, if you are going to play easy mode and exploit laser cannons, at least let the dice fly without save exploiting. 

 

Your strategy will become broader and more creative when you include a wide degree of success and defeat in your possible outcomes. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following along again!

[SpecialSundae]

3 hours ago, Sam Ashen said:

 

Does this weight look like a good opener so far?

 

The 135kg definitely looks like a sensible opener. For a minute, I thought you meant 150kg (which was solid but too heavy for an opener).

 

Also... Hello!

[skinNbones]

Here for the food and more old games .... oh yeah and lifting

"On second thought, let's not go to Camelot. It is a silly place."

[Jord]

Not gonna lie, I usually just lurk in yer thread. But for once I'll admit my presence. 

[Jaymul]

6 hours ago, SpecialSundae said:

 

The 135kg definitely looks like a sensible opener. For a minute, I thought you meant 150kg (which was solid but too heavy for an opener).

 

Also... Hello!

 

Agreed the 135kg should be a sensible opener. The 150kg looked close to all you had on the day though without form seriously breaking down so I would probably err on the side of caution and focus on making all your attempts rather than aiming for PBs in your first competition when you don't know how you are going to respond in competition conditions. Marc tends to be inherently conservative when it comes to competition and I think I may have picked that up

 

I'd suggest 135/145/155 - or lighter if needed, so long as you are 100% sure that you are going to make every lift. If things go astoundingly well on the day and your first attempt is super easy, you can always nudge them upwards.

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

Following to mostly stay quiet, but click "like" with wild abandon.

[shaar]

11 hours ago, Sam Ashen said:

G. Fly to Mars and Fight the Epic Final Battle!  Eventually the story develops.  In order to stop the Alien Invasion, there is a base on Mars that must be destroyed.

 

 

[miss_marissa]

Didn't miss Broki tell you to stop thinking about your openers?

 

7 hours ago, SpecialSundae said:

 

The 135kg definitely looks like a sensible opener. For a minute, I thought you meant 150kg (which was solid but too heavy for an opener).

 

Also... Hello!

 

29 minutes ago, Jaymul said:

 

Agreed the 135kg should be a sensible opener. The 150kg looked close to all you had on the day though without form seriously breaking down so I would probably err on the side of caution and focus on making all your attempts rather than aiming for PBs in your first competition when you don't know how you are going to respond in competition conditions. Marc tends to be inherently conservative when it comes to competition and I think I may have picked that up

 

I'd suggest 135/145/155 - or lighter if needed, so long as you are 100% sure that you are going to make every lift. If things go astoundingly well on the day and your first attempt is super easy, you can always nudge them upwards.

Stop encouraging his bad behavior!

[Urgan]

Here for lifting is a battlefield...

[Raxie]

Here for the MFP PRs as always.

[Flex Luthor]

I strongly approve of this theme.

[shaar]

WTF MY PICTURE DIDN'T SHOW ON MY POST

 

That's what I get for being in a hurry.

 

Let's see if YouTube links still work:

 

 

[Sam Ashen]

Trying my best to hit everybody up - At least this is still a one-page thread......

 

13 hours ago, Rookiebeotch said:

Seriously though, if you are going to play easy mode and exploit laser cannons, at least let the dice fly without save exploiting. 

 

Your strategy will become broader and more creative when you include a wide degree of success and defeat in your possible outcomes. 

 

You are probably right.  The alternative is games I never finish.

 

So - Do you drop Smoke Grenades and let your troopers out two at a time ultra-cautiously?

 

11 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following along again!

 

2 hours ago, Emerald_Dragonfly said:

Following to mostly stay quiet, but click "like" with wild abandon.

 

2 hours ago, Urgan said:

Here for lifting is a battlefield...

 

1 hour ago, Raxie said:

Here for the MFP PRs as always.

 

3 hours ago, fitjulia said:

Not gonna lie, I usually just lurk in yer thread. But for once I'll admit my presence. 

 

Hi!  Hi!  Hi!  Hi!

 

And Hi!  Welcome to my thread!

 

1 hour ago, Flex Luthor said:

I strongly approve of this theme.

 

Old-School FTW!

 

A lot of XCOMmies are Old-School Gamers!

 

13 minutes ago, shaarawy said:

WTF MY PICTURE DIDN'T SHOW ON MY POST

 

All fixed now!

 

9 hours ago, SpecialSundae said:

The 135kg definitely looks like a sensible opener.

 

Thanks!

 

3 hours ago, Jaymul said:

Agreed the 135kg should be a sensible opener. The 150kg looked close to all you had on the day though without form seriously breaking down

 

That was the second time I attempted to lift 150 kg or more.  The first time (335 pounds / 152 kg) was a lot uglier.  So at 98.5% of max, it should look like close to all I had on the day without form seriously breaking down.  I have only had this belt for one week and as far as I can tell, it is helping with the lifts.  It was also the day after 5x5x125 kg Squats.

 

I have no idea what this is going to look like after a deloading / peaking week.

 

Otherwise, I agree with a cautious strategy and attempting to hit 9/9 lifts is a better goal.

 

2 hours ago, miss_marissa said:

Didn't miss Broki tell you to stop thinking about your openers?

 

Hmm.  I am trying to think of where I might have said this.  I do not recall any conversation where she told me not to think about the openers.  We discussed openers at the start of the program and the numbers I gave here were pretty conservative.  She might still have them written down, so I can verify.  125 kg Squat.  75 kg Bench.  175 kg Deadlift.  Get Red-Lighted for Insufficient Weight on the Bar.

 

Also practicing thinking kg because it would really suck if Barbell Brain gets the conversion wrong and tries to open with a 165 kg Squat because the conversion factor was wrong.  (Oops!  Divide by 2.  SUBTRACT 10%.  NOT Divide by 2.  ADD 10%.  Oooooops!)

 

As well as I understand Bulgarian, the idea is you are doing these singles so many times, you do not even think about it.

---------------------------------------------------

 

Today is Deadlift Doubles Day!  Current plan is to test out that 190 kg once again.  Last week was singles at that weight.

[Flex Luthor]

Honestly I haven't played the original game but I have played EU, EW and 2. All great.

[elvenengineer]

Hi! *waves*

[miss_marissa]

Deadlifts:

61.2 kg x 10 x 1 (135 pounds / 29.7%)

102.0 kg x 5 x 1 (225 pounds / 49.5%)

142.9 kg x 3 x 1 (315 pounds / 69.2%)

165.5 kg x 3 x 8 (365 pounds / 80.2%) - She showed up in time to see Set 8.  Her only adjustment was the weight.

174.6 kg x 3 x 2 (385 pounds / 84.6%) - We were discussing openers.  She says this is too light to open.

183.7 kg x 1 x 1 (405 pounds / 89.0%) - It was a little slow, but not really a problem.

 

She is probably correct about openers.  In four weeks, we will be figuring this out more exactly.

 

My expert @SamAshen level stalking skills. I interpreted this as "stop thinking about it" so hard. But that's my interpretation. Maybe I'm recalling someone else's thread where their coach told them to stop thinking so hard about them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Urgan]

2 minutes ago, miss_marissa said:

My expert @SamAshen level stalking skills. I interpreted this as "stop thinking about it" so hard. But that's my interpretation. Maybe I'm recalling someone else's thread where their coach told them to stop thinking so hard about them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 

I think this is good advice, I do detect a little worry. Tests are coming up, that'll shake out what the sensible attempts should be.

[Rookiebeotch]

1 hour ago, Sam Ashen said:

So - Do you drop Smoke Grenades and let your troopers out two at a time ultra-cautiously?

 

Smoke nades cause too much uncertainty in most cases. I use it as a safe early game knockout tool. 

 

I try to balance initial LZ clearance with establishing a spread out formation. Reconing sectoid presence on a large ship with officers will determine how aggressive I land grab. 

 

That being said, I'll still reload turn 1 blaster bomb wipes. That's just bullshit. I chalk it up to bad procedurally generated starting scenarios. 

 

Turn 2; I reap what I sow. Even if that means loading up the surviving half of my team on the skyranger and limping home. 

[Sam Ashen]

1 hour ago, Urgan said:

I do detect a little worry.

 

Yes.  This is part of my personality.

 

I suck at poker.  Even if I properly keep a poker face, you can still see my pulse running on my wrist.  That is fine.  It just means everybody who is watching knows I hit my hand perfectly and am watching for my opponents outs to appear on the board.  The remedy for this is simple.  Just play my hand for what it is worth and let my bets tell exactly what I have.  The good players will simply respect you for it and the stupid players will eventually hand their chips over to you.

 

But I try finesse and I even slow-play my Aces.  The name of the game is to squeeze one more bet into the pot when you know you have won.  Just raise.  People are going to follow you in, anyway - Especially if it is Friday.  In stupid low-stakes games like 2/4 and 3/6, there are plenty of stupid people.  Myself included.

 

It has been years since I have played.  I miss poker.

 

Poker will tell you where you stand psychologically.  If you are entering the world of investing, forget about those "risk tolerance" questionnaires the investment bank gives you.  Those are stupid.  Way too hypothetical.  A lot of my answers are, "Duh.  Whut?"  A few games of Texas No Fold 'em Hold 'em will tell you exactly what your risk tolerance is and it will tell you what your patience is like.

 

Right now, I do not have the right psychology to trade stocks and I do not have the attention span to trade options.  So right now that is not my game.  I do, however, have the patience to wait for the long term to prove me right in the end.

 

Right now, my performance lags the DJITR because commodity prices collapsed.  So all I can do now is sit and wait for the market to change its mind.  And buy stuff.

 

Now how does all this poker talk relate to lifts and openers?

 

Open too high = Bomb = Lose all money.  Something happens and you are screwed.

 

Open too low = Less than optimal winnings.  You hit all the lifts but left 100 kg on the floor.

 

2 hours ago, Urgan said:

Tests are coming up, that'll shake out what the sensible attempts should be.

 

I trust SS advice when I see it.  She is now an IPF judge and she calls it as she sees it.  If she says that lift looked like a good opener, then under today's circumstances, that lift was a good opener.

 

From there, we are just fine-tuning a Battle Plan.

 

Really curious what she gives me for openers and I worry I will react with a big URK!  (I trust her, by the way and every bit of advice has proven to be a winner.)

 

Also.  Programs.  A lot of programs have a number you are going to hit.  For example, "The program says W X R X S.  FML!"  In my case I have been working on some variation of a Bulgarian program.   (I can take a picture of my score card and post it when I get home.)  I think the concept is getting beat up day after day after day and finally you deload and go do Battle.

 

2 hours ago, miss_marissa said:

I interpreted this as "stop thinking about it" so hard.

 

That might well be the concept of the Bulgarian method.  Been doing this weight for doubles and triples every single day.  Easy opener.

 

49 minutes ago, Rookiebeotch said:

 

Smoke nades cause too much uncertainty in most cases. I use it as a safe early game knockout tool. 

 

I try to balance initial LZ clearance with establishing a spread out formation. Reconing sectoid presence on a large ship with officers will determine how aggressive I land grab. 

 

That being said, I'll still reload turn 1 blaster bomb wipes. That's just bullshit. I chalk it up to bad procedurally generated starting scenarios. 

 

Turn 2; I reap what I sow. Even if that means loading up the surviving half of my team on the skyranger and limping home. 

 

I need to level up my grenade game.  Ever play "hot potato" with a grenade?

 

First Mission = 8 Soldiers and limited equipment.  And they are all no0bs!

 

Second Mission = 10 Soldiers + Tank OR 14 Soldiers.  Quite often, the Tank can take quite a pounding but sometimes the Aliens roll lucky.

 

Turn 1 Blaster Bomb Wipes = Bullshit.  Agreed.