UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

User:Boba

2007-06-20T00:50:53Z

Boba:

I guess I ought to put up my personal strategy, so here goes:

A lot depends on what kinds of cheating you do, and the difficulty level. If you don't pay your employees, it pays to have more employees. If you like chart-gazing on beginner, the HWD is not as urgent. I personally use the base defence spawn exploit to defend my radar bases, but not my main bases. I don't consider it much of an exploit, more a time-saver. If the game had no bugs, I'm pretty sure I could defend a radar base against Ethereal invasion with 22 rookies. I usually do chart-gazing. The manual tells you to do it, right? It sure makes a lot of money in the early game.

==Bases==

Because I chart gaze, my first base is in the Canadian Arctic. I can easily intercept to USA, Europe, Canada, Russia, and I can intercept with more difficulty the entire northern hemisphere.

My second base is in Antarctica, closer to South America. This gets me interception coverage for the southern hemisphere. I transfer an interceptor there, and buy it a skyranger. You need two skyrangers to keep up with the base construction fleets starting in late February. The skyrangers ground assault the Supply Ships and Battleship while the interceptors shoot down the scouts.

It goes without saying that you should break ground on base facilities before you need them. But sometimes I forget.

==Detection==

On superhuman, the first alien base pops up in late February, I think. This messes up the UFO charts, so you need to build alien containment asap, buy stun rods, capture a navigator in late January, research it, research HWD, and build HWDs at all bases, which should start coming online in March and you should have good coverage in April. If you're chart-gazing, it might be a good idea to not build too many radar bases until the HWD comes out. My radar bases are in Colombia, Sudan, China, Indonesia, and sometimes Hawaii. I build the Sudan and Indonesia bases early, before HWD, because Africa and Australasia have low chart resolution, and Australasia in particular is too far to patrol.

==Soldiers and Tanks==

I don't fire soldiers. Bad soldiers make good scouts. Tanks are too expensive. Tanks cannot walk up to Sectoid Navigators and stun them. On superhuman, tanks die easily. I like to take Launcher Tanks to Cydonia, however. They cannot be psionically attacked and their 8 weak bombs do not count on the 80-item limit.

==Craft Weapons==

I don't mind using up stringrays in January. Avalanches do too much damage to the little ships in the early game. Plasma Beam is a priority to make money from Terror Ships instead of dealing with civilians and buildings at Terror Sites. I think arming just one gets you better UFO recovery. Does anyone know for sure? In any case, arming one is cheaper than two, and it has never lost me a UFO. I don't intercept battleships. The repairs seem to take longer than manufacturing a new Avenger.

==Early Weapons==

All of the early weapons have a use.

*Pistol: Shoot special aliens at the first two Terror Sites to help stun them. It might be good for reaction training later.
*Rifle: Use it at long range when you don't want a big explosion.
*Auto-cannon: Auto + HE = artefacts destroyed = bad. Auto + IC = light, but too many explosions will prevent new fires.
*Heavy cannon: Versatile. Use it at point-blank to medium range. If it hits, it kills, so there is no reaction fire.
*Rocket Launcher: Use it at medium to long range, or close range with a Power Suit. Aim through windows to kill aliens inside with no reaction fire. Create instant smoke on turn 1. Kill aliens even when you miss. Kill or wound multiple aliens. Hit aliens around corners. Did I miss something?
*High Explosives: Kill superhuman cyberdiscs. Kill or wound multiple aliens. Hit aliens around corners. Destroy every building, especially stables. If you can't throw it, carry it and bulk up. Have a scout carry a primed HE into a Large Scout.

==Researched weapons==

*Laser Rifle is still a good weapon, but can't kill Snakemen in one hit on superhuman.
*Heavy Laser can, but has its own problems. So I don't research lasers on superhuman immediately.
*Mind Probe is not only useful for finding navigators and leaders, but also shows alien TUs. If an alien has 20 TUs, but needs all 20 TUs to shoot and is not looking directly at you, you are safe.

==Selling==

I sell all alien artefacts in the early game to get more money earlier. I only keep Heavy Plasma clips, a few Mind Probes, and a little Alien Alloys and a little Elerium. I sell a lot of Elerium!

==Lightning==

I like the Lightning. Initial deployment is safer than the Avenger. It is also hard to equip 26 soldiers with the 80-item limit without tanks. But it doesn't matter. The earliest you can get a Lightning is almost the end of the game.

==Base Defence==

I do not build base defence facilites. If I know it is a retaliation scout over my base, I do not shoot it down. I want the money.

==Psionics==

A lot of people here seem to love Psionics. I don't get it. You have to capture a Sectoid Leader and research it (ideally after you already researched HWD), research Psi-Lab, build Psi-Labs, wait for the end of the month, wait another month for training. The earliest Psi soldiers will be ready is May, almost the end of the game. There is also Psi-Amp research and manufacturing, but that does not affect the timetable. Psi is a great weapon, but you only get to use it a few times. If you research the complete tech tree, then Psionics and the Lightning are useful.

==Comments==

User:Boba

2007-06-20T00:46:49Z

Boba:

Research

2007-06-19T21:47:23Z

Boba: /* Popular research sequences */

'''Research''' is a decisive factor in the contest of Man versus Alien. X-COM forces start out badly outclassed by their alien foes, but as they master alien technology, the battle swings to the Humans' favor.

Through research, X-COM forces gain access to vastly improved [[weapons]] technology, [[armour]], [[Base Facilities|base facilities]], interception and transport [[craft]], and a variety of other useful technologies. Researching captive live aliens provides information about the aliens' methods and traits, and is ultimately the only path toward [[Alien Research#Cydonia or Bust|winning the game]].

== Research costs ==

You start the game with one [[Laboratory]] and 10 Scientists. You will want to add 40 additional Scientists when space and money permit, so as to unlock new technology as soon as possible. This is expensive: 40 Scientists have a hiring cost of $2.4 million (and a monthly salary of $1.2 million), and require the addition of a new [[Living Quarters]], at a cost of $400,000.

An additional Laboratory, Living Quarters, and 50 Scientists (for a total of 100) is recommended when you can cobble together an additional $4.2 million, so as to unlock all useful alien technologies within the first few months of the game.

Many of the game's most important research topics require the capture of certain specific live aliens, so it is recommended you start building an [[Alien Containment]] at the very beginning of the game. As few as three aliens need to be captured and researched to ultimately unlock all the critical research topics which are dependent on alien captives. See [[#The Minimum Three|The Minimum Three]] for more details.

== Initial research projects ==

You are given [[Weapons#Laser_Technology|Laser Weapons]], [[Medi-Kit]]s, and [[Motion Scanner]]s as research topics at the beginning of the game. Every subsequent research topic becomes available by completing a previous research topic, or by capturing new technology found on the battlefield. You cannot research any given alien item until you have a sample of it in your possession.

Alien artifacts from the battlefield cannot be [[manufacture]]d or used (or even thrown!) by your soldiers until they have been fully researched. In fact, you start the game unable to manufacture any items until you have completed your first research topics.

Different X-COM commanders differ on which technologies are best researched first, although the initial three topics are all good choices. [[Laser Rifle]]s are an enormous improvement over standard armaments, particularly against [[Cyberdisc]]s, the toughest early foe. Laser weapons are reasonably powerful and do not require ammunition, making them useful for the duration of the game.

[[Medi-Kit]]s are rapidily researched and of great utility, especially once your soldiers are outfitted with armor. [[Personal Armor|Armor]] technology is also a high priority, although it is relatively time-consuming to research and subsequently manufacture.

[[Motion Scanner]]s can help you pinpoint the location of your foes, and are the most profitable item that can be manufactured in the early game. (See [[Manufacturing Profitability]].)

After your first [[UFO Ground Assault|combats]], advanced alien weapons become available for research. [[Heavy Plasma]], [[Small Launcher]], and [[Blaster Launcher]] (if you can find one) are all popular early research choices.

Commanders who wish to supplement their incomes by manufacturing profitable items should research [[Laser Cannon]]s early on, as they are the most profitable production item in the entire game.

Once you manage to capture an alien [[Navigator (Alien Rank)|Navigator]], you should research it as soon as possible, as the [[Hyper-Wave Decoder]] it unlocks is an invaluable technology. Researching a psionically-enabled alien (a psionic [[Sectoid]], which means either a [[Leader (Alien Rank)|Leader]] or [[Commander (Alien Rank)|Commander]] or any [[Ethereal]]) should also be a top priority, as [[psionics]] becomes an enormous factor as the game progresses.

== The Minimum Three ==

You only need to capture three live aliens to unlock the research topics that will allow you complete the game. These three aliens are, in the following order:

*Any ''random alien'', any ''Leader or Commander'', and finally any ''Commander''

By studying these three aliens, you can unlock the end-game mission [[Alien Research#Cydonia or Bust|Cydonia or Bust]]. These same three aliens can be used to unlock all additional technologies dependent on alien captives, by altering the list as follows:

For [[Hyper-Wave Decoder]]
: substitute "any ''random alien''" with "any ''Navigator''"

For [[Psionic Laboratory]]
: make sure your captured Leader or Commander is [[Sectoid]] or [[Ethereal]]

Thus, to unlock all technology that matters, you only need to research:

*Any ''Navigator'', any ''Sectoid or Ethereal, Leader or Commander'', and finally any ''Commander''

Studying any alien (including the above three) can also produce a variety of [[UFOpaedia]] entries, such as alien species information, UFO stats, and alien mission types, which also adds to your [[scoring#Research|score]]. See [[#Researching aliens|Researching Aliens]] for more details.

== How to capture live aliens ==

Capturing the above three aliens, especially early on in the game, can be difficult. However, [[Mind Probe]]s can make it much easier to single out specific aliens, and once you get [[Small Launcher]]s, things are pretty easy. Be sure to build an [[Alien Containment]] at the beginning of the game, and don't bother to capture any aliens alive until it's built.

Using [[Stun Rod]]s is tricky, except when you can sneak up on an alien from behind. However, sending a swarm of rookies with Stun Rods into a UFO can be worth it in order to capture that first Navigator. Don't attempt this if there are multiple aliens facing your soldiers -- you will get shot to pieces.

If you spot an alien with a Small Launcher, you can often get him to knock himself out by walking up to him point-blank and letting him shoot you next turn.

Occasionally you will simply get lucky -- conventional weapons can deal a small amount of stun along with a lot of conventional damage. Aliens may also go [[unconscious]] due to smoke inhalation.

When an alien is unconscious, you can see what rank it is by standing over it and picking it up. Bring the most desired aliens back to the transport and have a sentry with a Stun Rod watch over them in case they wake up again. If your Containment is getting full, any undesired aliens can be killed while unconscious using any form of [[grenade]] or HE ammunition.

== Research tips ==

It is best to have your scientists all working on a single project at any given time. If two projects take approximately four days each, the first project will complete after four days and the second after eight; if they are both studied at the same time, they will both be completed after eight days.

Scientists at different bases cannot pool their efforts: if you have two bases work on the same project, it will take as long to complete as if you had only base working on it. If possible, you should build all your laboratories at a single base to allow all your scientists to focus on one project at a time.

You cannot begin researching any alien technology unless you have a sample of it on base. However, once you begin research, you do not need to keep the sample on hand. If you begin every project as soon as it becomes available to you, you can sell off all alien items (including alien corpses) which you do not wish to keep around. (You can also transfer aliens to another base's Containment unit after you have begun researching them.) You do not need to assign any scientists to a project to begin it: only assign your scientists to whichever project you wish to complete next.

If you build two labs and hire 100 scientists as soon as you can afford it, you can research all the most desirable alien technologies within 7-8 months (by July or August). With three labs and 150 scientists, you can research all the best stuff by June or so. More scientists than this will not appreciably speed your progress.

== Popular research sequences ==

Research time is given in total Scientist days and average days needed for one Laboratory (50 Scientists). Two Laboratories (100 Scientists) will take approximately half as long. The listed times are averages: actual research times will take between 0.5 and 1.5 times as long (see [[#Research time: notes|Research time: notes]] for more details).

A <tt>-></tt> before an entry signifies the total time required to complete that project. For example, Laser Pistol requires Laser Weapons (50 hours) + Laser Pistol (100 hours); <tt>-></tt>Laser Pistol is 150 hours.

<big>'''Laser Pistol'''</big>

An option which should not be overlooked. Researched extremely quickly, 53% more damaging than than a basic [[Rifle]], one-handed, fastest rate of fire of any weapon (good for scouts), can be manufactured for [[Manufacturing Profitability|profit]]. Good for covering the span before you get Laser Rifles or Plasma weapons.

Laser Weapons 50 1.0 day
[[Laser Pistol]] 100 2.0 days
'''Total: 150 3.0 days'''

<big>'''Laser Rifle'''</big>

Respectable damage, no ammo required. A good alternative to [[Heavy Plasma]] for some of your troops.

->Laser Pistol 150 3.0 days
[[Laser Rifle]] 300 6.0 days
'''Total: 450 9.0 days'''

''or'' '''Laser Pistol + 6.0 days'''

<big>'''Laser Cannon'''</big>

A poor Craft weapon, but the most [[Manufacturing Profitability|profitable]] item in the game. Completing this research topic also permits you to build [[Tank/Laser Cannon]]s, which have a much more powerful weapon than Cannon and Rocket tanks, and are effective against several dangerous units, particularly [[Sectopod]]s.

->Laser Rifle 450 9.0 days
[[Heavy Laser]] 460 9.2 days
[[Laser Cannon]] 420 8.4 days
'''Total: 1330 26.6 days'''

''or'' '''Laser Rifle + 17.6 days'''

<big>'''Small Launcher'''</big>

Small Launchers make capturing aliens a snap, and have surprisingly broad tactical use. One stun bomb can knock out several weak aliens at once, and unlike explosives, they are safe to use in confined quarters. Furthermore, stun bombs do not damage equipment, making for potentially higher [[UFO Recovery Values]]. Stun bombs are also quite effective against 4-space terror units (Reapers, Cyberdiscs, and Sectopods) due to each square taking partial damage from the stun blast.

[[Small Launcher]] 550 11.0 days
[[Stun Bomb]] 180 3.6 days
'''Total: 730 14.6 days'''

<big>'''Heavy Plasma'''</big>

Just about the best weapon in the game. There's a reason why every alien eventually carries one of these.

[[Heavy Plasma]] 800 16.0 days
Heavy Plasma Clip 400 8.0 days
'''Total: 1200 24.0 days'''

<big>'''Plasma Beam'''</big>

The best Craft weapon, 100% effective against everything except [[Battleship]]s.

->Heavy Plasma 1200 24.0 days
[[Plasma Beam]] 660 13.2 days
'''Total: 1860 37.2 days'''

''or'' '''Heavy Plasma + 13.2 days'''

<big>'''Blaster Launcher'''</big>

When you absolutely, positively, have to kill every alien in the room. Accept no substitute.

[[Blaster Launcher]] 900 18.0 days
[[Blaster Bomb]] 300 6.0 days
'''Total: 1200 24.0 days'''

<big>'''Fusion Ball Launcher'''</big>

Useful against [[Battleship]]s when using multiple crafts; use Plasma Beam otherwise.

->Blaster Launcher 1200 24.0 days
[[Fusion Ball Launcher]] 880 17.6 days
'''Total: 2080 41.6 days'''

''or'' '''Blaster Launcher + 17.6 days'''

<big>'''Fusion Ball Defences'''</big>

The most compact base defense facility besides the [[Mind Shield]] -- although a proper [[Base Layout Strategy|base layout strategy]] is probably better still.

->Fusion Ball Launcher 2080 41.6 days
[[Fusion Ball Defences|Fusion Defence]] 800 16.0 days
'''Total: 2880 57.6 days'''

''or'' '''Fusion Ball Launcher + 16.0 days'''

<big>'''Personal Armor'''</big>

Wearing this, you might actually survive a shot or two. But don't press your luck.

[[Alien Alloys]] 400 8.0 days
[[Personal Armor]] 180 3.6 days
'''Total: 580 11.6 days'''

<big>'''Power Suit'''</big>

You might survive a shot or three.

->Personal Armor 580 11.6 days
[[Elerium-115]] 450 9.0 days
[[UFO Power Source]] 450 9.0 days
[[Power Suit]] 205 4.1 days
'''Total: 1685 33.7 days'''

''or'' '''Personal Armor + 22.1 days'''

<big>'''Flying Suit'''</big>

A shot or three plus much greater visibility and mobility.

->Power Suit 1685 33.7 days
[[UFO Navigation]] 450 9.0 days
[[Flying Suit]] 330 6.6 days
'''Total: 2465 49.3 days'''

''or'' '''Power Suit + 15.6 days'''

<big>'''Firestorm'''</big>

Your first UFO. Unfortunately, a standard [[Interceptor]] armed with [[Plasma Beam]]s can often do just as well. This technology may be most desirable as part of the path to unlock Hovertanks.

Alien Alloys 400 8.0 days
Elerium-115 450 9.0 days
UFO Power Source 450 9.0 days
UFO Navigation 450 9.0 days
UFO Construction 450 9.0 days
[[Firestorm|New Fighter Craft]] 600 12.0 days
'''Total: 2800 56.0 days'''

However, there is high overlap between UFO technology and armor technology. Commanders will almost always research [[Power Suit]]s or [[Flying Suit]]s before embarking on UFO construction:

->Flying Suit 2465 49.3 days
UFO Construction 450 9.0 days
New Fighter Craft 600 12.0 days
'''Total: 3515 70.3 days'''

''or'' '''Flying Suit + 21.0 days'''

<big>'''Lightning'''</big>

A craft with unique properties -- but most prefer an [[Avenger]].

->Firestorm ''(via Flying Suit)'' 3515 70.3 days
[[Lightning|New Fighter-Transporter]] 700 14.0 days
'''Total: 4215 84.3 days'''

''or'' '''Firestorm + 14.0 days'''

<big>'''Avenger'''</big>

They don't call it the Ultimate Craft for nothing. Two or three Avengers plus a handful of Interceptors can give you complete air superiority over Terra. It also allows you to bring twice the manpower into battle than you could before. What's not to like?

->Lighting 4215 84.3 days
[[Avenger|Ultimate Craft]] 900 18.0 days
'''Total: 5115 102.3 days'''

''or'' '''Lightning + 18.0 days'''
''or'' '''Flying Suit + 32.0 days'''

<big>'''Grav Shield'''</big>

Combined with several [[Fusion Ball Defences]], a Grav Shield will make your base impervious to alien invasion. However, a [[Mind Shield]] and/or a secure [[Base Layout Strategy|base layout]] is a quite viable alternative. Immediately shooting down scout UFOs on [[Alien Missions#Alien Retaliation|Alien Retaliation]] missions will also prevent most attacks.

->Lightning 4215 84.3 days
[[Grav Shield]] 930 18.6 days
'''Total: 5145 102.9 days'''

''or'' '''Lightning + 18.6 days'''

<big>'''Hovertank/Plasma'''</big>

A popular (and expendable) scout. Immune to Psi attacks, like all tanks. Produceable immediately after the completion of Firestorm and Plasma Beam research topics.

->Firestorm 3515 70.3 days
->Plasma Beam 1860 37.2 days
'''Total: 5375 107.5 days'''

<big>'''Hovertank/Launcher'''</big>

In the field, it's less popular than the Plasma Hovertank due to the expense of its ammunition, which also does less damage than the man-portable [[Blaster Launcher]]. For base defense, the free Hovertank/Launcher ammo that is granted to you to protect the base turns this tank into the ultimate expendable defensive unit. It can be built immediately after the completion of the Firestorm and Fusion Ball Launcher research topics.

->Firestorm 3515 70.3 days
->Fusion Ball Launcher 2080 41.6 days
'''Total: 5595 111.9 days'''

<big>'''Psionic Laboratory'''</big>

Once you get [[psionics]], the aliens' days are numbered. It's tricky catching a Sectoid Leader or Ethereal, but the sooner you can, the better. With a psi lab you can separate the wheat from the chaff.

Any live psionic alien 192 3.84 days
[[Psionic Laboratory]] 420 8.4 days
'''Total: 612 11.24 days'''

<big>'''Psi-Amp'''</big>

Barely useful when [[Psi Skill]] is low, but way too useful when it's high. A transport full of Psi soldiers is as scary to the aliens as the [[Ethereal]]s were at first to you.

->Psionic Laboratory 420 11.24 days
[[Psi-Amp]] 500 10.0 days
'''Total: 920 21.24 days'''

''or'' '''Psionic Laboratory + 10.0 days'''

<big>'''Mind Shield'''</big>

With a single Mind Shield at each base, the aliens will keep attempting [[Alien Missions#Alien Retaliation|Alien Retaliation]] missions, but most of them time, they'll zig-zag around, unable to find your base. Shooting down any Retaliation scout you see in addition will ensure that they almost never mount an attack on your base.

->Psionic Laboratory 420 11.24 days
[[Mind Shield]] 360 7.2 days
'''Total: 780 18.44 days'''

''or'' '''Psionic Laboratory + 7.2 days'''

<big>'''Hyper-Wave Decoder'''</big>

One of the most important technologies of the game. Build one at each base you own and you will be able to see just about every alien craft that enters the Earth's atmosphere. Every craft you intercept will please your funding nations, and can be worth millions in [[UFO Recovery Values|salvage value]]. A Hyper-Wave Decoder is your meal ticket: grab an alien Navigator the first chance you get.

Any live alien Navigator 192 3.86 days
[[Hyper-Wave Decoder]] 670 13.4 days
'''Total: 862 17.26 days'''

<big>'''Cydonia'''</big>

Your final mission. Win it, and you are a savior; lose it, and humanity dies. You have to perform the research in this particular order, so don't forget to research The Martian Solution before you interrogate your first Commander, or else you'll have to capture another one. The same goes for your first Leader -- but if it's a Sectoid, research it immediately: the [[Psionic Laboratory]] is your absolute top priority. Once you get Psi soldiers, you can capture another Leader without much trouble at all.

In addition to completing these research topics, you must have an [[Avenger]] built before you can travel to [[Cydonia]]. The Avenger can be researched and built at any time, independent of the Cydonia-specific research topics. None of these topics are useful aside from unlocking Cydonia, so you can save most of it until you're ready to complete the game.

Any live alien 192 3.84 days
[[Alien Research|Alien Origins]] 300 6.0 days
Any live Leader 192 3.84 days
[[Alien Research|The Martian Solution]] 500 10.0 days
Any live Commander 192 3.84 days
[[Alien Research|Cydonia or Bust]] 600 12.0 days
'''Total: 1976 39.52 days'''
''plus''
->Avenger 5115 102.3 days
'''Total: 7091 141.82 days'''

<big>'''Stand-alone technologies'''</big>

In addition to the above research sequences, there are four useful technologies which have no research "dependencies" and can be studied directly. Medi-kits and Motion Scanners are two of the initially-available research topics (described [[#Initial research projects|above]]). Alien Grenades are a substantial improvement over the standard X-COM grenade, packing almost as much punch as a High Explosive, but far easier to carry and throw. Mind Probes can show alien rank and stats (useful for singling out Leaders and Commanders), although their usefulness is dwarfed by that of the Psi-Amp.

[[Medi-Kit]] '''210 4.2 days'''
[[Motion Scanner]] '''180 3.6 days'''
[[Alien Grenade]] '''200 4.0 days'''
[[Mind Probe]] '''600 12.0 days'''

= Technical details =

== Research trees ==

Here are sequences of research topics needed to unlock all the technologies in the game.

<big>'''Laser Weapons'''</big>
Laser Weapons (tech breakthrough)
|
[[Laser Pistol]]
|
[[Laser Rifle]]
|
[[Heavy Laser]]
|
[[Laser Cannon]]
([[Heavy Weapons Platforms|Laser Tank]])
|
[[Laser Defences|Laser Defense]]

<big>'''Plasma Weapons'''</big>
[[Heavy Plasma]] [[Plasma Rifle]]
| Heavy Plasma Clip | Plasma Rifle Clip
|___________| |__________|
| |
| |
|__________OR___________|
|
[[Plasma Beam|Plasma Cannon]]
([[Heavy Weapons Platforms|Hovertank/Plasma]])*
|
[[Plasma Defences|Plasma Defense]]

<nowiki>*</nowiki> [[#Craft|New Fighter Craft]] must also be researched before you can build hovertanks

<big>'''Fusion Weapons'''</big>
[[Blaster Launcher]] [[Blaster Bomb]]
|___________|
|
[[Fusion Ball Launcher|Fusion Ball]]
([[Heavy Weapons Platforms|Hovertank/Launcher]])*
|
[[Fusion Ball Defences|Fusion Ball Defense]]

<nowiki>*</nowiki> [[#Craft|New Fighter Craft]] must also be researched before you can build hovertanks

<big>'''Armor'''</big>
[[Alien Alloys]]
|
[[Elerium-115]] [[Personal Armor]] [[UFO Power Source]]
|_____________|_________________|
|
|
[[Power Suit]] [[UFO Navigation]]
|_________________|
|
[[Flying Suit]]

<big>'''Craft'''</big>
Alien Elerium UFO UFO
Alloys 115 Power Source Navigation
|___________|___________|______________|
|
UFO Construction
|
|
New Fighter Craft*
([[Firestorm]])
|
New Fighter-Transporter
([[Lightning]])
__________|____________
| |
[[Grav Shield]] Ultimate Craft ([[Avenger]])

<nowiki>*</nowiki> New Fighter Craft must be researched before you can build hovertanks

<big>'''Psionics'''</big>
Any Live Psionic Alien
|
[[Psionic Laboratory|Psi Lab]]
|_______
| |
[[Psi-Amp]] [[Mind Shield]]

<big>'''Hyper-Wave Decoder'''</big>

Any Live Alien Navigator
|
[[Hyper-Wave Decoder]]

<big>'''Endgame'''</big>

These research topics must be completed in order to travel to [[Cydonia]] and finish the game.

Any Live Alien
|
[[Alien Research#Alien Origins|Alien Origins]]
|
| Any Live Alien Leader
| /
[[Alien Research#The Martian Solution|The Martian Solution]]
|
| Any Live Alien Commander
| /
[[Alien Research#Cydonia or Bust|Cydonia or Bust]]
|
| [[Avenger]]
| /
[[Cydonia]] (mission)

Alien Commanders can be found on [[Battleship]]s, or in [[Alien Base Assault|alien bases]]. An alien Commander will also always accompany a [[Base Defense|base invasion]] force. The [http://www.xcomufo.com/usg.html Unofficial Strategy Guide] incorrectly states that only a Commander from an alien base can be used to give access to "Cydonia or Bust". In practice, any Commander will do -- so long as The Martian Solution has already been researched. Should you research a Commander prior to this, you'll have to capture another.

<big>'''Individual topics'''</big>

Researching these topics will not unlock any technologies beyond themselves.

* [[Medi-Kit]]
* [[Motion Scanner]]
* [[Alien Grenade]]
* [[Mind Probe]]

There are also four UFO Components which can be researched but which have no practical value:

* [[Alien Entertainment]]
* [[Alien Food]]
* [[Alien Surgery]]
* [[Examination Room]]

A fifth component, [[Alien Reproduction]], cannot normally be found in the game, although it can be researched if you add it to your General Stores using a game editor.

== Researching aliens ==

Researching live aliens will provide a variety of information. The type of information revealed is usually dependent on the alien's rank (or type).

Here is an overview of the research each alien type can produce:

*Any Live Alien: [[Alien Research#Alien Origins|Alien Origins]] and information on its own species
*Alien [[Soldier (Alien Rank)|Soldier]] or [[Terrorist (Alien Rank)|Terrorist]]: Nothing, beyond information on its own species
*Alien [[Medic (Alien Rank)|Medic]]: information on other [[#Alien species|alien species]]
*Alien [[Navigator (Alien Rank)|Navigator]]: [[#Alien missions|Alien missions]] and [[Hyper-Wave Decoder]]
*Alien [[Engineer (Alien Rank)|Engineer]]: [[#Alien ships|Alien ships]]
*Alien [[Leader (Alien Rank)|Leader]] (or Commander): [[Alien Research#The Martian Solution|The Martian Solution]]
*Alien [[Commander (Alien Rank)|Commander]]: [[Alien Research#Cydonia or Bust|Cydonia or Bust]]
*Sectoid Leader or Commander, or any Ethereal: [[Psionic Laboratory]]

Researching a live alien will produce a "live alien" entry and can sometimes produce other [[UFOpaedia]] entries or even unlock new research topics, as detailed above. The first live alien of any type you study will unlock the [[Alien Research#Alien Origins|Alien Origins]] topic. Researching an alien will often produce no new UFOpaedia entries, if everything that could be learned from that alien type has already been discovered.

Most of the UFOpaedia entries generated by studying live aliens are of no intrisic value, although sometimes they will provide insight into in-game alien behavior or characteristics. Sometimes the information provided is misleading. If nothing else, though, they are fun to read.

Each [[#Alien species|alien species]] (including autopsies), [[#Alien missions|alien mission]], or [[#Alien ships|alien ship]] entry added to the UFOpaedia will earn the player 50 points.

=== Alien types ===

There are 29 different alien race/rank combos in the game:

*Sectoid Soldier, Medic, Navigator, Engineer, Leader, or Commander
*Snakeman Soldier, Navigator, Engineer, Leader, or Commander
*Ethereal Soldier, Leader, or Commander
*Muton Soldier, Navigator, or Engineer
*Floater Soldier, Medic, Navigator, Engineer, Leader, or Commander
*Celatid Terrorist
*Silacoid Terrorist
*Chryssalid Terrorist
*Reaper Terrorist
*Sectopod Terrorist
*Cyberdisc Terrorist

One does not need to capture all of the alien-rank combinations to produce every possible UFOpaedia entry in the game. Enough Medics, Navigators, and Engineers of any sort will eventually fill out your UFOpaedia completely (although you must study at least one Leader and Commander, as [[#The Minimum Three|detailed above]]).

=== Alien missions ===

These UFOpaedia entries will be generated by researching alien Navigators. Captured Navigators may give information on mission types other than the type they were engaged in when captured.

*[[Alien Missions#Alien Research|Alien Research]]
*[[Alien Missions#Alien Harvest|Alien Harvest]]
*[[Alien Missions#Alien Abduction|Alien Abduction]]
*[[Alien Missions#Alien Infiltration|Alien Infiltration]]
*[[Alien Missions#Alien Base|Alien Base]]
*[[Alien Missions#Alien Terror|Alien Terror]]
*[[Alien Missions#Alien Retaliation|Alien Retaliation]]
*[[Alien Missions#Alien Supply|Alien Supply]]

=== Alien ships ===

These UFOpaedia entries will be generated by researching alien Engineers. They do not unlock any technologies, but they do give detailed information about the performance characteristics of each ship, which can help players tailor their [[UFO_Interception|interception]] strategies. Captured Engineers may give information on ship types other than the type they were found on.

*[[Small Scout]]
*[[Medium Scout]]
*[[Large Scout]]
*[[Abductor]]
*[[Harvester]]
*[[Supply Ship]]
*[[Terror Ship]]
*[[Battleship]]

=== Alien species ===

Studying any captive alien will produce a "live alien" [[UFOpaedia]] entry on that species, unless that entry already exists. Researching an alien corpse will produce an "Alien Autopsy" UFOpaedia entry on its species.

Researching alien Medics can produce "live alien" and Autopsy entries on species other than their own. (However, if the entry on live [[Ethereal]]s is produced in this manner it will not unlock the [[Psionic Laboratory]] research topic -- you must still study a psionic alien directly.)

There are 11 different alien species in the game, and 11 different Live and Autopsy entries can be generated. (Zombies can be thought of as a 12th alien species, although neither a corpse nor live specimen can ever be collected, and a UFOpaedia entry can never be generated on them.)

The two robotic units (Sectopods and Cyberdiscs) cannot be captured alive or studied directly. To generate a live alien UFOpaedia entry on them, you must research alien Medics of any other species.

*[[Sectoid]]
*[[Snakeman]]
*[[Ethereal]]
*[[Muton]]
*[[Floater]]
*[[Celatid]]
*[[Silacoid]]
*[[Chryssalid]]
*[[Reaper]]
*[[Sectopod]]
*[[Cyberdisc]]

== Research time ==

The following is a list of all research topics in the game. Values taken from [[RESEARCH.DAT]].

=== Sorted alphabetically ===

{| {{StdCenterTable}} width="50%"
|- {{StdDescTable_Heading}}
! Man Days !! One Lab !! Research Project
|-
|400 || 8 ||align="left"| Alien Alloys
|-
|180 || 3.6 ||align="left"| Alien Corpses (each -- 11 different types)
|-
|150 || 3 ||align="left"| Alien Entertainment
|-
|150 || 3 ||align="left"| Alien Food
|-
|200 || 4 ||align="left"| Alien Grenade
|-
|300 || 6 ||align="left"| Alien Origins
|-
|150 || 3 ||align="left"| Alien Reproduction*
|-
|150 || 3 ||align="left"| Alien Surgery
|-
|300 || 6 ||align="left"| Blaster Bomb
|-
|900 || 18 ||align="left"| Blaster Launcher
|-
|600 || 12 ||align="left"| Cydonia or Bust
|-
|450 || 9 ||align="left"| Elerium-115
|-
|150 || 3 ||align="left"| Examination Room
|-
|330 || 6.6 ||align="left"| Flying Suit
|-
|800 || 16 ||align="left"| Fusion Defenses
|-
|880 || 17.6||align="left"| Fusion Missile (Fusion Ball & Launcher)
|-
|930 || 18.6||align="left"| Grav Shield
|-
|460 || 9.2 ||align="left"| Heavy Laser
|-
|800 || 16 ||align="left"| Heavy Plasma
|-
|400 || 8 ||align="left"| Heavy Plasma Clip
|-
|670 || 13.4||align="left"| Hyper-Wave Decoder
|-
|420 || 8.4 ||align="left"| Laser Cannon
|-
|510 || 10.2||align="left"| Laser Defenses
|-
|100 || 2 ||align="left"| Laser Pistol
|-
|300 || 6 ||align="left"| Laser Rifle
|-
|50 || 1 ||align="left"| Laser Weapons
|-
|192 || 3.84||align="left"| Live Aliens (except Terrorists and Sectoid Commander) (22 types)
|-
|190 || 3.8 ||align="left"| Live Sectoid Commander (go figure)
|-
|170 || 3.4 ||align="left"| Live Terrorists (4 types -- Reaper, Chryssalid, Silacoid, Celatid)
|-
|210 || 4.2 ||align="left"| Medi-Kit
|-
|600 || 12 ||align="left"| Mind Probe
|-
|360 || 7.2 ||align="left"| Mind Shield
|-
|180 || 3.6 ||align="left"| Motion Scanner
|-
|600 || 12 ||align="left"| New Fighter Craft (Firestorm)
|-
|700 || 14 ||align="left"| New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning)
|-
|180 || 3.6 ||align="left"| Personal Armor
|-
|660 || 13.2||align="left"| Plasma Beam
|-
|620 || 12.4||align="left"| Plasma Defenses
|-
|600 || 12 ||align="left"| Plasma Pistol
|-
|400 || 8 ||align="left"| Plasma Pistol Clip
|-
|700 || 14 ||align="left"| Plasma Rifle
|-
|400 || 8 ||align="left"| Plasma Rifle Clip
|-
|205 || 4.1 ||align="left"| Power Suit
|-
|500 || 10 ||align="left"| Psi-Amp
|-
|420 || 8.4 ||align="left"| Psi-Lab
|-
|550 || 11 ||align="left"| Small Launcher
|-
|180 || 3.6 ||align="left"| Stun Bomb
|-
|500 || 10 ||align="left"| The Martian Solution
|-
|450 || 9 ||align="left"| UFO Construction
|-
|450 || 9 ||align="left"| UFO Navigation
|-
|450 || 9 ||align="left"| UFO Power Source
|-
|900 || 18 ||align="left"| Ultimate Craft (Avenger)
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Alien Reproduction is not ordinarily researchable unless you use an editor to add one your General Stores.

=== Sorted by days needed ===
{| {{StdCenterTable}} width="50%"
|- {{StdDescTable_Heading}}
!Man Days !! One Lab!! Research Project
|-
|50 || 1 ||align="left"| Laser Weapons
|-
|100 || 2 ||align="left"| Laser Pistol
|-
|150 || 3 ||align="left"| Alien Entertainment
|-
|150 || 3 ||align="left"| Alien Food
|-
|150 || 3 ||align="left"| Alien Reproduction
|-
|150 || 3 ||align="left"| Alien Surgery
|-
|150 || 3 ||align="left"| Examination Room
|-
|170 || 3.4 ||align="left"| Live Terrorists (4 types -- Reaper, Chryssalid, Silacoid, Celatid)
|-
|180 || 3.6 ||align="left"| Alien Corpses (each -- 11 different types)
|-
|180 || 3.6 ||align="left"| Motion Scanner
|-
|180 || 3.6 ||align="left"| Personal Armor
|-
|180 || 3.6 ||align="left"| Stun Bomb
|-
|190 || 3.8 ||align="left"| Live Sectoid Commander (go figure)
|-
|192 || 3.84||align="left"| Live Aliens (except Terrorists and Sectoid Commander) (22 types)
|-
|200 || 4 ||align="left"| Alien Grenade
|-
|205 || 4.1 ||align="left"| Power Suit
|-
|210 || 4.2 ||align="left"| Medi-Kit
|-
|300 || 6 ||align="left"| Alien Origins
|-
|300 || 6 ||align="left"| Blaster Bomb
|-
|300 || 6 ||align="left"| Laser Rifle
|-
|330 || 6.6 ||align="left"| Flying Suit
|-
|360 || 7.2 ||align="left"| Mind Shield
|-
|400 || 8 ||align="left"| Alien Alloys
|-
|400 || 8 ||align="left"| Heavy Plasma Clip
|-
|400 || 8 ||align="left"| Plasma Pistol Clip
|-
|400 || 8 ||align="left"| Plasma Rifle Clip
|-
|420 || 8.4 ||align="left"| Laser Cannon
|-
|420 || 8.4 ||align="left"| Psi-Lab
|-
|450 || 9 ||align="left"| Elerium-115
|-
|450 || 9 ||align="left"| UFO Construction
|-
|450 || 9 ||align="left"| UFO Navigation
|-
|450 || 9 ||align="left"| UFO Power Source
|-
|460 || 9.2 ||align="left"| Heavy Laser
|-
|500 || 10 ||align="left"| Psi-Amp
|-
|500 || 10 ||align="left"| The Martian Solution
|-
|510 || 10.2||align="left"| Laser Defenses
|-
|550 || 11 ||align="left"| Small Launcher
|-
|600 || 12 ||align="left"| Cydonia or Bust
|-
|600 || 12 ||align="left"| Mind Probe
|-
|600 || 12 ||align="left"| New Fighter Craft (Firestorm)
|-
|600 || 12 ||align="left"| Plasma Pistol
|-
|620 || 12.4||align="left"| Plasma Defenses
|-
|660 || 13.2||align="left"| Craft Plasma Beam
|-
|670 || 13.4||align="left"| Hyper-Wave Decoder
|-
|700 || 14 ||align="left"| New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning)
|-
|700 || 14 ||align="left"| Plasma Rifle
|-
|800 || 16 ||align="left"| Fusion Defenses
|-
|800 || 16 ||align="left"| Heavy Plasma
|-
|880 || 17.6||align="left"| Fusion Missile (Fusion Ball & Launcher)
|-
|900 || 18 ||align="left"| Blaster Launcher
|-
|900 || 18 ||align="left"| Ultimate Craft (Avenger)
|-
|930 || 18.6||align="left"| Grav Shield
|}
=== Research time: notes ===

*'''One Lab''' is the number of Days divided by 50. This shows how quickly one lab full of 50 scientists needs to complete the Project, on average. Two labs full of scientists would need half this time on average, etc.
*Projects only progress and check completion '''at midnight''', so what scientists are doing - whether travelling between bases, on different projects or sitting in the coffee room unassigned - during the entire rest of the day is irrelevant.
*This single check per day also means they will take a minimum of one day, except in special circumstances. Decimals are still shown for the '''One Lab''' column, however, so you can project to multiple labs and/or see where time is lost or gained by truncation (read on).
*The numbers shown in the tables are '''averages'''. In actuality, projects with an initial status of "Unknown" will take from INT(Average/2) to INT(Average*3/2) days. Example:
The "Laser Weapons" project requires an average of '''50''' scientist days.
If 10 scientists are assigned,
50/10 = an expected average of 5 days.
INT(5/2) = a minimum of 2 days, and
INT(5*3/2) = a maximum of 7 days.
Actual range seen for completion of Laser Weapons: '''2 to 7 days'''.
* Note that integer truncation works in favor of the player. Without integer rounding, the above numbers would've been 2.5 to 7.5 days which, if you had to wait for the next midnight, would've meant 3 to 8 days.
*Integer truncation also works in favor of having more labs - to a point:
**Example: Several projects require 150 research days, which takes 3 days on average with one lab (INT(150/50)). But with two labs, these would only take 1 day on average (INT(150/100)).
**Overall, projects might be completed up to 8% faster, with 1 to 5 labs (see [[Research#Total Research Time|Total Research Time]], next section).
**However, as the number of labs grows high, increasingly more projects would have finished in less than one day (scientists are standing around doing nothing). By the time one reaches 6 labs, the integer-truncation effect is counterbalanced (little or no speed gain) by these "wasted" scientists.
**At 8 labs, productivity sinks to 90%. At this point, 32 out of the 46 projects are finished in one day. Productivity falls more and more, with 9+ labs.
*Despite this "much discussion", remember that the actual time is a random roll between the min and max. That is, there won't always be neat, magical breakpoints versus the number of labs in a real game. Still, integer truncation will be working in your favor.
*Testing on the random-roll functionality has only been done on projects with an initial status of '''"Unknown"'''. Better ratings (Poor to Excellent) cause the project to complete more quickly - possibly very quickly, at the highest ratings, including instant result in the extreme case.
*Also keep in mind that you can assign more than one project at a time. You could attempt to pinpoint breakpoints, if you wanted (although it would be haphazard). You could also assign short projects to a fraction of your science crew, if you have a big operation. Use 1.5 times the average time as an important cut-off if you're doing this - no project will last longer than this. But keep truncation in mind, too, and use it in your favor.

==Research Progress==

The Progress part of the current Research screen will give you an idea of how things are going, but you will have to know how to read the information it is giving you.
 
 
<big>'''Unknown Progress'''</big>

The first part of understanding the progress report is knowing why a project has an Unknown progress. This happens whenever a project has more than 2/3rds of its '''average''' research time left. Examples:

* Laser Weapons average 50 Man Days (MDs), so if you have 34 or more MDs left then it will be listed as Unknown
* Psi Amps average 500 MDs, so if you have 334 or more MDs left then it will be listed as Unknown

Clearly this indicates an immediate fact that can be helpful (especially if you want to do some cheating), that if you create a project and assign even just one scientist to it and don't get Unknown, then you just got a good roll for the time required (more accurately, in the top 16.7% of possible results, or 1 in 6 projects). Let's walk through an example:
* Say a project has an '''average''' time of 120 MDs. Thus, it's roll can actually be 60 to 180 MDs.
* If you get the best possible roll - 60 MDs - the project is at 50% ''relative to the '''average''' time'' of 120 MDs. 50% is greater than a third, so it will not be at Unknown.
* The break-even point for a 120-average-MDs project would be a roll of 80 MDs. At 80, the algorithm thinks, "ok, 80 more MDs are needed; 120-80='''40''' MDs are gone, which is one third of 120 MDs. So it's not Unknown status any more."
* This range of 60 to 80 MDs is only one-sixth of the possible rolls for a 120 day project (60 to 180 MDs). Thus, you have to get in the top sixth of rolls to not see Unknown.
 
<big>'''Known Progress'''</big>

Okay, so eventually your project gets out of Unknown status due to the industrious sweat of your scientists and the progress of time (or alternately a bit of reloading of saves). Now we get back an actual progress rating of Poor, Average, Good or Excellent, and we need to understand what they mean.

Actual Progress ratings are related again to the average project durations for the item being researched, but this time as we know it is related to the number of scientists on the project. So simply divide the average project research time by the number of scientists and convert to a percentage:

Average ManDays required / Scientists assigned * 100 = Progress Rating

{| {{StdDescTable}} width="25%"
| {{StdDescTable Heading}} | Named Rating
| {{StdDescTable Heading}} | Progress Rating
|-
| Excellent || 26+
|-
| Good || 14 to <26
|-
| Average || 8 to <14
|-
| Poor || >0 to <8
|-
| None || 0
|}

Note the progress rating is equivalent to the percentage progress you would make if you happen to roll exactly average when starting a project, so an average Excellent project will be at most 4 days to complete (26%*4), but you have to factor in the random element - i.e., that you actually have a target of somewhere between 50% and 150%, so the range if you are just inside Excellent is 2-6 days, for example.

So to show against our previous examples, once they are not unknown:

*Laser Weapons have an average project time of 50, so 0 gives None, 1 to 3 gives Poor, 4 to 6 gives Average, 7 to 12 gives Good, and 13 or more gives Excellent
*Psi Amps have an average project time of 500, so 0 gives None, 1 to 39 gives Poor, 40 to 69 gives Average, 70 to 129 gives Good, and 130 or more gives Excellent

Note that the actual time left is not included in this calculation, so once it is out of unknown the progress seen on screen will only change if you change the number of scientists assigned.

We can also deduce the range of maximum times left from the ratings as well, although unknown and poor have too high a range to be meaningful really (although you can divide the values shown by the number of scientists you have assigned, and reduce it proportionality if you have a project shorter than Grav Shield).

{| {{StdDescTable}} width="25%"
| {{StdDescTable Heading}} | Named Rating
| {{StdDescTable Heading}} | Days Left
|-
| Excellent || 1 to 3
|-
| Good || 1 to 5
|-
| Average || 1 to 9
|-
| Poor || 1 to 620
|-
| Unknown || 1 to 1395
|-
| None || Infinite
|}

Notes: For Unknown 1395 is the worst roll on Grav Shield, and you might only have 1 man doing it, but on the other end for Laser Weapons you could have 34 Man Days left, but easily have that many scientists on it to complete it next midnight. For Poor it covers from a large range like Unknown, but you must have completed 2/3rds of it, so again for the highest average project time Grav Shield we get 930*(2/3), or 620. For long projects like Grav Shield you can be rated poor while having up to 74 scientists assigned due to their average time to complete being so high.

Of course really the only important thing here is that we are not seeing Unknown, at that point you know that you only have 2/3rds or less left, so at that point you can work it out more accurately just by: 66.7%/Progress Rating = Max Days left (round all fractions up). If you just started the project (or have never assigned anyone to it) you also know it is at least 50%, so 50%/Progress Rating = Min Days left at that point.

== Total research time ==

The total time needed to research all technologies is 21,215 days, plus another 576 to research [[#The Minimum Three|The Minimum Three]], plus another 6,500 or so to add every alien [[#Alien species|species]], [[#Alien ships|ship type]], and [[#Alien missions|mission type]] entry to the [[UFOpaedia]] (about 28,300 hours total).

This can be compared against the total time needed for 1 Scientist, 50 Scientists (1 lab), 100 (2 labs), and so on. Numbers were composed by taking the average of the integer-truncated min and max for each project, then summing these together for all projects:

'''Note: the following figures are based on an earlier (incomplete) list of research topics. The specific numbers are no longer correct, although the "efficiency" figures are likely to be similar.'''

''Scientists
1 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
Days 20215 391 190 125 94 75 67 58 56 52 49
Months 663 12.82 6.23 4.10 3.08 2.46 2.20 1.89 1.84 1.69 1.61
Efficiency -- +3% +6% +8% +8% +8% +1% +0% -10% -13% -17%

"Months" are considered to be 30.5 days long.

'''Efficiency''' shows how much time is gained or lost versus a pure case with absolutely no integer truncation or 1-day minima (see Notes). As can be seen, it is maximal around 3-5 labs, then starts dropping and keeps dropping.

Note that going from 3 labs to 4 only saves you about a month -- which is about how long it takes to set up the lab! In practice, 2-3 labs are quite sufficient to acquire all alien technologies in a reasonable timeframe.

[[Category:Data tables]]

Reaction fire triggers

2007-06-09T02:54:27Z

Boba:

Certain actions will trigger reaction fire from aliens; others will not, even though they may reduce your [[TU]]s. (However, if you have used up several TUs doing "safe" actions then conclude with a reaction-triggering one, an alien with sufficient TUs will make several "stored up" reaction shots against you.)

The following is a (possibly incomplete) list of which actions will and will not trigger reaction fire. Opposing units also need to be facing your unit(s) and have sufficient TUs available; see [[Reaction fire formula]] for more details.

 

'''Will trigger reaction shots from an alien facing you:'''

*Firing any weapon
*Kneeling or standing
*Any walking/flying movement
*Using a lift
*Throwing any object
 

'''Will trigger reaction shots from an alien not facing you:'''

*Hitting an alien (they will spin around and return fire)
*Hitting an alien with indirect fire from HE or stun rounds (or even triggering a [[Proximity Grenade]] within range)
*Using a [[Stun Rod]] on an alien -- this one is a real oddball: the alien will be "alerted" to your attack, but will not spin and fire until you take one of the actions above that normally triggers reaction shots. Thus you can try stunning them several times, but if you then walk away, they will spin around and shoot. If a different soldier hits the alien with a Stun Rod, the alien's focus will shift to that soldier -- and the first soldier can then safely walk away again. Heh. (Hitting an alien that is directly facing you with a Stun Rod will not trigger reaction shots either, until you perform some other action.)
 

'''Will never trigger reaction shots:'''

*Turning in place
*Firing a weapon from beyond the alien's visual range
*Firing at a [[Celatid]] from beyond its range: 8+ squares indoors (roof immediately overhead) or 17+ squares outdoors is safe (this is due to Celatids' arcing fire trajectory)
*Taking any action (including firing a weapon) from a position not visible to the alien. The visibility is calculated after the the action is taken. For example, if you are visible to the alien, and fire a large rocket between you and the alien, generating a smoke cloud that makes you invisible to the alien, there will be no reaction.
*Moving out of an alien's [[line of sight]] -- if after moving one square (or kneeling) you are not visible to the alien, it will not fire at you. This includes moving back one step if you are at the edge of the alien's visual range. '''If you spot an alien while wandering through smoke, you can move back a step then safely riddle it with holes!'''
*Priming a grenade
*Firing at (but missing) an alien not facing you
*Hitting an alien not facing you with [[incendiary]] rounds, directly or indirectly (combined with the [[Incendiary#Quirks|IC explosions causing damage to all units in fire quirk]], this is insanely powerful)
*Any action on the inventory screen (moving, dropping or picking up objects; loading or unloading a weapon)
*Using a Medi-Kit, Mind Probe or Motion Scanner
<div id="mutual_surprise"></div>
*'''Mutual surprise:'''
** If a unit first sees an alien at the same instant that they first move into an alien's [[line of sight]], the alien won't fire, even if you have no TUs left. The alien you spot doesn't even have to be the alien that spots you -- you can walk through a door and see an alien ahead of you, which will prevent unseen aliens to the side from attacking you.
** There are cases where aliens can see you (and even fire upon you!), but you can't see them, even if you're facing them (such as walking toward an open door, or when nearing a corner).
** The "mutual surprise" rule seems to only apply to when you ''walk'' (or fly) into an alien's line of sight: if you spot an alien by destroying terrain, or by killing an alien (uncovering another behind it), the newly-revealed alien will shoot at you if it is facing you. An alien will also shoot at you if you spot it when standing from a formerly-concealed position.
** The mutual surprise rule also does not apply if you move into an alien's field of vision via vertical movement, by using a lift or a [[Flying Suit]]. Even if you are facing the alien, you will get shot at as you move up or down into its line of sight.
** To try to take advantage of this and spot aliens as you round a corner, you should (if possible) approach it at least one space away from the corner and come around at a diagonal. However, there can be a number of "blind spots" near corners, where aliens can see you but you can't see them (see [[Line of sight#Blind spots around corners]]).

Rocket Launcher

2007-06-08T21:43:13Z

Boba: /* Tips */

The rocket launcher is the equaliser of the conventional ranged weapons. It's slow, it's heavy, but its severely limited ammunition is balanced by its sheer brute force. Although the alien [[Blaster Launcher]] is superior, the Rocket Launcher is cheap and ammunition is easy to obtain in large quantities.

The rocket launcher is the most accurate weapon that can be fired in a straight line, surpassing even the dreaded [[Heavy Plasma]] or the weak X-Com standard [[rifle]]. It's slow, but the amount of firepower packed into that single shot makes up for this many times over.

There are three rocket flavours, each with their own pros and cons. The launcher may only be loaded with one rocket at a time.

Small Rockets are literally light rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs). They are the lightest in weight of the three types of rockets and well suited for weak recruits. Unfortunately, Small Rockets do not work very well against heavily armoured units, like the [[Cyberdisc]].

Large rockets are the mainstay ammunition of the rocket launcher. They are identical in function with the small rocket, but have twice the firepower and are slightly heavier. Strong soldiers should be equipped with a launcher and a full complement of large rockets (three in backpack, one in tube). If the soldier is mobile, then another soldier could carry another four for the heavy weapon soldier. Despite the extreme weight, the large rocket is the most destructive and powerful ranged weapon available to X-Com personnel at the beginning of a new campaign.

Incendiary rockets are special "Willie Pete" shots (white phosphorus) that serve a variety of purposes, depending on the situation and the tactics employed. One of the most common uses is to illuminate a battlefield at night, the other primary use is to set fire to it. The one thing the incendiary rocket cannot do is provide instant kills on most enemies. The Large Rocket serves that role a lot better.

The incendiary rocket has the largest detonation radius of all the incendiary weapons, thus it will cause a lot of fire to form on the battlefield - perfect for illumination, or to clear the battlefield of thick shrubs and to slowly roast aliens to death.

To better understand how the incendiary effect works, refer to the [[Incendiary|incendiary section]].

== Stats ==
Rocket Launcher:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS15.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 3 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 10
*TUs:
**Snap: 45% (Accuracy 55%)
**Aimed: 75% (Accuracy 115%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $4,000
*Sell Price: $3,000</td></tr></table>

<table style="border:1px gray solid;"><tr style="border:1px gray solid;"><td style="border:1px gray solid;">
Small Rocket:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS16.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 75 HE
*Size: 3 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 6
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $600
*Sell Price: $480</td></tr></table>
</td><td style="border:1px gray solid;">
Large Rocket:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS17.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 100 HE
*Size: 3 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 8
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $900
*Sell Price: $720</td></tr></table>
</td><td style="border:1px gray solid;">
Incendiary Rocket:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS18.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 90 IN
*Size: 3 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 8
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $1,200
*Sell Price: $960</td></tr></table>
</table>

== Tips ==
* Try to use Aimed shots. You don't have many reloads.
* Use in a support role, not for scouts.
* Don't bother saving time for reaction fire. Too much friendly fire risk. Move instead.
* Firing from an elevated position or [[Flying Suit]] at a downwards angle will guarantee an (eventual) impact with the ground.
* Since rockets explode, direct hits aren't compulsory. If you think you might miss your target, try aiming for a nearby building instead.
* Rockets are good for demolishing cover (trees, hedges, buildings) at long range, reducing the need for messy close range combat.
* Firing a rocket at the ground will generate an instant smoke cloud, instead of waiting a turn for a smoke grenade to go off. If a scout encounters too many aliens spaced too far apart or an alien that cannot be killed by a single large rocket, and supporting troops cannot get a line of fire, the scout can use this technique to make an instant smoke screen and retreat on the same turn. Even if supporting troops cannot get a line of fire to the aliens, they may be able to fire a rocket between the scout and the aliens. This is limited by the general limitations of [[smoke]].

[[Category:Equipment (UFO Defense)]]

Smoke Grenade

2007-06-08T21:20:52Z

Boba: /* Map Limitations */ some testing

Smoke is difficult to use effectively in X-COM, although when properly deployed, it can be even more effective than armor. A well-placed smoke screen can help you to see the aliens before they see you and allow you to fire upon them without risk of return fire. It will also limit the number of aliens that can spot your troops at any given moment, allowing you to concentrate your firepower on the aliens nearest to you.

Conventional explosive (HE) weapons and [[incendiary]] weapons will produce a smoke cloud, but it is believed that only smoke grenades will produce a high-density cloud, which has as much as three times the obscuring power.

== Stats ==
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS20.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 60 (Smoke)
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs:
**Transfer from shoulder strap to hand: 3 TU. See [[Inventory TU Table]]
**Priming: 50%
**Throwing: 25%
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $150
*Sell Price: $120</td></tr></table>

== Usage notes ==
=== During deployment ===
A simple and highly-effective use of smoke grenades is to throw one at the base of your transport's ramp on the first turn of deployment (do not deploy until Turn 2, after the grenade has detonated). This will mask your soldiers' movements as they emerge from the transport, greatly reducing the chance of their being killed by as-yet-unseen aliens. Additionally, aliens have their full [[TU]]s at the start of combat; on subsequent turns they will usually have walked around a bit, making their reaction fire less deadly.

If the transport has landed in a high-risk area (facing a building, a UFO door, or several visible aliens), you may wish to drop an additional grenade inside the transport, to reduce the aliens' ability to fire upon your undeployed troops.

=== During scouting ===
Smoke can also reduce the dangers of advancing across open ground without cover. Keep a cloud between your troops and the aliens, if their positions are known, or throw them in front of your front-line troops and advance inside the smoke cloud. When you spot aliens, utilize standard [[Scouting#Scout/Sniper Tactics|scout/sniper tactics]]: have the scout stop moving, and fire upon the alien(s) using snipers hidden by the smoke.

For best results, place the smoke grenade between yourself and the attackers. Placing it on yourself or on the aliens you wish to blind does not work as well because the aliens will have only half as much smoke to look through.

=== Outside UFOs ===
Multiple aliens will often engage your troops from ''within'' the UFO after one alien has stepped through the door. To prevent this, you can detonate a smoke grenade just outside a UFO door. Any aliens that step out will have to engage your troops one at a time.

Furthermore, if your troops are a sufficient distance away (10 - 15 squares), any emerging alien will have to travel several paces ''through'' the smoke before they can engage your troops, reducing their TUs and giving your troops a much greater chance of [[Reaction fire formula|firing first]].

=== Inside UFOs ===
The confined spaces inside a UFO reduce the usefulness of smoke. However, smoke may still be of use in limiting aliens' visibility down long corridors, across larger rooms, or placed in front of inner doors (as per "Outside UFOs", above).

=== During Base Defense ===
If you have [[Base Layout Strategy|built your base properly]], placing a smoke grenade at the "choke point" (outside the Access Lift) will allow you to use scout/sniper tactics while engaging the invasion force. Have one unit advance through the smoke until an alien is spotted, then have it retreat back out of the alien's visual range and open fire using troops hidden by the smoke.

=== During Night Missions ===
Soldiers' [[line of sight|visual range]] at night is only 9 squares, but aliens' night-time visual range is the same day or night: 20 squares.

== Map Limitations ==
Perhaps the biggest drawback of the use of smoke is the limited availablity of smoke "squares" that can be displayed on the map. Only 400 squares of smoke or fire can be displayed on the map at any one time; this is equivalent to about three smoke grenades, or less than that if smoke or fire has been generated by HE or Incendiary rounds. If the UFO has crash-landed, there may be even less smoke available for display.

It takes 15-20 turns for the cloud from a smoke grenade to clear, during which time you may be unable to create additional clouds in desired locations. The game seems to store "undisplayed" smoke -- as smoke from earlier explosions clears, smoke from more recent explosions appears, even if it was not displayed at first.

It is believed that "undisplayed" smoke does not provide any cover, and this has been tested to some extent.

Smoke spreads around after an explosion. While smoke itself is stored in the savefile [[SMOKREF.DAT]], perhaps information as to where the smoke will go to is stored in [[SMOKBIT.DAT]] - Explaining why "undisplayed" smoke seems to "reappear" later on... - BB

== Visual Range ==
The smoke cloud produced by a smoke grenade provides the best screen within the first three turns after the detonation. The initial visibility through the cloud is 4-6 squares. Though the initial cloud may look small, it provides the heaviest cover because the smoke particles are tightly packed together. Over time the smoke will spread out and cover a larger area, but by then the smoke will have grown thin and units and allies alike will be able to see much farther through the smoke than when it was a tight mass. A good rule of thumb is that every turn allows the alien (and you) to see one tile further into the smoke, until all the smoke particles clear.

Be warned that the smokescreen produced is not an impenetrable barrier. It will hinder visibility not just for your enemies, but for your allies as well. However, this trait allows the use of [[Scouting#Scout/Sniper Tactics|scout/sniper tactics]] over short distances or in confined spaces: if you spot an alien while wandering through smoke, move back one square out of its visual range again and ''then'' fire at it. It will not return fire. (See [[reaction fire triggers]] for more details.)

== Stunning With Smoke ==
Smoke grenades can be used to stun units, although they are not very effective in this role. There are two methods:

The first method simply involves choking units in dense clouds of smoke. Be warned, however, that smoke is filtered by armour -- the more armour a target has, the less likely it will choke. Rank and difficulty influence armour greatly -- superhuman commanders are less likely to fall unconscious than beginner soldiers.

The second method of stunning with smoke is to saturate all units that you want to stun with smoke. Then, set off as many [[incendiary]] effects as you can. It doesn't matter what you hit as long as the target, or targets, you want to stun are in smoke. Due to the odd nature of fire, stun damage is done to all units standing in smoke every time an incendiary explosion occurs. Use the [[Auto Cannon]] for the best effect!

Recent testing suggests that IC explosions only trigger stun damage to X-COM units standing in smoke, not aliens. Therefore, limit your use of IC munitions if you wish to keep unarmored units hidden in smoke. Units wearing [[Power Suit|Power]] or [[Flying Suit]]s are immune to stun damage from smoke.

== Other Tips ==
* Smoke will extinguish a raging fire. However, a unit on fire cannot be extinguished by smoke.

==See Also==
* [[Smoke and Fire]]

[[Category:Equipment (UFO Defense)]]
[[Category: Tactics]]

Exploits

2007-06-08T19:36:40Z

Boba:

== To Do List ==
For writing up

* Free HWP ammo during base defense
* Phantom base radars (See temporary notes in [[User Talk:NKF | NKF:Talk]] for now)
* unit overcrowding preventing aliens from spawning in base defense
* Destroying unique alien type/rank combos by way of transfering to a throw-away base with a containment + lab (nothing else necessary), starting research on the uniques, dismantling base completely. Repeat ad infinitum. Not exactly a very exciting exploit, but a useful one to know.

== Alien Inventory Screen ==
When controlling an alien through [[Psionics]], you can't directly see their inventory by clicking the inventory button. (Where DO Sectoids keep their grenades, anyway?) However if you switch to a human soldier, and check his inventory, you can use the arrows in the top corner to cycle through your units - including your "new recruit". Be careful though, as the game will often stack all the equipment in one location - if you pick an item up with the cursor, you won't be able to return if to it's original location (as there is already something there), so you'd better have enough TUs to put it somewhere else!

This trick is handy for getting aliens to drop their grenades, as well as their weapon. If you're feeling particulary vindictive, you'll prime the explosive while you're at it.

It's also useful for giving an alien a different weapon, especially [[Pistol|peashooters]] which are harmless to armor but encourage the alien to do something other than shake in their boots during [[Reaction Training]].

== Faulty Collision Detection ==

The mystical art of moving solid objects through other solid objects.

=== Throw Through Ceilings ===

Most explosives (grenades, HE packs) can be chucked up through ceilings to land on the floor above. This is useful if you don't know where enemies are exactly, but you know where they are roughly. Use a big enough boomstick (HE rounds, pointed at ceiling) and you'll probably kill anyone in the vicinity of the blast.

=== Corner Tile Tricks ===

Diagonal exterior UFO tiles aren't a well-defined boundary. A grenade thrown onto the same square from outside will detonate inside the UFO. An unconscious volunteer thrown onto the same square from outside will awake inside the UFO. (Except if he's sharing the tile with a live grenade.) A Flying Suit can sometimes fly up into a UFO from beneath a diagonal overhang. 
 
Note: This trick will also work with any wall that occupies the entire tile - i.e. any tile with a wall that you cannot walk into. Almost all the sides of most X-COM troop transports consist of these, and all outer walls along the West and Northern sides of UFOs are made of these as well.

=== Walk Through Wall Trick ===

This trick ties in with the corner tile trick, as it makes use of any wall that occupies an entire tile. 
 
As mentioned, you can fly up into some walls. For soldiers that cannot fly, you can walk into these walls if your starting location is on a different elevation than the destination. 
 
For example, if you're standing on the second floor of a barn with a nearby wall shot-out that's just to the West of a [[Large Scout]]. If you stay on the same level and move your movement cursor to a point that would walk your soldier (assuming you could walk on air) to a spot just above one of the UFO outer hull walls. Then walk. Your soldier will walk, drop and then step right into the wall. From here, you can either walk into or out of the UFO as you please - or you can throw a high explosive right into the ship and take one step away to get behind the safety of the hull. 

=== Moving a Large Unit Up Stairs and Sinking it into A Wall ===
Tanks are built up of four units, which make up each of the quarter. The primary quarter, the part that has all the vital statistics, is the upper left or north-west quarter when viewed from the overhead map, or the topmost when viewed in the battlescape. 
 
When moving a tank up or down different elevations, mainly via stairs or dropping it off the edge of a wall, the game only uses the primary quarter for collision detection. So you can easily move a tank up narrow stairs (or through a narrow cave - but that's not related to this). 
 
If you move a tank off a northward facing ledge, the rest of the tank will sink into a wall (if there is one), and cause the tank to get stuck. This won't happen if the tank moves off a south facing ledge as the primary quarter will fall after the rest of the tank.

=== Seeing Through Ceilings ===

When a unit stands on raised terrain (such as a ramp), its head gets raised, bringing up its field of vision. This can allow you to see through the ceiling in some instances, for example, if a soldier stands on a barrow of hay his head may stick up high enough to let you see the contents of the upper floor.

== Infinite Fuel ==

This trick is great for saving Elerium-115. When you finish building a new ship, load it out with weapons (dual Plasma Cannons are recommended) and wait for it to have the "Ready" status. Then, transfer it to another base. Immediately after it arrives, tell it to go to a random point on the globe (preferably where you have no bases) and have it patrol in the area. Clicking on it will show that its fuel tank is 0% full. This ship will now have unlimited fuel until it returns to base. This works best on Firestorms, as they have the same number of guns as the Avengers yet cost less.

Note: After downing a UFO, this ship will automatically head back to base. Be sure to send it on patrol again before reaching base, or you will lose the unlimited fuel feature. Because of this, it helps to keep it patrolling as far away from its base as possible.

== Free Manufacturing ==

In the Workshop screen, choose an item to be manufactored, but assign no engineers to it. Also, make sure it's set to produce 0 of the item. Click OK, then go back and assign as many engineers as you want (preferably as many as possible). This time, change the quantity to 1. When the production is finished, you will have gotten one of the selected items--for free! Doing this with tanks and then selling them works wonders on your finances.

Note: Although it may be tempting to create fleets of free Avengers like this, you must still have adequate hangers, severely limiting your options. Still very useful, though!
 
 
''NKF Quick notes'':
* It doesn't matter if you assign engineers to a 0 item build project, because the engineers will be taken off the project anyway.
* In a similar but completely opposite vein, if you start a project with a certain number of items to build, the required cash for the first item (and perhaps materials) will instantly be taken from you. And if you cancel the project before the job is done, you will not be refunded. It's mainly a loss if you're low on resources, otherwise most players won't even notice the fact that the resources for the first item were never refunded. This doesn't happen if you start a 0 item build project, and then assign staff and a build amount later. This in effect makes the first item in the build list free.

== All Terror Missions During the Day ==

During the night, the aliens have a severe visability advantage over your soldiers. I'm sure every X-Com player has fallen victim to a night-time terror mission at least once. Those days are now over. When a Terror Mission comes up, simply equip a Skyranger with all the manpower and firepower you'll need to defeat the aliens, and have it patrol just beside your base. (Game) minutes before the hour changes (e.g. at 1:56), have the Skyranger target the Terror Site. After the hour changes (e.g. at 2:03), have the Skyranger patrol in place again. Repeat this before and after the hour changes until daylight. You see, Terror Sites only disappear on the hour, and they won't disappear if they're targetted by a craft. So if you make sure it's targeted as the hours change, you can stall for time until daylight!

Note: Or, you could just use Scott T Jones's wonderful tool known as Xcomutil. Running the RunXcomW.exe program allows you to make all missions in the light of day, regardless of actual game time. A lot easier to use Util. . .

== Grenades: Pass the Experience Trick ==
'''(Or who gets the experience when you "drop" a grenade)''' 
 
Some commanders may have noticed that a soldier that drops a primed grenade rather than throwing it will often not get credited for the damage or killed enemies. 
 
There is a very odd explanation for this. The game attaches an ownership to the grenades. It will rememeber who last threw the grenade so it can credit the right person with experience. Unfortunately, the game only assigns the ownership to a grenade ''after'' it has been thrown, but not when it's dropped or picked up. 
 
So who gets the experience if its dropped? All X-COM owned grenades, at the very start of the mission, default to the very first soldier on the transport, or the very first armoured weapons platform if you have one. This means that if a grenade is dropped rather than thrown, all experience goes towards the very first soldier in the list, or the tank. 
 
Can we move the ownership around and pass the experience to soldiers of our choice? Definitely! Just have the person you want to get the experience throw the grenade, then get someone else to carry and drop it to where it can be useful. Just remember to not throw it again. 
 
The method of deployment for these grenades will be left as a practical exercise to the commander. Be creative, or be heartless - it's all up to you! 
 
The biggest advantage of this unusual pass-the-experience technique would be to provide training for frail soldiers that would prove to be more of a detriment in combat than out of it - yet another reason for commanders to not sieve troops based on poor combat statistics.

== Mind Control Madness ==

Whenever you mind control another unit, it automatically returns to the alien side at the end of the aliens' turn. This is true even if you mind control a [[Civilian]].

While saving civilians leads to higher scores, "removing" them from play in this way then killing them off as aliens removes the risk of a score penalty should they be fall into trouble.

[[Gaining permanent control of a Chryssalid/Tentaculat]]

==Exponential Mind Control==
''Any'' creature with psionic skill can use a psionic amplifier. Therefore, you can take control of, say, an Ethereal and then toss it a psi-amp, use the alien inventory bug mentioned above, and have him pick it up. You can then use the Ethereal's psionic talents to take over other aliens. With the right application of psi-amp relay tosses and mind control, this can have an exponential effect.

An extreme case: I've used a squad of as little as three troopers (one mind controller, two psi-amp tossers) to take conquer a large scout's worth of aliens (on max difficulty) in one round.

Of course, by the time you've got troopers with sufficient psionic talent to overcome psi-capable aliens, you probably don't need this trick.
--[[User:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]] 23:47, 9 December 2005 (PST)

== Fire ==
===Just how does it work?===
NKF quick notes:
(I might be duplicating something here, but I'm just jotting these down quickly before I forget)

* Fire does two types of damage to units. Impact and damage over time.
** Damage Over time: Standing in fire or actually being on fire.
** Impact damage: The weirdest and most unusual damage of all.
*** Anyone standing in fire: Receives hit-point damage every time an incendiary shell explodes
*** Anyone standing in smoke: Same as above, but take stun damage instead of hit-point damage.
* Fire does a fixed amount of damage. The damage of an incendiary weapon only determines how large the spread of the fire will be. So an autocannon incendiary shell is just as powerful as an incendiary rocket -- the only difference is the blast area.
* Fire and Smoke use the same object table, and being limited, can get used up very quickly and attempts at producing more fire or smoke will not work. Incendiary impact damage will still work on any units in fire/smoke.
JFG adds: Please see my [[Incendiary]] topic

'''Downright cheatin' - be warned!'''

== Helpless Tactical Mission ==

'''NB This doesn't work on the CE (Windows) version of UFO/TFTD - only the DOS version'''

The way this all works is based on the previous tactical in which you went really well and completed it. If the current tactical mission you are on does not go well, press CTRL-C. What has just happened is your current mission has ended with the results of the previous mission. That is, the score, items, corpses, Elerium, and stat increases are carried forward to this mission, from the last. Soldiers will get experience again even if they didn't come on this current mission and are back at base.

What is 'CTRL-C'?
 Xcom1 and Xcom2 are DOS games (disk operating system...not denial of service). A command used in DOS is "break" which is keyed in as CTRL-C. What this keypress does is halt the current process. Xcom1 & 2 have a failsafe to "crashing", by returning to the previous "good" process, which was a completed tactical mission.

How to Cheat?
 Setup:
 Do a tactical mission with a landed (not crashed) Battleship. Avoid using any weapons that consume ammo (including the tank) eg: use Laser Rifles instead. Make sure no soldiers die, or tanks. Don't use grenades, flares, etc. Try to do this mission in a 'bean counter' mindset. On the very last turn of the mission (you need to guess it) save your game in a new slot, and then don't overwrite it from here on. Now end the tactical mission normally and continue to play your game normally as well.

Using It:
 Later on when you do your next tactical mission and are able to move your guys off the craft, just press CRTL-C. The mission now ends with the results from the Battleship tactical mission.

Cautions:
 If you happen to complete a tactical mission by accident, or you abort the current mission, the results of this mission will be stored in the "MISSDAT" folder, overwriting automatically the previous tactical mission. To get your Battleship mission back, save the game '''RIGHT NOW''' in your usual spot (you should be back in geoscape view if you have just completed your mission). Load the Battleship mission, then end it. The mission results are now refreshed in the MISSDAT folder. Now load your game normally and keep playing. When you next play a tactical mission, just press CTRL-C.

Disclaimer:
 USE ONLY AT YOUR OWN RISK. Can corrupt data and such. UFOpedia.org, or myself are not responsible if this cheat blows up your computer or '''ANYTHING''' else.

[Amr40]-some how the game logged me doing this and after i had done it three time it sent a battleship to my base everytime I clicked on a time speed other than 5 sec's. Can i have confirmation that this happens to anyone else or is it just my version?

== Free Wages ==

At the end of the month, all your soldiers, scientists and engineers collect their pay checks. Unless, of course, they are in transit between bases, in which case they are unable to reach the guy holding their paychecks before he closes up shop.

That is to say, the game forgets to add them to your monthly expenses.

The trick here is to have labs and workshops in two bases, and just before each month ends, relocate your staff. They can start working as soon as they arrive, and you don't have to pay them - saving you anywhere up to several million dollars each month.

This trick does not appear to work with leased aircraft (Interceptor, SkyRanger). Whilst being transferred, the costs of these aircraft disappear from the Base Information - Monthly Costs screens. However, if the end of month occurs while the aircraft are being transferred, the lease costs are still deducted from the XCom funds.

== Fog of War Scouting ==

The 3D cursor shows the terrain inside it, regardless of whether you have explored the tile or not. While the obscure shapes shown don't mean much to novice players, veterans will soon recognise tiles, and then the map segments they are native to. For example, you can easily find a UFO by looking for the destinctive wall patterns, and the power supply in the center. Or, you could use this to bombard locations such as command centers, or places you know aliens spawn at the beginning of play, with early Blaster Bombs.

== Extra Ammo Collection ==

Any partly-used clips will be discarded at the end of combat. However, in DOS versions of X-COM, partly-used clips (in X-COM or alien weapons) will be kept as full clips if they are unloaded from the weapon before the end of combat. [[XcomUtil]] also has an option to let you bring back to base any partly-used clips in weapons.

== Dead Man Switches ==

Grenades will only detonate when they are on the ground and when their timer has counted down. Timers will continue to count down regardless of location, but if the grenade is not on the ground, it will not explode. This means that you can set all the grenades to a time of "0" at the beginning of play, or at an earlier turn, and throw them when it's tactically feasible.

This is a double-edged sword, however, because should a unit fall dead or unconcious the grenade will hit the ground and promptly take out anything in the near vicinity... which may (or may not) work to your advantage. This tactic encourages keeping your troops far apart. If you anticipate the soldier will have a very high chance of being killed, it may be wise to use the "pass the experience" trick as described earlier before handing the soldier an armed grenade.

Proximity mines can be defused by saving, quitting the game, restarting it then reloading the game. You can still drop on top of them with a flying suit, or by dropping from a hole in the roof in order to safely pick them up.

==My Pet Alien==

When in a situation where large terror units exist (ie Cyberdics, Reapers or Sectopods), there is a handly glitch that I noticed. Mind Control the unit by taking over only one quadrant of the creature - use the time units to kill other aliens or scout the area. Once they've run out, mind control another quadrant and do the same all over again. This can be repeated until all four quadrants have been MC'd (or the unit goes crazy and shoots itself - whichever comes sooner!)

== UFO Redux ==

It is possible to collect loot from the same UFO two or even three times (similar to "milking" an [[Alien Base]]). If you perform a [[UFO Ground Assault]] and abort the mission before killing all the aliens, the UFO will have all its aliens and equipment restored, even if you took or destroyed its [[Elerium]]. (Bring all captured equipment/corpses back to the transport and unload the alien guns if you wish to recover the clips.)

If the UFO has another landing scheduled, it will meander around until it reaches its second landing point, at which point you can perform another ground assault. Once a UFO has no further landings scheduled, it will head off at top speed. If you have a fast enough craft, you can shoot it down and perform an additional [[UFO Recovery]] on it.

==Base Defence Mission Spawning Issues==

If there are too many soldiers and/or aliens in too small a base, their initial spawning is unusual. Soldiers can spawn in the Access Lift and Hangars. Aliens can spawn outside the Access Lift and Hangars. Some lifeforms may not spawn at all.

Why does this happen? Each base facility has certain hardcoded spawn tiles. The Living Quarters, for example, have 8 spawn tiles, 7 on the lower level in an "H" pattern, and 1 on the upper level. Soldiers usually spawn at these spawn tiles, semi-randomly outside the Access Lift and Hangars. Aliens are assigned the spawn tiles within the Lift and Hangars.

But, if the number of soldiers exceeds the number of "friendly" spawn tiles, the excess soldiers will spawn at the "alien" spawn tiles inside the Access Lift and Hangars. Similarly, if the number of aliens exceeds the number of "alien" spawn tiles, the excess aliens will spawn at the "friendly" spawn tiles in the rest of the base. If there are not enough spawn tiles for the sum of soldiers and aliens, then some lifeforms will not spawn at all. Soldiers have higher spawning priority than aliens, so aliens will be the first to go (fail to spawn). All weapons and items will still be generated, though.

This can be exploited by garrisoning a base with so many soldiers that all spawn tiles are used up. Zero aliens will spawn (but their toys will still be generated), resulting in a bloodless victory and millions of dollars of loot!

A radar base with one Large Radar or HWD, an Access Lift, and one Living Quarters, can be filled up with 22 soldiers.

But if this is considered an exploit, then what is the "ethical" thing to do? To get all aliens to spawn properly at a radar base, you would have to go out of your way and build a hangar. This would in turn affect your defence tactics, and cost you money. If you don't build the hangar, you need to recruit at least 25 armed soldiers (with the accompanying Living Quarters and General Stores), or else a Sectopod or Chrysallid will probably spawn behind friendly lines. At that point, you could argue that the computer is the one doing the cheating, and 25 soldiers seems excessive for a radar base. On the other hand, you would be fighting a reduced number of aliens, since the Access Lift only has 8 spawn tiles.

Maybe you should just shoot down the scouts.

<table>
<tr><td>Base Facility</td><td>Spawn Tiles on Lower / Upper Floor</td></tr>
<tr><td>Access Lift</td><td>5 / 3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hangar</td><td>15 / 0</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Containment</td><td>7 / 5</td></tr>
<tr><td>General Stores</td><td>7 / 4</td></tr>
<tr><td>HWD or Large Radar</td><td>5 / 1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Lab or Workshop</td><td>6 / 1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Living Quarters</td><td>7 / 1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Missile Defence</td><td>4 / 5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Defences (non-missile) or Shields</td><td>5 / 1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Psi Lab</td><td>7 / 3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Small Radar</td><td>0 / 2</td></tr>
</table>

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

UFOs

2007-06-08T18:10:39Z

Boba: /* UFO Behavior */

The '''UFOs''' seen in the skies are big, blocky, geometric shapes that lack any form of aerodynamics. They are able to fly at breakneck speeds through the power of [[Elerium-115]] and the resiliency of [[Alien Alloys]]. UFOs come in a variety of forms ranging from the tiny [[Small Scout]]s right up to the massive [[Battleship]]s.

UFOs are the aliens' sole method to get to Earth, so in theory, it would be possible to halt the alien advance if [[X-COM]] could maintain absolute air superiority. Earth's forces do not initially have the resources required for such a task, and even if it becomes possible, the aliens have an vast resource supply and will not be set back by a war of attrition. In addition, alien undercover agents will continue to erode Earth's defenses from the inside.

Despite this, commanders should still shoot down as many UFOs as possible. At the very least, it may slow the aliens down some.

==UFO Interiors==
The core components of a UFO are [[UFO Navigation]], [[UFO Power Source]], Alien Alloys, and Elerium-115. Some larger UFOs, however, contain other equipment such as [[Alien Surgery]], [[Alien Food]], [[Examination Room]]s, and even [[Alien Entertainment]].

UFO hulls and interiors are composed of Alien Alloys. This provides incredibly light, yet strong, armour - perfect for spacecraft construction. The only field weapons able to punch the outer shell of a UFO are [[Blaster Launcher]]s. The interior of UFOs are also very strong, but made of much thinner alloys that can be destroyed by repeated fire from [[Heavy Plasma]]s, the [[Tank/Laser Cannon]], [[Hovertank/Plasma]] not to mention the Blaster.

Great care should be taken when clearing out a UFO. The interiors of larger UFOs are often deadly mazes, with tight corridors, and sharp corners, and choke points that even a single alien can defend. An inexperienced squad leader will also often face dead ends, or encounter treacherous storage rooms - most of the time these are empty, yet occasionally an alien will hide in them to ambush your soldiers. Two UFOs even have trapdoors - the [[Terror Ship]] and the [[Harvester]], which the aliens frequently use.

Squad leaders should also use explosives wisely. A stray explosion may accidentally damage precious Elerium-115 or set off secondary reactions. The low ceilings also limit the range of [[Grenade]]s. The tight spaces do, however, make [[Proximity Grenade]]s particularly useful, and grenade explosions can go around corners to hit aliens lying in wait.
 

==UFO Types==
The UFOs deployed by the aliens range in size and the mission profiles they are most commonly seen on, some are also much more common to certain of the alien races encountered.

===Very Small UFOs===
[[Small Scout]] - Very Small UFO that looks like an Apollo capsule. Primarily used for research.

===Small UFOs===
[[Medium Scout]] - The classic 'flying-saucer' craft. Able to fill a variety of roles.

[[Large Scout]] - Cross-shaped UFO, slightly larger than the Medium Scout. Very versatile.

===Medium UFOs===
[[Abductor]] - Medium-sized UFO used primarily by [[Sectoid]]s and [[Floater]]s for human experimentation.

[[Harvester]] - Medium-sized UFO with food and surgery units. Used to abduct cattle for food. Usually crewed by Floaters.

===Large UFOs===
[[Supply Ship]] - Large-sized UFO for tranportation of aliens, food, and other supplies.

[[Terror Ship]] - Large UFO used to unleash assault teams and [[Terror Units]] on residential areas.

===Very Large UFOs===
[[Battleship]] - Very Large UFO used to intimidate Earth's peoples and leaders, and to assault [[X-COM]] bases, along with a variety of other roles.

==Quick Comparision Table==
<center>
<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="100%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Craft</th>
<th>Size</th>
<th>Max Speed</th>
<th>Weapon Power</th>
<th>Weapon Range*</th>
<th>Damage Capacity</th>
</tr>
<tr><td align="left">Small Scout</td><td>Very Small</td><td>2,200</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Medium Scout</td><td>Small</td><td>2,400</td><td>20</td><td>15</td><td>200</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Large Scout</td><td>Small</td><td>2,700</td><td>20</td><td>34</td><td>250</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Abductor</td><td>Medium</td><td>4,000</td><td>40</td><td>22</td><td>500</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Harvester</td><td>Medium</td><td>4,300</td><td>40</td><td>20</td><td>500</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Supply Ship</td><td>Large</td><td>3,200</td><td>60</td><td>36</td><td>2,200</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terror Ship</td><td>Large</td><td>4,800</td><td>120</td><td>42</td><td>1,200</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Battleship</td><td>Very Large</td><td>5,000</td><td>148</td><td>65</td><td>3,200</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
<nowiki>*</nowiki> The figures given in the in-game [[UFOpaedia]] are a factor of 8 too high, relative to [[Craft Armaments|Craft Armament]] ranges. The range given for the Supply Ship is also incorrect in the in-game UFOpaedia

== Weapons vs. UFOs ==
Comparing the weapon range and damage capacity of UFOs to the range and damage of [[Craft Armaments]], one can discern that:
* Any weapon, even the lowly [[Cannon]], can be used against Small Scouts, since they can't shoot back.
* [[Stingray]]s, with a range of 30km, are completely safe to use against Medium scouts, and can even be used to safely down Abductors and Harvesters. They can also be used to attack Supply Ships, although you need to attack with at least three craft in order to do enough damage to down the UFO. Furthermore, Supply Ships usually travel faster than [[Interceptor]]s and always land, making them better candiates for [[UFO Ground Assault]]s.
* [[Avalanche]]s or [[Plasma Beam]]s should be used against Large Scouts due to their weapon range of 34km.
* Avalanches can be used against Terror Ships, although at least two craft must be sent. Although it would seem that all 12 missiles carried (6 on each craft) would need to hit to down a Terror Ship (1200 damage), in practice 4 salvos (8 missiles) are usually enough. However, occasionally one salvo will miss, necessitating 5 or more salvos. Because of the [[Known Bugs#Interceptions: Last Shot Always Misses|last shot out of range]] bug, in order to hit a Terror Ship with all your Avalanches, you should briefly switch to Aggressive mode while each craft's last salvo is in flight.
* [[Laser Cannon]]s, with a range of 21km, can be safely used against Medium Scouts and Harvesters. However, Avalanche-armed craft are of use against a larger variety of craft and Plasma Beams, once they become available, are superior in every regard.
* Plasma Beams can safely be used (even by Interceptors) against any UFOs except Battleships. Even against Battleships, Plasma Beams are better than Fusion Ball Launchers because a minimum of ''four'' Fusion Ball-armed craft are required to down a Battleship.

== Interceptors Vs. UFOs ==
* The Interceptor must Pray any UFO it's chasing slows down, because even the sluggish Small Scout can outrun it!
* The Firestorm can handily intercept all UFOs except the Abductor, Terror Ship, and Battleship, which must be going lower than top speed for the Firestorm to catch up.
* The Lightning can be outrun by the Harvester, Abductor, Terror Ship, and Battleship, and just barely manages to equal the range of the Supply Ship.
* The Avenger can hunt down and attack any UFO in the game easily, due to its massive speed.

==UFO Behavior==
Alien UFOs will behave in different manners depending on what sort of mission they are on; all currently available data is summarized here.

* UFOs will ALWAYS head to their mission locale (as listed in the Hyper-Wave Decoder) at top speed and then initiate one of the following behaviors.
* Most UFOs will slow down continuously as they prepare to land; read the altitude data to try and guess when and where they're going to land so you can do a [[UFO Ground Assault]].
* Certain missions are done by several ships instead of just one; these missions are Alien Base missions, and mid to late Alien Infiltration missions.
* Alien Research missions will slow down significantly and do several slow sweeps as they probe for data; they might also land on the ground for brief periods.
* Alien Harvest and Alien Abduction missions will sweep the area at moderate speed and land at least once, often multiple times, as they locate and abduct cattle and humans.
* Alien Infiltration ships will land in the country they are attempting to infiltrate; early in the mission, expect scouts to show up. Later, they will send Supply Ships, Battleships, and Terror Ships in an attempt to bribe and scare the country's leaders.
* Alien Retaliation probes will scout over a specific area they've been having trouble in a manner similar to an Alien Research mission; if your base is in the area, shoot it down.
* Once an X-Com base is located, the aliens will send a Battleship directly at it at top speed low in the atmosphere.
* Alien Base missions will behave in much the same manner as Alien Research, except it will be a fleet of Supply Ships and Battleships that will land often as they search for a suitable location. One Battleship, two supply ships, and three scouts is common.
* Supply Ships on an Alien Supply mission will land only once, directly on top of the base. Supply ships on this type of mission will run at full speed their entire time, not even slowing down as they land. They only stay on the ground a short time, so advanced craft are needed to deal with them.
* Alien Terror probes will slowly meander about looking for a city for the Terror Ship to land at. If the probe is shot down, the following Terror Ship will behave much like the probe did and will rarely if ever initiate a terror mission. If the probe is not shot down, the Terror Ship will arrive in the region, slow down, pick a city, and then land.
* If you are successful at preventing lesser UFOs from doing their jobs, the aliens will eventually send Battleships to do the dirty work, hoping you won't be able to attack them.

[[Category: UFO (UFO Defense)]]

Known Bugs

2007-06-08T17:46:29Z

Boba: Base Facility Dismantle-Construction Crash

== Collectors Edition Blaster Bomb Bug ==

In the Collectors Edition of UFO, the [[Blaster Launcher]] has a bug that prevents it from going up or down on the same tile. Or in other words, you cannot change the elevation of the missile vertically on the same tile.

Instead of flying down (or up) to the next waypoint, it will instead fly directly to the south at the pivot waypoint. Relative to the screen, this would be the lower left side of the screen.

This does not happen if you plot the waypoints at an angle. Or, if the blaster bomb flies right off the map, it will reappear at the proper waypoint as long as there are additional waypoints placed after the vertical move.

This bug also applies to the [[Disrupter Pulse Launcher]] in TFTD.

== 80-item Limit ==
When loading up your Avenger for a massive UFO assault or arming soldiers for a [[Base Defense]] from your overflowing stores, you will likely hit this limit.

You only get a max of 80 items, and you don't get to choose which ones, so you may end up with 80 clips and no rifles for the base defense.

The solution is timely housekeeping. Sell off your spare personal equipment. See our handy [[Spring Cleaning Tips]], and also [[Managing the Item Limit]] for ideas.

== The trouble with Mines (general) ==
The armed states for [[Proximity Grenade]]s in both UFO and TFTD are NOT stored in savegames. More information to come.

== TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide ==
TFTD's research problems are more of a logical design flaw than a true bug, caused by trying to make the research tree more complicated than X-Com UFO. They can be a pain when you research the wrong thing at the wrong time.

A variation of NKF's [[TRTBAG | TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide]] will be forthcoming - free time permitting.

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.

Other than the MC reader one, any of the above would make it impossible to finish the game.

== Difficulty Bug ==

The DOS version had a problem where no matter what difficulty level you chose, you were actually playing at "Beginner" level. Because of one or two incorrectly set bytes in all dos versions of the game( 1.0 through to 1.4), no matter what difficulty was selected, the difficulty bug would reset to beginner at the end of the first mission. [[XcomUtil]] corrects this problem. This bug was officially fixed in the Collectors Edition Windows port (also commonly known as UFO Gold).

== Mountain Map ==
Due to a bug in the way this tileset was created, when you shoot the ground, it doesn't burn up - it turns into a tree stump.

Because the stump is on object, as opposed to actual ground, any objects that were in the tile already (for example, UFO hulls or the landing gear of your craft) get replaced by these stumps, making it seem as if they were destroyed.

Tree stumps don't take much damage, so they often get burnt up immediately if an explosive goes off, leaving nothing but burnt ground behind. It is easier to view the effects of this bug by shooting the ground instead.

For more details, see [[Explosions#Mile-High_Madness|Mountain Madness]].

== Base Disjoint Bug ==
Base facilities built along the right or bottom edges of the base building area may end up being cut off from each other by dirt walls, a bug in the routine meant to keep soldiers from accidentally exiting the map edges during [[Base Defense]] missions. The dirt walls can be knocked down by Blaster Bombs during combat but are otherwise unbreakable.

NKF illustrates this in a [http://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/reference/bdb.html pretty picture] for you. XCOMUTIL corrects this problem.

== Big Text Bug ==
There are a few bugs in XCOM, especially early versions, that can build up and make the game unstable enough that it crashes and prints out a screenful of green 40-column text, essentially debug or memory dump information useless to you.

''In the dos version, the text that you see is simply a memory dump in mode-13h (the 320x200x256 colour screen resoulution the game uses) and the text colour is based off the changes to the pallete that the game made. The game sometimes continues with the next part of the game. The game is made of two different programs, [[Geoscape]] and [[Battlescape]], so when one part of it crashes, the other one will not have registered that anything has gone wrong and will attempt to soldier on.''
''In the Windows version of the game, the game simply crashes back to the desktop, unless you're using the [[XcomUtil]] split executable variant. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] ''

== Minimized Interceptor Bug ==
One fairly consistent cause of crashes is saving the geoscape game during a UFO standoff, with a [[UFO Interception]] window minimized to an icon. The next mission after that point will likely dump you to the green text screen, and perhaps an earlier battlescape mission instead of the proper one. What it seems to do is zoom back out of the combat too far when the fight is over, eventually causing the crash once it has gone a couple of steps further than it normally allows you.

''-- I was able to recover from this state by quickly sending in another interceptor ([[Firestorm]]) to take over, which allowed my first interceptor ([[Avenger]]) to break off and go home without crashing the game again. After the shootdown I overwrote the buggy savegame. --[[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]] 03:11, 22 Aug 2005 (PDT)''

''This happened to me also. I fixed it by replacing "[[UIGLOB.DAT]]" in the save folder with the same file from another saved game (from the same campaign a month earlier) [[User:bylund|bylund]] 00:15, January 12, 2007 (GMT+01)''

== Interceptions: Last Shot Always Misses ==
When using Cautious attack when [[UFO Interception|intercepting a UFO]], your craft will stay at the maximum range of your longest-range weapon. When using Standard attack, your craft will stay at the maximum range of your shortest-range weapon. (Usually players use two weapons of the same type, so Cautious and Standard attack will behave the same in this regard.)

As soon as the craft fires its last shot (expending all its ammo), it will drop back to "Standoff" range (70km). This will make it appear that the UFO has backed away while the last missile(s) are in-flight, causing them to miss.

In order to hit a UFO with your last salvo of missiles (Stingrays, Avalanches, or Fusion Balls), you must switch to "Aggressive" attack before the last salvo reaches the UFO. This will cause your craft to close in with the UFO, allowing the missiles to be in range when they reach the UFO. However, Aggressive attacks will also bring you within range of the UFO's weapons, so you should hit the "Disengage" button as soon as the last salvo hits.

==Sticky Craft Transfer Fee glitch==
As pointed out by Zombie and Danial, transferring any craft causes '''''all subsequent transfers to have that cost added to it''''', for as long as the craft is in transit. Additional craft in transit will add additional fees. (This has also been called the Exponential Transfer Fee bug, although it's actually additive, not exponential.)

Example (all numbers are only approximations):
Cost of pistol transfer (↔ = to or from)
EU ↔ USA 80
EU ↔ Asia 100
USA ↔ Asia 120

Cost of craft transfer
EU ↔ USA 1600 ''Notice how transfer fees always work as relative percents,
EU ↔ Asia 2000 ''probably on a distance-based formula
USA ↔ Asia 2400

Cost to transfer '''pistol''', after transferring craft from EU to Asia for $2000
EU ↔ USA 1680 (80+1600)
EU ↔ Asia 2100 (100+2000)
USA ↔ Asia 2520 (120+2400)

The cost of the craft transfer "sticks" to '''all''' subsequent transfers, until the craft arrives - although it acts on a proportionate basis, which is probably distance related.

Unfortunately, this cost is '''additive'''. That is to say, if you transferred a second craft from EU to Asia while the first was still in transit, it would cost $4000 ($2000 plus $2000 - it too suffers from the glitch!), it would then cost e.g. $4100 to transfer a pistol from EU to Asia. Having even more craft in transit would add even more fees.

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to space out your transfers, if you can.

A related problem is that, if you are in the Transfer screen, start to transfer a craft, and then cancel because you remembered you wanted to send something else first - if you then try to Transfer something on that same screen, ''it will still get the sticky craft fee added''. Try it and see. You have to back up out to the main Base screen and hit Transfer again, to get rid of the sticky fee from a cancelled craft transfer.

==Transfer Limit cash eater==
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft.

{| {{stdTable}} width = "80%" align = "center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
| Tip
|-
| To Clarify what constitutes an item in the transfer screen, think of them as batches of X amount. For example, if you transfer 200 alien alloys now, and then decide to transfer another 50 alloys later, this will count as two items in transit. Now, when you look at your transfers, you'll now have two items. Two batches of alien alloys, one with 200 units and the other with 50 units.
|}

== Transfer crash ==
If you transfer something to another base the game crashes right after acknowledging the transfer price.

Solution: Start UFO, select English language, finish your transfer, save game, restart with your normal language settings (http://www.xcomufo.com/x1faq.html)

==Carrying Unconscious Units==
Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

==Disappearing Ammo==

For all game versions, partially-used clips disappear at the end of a mission. This dictates that you should try to use clips that are not full. You can, however, use [[XcomUtil]] to recover partially used clips.

Although used clips are discarded, you will still get credit ([[Scoring|score]]) at the end of missions for recovering them.

== Overcrowded Engineers (And Scientists?) ==
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 256th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them. This bug probably also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

== What just exploded? ==

In some versions of the game, a bug allows an armed proximity mine to transfer its properties to some other item in the next mission, which then may explode unexpectedly. (If the item is left on the floor of the XCOM craft, it will explode as you walk past it.) This problem can be rectified by reloading the game -- as a precaution, save before you move your first soldier.

== Door jam ==

If a door is open when a game is saved on the Battlescape and that game is subsequently restored, the door will remain open for the remainder of that mission.

==Facility Maintenance Costs==

Although X-COM does charge the right fee for base modules, the monthly Base Maintenance cost under Base Information is wrong. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct overall summary ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month).

The good news is that only the displays are wrong, in general. But there's more - see the next section.

==Paying For Dirt==

If you take down any facility in any base that you own and leave bare dirt, then you will continue to pay maintenance on it. But not at the old rate of whatever the facility cost per month, filling the hole back with dirt means it needs special attention at all times by specialists. In fact for every square of dirt you have that used to be a facility you will pay 80k per month. Thats 320k per hangar you take down. There are only two known ways to stop paying this premium - if you completely dismantle the base you stop paying any money for it, or if you build over all the spaces that you have vacated. In fact as soon as you start building the new facility you stop paying the premium, as well as not having to pay the cost of the new facility until it is complete.

If you start a facility and change your mind before it is complete, after the time when it would have completed you will start paying this 80k premium on that land as well.

==Mind Controlled soldiers go MIA==
If you complete a mission while a [[soldier]] is currently [[Mind Control]]led he will be listed as MIA at the end of the combat. This is quite an easy bug to fall into as on any [[Sectoid]] or [[Ethereal]] mission the only, or most powerful, psionic aliens will usually be holed up in the bridge or command centre.

== Item-stacking Bug ==

It is possible to put more than one item in a given spot. When an item is stacked with a [[Stun Rod]], this can make it possible for X-COM soldiers to perform "melee" attacks. See [[Item Stacking Bug]] for more details.

==Base Facility Dismantle-Construction Crash==

In the Collectors Edition version, dismantling a facility while its construction is in progress can cause a crash when a second facility on another base square completes its construction. To work around this, dismantle a facility only after its construction is complete. If you have already dismantled such a facility, build something like a general stores on the same square to avoid the crash. It is not known if this crash happens intermittently or always, or if it happens on most versions of the game or just the Collectors Edition.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

LIGLOB.DAT

2007-06-06T01:51:39Z

Boba: int32 min is 0x8000000, not 0x80ffffff

This file is used by [[GEOSCAPE.EXE]] and it's structure is very simple. Every record is a 4 byte signed long integer. Probably the most useful offset is the first 4 bytes where your current money is stored. The rest of the bytes are used for the Finance graphs: Expenditure, Maintenance, and Balance (the others are stored elsewhere).

'''Note:''' This file is only updated once a month, except for the first four bytes.

==Structure==

'''Note about signed long integers:''' Keep in mind the game stores the values in little-endian format, so when viewing in a hex editor they will look backwards. The highest bit, (being the first bit in the last of the 4 bytes) determines if the number is negative. Thus FF FF FF 7F is the highest positive value (in the neighborhood of 2.1 billion) and 00 00 00 80 is the 'lowest' possible negative value.

(Offsets in decimal)

00: The most useful and probably the most hacked, these 4 bytes hold your current funds.

04-48: This is the expenditure for the months (exactly 12 of these 4 byte values) going in order January to December.
The graph is adjusted to the current date so these essentially contain a years worth of data.

52-96: Same as above only for Maintenance
100-144: Same as above only for Balance (hence why you will sometimes see similar numbers here to your funds)

==See Also==
* [[ALIEN.DAT]] - Information on Alien Activity (Which XCOM.DAT uses the same format only for XCom activity)
* [[Saved Game Files]]

[[Category:Game Files]]

Versions

2007-02-12T04:40:55Z

Boba: That'll be my last contrib for a while. Easy come, easy go...

{|
|-
||Platform||Title||Region||Notes||Ammo Behaviour||Base Def Elerium
|-
||unknown||X-COM: Michi Naru Shinryakusha||Japan||source: MobyGames||||
|-
||Amiga||UFO: Enemy Unknown||Europe||verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]], may also have a CD32 version||||
|-
||||X-COM: UFO Defense||USA||source: MobyGames, may also have a CD32 version||||
|-
||DOS||UFO: Enemy Unknown||Europe||1.3, believed to exist||||
|-
||||||||1.2, verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]], md5 of geoscape.exe is be98b94f3f477181e186a5191a8bf36||||
|-
||||||||something before 1.2 (1.0? 1.1? both? more?), verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]]||||[[User:Boba|Boba]] remembers it as being in the 500-1500 range
|-
||||X-COM: UFO Defense||USA||1.4, verified by [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]]||||
|-
||Windows||X-COM: UFO Defense Gold Edition||USA||1.0.0.1, verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]], from Hasbro Interactive, believed to be identical to Collector's Edition||normal||none
|-
||Playstation||X-COM: Enemy Unknown||Europe||source: MobyGames||||
|-
||||X-COM: UFO Defense||USA||verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]]||||
|}

"Normal" ammo behaviour means partially-used ammo is lost and unused ammo is retained, regardless of loaded/unloaded or alien/xcom status.

== See Also ==

* [[GEOSCAPE.EXE]]

Versions

2007-02-11T04:04:48Z

Boba:

{|
|-
||Platform||Title||Region||Notes||Ammo Behaviour||Base Def Elerium
|-
||unknown||X-COM: Michi Naru Shinryakusha||Japan||source: MobyGames||||
|-
||Amiga||UFO: Enemy Unknown||Europe||verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]], may also have a CD32 version||||
|-
||||X-COM: UFO Defense||USA||source: MobyGames, may also have a CD32 version||||
|-
||DOS||UFO: Enemy Unknown||Europe||1.3, believed to exist||||
|-
||||||||1.2, verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]], md5 of geoscape.exe is be98b94f3f477181e186a5191a8bf36||||
|-
||||||||something before 1.2 (1.0? 1.1? both? more?), verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]]||||[[User:Boba|Boba]] remembers it as being in the 500-1500 range
|-
||||X-COM: UFO Defense||USA||1.4, believed to exist||||
|-
||Windows||X-COM: UFO Defense Gold Edition||USA||1.0.0.1, verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]], from Hasbro Interactive, believed to be identical to Collector's Edition||normal||
|-
||Playstation||X-COM: Enemy Unknown||Europe||source: MobyGames||||
|-
||||X-COM: UFO Defense||USA||verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]]||||
|}

"Normal" ammo behaviour means partially-used ammo is lost and unused ammo is retained, regardless of loaded/unloaded or alien/xcom status.

Versions

2007-02-10T23:49:55Z

Boba:

{|
|-
||Platform||Title||Region||Notes||Ammo Behaviour||Base Def Elerium
|-
||unknown||X-COM: Michi Naru Shinryakusha||Japan||source: MobyGames||||
|-
||Amiga||UFO: Enemy Unknown||Europe||verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]], may also have a CD32 version||||
|-
||||X-COM: UFO Defense||USA||source: MobyGames, may also have a CD32 version||||
|-
||DOS||UFO: Enemy Unknown||Europe||1.3, believed to exist||||
|-
||||||||1.2, verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]]||||
|-
||||||||something before 1.2 (1.0? 1.1? both? more?), verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]]||||[[User:Boba|Boba]] remembers it as being in the 500-1500 range
|-
||||X-COM: UFO Defense||USA||1.4, believed to exist||||
|-
||Windows||X-COM: UFO Defense Gold Edition||USA||verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]], believed to be identical to Collector's Edition||normal||
|-
||Playstation||X-COM: Enemy Unknown||Europe||source: MobyGames||||
|-
||||X-COM: UFO Defense||USA||verified by [[User:Boba|Boba]]||||
|}

"Normal" ammo behaviour means partially-used ammo is lost and unused ammo is retained, regardless of loaded/unloaded or alien/xcom status.

Known Bugs

2007-02-10T22:27:30Z

Boba: /* Disappearing Ammo */

== Collectors Edition Blaster Bomb Bug ==

In the Collectors Edition of UFO, the [[Blaster Launcher]] has a bug that prevents it from going up or down on the same tile. Or in other words, you cannot change the elevation of the missile vertically on the same tile.

Instead of flying down (or up) to the next waypoint, it will instead fly directly to the south at the pivot waypoint. Relative to the screen, this would be the lower left side of the screen.

This does not happen if you plot the waypoints at an angle. Or, if the blaster bomb flies right off the map, it will reappear at the proper waypoint as long as there are additional waypoints placed after the vertical move.

This bug also applies to the [[Disrupter Pulse Launcher]] in TFTD.

== 80-item Limit ==
When loading up your Avenger for a massive UFO assault or arming soldiers for a [[Base Defense]] from your overflowing stores, you will likely hit this limit.

You only get a max of 80 items, and you don't get to choose which ones, so you may end up with 80 clips and no rifles for the base defense.

The solution is timely housekeeping. Sell off your spare personal equipment. See our handy [[Spring Cleaning Tips]], and also [[Managing the Item Limit]] for ideas.

== The trouble with Mines (general) ==
The armed states for [[Proximity Grenade]]s in both UFO and TFTD are NOT stored in savegames. More information to come.

== TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide ==
TFTD's research problems are more of a logical design flaw than a true bug, caused by trying to make the research tree more complicated than X-Com UFO. They can be a pain when you research the wrong thing at the wrong time.

A variation of NKF's [[TRTBAG | TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide]] will be forthcoming - free time permitting.

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.

Other than the MC reader one, any of the above would make it impossible to finish the game.

== Difficulty Bug ==

The DOS version had a problem where no matter what difficulty level you chose, you were actually playing at "Beginner" level. Because of one or two incorrectly set bytes in all dos versions of the game( 1.0 through to 1.4), no matter what difficulty was selected, the difficulty bug would reset to beginner at the end of the first mission. [[XcomUtil]] corrects this problem. This bug was officially fixed in the Collectors Edition Windows port (also commonly known as UFO Gold).

== Mountain Map ==
Due to a bug in the way this tileset was created, when you shoot the ground, it doesn't burn up - it turns into a tree stump.

Because the stump is on object, as opposed to actual ground, any objects that were in the tile already (for example, UFO hulls or the landing gear of your craft) get replaced by these stumps, making it seem as if they were destroyed.

Tree stumps don't take much damage, so they often get burnt up immediately if an explosive goes off, leaving nothing but burnt ground behind. It is easier to view the effects of this bug by shooting the ground instead.

For more details, see [[Explosions#Mile-High_Madness|Mountain Madness]].

== Base Disjoint Bug ==
Base facilities built along the right or bottom edges of the base building area may end up being cut off from each other by dirt walls, a bug in the routine meant to keep soldiers from accidentally exiting the map edges during [[Base Defense]] missions. The dirt walls can be knocked down by Blaster Bombs during combat but are otherwise unbreakable.

NKF illustrates this in a [http://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/reference/bdb.html pretty picture] for you. XCOMUTIL corrects this problem.

== Big Text Bug ==
There are a few bugs in XCOM, especially early versions, that can build up and make the game unstable enough that it crashes and prints out a screenful of green 40-column text, essentially debug or memory dump information useless to you.

''In the dos version, the text that you see is simply a memory dump in mode-13h (the 320x200x256 colour screen resoulution the game uses) and the text colour is based off the changes to the pallete that the game made. The game sometimes continues with the next part of the game. The game is made of two different programs, [[Geoscape Overview|Geoscape]] and [[Battlescape Overview|Battlescape]], so when one part of it crashes, the other one will not have registered that anything has gone wrong and will attempt to soldier on.''
''In the Windows version of the game, the game simply crashes back to the desktop, unless you're using the [[XcomUtil]] split executable variant. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] ''

== Minimized Interceptor Bug ==
One fairly consistent cause of crashes is saving the geoscape game during a UFO standoff, with a [[UFO Interception]] window minimized to an icon. The next mission after that point will likely dump you to the green text screen, and perhaps an earlier battlescape mission instead of the proper one.

''-- I was able to recover from this state by quickly sending in another interceptor ([[Firestorm]]) to take over, which allowed my first interceptor ([[Avenger]]) to break off and go home without crashing the game again. After the shootdown I overwrote the buggy savegame. --[[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]] 03:11, 22 Aug 2005 (PDT)''

''This happened to me also. I fixed it by replacing "UIGLOB.DAT" in the save folder with the same file from another saved game (from the same campaign a month earlier) [[User:bylund|bylund]] 00:15, January 12, 2007 (GMT+01)''

== Interceptions: Using Cautious Attack ==
When intercepting UFO's, the longest ranged weapon will fire as soon as you are within range of that particular UFO using any attack of your choosing, which is normal.

If you use only "Cautious Attack", the craft will only get within range of its longest ranged weapon. Now, if you only have one type of weapon mounted (eg: two Fusion Ball Launchers) or you're down to your last weapon, when the last remaining shot is fired, the intercepting craft will drop back to "Standoff" range as soon as the last shot leaves the weapon tube.

What then happens is that the last fired projectile is still travelling towards the UFO which was just in range, but as you automatically enter stand-off range when you are no longer armed, your ship will have removed itself from your weapon's effective firing range. When the missile reaches the end of its effective firing range it is wasted.

This means, the last shot of ammo from '''any weapon''' using a Cautious Attack will NEVER reach the UFO.

To get around this waste of ammo, briefly enter "Agressive" mode and then return to "Cautious" after the projectile has hit its target.

==Sticky Craft Transfer Fee glitch==
As pointed out by Zombie and Danial, transferring any craft causes '''''all subsequent transfers to have that cost added to it''''', for as long as the craft is in transit. Additional craft in transit will add additional fees. (This has also been called the Exponential Transfer Fee bug, although it's actually additive, not exponential.)

Example (all numbers are only approximations):
Cost of pistol transfer (↔ = to or from)
EU ↔ USA 80
EU ↔ Asia 100
USA ↔ Asia 120

Cost of craft transfer
EU ↔ USA 1600 ''Notice how transfer fees always work as relative percents,
EU ↔ Asia 2000 ''probably on a distance-based formula
USA ↔ Asia 2400

Cost to transfer '''pistol''', after transferring craft from EU to Asia for $2000
EU ↔ USA 1680 (80+1600)
EU ↔ Asia 2100 (100+2000)
USA ↔ Asia 2520 (120+2400)

The cost of the craft transfer "sticks" to '''all''' subsequent transfers, until the craft arrives - although it acts on a proportionate basis, which is probably distance related.

Unfortunately, this cost is '''additive'''. That is to say, if you transferred a second craft from EU to Asia while the first was still in transit, it would cost $4000 ($2000 plus $2000 - it too suffers from the glitch!), it would then cost e.g. $4100 to transfer a pistol from EU to Asia. Having even more craft in transit would add even more fees.

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to space out your transfers, if you can.

A related problem is that, if you are in the Transfer screen, start to transfer a craft, and then cancel because you remembered you wanted to send something else first - if you then try to Transfer something on that same screen, ''it will still get the sticky craft fee added''. Try it and see. You have to back up out to the main Base screen and hit Transfer again, to get rid of the sticky fee from a cancelled craft transfer.

==Transfer Limit cash eater==
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft.

{| {{stdTable}} width = "80%" align = "center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
| Tip
|-
| To Clarify what constitutes an item in the transfer screen, think of them as batches of X amount. For example, if you transfer 200 alien alloys now, and then decide to transfer another 50 alloys later, this will count as two items in transit. Now, when you look at your transfers, you'll now have two items. Two batches of alien alloys, one with 200 units and the other with 50 units.
|}

== Transfer crash ==
If you transfer something to another base the game crashes right after acknowledging the transfer price.

Solution: Start UFO, select English language, finish your transfer, save game, restart with your normal language settings (http://www.xcomufo.com/x1faq.html)

==Carrying Unconscious Units==
Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

==Disappearing Ammo==

For all game versions, partially-used clips disappear at the end of a mission. This dictates that you should try to use clips that are not full. No mystery here.

However, in the CE edition, clips in '''alien''' weapons (not XCOM weapons) are lost at the end of a mission, whether they are full or not. Thus, you should unload all virgin clips before ending a mission, if you have the CE edition of the game. (Partially used clips are lost regardless, so there's no reason to unload them.)

This bug does not appear to affect the DOS or Playstation [[versions]]. ''(Make a note here if you've observed otherwise! -[[User:MikeTheRed|MTR]])

Note that you still get credit (score) at the end of missions, regardless of the CE loaded-weapon bug and/or whether a clip is full or partial.

== Overcrowded Engineers (And Scientists?) ==
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 256th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them. This bug probably also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

== What just exploded? ==

In some versions of the game, a bug allows an armed proximity mine to transfer its properties to some other item in the next mission, which then may explode unexpectedly. (If the item is left on the floor of the XCOM craft, it will explode as you walk past it.) This problem can be rectified by reloading the game -- as a precaution, save before you move your first soldier.

== Door jam ==

If a door is open when a game is saved on the Battlescape and that game is subsequently restored, the door will remain open for the remainder of that mission.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Talk:Exploits

2007-02-09T21:20:58Z

Boba:

Does anybody mind if I delete the "Extra Ammo" exploit? What is described there, is actually avoidance of a glitch, not an Exploit. And it's already described under [[Known_Bugs#Disappearing_Ammo]]. I'm about to flesh out the Glitch, and it's annoying to have to repeat in two places when the second's not really an Exploit. I'll do it in a week if nobody objects. If somebody objects, it stays. ---[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 13:35, 11 December 2005 (PST)

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Actually I just realized that the Extra Ammo Exploit differs from the Glitch description. It says that even clips that are partially full, become full if unloaded. I vaguely recall I tested this in the DOS version, and that my experience reflected what's described in the Glitch entry. NKF and others, do you know for sure which one is right? - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:33, 11 January 2007 (PST)

Hobbes, are you sure about that note on ammo? Nobody's directly addressed my question (above) about how this page's description differs from the Glitch page's description. I'm pretty sure the DOS version retains full clips that are loaded, like Glitch says. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 07:06, 9 February 2007 (PST)

In UFO Gold, partially-used clips are lost. Unused clips are retained. This is regardless of alien/xcom technology, loaded/unloaded status. This has been verified. In at least one version of the game (I think the earlier DOS versions of xcom, as well as the DOS version of ufo, loaded clips are lost and unloaded clips are retained, regardless of used/partially-used or alien/xcom status. The exact mechanics have not been verified, but the general phenomenon has. Furthermore, clip loss is determined for each clip independently. I have never seen a version where it was all-or-nothing. This only covers one or more dos versions of xcom, the dos version of ufo, and ufo gold. - Boba 9 February 2007

==Repairing damaged UFOs==

Want to stop a UFO from doing it's mission? Shoot it down. Want to get a full load of engines and elerium? Leave it alone for about 2 days. The longer you wait before launching the ground assault, the smaller the hole and smoke, and eventually the craft will be completely repaired.

Note that you will also get a full complement of enemy soldiers -- all the dead will come back to life when you do this.

(You may want to save the game before landing, so you can resume waiting if the UFO was not fully repaired when you attacked.)

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Actually, UFO damage is random. You see, the damage done to a UFO in the battlescape is caused by the game detonating the power units with varying detonation strengths every time the map is generated. Sometimes it's only strong enough to destroy the power unit, and if there are many power units, some of the might not even be detonated at all. So there's no wait, just save the game in the Geoscape, and enter the mission. If the damage is not to your liking, reload and try and try again until you get a favourable outcome. - [[User:NKF|NKF]]
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Keybouncer and NKF, you've both tested this likelihood versus time? Seems easy enough to do. Two related questions (have they been answered here?): 1) How long do crash sites persist?, and 2) If one Power Source (PS) blows up, yes, it will destroy E115 within a particular [[Explosions|distance]], but will it cause them to explode?

The reason I ask is that page 311 of the OSG says PSs have a 70% chance of exploding, which sounds about right to me. A table of probabilities of finding intact PSs for the various UFOs could be generated. I would have thought the answer to #2 is that they don't cause them to explode; they're not an [[Explosions#Explosive_Map_Objects|explosive object]]. But in my experience, the ground floor of a Terror Ship is always the same - all four PSs are always blasted up, and the surrounding interior walls are always in the same bad shape (i.e., they're always all gone, except by the door at the south).

Anyway, a probabilistic thing would be fun to do. But the question of successive explosions has been puzzling me. Could E115 trigger something special in crashes? (Successive explosions even though it's not registered as an explosive?) E115 has always had that odd boolean checkmark at [[OBDATA.DAT]][45]. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]]

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While I have not collected large amounts of data to show any pattern in the extent of the damage vs time, I haven't really seen any difference in damage between the moment the crash site was created or at a point just before the crash site vanishes. It's roughly the same and varies from game to game. If the UFO is repaired over time, this information will have to be stored somewhere. Craft.dat or loc.dat are probably the most likely files to watch. As for the explosions - I guess during the pre-detonation stages, the game may take into account nearby power units that get caught in the blast and detonate them as well. The 70% chance still holds true for isolated units. Can we add extra power units to the existing craft maps to test this I wonder? Or what about setting this boolean flag for enemy corpses, and crossing our fingers? Heh. That might not work. - [[User:NKF|NKF]]

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Hehe, it might be fun to play with those booleans. Or not. ;)

I wouldn't think info has to be stored anywhere; after all, the crash site is not created unless/until you fight it. (If I remember right.) If it does "repair", it could simply be based on the time since the crash... and I guess this would basically equate to, a lower probability of PS explosion. FWIW, I never had the impression that more time meant less damage, but then I wasn't paying attention to the possibility.

I guess that, since PS explosions are performed by code that is "above" normal battlescape properties (i.e., PSs are not explosive per se), it's entirely possible they also programmed in, that they trigger successive detonations. It could be fairly easily tested, in theory... There are only 3 UFOs where PSs can "interact": Harvester (2 PSs), Supply (3), Terror (4). Supply UFOs might be the most interesting in terms of teasing out whether there are successive detonations. FWIW, straight odds (no interaction) of having 2 PSs intact is 9.00% (.32), 3 intact is 2.70%, and 4 intact is 0.81%.

Remind me, is there some quick way to "lift the fog of war" and see the whole map? Maybe with [[Links|Mapview]]? (I don't have it installed ATM; I recently got a new PC.) If so, it would be fairly easy to see e.g. if terror ships ever vary their explosion pattern, etc. Also any differences between combat early or late after a crash.

Maybe we should move all these comments, maybe even this whole section, to Discussion? - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:43, 10 January 2007 (PST)

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Moved - and discussions split up and line breaks inserted for your reading convenience. Coincidentally, Mike, it has been a while, but I'll let you decide what to do with your earlier comment up above.

As for the maps - I know XComutil has an option to clear the fog of war and make everyone on the map visible (and sets the lighting for the whole map to the brightest setting until you move). Use the command line utility's '''VIS''' command. Like so: '''xcomutil game_n vis wrt''' - game_n being the directory for your tactical savegame.

-[[User:NKF|NKF]]

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Or the time left until the crash site disappears. That is almost certainly in the savegame, and would be worth mapping in its own right.

-- [[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]], 9:25 Jan 11 2007 CST

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NKF - Cool, I just tried that XcomUtil and it worked like a charm. And guess what... I happened to try it on a Terror ship... and only ONE PS was blown up (although it did, of course, destroy the other 3). Damn, that seems like low odds... and OMG it instantly explodes (cough) the possibility of successive explosions. One other thing can be done via a screenshot of it... one can determine a PS's explosive strength (but maybe not its radius). (Has anybody determined this stuff yet?) Anyway here goes (dusting off [[Explosions]] memory cells):

'''''Edited after I looked closely and got the equations right - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:48, 12 January 2007 (PST)'''''

*UFO floors (their "initial" tile) are destroyed out to radius 3. They need 80 HE to kill them.
*Tiles are hit with average/2 damage; this damage decreases by 5, each tile outward from Ground Zero. So average/2 must be 80-84 at tile 3, and 95-99 at GZ.
*Twice this value (for the average) is 190-199. A PS explosion is ''almost'' as strong as a blaster bomb. (Notice how blasters scorch UFO floor tiles out to 4 tiles, 1 more than a PS, and are average damage 200.)
*Initial destroyed tiles are not blown through to raw earth anywhere, even at GZ. The slightly stronger blaster also does not blow through to raw earth at GZ on UFO floors. (Can someone look up the death tile armor strength for a damaged Power Source? The GZ PS was not raw earth, either.)
*Those walls around the PSs on a Terror ship are only destroyed up to where the floor tiles were; they also are 80 initial / 50 dead tile "armor".
*PSs at 6 straight-line radius and 3 diagonal (walking TUs means its considered 4 tiles away) are destroyed, consistent with [[UFO_Power_Source]] info that they have 50 "armor"... average/2 HE strength is 65 at radius 6.
*All the Elerium is gone, of course... it only [[Explosions#Object_Destruction|takes]] 21 HE.
*A Snakeman was also killed, at a straight-line radius of 7 (just past the radius-6 PS). Here, the average/2 HE should be 60, and strength against units 60 to 180. It's a Superhuman game, so the lowest stats ([http://www.strategycore.co.uk/xcom/pg/ufoalienstats Superhuman Snakeman Soldier]) would be Health 45 and armor ranging from 16 Rear to 20 Front, for a minimum of 45+16='''61''' to kill. Easily enough to kill this weakest example; stronger aliens near to the edge of the blast (wherever it is) might have a chance of only being injured.

Does anyone ever remember seeing aliens ''injured'' by crash-landing? In my vague recollection of times when I MC everything, they are all either fine, or dead, at crash sites... never injured.

FWIW there wasn't any other vulnerable stuff around, to tell the whether the blast went farther than radius 7. In theory it could extend to radius 18, with a GZ strength of 190-199... but the largest [[Explosions#HE_Statistics|blasts]] seen in the game are both clipped at radius 11 (blast and fusion tank).

Zaimoni, I'm sure you're right. If, of course, it's not always the same amount of time. I vaguely recall that my impression is they always lasted about 3 days (72 hours). I don't know the Geoscape files well... perhaps one of you who do, would know where to look for this? Then again it would be cake to take a savegame from just before shooting down a UFO, then see how long the crash persists. It should quickly be clear if it's always the same, to prove or disprove that. If no variation is seen with that one test UFO, a few other types (small to large) should be tested, to see if it differs by type.

- [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:33, 11 January 2007 (PST)

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I've seen injured aliens from pre-BattleScape power plant explosions. They're generally toast if the walk into a fire :( [This is from studying XCOMUtil reports at DIS:2.] It's more common with Large Scouts, but not unthinkable with crashed Terror Ships.

Even if it always is the same amount of time, the "in theme" way to code it would be a countdown timer (like manufacturing, research, and time to next UFO).

-- [[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]], 9:25 Jan 11 2007 CST

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Ok I just fixed a glaring error in my math above. That's better. The soldier was practically gauranteed to be dead. FWIW a supply ship where only one "outer" PS has exploded will confirm whether 11 is the limit of the blast radius. It's probably also the best place to try to find an alien caught at the edge of the blast, to see where its edge is. Not that it's a real big deal. The probabilities of finding intact Elerium for various ships can be stated already. Probably. :)

A new wrinkle that may affect it was raised by my Terror Ship example: Only the "top most" PS exploded. And as you will recall, I had previously thought all 4 PSs exploded, and only the door and the walls near it (at the "bottom") were left. In hindsight, maybe PSs have a fixed "order" in which they explode, and what I had actually seeing is that 3 exploded (which is good for the odds of 70%) - but it was the "top 3". If the "bottom" last one had exploded, the door and walls around it would've been gone. But that's not what I remember encountering most/all the time. See? Perhaps they explode, starting from the top-most one, down. Depending on some dice roll as to how many would explode. This possible predictability in terms of the order (top to bottom) in which they are "slated to explode" could mean that e.g. seeing a particular Battleship "foot" intact tells you something about which others might be intact, at a glance (and how much E115 is left). Something worth testing with a few reloads some night.

As for effects on E115 survival probabilities in general, it looks like the Supply ship is the only ship where there is a chance for this potential "fixed order" to affect the likelihood. The central PS will always destroy the other two PS's E115. If it is more or less likely to explode due to a fixed order - if the left/top one "goes first" - this would affect the probabilities. For all other UFOs, though, the PS spacing is such that any PS explosion kills all the others' E115 - or not at all (battleship, harvester).

Thanks for the feedback on the injured guy, Zaimoni. It sounds like PS blasts are like blasters... it's ''possible'' for someone to survive it near the edge, but not likely. Combined with how I usually try to farm intact elerium (i.e., not crash UFOs), probably explains why I don't remember seeing anyone injured from crashing.

- [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:48, 12 January 2007 (PST)

Did some more testing, on a Terror ship. I made a savegame with a Terror Ship crash site not yet visited, then visited it 10 times, using XcomUtil's "lights on" switch. Some observations:
*Right Zai, there can be injured folks. Three times out of 10. One of these was stunned, even. Oddly, this stunned one briefly showed in the equipment pile at initial loadout(!), but disappeared from there once I finished the loadout (and appeared in the blast area).
*Dead or injured guys are always standing right next to a PS. There were always 1 to 2, dead or wounded. The PS they stand next to is random, out of the 4 on a Terror.
*Very very oddly: Out of the 10 reloads,
**4 had identical radius-3 UFO-floor-damage blast patterns centered on the top PS, like the first one described above. (The four includes that first one.)
**Four had an increased level of damage (floor damage radius 5), ''centered on the top PS, still''.
**One had an even larger blast pattern of radius 8 or more; it could have been more, because it damaged the floor of the whole interior PS room, but did not extend past any of the walls (all were blown out). ''And it was still centered on the top PS.''
**The final one had floor damage to radius 4, and was centered on the ''left'' PS.

This doesn't make any sense to me. *scratches head* Ok, that's enough for now. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 19:22, 12 January 2007 (PST)

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So a Power Source explodes with a power = 190-199? As a quick calculation a while back, (see [http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=242025161&view=findpost&p=148227 this post] for the specifics) I determined the PS has a strength of 200 on a desert landscape. Guess that desert tiles aren't sensetive enough to pick up on that 1-10 point difference in strength you calculated.

It's easy to create your own ship designs with daishivas mapview program: just delete everything on the ground floor of a UFO and stuff a PS smack-dab in the middle. When you visit the crash site, all you see is either a PS (if it didn't explode) or a huge crater - lol.

I wonder if BB's custom tile testing landscape could be tweaked to nail the power of the explosion down exactly? If not, I suppose I could edit the alien spawn points on a ship so that they are clustered around the PS. After properly editing alien stats of the race contained in the UFO, shoot the UFO down and visit it many times. Log the alien stats near the explosion over a few thousand reloads and we should have our answer (extrapolating damage to take the extra tile into consideration). Might need to call in a favor to BB for a "special" logger for this, but hey, it's possible. Heck, it may be easier to just edit the UFO floor tile properties to show this. ;) --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 23:13, 12 January 2007 (PST)

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[[Image:TestTerrCrash-1to4.png|right|thumb|200px|Type of Terror crash damage, n=10]] Hiya Z! Yes well... in the follow-up testing, it suggests that PS explosion strength is ''variable''. But this (and the finding) don't make sense relative to what you might've expected - i.e., just let some of the PSs blow up or not, at a fixed strength, with a probability of 70%. I get the feeling it may be jerry rigged in the code. Especially disconcerting is how there were bigger or smaller explosions - all centered on the top-most PS. 9 times out of 10.

If it helps any, here's a montage of the four types of damage seen in those 10 samples. The radius-3-floor-damage (seen 4x) is in upper right, radius-5 middle right (4x), radius 8+ lower right (1x), and radius 4 left PS is on left (1x). You can clearly see how all three of the pix on the right are centered on the top-most PS; notice the explosion blockage "shadow" due to the other PSs in the pic on the lower right. (Did I get my math right, when I said the strength seems to be 190-199 for the pic in upper right?)

I am so rusty on all the details of map editing. But if you can combine BB's numerical tiles with a UFO with no floor or interior walls, it should be good to go! Why not stick in more than one PS so we can see what it does relative to this head-scratcher of, is only one PS exploding, but with variable strength? A part of my head scratching is, with Battleships, it's clear that you don't always have only one PS explode. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 09:13, 13 January 2007 (PST)

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Whether Medium Scout Navigation consoles survive a pre-BattleScape power plant explosion is inconsistent. [It's relatively rare, but does happen.]

-- [[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]], 9:25 Jan 11 2007 CST

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Huh, ok, I guess that means it can be variable even if there's only one PS. I had been thinking, maybe it was loading all the strength of multiple PSs blowing up, into that one PS that was blowing up, on the Terror Ship. (Did that make sense?) But if even a lone-PS ship has variability, that tells a lot about it.

Hellfire and damnation, lol - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:45, 13 January 2007 (PST)

I've done some testing with Supply ships - which has laid my confusion with Terror ships to rest. Obvious in hindsight, really... the first PS to explode on a Terror Ship ''destroys all the other PSs'' due to their proximity. This doesn't happen on a Supply ship, between the two "edge" PSs... which leads to some interesting pictures, when heavy blast damage is laid on other heavy blast damage. And yes, the explosion strength definitely seems to be variable. So, some things so far: 1) PSs appear to have a "designated order of explosion", 2) blast strength is variable but quite high (enough to melt UFO floors), 3) if a PS explosion destroys other PSs, they will not explode (blush), and 4) the radius of the blast appears to be quite large.

As for that radius, it's hard to pin down with these fairly indestructible floors and walls. It is probably less than 12, and my best guess ATM is 10. But it's hard, because it could be variable (including dependent on strength), and these UFOs don't give up secrets easily. Z, are you making a test setup? If so, I'll stop wasting my time. :-) - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 20:26, 13 January 2007 (PST)

Analyzing the various pix I've collected shows PSs can have a blast strength of 180 to 240+ (!) Average HE. That 240 could have been anything up to 260, but was constrained by walls containing damage, etc. Initial UFO Floor armor is 80 and Dead Tile UFO Floor armor is 50, which would take 260 average HE in one explosion, but this was never seen, even in the 240+ HEs which destroy both the initial PS (50 armor) and the dead PS (70 armor). 260 HE is over the "theoretical" limit of 255 HE... We can't set weapons to higher than this, but that doesn't necessarily mean the game can't, somehow. (Can't damage to units exceed 255? Did you ever try a maxxed shot weapon vs. units with maxxed health and high armor, Zombie?)

Another pic clearly shows that a PS blast of average HE 240 only has a radius of 10. Looks like 10 is the max radius for PS blasts. I say "max" because it may be smaller, if blast radius is linked to explosive strength, as it is for [[Explosions#Playing_With_Fire|projectiles]]. My initial impression is that PSs don't follow the blast pattern for any other explosives, though.

If you are using numerical tiles Zombie, they should make things a lot clearer than I can. For one thing, I can't get exact numbers. And there are many restraints. But it must be a bit of work... you have to try to get a specific type of UFO to crash in a specific kind of terrain, right?

FWIW I might point out that quite a few of the crashed Terror UFOs looked the same (only 4 unique configs out of 10), but all 5 of the Supply crashes were unique. I guess it underlines how severe the effect of immediately destroying the other PSs can be. Try to space your PSs 11 tiles apart, Zombie. :) Or not... either way informs or confirms theories.

Interestingly, in one of my pix there is a Supply PS in the middle position that first got blasted from one side to a dead PS, then the death PS got vaporized from the other side.... and all that's left is the flames that come with a dead PS, laugh.

Ok, that's enough for now - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 22:23, 13 January 2007 (PST)

----
I have been rather busy the last couple days but I'll look into recreating a testing scenario with a custom UFO floorplan today. I think this will have to be a modified Battleship since that map has the largest editable area (30x30). However, BB's hacked desert landscape can only be used on scouts due to the MCD limits. A Large Scout will have to work for now (map size of 20x20). If I do not use BB's desert landscape (as may be necessary if we want to add extra Power Sources), I could probably create my own desert map (sans those nice numbers in BB's example) just to get an overview of the situation. All crashed UFO's will therefore have to be shot down over the desert landscape to see any changes to the terrain.

I haven't tried a maxed weapon strength with a subject having maxed armor and health yet. (I'll do this tonight to see what happens). However, if shot weapons follow explosive, then I'd assume weapon damage can go above 255. (Remember my tests with the [http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=4546&view=findpost&p=55309 Blaster Bomb]? Subjects could receive more than 255 damage points with a direct GZ hit. The theoretical max was 300 [200*3/2] while I observed a max of 298 over 55 trials). --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 13:26, 14 January 2007 (PST)

----
Mike, you may want to take a look at the post I made [http://www.xcomufo.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=242025161&view=findpost&p=163614 here].

I ended up using BB's numerical tileset and a modified Medium Scout map for testing the blast strength of the PS. It worked really well.

BTW, a Large Scout has a map size of 20x20 so by placing a PS at each corner of it the explosions shouldn't overlap. This may be handy for testing multiple explosions. 2 would work fine, but 4 PS modules could also be crammed on the map to check on overlap and/or the explosion order. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 18:51, 17 January 2007 (PST)

----
Thanks for that other post! It seems pretty clear that there's an explosion order. 9 times out of 10 probably isn't coincidence. But it could have been! Hehe - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 19:39, 17 January 2007 (PST)

Heavy Cannon

2007-02-09T09:17:22Z

Boba:

While the regulation [[Pistol|pistol]]s and [[Rifle|rifle]]s provide adequate firepower against most soft targets, they lack the strength to punch through the thick armour introduced by a number of early terrorist units, like the [[Cyberdisc]] and [[Chryssalid]]. Enter the cannons - the Heavy Cannon and the [[Auto Cannon]] - two highly versatile hand carried cannons with a selection of shells tipped with [[Weapons#Armour-Piercing|armour piercing]], [[Weapons#High Explosive|high explosive]] or [[Weapons#Incendiary|incendiary]] warheads. Their versatile ammunition allows their user to switch strategies in the middle of the field by simply feeding a different ammunition clip into the cannon.

The heavy cannon is heavy as its namesake and lacks the speed of the smaller firearms. It makes up for this by being very powerful. The biggest detriment to the heavy cannon is its low capacity ammunition cartridge. It can only carry 6 shells at a time.

The Heavy Cannon also lacks an automatic firing mode, however it continues to remain more powerful and much more accurate than its weaker but ultimately more popular cousin, the Auto Cannon. Except for starting out on a new game, when Heavy and Auto Cannons are the best offense your weak Rookies can afford (aside from the launcher), these should be tossed by the wayside later in the game (after a few months or so, when you can walk onto a battlefield with a plasma/laser rifle and rocket launchers). As an added paradox, the explosive rounds actually do ''less'' damage than an AP, or armor piercing, round. Although far from an ideal weapon, some find it useful on higher difficulty levels. On superhuman, for example, it can kill early enemies in one hit, while the autocannon often seems to come up a few hit points short of a kill.

AP rounds, however, don't have the benefit of splash damage - Hence they provide "power at a point". - BB

One excellent strategy with both Heavy and Auto Cannon is to wear Power Suits and arm these weapons with HE shells. As long as you don't get a direct hit from one of your own shells, you will feel absolutely no damage whatsoever when using these weapons in short range combat. This is an excellent combination in any indoor setting such as UFOs or even enemy installations.

== Stats ==
Heavy Cannon:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS11.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 3 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 18
*TUs:
**Snap: 33% (Accuracy 60%)
**Aimed: 80% (Accuracy 90%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $6,400
*Sell Price: $4,800</td></tr></table>

<table style="border:1px gray solid;"><tr style="border:1px gray solid;"><td style="border:1px gray solid;">
[[Weapons#Armour-Piercing|AP]] Clip:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS12.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 56 AP
*Ammo: 6
*Size: 1 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 6
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $300
*Sell Price: $225</td></tr></table>
</td><td style="border:1px gray solid;">
[[Weapons#High Explosive|HE]] Clip:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS13.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 52 HE
*Ammo: 6
*Size: 1 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 6
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $500
*Sell Price: $275</td></tr></table>
</td><td style="border:1px gray solid;">
[[Incendiary]] Clip:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS14.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 60 IN
*Ammo: 6
*Size: 1 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 6
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $400
*Sell Price: $300</td></tr></table>
</table>

== Usage Notes ==
The following lists how many times a soldier can fire the gun by shot type continuously in any given round and the remaining percentage of any left over TUs that cannot be spent as a shot.

* Aimed: 1 Shot, 20% Remaining TUs
* Snap: 3 Shots, 1% Remaining TUs

[[Category:Equipment (UFO Defense)]]

UFO Detection

2007-02-09T08:44:08Z

Boba:

Alien craft regulary enter and leave the Earth's atmosphere. Spotting them and shooting them down is an important goal. 
 
'''Detection Facilities'''
* [[Small Radar]]
* [[Large Radar]]
* [[Hyper-Wave Decoder]]
 
The above can be built in your base for the purpose of detecting UFOs nearby. 
 
(cue notes from someone who knows more about how this is done then Bomb Bloke does) 
 
Your craft can also detect UFOs via onboard scanners. If an alien vessel moves out of range of your land-based detection systems, you may be able to resume tracking by sending one of your ships to where you believe the UFO to be (based on its speed and direction).

Detections are rolled every 30 minutes, on the half hour.

Finally, the UFO activity graphs act as a sort of MUFON, allowing you to see activity that your radars cannot. The graphs are updated every 30 minutes, on the half hour. Borderline exploit, you can check the graphs every so often and build zero radars. If you see a blip, send aircraft. This worldwide coverage only works for the first few months. After that, UFO activity becomes too intense and the graphs lose their resolution. By that time, you should have decoders anyway.

Known Bugs

2007-02-09T07:40:47Z

Boba:

== Collectors Edition Blaster Bomb Bug ==

In the Collectors Edition of UFO, the [[Blaster Launcher]] has a bug that prevents it from going up or down on the same tile. Or in other words, you cannot change the elevation of the missile vertically on the same tile.

Instead of flying down (or up) to the next waypoint, it will instead fly directly to the south at the pivot waypoint. Relative to the screen, this would be the lower left side of the screen.

This does not happen if you plot the waypoints at an angle. Or, if the blaster bomb flies right off the map, it will reappear at the proper waypoint as long as there are additional waypoints placed after the vertical move.

This bug also applies to the [[Disrupter Pulse Launcher]] in TFTD.

== 80-item Limit ==
When loading up your Avenger for a massive UFO assault or arming soldiers for a [[Base Defense]] from your overflowing stores, you will likely hit this limit.

You only get a max of 80 items, and you don't get to choose which ones, so you may end up with 80 clips and no rifles for the base defense.

The solution is timely housekeeping. Sell off your spare personal equipment. See our handy [[Spring Cleaning Tips]], and also [[Managing the Item Limit]] for ideas.

== The trouble with Mines (general) ==
The armed states for [[Proximity Grenade]]s in both UFO and TFTD are NOT stored in savegames. More information to come.

== TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide ==
TFTD's research problems are more of a logical design flaw than a true bug, caused by trying to make the research tree more complicated than X-Com UFO. They can be a pain when you research the wrong thing at the wrong time.

A variation of NKF's [[TRTBAG | TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide]] will be forthcoming - free time permitting.

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.

Other than the MC reader one, any of the above would make it impossible to finish the game.

== Difficulty Bug ==

The DOS version had a problem where no matter what difficulty level you chose, you were actually playing at "Beginner" level. Because of one or two incorrectly set bytes in all dos versions of the game( 1.0 through to 1.4), no matter what difficulty was selected, the difficulty bug would reset to beginner at the end of the first mission. [[XcomUtil]] corrects this problem. This bug was officially fixed in the Collectors Edition Windows port (also commonly known as UFO Gold).

== Mountain Map ==
Due to a bug in the way this tileset was created, when you shoot the ground, it doesn't burn up - it turns into a tree stump.

Because the stump is on object, as opposed to actual ground, any objects that were in the tile already (for example, UFO hulls or the landing gear of your craft) get replaced by these stumps, making it seem as if they were destroyed.

Tree stumps don't take much damage, so they often get burnt up immediately if an explosive goes off, leaving nothing but burnt ground behind. It is easier to view the effects of this bug by shooting the ground instead.

For more details, see [[Explosions#Mile-High_Madness|Mountain Madness]].

== Base Disjoint Bug ==
Base facilities built along the right or bottom edges of the base building area may end up being cut off from each other by dirt walls, a bug in the routine meant to keep soldiers from accidentally exiting the map edges during [[Base Defense]] missions. The dirt walls can be knocked down by Blaster Bombs during combat but are otherwise unbreakable.

NKF illustrates this in a [http://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/reference/bdb.html pretty picture] for you. XCOMUTIL corrects this problem.

== Big Text Bug ==
There are a few bugs in XCOM, especially early versions, that can build up and make the game unstable enough that it crashes and prints out a screenful of green 40-column text, essentially debug or memory dump information useless to you.

''In the dos version, the text that you see is simply a memory dump in mode-13h (the 320x200x256 colour screen resoulution the game uses) and the text colour is based off the changes to the pallete that the game made. The game sometimes continues with the next part of the game. The game is made of two different programs, [[Geoscape Overview|Geoscape]] and [[Battlescape Overview|Battlescape]], so when one part of it crashes, the other one will not have registered that anything has gone wrong and will attempt to soldier on.''
''In the Windows version of the game, the game simply crashes back to the desktop, unless you're using the [[XcomUtil]] split executable variant. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] ''

== Minimized Interceptor Bug ==
One fairly consistent cause of crashes is saving the geoscape game during a UFO standoff, with a [[UFO Interception]] window minimized to an icon. The next mission after that point will likely dump you to the green text screen, and perhaps an earlier battlescape mission instead of the proper one.

''-- I was able to recover from this state by quickly sending in another interceptor ([[Firestorm]]) to take over, which allowed my first interceptor ([[Avenger]]) to break off and go home without crashing the game again. After the shootdown I overwrote the buggy savegame. --[[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]] 03:11, 22 Aug 2005 (PDT)''

''This happened to me also. I fixed it by replacing "UIGLOB.DAT" in the save folder with the same file from another saved game (from the same campaign a month earlier) [[User:bylund|bylund]] 00:15, January 12, 2007 (GMT+01)''

== Interceptions: Using Cautious Attack ==
When intercepting UFO's, the longest ranged weapon will fire as soon as you are within range of that particular UFO using any attack of your choosing, which is normal.

If you use only "Cautious Attack", the craft will only get within range of its longest ranged weapon. Now, if you only have one type of weapon mounted (eg: two Fusion Ball Launchers) or you're down to your last weapon, when the last remaining shot is fired, the intercepting craft will drop back to "Standoff" range as soon as the last shot leaves the weapon tube.

What then happens is that the last fired projectile is still travelling towards the UFO which was just in range, but as you automatically enter stand-off range when you are no longer armed, your ship will have removed itself from your weapon's effective firing range. When the missile reaches the end of its effective firing range it is wasted.

This means, the last shot of ammo from '''any weapon''' using a Cautious Attack will NEVER reach the UFO.

To get around this waste of ammo, briefly enter "Agressive" mode and then return to "Cautious" after the projectile has hit its target.

==Sticky Craft Transfer Fee glitch==
As pointed out by Zombie and Danial, transferring any craft causes '''''all subsequent transfers to have that cost added to it''''', for as long as the craft is in transit. Additional craft in transit will add additional fees. (This has also been called the Exponential Transfer Fee bug, although it's actually additive, not exponential.)

Example (all numbers are only approximations):
Cost of pistol transfer (↔ = to or from)
EU ↔ USA 80
EU ↔ Asia 100
USA ↔ Asia 120

Cost of craft transfer
EU ↔ USA 1600 ''Notice how transfer fees always work as relative percents,
EU ↔ Asia 2000 ''probably on a distance-based formula
USA ↔ Asia 2400

Cost to transfer '''pistol''', after transferring craft from EU to Asia for $2000
EU ↔ USA 1680 (80+1600)
EU ↔ Asia 2100 (100+2000)
USA ↔ Asia 2520 (120+2400)

The cost of the craft transfer "sticks" to '''all''' subsequent transfers, until the craft arrives - although it acts on a proportionate basis, which is probably distance related.

Unfortunately, this cost is '''additive'''. That is to say, if you transferred a second craft from EU to Asia while the first was still in transit, it would cost $4000 ($2000 plus $2000 - it too suffers from the glitch!), it would then cost e.g. $4100 to transfer a pistol from EU to Asia. Having even more craft in transit would add even more fees.

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to space out your transfers, if you can.

A related problem is that, if you are in the Transfer screen, start to transfer a craft, and then cancel because you remembered you wanted to send something else first - if you then try to Transfer something on that same screen, ''it will still get the sticky craft fee added''. Try it and see. You have to back up out to the main Base screen and hit Transfer again, to get rid of the sticky fee from a cancelled craft transfer.

==Transfer Limit cash eater==
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft.

{| {{stdTable}} width = "80%" align = "center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
| Tip
|-
| To Clarify what constitutes an item in the transfer screen, think of them as batches of X amount. For example, if you transfer 200 alien alloys now, and then decide to transfer another 50 alloys later, this will count as two items in transit. Now, when you look at your transfers, you'll now have two items. Two batches of alien alloys, one with 200 units and the other with 50 units.
|}

== Transfer crash ==
If you transfer something to another base the game crashes right after acknowledging the transfer price.

Solution: Start UFO, select English language, finish your transfer, save game, restart with your normal language settings (http://www.xcomufo.com/x1faq.html)

==Carrying Unconscious Units==
Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

==Disappearing Ammo==

For all game versions, partially-used clips disappear at the end of a mission. This dictates that you should try to use clips that are not full. No mystery here.

However, in the CE edition, clips in '''alien''' weapons (not XCOM weapons) are lost at the end of a mission, whether they are full or not. Thus, you should unload all virgin clips before ending a mission, if you have the CE edition of the game. (Partially used clips are lost regardless, so there's no reason to unload them.)

This bug does not appear to affect the DOS or Playstation versions. ''(Make a note here if you've observed otherwise! -[[User:MikeTheRed|MTR]])

Note that you still get credit (score) at the end of missions, regardless of the CE loaded-weapon bug and/or whether a clip is full or partial.

== Overcrowded Engineers (And Scientists?) ==
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 256th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them. This bug probably also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

== What just exploded? ==

In some versions of the game, a bug allows an armed proximity mine to transfer its properties to some other item in the next mission, which then may explode unexpectedly. (If the item is left on the floor of the XCOM craft, it will explode as you walk past it.) This problem can be rectified by reloading the game -- as a precaution, save before you move your first soldier.

== Door jam ==

If a door is open when a game is saved on the Battlescape and that game is subsequently restored, the door will remain open for the remainder of that mission.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Known Bugs

2007-02-09T06:55:18Z

Boba: /* Disappearing Ammo */

== Collectors Edition Blaster Bomb Bug ==

In the Collectors Edition of UFO, the [[Blaster Launcher]] has a bug that prevents it from going up or down on the same tile. Or in other words, you cannot change the elevation of the missile vertically on the same tile.

Instead of flying down (or up) to the next waypoint, it will instead fly directly to the south at the pivot waypoint. Relative to the screen, this would be the lower left side of the screen.

This does not happen if you plot the waypoints at an angle. Or, if the blaster bomb flies right off the map, it will reappear at the proper waypoint as long as there are additional waypoints placed after the vertical move.

This bug also applies to the [[Disrupter Pulse Launcher]] in TFTD.

== 80-item Limit ==
When loading up your Avenger for a massive UFO assault or arming soldiers for a [[Base Defense]] from your overflowing stores, you will likely hit this limit.

You only get a max of 80 items, and you don't get to choose which ones, so you may end up with 80 clips and no rifles for the base defense.

The solution is timely housekeeping. Sell off your spare personal equipment. See our handy [[Spring Cleaning Tips]], and also [[Managing the Item Limit]] for ideas.

== The trouble with Mines (general) ==
The armed states for [[Proximity Grenade]]s in both UFO and TFTD are NOT stored in savegames. More information to come.

== TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide ==
TFTD's research problems are more of a logical design flaw than a true bug, caused by trying to make the research tree more complicated than X-Com UFO. They can be a pain when you research the wrong thing at the wrong time.

A variation of NKF's [[TRTBAG | TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide]] will be forthcoming - free time permitting.

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.

Other than the MC reader one, any of the above would make it impossible to finish the game.

== Difficulty Bug ==

The DOS version had a problem where no matter what difficulty level you chose, you were actually playing at "Beginner" level. Because of one or two incorrectly set bytes in all dos versions of the game( 1.0 through to 1.4), no matter what difficulty was selected, the difficulty bug would reset to beginner at the end of the first mission. [[XcomUtil]] corrects this problem. This bug was officially fixed in the Collectors Edition Windows port (also commonly known as UFO Gold).

== Mountain Map ==
Due to a bug in the way this tileset was created, when you shoot the ground, it doesn't burn up - it turns into a tree stump.

Because the stump is on object, as opposed to actual ground, any objects that were in the tile already (for example, UFO hulls or the landing gear of your craft) get replaced by these stumps, making it seem as if they were destroyed.

Tree stumps don't take much damage, so they often get burnt up immediately if an explosive goes off, leaving nothing but burnt ground behind. It is easier to view the effects of this bug by shooting the ground instead.

For more details, see [[Explosions#Mile-High_Madness|Mountain Madness]].

== Base Disjoint Bug ==
Base facilities built along the right or bottom edges of the base building area may end up being cut off from each other by dirt walls, a bug in the routine meant to keep soldiers from accidentally exiting the map edges during [[Base Defense]] missions. The dirt walls can be knocked down by Blaster Bombs during combat but are otherwise unbreakable.

NKF illustrates this in a [http://www.geocities.com/nkfarma/reference/bdb.html pretty picture] for you. XCOMUTIL corrects this problem.

== Big Text Bug ==
There are a few bugs in XCOM, especially early versions, that can build up and make the game unstable enough that it crashes and prints out a screenful of green 40-column text, essentially debug or memory dump information useless to you.

''In the dos version, the text that you see is simply a memory dump in mode-13h (the 320x200x256 colour screen resoulution the game uses) and the text colour is based off the changes to the pallete that the game made. The game sometimes continues with the next part of the game. The game is made of two different programs, [[Geoscape Overview|Geoscape]] and [[Battlescape Overview|Battlescape]], so when one part of it crashes, the other one will not have registered that anything has gone wrong and will attempt to soldier on.''
''In the Windows version of the game, the game simply crashes back to the desktop, unless you're using the [[XcomUtil]] split executable variant. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] ''

== Minimized Interceptor Bug ==
One fairly consistent cause of crashes is saving the geoscape game during a UFO standoff, with a [[UFO Interception]] window minimized to an icon. The next mission after that point will likely dump you to the green text screen, and perhaps an earlier battlescape mission instead of the proper one.

''-- I was able to recover from this state by quickly sending in another interceptor ([[Firestorm]]) to take over, which allowed my first interceptor ([[Avenger]]) to break off and go home without crashing the game again. After the shootdown I overwrote the buggy savegame. --[[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]] 03:11, 22 Aug 2005 (PDT)''

''This happened to me also. I fixed it by replacing "UIGLOB.DAT" in the save folder with the same file from another saved game (from the same campaign a month earlier) [[User:bylund|bylund]] 00:15, January 12, 2007 (GMT+01)''

== Interceptions: Using Cautious Attack ==
When intercepting UFO's, the longest ranged weapon will fire as soon as you are within range of that particular UFO using any attack of your choosing, which is normal.

If you use only "Cautious Attack", the craft will only get within range of its longest ranged weapon. Now, if you only have one type of weapon mounted (eg: two Fusion Ball Launchers) or you're down to your last weapon, when the last remaining shot is fired, the intercepting craft will drop back to "Standoff" range as soon as the last shot leaves the weapon tube.

What then happens is that the last fired projectile is still travelling towards the UFO which was just in range, but as you automatically enter stand-off range when you are no longer armed, your ship will have removed itself from your weapon's effective firing range. When the missile reaches the end of its effective firing range it is wasted.

This means, the last shot of ammo from '''any weapon''' using a Cautious Attack will NEVER reach the UFO.

To get around this waste of ammo, briefly enter "Agressive" mode and then return to "Cautious" after the projectile has hit its target.

==Sticky Craft Transfer Fee glitch==
As pointed out by Zombie and Danial, transferring any craft causes '''''all subsequent transfers to have that cost added to it''''', for as long as the craft is in transit. Additional craft in transit will add additional fees. (This has also been called the Exponential Transfer Fee bug, although it's actually additive, not exponential.)

Example (all numbers are only approximations):
Cost of pistol transfer (↔ = to or from)
EU ↔ USA 80
EU ↔ Asia 100
USA ↔ Asia 120

Cost of craft transfer
EU ↔ USA 1600 ''Notice how transfer fees always work as relative percents,
EU ↔ Asia 2000 ''probably on a distance-based formula
USA ↔ Asia 2400

Cost to transfer '''pistol''', after transferring craft from EU to Asia for $2000
EU ↔ USA 1680 (80+1600)
EU ↔ Asia 2100 (100+2000)
USA ↔ Asia 2520 (120+2400)

The cost of the craft transfer "sticks" to '''all''' subsequent transfers, until the craft arrives - although it acts on a proportionate basis, which is probably distance related.

Unfortunately, this cost is '''additive'''. That is to say, if you transferred a second craft from EU to Asia while the first was still in transit, it would cost $4000 ($2000 plus $2000 - it too suffers from the glitch!), it would then cost e.g. $4100 to transfer a pistol from EU to Asia. Having even more craft in transit would add even more fees.

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to space out your transfers, if you can.

A related problem is that, if you are in the Transfer screen, start to transfer a craft, and then cancel because you remembered you wanted to send something else first - if you then try to Transfer something on that same screen, ''it will still get the sticky craft fee added''. Try it and see. You have to back up out to the main Base screen and hit Transfer again, to get rid of the sticky fee from a cancelled craft transfer.

==Transfer Limit cash eater==
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft.

{| {{stdTable}} width = "80%" align = "center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
| Tip
|-
| To Clarify what constitutes an item in the transfer screen, think of them as batches of X amount. For example, if you transfer 200 alien alloys now, and then decide to transfer another 50 alloys later, this will count as two items in transit. Now, when you look at your transfers, you'll now have two items. Two batches of alien alloys, one with 200 units and the other with 50 units.
|}

== Transfer crash ==
If you transfer something to another base the game crashes right after acknowledging the transfer price.

Solution: Start UFO, select English language, finish your transfer, save game, restart with your normal language settings (http://www.xcomufo.com/x1faq.html)

==Carrying Unconscious Units==
Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

==Disappearing Ammo==

For all game versions, partially-used clips disappear at the end of a mission. This dictates that you should try to use clips that are not full. No mystery here.

However, in the CE edition, clips in '''alien''' weapons (not XCOM weapons) are lost at the end of a mission, whether they are full or not. Thus, you should unload all virgin clips before ending a mission, if you have the CE edition of the game. (Partially used clips are lost regardless, so there's no reason to unload them.)

This bug does not appear to affect the DOS or Playstation versions. ''(Make a note here if you've observed otherwise! -[[User:MikeTheRed|MTR]])

Different DOS versions have different rules regarding ammo. In at least one version (early U.S. versions and the European version are suspected), loaded ammo would be lost whether used or not. Partially-used unloaded ammo would be refilled. In other versions (later U.S. versions are suspected), the normal behaviour is seen.

Note that you still get credit (score) at the end of missions, regardless of the CE loaded-weapon bug and/or whether a clip is full or partial.

== Overcrowded Engineers (And Scientists?) ==
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 256th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them. This bug probably also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

== What just exploded? ==

In some versions of the game, a bug allows an armed proximity mine to transfer its properties to some other item in the next mission, which then may explode unexpectedly. (If the item is left on the floor of the XCOM craft, it will explode as you walk past it.) This problem can be rectified by reloading the game -- as a precaution, save before you move your first soldier.

== Door jam ==

If a door is open when a game is saved on the Battlescape and that game is subsequently restored, the door will remain open for the remainder of that mission.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Base Defence

2007-02-09T06:38:56Z

Boba: /* Battle Tips */

==Briefing==
An Alien vessel has landed nearby. Our base is in severe danger. As per standard procedure all non-combat personnel and XCom craft have been evacuated. Alien units will enter the base via hangar doors or the access lift. Defend the base and its vital installations at all costs - this is a fight to the death.

== Battleships ==

An inbound [[Battleship]] on a "[[Alien Missions#Alien Retaliation|Retaliation]]" mission means there is a high chance that a Base Defense mission is in the offing for you. These ships will come in at a very low altitude, at about their top speed. They obviously must not care about the well being of the craft to run it that hard in a full atmosphere!

You can bring down these battleships with sufficient [[Base Defense Measures (UFO Defense)|Base Defense Measures]], but the game is programmed to just send another on the exact same mission. It's been proven that about 6 or 7 Fusion Ball Defenses with Grav Shield (total defensive strength 6000) can hold off incoming battleships (hull strength 3000) indefinitely, but since you get no bonus for blowing a battleship out of the sky, not even to monthly score, it's better to let them land eventually and just run the mission. Once you've run the mission, win or lose, the attacks stop coming. The aliens seem to forget where the base is...

Only battleships actually assault your base. Don't worry too much about other alien craft on "Retaliation" missions, they're just scouts. Shooting these down far away from your base may confuse the aliens as to where your base actually is. Shooting them down will also ruin their base finding mission, saving your base until the next scout is sent to replace the first.

== Battle Tips ==

A good [[Base Layout Strategy]] is of paramount importance here. Make sure your base is designed to make it easy to defend.

You really want everybody at home for a base defense mission. If you're caught with your Skyranger off at some UFO crash site, you'll have to defend the base with a rookie, two guys on crutches that were in med-bay, and the antique [[Tank/Cannon]] you hadn't got around to selling yet. Mind you, the odds are still in your favor. You know the layout, it's fully lit, and you (should have) designed in choke points.

Equipment assigned to your craft is available for base defense missions, unless the craft is out of the base. Equipment loaded on craft in the base becomes part of the general 80-item pool. If it were otherwise, your psionic troopers would likely be useless for want of Psi-amps.

Battleships will unload both regular aliens and their associated [[Terror Units]]. You won't ever see the battleship, but you will get to see all those nifty modules you've been constructing in the Base Planner view, close-up! Base modules have two levels. Soldiers will normally spawn/start in Living Quarters and Storage modules. Aliens spawn/start in Hangars and the Access Lift.

A soldier with a [[Motion Scanner]] in an upstairs closet near the access lift combined with a [[Tank/Rocket_Launcher|rocket tank]] at standoff range will keep the aliens at bay until the rockets run out. ''-see also [Stewart's] strategy on xcomufo.com forums.''

[[Blaster Bomb]]s can clear your base in just a few turns, if you launch a few into the hangars and access lift. ''The problem is getting the program to supply your soldiers with blaster bombs before hitting the 80-item limit.''

Hovertank/Launchers are almost as good at clearing out your base, except for the fact that their missiles are more prone to inaccuracy and often veer off and blow up against the wrong walls. ''Since the game has a "free ammo for HWP in base defence" bug, I don't see HOW you can lose as long as you keep 3-4 of these things in every base.''

Doing too much damage to a room can also collapse it, and you will lose that room permanently. Any rooms that can only be accessed by going through the collapsed room will also be lost. Spawn-point rooms such as Living Quarters, Stores, Access Lift, and Hangars can't be collapsed.

You can recover lots of valuable [[Elerium-115]] and alien weapons from a successful base defense. In at least one version of the game, the amount of Elerium recovered is extraordinary, enough to start selling it.

Losing or abandoning the battle means losing the base. Although sometimes you can still come out with a positive score for your trouble.

It might be best to disarm all your psi-weak soldiers at this base if there are ethereals or sectoids attacking.

If you built a General Stores near the Access Lift, the double doors are a great place for ambushing aliens as they leave the Access Lift. Each chamber will hold two soldiers. Eight soldiers stepping out and firing one or two bursts of laser or plasma shots will almost guarantee that no alien penetrates further into your base. Also, so long as no soldiers or tanks are visible during the aliens' turn, they will not make psi attacks. The [[Destroying Terrain#Terrain structures|doors]] have a damage rating of 75, which means they will withstand an alien grenade detonated right beside them. This tactic has one downside against Sectoids: Cyberdisks will explode when killed at the chokepoint and destroy a large proportion of the loot.

''[ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: Elerium collection from a base defence mission can only happen if elerium pods are generated in the battlescape. See, if you have 10 units in storage, the game will generate 10 pods in the base, given sufficient space in the object table. But because the way the game automatically converts 1 pod into 50 units at the end of the mission, you're basically getting 5000% more elerium from your own pods (those that don't get destroyed, anyway). None of them come from the aliens! Until this is verified for 1.4 and 1.4ce, it is safe to say that this will only happen in earlier versions of the game.] ''

''[ [[User:Zombie|Zombie]]: I tried this out today on my 1.4ce, and just like I thought, no Elerium spawned.] ''

''[A somewhat unorthodox strategy, forced by necessity, paid off for Zombie: "I armed my best soldiers with the stun rods, hid them in the General Stores next to the Access Lift, and went to work. Every round a Snakeman would appear from the Access Lift, and every round one of my soldiers would stun the alien while another veteran grabbed the body and hauled the poor alien upstairs for observation. I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants!" - as copied from strategycore. Mental picture of a Snakeman with a pillowcase over his head, zipcuffed arms behind his back, old army sock stuffed in the mouth, being heaved into a darkened storeroom on top of his buddies. "We get $20K for each, alive or dead, right?" --[[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]] 08:34, 14 Oct 2005 (PDT) ]''

== To Surrender or Not To Surrender ==

There are only two costs incurred when you lose a base:
# You lose the base and everything in it;
# You lose points for the soldiers and tanks that died defending the base.

The loss of the base is presumably erased from the annals of history. It's all kept very hush-hush from the public. The non-combat staff and all ships that were at the base are disbanded and are not lost in the battle. X-Com ships vanish without a trace, probably stolen by wretched engineers. The deaths of the soldiers on the other hand are a lot harder to explain, and friends and families are bound to make inquiries.

Therefore, if you find yourself in a situation where you are defending a base against an enemy that you have no hope of winning against, should you surrender without a fight, or fight it out? You will need to base this on who you are fighting with and what you have to fight them with.

For example, a fresh batch of recruits in jumpsuits armed with regulation standard pistols and rifles against an elite squad of [[Ethereal]]s and [[Sectopod]]s. This can be classed as a hopeless battle should you not be able to utilise the weapons used by the attackers. In a situation like this, you should cut your losses and surrender without a fight.
This will incur a 0 point penalty along with the loss of the base.

On the other hand, should it be against [[Floater]]s, you could push on and try your luck.

Alternately, you could also try to kill as many raiders as you can before surrendering.
As long as you did not lose any soldiers in the process, you will get a positive score for losing the base. If this is an option, go for it. If not, don't.

It is understandable that some commanders may be too proud to go down without a fight. There is nothing wrong with that, but do try to consider the consequences of any actions before taking them.

'''Note:''' All of the above relates to raids on bases when you have more than one base. If you are put into a situation where you cannot save your very last base, then you should consider restarting the game.

''If you have have advance warning about a base raid that you're going to surrender-- i.e., a hyperwave decoder, or you can see that battleship making a beeline for your base on a normal radar-- take the time to transfer as much as you can out of that base to other bases before the raid hits.
If you've got free hangars in other bases, transfer the craft, save any elerium there, and transfer out all the personnel you can.
An obvious thing, but can be quickly forgotten in the shadow of a battleship. --[[User:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]] 17:36, 22 Nov 2005 (PST)''

''As stated earlier, the aliens can attack your base pretty early (especially on superhuman; For example, I got my first raid before laser pistol research was done!) - pistols and grenades may work well against sektoids, but are pretty worthless against cyberdiscs - still, even in this case, the answer should be clearly "not to surrender!" - In the early stage of the game, there are two ways of winning against cyberdiscs: first: get a soldier to stand near it and provoke a reaction shot by a different alien and hope it hits the disc, leads to its death and doesnt let it explode. Or just stun it - 2-3 soldiers with stun rods do a great job there, especially in a base with its plenty of cover.. '' [[User: Player11]] 23:47, 23 oct 2006

==Alien Deployment==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Rank</th>
<th>Beg./Exp.</th>
<th>Vet./Gen.</th>
<th>Super.</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Soldiers</td><td>4-8</td><td>6-10</td><td>8-12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Navigators</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Medics</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Engineers</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Leaders</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>0-2</td><td>2-4</td><td>4-6</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>9-15</td><td>14-20</td><td>22-28</td></tr>
</table> 

== Bugs ==
Base defenses can be DEADLY.

But not for the reason you think.

*When you have more than 80 items present at a base, the game will only make available the first 80 items on the stores list (See '80-item Limit' in [[Known Bugs]].) . This will result in conventional weapons/stun rods/electroflares/etc. being available instead of lasers/plasmas. To prevent this there are 3 possible solutions before that Battleship strikes the base:
1) Transfer the unwanted items to another base. 
2) Load your transports (if there's any) with the unwanted items and launch them before the UFO lands. This saves the work of having to transfer those items back but if the base gets destroyed the transport will disappear and the waypoint to which it was headed will remain visible for the rest of the game. 
3) [[Spring_Cleaning_Tips|Sell unnecessary stuff]]. ''"Imminent Alien Invasion Yard Sale! Everything Must Go!"''

* If you had 40 heavy plasmas in your base and forgot to get rid of those 40 smoke grenades, all your troopers would be lacking the clips for the heavy plasma. Good luck defending a base with nothing but 40 smoke grenades. ''[Darksun: Lucky for my stupid self, I had a couple of laser tanks to convince the aliens to lend me some ammo.]''

* A relatively easy way to counter this problem is to keep your stores of "conventional" weapons low and keep 20 or more [[Laser Rifle]]s in base inventories. Laser Rifles are high on the inventory list and are distributed before most other items. As they do not require ammo, any laser is immediately combat-ready.

*Another ANNOYING bug I find is the disappearing bodies and booty from aliens. This is related to the 80 item bug problem.

*Also much feared is the dreaded "walled off section" or [[Known_Bugs#Base_Disjoint_Bug|Base Disjoint Bug]]. Sections of your base along the extreme south and east edges will often be separated from each other by dirt walls. Heavy plasma and blaster launchers are needed in this scenario to excavate the dirt. Possible that heavy explosives might work too, I'm not sure. Soldiers spawning in Stores or Living Quarters here may be trapped for the duration.

*A much nicer bug is that [[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]'s automatically get a free load of ammo (which is added to your stores if unused). Note you still need at least one soldier as aliens landing at an unguarded base - or a base defended only by HWP's - take it without a fight.

*If you have a LOT of soldiers, enough to fill all your spawn points, soldiers will start taking alien spawn points. Which means less aliens. ''- much kudos to [Zombie]''

*The last point also applies to aliens: if the aliens don't have enough spawn points they will start using the X-COM ones, which can turn base defense into a nightmare!

Masochists: at superhuman, you get the same quantity of aliens as in the battleship, e.g. +25 aliens, +8 terror units. To get the full compliment to attack your base, you need AT MINIMUM 2 hangars. (Unless you want aliens to spawn in general stores downstairs corridor). Four hangars guarantee maximum alien load if you use 15 soldiers and conservative loadouts. ''I usually defend with 10 guys, 2 tanks VS four hangars. LasR ''

==See Also==

*[[X-Com Base Terrain]]
*[[Base Layout Strategy]]

[[Category:Missions]]
[[Category: Tactics]]

Talk:External UFO Windows

2007-02-09T06:22:48Z

Boba:

Just to point out, in TFTD, this happens a LOT with the Triton and the aliens will make every attempt to shoot through the Triton via these gaps in the game's colision detection.

A X-Com UFO example would be the Lightning. But the Lightning compounds matters by having walls that don't ignore collision detection, so it won't stop bullets from flying into it.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

I've just seen something this happen inside a base. My flying scout could see into most of the upper control room, at the same level as him, through what appeared to be several squares of solid earth.

Maybe the programmers just forgot to detail the characteristics of the terrain on the upper level.

--[[User:Spike|Spike]] 03:59, 6 June 2006 (PDT)

I've noticed this myself with UFOs under these conditions:

On Medium/Large scouts (one level) if I have someone in a flying suit on level 1 approaching diagonally to one of the corners when they get within about 6-8 squares away the inside of the UFO is suddenly revealed, including spotting aliens inside!

On Adbductors you can see through the diagonal corner sections, but this is limited.

On Battleships it is possible to see deeply into much of the vessel, although I'm not fully sure which angle/level you have to approach from to do this.

I have noticed that if you stand next to a wall (either interior or exterior) and turn your soldier you can see specific squares inside exactly 2 squares in front of the soldier's facing.

External UFO Windows (in my experience) DO NOT ALLOW YOU TO SEE INSIDE. I have never been able to see more using an external window than from 'looking through' normal walls etc.

My theory is that if you approach from a different level of the map there is a 'gap' between the wall and the ceiling that the game engine allows you to see through. My experiences with Battleships give me cause to believe that this can also work from below, as well as above.
--[[User:Hot Logic|Hot Logic]] 19:53, 1 November 2006 (PST)

I think it has something to do with the diagonal squares which are half inside the ufo, half outside. Those squares are also susceptible to destruction in mountains or something.

Base Defence Systems

2007-02-09T06:09:18Z

Boba:

Aliens will soon start finding -- and attacking -- your bases. At your disposal are a number of measures you can use to prevent [[Base Defense|these attacks]] from taking place.

If you have enough space and don't mind building them, [[Missile Defences]] are the most cost-effective of the defensive base facilities. The odds of penetrating 12 missiles and a [[Grav Shield|grav shield]] are 30 to 1. On average, 30 battleships will be destroyed before one gets through. Such a system costs $3.7 million. For the same price, 3 [[Fusion Ball Defences|fusion ball defenses]] with a grav shield will offer only 9 to 1 protection. Each additional missile multiplies your base's longevity by about 2.4, while each additional fusion ball multiplies it by about 10.4. Fusion Balls are more compact, however. Plasmas and lasers are completely outclassed by missiles.

Once aliens have found your base, they will continue to attack it until one of their craft make it past your defensive measures, and the crew are beaten inside the base. Once this happens, they will have to locate the base again before resuming attacks. The base defense screen is boring and gets repetitive quickly, so many players opt to not pay maintenance on defensive measures and simply allow the aliens to land. Given the advantages you have when fighting in your own base (where you have a very good idea of where the alien units will begin and what the layout is), and the fact that an alien commander is always present for you to capture, having aliens arrive could be considered more of a bonus than anything.

To minimize the chance of your bases being found, it is advisable to quickly shoot down any Scout ships on a [[Alien Missions#Alien Retaliation|Retaliation]] mission. You will need a [[Hyper-Wave Decoder]] to know what type of mission the ship is on. A [[Battleship]] may show up later, but if the Scout failed to find your base, the Battleship will not know where it is either. If the Battleship heads directly towards your base at top speed, you have been discovered, and you must fight.

An "optimal" base defense system might simply be a [[Mind Shield]] (to prevent aliens from attacking in the first place) and a well armed legion of soldiers (to kick them out when they do). [[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]] units are valuable for base defense (as they don't have to worry about [[Psionics|psi attacks]]), but need to be accompanied by soldiers, or attacking aliens will destroy your base by default. Defending your bases is particularly easy if you have adopted a proper [[Base Layout Strategy|base layout strategy]].

Make sure you sell off excess items from your bases' [[General Stores]] periodically, to avoid the [[Known_Bugs#80-item_Limit|80-Item Limit]] bug. Many base-defense squads have found themselves armed with 80 [[Heavy Plasma]]s and not a single clip. Keeping ammo-free [[Laser Rifle]]s and [[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWPs]] on hand can reduce this problem, as they are at the top of the inventory list and are distributed first.

== Active Defense Facilities==

* [[Missile Defences]]
* [[Laser Defences]]
* [[Plasma Defences]]
* [[Fusion Ball Defences]]

==Passive Defense Facilities==

* [[Mind Shield]]
* [[Grav Shield]]

== See Also ==

*[[Base Defense]]

Exploits

2007-02-09T01:58:04Z

Boba: /* Extra Ammo Collection */ doesn't work on all versions

== To Do List ==
For writing up

* Free HWP ammo during base defense
* Phantom base radars (See temporary notes in [[User Talk:NKF | NKF:Talk]] for now)
* unit overcrowding preventing aliens from spawning in base defense
* Destroying unique alien type/rank combos by way of transfering to a throw-away base with a containment + lab (nothing else necessary), starting research on the uniques, dismantling base completely. Repeat ad infinitum. Not exactly a very exciting exploit, but a useful one to know.

== Alien Inventory Screen ==
When controlling an alien through [[Psionics]], you can't directly see their inventory by clicking the inventory button. (Where DO Sectoids keep their grenades, anyway?) However if you switch to a human soldier, and check his inventory, you can use the arrows in the top corner to cycle through your units - including your "new recruit". Be careful though, as the game will often stack all the equipment in one location - if you pick an item up with the cursor, you won't be able to return if to it's original location (as there is already something there), so you'd better have enough TUs to put it somewhere else!

This trick is handy for getting aliens to drop their grenades, as well as their weapon. If you're feeling particulary vindictive, you'll prime the explosive while you're at it.

It's also useful for giving an alien a different weapon, especially [[Pistol|peashooters]] which are harmless to armor but encourage the alien to do something other than shake in their boots during [[Reaction Training]].

== Faulty Collision Detection ==

The mystical art of moving solid objects through other solid objects.

=== Throw Through Ceilings ===

Most explosives (grenades, HE packs) can be chucked up through ceilings to land on the floor above. This is useful if you don't know where enemies are exactly, but you know where they are roughly. Use a big enough boomstick (HE rounds, pointed at ceiling) and you'll probably kill anyone in the vicinity of the blast.

=== Corner Tile Tricks ===

Diagonal exterior UFO tiles aren't a well-defined boundary. A grenade thrown onto the same square from outside will detonate inside the UFO. An unconscious volunteer thrown onto the same square from outside will awake inside the UFO. (Except if he's sharing the tile with a live grenade.) A Flying Suit can sometimes fly up into a UFO from beneath a diagonal overhang. 
 
Note: This trick will also work with any wall that occupies the entire tile - i.e. any tile with a wall that you cannot walk into. Almost all the sides of most X-COM troop transports consist of these, and all outer walls along the West and Northern sides of UFOs are made of these as well.

=== Walk Through Wall Trick ===

This trick ties in with the corner tile trick, as it makes use of any wall that occupies an entire tile. 
 
As mentioned, you can fly up into some walls. For soldiers that cannot fly, you can walk into these walls if your starting location is on a different elevation than the destination. 
 
For example, if you're standing on the second floor of a barn with a nearby wall shot-out that's just to the West of a [[Large Scout]]. If you stay on the same level and move your movement cursor to a point that would walk your soldier (assuming you could walk on air) to a spot just above one of the UFO outer hull walls. Then walk. Your soldier will walk, drop and then step right into the wall. From here, you can either walk into or out of the UFO as you please - or you can throw a high explosive right into the ship and take one step away to get behind the safety of the hull. 

=== Moving a Large Unit Up Stairs and Sinking it into A Wall ===
Tanks are built up of four units, which make up each of the quarter. The primary quarter, the part that has all the vital statistics, is the upper left or north-west quarter when viewed from the overhead map, or the topmost when viewed in the battlescape. 
 
When moving a tank up or down different elevations, mainly via stairs or dropping it off the edge of a wall, the game only uses the primary quarter for collision detection. So you can easily move a tank up narrow stairs (or through a narrow cave - but that's not related to this). 
 
If you move a tank off a northward facing ledge, the rest of the tank will sink into a wall (if there is one), and cause the tank to get stuck. This won't happen if the tank moves off a south facing ledge as the primary quarter will fall after the rest of the tank.

=== Seeing Through Ceilings ===

When a unit stands on raised terrain (such as a ramp), its head gets raised, bringing up its field of vision. This can allow you to see through the ceiling in some instances, for example, if a soldier stands on a barrow of hay his head may stick up high enough to let you see the contents of the upper floor.

== Infinite Fuel ==

This trick is great for saving Elerium-115. When you finish building a new ship, load it out with weapons (dual Plasma Cannons are recommended) and wait for it to have the "Ready" status. Then, transfer it to another base. Immediately after it arrives, tell it to go to a random point on the globe (preferably where you have no bases) and have it patrol in the area. Clicking on it will show that its fuel tank is 0% full. This ship will now have unlimited fuel until it returns to base. This works best on Firestorms, as they have the same number of guns as the Avengers yet cost less.

Note: After downing a UFO, this ship will automatically head back to base. Be sure to send it on patrol again before reaching base, or you will lose the unlimited fuel feature. Because of this, it helps to keep it patrolling as far away from its base as possible.

== Free Manufacturing ==

In the Workshop screen, choose an item to be manufactored, but assign no engineers to it. Also, make sure it's set to produce 0 of the item. Click OK, then go back and assign as many engineers as you want (preferably as many as possible). This time, change the quantity to 1. When the production is finished, you will have gotten one of the selected items--for free! Doing this with tanks and then selling them works wonders on your finances.

Note: Although it may be tempting to create fleets of free Avengers like this, you must still have adequate hangers, severely limiting your options. Still very useful, though!
 
 
''NKF Quick notes'':
* It doesn't matter if you assign engineers to a 0 item build project, because the engineers will be taken off the project anyway.
* In a similar but completely opposite vein, if you start a project with a certain number of items to build, the required cash for the first item (and perhaps materials) will instantly be taken from you. And if you cancel the project before the job is done, you will not be refunded. It's mainly a loss if you're low on resources, otherwise most players won't even notice the fact that the resources for the first item were never refunded. This doesn't happen if you start a 0 item build project, and then assign staff and a build amount later. This in effect makes the first item in the build list free.

== All Terror Missions During the Day ==

During the night, the aliens have a severe visability advantage over your soldiers. I'm sure every X-Com player has fallen victim to a night-time terror mission at least once. Those days are now over. When a Terror Mission comes up, simply equip a Skyranger with all the manpower and firepower you'll need to defeat the aliens, and have it patrol just beside your base. (Game) minutes before the hour changes (e.g. at 1:56), have the Skyranger target the Terror Site. After the hour changes (e.g. at 2:03), have the Skyranger patrol in place again. Repeat this before and after the hour changes until daylight. You see, Terror Sites only disappear on the hour, and they won't disappear if they're targetted by a craft. So if you make sure it's targeted as the hours change, you can stall for time until daylight!

Note: Or, you could just use Scott T Jones's wonderful tool known as Xcomutil. Running the RunXcomW.exe program allows you to make all missions in the light of day, regardless of actual game time. A lot easier to use Util. . .

== Grenades: Pass the Experience Trick ==
'''(Or who gets the experience when you "drop" a grenade)''' 
 
Some commanders may have noticed that a soldier that drops a primed grenade rather than throwing it will often not get credited for the damage or killed enemies. 
 
There is a very odd explanation for this. The game attaches an ownership to the grenades. It will rememeber who last threw the grenade so it can credit the right person with experience. Unfortunately, the game only assigns the ownership to a grenade ''after'' it has been thrown, but not when it's dropped or picked up. 
 
So who gets the experience if its dropped? All X-COM owned grenades, at the very start of the mission, default to the very first soldier on the transport, or the very first armoured weapons platform if you have one. This means that if a grenade is dropped rather than thrown, all experience goes towards the very first soldier in the list, or the tank. 
 
Can we move the ownership around and pass the experience to soldiers of our choice? Definitely! Just have the person you want to get the experience throw the grenade, then get someone else to carry and drop it to where it can be useful. Just remember to not throw it again. 
 
The method of deployment for these grenades will be left as a practical exercise to the commander. Be creative, or be heartless - it's all up to you! 
 
The biggest advantage of this unusual pass-the-experience technique would be to provide training for frail soldiers that would prove to be more of a detriment in combat than out of it - yet another reason for commanders to not sieve troops based on poor combat statistics.

== Mind Control Madness ==

Whenever you mind control another unit, it automatically returns to the alien side at the end of the aliens' turn. This is true even if you mind control a [[Civilian]].

While saving civilians leads to higher scores, "removing" them from play in this way then killing them off as aliens removes the risk of a score penalty should they be fall into trouble.

[[Gaining permanent control of a Chryssalid/Tentaculat]]

==Exponential Mind Control==
''Any'' creature with psionic skill can use a psionic amplifier. Therefore, you can take control of, say, an Ethereal and then toss it a psi-amp, use the alien inventory bug mentioned above, and have him pick it up. You can then use the Ethereal's psionic talents to take over other aliens. With the right application of psi-amp relay tosses and mind control, this can have an exponential effect.

An extreme case: I've used a squad of as little as three troopers (one mind controller, two psi-amp tossers) to take conquer a large scout's worth of aliens (on max difficulty) in one round.

Of course, by the time you've got troopers with sufficient psionic talent to overcome psi-capable aliens, you probably don't need this trick.
--[[User:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]] 23:47, 9 December 2005 (PST)

== Fire ==
===Just how does it work?===
NKF quick notes:
(I might be duplicating something here, but I'm just jotting these down quickly before I forget)

* Fire does two types of damage to units. Impact and damage over time.
** Damage Over time: Standing in fire or actually being on fire.
** Impact damage: The weirdest and most unusual damage of all.
*** Anyone standing in fire: Receives hit-point damage every time an incendiary shell explodes
*** Anyone standing in smoke: Same as above, but take stun damage instead of hit-point damage.
* Fire does a fixed amount of damage. The damage of an incendiary weapon only determines how large the spread of the fire will be. So an autocannon incendiary shell is just as powerful as an incendiary rocket -- the only difference is the blast area.
* Fire and Smoke use the same object table, and being limited, can get used up very quickly and attempts at producing more fire or smoke will not work. Incendiary impact damage will still work on any units in fire/smoke.
JFG adds: Please see my [[Incendiary]] topic

== The Numbers ==
More on this later.

'''Downright cheatin' - be warned!'''

== Helpless Tactical Mission ==

'''NB This doesn't work on the CE (Windows) version of UFO/TFTD - only the DOS version'''

The way this all works is based on the previous tactical in which you went really well and completed it. If the current tactical mission you are on does not go well, press CTRL-C. What has just happened is your current mission has ended with the results of the previous mission. That is, the score, items, corpses, Elerium, and stat increases are carried forward to this mission, from the last. Soldiers will get experience again even if they didn't come on this current mission and are back at base.

What is 'CTRL-C'?
 Xcom1 and Xcom2 are DOS games (disk operating system...not denial of service). A command used in DOS is "break" which is keyed in as CTRL-C. What this keypress does is halt the current process. Xcom1 & 2 have a failsafe to "crashing", by returning to the previous "good" process, which was a completed tactical mission.

How to Cheat?
 Setup:
 Do a tactical mission with a landed (not crashed) Battleship. Avoid using any weapons that consume ammo (including the tank) eg: use Laser Rifles instead. Make sure no soldiers die, or tanks. Don't use grenades, flares, etc. Try to do this mission in a 'bean counter' mindset. On the very last turn of the mission (you need to guess it) save your game in a new slot, and then don't overwrite it from here on. Now end the tactical mission normally and continue to play your game normally as well.

Using It:
 Later on when you do your next tactical mission and are able to move your guys off the craft, just press CRTL-C. The mission now ends with the results from the Battleship tactical mission.

Cautions:
 If you happen to complete a tactical mission by accident, or you abort the current mission, the results of this mission will be stored in the "MISSDAT" folder, overwriting automatically the previous tactical mission. To get your Battleship mission back, save the game '''RIGHT NOW''' in your usual spot (you should be back in geoscape view if you have just completed your mission). Load the Battleship mission, then end it. The mission results are now refreshed in the MISSDAT folder. Now load your game normally and keep playing. When you next play a tactical mission, just press CTRL-C.

Disclaimer:
 USE ONLY AT YOUR OWN RISK. Can corrupt data and such. UFOpedia.org, or myself are not responsible if this cheat blows up your computer or '''ANYTHING''' else.

[Amr40]-some how the game logged me doing this and after i had done it three time it sent a battleship to my base everytime I clicked on a time speed other than 5 sec's. Can i have confirmation that this happens to anyone else or is it just my version?

== Free Wages ==

At the end of the month, all your soldiers, scientists and engineers collect their pay checks. Unless, of course, they are in transit between bases, in which case they are unable to reach the guy holding their paychecks before he closes up shop.

That is to say, the game forgets to add them to your monthly expenses.

The trick here is to have labs and workshops in two bases, and just before each month ends, relocate your staff. They can start working as soon as they arrive, and you don't have to pay them - saving you anywhere up to several million dollars each month.

This trick does not appear to work with leased aircraft (Interceptor, SkyRanger). Whilst being transferred, the costs of these aircraft disappear from the Base Information - Monthly Costs screens. However, if the end of month occurs while the aircraft are being transferred, the lease costs are still deducted from the XCom funds.

== Fog of War Scouting ==

The 3D cursor shows the terrain inside it, regardless of whether you have explored the tile or not. While the obscure shapes shown don't mean much to novice players, veterans will soon recognise tiles, and then the map segments they are native to. For example, you can easily find a UFO by looking for the destinctive wall patterns, and the power supply in the center. Or, you could use this to bombard locations such as command centers, or places you know aliens spawn at the beginning of play, with early Blaster Bombs.

== Extra Ammo Collection ==

In some versions of the game, any clips in weapons at the end of combat are discarded, unless they have not been used at all. If you unload all weapons, then ALL clips will be added to your stores.

== Dead Man Switches ==

Grenades will only detonate when they are on the ground and when their timer has counted down. Timers will continue to count down regardless of location, but if the grenade is not on the ground, it will not explode. This means that you can set all the grenades to a time of "0" at the beginning of play, or at an earlier turn, and throw them when it's tactically feasible.

This is a double-edged sword, however, because should a unit fall dead or unconcious the grenade will hit the ground and promptly take out anything in the near vicinity... which may (or may not) work to your advantage. This tactic encourages keeping your troops far apart. If you anticipate the soldier will have a very high chance of being killed, it may be wise to use the "pass the experience" trick as described earlier before handing the soldier an armed grenade.

Proximity mines can be defused by saving, quitting the game, restarting it then reloading the game. You can still drop on top of them with a flying suit, or by dropping from a hole in the roof in order to safely pick them up.

==My Pet Alien==

When in a situation where large terror units exist (ie Cyberdics, Reapers or Sectopods), there is a handly glitch that I noticed. Mind Control the unit by taking over only one quadrant of the creature - use the time units to kill other aliens or scout the area. Once they've run out, mind control another quadrant and do the same all over again. This can be repeated until all four quadrants have been MC'd (or the unit goes crazy and shoots itself - whichever comes sooner!)

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]