Alien Appearance Chances (LWR)
Each pod created in the game has a chance to consist of different alien types. This changes the higher the Alien Level is (based on accumulated alien research). Below are the Alien Appearance Tables that describes the chance each alien has to be a leader of a pod at each Alien Level.
In the Alien Appearance Weightings table, the number in brackets beside each alien type is their relative weighting change. As an example, at Alien Level 3, the chance a pod will be a seeker pod is: (10) / (10 + 3 + 10 + 10 + 15 + 10) = 10 / 58 = 0.172. So each pod will have a ~17% chance of being a seeker pod at Alien Level 3. You can see all the calculated appearance chances in the Alien Appearance Chances table.
Note that certain aliens can be scripted to appear on missions and will not rely on this table. An example of this is Cyberdiscs, Mechtoids, Muton Elites, Sectoid Commanders, and Ethereals appearing on UFO missions based on the number of months passed instead of alien level. These guaranteed pods will always be a 2 unit pod and will usually be listed after the outsiders on UFO Intelligence if the hyperwave encoder is built.
Alien Appearance Weightings
| Alien Appearance Weightings | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alien Level | Cumulative Weighting | Alien Type (Weighting Change) | ||||||
| Level 1 | 17 | Sectoid (10) | Drone (3) | Thinman (2) | Floater (2) | |||
| Level 2 | 38 | Thinman (8) | Floater (8) | Muton (5) | ||||
| Level 3 | 58 | Muton (10) | Seeker (10) | |||||
| Level 4 | 73 | Cyberdisc (15) | ||||||
| Level 5 | 103 | Thinman (5) | Muton (-5) | Mechtoid (15) | Berserker (15) | |||
| Level 6 | 147 | Sectoid (-7) | Thinman (10) | Floater (-2) | Muton (-7) | Muton Elite (25) | Sectoid Commander (25) | |
| Level 7 | 162 | Floater (-5) | Heavy Floater (20) | |||||
| Level 8 | 177 | Sectopod (15) | ||||||
| Level 9 | 207 | Sectopod (15) | Ethereal (15) | |||||
| Level 10 | 222 | Ethereal (15) | ||||||
Alien Appearance Chances
| Levels 1 to 5 | ||||||||||||||||
| Alien Appearance Chances | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alien Level | Alien Type (Chance to Appear) -- rounded to nearest percentage | |||||||||||||||
| Level 1 | Sectoid | 59% | ||||||||||||||
| Drone | 18% | |||||||||||||||
| Thinman / Floater | 12% | |||||||||||||||
| Level 2 | Sectoid / Thinman / Floater | 26% | ||||||||||||||
| Muton | 13% | |||||||||||||||
| Drone | 8% | |||||||||||||||
| Level 3 | Muton | 26% | ||||||||||||||
| Sectoid / Thinman / Floater / Seeker | 17% | |||||||||||||||
| Drone | 5% | |||||||||||||||
| Level 4 | Muton / Cyberdisc | 21% | ||||||||||||||
| Sectoid / Thinman / Floater / Seeker | 14% | |||||||||||||||
| Drone | 4% | |||||||||||||||
| Level 5 | Thinman / Cyberdisc / Mechtoid / Berserker | 15% | ||||||||||||||
| Sectoid / Floater / Muton / Seeker | 10% | |||||||||||||||
| Drone | 3% | |||||||||||||||
| Levels 6 to 15 | |||||||
| Level 6 | Thinman / Muton Elite / Sectoid Commander | 17% | |||||
| Cyberdisc / Mechtoid / Berserker | 10% | ||||||
| Seeker | 7% | ||||||
| Floater | 5% | ||||||
| Sectoid / Drone / Muton | 2% | ||||||
| Level 7 | Thinman / Muton Elite / Sectoid Commander | 15% | |||||
| Heavy Floater | 12% | ||||||
| Cyberdisc / Mechtoid / Berserker | 9% | ||||||
| Seeker | 6% | ||||||
| Sectoid / Drone / Floater / Muton | 2% | ||||||
| Level 8 | Thinman / Muton Elite / Sectoid Commander | 14% | |||||
| Heavy Floater | 11% | ||||||
| Cyberdisc / Mechtoid / Berserker / Sectopod | 8% | ||||||
| Seeker | 6% | ||||||
| Sectoid / Drone / Floater / Muton | 2% | ||||||
| Level 9 | Sectopod | 14% | |||||
| Thinman / Muton Elite / Sectoid Commander | 12% | ||||||
| Heavy Floater | 10% | ||||||
| Cyberdisc / Mechtoid / Berserker / Ethereal | 7% | ||||||
| Seeker | 5% | ||||||
| Sectoid / Drone / Floater / Muton | 1% | ||||||
| Level 10 | Ethereal / Sectopod | 14% | |||||
| Thinman / Muton Elite / Sectoid Commander | 11% | ||||||
| Heavy Floater | 9% | ||||||
| Cyberdisc / Mechtoid / Berserker | 7% | ||||||
| Seeker | 5% | ||||||
| Sectoid / Drone / Floater / Muton | 1% | ||||||