UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Talk:Unconscious

2008-10-08T04:43:20Z

Brunpal: /* Exploitation? */ "no" to MC's question

I can't think of anywhere else to put this.

A thought occurred to me late last night. I doubt that the Gollop brothers actually went this far, but it'd be interesting to see if there is anything like this in the game.

X-COM units stun alien units to bring them back to base alive, to interrogate them and learn more about the alien threat.

If alien units successfully manage to knock X-COM units unconscious, and either the mission fails or the mission is aborted, leaving the stunned soldiers behind, do the aliens take the stunned units back and interrogate them (using psionics?) to try and learn the location of X-COM bases?

Like I said, I doubt this is in the game but it'd be a damn good thing to have in any remake. -- [[User:GazChap|GazChap]] 14:54, 1st August 2006 (BST)

== Moving bodies, and where do you wake up? ==

I know that stunned units being carried that wake up naturally will wake up next to the person who was carrying the body. But I have this vague recollection that there was some trick where you could move an unconscious body, but it would wake up where it was stunned (i.e waking up at the unit's last known coordinates, not the coordinates for the item representing the body). I really can't remember the particulars, but I've seen it happen. I'll have to run a few experiments and see if I can replicate it. Not sure if it can be used as an exploit though. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 21:33, 13 November 2007 (PST)

On second though, I can't seem to replicate it. The experience I had was that I picked up a stunned alien, then did something with it... oh hang on. Now I remember. I moved the body, then blew it up with a grenade. The corpse of the alien instead showed up where I'd originally picked it up. The game must replace the temporary unconscious body (with reference to the live unit) with a new corpse item. Instead, what happened was that the corpse was created at the unitref coordinates (which won't update when the unconscious body is moved about until it wakes up), not the coordinates of the temporary body item. Yes, that explains my vague recollection! So, no, not useful at all as an exploit. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:10, 13 November 2007 (PST)

== Exploitation? ==
Could it be poossible to use the bug listed here to keep any 1x1 alien indefintately unconscious? This would be are major help for long missions (terror, large/very large ships, alien bases, and retaliation). -[[User:Muton commander|Muton commander]]

:To be honest, outside of Terror Units, there's no 1x1 alien that poses any threat if it wakes up from stun. They'll have dropped all their weapons and grenades, and the AI has no code to ever pick items up. Annoying to hunt down, sure, but not dangerous. If it's really an issue, if you know an alien has been stunned and you don't want it to wake up, either pick up all the gear you want and run away, or toss the body into a corner, and then drop a grenade on the body. Works every time. (If it's an alien you want to remain stunned, they probably should be watched by someone anyways, or carried around or back to the dropship.) If absolutely necessary, you can even revive a stunned alien with use of Stimulants from a [[Medi-Kit]] and then 'finish the job.' (Difficult with aliens stunned by [[Small Launcher]]s, but in my experience any alien who knocks himself out with one of those suckers isn't gonna be waking up any time soon anyways.) [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 19:14, 5 October 2008 (CDT)

::Other than the 1x1 terror units, [[Ethereal]]s and other Psi using aliens can still be threat if they wake up. 4x4 terror units never wake up (bug?). I would never grenade unconscious bodies on purpose. That's a waste of a $20,000 corpse. They aren't a threat and aliens that later wake up are useful for experience training when you decide to put them down for the count.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 17:28, 6 October 2008 (CDT)

:Point on the Psi, I considered that after posting, but figured most people can put that piece together. As I noted, though, if you have Medi-Kits, you can use the Stimulants to wake the alien back up and then blast it then. As for corpses, yeah, it can be an issue, but really, Laser Cannons are more profitable. Alien corpses are actually only low-mid level in value of items in a mission; any alien weapon is worth far more(though not the ammo). Alloys and Elerium also sell for less, but have their own uses. The Heavy Plasma the alien was probably carrying is worth 8.5 times(9 times if its got a clip) as much as the corpse. I guess my opinion is that if the only way you can make ends meet in X-COM is by selling alien corpses, you're doing something wrong. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 19:15, 6 October 2008 (CDT)

:: Two really quick notes: 1) Chryssalids 2) There's no purpose in destroying a corpse. Although I take it we're talking about an unconscious body. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:15, 6 October 2008 (CDT)

:I did say non-terror units. ;) Stunned Chryssalids should be grenaded, no question. Same with stunned Celatids. Stunned Silacoids aren't usually a problem, though. And no, there's no purpose destroying an already-dead corpse, but if you grenade a stunned alien(instead of killing it after waking it up) there's no body, and thus no $20,000 corpse to sell. Although as I said, I don't think this is a valid reason to not kill a stunned Psi-capable alien, or anyone else you don't want wandering around behind your lines. Your financial situation should be healthier than that. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 23:20, 6 October 2008 (CDT)

: Sorry about his, but this had gone off topic. I wanted to see if an unconscious unti that wakes up in a hand slot could be kept unconscious by placing in your backpack. [[User:Muton commander|Muton commander]] 18:46, 7 October 2008 (CDT)

::Nope, it can still wake up. I assumed you meant backpack as there is a bug with an alien that wakes up from a hand slot. It crashes the game. Only way I know if to keep an alien unconscious is by shooting their body with small launchers. They still take stun damage but doesn't harm the items (and the body is now classed as an item.) That's not indefinite, but will last the rest of the mission.

::If you are after a way to exploit unconsciousness, take all your sleeping aliens and put all except one close to one another, but not in the same square. Preferably in a corner or room where they can't get by you. When they wake up, shoot them with a small launcher for firing accuracy experience. As long as there is one alien still on his feet, the level will never end. Boring, but only way I know of to exploit the mechanic.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 23:43, 7 October 2008 (CDT)

Talk:Unconscious

2008-10-06T22:28:54Z

Brunpal: /* Exploitation? */ na. don't blow up unconcious aliens. let them wake up then shoot them

Talk:Rifle

2008-10-02T08:22:53Z

Brunpal: split this page

I suggest this page is split into different pages. I'm seeing at least three separate ideas presented here, so how about 3 pages? 1) comparison of rifle to laser pistol, 2) general analysis of % to hit per turn by calculating miss %, 3) Project to redo the game mechanics to balance the weapons into niches, and 4'ish) stuff to be folded into the main [[Rifle]] page. I have no idea about page names. except I vote "Rifle" for the last one.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 03:22, 2 October 2008 (CDT)

==Rifle vs Laser Pistol?==

Do Rifles offer any advantages at all relative to [[Laser Pistol]]s, once you get Laser Pistols? In Snap fire, the Rifle has 20% more net accuracy (accuracy x rate of fire), but the Laser Pistol has over 50% more damage per hit. In Auto mode, the Laser Pistol has about twice the net accuracy, plus the same damage advantage (which is even more important if the target has good armour). The only advantage for a Rifle would seem to be for Aimed fire against a lightly armoured target. But how often do we really use Aimed fire? Personally, I just use continuous snap fire instead - if I get lucky, I have some spare TUs to use on other tasks. Probably I would only use Aimed fire if a friendly unit was very near to the target.

The other suggestion that was made in the text is to use Rifles to train up firing accuracy, because of the greater likelihood of a hit. This is true in the early game, but even for this role, the Laser Pistol will create more successful hits per turn (in Snap or Auto) and without ever running out of ammunition.

On top of this, of course, is the fact that a Laser Pistol gives you unlimited ammunition for one item slot, compared to 20 shots for 2 slots with the Rifle. In extended battles, you will run out of Rifle ammo and so spare clips are needed, eating further into the 80 item limit. Plus you have the advantage vs Sectopods and the relative advantage versus AP-resistant aliens. There seem to be no down-sides to the Laser Pistol.

So, in conclusion, do we throw away Rifles as fast as we get Laser Pistols, or is there some other reason for keeping Rifles around? For the time being, I am just going to carry one or two, probably in backpacks, for the occasional long range Aimed shot. And yet, I have the nagging feeling that my soldiers were more effective with Rifles than with laser pistols, especially at longer ranges. Is that just my imagination? [[User:Spike|Spike]] 13:56, 21 September 2008 (PDT)

:You can CHOOSE TO throw away Rifles as soon as you get Laser Pistols, yes. The Laser Pistol is overall better in most areas(though it is the least accurate weapon in the game in all categories.) The Laser Pistol is in the tech tree between a good weapon and a better weapon. It's hard to use effectively with fresh troops(though vets with Laser Pistols can be SCARY) and you often don't need the extra punch it provides right when you get it.

:As such, the Laser Pistol is intended to serve much the same role as the [[Pistol]] and [[Plasma Pistol]]: a specialist weapon that fits on the belt that can easily by toted by troopers carrying lots of rockets or other large items, or has to carry something in their other hand ([[Psi-Amp]], [[Medi-Kit]], [[Motion Scanner]], or [[Blaster Launcher|another weapon]]) and doesn't want an accuracy penalty. (And in the case of the Plasma Pistol, one that also is acceptably accurate and packs quite a punch.)

:The main thing the Laser Pistol does in most games is allows the player to quickly gain access to the [[Laser Rifle]]. The Laser Rifle is one of the best weapons in the game and makes the [[Rifle]] obsolete, offering all the advantages of a Laser Pistol and also topping or matching the Rifle in speed in all categories and topping it in accuracy outside of Aimed mode(which as you noted is rarely used).

:One thing that should be noted about weapons is you shouldn't upgrade automatically unless the benefits are clearly insurmountable. If you don't need the extra kick of the Laser Pistol to kill the current aliens, you shouldn't be using them as standard equipment.

:But my summed up opinion is as follows: Unless you're having trouble killing aliens, skip the Laser Pistol except as a replacement for [[Pistol]]s and go straight for the Laser Rifle to replace the [[Rifle]] as standard gear. (I expect NKF to disagree.) [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 14:46, 21 September 2008 (PDT)

:: I loves my precious. However I don't quite disagree. Laser rifles are better immediate replacements for the rifle in general, although in the interim, I'd actually replace them with the basic pistol right away, since I want the rapid snapshots and the other hand free for grenades. The pistol and rifle share the same snap accuracy and trade off minimal damage for an extra shot (i.e. more damage overall, better reactions and somewhat better mobility). The loss of autoshot firepower is made up by the grenades and my dedicated rocket launcher. But at the start, it's really up to you what you want to use as your primary weapon set, just as long as you can comfortably handle cyberdiscs when they show up.

:: By the way, laser pistols do NOT fare well against sectopods with standard armour. Please trust me on that one! -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:16, 21 September 2008 (PDT)

=== Laser Pistol Wins- BIG! ===
[[Laser Pistol]]s are far FAR better than standard [[Rifle]]s '''''all''' the time''. This is due to "shots per TU" and cumulative probability. Just use auto all the time.

Shot per shot, rifles are more accurate, but Laser pistols get more shots into the air for the same TU. To be fair you have to factor that in. For example, 1 aimed shot on a rifle is 80% of TU, vs 1 aimed and one auto for a Laser pistol for the same 80% TU. In most cases the laser pistol has a greater chance of connecting with '''ONE''' of those shots because you can shoot so many extra times.
Hit =1-[{(%Chance of auto MISS)^3 } X {%Chance of snap MISS}]

For example:
A solider with 40% accuracy with any weapon has a:
*56.0% chance of missing with ONE shot from an aimed rifle, and a '''44.0%''' chance of hitting ONCE.
*53.2% chance of missing with ALL FOUR shots and a '''46.8%''' chance of hitting ONCE out of 4 attempts.
However there is no reason to aim with the laser pistol since aiming sucks... so spending 75% of TU for 9 shots fired on auto:
*34.3% chance of missing with ALL NINE shots and a '''65.7%''' chance of hitting ONCE out of 9 attempts.

You can see always compare 9 attempts (75% of TU) to connect with the laser pistol on auto vs firing a single aimed shot from the rifle (80% of TU) including the 110% bonus for rifle aiming. Here are the chances of hitting just a single time with those 2 options:
*@40% accuracy = 44.0% rifle VS 65.7% laser pistol
*@50% accuracy = 55.0% rifle VS 74.3% laser pistol
*@60% accuracy = 66.0% rifle VS 80.9% laser pistol
*@70% accuracy = 77.0% rifle VS 89.8% laser pistol
*@80% accuracy = 88.0% rifle VS 92.7% laser pistol
*@90% accuracy = 99.0% rifle VS 94.8% laser pistol
It doesn't matter how the % of accuracy is arrived at. It's the [[Accuracy formula]] excluding "b" (b= weapon type).

As you can 9 shots on auto from a laser pistol is better than a standard rifle. If the soldier has 90% accuracy then he has a 2.1% greater chance to hit. However the laser pistol is still better because of the other benefits such as;
*unlimited ammo,
*5% TU benefit,
*TU available for reaction shot,
*no -20% 2-handed penalty,
*no clip for the 80-item limit
*PLUS the other 8 shots that miss might remove cover or might hit a 2nd alien.

'''Laser pistols win hands down.''' It's so good I prefer it as my primary weapon for all of the game. In early game it's the best choice on a statistical basis, but in late game I still use them because of [[Experience Training]]. I still carry [[Heavy Plasma]]s in backpacks but rarely use them because I ''want'' to put multiple shots into a single alien. [[Sectopod]]s are a good example when I DON'T use a LP. A 4x4 wall of soldiers in flying suits with laser pistols is nasty.

BTW: In case someone wants to use/check my data, here is a spreadsheet:
*[[Media:Laser pistol vs rifle probablities.xls]]
If someone wants to play around checking other weapons or making graphs etc, go nuts. Only 6 cells have data so it's easy to throw in stats for other weapons. I never bothered since I don't use the other laser or plasma weapons due to research reasons rather than stats reasons.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 18:28, 24 September 2008 (PDT)

:Wow...NKF, I think you have competition. You might even have been dethroned. EDIT: Thanks, I actually forgot for once. Thanks. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 18:39, 24 September 2008 (PDT)

:: I remember a time when people made jokes about the laser pistol and mocked it as being no better than a paper weight or simply as something useless to arm cannon fodder with. I'm really glad I went through the whole convoluted series of events that resulted in me me adopting it as my all-time favourite weapon. I admit it is not always the right tool for every occasion. As you can see by the numbers - it actually has far better potential than the weapon stats appear to suggest.

:: The laser pistol should pretty much always be fired on auto, and reaction fire. Any other mode of fire is wasteful - hence why I alluded to the submachine gun analogy back in one of the earlier drafts of the [[Laser Pistol|LP]] article. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 22:42, 24 September 2008 (PDT)

: I pretty much accept everyone's arguments above. To rephrase my original question - if Laser Pistols were the most advanced weapon you currently possessed, and you had enough of them to arm all your troops, would there be '''any reason''' to give '''any''' of your troops a Rifle (or a Pistol) - even just carried in a backpack? Putting it another way, is there ever a tactical situation where a single accurate shot or burst is more important than total firepower over the whole turn? I mentioned the situation where friendlies are near the target. Another possibility might be if the alien has high reactions/TUs and you really need that "first shot assured kill".

: By the way, NKF, I added your submachinegun point to the LP article. Presumably you would '''not''' prefer Pistols over Rifles if you were fighting Snakemen or Mutons? - the armour penalties make the damage difference quite important with those races. And point taken about Sectopods. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:41, 26 September 2008 (PDT)

:: I'd originally written it as submachine gun, but hadn't realized it had been changed until you changed it back.

::I wouldn't worry too much about Snakemen - they fall easily to pistol rounds. It's their Chryssalid pals that really need the extra firepower that the pistols and rifles don't provide. Mutons and Ethereals have the advantage of protection and lots of health. The pistol is still good for general leisurely potshots on weaker aliens as you don't always need tons of firepower; It's a great way to show off. Of course, a single laser pistol can wipe out an entire alien base, so I'd agree that it is much more efficient.

::If anyone hasn't tried it before, it's worth trying a game where you use the three pistols as your primary firearms. It's quite interesting, although the weird pistol arming bug can be quite a nuisance at times when it occurs. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 15:10, 26 September 2008 (PDT)

Any reason to arm troops with regular [[Pistol]]? A: Yes- [[Experience Training]] and giving love taps to aliens in the hopes of stunning them without killing them (assuming no small launcher).
Regular [[Rifle]]? A: No. None that I can think of. Any situation I can think of where I'd rather have a rifle, I'd prefer to have a different weapon like a rocket launcher, auto-cannon, heavy cannon. In all tactical situations the standard rifle is at best a 2nd choice given [[Laser Pistol]]s and other standard weapons. (Maybe in the specific case of having enough STR to carry a rifle, but not enough STR to carry an auto-cannon... but that's a small range of STR and I don't micromanage solider equip to that degree to know the breakpoint while I'm playing.) BTW I've had rifle shots bounce off lowly sectoids so "first shot assured kill" can't apply because even an assured hit is not an assured kill with a rifle.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 00:00, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

=== Save The Rifle From Extinction ===

:Hmm, since it's been clearly established that the pistol owns the rifle any day, what can you think of that would reestablish a bit of balance? For long range firing, there is no question that a rifle should win over a pistol. A crude solution would be to add a "target out of range" message when trying to fire too far with a pistol; this would make the pistol good for indoor situation (assault teams), and make rifles good for peeking aliens in the distance by sweep teams. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 01:51, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

:::Not crazy about that, but it is simple. I like Seb76's ideas from the wish list talk page more. You should talk to him. ;-) --~~

Prior to getting Laser Pistols, I give Rifles to everyone is capable of doing reaction fire, and everyone else gets heavy weapons (AutoCannon, RocketLauncher, HeavyCannon) - or at least everyone who is strong enough. This is because I don't see the point of loading AP rounds into heavy weapons and I don't want the risk of "friendly fire" from doing reaction fire with HE rounds. The only situation where I think differently is on a Terror mission, when I may need to single out aliens from nearby civilians. In those situation I used to issue more Rifles. But then I got cynical and decided it's better just to kill all the aliens and clear cover with maximum firepower, and let the Public Relations division blame any civilian casualties on the aliens.

After reading NKF's and Brunpal's points I went back to my Firepower spreadsheet and tweaked it to reflect the assumption that weapon Damage level isn't very important for lightly armoured targets (Sectoids and Floaters). If you assume damage is unimportant (probably true since only a few points of penetrating damage causes massive Health loss), the Pistol actually does beat the Rifle hands down in all situations - as NKF has been telling us for ages! So then, as Seb76 points out, there is a game balance problem - the Rifle goes the way of the Dodo and the Heavy Laser. That's not good. It would be nice to get a generic solution to buff all the long-range weapons - Rifle and Heavy Laser.

(There is also the slightly related problem that Aimed Fire isn't efficient. Pretty much across the board, the efficiency ratio, accuracy::TUs used, is worse with Aimed Fire than with Snap Fire. Snap Fire is the most efficient. That's a pretty basic game design flaw, and hard to fix. Definitely it is good to apply Seb76's mod for non-visible targets, as that mod shifts the balance back toward Aimed Fire. This mod also very slightly buffs Rifles relative to Pistols, since in Aimed Fire Pistols are less superior to Rifles - but still superior.)

I can't really see a way of correcting this Rifle obsolescence problem, other than coding in an "effective range" limit for pistol-type weapons (6 tiles?) and then applying a rule similar to the out-of-visual range rule. This could be an additional reduction, that applies as well as any out-of-visual range rule. It would be good to encourage (/force) Aimed Fire for pistol-type weapons beyond a certain "effective range". The penalties might need to be quite high, since for example with the Pistol there is only an 18% base accuracy gain from using Aimed Fire, which is quickly eroded by a 2% per tile linear penalty. Probably these accuracy reductions need to be multiplied with the base accuracy, and not subtracted from it, otherwise there may be some perverse results. Maybe for simplicity, for "effective range" use the same 3 breakpoints Seb76 proposed in [[Talk:Wish_list#Decrease_Accuracy_for_targets_out_of_sight|this discussion]] for out-of-visual range fire (7 tiles / 15 tiles / infinity) for pistol weapons, standard weapons, and special "long range" weapons (Rifle, Laser Rifle, Heavy Laser). [[User:Spike|Spike]] 11:35, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

PS @NKF: Vs Snakeman or Muton armour (18-20), in close-range combat, Rifles on Auto dish 60% more penetrating damage per average turn than Pistols. Does the freer use of grenades etc really compensate for that? [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:07, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

: Definitely - I've always lumped the Snakemen into the same category as Sectoids and Floaters. Lightweights. In fact, due to their lower TUs (compensated slightly by their sliding across terrain), they're probably one of the easier aliens to fight. Granted, their combat skills are better.

: Seb76, I think the introduction of the accuracy drop-off in your loader is a good start at rebalancing the rifle. If it wasn't for that nerfed aimed shot cost and damage combo, the rifle's not that bad a weapon. In fact, even as it is I'd much rather have it for short range combat than the standard pistol. The pistols are banking on the fact that even though they may be low in accuracy and damage in general, they get to fire at that same accuracy from any range and at a slightly faster firing rate than most other weapons. However, I feel that if the pistols were toned down too much, then they'd truly become useless, as unlike a weapon like the heavy plasma that is too much of a good thing, the pistols are still fairly balanced thanks to their lower damage levels.

: I'm finding it amusing that the pistols are starting to take a turn for the better considering they're the most often ignored weapons. Who knows, maybe the plasma pistol might come back in favour too. By the way: Just to be clear, I've always considered the basic pistol to be the rifle's compliment rather than rival. One excels in auto and aimed (short/long range), while the other excels in snap (mid range). Just pick the one that fits the style of fighting you wish to use. The laser pistol however sits in a class of its own. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 13:31, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

::One thing the standard Rifle offers is the largest clip of any purchasable weapon. Beyond that, for damage, Brunpal, that's bound to happen. Damage for firearms against living creatures is randomly 0-200% of the damage listed in the UFOpaedia, so invariably it will happen that even the mighty Heavy Plasma will fail to drop something. In one run of [[User_talk:Arrow_Quivershaft#1_Mission_X-COM|One Mission X-COM]], I had a rookie soldier in coveralls soak up '''SIX''' shots from alien plasma weaponry and still be on her feet. Though then another alien decided to shoot at her again and the seventh shot did put her down for good. I did get to put her life to good use, though...the aliens spent so many TUs killing her that the remainder of her squad was able to bloody them rather significantly on the X-COM turn. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 18:15, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

:::Generally think about the strengths and weaknesses of weapons in real life first. ''Then'' figure out how to translate that into the game. For example when I think of "heavy" weapons I think of brownings and chain fed machine guns. Those are fired from the hip, and near impossible to aim unless you are laying down on the ground. Plus they suck at fine tuning except with tracer rounds. They are near impossible to fire one bullet. Translating all that into game mechanics that means to me that they should have a huge TU for a snap shot, a tiny TU for auto, reduced accuracy at close range, terrible reaction shots if you have to turn, get big benefits for kneeling, and huge energy cost for aimed while standing. Hell, a solider should have a ''reduced'' accuracy if trying to aim a heavy while standing. They are trying to lift a heavy browning to their eyeline when it's designed to be fired from hip and the weight held by a shoulder strap.

:::Personally I'm fine with weapons being "clear winners" across the board rather than each weapon having a niche. There is a reason why so many use AK-47s in war, and not M1 Garants nor crossbows. A laser pistol could be a superior weapon because it's light, has no recoil and a solider can simply hold down the trigger forever. Imagine if a one hand fully automatic that never runs out of ammo existed in real life. It would be like a wii remote in ease of use with as much stopping power as the biggest hardware used by Rambo. It's hard to imagine a better all purpose weapon. Sometimes new tech is a great idea on paper and useless in the field (heavy laser I'm looking at you). New weapon tech replaces old and gets widespread adoption... if it's better.

:::But I can also see a reason why gamers want to balance weapons across each other. Makes the game more interesting. On that note here are some ideas I had that I haven't seen mentioned yet:
:::*Remove auto from Laser Pistol. (It's only good because it can fire 12 shots a turn.)
:::*Reduce accuracy per shot fired past the first. ie: First attack (including all 3 shots on auto) fires at normal accuracy. Then multiply an accuracy reduction against the next attack (mechanic like if the solider was getting increasingly wounded). Fire again and get yet another penalty that stacks. Recoil sucks.
:::*Put a maximum number of times a weapon can be fired per turn to a small number like just twice. So a laser pistol only uses 20% of TU, but you can only get off 2 shots (6 on auto). The 60% of TU left cannot be used for weapon fire.
:::*Redo TU and/or energy costs so weapons have the best efficiency for the mode that seems appropriate. IE pistols become best at snap shots, rifles at aimed, and heavy at auto. (Rifles would have a max of 50% TU on aimed so they could get 2 shots off.)
:::*Play with energy costs. Auto costs a lot of energy so you can't do a full spread every round. Aimed gives back energy.
:::*Bump up rifle accuracy for aimed shots past 110%.
:::*Change accuracy at point blank. Decrease it for heavy, increase it for pistols.
:::*Change bonus accuracy from kneeling based on weapon class rather than 120% standard. Increase it more for rifles and heavies, and less for pistols.
:::*Do away with a base bonus for kneeling entirely. Give a bonus based on kneeling + weapon class + firing type. IE pistols get almost nothing from kneeling in all modes. Aimed gets a lot.
:::*Change clip size and firing rate along with accuracy. For example, give clips of 100-200 to heavy plasma. Auto fires 10-20 shots instead of 3. Figure out the % chance you want to hit with ONE bullet and work backwards to something reasonable later. (For example a 10% accuracy per shot ends up with a a nice probability curve of one hit with a 15 shot burst.) ''<bbbbrrrpppt!>'' Friendlies be advised: Don't get caught within the cone of inaccuracy. {hit curve=45.8%|53.7%|60.5%|66.3%|71.4%|75.7%|79.4%}

:::If you are hardcore about balancing weapons into niches, my suggestion is to first make a matrix of-
:::-the 3 weapon classes, (pistol, rifle, heavy)
:::-the 3 firing options,
:::-kneeling,
:::-%TU cost,
:::-energy cost
:::-ability to react
:::-accuracy ''of one hit per turn''
:::Then figure out if it should be very good, good, average, bad, or terrible ''first'' then worry about how that translates into in game stats '''''later'''''.
:::BTW: Even though the [[Laser Pistol]] is a clear winner against everything but [[Heavy Plasma]], I still think the weapons are balanced. Why do I say that? Consider how many years and how many games of X-Com you've played. The status of Laser pistol vs rifle is suddenly new info. Can't be that unbalancing or it would have been common knowledge. ;-) --[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 23:21, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

Excellent suggestions,
both in detail and for the high-level approach. Actually the Laser Pistol vs Rifle dilemma has been bugging me since I first started playing - I built Laser Pistols to give my Engineers something to do while waiting
for Laser Rifles, and right away they seemed very powerful. Now, at a high level, what I think needs to be done is to widen the distinction between pistols and rifles - pistols effective only at short range, rifles superior at medium and long ranges. I agree though that when a new class of weapons (eg Laser) comes along, it is ok if the new weapons makes the older ones obsolete. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 03:51, 28 September 2008 (PDT)

Talk:Rifle

2008-09-28T06:21:16Z

Brunpal: /* Save The Rifle From Extinction */ ideas to rework the weapon system

==Rifle vs Laser Pistol?==

Do Rifles offer any advantages at all relative to [[Laser Pistol]]s, once you get Laser Pistols? In Snap fire, the Rifle has 20% more net accuracy (accuracy x rate of fire), but the Laser Pistol has over 50% more damage per hit. In Auto mode, the Laser Pistol has about twice the net accuracy, plus the same damage advantage (which is even more important if the target has good armour). The only advantage for a Rifle would seem to be for Aimed fire against a lightly armoured target. But how often do we really use Aimed fire? Personally, I just use continuous snap fire instead - if I get lucky, I have some spare TUs to use on other tasks. Probably I would only use Aimed fire if a friendly unit was very near to the target.

The other suggestion that was made in the text is to use Rifles to train up firing accuracy, because of the greater likelihood of a hit. This is true in the early game, but even for this role, the Laser Pistol will create more successful hits per turn (in Snap or Auto) and without ever running out of ammunition.

On top of this, of course, is the fact that a Laser Pistol gives you unlimited ammunition for one item slot, compared to 20 shots for 2 slots with the Rifle. In extended battles, you will run out of Rifle ammo and so spare clips are needed, eating further into the 80 item limit. Plus you have the advantage vs Sectopods and the relative advantage versus AP-resistant aliens. There seem to be no down-sides to the Laser Pistol.

So, in conclusion, do we throw away Rifles as fast as we get Laser Pistols, or is there some other reason for keeping Rifles around? For the time being, I am just going to carry one or two, probably in backpacks, for the occasional long range Aimed shot. And yet, I have the nagging feeling that my soldiers were more effective with Rifles than with laser pistols, especially at longer ranges. Is that just my imagination? [[User:Spike|Spike]] 13:56, 21 September 2008 (PDT)

:You can CHOOSE TO throw away Rifles as soon as you get Laser Pistols, yes. The Laser Pistol is overall better in most areas(though it is the least accurate weapon in the game in all categories.) The Laser Pistol is in the tech tree between a good weapon and a better weapon. It's hard to use effectively with fresh troops(though vets with Laser Pistols can be SCARY) and you often don't need the extra punch it provides right when you get it.

:As such, the Laser Pistol is intended to serve much the same role as the [[Pistol]] and [[Plasma Pistol]]: a specialist weapon that fits on the belt that can easily by toted by troopers carrying lots of rockets or other large items, or has to carry something in their other hand ([[Psi-Amp]], [[Medi-Kit]], [[Motion Scanner]], or [[Blaster Launcher|another weapon]]) and doesn't want an accuracy penalty. (And in the case of the Plasma Pistol, one that also is acceptably accurate and packs quite a punch.)

:The main thing the Laser Pistol does in most games is allows the player to quickly gain access to the [[Laser Rifle]]. The Laser Rifle is one of the best weapons in the game and makes the [[Rifle]] obsolete, offering all the advantages of a Laser Pistol and also topping or matching the Rifle in speed in all categories and topping it in accuracy outside of Aimed mode(which as you noted is rarely used).

:One thing that should be noted about weapons is you shouldn't upgrade automatically unless the benefits are clearly insurmountable. If you don't need the extra kick of the Laser Pistol to kill the current aliens, you shouldn't be using them as standard equipment.

:But my summed up opinion is as follows: Unless you're having trouble killing aliens, skip the Laser Pistol except as a replacement for [[Pistol]]s and go straight for the Laser Rifle to replace the [[Rifle]] as standard gear. (I expect NKF to disagree.) [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 14:46, 21 September 2008 (PDT)

:: I loves my precious. However I don't quite disagree. Laser rifles are better immediate replacements for the rifle in general, although in the interim, I'd actually replace them with the basic pistol right away, since I want the rapid snapshots and the other hand free for grenades. The pistol and rifle share the same snap accuracy and trade off minimal damage for an extra shot (i.e. more damage overall, better reactions and somewhat better mobility). The loss of autoshot firepower is made up by the grenades and my dedicated rocket launcher. But at the start, it's really up to you what you want to use as your primary weapon set, just as long as you can comfortably handle cyberdiscs when they show up.

:: By the way, laser pistols do NOT fare well against sectopods with standard armour. Please trust me on that one! -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:16, 21 September 2008 (PDT)

=== Laser Pistol Wins- BIG! ===
[[Laser Pistol]]s are far FAR better than standard [[Rifle]]s '''''all''' the time''. This is due to "shots per TU" and cumulative probability. Just use auto all the time.

Shot per shot, rifles are more accurate, but Laser pistols get more shots into the air for the same TU. To be fair you have to factor that in. For example, 1 aimed shot on a rifle is 80% of TU, vs 1 aimed and one auto for a Laser pistol for the same 80% TU. In most cases the laser pistol has a greater chance of connecting with '''ONE''' of those shots because you can shoot so many extra times.
Hit =1-[{(%Chance of auto MISS)^3 } X {%Chance of snap MISS}]

For example:
A solider with 40% accuracy with any weapon has a:
*56.0% chance of missing with ONE shot from an aimed rifle, and a '''44.0%''' chance of hitting ONCE.
*53.2% chance of missing with ALL FOUR shots and a '''46.8%''' chance of hitting ONCE out of 4 attempts.
However there is no reason to aim with the laser pistol since aiming sucks... so spending 75% of TU for 9 shots fired on auto:
*34.3% chance of missing with ALL NINE shots and a '''65.7%''' chance of hitting ONCE out of 9 attempts.

You can see always compare 9 attempts (75% of TU) to connect with the laser pistol on auto vs firing a single aimed shot from the rifle (80% of TU) including the 110% bonus for rifle aiming. Here are the chances of hitting just a single time with those 2 options:
*@40% accuracy = 44.0% rifle VS 65.7% laser pistol
*@50% accuracy = 55.0% rifle VS 74.3% laser pistol
*@60% accuracy = 66.0% rifle VS 80.9% laser pistol
*@70% accuracy = 77.0% rifle VS 89.8% laser pistol
*@80% accuracy = 88.0% rifle VS 92.7% laser pistol
*@90% accuracy = 99.0% rifle VS 94.8% laser pistol
It doesn't matter how the % of accuracy is arrived at. It's the [[Accuracy formula]] excluding "b" (b= weapon type).

As you can 9 shots on auto from a laser pistol is better than a standard rifle. If the soldier has 90% accuracy then he has a 2.1% greater chance to hit. However the laser pistol is still better because of the other benefits such as;
*unlimited ammo,
*5% TU benefit,
*TU available for reaction shot,
*no -20% 2-handed penalty,
*no clip for the 80-item limit
*PLUS the other 8 shots that miss might remove cover or might hit a 2nd alien.

'''Laser pistols win hands down.''' It's so good I prefer it as my primary weapon for all of the game. In early game it's the best choice on a statistical basis, but in late game I still use them because of [[Experience Training]]. I still carry [[Heavy Plasma]]s in backpacks but rarely use them because I ''want'' to put multiple shots into a single alien. [[Sectopod]]s are a good example when I DON'T use a LP. A 4x4 wall of soldiers in flying suits with laser pistols is nasty.

BTW: In case someone wants to use/check my data, here is a spreadsheet:
*[[Media:Laser pistol vs rifle probablities.xls]]
If someone wants to play around checking other weapons or making graphs etc, go nuts. Only 6 cells have data so it's easy to throw in stats for other weapons. I never bothered since I don't use the other laser or plasma weapons due to research reasons rather than stats reasons.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 18:28, 24 September 2008 (PDT)

:Wow...NKF, I think you have competition. You might even have been dethroned. EDIT: Thanks, I actually forgot for once. Thanks. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 18:39, 24 September 2008 (PDT)

:: I remember a time when people made jokes about the laser pistol and mocked it as being no better than a paper weight or simply as something useless to arm cannon fodder with. I'm really glad I went through the whole convoluted series of events that resulted in me me adopting it as my all-time favourite weapon. I admit it is not always the right tool for every occasion. As you can see by the numbers - it actually has far better potential than the weapon stats appear to suggest.

:: The laser pistol should pretty much always be fired on auto, and reaction fire. Any other mode of fire is wasteful - hence why I alluded to the submachine gun analogy back in one of the earlier drafts of the [[Laser Pistol|LP]] article. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 22:42, 24 September 2008 (PDT)

: I pretty much accept everyone's arguments above. To rephrase my original question - if Laser Pistols were the most advanced weapon you currently possessed, and you had enough of them to arm all your troops, would there be '''any reason''' to give '''any''' of your troops a Rifle (or a Pistol) - even just carried in a backpack? Putting it another way, is there ever a tactical situation where a single accurate shot or burst is more important than total firepower over the whole turn? I mentioned the situation where friendlies are near the target. Another possibility might be if the alien has high reactions/TUs and you really need that "first shot assured kill".

: By the way, NKF, I added your submachinegun point to the LP article. Presumably you would '''not''' prefer Pistols over Rifles if you were fighting Snakemen or Mutons? - the armour penalties make the damage difference quite important with those races. And point taken about Sectopods. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:41, 26 September 2008 (PDT)

:: I'd originally written it as submachine gun, but hadn't realized it had been changed until you changed it back.

::I wouldn't worry too much about Snakemen - they fall easily to pistol rounds. It's their Chryssalid pals that really need the extra firepower that the pistols and rifles don't provide. Mutons and Ethereals have the advantage of protection and lots of health. The pistol is still good for general leisurely potshots on weaker aliens as you don't always need tons of firepower; It's a great way to show off. Of course, a single laser pistol can wipe out an entire alien base, so I'd agree that it is much more efficient.

::If anyone hasn't tried it before, it's worth trying a game where you use the three pistols as your primary firearms. It's quite interesting, although the weird pistol arming bug can be quite a nuisance at times when it occurs. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 15:10, 26 September 2008 (PDT)

Any reason to arm troops with regular [[Pistol]]? A: Yes- [[Experience Training]] and giving love taps to aliens in the hopes of stunning them without killing them (assuming no small launcher).
Regular [[Rifle]]? A: No. None that I can think of. Any situation I can think of where I'd rather have a rifle, I'd prefer to have a different weapon like a rocket launcher, auto-cannon, heavy cannon. In all tactical situations the standard rifle is at best a 2nd choice given [[Laser Pistol]]s and other standard weapons. (Maybe in the specific case of having enough STR to carry a rifle, but not enough STR to carry an auto-cannon... but that's a small range of STR and I don't micromanage solider equip to that degree to know the breakpoint while I'm playing.) BTW I've had rifle shots bounce off lowly sectoids so "first shot assured kill" can't apply because even an assured hit is not an assured kill with a rifle.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 00:00, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

=== Save The Rifle From Extinction ===

:Hmm, since it's been clearly established that the pistol owns the rifle any day, what can you think of that would reestablish a bit of balance? For long range firing, there is no question that a rifle should win over a pistol. A crude solution would be to add a "target out of range" message when trying to fire too far with a pistol; this would make the pistol good for indoor situation (assault teams), and make rifles good for peeking aliens in the distance by sweep teams. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 01:51, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

:::Not crazy about that, but it is simple. I like Seb76's ideas from the wish list talk page more. You should talk to him. ;-) --~~

Prior to getting Laser Pistols, I give Rifles to everyone is capable of doing reaction fire, and everyone else gets heavy weapons (AutoCannon, RocketLauncher, HeavyCannon) - or at least everyone who is strong enough. This is because I don't see the point of loading AP rounds into heavy weapons and I don't want the risk of "friendly fire" from doing reaction fire with HE rounds. The only situation where I think differently is on a Terror mission, when I may need to single out aliens from nearby civilians. In those situation I used to issue more Rifles. But then I got cynical and decided it's better just to kill all the aliens and clear cover with maximum firepower, and let the Public Relations division blame any civilian casualties on the aliens.

After reading NKF's and Brunpal's points I went back to my Firepower spreadsheet and tweaked it to reflect the assumption that weapon Damage level isn't very important for lightly armoured targets (Sectoids and Floaters). If you assume damage is unimportant (probably true since only a few points of penetrating damage causes massive Health loss), the Pistol actually does beat the Rifle hands down in all situations - as NKF has been telling us for ages! So then, as Seb76 points out, there is a game balance problem - the Rifle goes the way of the Dodo and the Heavy Laser. That's not good. It would be nice to get a generic solution to buff all the long-range weapons - Rifle and Heavy Laser.

(There is also the slightly related problem that Aimed Fire isn't efficient. Pretty much across the board, the efficiency ratio, accuracy::TUs used, is worse with Aimed Fire than with Snap Fire. Snap Fire is the most efficient. That's a pretty basic game design flaw, and hard to fix. Definitely it is good to apply Seb76's mod for non-visible targets, as that mod shifts the balance back toward Aimed Fire. This mod also very slightly buffs Rifles relative to Pistols, since in Aimed Fire Pistols are less superior to Rifles - but still superior.)

I can't really see a way of correcting this Rifle obsolescence problem, other than coding in an "effective range" limit for pistol-type weapons (6 tiles?) and then applying a rule similar to the out-of-visual range rule. This could be an additional reduction, that applies as well as any out-of-visual range rule. It would be good to encourage (/force) Aimed Fire for pistol-type weapons beyond a certain "effective range". The penalties might need to be quite high, since for example with the Pistol there is only an 18% base accuracy gain from using Aimed Fire, which is quickly eroded by a 2% per tile linear penalty. Probably these accuracy reductions need to be multiplied with the base accuracy, and not subtracted from it, otherwise there may be some perverse results. Maybe for simplicity, for "effective range" use the same 3 breakpoints Seb76 proposed in [[Talk:Wish_list#Decrease_Accuracy_for_targets_out_of_sight|this discussion]] for out-of-visual range fire (7 tiles / 15 tiles / infinity) for pistol weapons, standard weapons, and special "long range" weapons (Rifle, Laser Rifle, Heavy Laser). [[User:Spike|Spike]] 11:35, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

PS @NKF: Vs Snakeman or Muton armour (18-20), in close-range combat, Rifles on Auto dish 60% more penetrating damage per average turn than Pistols. Does the freer use of grenades etc really compensate for that? [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:07, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

: Definitely - I've always lumped the Snakemen into the same category as Sectoids and Floaters. Lightweights. In fact, due to their lower TUs (compensated slightly by their sliding across terrain), they're probably one of the easier aliens to fight. Granted, their combat skills are better.

: Seb76, I think the introduction of the accuracy drop-off in your loader is a good start at rebalancing the rifle. If it wasn't for that nerfed aimed shot cost and damage combo, the rifle's not that bad a weapon. In fact, even as it is I'd much rather have it for short range combat than the standard pistol. The pistols are banking on the fact that even though they may be low in accuracy and damage in general, they get to fire at that same accuracy from any range and at a slightly faster firing rate than most other weapons. However, I feel that if the pistols were toned down too much, then they'd truly become useless, as unlike a weapon like the heavy plasma that is too much of a good thing, the pistols are still fairly balanced thanks to their lower damage levels.

: I'm finding it amusing that the pistols are starting to take a turn for the better considering they're the most often ignored weapons. Who knows, maybe the plasma pistol might come back in favour too. By the way: Just to be clear, I've always considered the basic pistol to be the rifle's compliment rather than rival. One excels in auto and aimed (short/long range), while the other excels in snap (mid range). Just pick the one that fits the style of fighting you wish to use. The laser pistol however sits in a class of its own. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 13:31, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

::One thing the standard Rifle offers is the largest clip of any purchasable weapon. Beyond that, for damage, Brunpal, that's bound to happen. Damage for firearms against living creatures is randomly 0-200% of the damage listed in the UFOpaedia, so invariably it will happen that even the mighty Heavy Plasma will fail to drop something. In one run of [[User_talk:Arrow_Quivershaft#1_Mission_X-COM|One Mission X-COM]], I had a rookie soldier in coveralls soak up '''SIX''' shots from alien plasma weaponry and still be on her feet. Though then another alien decided to shoot at her again and the seventh shot did put her down for good. I did get to put her life to good use, though...the aliens spent so many TUs killing her that the remainder of her squad was able to bloody them rather significantly on the X-COM turn. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 18:15, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

:::Generally think about the strengths and weaknesses of weapons in real life first. ''Then'' figure out how to translate that into the game. For example when I think of "heavy" weapons I think of brownings and chain fed machine guns. Those are fired from the hip, and near impossible to aim unless you are laying down on the ground. Plus they suck at fine tuning except with tracer rounds. They are near impossible to fire one bullet. Translating all that into game mechanics that means to me that they should have a huge TU for a snap shot, a tiny TU for auto, reduced accuracy at close range, terrible reaction shots if you have to turn, get big benefits for kneeling, and huge energy cost for aimed while standing. Hell, a solider should have a ''reduced'' accuracy if trying to aim a heavy while standing. They are trying to lift a heavy browning to their eyeline when it's designed to be fired from hip and the weight held by a shoulder strap.

:::Personally I'm fine with weapons being "clear winners" across the board rather than each weapon having a niche. There is a reason why so many use AK-47s in war, and not M1 Garants nor crossbows. A laser pistol could be a superior weapon because it's light, has no recoil and a solider can simply hold down the trigger forever. Imagine if a one hand fully automatic that never runs out of ammo existed in real life. It would be like a wii remote in ease of use with as much stopping power as the biggest hardware used by Rambo. It's hard to imagine a better all purpose weapon. Sometimes new tech is a great idea on paper and useless in the field (heavy laser I'm looking at you). New weapon tech replaces old and gets widespread adoption... if it's better.

:::But I can also see a reason why gamers want to balance weapons across each other. Makes the game more interesting. On that note here are some ideas I had that I haven't seen mentioned yet:
:::*Remove auto from Laser Pistol. (It's only good because it can fire 12 shots a turn.)
:::*Reduce accuracy per shot fired past the first. ie: First attack (including all 3 shots on auto) fires at normal accuracy. Then multiply an accuracy reduction against the next attack (mechanic like if the solider was getting increasingly wounded). Fire again and get yet another penalty that stacks. Recoil sucks.
:::*Put a maximum number of times a weapon can be fired per turn to a small number like just twice. So a laser pistol only uses 20% of TU, but you can only get off 2 shots (6 on auto). The 60% of TU left cannot be used for weapon fire.
:::*Redo TU and/or energy costs so weapons have the best efficiency for the mode that seems appropriate. IE pistols become best at snap shots, rifles at aimed, and heavy at auto. (Rifles would have a max of 50% TU on aimed so they could get 2 shots off.)
:::*Play with energy costs. Auto costs a lot of energy so you can't do a full spread every round. Aimed gives back energy.
:::*Bump up rifle accuracy for aimed shots past 110%.
:::*Change accuracy at point blank. Decrease it for heavy, increase it for pistols.
:::*Change bonus accuracy from kneeling based on weapon class rather than 120% standard. Increase it more for rifles and heavies, and less for pistols.
:::*Do away with a base bonus for kneeling entirely. Give a bonus based on kneeling + weapon class + firing type. IE pistols get almost nothing from kneeling in all modes. Aimed gets a lot.
:::*Change clip size and firing rate along with accuracy. For example, give clips of 100-200 to heavy plasma. Auto fires 10-20 shots instead of 3. Figure out the % chance you want to hit with ONE bullet and work backwards to something reasonable later. (For example a 10% accuracy per shot ends up with a a nice probability curve of one hit with a 15 shot burst.) ''<bbbbrrrpppt!>'' Friendlies be advised: Don't get caught within the cone of inaccuracy. {hit curve=45.8%|53.7%|60.5%|66.3%|71.4%|75.7%|79.4%}

:::If you are hardcore about balancing weapons into niches, my suggestion is to first make a matrix of-
:::-the 3 weapon classes, (pistol, rifle, heavy)
:::-the 3 firing options,
:::-kneeling,
:::-%TU cost,
:::-energy cost
:::-ability to react
:::-accuracy ''of one hit per turn''
:::Then figure out if it should be very good, good, average, bad, or terrible ''first'' then worry about how that translates into in game stats '''''later'''''.
:::BTW: Even though the [[Laser Pistol]] is a clear winner against everything but [[Heavy Plasma]], I still think the weapons are balanced. Why do I say that? Consider how many years and how many games of X-Com you've played. The status of Laser pistol vs rifle is suddenly new info. Can't be that unbalancing or it would have been common knowledge. ;-) --[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 23:21, 27 September 2008 (PDT)

Talk:Rifle

2008-09-27T07:00:47Z

Brunpal: /* Laser Pistol Wins- BIG! */ answering Spike's question. spoiler! A=No.

Talk:Small Scout

2008-09-25T15:38:01Z

Brunpal: no small scout terrain tile in XComUtil? maybe, or maybe just hard to spot

I've seen single stingrays down them. I've never hit one with cannons. They always run away before my interceptors close. You'd probably need an elerium powered ship to catch up with them and use cannons. There always seems to be one looking for you base on the first day so it can be a nice way to get that first plasma weapon for research.

----

Brunpal: In the interception window, if a UFO takes 50% or more of its total hull points in damage, it is shot down, leaving a UFO Crash Site which X-COM can raid for goodies. X-COM gets "UFO Grounded" points for such. UFO crash sites tend to contain damaged UFOs. But since there's really no way to damage the Small Scout, the vessel doesn't spawn on the map. If a UFO takes 100% or more of its HP in damage in an interception, you will get the message "UFO Destroyed!" No crash site is spawned, and X-COM gets double the points it would've gotten for simply crash-landing the vessel. The part at the top refers to this discrepancy between crash landing and destruction. Craft Armaments randomly do between 50% and 100% of their damage to a UFO on a successful hit; the Small Scout has 50 HP. So even on a minimum damage(50), an Avalanche missile will blow a Small Scout into shrapnel. Whereas a Stingray, Cannon, or Laser Cannon can possibly crash the Small Scout, but damages it so badly in the process that there's nothing left for X-COM to salvage; just a lone alien to hunt. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 15:45, 17 September 2008 (PDT)

:Yes I understood all that previously. (Been playing for years.) It was better explained at the top of the page so the note at the bottom was superfluous as it was written. Plus technically it wasn't correct as is:
:*''"If the Small Scout was shot down by an Interceptor, there will be no UFO spawned; the craft is destroyed in the crash landing."''
:1. Reference to Interceptor: Doesn't matter what kind of X-Com craft shoots it down. As written it implies it does matter what craft.
:2. Does matter what kind of weapon (vs craft) is used to shoot it down. Which isn't explained in the note, but is explained on the page.
:3. "Shot down" is a inaccurate term. It implies a crash, vs "destroyed" which doesn't imply a crash.
:4. As written it implied destruction was the only possible result. Highly likely, yes. I was surprised the first time I had one crash on me since I must have blown up dozens upon dozens by that time across many different games and had never had it happen.
:5. While I understood what it was trying to say, the entire small note ended up contradicting the body of the page.
:As my edit summary explained: "the note was better explained at the top of the page" but I still thought it wise to allay a player's concern that they had never been attacked by that kind of UFO. (A thought that crossed my mind the first time I saw it in game.) --[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 10:53, 18 September 2008 (PDT)

::I think I'm unsure what the debate here is now. What I am trying to explain is that if the UFO is shot down by anything("Interceptor" is used across the wiki as a generic term for any X-COM craft that can mount a weapon, though it does correctly refer to the fighter jet) and is NOT destroyed during the interception, the crash site of the UFO will spawn a single alien and no UFO. Is this what you understand me to be saying? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 21:28, 24 September 2008 (PDT)

:::The only way that I know of to produce a "small scout" map with no actual small scout on it is to use XComUtil (which stops it appearing for who knows what reason). If you shoot one down but fail to destroy it (dual cannons are a good way to do this), you can send in your ground team and collect the craft. It'll be perfectly intact (because it has no power supply to go boom).

:::Yes, I tested it just this minute with CE. ;) If you have different results, check that your game isn't modded then report back on your version. - [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 03:07, 25 September 2008 (PDT)

::I do indeed use XComUtil, with it, the game runs more stably(fewer crashes) and does not completely disrupt my screen resolution if and when it does crash and burn. So that'd be my error; apologies. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 06:50, 25 September 2008 (PDT)

:To answer your question AQ, I did '''not''' understand that you were saying the ''crash site of the UFO will spawn a single alien and no UFO.'' I don't use XComUtil (yet- will after my upgrade) but if a ground mission without a UFO is common behavior in XComUtil, then it's worth mentioning.
:I have never seen a mission where there was an alien but no UFO, though I thought I had at the time. There was no UFO a couple of times on a fully explored map, but after reloading the UFO was just hiding behind a building or something each time I thought it didn't exist. I could only see it by using the top down perspective and setting the view to display exteriors of structures only. This UFO is tiny and easy to miss even when you are looking for it. When it's been shot down, it's even smaller. One time the landing gear was the only thing left. That may have happened to you, maybe not, but something to keep in mind.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 08:38, 25 September 2008 (PDT)

Small Scout

2008-09-25T04:24:50Z

Brunpal: /* Terrain Maps */ see talk page

'''Small scouts''' are tiny UFOs which are used for reconnaissance or research. They normally precede larger vessels at the start of an [[Alien Missions|alien mission]].

Small scouts have no armament, so any craft with any weapon can shoot one down -- provided you can catch up to it to shoot it, as its top speed is better than an [[Interceptor]].

Small scouts carry ONE alien. The ship itself yields a single unit of [[Alien Alloys]] and nothing else. It resembles a Lunar Lander on legs; to enter, you have to walk under it and ascend a gravlift. No real reason to enter it though, there's usually nothing interesting there. The only thing that could be there is that one alien, and you can just shoot up the gravlift to kill him. Plus you can't ascend if he's there, since there's no room for two of you...

Small scouts will be destroyed(not shot down) by anything more powerful than a single [[Stingray]] missile -- although even that can destroy them, so if you do not wish to destroy them, craft [[Cannon]]s alone are best. Most scouts land at least once during their mission, so the easiest way to recover a small scout is to follow it with a transport and wait for it to land.

The meager payload of small scouts means that you will get a higher [[score]] for destroying them than for doing a [[UFO Ground Assault|recovery]] -- although scout pilots often carry a [[Mind Probe]], making a recovery financially rewarding.

==Statistics==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Statistic</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Size</td><td>Very Small</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Max Speed(km)</td><td>2,200</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Power</td><td>0</tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Range(km)</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Range(range units)</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Damage Capacity</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Downed points</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Destroyed points</td><td>100</td></tr>
</table><br />

==Recoverable Components==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Item</th>
<th>Sell Price</th>
<th>Quantity</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Power Source</td><td>$250,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Navigation</td><td>$80,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Food</td><td>$5,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Surgery</td><td>$38,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Entertainment</td><td>$20,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Examination Room</td><td>$9,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Alloys</td><td>$6,500</td><td>1</td><td>$6,500</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Elerium-115</td><td>$5,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><th colspan="3">Totals</th><td>$6,500</td></tr>
</table><br />
Also see [[UFO Recovery Values#Small Scout|UFO Recovery Values]].

==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>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Navigators</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Medics</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Engineers</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Leaders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
</table><br />

==Terrain Maps==
<gallery>
Image:UFO1AMAP-L1.JPG|Level 0
Image:UFO1AMAP-L2.JPG|Level 1
Image:UFO1AMAP.JPG|Level 2
</gallery>

==See Also==
[[Medium Scout]]<br>
[[Large Scout]]<br>
[[Abductor]]<br>
[[Harvester]]<br>
[[Supply Ship]]<br>
[[Terror Ship]]<br>
[[Battleship]]

[[Category: UFO (UFO Defense)]]

Talk:Rifle

2008-09-25T02:16:47Z

Brunpal: link to spreadsheet

File:Laser pistol vs rifle probablities.xls

2008-09-25T02:03:25Z

Brunpal: A quick spreadsheet in OpenOffice format, then saved as .xls. It compares the chance to hit a SINGLE time firing various numbers of shots in a turn. It uses a standard rifle and a laser pistol as the base. Someone could use data from other weapons with on

A quick spreadsheet in OpenOffice format, then saved as .xls. It compares the chance to hit a SINGLE time firing various numbers of shots in a turn. It uses a standard rifle and a laser pistol as the base. Someone could use data from other weapons with only 6 cells to change and the formulas would flow through.

Uses NO macros. (Macros bad. Macro will = virus.)

Talk:Rifle

2008-09-25T01:38:18Z

Brunpal: gah. edit conflict while adding links.

Talk:Rifle

2008-09-25T01:28:53Z

Brunpal: laser pistols all the way. Forget rifles.

Wish List (EU)

2008-09-19T21:02:43Z

Brunpal: /* Aliens better with explosions */ "smarter?" me no good at grammar

X-Com is a great game and as evidence just look to the fact this wiki exists even though the game pre-dates the internet. In all it's greatness X-Com has some elements and behaviors players wish they could change. This is a repository of those desires. Some day a fan mod may make your wish come true...

== I Wish... ==
State what you want AND what X-com does normally. Sign your name if you think "Oh man! That would be great!"
=== Fuel Ready always ===
I wish that I could send out craft at any fuel or ammo level. Normally craft can only leave a base if fully "ready". Craft is only "ready" at 100% fuel (or 0% fuel using an exploit) but there's no logical reason why a full tank and full ammo is required. Fully repaired... that's fine. I can live with pilots refusing to fly a plane missing a wing even if it means England is lost to aliens. 15 hours to fill a tank? Retarded but I can live with that too if I can send out a craft at 20% fuel.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]]

:Actually, many modern aircraft '''do''' require the fuel tanks to be full on takeoff, and fairly empty on landing. The weight of the fuel is figured into the takeoff aerodynamics, and the tank being full prevents fuel 'sloshing' in the tanks and not actually making it to the engine. (Conversely, many aircraft need to have dispensed of much of that fuel weight before landing.) This holds for most runway-takeoff craft, but may not apply to anything with VTOL capacity; I'm unsure there.

:I do agree that non-full weapons aren't as critical, though. But from a logical standpoint, most modern aircraft should not be launched on an empty fuel tank. I also should noted that an Elerium-fueled craft with [[Known_Bugs#Elerium-fueled_Craft_Bug|50% fuel or less remaining]] will automatically return to base, regardless of distance from base. Of course, given that such craft fuel up quickly, its less of an issue there. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:05, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

:Hum, maybe you can try [[User:Seb76#Mods|this]]? [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 13:01, 8 August 2008 (PDT)
::Thanks! But I can't try it. I've not been able to get my copy of Xcom to run properly except on a Win98 install. VC2008 requires a more modern OS. I'm sure I could ''eventually'' figure out a way to get it running, but I tried once and wasted too much time before giving up.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 14:45, 8 August 2008 (PDT)
:AFAIK VC2008 binaries should run OK on Win98 as long as the runtime is deployed. Anyway, the loader uses CreateRemoteThread API which is not available in Win98 so don't even bother. '''However''', you can manually patch the binary if you want ;-) Data to patch (all in hexadecimal):
offset 0x41752: 2A0075 -> 18207C
:HTH. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 14:56, 8 August 2008 (PDT)

=== Smarter on Globe ===
I wish all craft understood the shortest distance between two points on a globe is a curved path towards the poles. Normally a craft goes in the opposite direction than it should (towards the equator). Pain in the ass when the base in the UK sends a craft to Siberia.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]]

===Equipment Management===

==== Soldiers remembers THEIR equipment ====
I wish soldiers remembered what equipment they LAST used and start with that gear when they land. Normally soldiers grab various gear and put lots of crap on their belt. I put most things on the shoulder slots, and keep many things spare things on the ship just in case I need them. (I only want IN rounds if it's night. Stop picking them up before I shoot you in the back!) Takes forever to sort out the gear so the weakling isn't carrying all the rockets etc.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]]

:This is already available in [[XcomUtil]]. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:07, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

====Access to Stats screens during equipment allocation====

In Battlescape you can get to Stats screens by right clicking on one of the unit's status bars. However you can't do this in the Equipment screen. Things like Statstrings and (even more so) [[User:Seb76|Seb76]]'s modified Equipment screen with actual/max weight help. But it would be nice to be able to see exact stats. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

===Fog of War Mk. 2===

I'm sure most of these would be an absolute PAIN to implement, but I figured I'd toss the ideas out here.

====Blind Dropship Pilots====
One thing that has always irked me is X-COM has no terrain knowledge when it lands, despite having probably circled the place two or three times before landing and thus they should know at least some of the area. This would be nice, but isn't too important. Probably would be a pain to implement so X-COM would have all knowledge of external features but no knowledge of building interiors, anyways. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:38, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

:Yes at the very least, when you splash the UFO, it could tell you (via some miracle technology such as "satellite reconnaisance") what the terrain type is of the landing zone area. Then you could adjust equipment accordingly. And adjust your uniform camouflage (if using one of the uniform mods). [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:16, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

:: Geoscape: center on the site, then maximum zoom. Aside from having to disambiguate forest from jungle, this works fine for knowing the exact terrain you're getting into. -- [[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 10:17, 4 Sept 2008 (CDT)

:::This is already present in the game. To center the Geoscape on a specific location, right-click on the target spot. To do maximum zoom in, right click on the Zoom-In button(and the same works for Zoom-Out). Also, Jungle and Forest use the same display algorithm, but are easy to differentiate; Forest occurs NORTH of the equator, and Jungle occurs SOUTH. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 13:23, 4 September 2008 (PDT)

====Moving Fog====

The Fog of War in X-COM is clumsily implemented, compared to modern expectations. Everything starts out black, but after exploring, is shown...and it's kept in the same showing, regardless of whether you actually have LoS to that area anymore. It would be nice if when you no longer had Line of Sight to a particular map area, it would be cloaked in a way so that you knew the terrain, but not the units there. Since I've sometimes spent over half an hour trying to hunt down that last alien hiding in area I'd already explored. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:38, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

====Deactivate Object Radar====

Currently, in X-COM, any objects dropped in a given square show on your Battlescape, regardless of whether you have Line of Sight to the square or not. In regards to dropped weapons/grenades/equipment/dead soldiers/dead aliens, this doesn't make a large difference. But in the case of STUNNED aliens, a quick scan across the Battlescape can tell you whether the alien you stunned 10 turns ago is still down, or stood back up(the stunned alien object will disappear from the stack). Of course, since aliens which have revived from stun are almost always disarmed(and the ones that aren't probably should've been killed instead), the usefulness of this 'exploit' is reduced mainly to finding out that the last alien you're looking for is just wandering aimlessly and unarmed. Perhaps leave stacks showing the same until you regain LoS to that area? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:38, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

===Score for retaliation Battleships===

When a Battleship on retaliation attacks your base and is shot down, you get no score for it. This is completely illogical and it discourages any use of base defences. You should get normal 700 (or even 1400) points for it.
--[[User:Kyrub|Kyrub]] 14:05, 30 August 2008 (PDT)

: I'm not sure about this. Yes it's illogical, but it could also be a licence to get a huge score if you have a strong enough base. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:16, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

:: The impenetrable base setup would turn into a cheat. As the aliens will keep hammering the base with a battleship until one breaks through, you'll have a steady supply of points without having to really do anything. Some balancing, such as paying to rearm your defence modules, ought to be thrown in to balance things out. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:13, 13 September 2008 (PDT)
:::A better fix would be to remove the retaliation flag when a battleship is destroyed. If someone can post a savegame with a never-ending flow of base attacks, I may have a look at the fix. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 01:05, 15 September 2008 (PDT)

===Decrease Accuracy for targets out of sight===

How come you can easily shoot on something you do not see?
I find the over-used scout-sniper tactic is a cheap exploit of the X-COM. The tactical game should describe a combat, not a cowardly shooting practice. It would turn into a nice feature, if there would be a penalty of (let us say) -20% to the accuracy of anybody who is firing on a target out of his current sight. This can greatly enhance the tactical depth of the game. (Seb around? ;-) --[[User:Kyrub|Kyrub]] 14:20, 30 August 2008 (PDT)

: There is a penalty. Bullet drift. The further away you are, the more this will impact the bullet, potentially making even a 100% accurate shot miss. Also X-Com maps are pretty small, and the aliens already cheat enough as it is to make things difficult even with the sniper/scout strategy. In Apocalypse they addressed this with adding weapon ranges. But then, even some weapons were capable of shooting beyond the unit's ability to see an enemy target. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:07, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

::That's not really a good reason for me. 1) Bullet drift has a very small effect in the game, because the actual percents are set quite high. Example: if you spray an unseen alien from the other corner of the map with autofire of 35%, you'll get a 73,6% chance to hit with at least one bullet. Physics and game balance, adieu. 2) Moreover, bullet drift has nothing to do with not seeing the target. It should be the contrary, you ACCIDENTALLY hit something you don't see, no? 3) You get a penalty for handling two weapons in the same time. Why couldn't we take the same penalty (80%*Acc) for the hit-out-of-sight? (Well, I can't do this actually, maybe others can)--[[User:Kyrub|Kyrub]] 18:25, 14 September 2008 (PDT)

: I don't agree that bullet drift is already there as a penalty, since this doesn't distinguish between seen and unseen targets at all (ok it does indirectly, only in so far as unseen targets tend to be further away). I think we should look at 3 cases: 1. person firing did not happen to be the one who '''spotted''' the target. 2. person firing '''could not''' see/spot the target under any circumstances. In the first case, we can assume the firer has visual contact with the target, after someone else pointed it out. No accuracy penalty should be applied (maybe a TU penalty?). In the second case, there should be an accuracy penalty. 80% would be generous, I would go for 50%. Or maybe something non-linear, so that autofire percentages would not fall by as much as aimed fire and snap fire percentages. One problem you have is how to present these two different cases to the player before they take the shot. It's a bit obscure if you just show them a lower hit probability without explaining why. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 19:02, 14 September 2008 (PDT)

:: Bullet drift is an effect on range (actually it has quite a major effect on the blaster bomb), but yes it's not because of whether or not the unit can see the alien. But then again, the maps are small. If you ever took lots of screen shots of the map and made a large composite from them, you'd find that the area of operations is very tiny and that the 20 tile visual range means that our avatars are quite short sighted. That's not realistic either, but imposed for game balance. Other tactical games appear to handle the accuracy vs. range dropoff issue by combining the shooter's skill and the weapon's maximum range. Basically you can operate the weapon to the best of the shooter's ability within the maximum range, but the further away you try to aim, accuracy is decreased. In some games, you even get to see the effect on the accuracy before you pull the trigger as the accuracy is attached to the cursor. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] 22:46, 14 September 2008 (PDT)

:::Actually the blaster bomb "drift" issue is not mainly caused by drift, but by accuracy adjustment between each waypoint (60% for xcom players, 55% for aliens). Maybe we can cook a kind of "max effective range" for a weapon base on firing mode (auto<snap<aimed) and gun type (pistol/rifle). Firing above this range would decrease the accuracy. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 01:03, 15 September 2008 (PDT)

:::: (to NKF) The main flaw of the whole "shoot the unseen" thing is the aliens cannot shoot back at somebody shooting at them (no reaction fire). If they could (or if they'd shoot at least the soldier they see), I wouldn't complain. This destroys the battle tactics side of the game, you just sent a man to "spot them". Nota bene, they cannot use the same scout-sniper tactic, the way we do, either. (This would be most annoying, by the way).
::::(to Seb76) Effective range would restore some balance and add some use to the aimed shots. I thought about a simpler solution with ''substracting'' some accuracy (which would make auto useless, snap into a poor and aimed into a solid chance-to-hit). Your suggestion is much more elegant, Seb, if you can cook it ;-) --[[User:Kyrub|Kyrub]] 08:00, 18 September 2008 (PDT)

::: Fair enough, but do note that even your units cannot react against an alien that they cannot see within their visual range. Attacks of opportunity and actively taking your turn are two different tasks after all. I'm not sure the aliens would be such sportsmen though. It might be worth looking into whether there is cooperation amongst the aliens while they are taking their turn - and I think I just have the scenario savegame to test this. If I could find it. BBs probably break the rules of basic firearms and range, and mind control has its own set of rules, so probably wouldn't count. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 00:37, 19 September 2008 (PDT)

===Enough Smoke===

It would be nice to increase the current limit on smoke/fire hexes. This is due to their locations being stored in a small, fixed length array. In effect you can only get about 3-4 smoke grenades worth of smoke or fire on the map at the same time. Being able to use smoke liberally would really open up new tactics. At the moment all you can really do is cover the LZ in smoke when you exit the transport, and maybe cover one advance over open ground. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)
:I did something for that on my loader. Heavy testing is required because it is hard to be make sure smoke still works as before (testing is the hardest part actually). [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 14:09, 18 September 2008 (PDT)

===Restore Game from Battlescape===

It would be nice to be able to reload a saved game directly from the Battlescape "?" screen, rather than having to go through the process of Abandoning to the Geoscape. Would you need to check it was a Battlescape save and not a Geoscape save? Maybe, maybe not. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

===Warm Grenades===

Currently when you set the timer on a grenade (or HE pack), the timer runs down every turn regardless of whether the grenade is worn, held, or dropped. Then, when the timer runs out, it explodes unless it is held or worn. There is no real grenade or explosive that works this way. Once the timer (fuse) starts running, they explode regardless. However for most hand grenades, the timer (fuse) doesn't start until after you throw/drop the grenade. It would be nice to have both of these real world behaviours, and lose the game's default behaviour. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

: Technically the way the game implements grenades, they don't have a timer. At least, not as such. When you set a grenade, the game just assigns it a turn to blow up on. Once the turn has passed, the game checks to see that it's on the ground and blows it up if it is, otherwise it doesn't. I believe Seb76 has already addressed this in his patches where there's an option to make grenade blow up regardless whether they are in inventory or otherwise the moment the timer is set. X-Com Apocalypse does a good job of this. The moment the grenade is so much as moved after the timer is set, it counts down. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:01, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

:: To simulate an actual timer, you would need to do something like: Every turn that a primed grenade is being held by a unit during the "explode" check, increment by +1 the turn when that grenade is going to explode. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 19:10, 14 September 2008 (PDT)
:::I think I would change quantity2 ([[OBPOS.DAT]]) to a countdown instead of a turn, and use quantity3 as a flag indicating if the count has started. This flag is set any time a turn ends and the grenade has no owner. Taking it back in your hand once the timer has started won't help and the thing must be thrown... quantity2 is decreased if quantity3 is set, and the grenade blows up as usual. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 01:35, 15 September 2008 (PDT)

===Stun Grenades===

I want flashbangs.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 22:59, 11 September 2008 (PDT)
:Instead of stunning, I'd see more effect if it would remove some TUs to units having line of sight (to be fare it should affect xcom units too). It would help against reaction fire (which is the point of flashbangs). Given that grenades detonate at the end turns, it would require a good coordination to have the grenade detonate exactly at the end of the alien turn, and just before your attack. Being able to open doors à la xcom2 would also help to throw flashbangs just before a craft assault... [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 22:03, 12 September 2008 (PDT)
::That would be good. Hard to program, potentially extremely unbalancing, but good. I considered a "debuff" kind of ability (as you suggest) for flashbangs, vs the more obvious substitution of [[stun]] for [[HE]] damage. In the end, I picked "I want flashbangs."--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 03:32, 13 September 2008 (PDT)
: Maybe flashbangs dont' work on Aliens - otherwise, XCom would use them, right? :) But seriously, I too would like flashbangs, and stun grenades / concussion grenades. Both of these would make the game easier, though. With flashbangs, you might have to compensate by just giving the aliens more TUs. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 13:33, 13 September 2008 (PDT)
::More options for the player is going to make it easier for any kind of game. Particularly of games like XCOM where the computer can't take advantage of the changes. However I don't believe a weak stun grenade (like 44 stun damage, comparable to AC-HE) would change the game much because the 80 item limit remains.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 22:21, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

===Night Vision===

I '''don't''' want to add night vision equipment to the game. I assume that either (1) all XCom units already have night vision gear as standard, but it's not as good as alien night vision, and the visibility that XCom units have at night is based on their standard-issue night vision gear, or (2) night vision gear does not work on Aliens. Either they do not appear on night vision, or maybe worse - maybe the aliens can manipulate night vision equipment, causing worse than normal vision, or hallucinations, and even tricking XCom units into firing on each other. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 13:33, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

===Throwing over stuff===

I want to throw stuff over other stuff. I don't find grenades useful. I much rather shoot a rocket launcher from outside reaction shot range because even when you miss, odds are it's close enough. The throw itself has an arc trajectory and can hit the ceiling (a feature I like) but to pick the target it has to have straight line of sight (like a bullet) which is stupid. I want to throw onto the top of buildings where I ''can't see'', or bounce a grenade off the ceiling and over the head of a squadie ''because '' I don't have line of sight with a gun. If I had line of sight, I would just shoot since that costs less TU even if I already had an armed grenade.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to keep "out of range" but remove "you can't throw there" and just let a solider throw to any square they want. A better way is to keep the warning but give the player the option to try the throw anyway. If you can't really throw there, then oops... that's your badly positioned live grenade to deal with.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 22:59, 11 September 2008 (PDT)

:I did some tests disabling the "you can't throw there" check and it does not work. The grenade ends up in the vicinity of the throwing unit. Actually the line of sight is not used when throwing objects. I'm 98% sure it simulates the throwing of the object and if it intercepts anything, the throw is refused. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 04:47, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

:: The explicit emulation of the trajectory has been verified as part of the throwing range testing by [[User:Zombie|Zombie]] and myself. The range bands are not consistent with a continuous model; they look like a table lookup from the same source 3rd ed. GURPS (Steve Jackson Games) uses. -- [[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 8:21 13 September 2008 (CDT)

:::Units don't need LOS to an area to throw a grenade, as evidenced by my favored tactic of chucking an Alien Grenade or HE Pack into any Medium or Large Scout which has had the roof blown away in the crash from outside to 'pacify' any remaining crew. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 09:22, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

Really? It never seems to work for me. Always requires me to have line of sight. For example tossing in a grenade into the roof hole doesn't work for me if the solider is on level 0 and I target a square inside at level 0. The walls and door obviously block the LoS. However I can target an area on level 1 or 2 in mid air and throw to that location where it naturally drops down to level 0. However I have line of sight to those higher levels in that case.
That's an acceptable compromise in many cases but in others it fails completely. For example having an alien on the top of a 2 story building (level 2) in the middle and a solider standing next to the building and not being able to toss a grenade onto the center of the roof. I could toss a ball there in real life. I wouldn't have thought the trajectory would have been high/steep enough to hit the "sky roof".--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 22:04, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

: Just how strong are your soldiers? The stronger they are, the higher their toss. There are various occasions where you don't need to see where you're throwing to throw. For example, try tossing grenades over a tall fence or hedge. A High Explosive pack into the apple orchard that is surrounded by a hedge on farm maps is often an easy way to smoke out any hidden aliens - and the orchard. One likely cause why you can't throw inside the UFO is that there's something in the way inside that's preventing the throw, such as a wall. Try adjusting your throwing destination, or reposition your soldier for a better throwing angle.

: I've often found grenades to be much more reliable than a directional attack early in the game where firing accuracy is much lower. You ought to try playing a few of the simpler missions like supply ship or large scout assaults with an all-grenadier cast. Takes a bit of planning to not destroy much of the loot, but otherwise literally a blast. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 22:52, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

===Enforced Variant Games===

Various people like to play various variant games, such as No Alien Technology, or No Detection, or No Lethal Weapons - see for example Scott Jones' notes to XComUtil. It would be nice to have options on the game executable to enforce these scenarios. Self restraint is hard! [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

===Assault Time Limit===

One of the cool things about UFO Defence is there are no time limits on the scenarios. This is great as it allows for a totally different kind of tactics and much more flexibility.
It's more of a "thinking man's game" as a result. But... arguably this is not very realistic for UFO Assault missions. If the Aliens are getting creamed, they should try to make a getaway if they can (just like XCom would). A simple way to implement this would be a hard time limit (say 20 turns?) on a UFO Assault. Another way would be to base it on Alien Morale. At a certain Morale level the aliens decide to dust off. Give the player say 3 turns warning while they rev up the engines. Then if there is still a Navigator or Engineer in the Control Room alive, the ship takes off. Any XCom troops still aboard are MIA.

You might run into problems if the UFO took off but then landed again or was shot down, generating another ground mission with potentially '''more''' Aliens than were still alive at the end of the Assault. (Still, maybe they hatch some more clones if they get time to....) [[User:Spike|Spike]] 09:51, 4 September 2008 (PDT)

: It strikes me as justified they don't do that. Troops loose in the vessel could be seriously bad. It would be nice if they dusted off on the condition that their morale was low enough or 3 X-com soldiers had the door in their sights without aliens alive outside in the latter case and no X-com soldiers on board in either case. also, if the UFO has a hole in either the command or engine room, it would have to set down before leaving the atmosphere. [[User:(name here)|(name here)]]

===Base Build Stacking===

At the moment you are only allowed to build next to a finished module, and you aren't allowed to plan ahead in your base construction. It would be nice to at least be able to plan more than one phase of construction in advance. This would be pretty easy to implement. There is no need to code any new "queuing system". Just place the new module next to an existing under-construction module, but increment the build time to the normal build time + the time remaining on the under-construction module (the lowest time remaining that would make the square you are building in, a legal square to build in). As a premium for build stacking, you have to pay the costs up-front. As with normal construction, all costs are non-refundable if you change your mind. (There would probably need to be some on-screen feedback for how long the module would take to build, before you were committed to building it.) [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

===Recuit Certain Enemy===

Consider that not all alien loyal to its master (most TFTD alien has a device lodged to its brain), it should be interesting (or at least cool) if we can recuit such alien. Maybe we can replace those controling device from captive alien after research that specie. Or convince head of the Snakemen that it would be far more benefit to help us instead of the Ethereal [[User:L-Zwei|L-Zwei]] 23:25, 12 September 2008 (PDT).

Only certain alien types should be recruitable. Ones that should NOT be include Mutons (as they are directly controlled by Ethereals), Chrysallids (unbalancing), etc. It would be nice to be able to reverse-engineer Cyberdiscs or Sectopods, or make it that a Cyberdisc must be researched to build hovertanks/etc.
[[User:MagicJuggler|MagicJuggler]] 13:32, 18 September 2008 (PDT)

===Alien AI===
====Attempts to rearm====
Aliens cannot pick up items, but I wish they would. If an alien has no useful weapons in inventory they should either head for cover or head for a plasma weapon. Panicked aliens drop their weapons but never seem to pick them up when they managed to pull themselves together. It would be nice if they tried to arm themselves again. --[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 13:55, 19 September 2008 (PDT)

====Aliens better with explosions====
I wish that aliens using grenades or blaster bombs or stun bombs (anything that goes boom) would use more sense. They should not want to use items that go boom when they are guaranteed to be caught in the blast radius. The alien can use grenades and blaster bombs by going out of line of sight before the explosion goes off. That may not save them if the explosion blows out the walls. At least it would be less stupid then firing a point blank blaster bomb vs taking 5 steps and setting up another waypoint. Units with morale above 100 or mind controlled should still be suicidal as normal.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 13:55, 19 September 2008 (PDT)

==Fix All Bugs==

Oh no [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] already did this! :) [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

== Category ==
The page needs to be listed in various categories, which ones I don't know. Also links on other pages to this one would aid people finding it.

: OK how about this one: [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:21, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

[[Category:Oddities and bugs]]

SOME MORE WISH LIST STUFF

I have already listed most of this wish list on Sep’s excellent loader page. Didn’t know this page existed till now.

1. When the aliens use psi attacks they always go for your guys with the most chance of failing the attack and going nuts. Is it possible to make those pesky aliens attack random soldiers, regardless of their psi skill/strength?

2. If you psi control a human (civilians) in a terror mission, they become enemies when you lose control (meaning you have to kill the poor idiots to finish the mission). Any chance that they could revert to friendlies/non enemies again when you lose control.

3. Men who are under alien control when you win become MIA, any chance they could be saved (you will have killed all the aliens after all).

4. 80 item bug on base defense mission

5. I have noticed that sometimes you can shoot through hard objects, for example, recently I had a soldier up on the roof of a house overlooking a large scout craft. When a Sectiod moved through one of the inner doors of the UFO, my man shot him straight through the intact ufo roof!

6. I don’t know if this is already implemented in the game? When the aliens attack your base and you defend it with base defense measures does the following occur and if not a mod maybe? When you hit the battleship with your weapons but it still gets through (e.g. you hit the battleship with some missiles before it lands) can the number of attackers be reduced accordingly. For example if you hit it with some missiles then maybe they could have a couple less soldiers attacking (could be random small amount) or when you hit with loads of stuff like plenty of fusion balls and the battleship just makes it then their attack could be reduced to a few aliens (all others got killed in the defense). As I say not sure if this is already there to some degree (not played in a long time and I’m not at that stage yet this time round).

7. This one is way out there. Alien v Alien battles out with main game, just random battlescape maps. Sectoid and their terrorists against Floaters and theirs etc. One side human controlled the other computer. Choice of ships involved etc.

These are a couple of new ones, just thought of them

8. moved

9. Open doors like they do in TFTD (I know this is mentioned above with the good stun grenades idea).

10. New graphics for the Interceptor and Firestorm on the battlescape. All your ships could remain in their hangers when the aliens attack your base. Don’t understand why Mythos did not do this originally.

Wish List (EU)

2008-09-19T20:55:48Z

Brunpal: Me want smarter aliens. hit with club. ugg.

X-Com is a great game and as evidence just look to the fact this wiki exists even though the game pre-dates the internet. In all it's greatness X-Com has some elements and behaviors players wish they could change. This is a repository of those desires. Some day a fan mod may make your wish come true...

== I Wish... ==
State what you want AND what X-com does normally. Sign your name if you think "Oh man! That would be great!"
=== Fuel Ready always ===
I wish that I could send out craft at any fuel or ammo level. Normally craft can only leave a base if fully "ready". Craft is only "ready" at 100% fuel (or 0% fuel using an exploit) but there's no logical reason why a full tank and full ammo is required. Fully repaired... that's fine. I can live with pilots refusing to fly a plane missing a wing even if it means England is lost to aliens. 15 hours to fill a tank? Retarded but I can live with that too if I can send out a craft at 20% fuel.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]]

:Actually, many modern aircraft '''do''' require the fuel tanks to be full on takeoff, and fairly empty on landing. The weight of the fuel is figured into the takeoff aerodynamics, and the tank being full prevents fuel 'sloshing' in the tanks and not actually making it to the engine. (Conversely, many aircraft need to have dispensed of much of that fuel weight before landing.) This holds for most runway-takeoff craft, but may not apply to anything with VTOL capacity; I'm unsure there.

:I do agree that non-full weapons aren't as critical, though. But from a logical standpoint, most modern aircraft should not be launched on an empty fuel tank. I also should noted that an Elerium-fueled craft with [[Known_Bugs#Elerium-fueled_Craft_Bug|50% fuel or less remaining]] will automatically return to base, regardless of distance from base. Of course, given that such craft fuel up quickly, its less of an issue there. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:05, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

:Hum, maybe you can try [[User:Seb76#Mods|this]]? [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 13:01, 8 August 2008 (PDT)
::Thanks! But I can't try it. I've not been able to get my copy of Xcom to run properly except on a Win98 install. VC2008 requires a more modern OS. I'm sure I could ''eventually'' figure out a way to get it running, but I tried once and wasted too much time before giving up.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 14:45, 8 August 2008 (PDT)
:AFAIK VC2008 binaries should run OK on Win98 as long as the runtime is deployed. Anyway, the loader uses CreateRemoteThread API which is not available in Win98 so don't even bother. '''However''', you can manually patch the binary if you want ;-) Data to patch (all in hexadecimal):
offset 0x41752: 2A0075 -> 18207C
:HTH. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 14:56, 8 August 2008 (PDT)

=== Smarter on Globe ===
I wish all craft understood the shortest distance between two points on a globe is a curved path towards the poles. Normally a craft goes in the opposite direction than it should (towards the equator). Pain in the ass when the base in the UK sends a craft to Siberia.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]]

===Equipment Management===

==== Soldiers remembers THEIR equipment ====
I wish soldiers remembered what equipment they LAST used and start with that gear when they land. Normally soldiers grab various gear and put lots of crap on their belt. I put most things on the shoulder slots, and keep many things spare things on the ship just in case I need them. (I only want IN rounds if it's night. Stop picking them up before I shoot you in the back!) Takes forever to sort out the gear so the weakling isn't carrying all the rockets etc.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]]

:This is already available in [[XcomUtil]]. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:07, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

====Access to Stats screens during equipment allocation====

In Battlescape you can get to Stats screens by right clicking on one of the unit's status bars. However you can't do this in the Equipment screen. Things like Statstrings and (even more so) [[User:Seb76|Seb76]]'s modified Equipment screen with actual/max weight help. But it would be nice to be able to see exact stats. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

===Fog of War Mk. 2===

I'm sure most of these would be an absolute PAIN to implement, but I figured I'd toss the ideas out here.

====Blind Dropship Pilots====
One thing that has always irked me is X-COM has no terrain knowledge when it lands, despite having probably circled the place two or three times before landing and thus they should know at least some of the area. This would be nice, but isn't too important. Probably would be a pain to implement so X-COM would have all knowledge of external features but no knowledge of building interiors, anyways. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:38, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

:Yes at the very least, when you splash the UFO, it could tell you (via some miracle technology such as "satellite reconnaisance") what the terrain type is of the landing zone area. Then you could adjust equipment accordingly. And adjust your uniform camouflage (if using one of the uniform mods). [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:16, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

:: Geoscape: center on the site, then maximum zoom. Aside from having to disambiguate forest from jungle, this works fine for knowing the exact terrain you're getting into. -- [[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 10:17, 4 Sept 2008 (CDT)

:::This is already present in the game. To center the Geoscape on a specific location, right-click on the target spot. To do maximum zoom in, right click on the Zoom-In button(and the same works for Zoom-Out). Also, Jungle and Forest use the same display algorithm, but are easy to differentiate; Forest occurs NORTH of the equator, and Jungle occurs SOUTH. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 13:23, 4 September 2008 (PDT)

====Moving Fog====

The Fog of War in X-COM is clumsily implemented, compared to modern expectations. Everything starts out black, but after exploring, is shown...and it's kept in the same showing, regardless of whether you actually have LoS to that area anymore. It would be nice if when you no longer had Line of Sight to a particular map area, it would be cloaked in a way so that you knew the terrain, but not the units there. Since I've sometimes spent over half an hour trying to hunt down that last alien hiding in area I'd already explored. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:38, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

====Deactivate Object Radar====

Currently, in X-COM, any objects dropped in a given square show on your Battlescape, regardless of whether you have Line of Sight to the square or not. In regards to dropped weapons/grenades/equipment/dead soldiers/dead aliens, this doesn't make a large difference. But in the case of STUNNED aliens, a quick scan across the Battlescape can tell you whether the alien you stunned 10 turns ago is still down, or stood back up(the stunned alien object will disappear from the stack). Of course, since aliens which have revived from stun are almost always disarmed(and the ones that aren't probably should've been killed instead), the usefulness of this 'exploit' is reduced mainly to finding out that the last alien you're looking for is just wandering aimlessly and unarmed. Perhaps leave stacks showing the same until you regain LoS to that area? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:38, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

===Score for retaliation Battleships===

When a Battleship on retaliation attacks your base and is shot down, you get no score for it. This is completely illogical and it discourages any use of base defences. You should get normal 700 (or even 1400) points for it.
--[[User:Kyrub|Kyrub]] 14:05, 30 August 2008 (PDT)

: I'm not sure about this. Yes it's illogical, but it could also be a licence to get a huge score if you have a strong enough base. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:16, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

:: The impenetrable base setup would turn into a cheat. As the aliens will keep hammering the base with a battleship until one breaks through, you'll have a steady supply of points without having to really do anything. Some balancing, such as paying to rearm your defence modules, ought to be thrown in to balance things out. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:13, 13 September 2008 (PDT)
:::A better fix would be to remove the retaliation flag when a battleship is destroyed. If someone can post a savegame with a never-ending flow of base attacks, I may have a look at the fix. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 01:05, 15 September 2008 (PDT)

===Decrease Accuracy for targets out of sight===

How come you can easily shoot on something you do not see?
I find the over-used scout-sniper tactic is a cheap exploit of the X-COM. The tactical game should describe a combat, not a cowardly shooting practice. It would turn into a nice feature, if there would be a penalty of (let us say) -20% to the accuracy of anybody who is firing on a target out of his current sight. This can greatly enhance the tactical depth of the game. (Seb around? ;-) --[[User:Kyrub|Kyrub]] 14:20, 30 August 2008 (PDT)

: There is a penalty. Bullet drift. The further away you are, the more this will impact the bullet, potentially making even a 100% accurate shot miss. Also X-Com maps are pretty small, and the aliens already cheat enough as it is to make things difficult even with the sniper/scout strategy. In Apocalypse they addressed this with adding weapon ranges. But then, even some weapons were capable of shooting beyond the unit's ability to see an enemy target. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:07, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

::That's not really a good reason for me. 1) Bullet drift has a very small effect in the game, because the actual percents are set quite high. Example: if you spray an unseen alien from the other corner of the map with autofire of 35%, you'll get a 73,6% chance to hit with at least one bullet. Physics and game balance, adieu. 2) Moreover, bullet drift has nothing to do with not seeing the target. It should be the contrary, you ACCIDENTALLY hit something you don't see, no? 3) You get a penalty for handling two weapons in the same time. Why couldn't we take the same penalty (80%*Acc) for the hit-out-of-sight? (Well, I can't do this actually, maybe others can)--[[User:Kyrub|Kyrub]] 18:25, 14 September 2008 (PDT)

: I don't agree that bullet drift is already there as a penalty, since this doesn't distinguish between seen and unseen targets at all (ok it does indirectly, only in so far as unseen targets tend to be further away). I think we should look at 3 cases: 1. person firing did not happen to be the one who '''spotted''' the target. 2. person firing '''could not''' see/spot the target under any circumstances. In the first case, we can assume the firer has visual contact with the target, after someone else pointed it out. No accuracy penalty should be applied (maybe a TU penalty?). In the second case, there should be an accuracy penalty. 80% would be generous, I would go for 50%. Or maybe something non-linear, so that autofire percentages would not fall by as much as aimed fire and snap fire percentages. One problem you have is how to present these two different cases to the player before they take the shot. It's a bit obscure if you just show them a lower hit probability without explaining why. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 19:02, 14 September 2008 (PDT)

:: Bullet drift is an effect on range (actually it has quite a major effect on the blaster bomb), but yes it's not because of whether or not the unit can see the alien. But then again, the maps are small. If you ever took lots of screen shots of the map and made a large composite from them, you'd find that the area of operations is very tiny and that the 20 tile visual range means that our avatars are quite short sighted. That's not realistic either, but imposed for game balance. Other tactical games appear to handle the accuracy vs. range dropoff issue by combining the shooter's skill and the weapon's maximum range. Basically you can operate the weapon to the best of the shooter's ability within the maximum range, but the further away you try to aim, accuracy is decreased. In some games, you even get to see the effect on the accuracy before you pull the trigger as the accuracy is attached to the cursor. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] 22:46, 14 September 2008 (PDT)

:::Actually the blaster bomb "drift" issue is not mainly caused by drift, but by accuracy adjustment between each waypoint (60% for xcom players, 55% for aliens). Maybe we can cook a kind of "max effective range" for a weapon base on firing mode (auto<snap<aimed) and gun type (pistol/rifle). Firing above this range would decrease the accuracy. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 01:03, 15 September 2008 (PDT)

:::: (to NKF) The main flaw of the whole "shoot the unseen" thing is the aliens cannot shoot back at somebody shooting at them (no reaction fire). If they could (or if they'd shoot at least the soldier they see), I wouldn't complain. This destroys the battle tactics side of the game, you just sent a man to "spot them". Nota bene, they cannot use the same scout-sniper tactic, the way we do, either. (This would be most annoying, by the way).
::::(to Seb76) Effective range would restore some balance and add some use to the aimed shots. I thought about a simpler solution with ''substracting'' some accuracy (which would make auto useless, snap into a poor and aimed into a solid chance-to-hit). Your suggestion is much more elegant, Seb, if you can cook it ;-) --[[User:Kyrub|Kyrub]] 08:00, 18 September 2008 (PDT)

::: Fair enough, but do note that even your units cannot react against an alien that they cannot see within their visual range. Attacks of opportunity and actively taking your turn are two different tasks after all. I'm not sure the aliens would be such sportsmen though. It might be worth looking into whether there is cooperation amongst the aliens while they are taking their turn - and I think I just have the scenario savegame to test this. If I could find it. BBs probably break the rules of basic firearms and range, and mind control has its own set of rules, so probably wouldn't count. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 00:37, 19 September 2008 (PDT)

===Enough Smoke===

It would be nice to increase the current limit on smoke/fire hexes. This is due to their locations being stored in a small, fixed length array. In effect you can only get about 3-4 smoke grenades worth of smoke or fire on the map at the same time. Being able to use smoke liberally would really open up new tactics. At the moment all you can really do is cover the LZ in smoke when you exit the transport, and maybe cover one advance over open ground. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)
:I did something for that on my loader. Heavy testing is required because it is hard to be make sure smoke still works as before (testing is the hardest part actually). [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 14:09, 18 September 2008 (PDT)

===Restore Game from Battlescape===

It would be nice to be able to reload a saved game directly from the Battlescape "?" screen, rather than having to go through the process of Abandoning to the Geoscape. Would you need to check it was a Battlescape save and not a Geoscape save? Maybe, maybe not. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

===Warm Grenades===

Currently when you set the timer on a grenade (or HE pack), the timer runs down every turn regardless of whether the grenade is worn, held, or dropped. Then, when the timer runs out, it explodes unless it is held or worn. There is no real grenade or explosive that works this way. Once the timer (fuse) starts running, they explode regardless. However for most hand grenades, the timer (fuse) doesn't start until after you throw/drop the grenade. It would be nice to have both of these real world behaviours, and lose the game's default behaviour. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

: Technically the way the game implements grenades, they don't have a timer. At least, not as such. When you set a grenade, the game just assigns it a turn to blow up on. Once the turn has passed, the game checks to see that it's on the ground and blows it up if it is, otherwise it doesn't. I believe Seb76 has already addressed this in his patches where there's an option to make grenade blow up regardless whether they are in inventory or otherwise the moment the timer is set. X-Com Apocalypse does a good job of this. The moment the grenade is so much as moved after the timer is set, it counts down. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] 23:01, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

:: To simulate an actual timer, you would need to do something like: Every turn that a primed grenade is being held by a unit during the "explode" check, increment by +1 the turn when that grenade is going to explode. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 19:10, 14 September 2008 (PDT)
:::I think I would change quantity2 ([[OBPOS.DAT]]) to a countdown instead of a turn, and use quantity3 as a flag indicating if the count has started. This flag is set any time a turn ends and the grenade has no owner. Taking it back in your hand once the timer has started won't help and the thing must be thrown... quantity2 is decreased if quantity3 is set, and the grenade blows up as usual. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 01:35, 15 September 2008 (PDT)

===Stun Grenades===

I want flashbangs.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 22:59, 11 September 2008 (PDT)
:Instead of stunning, I'd see more effect if it would remove some TUs to units having line of sight (to be fare it should affect xcom units too). It would help against reaction fire (which is the point of flashbangs). Given that grenades detonate at the end turns, it would require a good coordination to have the grenade detonate exactly at the end of the alien turn, and just before your attack. Being able to open doors à la xcom2 would also help to throw flashbangs just before a craft assault... [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 22:03, 12 September 2008 (PDT)
::That would be good. Hard to program, potentially extremely unbalancing, but good. I considered a "debuff" kind of ability (as you suggest) for flashbangs, vs the more obvious substitution of [[stun]] for [[HE]] damage. In the end, I picked "I want flashbangs."--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 03:32, 13 September 2008 (PDT)
: Maybe flashbangs dont' work on Aliens - otherwise, XCom would use them, right? :) But seriously, I too would like flashbangs, and stun grenades / concussion grenades. Both of these would make the game easier, though. With flashbangs, you might have to compensate by just giving the aliens more TUs. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 13:33, 13 September 2008 (PDT)
::More options for the player is going to make it easier for any kind of game. Particularly of games like XCOM where the computer can't take advantage of the changes. However I don't believe a weak stun grenade (like 44 stun damage, comparable to AC-HE) would change the game much because the 80 item limit remains.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 22:21, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

===Night Vision===

I '''don't''' want to add night vision equipment to the game. I assume that either (1) all XCom units already have night vision gear as standard, but it's not as good as alien night vision, and the visibility that XCom units have at night is based on their standard-issue night vision gear, or (2) night vision gear does not work on Aliens. Either they do not appear on night vision, or maybe worse - maybe the aliens can manipulate night vision equipment, causing worse than normal vision, or hallucinations, and even tricking XCom units into firing on each other. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 13:33, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

===Throwing over stuff===

I want to throw stuff over other stuff. I don't find grenades useful. I much rather shoot a rocket launcher from outside reaction shot range because even when you miss, odds are it's close enough. The throw itself has an arc trajectory and can hit the ceiling (a feature I like) but to pick the target it has to have straight line of sight (like a bullet) which is stupid. I want to throw onto the top of buildings where I ''can't see'', or bounce a grenade off the ceiling and over the head of a squadie ''because '' I don't have line of sight with a gun. If I had line of sight, I would just shoot since that costs less TU even if I already had an armed grenade.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to keep "out of range" but remove "you can't throw there" and just let a solider throw to any square they want. A better way is to keep the warning but give the player the option to try the throw anyway. If you can't really throw there, then oops... that's your badly positioned live grenade to deal with.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 22:59, 11 September 2008 (PDT)

:I did some tests disabling the "you can't throw there" check and it does not work. The grenade ends up in the vicinity of the throwing unit. Actually the line of sight is not used when throwing objects. I'm 98% sure it simulates the throwing of the object and if it intercepts anything, the throw is refused. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 04:47, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

:: The explicit emulation of the trajectory has been verified as part of the throwing range testing by [[User:Zombie|Zombie]] and myself. The range bands are not consistent with a continuous model; they look like a table lookup from the same source 3rd ed. GURPS (Steve Jackson Games) uses. -- [[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 8:21 13 September 2008 (CDT)

:::Units don't need LOS to an area to throw a grenade, as evidenced by my favored tactic of chucking an Alien Grenade or HE Pack into any Medium or Large Scout which has had the roof blown away in the crash from outside to 'pacify' any remaining crew. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 09:22, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

Really? It never seems to work for me. Always requires me to have line of sight. For example tossing in a grenade into the roof hole doesn't work for me if the solider is on level 0 and I target a square inside at level 0. The walls and door obviously block the LoS. However I can target an area on level 1 or 2 in mid air and throw to that location where it naturally drops down to level 0. However I have line of sight to those higher levels in that case.
That's an acceptable compromise in many cases but in others it fails completely. For example having an alien on the top of a 2 story building (level 2) in the middle and a solider standing next to the building and not being able to toss a grenade onto the center of the roof. I could toss a ball there in real life. I wouldn't have thought the trajectory would have been high/steep enough to hit the "sky roof".--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 22:04, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

: Just how strong are your soldiers? The stronger they are, the higher their toss. There are various occasions where you don't need to see where you're throwing to throw. For example, try tossing grenades over a tall fence or hedge. A High Explosive pack into the apple orchard that is surrounded by a hedge on farm maps is often an easy way to smoke out any hidden aliens - and the orchard. One likely cause why you can't throw inside the UFO is that there's something in the way inside that's preventing the throw, such as a wall. Try adjusting your throwing destination, or reposition your soldier for a better throwing angle.

: I've often found grenades to be much more reliable than a directional attack early in the game where firing accuracy is much lower. You ought to try playing a few of the simpler missions like supply ship or large scout assaults with an all-grenadier cast. Takes a bit of planning to not destroy much of the loot, but otherwise literally a blast. -[[User:NKF|NKF]] 22:52, 13 September 2008 (PDT)

===Enforced Variant Games===

Various people like to play various variant games, such as No Alien Technology, or No Detection, or No Lethal Weapons - see for example Scott Jones' notes to XComUtil. It would be nice to have options on the game executable to enforce these scenarios. Self restraint is hard! [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

===Assault Time Limit===

One of the cool things about UFO Defence is there are no time limits on the scenarios. This is great as it allows for a totally different kind of tactics and much more flexibility.
It's more of a "thinking man's game" as a result. But... arguably this is not very realistic for UFO Assault missions. If the Aliens are getting creamed, they should try to make a getaway if they can (just like XCom would). A simple way to implement this would be a hard time limit (say 20 turns?) on a UFO Assault. Another way would be to base it on Alien Morale. At a certain Morale level the aliens decide to dust off. Give the player say 3 turns warning while they rev up the engines. Then if there is still a Navigator or Engineer in the Control Room alive, the ship takes off. Any XCom troops still aboard are MIA.

You might run into problems if the UFO took off but then landed again or was shot down, generating another ground mission with potentially '''more''' Aliens than were still alive at the end of the Assault. (Still, maybe they hatch some more clones if they get time to....) [[User:Spike|Spike]] 09:51, 4 September 2008 (PDT)

: It strikes me as justified they don't do that. Troops loose in the vessel could be seriously bad. It would be nice if they dusted off on the condition that their morale was low enough or 3 X-com soldiers had the door in their sights without aliens alive outside in the latter case and no X-com soldiers on board in either case. also, if the UFO has a hole in either the command or engine room, it would have to set down before leaving the atmosphere. [[User:(name here)|(name here)]]

===Base Build Stacking===

At the moment you are only allowed to build next to a finished module, and you aren't allowed to plan ahead in your base construction. It would be nice to at least be able to plan more than one phase of construction in advance. This would be pretty easy to implement. There is no need to code any new "queuing system". Just place the new module next to an existing under-construction module, but increment the build time to the normal build time + the time remaining on the under-construction module (the lowest time remaining that would make the square you are building in, a legal square to build in). As a premium for build stacking, you have to pay the costs up-front. As with normal construction, all costs are non-refundable if you change your mind. (There would probably need to be some on-screen feedback for how long the module would take to build, before you were committed to building it.) [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

===Recuit Certain Enemy===

Consider that not all alien loyal to its master (most TFTD alien has a device lodged to its brain), it should be interesting (or at least cool) if we can recuit such alien. Maybe we can replace those controling device from captive alien after research that specie. Or convince head of the Snakemen that it would be far more benefit to help us instead of the Ethereal [[User:L-Zwei|L-Zwei]] 23:25, 12 September 2008 (PDT).

Only certain alien types should be recruitable. Ones that should NOT be include Mutons (as they are directly controlled by Ethereals), Chrysallids (unbalancing), etc. It would be nice to be able to reverse-engineer Cyberdiscs or Sectopods, or make it that a Cyberdisc must be researched to build hovertanks/etc.
[[User:MagicJuggler|MagicJuggler]] 13:32, 18 September 2008 (PDT)

===Alien AI===
====Attempts to rearm====
Aliens cannot pick up items, but I wish they would. If an alien has no useful weapons in inventory they should either head for cover or head for a plasma weapon. Panicked aliens drop their weapons but never seem to pick them up when they managed to pull themselves together. It would be nice if they tried to arm themselves again. --[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 13:55, 19 September 2008 (PDT)

====Aliens smarter with explosions====
I wish that aliens using grenades or blaster bombs or stun bombs (anything that goes boom) would use more sense. If they should not want to use items that go boom when they are guaranteed to be caught in the blast radius. The alien can use grenades and blaster bombs by going out of line of sight before the explosion goes off. That may not save them if the explosion blows out the walls. At least it would be less stupid then firing a point blank blaster bomb vs taking 5 steps and setting up another waypoint. --[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 13:55, 19 September 2008 (PDT)

==Fix All Bugs==

Oh no [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] already did this! :) [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:06, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

== Category ==
The page needs to be listed in various categories, which ones I don't know. Also links on other pages to this one would aid people finding it.

: OK how about this one: [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:21, 3 September 2008 (PDT)

[[Category:Oddities and bugs]]

SOME MORE WISH LIST STUFF

I have already listed most of this wish list on Sep’s excellent loader page. Didn’t know this page existed till now.

1. When the aliens use psi attacks they always go for your guys with the most chance of failing the attack and going nuts. Is it possible to make those pesky aliens attack random soldiers, regardless of their psi skill/strength?

2. If you psi control a human (civilians) in a terror mission, they become enemies when you lose control (meaning you have to kill the poor idiots to finish the mission). Any chance that they could revert to friendlies/non enemies again when you lose control.

3. Men who are under alien control when you win become MIA, any chance they could be saved (you will have killed all the aliens after all).

4. 80 item bug on base defense mission

5. I have noticed that sometimes you can shoot through hard objects, for example, recently I had a soldier up on the roof of a house overlooking a large scout craft. When a Sectiod moved through one of the inner doors of the UFO, my man shot him straight through the intact ufo roof!

6. I don’t know if this is already implemented in the game? When the aliens attack your base and you defend it with base defense measures does the following occur and if not a mod maybe? When you hit the battleship with your weapons but it still gets through (e.g. you hit the battleship with some missiles before it lands) can the number of attackers be reduced accordingly. For example if you hit it with some missiles then maybe they could have a couple less soldiers attacking (could be random small amount) or when you hit with loads of stuff like plenty of fusion balls and the battleship just makes it then their attack could be reduced to a few aliens (all others got killed in the defense). As I say not sure if this is already there to some degree (not played in a long time and I’m not at that stage yet this time round).

7. This one is way out there. Alien v Alien battles out with main game, just random battlescape maps. Sectoid and their terrorists against Floaters and theirs etc. One side human controlled the other computer. Choice of ships involved etc.

These are a couple of new ones, just thought of them

8. moved

9. Open doors like they do in TFTD (I know this is mentioned above with the good stun grenades idea).

10. New graphics for the Interceptor and Firestorm on the battlescape. All your ships could remain in their hangers when the aliens attack your base. Don’t understand why Mythos did not do this originally.

Talk:Small Scout

2008-09-18T17:53:13Z

Brunpal: yeah. I'm aware of that. I edited it because it wasn't accurate enough as is.

Small Scout

2008-09-17T21:39:40Z

Brunpal: /* Terrain Maps */ previous note was better explained at the top of the page.

'''Small scouts''' are tiny UFOs which are used for reconnaissance or research. They normally precede larger vessels at the start of an [[Alien Missions|alien mission]].

Small scouts have no armament, so any craft with any weapon can shoot one down -- provided you can catch up to it to shoot it, as its top speed is better than an [[Interceptor]].

Small scouts carry ONE alien. The ship itself yields a single unit of [[Alien Alloys]] and nothing else. It resembles a Lunar Lander on legs; to enter, you have to walk under it and ascend a gravlift. No real reason to enter it though, there's usually nothing interesting there. The only thing that could be there is that one alien, and you can just shoot up the gravlift to kill him. Plus you can't ascend if he's there, since there's no room for two of you...

Small scouts will be destroyed by anything more powerful than a single [[Stingray]] missile -- although even that can destroy them, so if you do not wish to destroy them, craft [[Cannon]]s alone are best. Most scouts land at least once during their mission, so the easiest way to recover a small scout is to follow it with a transport and wait for it to land.

The meager payload of small scouts means that you will get a higher [[score]] for destroying them than for doing a [[UFO Ground Assault|recovery]] -- although scout pilots often carry a [[Mind Probe]], making a recovery financially rewarding.

==Statistics==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Statistic</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Size</td><td>Very Small</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Max Speed(km)</td><td>2,200</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Power</td><td>0</tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Range(km)</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Range(range units)</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Damage Capacity</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Downed points</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Destroyed points</td><td>100</td></tr>
</table><br />

==Recoverable Components==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Item</th>
<th>Sell Price</th>
<th>Quantity</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Power Source</td><td>$250,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Navigation</td><td>$80,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Food</td><td>$5,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Surgery</td><td>$38,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Entertainment</td><td>$20,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Examination Room</td><td>$9,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Alloys</td><td>$6,500</td><td>1</td><td>$6,500</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Elerium-115</td><td>$5,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><th colspan="3">Totals</th><td>$6,500</td></tr>
</table><br />
Also see [[UFO Recovery Values#Small Scout|UFO Recovery Values]].

==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>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Navigators</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Medics</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Engineers</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Leaders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
</table><br />

==Terrain Maps==
<gallery>
Image:UFO1AMAP-L1.JPG|Level 0
Image:UFO1AMAP-L2.JPG|Level 1
Image:UFO1AMAP.JPG|Level 2
</gallery>

Note: Likely you will never see this terrain map.

==See Also==
[[Medium Scout]]<br>
[[Large Scout]]<br>
[[Abductor]]<br>
[[Harvester]]<br>
[[Supply Ship]]<br>
[[Terror Ship]]<br>
[[Battleship]]

[[Category: UFO (UFO Defense)]]

Weapon Summaries

2008-09-15T03:44:32Z

Brunpal:

This page is poorly named. Flagging it for a rename.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 20:44, 14 September 2008 (PDT)

= Intent of Page =
Numbers. Numbers. Mind boggling numbers! Enough to create a gravitational vortex that'll suck your mind into oblivion, and run away with your shoes.

{| style = "background: #EEE; border: black solid 1px;" align = "center" width = "80%"
|- valign = "top"
| colspan = "3" |
= Weapons by Accuracy =
For the following tables, the numbers are read from the worst to the best accuracies.
|- valign = "top"
| width = "33%" |

{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Aimed Accuracy
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Accuracy%

|-
| Laser Pistol
| 68%
|-
| Pistol
| 78%
|-
| Auto Cannon
| 82%
|-
| Heavy Laser
| 84%
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| 85%
|-
| Heavy Cannon
| 90%
|-
| Laser Rifle
| 100%
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| 100%
|-
| Rifle
| 110%
|-
| Small Launcher
| 110%
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| 110%
|-
| Rocket Launcher
| 115%
|}

|width = "33%" |

{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Snap Accuracy
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Accuracy%
|-
| Laser Pistol
| 40%
|-
| Heavy Laser
| 50%
|-
| Rocket Launcher
| 55%
|-
| Auto Cannon
| 56%
|-
| Pistol
| 60%
|-
| Heavy Cannon
| 60%
|-
| Rifle
| 60%
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| 65%
|-
| Laser Rifle
| 65%
|-
| Small Launcher
| 65%
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| 75%
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| 86%
|}

| width = "33%" |
{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Auto Accuracy
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Accuracy%
|-
| Laser Pistol
| 28%
|-
| Auto Cannon
| 32%
|-
| Rifle
| 35%
|-
| Laser Rifle
| 46%
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| 50%
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| 50%
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| 55%
|-
| style = "color:#ddd;" |Heavy Laser
| style = "color:#ddd;" | n/a
|-
|style = "color:#ddd;" | Rocket Launcher
|style = "color:#ddd;" | n/a
|-
|style = "color:#ddd;" | Pistol
|style = "color:#ddd;" | n/a
|-
|style = "color:#ddd;" | Heavy Cannon
|style = "color:#ddd;" | n/a
|-
|style = "color:#ddd;" | Small Launcher
|style = "color:#ddd;" | n/a
|}

|- valign = "top"
|colspan ="2"|

{|{{stdTable}} width = "100%" align = "Center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Launch
|-{{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Accuracy%
|-
| Blaster Launcher
| 120%
|- colspan = "2"
|<small> Technically, an aimed shot, but this value isn't used. A launched weapon's accuracy depends entirely on the players ability to plot waypoints.</small>
|}

|- valign = "top"
|colspan ="2"|

{|{{stdTable}} width = "100%" align = "Center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Stun (or Hit)
|-{{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Accuracy%
|-
| Stun Rod
| 100%
|- colspan = "2"
|<small> Again, this value isn't used as all melee attacks hit their target.</small>
|}

|-
| colspan = "3" |
= Weapons by Speed =
The following numbers are read from the best to worst.

|- valign = "top"
| width = "33%" |

{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Aimed Speed
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || TU Cost%
|-
| Pistol
| 30%
|-
| Laser Rifle
| 50%
|-
| Laser Pistol
| 55%
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| 60%
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| 60%
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| 60%
|-
| Heavy Laser
| 75%
|-
| Small Launcher
| 75%
|-
| Rocket Launcher
| 75%
|-
| Auto Cannon
| 80%
|-
| Heavy Cannon
| 80%
|-
| Rifle
| 80%

|}

|width = "33%" |

{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Snap Cost
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || TU Cost%
|-
| Pistol
| 18%
|-
| Laser Pistol
| 20%
|-
| Laser Rifle
| 25%
|-
| Rifle
| 25%
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| 30%
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| 30%
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| 30%

|-
| Heavy Cannon
| 33%
|-
| Auto Cannon
| 33%
|-
| Heavy Laser
| 33%
|-
| Small Launcher
| 40%
|-
| Rocket Launcher
| 45%
|}

| width = "33%" |
{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Auto Cost
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || TU Cost%
|-
| Laser Pistol
| 25%
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| 30%
|-
| Laser Rifle
| 34%
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| 35%
|-
| Rifle
| 35%
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| 36%
|-
| Auto Cannon
| 40%
|-
| style = "color:#ddd;" |Heavy Laser
| style = "color:#ddd;" | n/a
|-
|style = "color:#ddd;" | Rocket Launcher
|style = "color:#ddd;" | n/a
|-
|style = "color:#ddd;" | Pistol
|style = "color:#ddd;" | n/a
|-
|style = "color:#ddd;" | Heavy Cannon
|style = "color:#ddd;" | n/a
|-
|style = "color:#ddd;" | Small Launcher
|style = "color:#ddd;" | n/a
|}

|- valign = "top"
|colspan ="2"|

{|{{stdTable}} width = "100%" align = "Center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Launch
|-{{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || TU Cost%
|-
| Blaster Launcher
| 66%
|}

|- valign = "top"
|colspan ="2"|

{|{{stdTable}} width = "100%" align = "Center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Stun (or Hit)
|-{{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || TU Cost%
|-
| Stun Rod
| 30%
|}

|- valign = "top"
|colspan ="2"|

{|{{stdTable}} width = "100%" align = "Center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "3" | Prime and Throw
|-{{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Grenade || Setting TU Cost% || Throwing TU Cost%
|-
| All grenades
| 50%
| 25%
|}

|-
| colspan = "3" |

= Weapons by Weight =
The values in the following tables are read from the lightest to the heaviest
|- valign = "top"
|
{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Guns
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Weight
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| 3
|-
| Pistol
| 5
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| 5
|-
| Laser Pistol
| 7
|-
| Laser Rifle
| 8
|-
| Rifle
| 8
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| 8
|-
| Small Launcher
| 10
|-
| Rocket Launcher
| 10
|-
| Blaster Launcher
| 16
|-
| Heavy Laser
| 18
|-
| Heavy Cannon
| 18
|-
| Auto Cannon
| 19
|}

|

{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Ammo
|-{{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon/Clip || Weight
|-
| Plasma Pistol Clip
| 3
|-
| Pistol Clip
| 3
|-
| Plasma Rifle Clip
| 3
|-
| Rifle Clip
| 3
|-
| Heavy Plasma Clip
| 3
|-
| Small Launcher
| 3
|-
| Blaster Bomb
| 3
|-
| AC-AP
| 5
|-
| AC-HE
| 5
|-
| AC-I
| 5
|-
| Small Rocket
| 6
|-
| HC-AP
| 6
|-
| HC-HE
| 6
|-
| HC-I
| 6
|-
| Large Rocket
| 8
|-
| Incendiary Rocket
| 8
|-
| style = "color:#ddd;" |Laser Pistol
| style = "color:#ddd;" |n/a
|-
| style = "color:#ddd;" |Laser Rifle
| style = "color:#ddd;" |n/a
|-
| style = "color:#ddd;" |Heavy Laser
| style = "color:#ddd;" |n/a
|}

|

{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Gun + Ammo
|-{{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon/Clip || Weight
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| 6
|-
| Laser Pistol
| 7
|-
| Laser Rifle
| 8
|-
| Pistol
| 8
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| 8
|-
| Rifle
| 11
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| 11
|-
| Small Launcher
| 13
|-
| Rocket Launcher-Sm
| 16
|-
| Heavy Laser
| 18
|-
| Rocket Launcher-Lg
| 18
|-
| Rocket Launcher-I
| 18
|-
| Blaster Launcher
| 19
|-
| Autocannon-AP
| 24
|-
| Autocannon-HE
| 24
|-
| Autocannon-I
| 24

|-
| Heavy Cannon-AP
| 24
|-
| Heavy Cannon-HE
| 24
|-
| Heavy Cannon-I
| 24
|}

|- valign = "top"
|colspan ="1"|

{|{{stdTable}} width = "100%" align = "Center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "1" | Melee Weapons
|-{{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Weight
|-
| Stun Rod
| 6
|}

|- valign = "top"
|colspan ="2"|

{|{{stdTable}} width = "100%" align = "Center"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Grenades
|-{{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Grenade || Weight
|-
| Grenade (standard)
| 3
|-
| Proximity Grenade
| 3
|-
| Alien Grenade
| 3
|-
| High Explosive
| 6
|}

= Weapons by Ammo Capacity =
For the following tables, the numbers are read from the least to the most clip capacities.
|- valign = "top"
| width = "100%" |

{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Clip Size
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Ammo in clip

|-
| Small Launcher
| 1
|-
| Blaster Launcher,
| 1
|-
| Rocket Launcher
| 1
|-
| All grenades
| 1
|-
| Heavy Cannon
| 6
|-
| Pistol
| 12
|-
| Auto Cannon
| 14
|-
| Rifle
| 20
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| 26
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| 28
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| 35
|-
| All lasers
| Infinite
|-
| Stun Rod
| Infinite
|}

|-
| colspan = "1" |

= Weapons by Damage =
For the following tables, the numbers are read from the least to the most damage dealt before applying armor or any percentage reductions. Keep in mind that damage is calculated by multiplying these numbers by a random percentage between 0 and 200%(or 50-150% if for HE weapons). Also keep in mind that Incendiary damage ratings simply indicate the spread of the fire, not the damage actually dealt.
|- valign = "top"
| width = "100%" |

{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Weapon Damage
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Damage and type

|-
| Smoke
| 1-3 Stun per round
|-
| Standing in fire
| 1-12 Incendiary per round
|-
| On fire/Incendiary Impact Damage
| 5-10 Incendiary per round
|-
| Pistol
| 26 AP
|-
| Rifle
| 30 AP
|-
| Auto Cannon AP
| 42 AP
|-
| Auto Cannon HE
| 44 HE
|-
| Laser Pistol
| 46 Laser
|-
| Auto Cannon Incendiary
| 48 Incendiary
|-
| Grenade
| 50 HE
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| 52 Plasma
|-
| Heavy Cannon HE
| 52 HE
|-
| Heavy Cannon AP
| 56 AP
|-
| Laser Rifle
| 60 Laser
|-
| Heavy Cannon Incendiary
| 60 Incendiary
|-
| Stun Rod
| 65 Stun
|-
| Proximity Grenade
| 70 HE
|-
| Rocket Launcher Small Rocket
| 75 HE
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| 80 Plasma
|-
| Heavy Laser
| 85 Laser
|-
| Alien Grenade
| 90 HE
|-
| Small Launcher
| 90 Stun
|-
| Rocket Launcher Incendiary Rocket
| 90 Incendiary
|-
| Rocket Launcher Large Rocket
| 100 HE
|-
| High Explosive
| 110 HE
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| 115 Plasma
|-
| Blaster Launcher
| 200 HE
|}

=Weapons By Cost=
==Purchase Costs==
The weapons have been organized from least to most expensive in dollars. Note that clips are listed SEPARATELY from the weapons they go in.
{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Weapons by cost
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Purchase Price

|-
| Pistol Clip
| $70
|-
| Smoke Grenade
| $150
|-
| Rifle Clip
| $200
|-
| Heavy Cannon AP clip, Grenade
| $300
|-
| Heavy Cannon Incendiary clip
| $400
|-
| AutoCannon AP clip, Heavy Cannon HE clip, Proximity Grenade
| $500
|-
| Small Rocket
| $600
|-
| AutoCannon Incendiary clip
| $650
|-
| AutoCannon HE clip
| $700
|-
| Pistol
| $800
|-
| Large Rocket
| $900
|-
| Incendiary Rocket
| $1,200
|-
| Stun Rod
| $1,260
|-
| High Explosive Pack
| $1,500
|-
| Rifle
| $3,000
|-
| Rocket Launcher
| $4,000
|-
| Heavy Cannon
| $6,400
|-
| AutoCannon
| $13,500

|}

==Manufacture Costs==
The weapons have been organized from least to most expensive in dollars. Note that clips are listed SEPARATELY from the weapons they go in. The cost of special materials, such as Elerium and Alien Alloys has been omitted; only the dollar cost is listed.
{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Weapons by cost
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Manufacture Cost

|-
| Plasma Pistol Clip
| $2,000
|-
| Plasma Rifle Clip
| $3,000
|-
| Heavy Plasma Clip
| $6,000
|-
| Alien Grenade
| $6,700
|-
| Stun Bomb
| $7,000
|-
| Laser Pistol, Blaster Bomb
| $8,000
|-
| Laser Rifle
| $20,000
|-
| Heavy Laser
| $32,000
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| $56,000
|-
| Small Launcher
| $78,000
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| $88,000
|-
| Blaster Launcher
| $90,000
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| $122,000

|}

==Sale Price==
The weapons have been organized from least to most expensive in dollars. Note that clips are listed SEPARATELY from the weapons they go in. The cost of special materials, such as Elerium and Alien Alloys has been omitted; only the dollar cost is listed.
{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Weapons by cost
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Sale Price

|-
| Pistol clip
| $52
|-
| Smoke Grenade
| $120
|-
| Rifle clip
| $150
|-
| Heavy Cannon AP clip
| $225
|-
| Grenade
| $240
|-
| Heavy Cannon HE clip
| $275
|-
| Heavy Cannon Incendiary clip
| $300
|-
| Proximity Grenade, AutoCannon AP clip
| $400
|-
| Small Rocket
| $480
|-
| AutoCannon Incendiary clip
| $520
|-
| AutoCannon HE clip
| $560
|-
| Pistol
| $600
|-
| Large Rocket
| $720
|-
| Stun Rod
| $945
|-
| Incendiary Rocket
| $960
|-
| High Explosive Pack
| $1,200
|-
| Rifle
| $2,250
|-
| Rocket Launcher
| $3,000
|-
| Plasma Pistol clip
| $4,440
|-
| Heavy Cannon
| $4,800
|-
| Plasma Rifle clip
| $6,290
|-
| Heavy Plasma clip
| $9,590
|-
| AutoCannon
| $10,125
|-
| Alien Grenade
| $14,850
|-
| Stun Bomb
| $15,200
|-
| Blaster Bomb
| $17,028
|-
| Laser Pistol
| $20,000
|-
| Laser Rifle
| $36,900
|-
| Heavy Laser
| $61,000
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| $84,000
|-
| Small Launcher
| $120,000
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| $126,500
|-
| Blaster Launcher
| $144,000
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| $171,600

|}

=Store Usage=

The weapons have been organized from least to most store usage. Note that clips are listed SEPARATELY from the weapons they go in. In the event of a tie, weapons are listed ALPHABETICALLY.
{| {{stdTable}} width = "100%"
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
|colspan = "2" | Weapons by Storage
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| Weapon || Storage Space

|-
| All grenades(except High Explosive Pack)
| .10
|-
| AutoCannon clips
| .10
|-
| Heavy Cannon clips
| .10
|-
| Laser Pistol
| .10
|-
| Pistol
| .10
|-
| Pistol clip
| .10
|-
| Plasma Pistol
| .10
|-
| Plasma Pistol clip
| .10
|-
| Plasma Rifle clip
| .10
|-
| Rifle clip
| .10
|-
| Stun Bomb
| .10
|-
| Stun Rod
| .10
|-
| All Rockets
| .20
|-
| Blaster Bomb
| .20
|-
| Heavy Plasma
| .20
|-
| High Explosive Pack
| .20
|-
| Laser Rifle
| .20
|-
| Plasma Rifle
| .20
|-
| Rifle
| .20
|-
| Small Launcher
| .20
|-
| AutoCannon
| .30
|-
| Blaster Launcher
| .30
|-
| Heavy Cannon
| .30
|-
| Heavy Laser
| .30
|-
| Heavy Plasma clip
| .30
|-
| Rocket Launcher
| .40

|}
|}

Wish List (EU)

2008-09-14T05:21:45Z

Brunpal: /* Stun Grenades */ balanced if weak damage because of 80 item max

Wish List (EU)

2008-09-14T05:04:55Z

Brunpal: /* Throwing over stuff */ sig

Wish List (EU)

2008-09-14T05:03:34Z

Brunpal: /* Throwing over stuff */ bah. doesn't work for me. lousy grenades

Wish List (EU)

2008-09-13T10:32:43Z

Brunpal: /* Stun Grenades */ I still want flashbangs

Wish List (EU)

2008-09-12T05:59:07Z

Brunpal: /* Grenades */ flashbangs and throwing NOT in a straight line

Dual-wield

2008-08-29T18:45:12Z

Brunpal: only helpful in Apocalypse

In X-Com Apocalypse, agents are able to wield two weapons simultaneously. The effects will vary depending on the game mode. There is no benefit to dual-wielding weapons in the original X-Com games created before Apocalypse.

== Real Time Dual Wield ==

In real-time combat, if an agent is wielding two weapons at the same time, the agent's overall firepower will be improved. The agent's right hand weapon will fire at its normal rate while the off-hand weapon will fire at a slightly reduced rate. This will vary depending on the firing mode and the speed of the weapon.

== Turn Based Dual Wield ==

If an agent has a weapon held in each hand, only the currently selected weapon will fire with the standard click and target method traditionally used in the X-Com games.

To make use of both weapons, you need to order the agent to shift-left click the ground or target that you want the agent to shoot at. Continuously firing the weapon this way will cause the agent to alternate the right and left weapons.

Unfortunately this way of firing the weapons offers no real benefit over firing a single weapon as there is no reduction in firing speed in addition to the accuracy penalty.

Dual wielding in turn based is therefore not as beneficial as in real-time combat.

== Two handed accuracy penalty ==

Two handed weapons held in this way will suffer an accuracy penalty. One handed weapons like the [[Megapol Lawpistol]], [[Megapol Plasma Gun]] and [[Toxigun]] do not incur the penalty because they are one handed weapons. Launchers are also exempt from the penalty even though they are two handed weapons because missiles are homing weapons and do not use the agent's accuracy stat.

Assuming Apocalypse roughly follows its predecessors in its accuracy calculation, two handed weapons will suffer a -20% overall accuracy penalty.

== Firing Mode and Weapon Speed when dual wielding ==

If pairs of identical weapons are used, take into account the weapon's rate of fire when deciding on the firing mode. Toxiguns and M4000 machine guns have very high firing rates. If set to full-auto, the off-hand weapon may not get utilized very often. This wastes the purpose of dual wielding the weapon. To work around this, simply go to a higher firing accuracy mode such as snap or even aimed. The off-hand weapon will get fired much more frequently, so you will be able to combine the benefits of increased rate of fire and increased accuracy, which could be a considerable improvement over firing just one gun on full-auto.

Scoring

2008-08-28T22:09:24Z

Brunpal: /* Alien Scoring */ terror missions outside of a city get 10 points as ufo goes airborne. see talk page

==X-COM Scoring==
X-COMs performance is measured by way of a score that accrues monthly and is used in part to make the decisions of the funding countries in both their council deliberations on the organisations success, and also when making their individual judgements to change funding levels.

===Interception===
X-COM receive points each time a UFO is destroyed or grounded. Note that if a UFO 'crashes' (per Intercept popup) over the ocean, it only counts as 'grounded' as the funding countries cannot be sure the aliens do not have the ability to repair craft and return from an underwater crash site, and there is no way to do a [[UFO Crash Recovery]] in the oceans to be sure.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>UFO Type</th>
<th>UFO Destroyed</th>
<th>UFO Grounded</th></tr>
<tr><td>Small Scout</td><td>100</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medium Scout</td><td>150</td><td>75</td></tr>
<tr><td>Large Scout</td><td>250</td><td>125</td></tr>
<tr><td>Harvester</td><td>500</td><td>250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Abductor</td><td>500</td><td>250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Supply Ship</td><td>800</td><td>400</td></tr>
<tr><td>Terror Ship</td><td>1000</td><td>500</td></tr>
<tr><td>Battleship</td><td>1400</td><td>700</td></tr>
</table>

X-COM lose points if one of their own craft are destroyed.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Craft Type</th>
<th>Craft Destroyed</th></tr>
<tr><td>Skyranger</td><td>-200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Interceptor</td><td>-250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Firestorm</td><td>-250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Lightning</td><td>-300</td></tr>
<tr><td>Avenger</td><td>-400</td></tr>
</table>

===Battlescape Missions===
During an X-COM battlescape mission, points can be gained or lost by the following actions.

Note that if you abort the mission without completing it, you still get points for performing the actions below. Specifically, you have to kill aliens and/or drag stunned aliens, equipment, and/or [[Elerium-115|Elerium]] back to your ship (or base green area - NOT the red elevator area). Aliens that were killed in a UFO crash (already dead when you got there) do not count. (Briefly visiting a crash site, then dusting off, doesn't get you any points - you have to <i>do</i> things to get points.)

Also note that generally speaking, you get more points from Destroying small UFOs, than for Crashing them and then completing a ground mission. The reverse is true for large UFOs. (Compare Destroying vs. Grounding points vs. Points you can walk away from a Crash with.)

However, the [[UFO Recovery Values|salvage value]] of UFOs may be of greatest importance -- and no equipment can be recovered from destroyed UFOs. The greatest possible recovery value can be gotten from UFOs which are attacked after they land under their own power -- although that earns you no [[#Interception|Interception]] points.

==== Mission Objectives ====

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Action</th>
<th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian killed by X-COM</td><td>-50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian killed by Aliens</td><td>-30</td></tr>
<tr><td>X-COM soldier MIA</td><td>-20</td></tr>
<tr><td>X-COM soldier killed</td><td>-20*</td></tr>
<tr><td>HWP destroyed</td><td>-20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian Saved</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Base destroyed</td><td>500</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> This increases as the soldier gains rank and experience.

==== Alien Casualties ====
X-COM receives point for capturing or killing an Alien during a battlescape mission.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Race/Rank</th>
<th width="70">Killed</th>
<th width="70">Captured*</th></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Soldier</td><td>12</td><td>24</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Navigator</td><td>14</td><td>28</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Medic</td><td>16</td><td>32</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Engineer</td><td>18</td><td>36</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Leader</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Commander</td><td>35</td><td>70</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Soldier</td><td>10</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Navigator</td><td>12</td><td>24</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Medic</td><td>14</td><td>28</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Engineer</td><td>16</td><td>32</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Leader</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Commander</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Soldier</td><td>15</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Navigator</td><td>17</td><td>34</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Engineer</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Leader</td><td>28</td><td>56</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Commander</td><td>36</td><td>72</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Soldier</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Leader</td><td>30</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Commander</td><td>40</td><td>80</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Soldier</td><td>15</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Navigator</td><td>17</td><td>34</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Engineer</td><td>19</td><td>38</td></tr>
<tr><td>Reaper</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Chryssalid</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Silacoid</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Celatid</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectopod</td><td>30</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cyberdisc</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Zombie</td><td>18</td><td>--</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> You will only receive 10 points for capturing any alien species + rank combo already in containment. ''[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]]: What about ones that have been researched & are no longer in containment? Needs more testing.'' ''[[User:Tequilachef|tequilachef]]: I repeatedly got zero points for capturing Reapers while already having a bunch of them in containment, but not researched.''

==== Item Recovery ====
Collection of [[Alien Artefacts]], corpses and craft parts also gains X-COM points. An "artefact" is something you have yet to [[research]] that was carried by the aliens (weapons, ammo and [[Mind Probe]]). Once you research an artefact you no longer receive points for finding that item in future missions. This is a reason not to research alien weapons you likely won't use such as the [[Plasma Pistol]]. Items that spawn in the [[Battlescape]] (as opposed to alien inventories) continue to generate X-Com points after they have been researched.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Item</th>
<th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Alloys</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Grenade</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Bomb</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Probe</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stun Bomb</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Entertainment</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Food</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Surgery</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Examination Room</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Celatid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Chryssalid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cyberdisc Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Reaper Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectopod Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Silacoid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Small Launcher</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Launcher</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Elerium-115 (Per 50 units)</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Navigation</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Power Source</td><td>20</td></tr>
</table>

==== Evaluations ====
An evaluation on your total score is given at the end of each mission.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Ranking</th>
<th>Score</th></tr>
<tr><td>Excellent</td><td>501 or better</td></tr>
<tr><td>Good</td><td>201 to 500</td></tr>
<tr><td>OK</td><td>1 to 200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Poor</td><td>-199 to 0</td></tr>
<tr><td>Terrible</td><td>-200 or worse</td></tr>
</table>

===Research===
X-COM also receive points for the completion of research projects.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Research Project</th><th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol Clip</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle Clip</td><td>6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma Clip</td><td>7</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Bomb</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Laser Cannon</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Laser</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Pistol</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Rifle</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Weapons</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stun Bomb</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Defenses</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td>Tank/Laser Cannon</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Grenade</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Flying Suit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medi-Kit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Motion Scanner</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Personal Armor</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Power Suit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Psi-Amp</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Fusion Weapon</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Plasma Weapon</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fusion Defenses</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Grav Shield</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hovertank/Launcher</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hovertank/Plasma</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hyper-Wave Decoder</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Probe</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Shield</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Defenses</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Psi-Lab</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Abduction</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Alloys</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Entertainment</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Food</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Reproduction</td><td>30*</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Surgery</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>New Fighter Craft (Firestorm)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Small Launcher</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Construction</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Navigation</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Propulsion</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ultimate Craft (Avenger)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Launcher</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Elerium-115</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Autopsies (Each)</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Interrogations</td><td>50**</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Origins</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cydonia or Bust</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Martian Solution</td><td>60</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Alien Reproduction is normally not accessible (or researchable) during the game, but you can add one to your General Stores via hacking.

<nowiki>**</nowiki> You receive 50 points for each new [[UFOpaedia]] entry generated by an alien interrogation. A given alien can generate several UFOpaedia entries, or none at all. (See [[Research#Researching aliens|Researching aliens]] for more information.)

==Alien Scoring==
Aliens score points for various actions as well.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Alien Action</th><th width="50">Score</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each UFO that flies over the Earth (per 30 mins)</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each UFO that lands (per 30 mins)</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each day an alien base exists on Earth (Per base)</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">A terror mission in a remote area is performed successfully*</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">A harvest mission is performed successfully*</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">An abduction is performed successfully*</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien base is built</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Aliens sign a [[pact]] with a funding country</td><td>150</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">A city terror site is ignored by X-COM</td><td>1000</td></tr>
</table>

===Notes on Alien Score===
* *Success is counted each time an UFO takes off. If a single ufo lands multiple times, it will score each time it starts flying again including if disturbed by an unsuccessful X-com mission.
The alien's score can be viewed by looking in the graphs menu. At the end of the month it is subtracted from X-Com's score to give the player's score for the month. It is reset at the end of each month just like the player's.

==Losing The Game==
You can lose the game in the following ways:

* If are in debt over $1 million at the end of any month, after funding and maintenance has been calculated, the council will cancel the project 50% of the time. It doesnt matter how much debt you have, as soon as you go one dollar past the million in debt you face the same odds of being axed. The warning they give about not going over $2 million when you are in debt like this and get away with it for a month presumably should read $1 million.
* If you have two consecutive "bad" months in terms of score--
** '''-900''' (Beginner)
** '''-800''' (Experienced)
** '''-700''' (Veteran)
** '''-600''' (Genius)
** '''-500''' (Superhuman)
* If all X-COM bases are captured by Aliens. (But you can <i>dismantle</i> your last base and stay in the game, if you have enough money to start a new one - see [[Access_Lift|Access Lift]].)
* If you fail your attempt to destroy Cydonia!

==See Also==
[[ALIEN.DAT]] - Where the Alien's score is kept track of<br>
[[XCOM.DAT]] - Where score from missions and interceptions is tracked<br>
[[UIGLOB.DAT]] - Where scores generated from research completion is stored<br>

[[Category: data tables]]

Talk:Scoring

2008-08-28T22:03:26Z

Brunpal: /* Test results */ yup. knew that.

Losing the game through finances - currently it suggests you lose if you are over $1 million in debt twice in a row, my tests seems to suggest they dont mention it until you are around -$1 million (not sure of exact figure yet, -$500k was okay though in a few tests). Just over -$1.6 million i got a warning three times out of four, the other time I lost the game (in February, so you dont need two in a row). At -$2.6 I lost 4 times of 8, at -$16 million it was 3/6, -$536 million 2/4. Seems like a boundary condition of a million in debt, then 50/50 you lose each month you are over that.

Checked the boundary, its actually $1,000,001 dollars overdrawn at the start of the new month (after council funding in, maintenance out), and i lost 1 out of 2 on february with that much debt, so presuming still you lose 50% of the time if past the boundary.

Will update the page to reflect this.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 12:12, 2 March 2007 (PST)

----

Amitakartok: I've personally had the number of funding nations reduced to a lone holdout. This means that if you can lose by losing all countries, the only way to do it would be to lose every single nation on the funding council. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:49, 18 January 2008 (PST)

: Just to elaborate a bit, if you do a little editing in diplom.dat so that all the countries sign a pact at the end of the month, the game doesn't end. Losing all the countries (even if it is possible) isn't one of the ways to end the game. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Thank you for the response, Zombie; I'll edit that bit out of the main page. On a second note...I don't think the data about scoring is strictly accurate. I think that if you're running a deficit on your money and are below the amount the funding council likes, or have a bad score, it's not two consecutive months. It's simply that you have a 50% chance of being shut down. I say this because in prior games, I've had a poor score in a single month and got shut down at the end of the month. Similarly, I've run bad scores sometimes more than three months in a row and kept getting warnings about POSSIBLY getting shut down, but never actually do. I haven't tested this with money, but any insight into the situation? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 00:21, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:Well, I haven't done much editing to see what happens when funds are low. [[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] did some tests on this (see top of this page) and his results seem to indicate a 50% chance your game will end if funds are below $1 million for even one month. So that basically backs up your observations. I would assume it also applies to score as well and there would be a 50% chance of getting shut down <b>every month</b> if your score falls below the skill-modified "bad" score level. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:50, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Currently it says that if you run a bad score for two consecutive months, they make you close up, but as I've noted, that doesn't seem to be the case. You want the honors? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 00:52, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:Ok, I just did some testing on score right now and it brought back a flood of old memories. See, I did some tests on this long ago and noticed something strange. With a score of -2062 for one month, the game always starts by giving a warning. If you reload the game, it terminates the project. Reload again and the game gives a warning. Reload again and it terminates. So here is where the 50% chance comes into play. This would indicate the roll isn't random, it's predetermined since the result is structured.

:Let's say you get a warning. Instead of loading the game, try aborting and then loading the game. The game only gives warnings now. See? Reloading the game without aborting plays a role in the result. But performing a fresh load always gives a warning and never terminates the project. So, I'll have to say the 50% deal only happens if you save a game and reload, the "true" result is that the game only gives a warning the first month. Confusing, eh? I'll have to test on the second month to see if the 2-month rule really applies. I bet it does. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 01:35, 19 January 2008 (PST)

: Edit: the second bad month I had a score of -1663. Same deal as before. Initially it gives a warning, but if you reload the game without aborting it shuts you down. Therefore the 2-month rule doesn't apply either. Its a bug basically. An exploitable bug to be more specific. See the importance of thorough testing now? :O --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 01:46, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Wow, quite a find! I barely have the knowledge base for hacking and can struggle through it, but yeah, that shows what tests can do. In any case, that's a ridiculously simple bug to be exploiting, considering the amount of time one month of gameplay can take after including all the missions; many people will save and reload at least a time or two unless they've set the whole day aside! This should be added to the Exploits page, then...again, you want the honors? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 03:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:If I don't get to it, feel free to add away, Arrow. BTW: I just did some more tests, this time with funds. Edited my base to have a ton of Mind/Grav Shields and 250 Scientists/Engineers, then knocked my kitty down to $0. At the start of the next month I would be -$9,968,000 in the hole - enough to be below the $2 million debt level. It works exactly the same way as score, if below the level you just get a warning that month. Reload the game after that and you face automatic termination. Reloading after that and you get the warning again. Of course, if you abort and load the game, you always get the warning first. Not sure if the debt level is -$2 million or -$1 million as Sfnhltb mentioned, so I'll need to run some more tests. Anyway, it's an exploitation plain and simple no matter which way you look at the issue. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 16:22, 20 January 2008 (PST)

----

== Alien Scoring: details? ==
I was thinking about [[Scoring#Alien Scoring|how aliens score]] and I had a bunch of unanswered questions...
* Does being shot down count as "landed"?
* Is there a time component for alien landing? Ie: Is it 2 points per instance an O becomes an X on the geoscape, or is it 2 points per ''30 mins'' a ufo has landed? (or per some other unit of time?)
* For abduction and harvest missions, what counts as ''"success"''?
* What's the maximum number of successes?
* Is it only if the ufo flies off to space unmolested?
* Is it each time it lands/takes off? (Ufos like to hop multiple times on those missions.)
* Each time it lands, does it harvest multiple times, resulting in 30 x 4= 120 score if lands once but makes off with 4 cows?
* When does it tick the score? On the act of landing, or the act of taking off, or on a certain time unit?
* Does it count as success if a ufo is shot down but a squad is never sent in to clean it up? (Crash just expires.)

BTW I assume that a player can view the total alien score by looking at the alien activity graph in the graphs menu. (Someone confirm?)

My gut tells me that a ufo can be "successful" multiple times in a single mission. Plus they continue to score if crashed and that crashing is effectively the same as landing. I base this on my general observations of the graphs rather than real testing. Without some extra ways to score over and above [[Scoring#Alien Scoring]] (or a more complex way of using that table) a typical ufo would get 10 points (20 if it was lucky) in my games. It's normally shot down as soon as it slows down enough to be caught, then it's immediately salvaged. The actual result of alien scores is much much higher.

Ufos score quickly while flying, and still continue to gain score after I've shot it down. (They would score slowly at first with a big jump at the end as they left if the opposite were true.) Plus it seems as though they often get a lot of score even if I shoot one down and immediately land to clean it up. 1 point per 30mins + 2 points (per 30mins or not) would be negligible if they weren't getting some mission score on top.
=== Example ===
A harvester ship on a harvest mission.
It flies over China for 5 hours. Lands for 10 hours. Flies for 6 hours, lands in Japan for 7 hours. Takes off and is immediately shot down by an interceptor waiting for it. The wreckage lasts for 3 days before disappearing. No UFO Crash Recovery mission attempted.
How much do the aliens score? I would guess:
(5hrs/.5 x 1)+ 30 +(10hrs/.5 x 2) + (6hrs/.5 x1) + 30 + (7hrs/.5 x2) + 30 + (72hrs/.5 x 2)
= 10 + 30 + 40 + 12 + 30 + 28 + 30 + 288
= 468 alien score

That seems high, way too high compared to actual. Cutting out the last variable (over half the total) is more reasonable. But I don't have a lot of data on that as I rarely leave a salvaged ufo, and always feel like I messed up if I have to. However I'm still pretty sure that a crashed ufo continues to tick the score. Maybe it goes to per day instead of per 30 mins? I don't know.

Anyone done any testing along these lines?

BTW I'm surprised that there isn't a wiki page for graphs, and alien scoring is barely mentioned across the whole site. It's a very important source of tactical information. I look at the aliens score every 12 hours or so to see if it's changed. If it has changed I can figure out where the aliens are and send in the planes. It effectively gives me world wide radar coverage long before I have HWDs, or even a 2nd base.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 11:27, 5 August 2008 (PDT)

:: <i>Does being shot down count as "landed"?</i> Not only does it not count, the alien score per game-time half-hour (as reported in the graphs, which are completely accurate) for a shot-down UFO is 0.
:: <i>For abduction and harvest missions, what counts as ''"success"''?</i> Same criterion as any other mission: the UFO disappears from the Geoscape on-schedule. Note that only an Avenger goes fast enough to even consider catching up to a UFO on a escape track, and obviously TerrorShips' normal escape is a terror site.
:: <i>Ufos score quickly while flying, and still continue to gain score after I've shot it down.</i> Because not all of them are shot down. In particular, the game <b>starts</b> with two UFOs at once, and only one of them is guaranteed to be working in your first bases' region of operations. So if you shoot down one UFO, that ufo is not scoring; the other one is. This gets really ugly if the other one isn't even in Interceptor range (it happens, although Base Nigeria means it doesn't happen a lot.) Things will get much clearer in-game once you have total-coverage hyperwave decoder detection.
:: <i>However I'm still pretty sure that a crashed ufo continues to tick the score. Maybe it goes to per day instead of per 30 mins? I don't know.</i> Mere confidence in categorical falsity doesn't make it so. Crashed UFOs do not tick up the score at all; furthermore, there is no special score tick for midnight (Skyranger just takes too long to get to a Siberia shootdown from Base Nigeria, so this was easy for me to test <i>in vivo</i>.) --[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 16:50, 5 August 2008 (CDT)
:::''the game starts with two UFOs at once, and only one of them is guaranteed to be working in your first bases' region of operations.'' I'm aware of that. I'm not talking about the first day of the game, and I'm not simply forgetting to count one as you suggest. I also have total coverage with HWDs and seen the score behavior I describe above. (I have played xcom more than once in the many years I've had it.) I can also tell when the score has changed and when it '''has not''' changed so I know and can account for ufos and can discount undetected bases. (Score can't be flat with an alien base.) In different games I've seen the aliens score quickly in rapid jumps that isn't explained by 1 point per 30mins or 2points per 30mins while landed*. I do know how to read the graphs and I don't only look at total score. I break it down by region. I'm not going to miss another UFO in the same region as my main base with a HWD and 2 interceptors buzzing around looking for it. I'm certainly willing to accept that a crashed ufo is worth 0, but I've seen behavior in the score not explained by [[Scoring#Alien Scoring|the known chart]] and not explained by undetected activity.
:::BTW *The 2 points while landed ''per 30 mins'' is not listed on [[Scoring#Alien Scoring]].--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 20:55, 5 August 2008 (PDT)
=Test results=
I've discovered something while watching the score closely. A battleship on a harvest mission '''got points soon as the ufo took off'''. The landed ufo at 18:25 had 60 points in China at ~18:35 it took off and at 18:45 China had 90 points. It quickly flew off the Earth and maybe hit 1 or 2 half hour ticks. It may have scored an extra point or 2 world wide but wasn't able to see any measurable difference in the graph before OR after it left detection. It only landed the once. It got no extra points for landing, but did tick up points at 2 per 30mins while on the ground.
*'''Therefore an alien harvest mission counts as success as it takes off.''' Leaving the geoscape doesn't matter at all for score. Hopefully I'll encounter a harvest mission where an ufo lands multiple times to test if it's the first or last time it takes off, or every time it takes off.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 21:19, 6 August 2008 (PDT)
*I had a single sectoid harvester on a harvest mission. It landed twice. Watching the score closely it scored 30 points <i>each time</i> it took off. If I forced it to take off early by sending a skyranger there and then immediately aborting mission, it still got 30 points as soon as it took off. Therefore a single ufo can ''succeed'' at a mission multiple times.[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 19:51, 7 August 2008 (PDT)
*Single terror ship on a terror mission. It did not land. I ignored it for the total 7 hours it was on Earth. World wide score ticked up a total of 14 points. (1 point per 30mins) It did not get any mission points which is the expected result.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 11:36, 18 August 2008 (PDT)

:A Terror Ship on a Terror Mission sometimes will not land if you shoot down the scouts before the Terror Ship(which will also read as on a Alien Terror mission). Instead, it will randomly wander around the map for a bit, but since it lacks a city to target, will do nothing, and eventually leave. Since it did not do its job(spit a bunch of aliens into a major population center), this would stand to reason it would not have accomplished its task and thus would not earn "Mission Completed!" points. (For reference, Terror Ships which have a city as a target will steam towards that city at maximum speed.) [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 11:41, 18 August 2008 (PDT)

: The first TerrorShip (indexing 2/0) [[UFO Flight Patterns#Terror_UFOs|need not land]] even if you do not shoot it down, so it should not get mission points. --[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 10:08, 19 August 2008 (CDT)
:Yup. I'm aware of that ufo behavior being normal. I'm just examining the effects on score. Nothing weird happened that's why I called it an "expected result".--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 15:03, 28 August 2008 (PDT)
*Single snakeman large scout on a terror mission. It landed in remote area. I took a save as soon as it landed, and as it took off 6 hours later. Comparing alien.dat values it gained 33 points. Expected value is 24, not 33. (=6hrs/.5 x 2 points). Even if the ufo double counted the start and end blocks as landed and flying at the same time this doesn't account for 9 points. Watching the graph carefully every few seconds there was a jump in score as it took off so that's when it got the extra 9 points. <b>Therefore unexplained increase in alien score has been found.</b>

*Same Ufo flew for an extra 5 hours and landed 2nd time for 6.5 hours. 46 points tallied in this time. Expected should be 10 points for flying and 26 while landed for 36 total. Something else is interesting about these numbers; If the ufo was landed for the full 11.5 hours instead of flying around looking for a spot to land it would have scored 46 points according to the known 2 points per 30 mins for landed ufos. Assuming I was a little slow on my reactions the first time, aliens scored a bonus 10 points for taking off both times. '''This is either a flat bonus of 10 points for a tiny terror ''mission succeeded'' or perhaps a revaluation of the time it spent flying as 100% landed.'''--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 14:52, 28 August 2008 (PDT)

Talk:Scoring

2008-08-28T21:52:51Z

Brunpal: /* Test results */ found new scoring method of aliens

Losing the game through finances - currently it suggests you lose if you are over $1 million in debt twice in a row, my tests seems to suggest they dont mention it until you are around -$1 million (not sure of exact figure yet, -$500k was okay though in a few tests). Just over -$1.6 million i got a warning three times out of four, the other time I lost the game (in February, so you dont need two in a row). At -$2.6 I lost 4 times of 8, at -$16 million it was 3/6, -$536 million 2/4. Seems like a boundary condition of a million in debt, then 50/50 you lose each month you are over that.

Checked the boundary, its actually $1,000,001 dollars overdrawn at the start of the new month (after council funding in, maintenance out), and i lost 1 out of 2 on february with that much debt, so presuming still you lose 50% of the time if past the boundary.

Will update the page to reflect this.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 12:12, 2 March 2007 (PST)

----

Amitakartok: I've personally had the number of funding nations reduced to a lone holdout. This means that if you can lose by losing all countries, the only way to do it would be to lose every single nation on the funding council. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:49, 18 January 2008 (PST)

: Just to elaborate a bit, if you do a little editing in diplom.dat so that all the countries sign a pact at the end of the month, the game doesn't end. Losing all the countries (even if it is possible) isn't one of the ways to end the game. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Thank you for the response, Zombie; I'll edit that bit out of the main page. On a second note...I don't think the data about scoring is strictly accurate. I think that if you're running a deficit on your money and are below the amount the funding council likes, or have a bad score, it's not two consecutive months. It's simply that you have a 50% chance of being shut down. I say this because in prior games, I've had a poor score in a single month and got shut down at the end of the month. Similarly, I've run bad scores sometimes more than three months in a row and kept getting warnings about POSSIBLY getting shut down, but never actually do. I haven't tested this with money, but any insight into the situation? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 00:21, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:Well, I haven't done much editing to see what happens when funds are low. [[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] did some tests on this (see top of this page) and his results seem to indicate a 50% chance your game will end if funds are below $1 million for even one month. So that basically backs up your observations. I would assume it also applies to score as well and there would be a 50% chance of getting shut down <b>every month</b> if your score falls below the skill-modified "bad" score level. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:50, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Currently it says that if you run a bad score for two consecutive months, they make you close up, but as I've noted, that doesn't seem to be the case. You want the honors? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 00:52, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:Ok, I just did some testing on score right now and it brought back a flood of old memories. See, I did some tests on this long ago and noticed something strange. With a score of -2062 for one month, the game always starts by giving a warning. If you reload the game, it terminates the project. Reload again and the game gives a warning. Reload again and it terminates. So here is where the 50% chance comes into play. This would indicate the roll isn't random, it's predetermined since the result is structured.

:Let's say you get a warning. Instead of loading the game, try aborting and then loading the game. The game only gives warnings now. See? Reloading the game without aborting plays a role in the result. But performing a fresh load always gives a warning and never terminates the project. So, I'll have to say the 50% deal only happens if you save a game and reload, the "true" result is that the game only gives a warning the first month. Confusing, eh? I'll have to test on the second month to see if the 2-month rule really applies. I bet it does. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 01:35, 19 January 2008 (PST)

: Edit: the second bad month I had a score of -1663. Same deal as before. Initially it gives a warning, but if you reload the game without aborting it shuts you down. Therefore the 2-month rule doesn't apply either. Its a bug basically. An exploitable bug to be more specific. See the importance of thorough testing now? :O --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 01:46, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Wow, quite a find! I barely have the knowledge base for hacking and can struggle through it, but yeah, that shows what tests can do. In any case, that's a ridiculously simple bug to be exploiting, considering the amount of time one month of gameplay can take after including all the missions; many people will save and reload at least a time or two unless they've set the whole day aside! This should be added to the Exploits page, then...again, you want the honors? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 03:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:If I don't get to it, feel free to add away, Arrow. BTW: I just did some more tests, this time with funds. Edited my base to have a ton of Mind/Grav Shields and 250 Scientists/Engineers, then knocked my kitty down to $0. At the start of the next month I would be -$9,968,000 in the hole - enough to be below the $2 million debt level. It works exactly the same way as score, if below the level you just get a warning that month. Reload the game after that and you face automatic termination. Reloading after that and you get the warning again. Of course, if you abort and load the game, you always get the warning first. Not sure if the debt level is -$2 million or -$1 million as Sfnhltb mentioned, so I'll need to run some more tests. Anyway, it's an exploitation plain and simple no matter which way you look at the issue. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 16:22, 20 January 2008 (PST)

----

== Alien Scoring: details? ==
I was thinking about [[Scoring#Alien Scoring|how aliens score]] and I had a bunch of unanswered questions...
* Does being shot down count as "landed"?
* Is there a time component for alien landing? Ie: Is it 2 points per instance an O becomes an X on the geoscape, or is it 2 points per ''30 mins'' a ufo has landed? (or per some other unit of time?)
* For abduction and harvest missions, what counts as ''"success"''?
* What's the maximum number of successes?
* Is it only if the ufo flies off to space unmolested?
* Is it each time it lands/takes off? (Ufos like to hop multiple times on those missions.)
* Each time it lands, does it harvest multiple times, resulting in 30 x 4= 120 score if lands once but makes off with 4 cows?
* When does it tick the score? On the act of landing, or the act of taking off, or on a certain time unit?
* Does it count as success if a ufo is shot down but a squad is never sent in to clean it up? (Crash just expires.)

BTW I assume that a player can view the total alien score by looking at the alien activity graph in the graphs menu. (Someone confirm?)

My gut tells me that a ufo can be "successful" multiple times in a single mission. Plus they continue to score if crashed and that crashing is effectively the same as landing. I base this on my general observations of the graphs rather than real testing. Without some extra ways to score over and above [[Scoring#Alien Scoring]] (or a more complex way of using that table) a typical ufo would get 10 points (20 if it was lucky) in my games. It's normally shot down as soon as it slows down enough to be caught, then it's immediately salvaged. The actual result of alien scores is much much higher.

Ufos score quickly while flying, and still continue to gain score after I've shot it down. (They would score slowly at first with a big jump at the end as they left if the opposite were true.) Plus it seems as though they often get a lot of score even if I shoot one down and immediately land to clean it up. 1 point per 30mins + 2 points (per 30mins or not) would be negligible if they weren't getting some mission score on top.
=== Example ===
A harvester ship on a harvest mission.
It flies over China for 5 hours. Lands for 10 hours. Flies for 6 hours, lands in Japan for 7 hours. Takes off and is immediately shot down by an interceptor waiting for it. The wreckage lasts for 3 days before disappearing. No UFO Crash Recovery mission attempted.
How much do the aliens score? I would guess:
(5hrs/.5 x 1)+ 30 +(10hrs/.5 x 2) + (6hrs/.5 x1) + 30 + (7hrs/.5 x2) + 30 + (72hrs/.5 x 2)
= 10 + 30 + 40 + 12 + 30 + 28 + 30 + 288
= 468 alien score

That seems high, way too high compared to actual. Cutting out the last variable (over half the total) is more reasonable. But I don't have a lot of data on that as I rarely leave a salvaged ufo, and always feel like I messed up if I have to. However I'm still pretty sure that a crashed ufo continues to tick the score. Maybe it goes to per day instead of per 30 mins? I don't know.

Anyone done any testing along these lines?

BTW I'm surprised that there isn't a wiki page for graphs, and alien scoring is barely mentioned across the whole site. It's a very important source of tactical information. I look at the aliens score every 12 hours or so to see if it's changed. If it has changed I can figure out where the aliens are and send in the planes. It effectively gives me world wide radar coverage long before I have HWDs, or even a 2nd base.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 11:27, 5 August 2008 (PDT)

:: <i>Does being shot down count as "landed"?</i> Not only does it not count, the alien score per game-time half-hour (as reported in the graphs, which are completely accurate) for a shot-down UFO is 0.
:: <i>For abduction and harvest missions, what counts as ''"success"''?</i> Same criterion as any other mission: the UFO disappears from the Geoscape on-schedule. Note that only an Avenger goes fast enough to even consider catching up to a UFO on a escape track, and obviously TerrorShips' normal escape is a terror site.
:: <i>Ufos score quickly while flying, and still continue to gain score after I've shot it down.</i> Because not all of them are shot down. In particular, the game <b>starts</b> with two UFOs at once, and only one of them is guaranteed to be working in your first bases' region of operations. So if you shoot down one UFO, that ufo is not scoring; the other one is. This gets really ugly if the other one isn't even in Interceptor range (it happens, although Base Nigeria means it doesn't happen a lot.) Things will get much clearer in-game once you have total-coverage hyperwave decoder detection.
:: <i>However I'm still pretty sure that a crashed ufo continues to tick the score. Maybe it goes to per day instead of per 30 mins? I don't know.</i> Mere confidence in categorical falsity doesn't make it so. Crashed UFOs do not tick up the score at all; furthermore, there is no special score tick for midnight (Skyranger just takes too long to get to a Siberia shootdown from Base Nigeria, so this was easy for me to test <i>in vivo</i>.) --[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 16:50, 5 August 2008 (CDT)
:::''the game starts with two UFOs at once, and only one of them is guaranteed to be working in your first bases' region of operations.'' I'm aware of that. I'm not talking about the first day of the game, and I'm not simply forgetting to count one as you suggest. I also have total coverage with HWDs and seen the score behavior I describe above. (I have played xcom more than once in the many years I've had it.) I can also tell when the score has changed and when it '''has not''' changed so I know and can account for ufos and can discount undetected bases. (Score can't be flat with an alien base.) In different games I've seen the aliens score quickly in rapid jumps that isn't explained by 1 point per 30mins or 2points per 30mins while landed*. I do know how to read the graphs and I don't only look at total score. I break it down by region. I'm not going to miss another UFO in the same region as my main base with a HWD and 2 interceptors buzzing around looking for it. I'm certainly willing to accept that a crashed ufo is worth 0, but I've seen behavior in the score not explained by [[Scoring#Alien Scoring|the known chart]] and not explained by undetected activity.
:::BTW *The 2 points while landed ''per 30 mins'' is not listed on [[Scoring#Alien Scoring]].--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 20:55, 5 August 2008 (PDT)
=Test results=
I've discovered something while watching the score closely. A battleship on a harvest mission '''got points soon as the ufo took off'''. The landed ufo at 18:25 had 60 points in China at ~18:35 it took off and at 18:45 China had 90 points. It quickly flew off the Earth and maybe hit 1 or 2 half hour ticks. It may have scored an extra point or 2 world wide but wasn't able to see any measurable difference in the graph before OR after it left detection. It only landed the once. It got no extra points for landing, but did tick up points at 2 per 30mins while on the ground.
*'''Therefore an alien harvest mission counts as success as it takes off.''' Leaving the geoscape doesn't matter at all for score. Hopefully I'll encounter a harvest mission where an ufo lands multiple times to test if it's the first or last time it takes off, or every time it takes off.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 21:19, 6 August 2008 (PDT)
*I had a single sectoid harvester on a harvest mission. It landed twice. Watching the score closely it scored 30 points <i>each time</i> it took off. If I forced it to take off early by sending a skyranger there and then immediately aborting mission, it still got 30 points as soon as it took off. Therefore a single ufo can ''succeed'' at a mission multiple times.[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 19:51, 7 August 2008 (PDT)
*Single terror ship on a terror mission. It did not land. I ignored it for the total 7 hours it was on Earth. World wide score ticked up a total of 14 points. (1 point per 30mins) It did not get any mission points which is the expected result.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 11:36, 18 August 2008 (PDT)

:A Terror Ship on a Terror Mission sometimes will not land if you shoot down the scouts before the Terror Ship(which will also read as on a Alien Terror mission). Instead, it will randomly wander around the map for a bit, but since it lacks a city to target, will do nothing, and eventually leave. Since it did not do its job(spit a bunch of aliens into a major population center), this would stand to reason it would not have accomplished its task and thus would not earn "Mission Completed!" points. (For reference, Terror Ships which have a city as a target will steam towards that city at maximum speed.) [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 11:41, 18 August 2008 (PDT)

: The first TerrorShip (indexing 2/0) [[UFO Flight Patterns#Terror_UFOs|need not land]] even if you do not shoot it down, so it should not get mission points. --[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 10:08, 19 August 2008 (CDT)

*Single snakeman large scout on a terror mission. It landed in remote area. I took a save as soon as it landed, and as it took off 6 hours later. Comparing alien.dat values it gained 33 points. Expected value is 24, not 33. (=6hrs/.5 x 2 points). Even if the ufo double counted the start and end blocks as landed and flying at the same time this doesn't account for 9 points. Watching the graph carefully every few seconds there was a jump in score as it took off so that's when it got the extra 9 points. <b>Therefore unexplained increase in alien score has been found.</b>

*Same Ufo flew for an extra 5 hours and landed 2nd time for 6.5 hours. 46 points tallied in this time. Expected should be 10 points for flying and 26 while landed for 36 total. Something else is interesting about these numbers; If the ufo was landed for the full 11.5 hours instead of flying around looking for a spot to land it would have scored 46 points according to the known 2 points per 30 mins for landed ufos. Assuming I was a little slow on my reactions the first time, aliens scored a bonus 10 points for taking off both times. '''This is either a flat bonus of 10 points for a tiny terror ''mission succeeded'' or perhaps a revaluation of the time it spent flying as 100% landed.'''--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 14:52, 28 August 2008 (PDT)

Plasma Pistol

2008-08-25T03:18:43Z

Brunpal: /* Recommendations */ it's crap so don't research it. keep the points instead

The Plasma Pistol is the weakest of the alien plasma weapons, and also the least accurate. An aimed shot with this weapon is in fact less accurate than a snapshot with the [[Plasma Rifle]]. It does have some minor advantages: Its autoshot is the fastest of the plasma weapons, and it can be used one-handed with no loss of accuracy. It is also small enough to fit in a belt, which makes it a respectable secondary weapon for a soldier armed with a [[Rocket Launcher]].

It does not take very long for the aliens to stop using this weapon. They have good reasons to abandon it: It is largely useless against the second generations of X-COM armour suits and [[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWPs]]. Unfortunately, this means X-COM does not have a reliable supply of clips for the weapon, so they must be manufactured if they are needed, and this requires [[Elerium-115|Elerium]].

== Stats ==
<b>Plasma Pistol:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS32.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 2 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs:
**Auto: 30% (Accuracy 50%)
**Snap: 30% (Accuracy 65%)
**Aimed: 60% (Accuracy 85%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $56,000 for parts, 600 Engineer Hours, 1 Alien Alloy
*Sell Price: $84,000</td></tr></table>

<b>Plasma Pistol Clip:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS34.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 52 Plasma
*Ammo: 26
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $2,000 for parts, 60 Engineer Hours, 1 Elerium
*Sell Price: $4,440</td></tr></table>

== Recommendations ==

Overall the plasma pistol is not worth the time and trouble. It has a lower rate of fire than the laser pistol and requires ammunition clips, which count against the 80-item limit and reduce equipment flexibility. When salvaged from aliens, it makes a good profit however. Skip [[research]]ing this weapon or it's clips until you stop finding them on aliens as you will stop [[Scoring#Item Recovery|scoring]] points after it has been researched.

== 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, 40% Remaining TUs
* Snap: 3 Shots, 10% Remaining TUs
* Auto: 3 Bursts (9 Shots), 10% Remaining TUs

== Tips ==

* This is the lightest sidearm, at only 6 weight units when loaded.
* This is the slowest of the sidearms, but also the most powerful, dealing out twice as much damage as the regulation [[Pistol]], and is between the [[Laser Pistol]] and [[Laser Rifle]] in damage, meaning that only a Sectopod can really withstand prolonged fire from it.
* The TUs needed for a Snapshot and the time needed for an Autofire burst are the same; this means that the only reasons to NOT spray the enemy with autofire is accuracy and ammo concerns. And the Plasma Pistol sports an impressively large clip.
* For the most bang for your buck per unit of Elerium used in ammo manufacture, look no further.
* This weapon will often disappear by April; if you haven't captured one by then, you won't ever get the chance.
* Recommended for heavy weapons troopers or scouts. Pairs well with the Laser Pistol; each weapon builds on the weaknesses of the other.

== General Pistol Warning ==

This note covers the regulation [[Pistol]], Laser Pistol and the Plasma Pistol.

Pistols-class weapons are prioritized so that they will always be the last weapons to be selected by your soldiers. In addition to that, there is also a rather unusual culture amongst [[X-COM]] troops regarding pistol-type weapon distribution in general. Sometimes everyone gets the weapons, as normal. At other times, only one person will be armed with the pistol and will be carrying all the clips if applicable. This can prove to be a minor annoyance.

{{Equipment (UFO Defense) Navbar}}
[[Category:Equipment (UFO Defense)]]

Scoring

2008-08-25T03:10:09Z

Brunpal: /* Item Recovery */ Gov says- Oh yet another plasma rifle? It was cool when you didn't tell us what it did. Now that we know- NO SOUP FOR YOU.

==X-COM Scoring==
X-COMs performance is measured by way of a score that accrues monthly and is used in part to make the decisions of the funding countries in both their council deliberations on the organisations success, and also when making their individual judgements to change funding levels.

===Interception===
X-COM receive points each time a UFO is destroyed or grounded. Note that if a UFO 'crashes' (per Intercept popup) over the ocean, it only counts as 'grounded' as the funding countries cannot be sure the aliens do not have the ability to repair craft and return from an underwater crash site, and there is no way to do a [[UFO Crash Recovery]] in the oceans to be sure.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>UFO Type</th>
<th>UFO Destroyed</th>
<th>UFO Grounded</th></tr>
<tr><td>Small Scout</td><td>100</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medium Scout</td><td>150</td><td>75</td></tr>
<tr><td>Large Scout</td><td>250</td><td>125</td></tr>
<tr><td>Harvester</td><td>500</td><td>250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Abductor</td><td>500</td><td>250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Supply Ship</td><td>800</td><td>400</td></tr>
<tr><td>Terror Ship</td><td>1000</td><td>500</td></tr>
<tr><td>Battleship</td><td>1400</td><td>700</td></tr>
</table>

X-COM lose points if one of their own craft are destroyed.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Craft Type</th>
<th>Craft Destroyed</th></tr>
<tr><td>Skyranger</td><td>-200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Interceptor</td><td>-250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Firestorm</td><td>-250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Lightning</td><td>-300</td></tr>
<tr><td>Avenger</td><td>-400</td></tr>
</table>

===Battlescape Missions===
During an X-COM battlescape mission, points can be gained or lost by the following actions.

Note that if you abort the mission without completing it, you still get points for performing the actions below. Specifically, you have to kill aliens and/or drag stunned aliens, equipment, and/or [[Elerium-115|Elerium]] back to your ship (or base green area - NOT the red elevator area). Aliens that were killed in a UFO crash (already dead when you got there) do not count. (Briefly visiting a crash site, then dusting off, doesn't get you any points - you have to <i>do</i> things to get points.)

Also note that generally speaking, you get more points from Destroying small UFOs, than for Crashing them and then completing a ground mission. The reverse is true for large UFOs. (Compare Destroying vs. Grounding points vs. Points you can walk away from a Crash with.)

However, the [[UFO Recovery Values|salvage value]] of UFOs may be of greatest importance -- and no equipment can be recovered from destroyed UFOs. The greatest possible recovery value can be gotten from UFOs which are attacked after they land under their own power -- although that earns you no [[#Interception|Interception]] points.

==== Mission Objectives ====

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Action</th>
<th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian killed by X-COM</td><td>-50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian killed by Aliens</td><td>-30</td></tr>
<tr><td>X-COM soldier MIA</td><td>-20</td></tr>
<tr><td>X-COM soldier killed</td><td>-20*</td></tr>
<tr><td>HWP destroyed</td><td>-20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian Saved</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Base destroyed</td><td>500</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> This increases as the soldier gains rank and experience.

==== Alien Casualties ====
X-COM receives point for capturing or killing an Alien during a battlescape mission.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Race/Rank</th>
<th width="70">Killed</th>
<th width="70">Captured*</th></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Soldier</td><td>12</td><td>24</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Navigator</td><td>14</td><td>28</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Medic</td><td>16</td><td>32</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Engineer</td><td>18</td><td>36</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Leader</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Commander</td><td>35</td><td>70</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Soldier</td><td>10</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Navigator</td><td>12</td><td>24</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Medic</td><td>14</td><td>28</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Engineer</td><td>16</td><td>32</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Leader</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Commander</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Soldier</td><td>15</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Navigator</td><td>17</td><td>34</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Engineer</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Leader</td><td>28</td><td>56</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Commander</td><td>36</td><td>72</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Soldier</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Leader</td><td>30</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Commander</td><td>40</td><td>80</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Soldier</td><td>15</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Navigator</td><td>17</td><td>34</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Engineer</td><td>19</td><td>38</td></tr>
<tr><td>Reaper</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Chryssalid</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Silacoid</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Celatid</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectopod</td><td>30</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cyberdisc</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Zombie</td><td>18</td><td>--</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> You will only receive 10 points for capturing any alien species + rank combo already in containment. ''[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]]: What about ones that have been researched & are no longer in containment? Needs more testing.'' ''[[User:Tequilachef|tequilachef]]: I repeatedly got zero points for capturing Reapers while already having a bunch of them in containment, but not researched.''

==== Item Recovery ====
Collection of [[Alien Artefacts]], corpses and craft parts also gains X-COM points. An "artefact" is something you have yet to [[research]] that was carried by the aliens (weapons, ammo and [[Mind Probe]]). Once you research an artefact you no longer receive points for finding that item in future missions. This is a reason not to research alien weapons you likely won't use such as the [[Plasma Pistol]]. Items that spawn in the [[Battlescape]] (as opposed to alien inventories) continue to generate X-Com points after they have been researched.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Item</th>
<th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Alloys</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Grenade</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Bomb</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Probe</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stun Bomb</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Entertainment</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Food</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Surgery</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Examination Room</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Celatid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Chryssalid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cyberdisc Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Reaper Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectopod Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Silacoid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Small Launcher</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Launcher</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Elerium-115 (Per 50 units)</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Navigation</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Power Source</td><td>20</td></tr>
</table>

==== Evaluations ====
An evaluation on your total score is given at the end of each mission.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Ranking</th>
<th>Score</th></tr>
<tr><td>Excellent</td><td>501 or better</td></tr>
<tr><td>Good</td><td>201 to 500</td></tr>
<tr><td>OK</td><td>1 to 200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Poor</td><td>-199 to 0</td></tr>
<tr><td>Terrible</td><td>-200 or worse</td></tr>
</table>

===Research===
X-COM also receive points for the completion of research projects.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Research Project</th><th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol Clip</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle Clip</td><td>6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma Clip</td><td>7</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Bomb</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Laser Cannon</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Laser</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Pistol</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Rifle</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Weapons</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stun Bomb</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Defenses</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td>Tank/Laser Cannon</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Grenade</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Flying Suit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medi-Kit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Motion Scanner</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Personal Armor</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Power Suit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Psi-Amp</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Fusion Weapon</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Plasma Weapon</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fusion Defenses</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Grav Shield</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hovertank/Launcher</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hovertank/Plasma</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hyper-Wave Decoder</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Probe</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Shield</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Defenses</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Psi-Lab</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Abduction</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Alloys</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Entertainment</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Food</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Reproduction</td><td>30*</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Surgery</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>New Fighter Craft (Firestorm)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Small Launcher</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Construction</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Navigation</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Propulsion</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ultimate Craft (Avenger)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Launcher</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Elerium-115</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Autopsies (Each)</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Interrogations</td><td>50**</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Origins</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cydonia or Bust</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Martian Solution</td><td>60</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Alien Reproduction is normally not accessible (or researchable) during the game, but you can add one to your General Stores via hacking.

<nowiki>**</nowiki> You receive 50 points for each new [[UFOpaedia]] entry generated by an alien interrogation. A given alien can generate several UFOpaedia entries, or none at all. (See [[Research#Researching aliens|Researching aliens]] for more information.)

==Alien Scoring==
Aliens score points for various actions as well.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Alien Action</th><th width="50">Score</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each UFO that flies over the Earth (per 30 mins)</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each UFO that lands (per 30 mins)</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each day an alien base exists on Earth (Per base)</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">A harvest mission is performed successfully*</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">An abduction is performed successfully*</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien base is built</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Aliens sign a [[pact]] with a funding country</td><td>150</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">A terror site is ignored by X-COM</td><td>1000</td></tr>
</table>

===Notes on Alien Score===
* *Success is counted each time an UFO takes off. If a single ufo lands multiple times, it will score each time it starts flying again including if disturbed by an unsuccessful X-com mission.
The alien's score can be viewed by looking in the graphs menu. At the end of the month it is subtracted from X-Com's score to give the player's score for the month. It is reset at the end of each month just like the player's.

==Losing The Game==
You can lose the game in the following ways:

* If are in debt over $1 million at the end of any month, after funding and maintenance has been calculated, the council will cancel the project 50% of the time. It doesnt matter how much debt you have, as soon as you go one dollar past the million in debt you face the same odds of being axed. The warning they give about not going over $2 million when you are in debt like this and get away with it for a month presumably should read $1 million.
* If you have two consecutive "bad" months in terms of score--
** '''-900''' (Beginner)
** '''-800''' (Experienced)
** '''-700''' (Veteran)
** '''-600''' (Genius)
** '''-500''' (Superhuman)
* If all X-COM bases are captured by Aliens. (But you can <i>dismantle</i> your last base and stay in the game, if you have enough money to start a new one - see [[Access_Lift|Access Lift]].)
* If you fail your attempt to destroy Cydonia!

==See Also==
[[ALIEN.DAT]] - Where the Alien's score is kept track of<br>
[[XCOM.DAT]] - Where score from missions and interceptions is tracked<br>
[[UIGLOB.DAT]] - Where scores generated from research completion is stored<br>

[[Category: data tables]]

Talk:Country Funding (EU)

2008-08-23T00:04:50Z

Brunpal: changes to funding is meaningless

Note I put in the figures in the table as I thought they would be useful as a guide, I am totally satisfied they are a percentage/fraction of the existing budget (setting the old budget to 20+ million, with a suitable cap increase results in the following months budget increasing by around 2-3 million on average, for example), has little or no response to the details of how happy the individual country was (having XCOM score a billion points in the USA, you still get the same range of funding increase from them). The exact range is a little less solid, I havent done a huge amount of testing on them, so they may need someone (maybe me, later) to confirm their limits. In line with the rest of the game I know about, the variations between min and max seem linear, and between experience and calculating 5 or 6 complete sets of 16 funding changes, the increase stayed between 5 and 20, satisfied is fairly easy to tell its always 0 of course.

The one open question is the limits which you can get when decreasing, I have tried to get a negative score a few ways with hex editting the UIGLOB, XCOM and ALIEN files to what would seem to be very bad values, and a few of the countries get annoyed, but I still end up with a score around 400, which is added onto the value in UIGLOB (which is unsigned or I could start it negative to deal with this) as the month ticks over. Something that just occured to me, is maybe its my finances - being in debt hurts you, maybe because i have a couple of mill in the bank it is giving me the points. Whatever, I will try to get a better initial idea of how much you can lose when they are unhappy when I get chance, if someone doesnt beat me to it.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 15:06, 1 March 2007 (PST)

Oh and I havent analysed the stats for starting because I remember seeing the stuff Zombie did, so dont really want to spend time replicating all that, just put a summary of what I remember offhand, and no doubt we can get that information put in sooner or later.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 15:08, 1 March 2007 (PST)

-----

Sounds great, Sf. Thanks for working on this page. And I do hope somebody copies Zombie's stuff over. Maybe me, eventually. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 15:25, 1 March 2007 (PST)

Probably a few things to thrash out and confirm or deny, not sure how much of the info built up in that thread would want to be in here, adding a seperate page with a table or three that summarises all of the statistical information and how it all works in detail would probably be good, but my preference would be to leave a top level article about funding that doesnt dive into the deep end that just about anything from that thread would respresent. -- [[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 19:55, 2 March 2007 (PST)

Saying that, it will probably be useful to have one table of all the countries listed with say their average starting values, and the 'normal' min max limits before the game balance adjustment kicks in, maybe call it 'common range' or something. Maybe instead of presenting in funding order as normal, try to group them by position/colour to try to indicate where you can cover multiple countries with one base easily. only problem is the north africa/north/northeast europe area where you can cover different groups depending on exact location.

Canada/US - Brazil - {S Africa/Nigeria/(Egypt}/Spain/UK/Italy/[France/Germany/(Russia]/<China/Japan)/Australia> Hmm, I cant really see any visual way (short of a map) of really presenting the information of how you can overlap. Maybe a 2D project with bars showing of appropriate heights for their averages would work, although not volunteering to make one at this point. --20:07, 2 March 2007 (PST)

----

Right, now we're getting somewhere. It could be separate pages or one together, depending on how done. I'm still not clear on everything involved - that's a hella thread Zombie and others have at StratCore. Maybe I'd have ideas about presentation if I grasped it all (after reading 150 messages). In any event, it's good info that I hope can find its way here. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 21:24, 9 March 2007 (PST)

----

Zombie: Are the numbers on the table in thousands of dollars? I can barely make heads or tails of it, because regardless of the unit type, something doesn't make sense. If it's in 1000s of dollars, the US will rarely contribute more than 1.2M; meanwhile, if in 10000s, they'll rarely contribute less than 6M, the beginning-game average! [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 02:20, 17 October 2007 (PDT)

----

As the little disclaimer points out, the min and max are not the true extrema you will witness. The game uses these values and modifies them by a little. I have no idea how low or high the game can modify these, but in the case of the US, it's low/high extrema is 558/1224(k) after 100,000+ trials. The problem with the current page that Sfnhltb set up is that it only glazes over some areas which leads to misunderstandings like this. Let me work on this today a little. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 06:58, 17 October 2007 (PDT)
----
As far as I know, the changes in each country's funding levels is moot. It is what is with no randomization at all. The end of month data says that the countries are going to increase your funding by $1,000,000. Day 1 of the new month and with expenses you you have $5 million in the bank. Load your game and let the month end again. Your total funding increases by $1,300,000 this time. Day 1 of the new month and you have $5 million in the bank. If the funding change was applied it should be $5.3 million, but it isn't.

I haven't done extensive testing to see if this is all cases (grumpy or neutral countries) but if the countries are happy, the increase to your bank account is the same. It does make a difference to starting cash on a new game but not at the end of a month. I have no idea what the change in funding really is because and have no intention of figuring it out because there are tons of bugs regarding calculating maintenance.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 17:04, 22 August 2008 (PDT)

Talk:Scoring

2008-08-18T18:36:43Z

Brunpal: /* Alien Scoring: details? */

Manufacturing Profitability

2008-08-18T17:21:04Z

Brunpal: /* Notes, Tips, Tricks, Etc. */ min to start all manufacturing

There are 35 items in X-COM that can be [[manufacturing|manufactured]], but if all costs are taken into account, only 14 of them can be manufactured for a profit.

You cannot manufacture an item until you have researched it, so you begin the game unable to manufacture any items at all. Depending on your research priorities, there are several early items that can be made for a profit: Motion Scanners, Medi-Kits, Laser Pistols and Laser Rifles. For more on research times and prerequisites, see [[Research]].

Fusion Ball Launchers and Laser Cannons can be researched in the early-mid game, and are the two most profitable items that can be produced in all of X-COM. Refer to the [[#Profit tables|profit tables]] for a detailed breakdown.

== Calculating profitability ==

To calculate true (net) manufacturing profit, the following must be accounted for:

*Manufacturing cost -- the value shown on the manufacturing screen.
*Cost of [[Elerium-115]] ($5k each) and [[Alien Alloys]] ($6.5k each), if required. Also, cost of [[UFO Power Source]](s) ($500k each) and [[UFO Navigation]] ($80k each) for XCOM craft.
*Cost of Engineer salaries, at $25k per month per Engineer.
*Cost of [[Workshop]]s ($35k/month) and [[Living Quarters]] ($10k/month) sufficient for the number of engineers employed.*

These costs are then compared against the Sell price, to determine profitability.

<nowiki>*</nowiki> ''Note: I learned of the [[Known_Bugs#Facility_Maintenance_Costs|Facility Maintenance Cost bug]] after making the spreadsheet. It makes maintenance costs harder to estimate, although an average of $17k/month can be used, which is less than the $22.5k/month average ((35+10)/2) my calculations used. All in all though, maintenance costs are a tiny fraction anyway. Unless/until the PDF and spreadsheet below are updated, just know that you'll probably make slightly more profit than shown - depending on just where you put your facilities. - [[user:MikeTheRed|MTR]]''

== Startup costs ==

There is a startup cost associated with manufacturing: 50 Engineers cost $2.5 million to hire and require a Workshop ($800,000 to build) and a Living Quarters ($400,000), for a total of $3.7 million. Workshops also require a lead time of 32 days to build. Since you start the game with one Workshop and 10 Engineers, your first Workshop will only cost $2.4 million to fully ramp up (the cost of 40 Engineers and one Living Quarters).

There is also a time and cost factor associated with researching profitable items -- for instance, Heavy Lasers plus Laser Cannons require an average of 880 Scientist days to research (costing about $900,000 in salary). This is in addition to the 450 or so Scientist days required to research Laser Weapons, Laser Pistol, and Laser Rifle.

== Workshop space overhead ==

Each manufacturing project takes up a fixed amount of workshop space, reducing the number of Engineers you can gainfully employ. With multiple workshops, the impact of this overhead is reduced: two workshops are proportionally 5%-7% more profitable than a single workshop would be (depending on the item being produced), and five workshops are as much as 11% more profitable.

== Profit tables ==

The following is a list of selected items that are popular with players attempting to manufacture items for profit. Note that not all these items actually turn a profit, once all costs are factored in.

'''Monthly profits, based on a one-workshop operation. Figures in thousands (000's) where noted.'''

{|
|-
!align ="left"|Item
!align ="center"|Hrs. per unit
!align ="center"|Max Engrs.
!align ="center"|Unit sell price<br>(000's)
!align ="center"|Unit cost<br>(000's)
!align ="center"|Spec. costs<br>(000's)
!align ="center"|Gross per unit<br>(000's)
!align ="center"|Units per month
!align ="center"|Labor cost<br>(000's)
!align ="center"|Net monthly profit<br>(000's)
|-
|align ="left"|[[Laser Cannon]]
|align ="center"|300
|align ="center"|44
|align ="center"|211
|align ="center"|182
|align ="center"|0
|align ="center"|29
|align ="center"|107.4
|align ="center"|1,145
|align ="center"|1,968
|-
|align ="left"|[[Fusion Ball Launcher]]
|align ="center"|400
|align ="center"|44
|align ="center"|281.1
|align ="center"|242
|align ="center"|6.5
|align ="center"|32.6
|align ="center"|80.52
|align ="center"|1,145
|align ="center"|1,480
|-
|align ="left"|[[Tank/Laser Cannon]]
|align ="center"|1200
|align ="center"|25
|align ="center"|594
|align ="center"|500
|align ="center"|0
|align ="center"|94
|align ="center"|15.25
|align ="center"|670
|align ="center"|763.5
|-
|align ="left"|[[Motion Scanner]]
|align ="center"|220
|align ="center"|46
|align ="center"|45.6
|align ="center"|34
|align ="center"|0
|align ="center"|11.6
|align ="center"|153.1
|align ="center"|1,195
|align ="center"|580.4
|-
|align ="left"|[[Medi-Kit]]
|align ="center"|420
|align ="center"|46
|align ="center"|46.5
|align ="center"|28
|align ="center"|0
|align ="center"|18.5
|align ="center"|80.17
|align ="center"|1,195
|align ="center"|288.2
|-
|align ="left"|[[Heavy Plasma]]
|align ="center"|1000
|align ="center"|46
|align ="center"|171.6
|align ="center"|122
|align ="center"|6.5
|align ="center"|43.1
|align ="center"|33.67
|align ="center"|1,195
|align ="center"|256.3
|-
|align ="left"|[[Laser Rifle]]
|align ="center"|400
|align ="center"|47
|align ="center"|36.9
|align ="center"|20
|align ="center"|0
|align ="center"|16.9
|align ="center"|86.01
|align ="center"|1,220
|align ="center"|233.6
|-
|align ="left"|[[Laser Pistol]]
|align ="center"|300
|align ="center"|48
|align ="center"|20
|align ="center"|8
|align ="center"|0
|align ="center"|12
|align ="center"|117.1
|align ="center"|1,245
|align ="center"|160.4
|-
|align ="left"|[[Alien Alloys]]
|align ="center"|100
|align ="center"|40
|align ="center"|6.5
|align ="center"|3
|align ="center"|0
|align ="center"|3.5
|align ="center"|292.8
|align ="center"|1,045
|align ="center"|-20.2
|-
|align ="left"|[[Personal Armor]]
|align ="center"|800
|align ="center"|38
|align ="center"|54
|align ="center"|22
|align ="center"|26
|align ="center"|6
|align ="center"|34.77
|align ="center"|995
|align ="center"|-786.4
|}

'''Legend:'''

*'''Hrs. per unit''' are the number of hours needed by one engineer to build a single unit
*'''Max Engrs.''' equals 50 minus the amount of workshop space taken up by the project
*'''Unit sell price''' is what the item will sell for on the Sell/Sack screen
*'''Unit cost''' is what each item costs to produce, on the Production screen
*'''Spec. costs''' is $6,500 for each Alien Alloy and $5,000 for each Elerium, if any
*'''Gross per unit''' is its sell price, minus production and special materials costs
*'''Units per month''' is how many units a fully-staffed workshop can turn out: 732 hours (30.5 days) divided by Engineer hours per unit, times Max Engineers employable
*'''Labor cost''' is Max Engineers times $25,000 (monthly salary) -- plus $35,000 for Workshop maintenance costs and $10,000 for Living Quarters
*'''Net monthly profit''' is Gross profit times Units per month minus Labor cost

For a detailed listing of the profitability of all items in X-COM, with figures for 1 to 5 workshops, download [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed's]] [[Media:XCOM_Profit_Tables.pdf|XCOM_Profit_Tables.pdf]]. Or for an Excel (editable) spreadsheet, get [[Media:XCOM_Profits.xls|XCOM_Profits.xls]].

== XComUtil manufacturing profitability ==

Under XcomUtil there is an option called (slightly misleadingly) "new laser weapons" that requires the use of extra alien materials in order to manufacture almost all energy beam weapons. It also makes the human manufacture of the alien plasma beam small arms impossible (research success merely allows XCOM to <u>use</u> captured weapons. The manufacture of craft Plasma Beams is still possible, but is made significantly more difficult (ten times the labour and workspace requirement as well as additional materials). This, as Scott Jones says, "seriously changes the economics of the game", as well as the balance of firepower in the air and (to a lesser extent) on the ground.

When this XComUtil option is active there are only 7 profitable items to manufacture instead of 14.

In order of decreasing profitability per month (indexed to 100) these are:

:Fusion Ball Launcher (100), Psi Amp (53), Motion Scanner(38); Medkit(19); Laser Pistol(10); Blaster Launcher(9), Small Launcher(9).

In fact the profitability of all these items is unchanged from the standard game. What changes is that 7 items, notably the Laser Cannon, disappear from the profitable list.

A spreadsheet containing the analysis is here: [[Media:XCOMUtil_Profits.xls|XComUtil Profits]].

== Laser Cannons vs. Fusion Ball Launchers ==

There is an oddity in XCOM which can make the [[Fusion Ball Launcher]] (FBL) appear to be the most profitable item. The oddity is that the first FBL you produce does not require an [[Alien Alloys|Alien Alloy]] (and thus, no Alloy requirement appears on the manufacturing screen), but subsequent FBLs do. If in doubt, watch your Alloy stores while manufacturing... the first FBL doesn't use one, but each additional FBL will use 1 Alloy.

This oddity has caused a fair bit of confusion; some folks (particularly in older docs) say Fusion Ball Launchers are the most profitable.

Without the alloy, the FBL is 1.77% more profitable than the [[Laser Cannon]] (LC). (This is regardless of the number of Workshops, because both FBL and LC have a Workspace requirement of 6.) However, when Alien Alloys are taken into account, FBLs are only 75.2% as profitable as LCs; LCs make 33.0% more profit. Due to the extreme micromanagement needed to repeatedly restart manufacturing versus the miniscule gain, probably few players will build one FBL at a time - so the Laser Cannon is the most profitable item "in real life". Still, you can play however you want!

Some have said that if you have a surplus of Alloys from missions, you might consider Alloys to be free, and make FBLs. Anyone can do what they want, but if the bottom line is ''profitability'', it is clearly more profitable to make LCs (and sell excess Alloys). As stated, this is 33% more profitable than making FBLs with Alloys. ''Unless'', of course, you want to make FBLs one at a time. Then, FBLs will be 1.77% more profitable - but only because you are not incorporating Alloys. Either way - whether you make LCs or you make FBLs one at a time - the most ''profitable'' ways do not involve using Alloys (which are simply sold, once in excess). So, anyone is welcome to make FBLs with Alloys if they want to consider Alloys as a freebie... but they will not be making the most money. (They'll make 75% as much as if they had made LCs, and sold excess Alloy.)

Some have also said that LCs are more profitable because you can make ~30% more LCs than FBLs in a month, with a given number of engineers. This is a misunderstanding. While you do make ~30% more LCs, the calculations take all factors into account - number per month, cost of parts, cost to sell, etc. Compare how the ''least'' profitable item (the [[Heavy Plasma]] clip; see Factoid 1, below) got that way '''because''' you can make a lot in a month - ''but'' the parts are very expensive, versus the resale value. You have to take all factors into consideration to be precise about profitability.

For more info on Manufacturing Profitability calculations, see the [[Media:XCOM_Profit_Tables.pdf|PDF]] or, better yet, the [[Media:XCOM_Profits.xls|spreadsheet]]. The spreadsheet lets you do things like change the number of workshops, drop the cost of Alloys from the computations, etc.

It's also important to note that Laser Cannons are much more readily researched than Fusion Ball Launchers. First of all, to produce Fusion Ball Launchers, you must capture a [[Blaster Launcher]] and [[Blaster Bomb|Bomb]]. These weapons usually don't appear until several months into the game. Secondly, the average time needed to research Laser Cannons is 1,330 hours (26.6 days for 50 Scientists), whereas Fusion Ball Launchers require 2,080 hours (41.6 days). Finally, about one third of the time needed for researching Laser Cannons is spent researching Laser Pistols and Rifles, which you are likely to research early on anyway.

In summary, Laser Cannons are available much sooner than Fusion Ball Launchers, and are clearly the most profitable item in XCOM - ''unless'' you want to micromanage FBLs and build them one at a time.

== Notes, Tips, Tricks, Etc. ==
*The maximum number of engineers you can assign to a project, equals the number of engineer hours it requires. In other words, the game "enforces" that '''you can only build one item per hour, at most'''. Example: You can only assign 60 engineers at most to work on a plasma pistol clip, which requires 60 engineer hours. The tables above don't take this into account, but then, small-fry products are usually not made by a large operation, anyway.
*You cannot have more than one project of the same type going at the same base. (This otherwise might've been a way "around" the limit of one per hour at most.) However, you can make that thing at some other base.
*Excess/wasted Workshop and Living Quarters are only a miniscule part of your costs. Example: A large operation (four workshops) might have 184 engineers instead of the optimal 194 for Laser Cannons (because of an occasional need to drop back and making flying suits, craft, etc. - it's a balance of constantly wasted space versus occasionally wasted engineers). The "wasted" 10 WS and LQ spaces only cost $9k/month ($45k*10/50), which is only 0.11% of the $8.3M/month that the 184 engineers make when producing LCs.
*Likewise, profits generally scale linearly according to number of workshops (two full workshops make only a little bit more than twice the profit of one full workshop, etc.). Many projects only require a handful of workspace requirements, and are almost totally linear. However, some projects have a large workspace requirement, such as the Laser Tank (25). With only one workshop, the Laser Tank only makes 39% of the profit that Laser Cannons would, whereas they make 64% of Laser Cannons with five workshops. The real reason they do so poorly with one workshop is much less due to the wasted overhead of workshop and living quarters; it is mainly because you can only assign 25 engineers with one workshop, versus 44 for Laser Cannons.
*Those who know XCOM, know that it suffers from integer truncation in a number of places. This could've hurt profitability badly if it occurred there; for example, if an item needs 100 engineer hours but you only assign 99, it might've taken twice as long, and halved your production and profit potential. Fortunately, this is not the case with manufacturing; it does not truncate production time this way.
*There is an [[ExploitsA#Free_Manufacturing|exploit]] that lets the sneaky make items for free - but only one at a time.
*Another [[ExploitsA#Free_Wages|exploit]] involves transferring staff at the end of the month to avoid salaries. Eliminating salary costs makes Laser Cannons about 50% more profitable to produce.
*Factoid 1: The Heavy Plasma Clip is the most unprofitable item to make, due to the facts that it can be quickly made, but requires 3 Elerium. Be careful what you ask for!
*Factoid 2: Strange as it may seem, XCOM craft are ''not'' the most unprofitable items in the game, even though they are very expensive to make, and you '''can't sell them'''. (High cost, zero sales.) This is because craft take a long time to make, whereas other items can be made quickly, but incorporate expensive components. Their extreme costs override the fact that they can actually be sold. :P
*Factoid 3: '''120''' [[Alien Alloys]], '''30''' [[Elerium]], '''2''' [[UFO Power Source]]s, '''1''' [[UFO Navigation]] and '''36''' ''Free workspace'', a [[Hanger]] plus $900,000 are the minimum raw resources needed at a base to begin [[manufacturing]] any item. If abusing the [[ExploitsA#Free_Manufacturing|exploit]] that's all you will ever need to start production.

== Bugs ==

* In UFO: Enemy Unknown (and most likely all the other XCOM and TFTD versions) you can overflow the variable that holds the number of engineers. It is stored in a single byte, along with much of the data in the game, so if you get more than 255 engineers at one base, the number will wrap around. Instead of storing the correct number of engineers, it will divide the number by 256 and store the remainder. If you get exactly 256 engineers your base will have 0. If you want to play the game fairly, make sure there is never more than 255 engineers at a base. If you don't mind exploiting the bug to make lots of money, then read on.

The easiest way to start this is to assign your engineers to build something. Wait until you have enough living quarters, and then buy enough engineers to have exactly 256 (costs $12.8 million for all the engineers, so save up to get them all in 1 month and not pay any salaries). Once the 256 engineers have all arrived, the game will call it 0. You won't need to house them any longer. You won't need to pay their salaries. You'll just need workshop space for them. There is a second bug in UFO: Enemy Unknown where it only makes sure you don't allocate an engineer when you have 0 available engineers. It doesn't stop you if you have a negative number of available engineers. If you have 10 engineers building a Laser Cannon and 0 engineers at the base, you will have -10 engineers available for manufacturing items. '''THE GAME WILL NOT CARE HOW MANY ENGINEERS YOU ASSIGN AT THIS POINT.''' Your only limitation is how much workshop space you have. If you build 17 workshops at one base, it can produce a Laser Cannon, a Fusion Ball Launcher, and an Alien Alloy every single hour. Personally, I recommend having most of your bases with the folling: 1 Access Lift (needed), 1 Living Quarters (for soldiers), 1 Hanger (with Avenger), 1 General Stores, 1 Mind Shield, 1 Hyper-Wave Decoder, 1 Psionic Laboratory, and 26 Workshops. You can then manufacture 1 Laser Cannon and almost 1 Tank/Laser Cannon every hour (skip the hanger for 1 every hour). These only require money to build (watch that because if you run out and all production stops, you can't allocate any engineers) and produce large amounts of income.

There is also a [[Known_Bugs#Manufacturing_Limit_Bug|known bug]] associated with display times.

== See Also ==

*[[Workshop]]
* [[Research]]
*[[Hiring/firing]]
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable Prices]] for a list of build and sell prices for all manufacturable items (plus special materials requried).

[[Category: data tables]]

Civilian

2008-08-17T04:45:12Z

Brunpal: Tips on Dealing with Civilians

==General Information==
Civilians are encountered on [[Terror Mission]]s. As mentioned in your briefing, "You must attempt to save the lives of any civilians in the area..." Civilians seem to lack any form of AI, which makes this more difficult. Instead of running away from their alien attackers, they will instead walk around as if on a Sunday stroll, sometimes even directly into the crossfire.

Aliens will shoot at civilians and soldiers with equal ferocity. Alien attacks on civilians will give clues as to the alien's location.

All civilian populations in the game will either be male or female. You will not be able to find men and women together in the same locale. All civilians are unarmed. We don't know where they parked their cars or why only the members of the opposite sex sought fit to flee by themselves.

==Tips on Dealing with Civilians==
If you don't care about [[score]], then let the aliens have their way with civilians. While the aliens shoot at civilians, they aren't shooting at you. But that can mean losing up to 480 points.
If you '''do''' care about score, then your best bet is to [[stun]] any civilian you encounter. The aliens will then ignore them. Any explosion will kill a [[unconscious]] target but a civilian is likely to die anyway if caught in an explosion. Pick them up and throw them somewhere safe.

==Appearance Information==
When X-COM arrives at a terror site, there may be as many as 16 Civilians still alive. However, there are occasions where the aliens finished off all the Civilians before you got there(and are likely engaging in wanton property damage before leaving.) On average, expect between 8-16 Civilians still alive when you arrive.

==Additional Information==
Civilians have a neutral allegiance. However, if [[Mind Control]]led, they will turn to the Alien side on the next turn. They even count as an Alien kill on your end-of-mission score count, however, you gain 0pts.

==Scoring==
'''Action Score'''
'''------ -----'''
Each Civilian saved +30
Each Civilian killed by Aliens -30
Each Civilian killed by X-COM -50

==Statistics==
TUs 35
Health 30
Stamina 65
Reactions 30
Strength 20
Bravery 80

Firing Acc. 30
Throwing Acc. 50
Melee Acc. 50

Psi Skill 0
Psi Strength 5

==See Also==
[[Why civilians go rogue]]

[[Scoring]]

[[Terror Mission]]s

Base Layout Strategy

2008-08-11T08:27:10Z

Brunpal: /* Notes */ keep the crappy layout for as long as possible

Your base will, at some point, be raided by angry aliens looking for revenge for all those UFO's you've taken out. Unlike most places you'll have to fight, you have control over the layout of your base, so design it wisely.

The key point for base defensibility is to minimize the number of points of entry. Aliens usually come down into your base through hangars and the access lift (although they can emerge on other locations - see the last comment on [[Base_Defense#Bugs]]). If you group your hangars with the access lift, then build only one module connecting to this part of your base, that module becomes a choke point for base defense. A long chain of rooms becomes a long choke point ripe for mining with Proximity Grenades and other dirty tricks. This way, you can line up all your units against one point of entry instead of having to spread them out to cover four or five.

The access lift is always the first unit built, so it becomes the obvious candidate for this single point of entry. Place it on the grid so you leave enough room to build hangars on one side of the lift, and everything else on the other side. I'd recommend building a General Stores on the lift opposite the hangar. A general stores is needed for any base, and it gets completed quickly. Once the general stores are completed, build all new facilities (except hangars, of course) off of that.

==Overhauling the Starter Base==

At higher difficulty levels, alien retaliation can often come MUCH sooner than you might be ready for-- before you have base defenses built, and before you have powerful weapons to arm your troops with. Considering that the access lift and all hangars serve as entry points for the invaders, the starter base has all the defensive virtues of a screen door:
<center>{{UBK|=
|dirt|dirt|hangar1|hangar2|dirt|dirt|=
|dirt|dirt|hangar3|hangar4|dirt|dirt|=
|dirt|dirt|lift|quarters|dirt|dirt|=
|dirt|small_radar|stores|lab|workshop|dirt|=
|hangar1|hangar2|dirt|dirt|hangar1|hangar2|=
|hangar3|hangar4|dirt|dirt|hangar3|hangar4|=}}</center>
The hangars and lift are distributed as widely as possible through the base, giving the aliens a wealth of breach points and enabling them to assault any defenders from all sides.

With this in mind, I recommend a partial rebuild of your initial base ASAP. Build two hangars next to the topmost hangar to replace the lower two, and a living quarters down between the two lower existing hangars to replace the one next to the access lift. Place any other new modules on the lower half of the screen, where they will not touch the lift or the new hangars.

As the new living quarters and hangar are completed, dismantle the old ones. It should now look something like:
<center>{{UBK|=
|hangar1|hangar2|hangar1|hangar2|hangar1|hangar2|=
|hangar3|hangar4|hangar3|hangar4|hangar3|hangar4|=
|dirt|dirt|lift|dirt|dirt|dirt|=
|large_radar|small_radar|stores|lab|workshop|dirt|=
|dirt|dirt|quarters|containment|dirt|dirt|=
|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|=}}</center>
Of course, place any other new facilities with a mind to preserving the new choke-point at the grav lift (i.e., nothing adjacent to the top hangars.) This layout isn't as fortified as many new-build bases can be, but it's a good compromise between defendability (one choke-point at the lift), available space, expedience (it converts from the standard layout in minimal time), and, especially, cost. It only costs the price of two hangars and a living quarters ($800,000) to overhaul your base this way-- a cost that can be covered by the proceeds from, say, one small landed UFO. It does however accrue base [[maintenance costs]] of $720,000 per month due to a [[Known Bugs#Paying For Dirt|bug]].

===Variations===

The previous example was a one chokepoint base that is easy to defend, however it is by no means the only way to build the base. Don't be afraid to try different variations of the base to suit the strategy that you intend use.

If you want to attack the aliens from two sides, the simple addition of an extra module can modify the one-chokepoint base into a two-chokepoint base. For example:

<center>{{UBK|=
|hangar1|hangar2|hangar1|hangar2|hangar1|hangar2|=
|hangar3|hangar4|hangar3|hangar4|hangar3|hangar4|=
|dirt|dirt|lift|dirt|small_radar|dirt|=
|large_radar|small_radar|stores|lab|workshop|dirt|=
|dirt|dirt|quarters|containment|dirt|dirt|=
|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|=}}</center>

The above base is designed to work like the popular defendable base layout, but also provides a second access point into the hangars. Although this means you have to spread your soldiers out to cover both points, so do the aliens.

With this example in particular, the small radar module provides an empty hallway. If you like to use rockets, this one access point gives you a clear shot into the hangars. A few well placed rockets can cut down the opposition considerably.

If you really like to use rockets but can only handle aliens entering the map through one entry point, consider the following variation.

<center>{{UBK|=
|hangar1|hangar2|hangar1|hangar2|hangar1|hangar2|=
|hangar3|hangar4|hangar3|hangar4|hangar3|hangar4|=
|dirt|dirt|lift|dirt|small_radar|dirt|=
|large_radar|small_radar|dirt|lab|workshop|dirt|=
|dirt|containment|quarters|stores|dirt|dirt|=
|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|=}}</center>

It may take a while to re-order the base in this manner from the starting setup, but the end result provides you with a clear firing corridor into the hangars with plenty of cubbyholes to hide in. All of the aliens will have to funnel through the small radar module, which is an open space with no place for the aliens to hide.

One disadvantage of this base however is that if the workshop suffers too much structural damage, all facilities past the small radar will be destroyed as they'll be disconnected from the access lift.

No matter what layout you eventually use, remember that the more complicated it is the longer it may take to construct and the more money it will cost. The last example requires moving a module that was already present in the default base. i.e. the general stores.

== Secondary Base Design ==

With your second and subsequent bases, you can build it securely right from the beginning. The most secure design uses the Access Lift as a choke point between the hangars and the rest of the base, as pictured above, but puts it to the side, out of the way, and also adds a long corridor between the Access Lift and the rest of the base:
<center>{{UBK|=
|quarters|quarters|quarters|quarters|workshop|workshop|=
|stores|dirt|quarters|quarters|workshop|workshop|=
|hyperwave|dirt|stores|mind|workshop|psi|=
|lift|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|dirt|=
|hangar1|hangar2|hangar1|hangar2|hangar1|hangar2|=
|hangar3|hangar4|hangar3|hangar4|hangar3|hangar4|=}}</center>
Be sure not to put the Access Lift on the southern or eastern borders of the map to avoid the [[Known Bugs#Base Disjoint Bug|base disjoint bug]].

If three hangars are not needed, additional base facilities can be added, as long as they are not placed adjacent to the hangars:
<center>
{|
|-
|
{{UBK|=
|quarters|quarters|quarters|quarters|workshop|workshop|=
|stores|dirt|quarters|quarters|workshop|workshop|=
|hyperwave|dirt|stores|mind|workshop|psi|=
|lift|dirt|dirt|dirt|psi|psi|=
|hangar1|hangar2|hangar1|hangar2|dirt|psi|=
|hangar3|hangar4|hangar3|hangar4|dirt|psi|=}}
|
|
|
|
{{UBK|=
|quarters|quarters|quarters|quarters|workshop|workshop|=
|stores|dirt|quarters|quarters|workshop|workshop|=
|hyperwave|dirt|stores|mind|workshop|psi|=
|lift|dirt|quarters|psi|psi|psi|=
|hangar1|hangar2|dirt|psi|psi|psi|=
|hangar3|hangar4|dirt|psi|psi|psi|=}}
|}
</center>

- [[User:tequilachef|tequilachef]]: Remember that the Aliens need enough spawn points when attacking your base. If they do not have enough they will use X-Com spawn points, which makes the carefully planned choke point practically useless since you will be ambushed from inside your own living quarters and general stores. Three hangars and the access lift are enough to cover every possible attacking alien force. Therefore I think the two beforementioned base layouts are practically useless!

: I belive that one hangar and one access lift can provide more than enough spawn points for an invasion fleet. I do it all the time and there aren't any spillovers. I couldn't find any reference anywhere on the wiki, but a section that discusses the nuances of the spawn nodes would be interesting, and perhaps even note the spawn nodes in the individual base map blocks. - [[User:NKF|NKF]]

::For a fairly detailed monologue about alien spawn points per module and how alien spawning is determined, please see [[ExploitsE#Base_Defence_Mission_Spawning_Issues|Base_Defence_Mission_Spawning_Issues]]. According to this, you have 23 alien spawn tiles with one Hangar and the Access Lift. According to the deployment chart for Alien Retaliation missions, the only time you'll have more than 23 aliens dispatched to try and smoke you out is in Superhuman, and even then, the most you can go over is 5, making 2 Hangars and the Access Lift sufficient to fully spawn any Alien Retaliation. My greater concern would be the location of the HWD; that's a module that can be destroyed during a heated Alien Retaliation Mission, and if you lose it, the whole base is demolished. Also, because of it's central staircase, it will prevent you from firing any weapon but Blaster Bombs down the hallway behind the choke point. It would be wiser to have Living Quarters or General Stores along that entire choke line, since such a module cannot be demolished, it also serves as a high-priority spawn point for your troopers, and the open central area allows you to nuke the aliens from far away. Finally, those two bases seem like they would have 50 or 100 soldiers each(based on the number of Psi Labs), at which point a full complement of 28 aliens is outnumbered nearly 4-to-1 and can be defeated through attrition alone if needed. Even assuming a squad of 100 psissies and 22 Ethereals(the six Sectopods can't use psi), you've still got 56 soldiers to kill things with, since each Ethereal can MC only twice per turn. -[[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]]

:::Interesting point, Arrow. [[Battleship#Alien_Deployment|Superhuman Battleships]] have 22-28 crew, with the variability coming from 0-2 extra terrorists and 0-4 extra soldiers. FWIW, this is like rolling a 3-sided die (0-2) and 5 sided one (0-5), with a 20% chance there will be 22-23 aliens (1/15 + 2/15), or 27-28 (same odds), for that matter. The average is 25, or 2 aliens outside the Lift and Hangar, if you only have one Hangar. -[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 18:09, 30 July 2008 (PDT)

::I should note a small error in that. Due to program constraints, you can never have more than 40 soldiers spawn(and tanks count as 4 soldiers). Still, how someone could lose a fight in a defense-oriented base when commanding 40 soldiers with Laser Rifles is beyond me. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 19:24, 30 July 2008 (PDT)

: The above two base designs are still useless. While it has a long choke point it is not practical. You can only build next to finished structures. Therefore it will take 55 days before the first soldier can start defending it. (Days: HWD-26, stores-10, LQ-16, 3 for soldier delivery) Placing the Access Lift next to a wall while keeping it a choke point means that there are only 2 spaces to place structure. Removing structure means later you will be paying for dirt. Furthermore I'm not convinced that an extended choke past the lift +1 tile is useful. Too many guys end up spending a long time hoofing it to a spot they can be useful.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 19:19, 28 November 2007 (PST)

:: That's true in theory, Brunpal, but you can build temporary facilities like Stores to "bridge a gap", then remove them. Yes, you'll wind up [[Base_Facilities#Facility_Maintenance_Cost_Bug|paying for dirt]], but that will only matter in a self-imposed cash-crunch scenario. -[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 15:31, 7 December 2007 (PST)

<center>{{UBK|=
|workshop|dirt|hangar1|hangar2|hangar1|hangar2|=
|stores|dirt|hangar3|hangar4|hangar3|hangar4|=
|stores|lab|dirt|lift|hangar1|hangar2|=
|stores|stores|stores|stores|hangar3|hangar4|=
|stores|stores|stores|stores|large_radar|quarters|=
|stores|stores|stores|stores|quarters|quarters|=}}
</center>

The following base is built on the theory that the best way to defeat the aliens is to turn the alien spawn-points into a salient. The nature of this defense allows for surrounding the initial enemy spawn point on 3 sides, allowing for crossfire to cut the aliens down to size.

==Floor Plan Comparison==
Here's a comparison of the '''ground floor''' plans for X-COM base modules, in case it helps you design your base. For images, follow the links or see [[Xcom_and_Alien_Bases#XCom_Base|X-COM Base Module Images]]:

*'''3-wide "central plus sign" corridors:
** 1-wide doors along NW to SE path: [[Living Quarters]], [[Laboratory]], [[Workshop]]
** 1-wide doors along SW to NE path: [[Alien Containment]], [[Psionic Laboratory]]
** 2-wide doors along SW to NE path: [[General Stores]]

*'''Central room:
** 1 1-wide door, 2-wide corridors: [[Laser Defences]] (SW door), [[Plasma Defences]] (SE door), [[Fusion Ball Defences]] (NE door)
** 2 1-wide doors, 2-wide corridors: [[Large Radar]] (SW & NE doors)
** 2 1-wide doors, 3-wide corridors: [[Grav Shield]], [[Hyper-Wave Decoder]], [[Mind Shield]] (all have SW & SE doors)

*'''Unique modules:
**Wide open ground floor: [[Small Radar]]
** "P" design of [[Missile Defences]] - no ground level doors; can force particular paths
** [[Hangar]]
** [[Access Lift]]

Most modules have a fairly open second story, with the exception of [[Missile Defences]], [[General Stores]], [[Alien Containment]], and the [[Psionic Laboratory]]. Still, half of the rest have a fair amount of clutter that might hide aliens.

==Notes==
*Corridors attaching to the right topside of a hangar (on the grid, the east side of the north wall) corner come through a ground-level hangar door. Corridors attaching anywhere else don't get a door. See picture at [[X-Com_Base_Terrain]].
*The ideal case is to have your choke point aligned vertically on the base grid, lined with general stores. The general stores have large, doublewide doors that open out onto the vertical corridor. These doors will give your your troops and tanks cover, and let them pop out to make attacks at will.
*It is also desirable to have a base facility containing a door directly facing the Access Lift (such as the [[Hyper-Wave Decoder]]). A scout can pop out at the beginning of a turn and spot units coming down the corridor without risk of being shot due to the [[reaction fire triggers#mutual_surprise|"mutual surprise" rule]]. Other units with indirect-fire weapons (grenades and blaster launchers) can then safely attack the spotted alien(s). Direct-fire weapons can also be safely used if a thick-enough [[Smoke Grenade|smoke cover]] is present.
*Troops will spawn primarily in the Living Quarters and General Stores . Tanks will spawn mostly in the General Stores. You might want to cluster these units around your choke-point so your units will be where you need them.
*When constructing a base, be very careful that you avoid the [[Known Bugs#Base Disjoint Bug|Base Disjoint Bug]] where modules along the right and lower edges of the map can get sealed off. Improper placement will often end up forcing you to cut through the very tough walls and dirt blocks with heavy plasmas or tank lasers. However, with proper placement of modules, the sealed off walls can be very advantageous in controlling the flow of aliens. [[XcomUtil]] users cannot take advantage of this as the setup tool for this utility automatically rips out the walls.
*You can (and should) keep the poorly positioned rooms of your starter base up until the battleship is closing in. You can dismantle rooms instantly as long as they are unused. Since maintenance costs are buggy and listed values are always wrong, you are always better off keeping a room even if it is unused... at least up until the point the aliens arrive or you need the room.

==See Also==
*[[Base Management]]
*[[Base Defense]]
*[[Base Defense Measures (UFO Defense)]]
*[[X-Com Base Terrain]]

Base Defence

2008-08-11T08:06:12Z

Brunpal: /* To Surrender or Not To Surrender */ clear your inventory no matter what

==Briefing==
An Alien vessel has landed nearby. Our base is in severe danger. As per standard procedure all non-combat personnel and X-COM 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 Defences]] 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 <i>selling</i> 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 (visible to any alien, not just the psionic alien). 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.

Alien Weaponry that has been researched can be used for Base Defense even if it's ammunition has NOT been researched. In other Missions you simply cannot load the ammo in your transport, but when defending a base this is not necessary. The clips will be labeled as alien artifacts, but can be used as if research was finished (except that it cannot be thrown).

''[ [[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)''
:You should always transfer pretty much EVERYTHING out of a base even if you expect to win easily. In base defense missions you WILL hit the 80 item cap. You need to thin out your extra gear before the aliens get there by selling the stuff you don't really need and transferring the stuff you want to keep. You don't want to defend with just smoke grenades and electro-flares. My tiny radar bases always have a general stores for that purpose.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 01:06, 11 August 2008 (PDT)

''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 sectoids, 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><br />

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Ethereals use Ethereal Leaders in place of Navigators, Medics, and Engineers.<br>
<nowiki>**</nowiki>Snakemen use Snakeman Soldiers in place of Medics.<br>
<nowiki>***</nowiki>Mutons use Muton Soldiers in place of Leaders and Commanders.

== 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.<br>
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. <br>
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 [[User:Zombie|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]]

Info

2008-08-11T07:45:53Z

Brunpal: /* Working In Windows */ checking game version?

'''X-COM''' is a series of computer games, started by MicroProse in 1994. The first installment, released as ''UFO: Enemy Unknown'' in Europe (and as ''X-COM: UFO Defense'' in North America) was written by a team led by Julian Gollop. After the success of ''X-COM: UFO Defense'', The Gollop brothers went straight to work on [[Info (Apocalypse)|X-COM: Apocalypse]], which would end up being the third in the series when released in 1997.

MicroProse quickly had an internal team create the sequel ''[[Info (TFTD)|X-COM: Terror From the Deep]]'' in under a year as a quick cash in (hence the amount of uncanny similarities between the first two games). These first two games also show strong similarities to games such as ''Rebelstar'' and ''Laser Squad'' for the ZX Spectrum, including names of organisations such as 'Marsec'. The fourth title, ''[[Info (Interceptor)|X-COM: Interceptor]]'' was an action-based space combat/strategy game, while the fifth (''[[Info (Enforcer)|X-COM: Enforcer]]'') was simply a third person shooter.

All titles were developed for the PC, and some ported to the Sony PlayStation and Amiga. The first three titles were originally developed to run under DOS, though the first two have subsequently been ported to run under Microsoft Windows using DirectX. ''X-COM: UFO Defense'' was the best selling computer game of 1995 and is considered a true classic, and despite its age, still has a large following.

==Series standards==

The premise for the series is fairly simple and straightforward, with variations among them: armies of hostile aliens have begun invading the Earth, killing and enslaving the human race. The style and theme of the game closely mirror those of the classic BBC television series ''UFO''.

In each game of the series, the player is put in command of "X-COM": the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit. By defending countries from enemy invasion, the force gains monetary support. Any nation may quit, if X-COM's service is deemed unsatisfactory or the nation's government has been infiltrated by the invaders. Through research of recovered alien artefacts, X-COM is able to develop better and more powerful weapons, armor and vehicles to combat the alien menace and eventually uncover their true nature.

The game takes place within two main views: the Geoscape and the Battlescape, a dichotomy that's the hallmark of the entire series. The Geoscape is where the player waits for enemy alien activity and makes strategic decisions.

While in the Geoscape, the player can view the X-COM bases (located in various locations on Earth), make changes to them, equip X-COM craft, order supplies and personnel, direct research efforts, schedule manufacturing of advanced equipment and sell alien artifacts to raise capital. The Geoscape is continuous and not turn-based.

Gameplay switches to the isometric combat view of the Battlescape whenever X-COM personnel come in contact with alien units. This can result from investigating downed enemy crafts, combatting alien terrorist activities or attacking alien bases discovered during play. Aliens may also be encountered if they manage to attack and infiltrate one of the X-COM bases.

In the Battlescape view, X-COM combatants are pitted against the alien enemies. In addition to personnel, the player may have vehicles such as heavy weapons platforms outfitted with powerful weapons ranging from rockets to plasma beams. The Battlescape mode is turn-based and each combatant has a number of "time units" which can be expended each turn. When all alien forces have been neutralized, the mission is scored based on number of X-COM units killed, civilians saved, aliens killed or captured and the number of alien artefacts obtained.

The X-COM series is known for its difficulty. Third party programs have been developed to modify the game files to make playing the game less frustrating, and to increase replay value. Those third-party programs can also make the game more difficult for highly skilled players. The most complete of these tools is [[XcomUtil]].

==Ports==
*Amiga500
*Amiga1200
*Amiga CD32
*DOS 1.2, 1.4 (Zipped Box Art for the U.S. DOS version is [[Media:XCOM_UFO_Defense_DOS_US_Box_Art.zip|here]])
*Windows CE
*Playstation (both PAL and NTSC formats)

== System Requirements ==
'''Minimum'''
*386 processor
*4MB RAM
*Hard drive (10MB free, game alone)
*MS-DOS 5.0 or higher
*VGA Graphics

'''Recommended'''
*486 or better
*8MB RAM
*Hard drive (15MB free, game + manual)
*SVGA Graphics

'''Sound Cards Supported'''
*PC Internal speaker
*AdLib compatible cards
*Sound Blaster compatible cards
*Roland LAPC-1

==Working In Windows==

*The Collectors Edition of XCOM works in all versions of Windows natively.

*The DOS version can be finicky in WinXP. While it's probably possible to subdue it manually, many people use [http://dosbox.sourceforge.net DOSBox] as a WinXP DOS emulator, with a high degree of success. It does have some minor inconveniences, but they're a lot less than figuring everything out manually! A tutorial for DOSBox can also be found [http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?t=2502 here].

*''How do you check your game version? I know there are a bunch.''
=== DOS X-COM in WinXP ===

Here are the only things that I ([[User:MikeTheRed|MTR]]) changed for DOSBox (v. 0.65) DOSBOX.CONF. It works fine for X-COM DOS 1.4:

fullscreen=true # Switched for XCOM
frameskip=2 # Changed from 0 to 2 for XCOM
cycles=8000 # Changed from 3000 to 8000 for XCOM
cycledown=500 # Changed from 20 to 500 for XCOM
mpu401=none # changed from intelligent to none for XCOM
core=dynamic # I (OVNI) noticed dosbox runs much faster with dynamic cpu alocation on WindowsXP with Amd Athlon cpu
# (not tested with others cpu and/or operating systems)

And the command line of my desktop launch icon reads:

D:\Games\DosBox\DOSBox.exe d:\Games\X-COM\GO.BAT -exit

Adjust per your locations, and you're good to go. (I haven't touched X-COM's GO.BAT except to skip the intro vid, and everything works fine.)

I'm not sure the extent to which some of them matter, but Cycles is the most important... push Cycles as high as it will go without causing odd freezes in your game (usually on a new screen), in which case you hit Control-F11. (If it happens a lot, decrease DOSBOX.CONF Cycles to make it permanent.)

Recently my background music has gone out, no idea why... it worked fine forever. But since I'm into deep testing these days, I don't care... I put on my own tunes, anyway.

==Screenshots==

Taking screencaps (screen captures):
*For the CE version, use F12. It will make a .TGA file in your game directory.
*For DOS 1.4, it's more complex. I ([[User:MikeTheRed|MTR]]) use DosBox (see above). Once I could simply hit PrintScreen when in fullscreen XCOM, then switch out and paste to a graphics app. At some point in time that stopped working (makes for a garbage screencap), so instead I now switch out (Alt-Tab, not Ctrl-Enter), take a PrintScreen (of everything on the WinXP desktop), paste this to a graphics app, and crop the graphic to the XCOM window. (And x2 it, if wanted.) DosBox does have the ability to take a screenshot of the shell by pressing CTRL-F5. The resulting image is in PNG format and is saved in the "capture" folder of the DosBox directory.

==The Makers==

Published in 1994 by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microprose Microprose] (bought by Atari), developed by Mythos Games, chief designers brothers Nick and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Gollop Julian Gollop].

Mythos preceded X-COM with Laser Squad and have recently produced [http://www.lasersquadnemesis.com/ Laser Squad Nemesis].

Created by:
*Microprose (1994)

Owned by:
*Atari (2004-2007)
*Take-Two Interactive (2007-present)

== Credits ==

===Primary Credits (DOS, Windows)===

'''Game Design and Programming'''
<br>Mythos Games Limited
<br>Julian Gollop
<br>Nick Gollop

'''Graphics and Animation'''
<br>Julian Gollop
<br>John Reitze
<br>Martin Smillie

'''Music'''
<br>John Broomhall

'''Sound Effects'''
<br>Andrew Parton

'''Quality Assurance'''
<br>Peter Woods
<br>Andrew Luckett
<br>Richard Bakewell
<br>Darren Kirby
<br>Philip McDonnell
<br>Jason Sampson

'''Manual Author'''
<br>Kristian Ramsay-Jones

'''Managing Editor'''
<br>Alkis Alkiviades

'''Packaging and Manual Design'''
<br>John Emory
<br>Joe Morel
<br>Cesar Novoa
<br>Sarah Warburton

'''Producer'''
<br>Tim Roberts

'''Publishers'''
<br>Paul Hibbard-Teall
<br>Peter Moreland

===Additional Credits (Amiga)===
'''Programming'''
<br>Scott Johnston
<br>Steve Legg
<br>Bob Koon

'''Graphics'''
<br>Michael Baxter

'''Music'''
<br>Matthew Simmonds

===Additional Credits (Playstation)===

'''Producer'''
<br>Stuart Whyte

'''Quality Assurance'''
<br>Darren Kirby
<br>Craig Lear
<br>Daniel Luton
<br>Justin Manning
<br>Philip McDonnell
<br>Jason Sampson
<br>Klaus Starke
<br>Donald Witcombe

'''Programming Conversion'''
<br>Graeme Ashton
<br>Bob Koon

'''Additional Programming'''
<br>Tim Cannell
<br>Paul Dunning
<br>Nick Thompson

'''Playstation Design Implementation'''
<br>Andrew Williams

'''Additional Artwork'''
<br>Drew Northcott
<br>Martin Severn

'''Original Game Music Composition'''
<br>John Broomhall

'''Original SFX Design'''
<br>Andrew Parton

'''Playstation Music Conversion & Additional Music Composition'''
<br>Allister Brimble

'''Audio Post Production'''
<br>Matt Vowles

'''Audio Producer'''
<br>John Broomhall

'''Publisher'''
<br>Rob Davies

'''Packaging Design'''
<br>Sarah Warburton

'''Manual Design & Layout'''
<br>Sarah Kerr

'''Managing Editor'''
<br>Alkis Alkiviades

'''Manual Writer & Editor'''
<br>Rick Haslam

'''Brand Manager'''
<br>Adrian Turner

'''Thanks To'''
<br>Sheila Boutin
<br>Valentina Britten
<br>Marc Curtis
<br>Gareth Davies
<br>Steve Hickman
<br>Laurie Sinnett
<br>Scott K. Tsumura

----

Some of the material in this article was adapted from Wikipedia's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-COM X-COM] page.

== See also ==

* [[Background]] -- a timeline of events in the X-COM story line and other connections to the "real world"

Mind Probe

2008-08-11T05:17:36Z

Brunpal: /* Additional Information */ mind probe does NOT turn you, leaving the stat screen will if you aren't careful

The Mind Probe is an alien communication device which is used to take information directly from brain waves. X-COM units can use this device in combat to display an alien's characteristics.

== Stats ==
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS29.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 2 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 5
*TUs:
**50% per use.
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $262,000 for parts, 1,200 Engineer Hours, 1 Elerium
*Sell Price: $304,000</td></tr></table>

== Additional Information ==
The Mind Probe is a metallic alien basketball-shaped device that allows you to remotely enter the mind of the target. In game terms, this gives you a once-per-use peek at an alien's stat screen, revealing important info such as his health, TU's, and rank. To leave the alien's stat screen you must right click. As you right click you are almost guaranteed to double click, and thereby turn your solider in a random direction. To avoid the double click, move the mouse to a screen edge as you right click and your solider will not turn.

Mind Probes must be researched before being issued to soldiers. The most common use of a mind probe is to identify high-ranking targets worthy of capture and live research. They are not vital battlefield devices and take up 2x2 backpack spaces. Can be used on any alien within sight of any soldier. The soldier with the mind probe does not need a direct line of sight to the alien.

Although the Mind Probe uses [[Psionics]], soldiers do not need any psionic ability to use it. Because every use requires 50% [[TU]]s, you will only ever get two uses per turn - less, if you spend too much time moving or turning. A good choice for the [[Rear Commander|useless officer]] who sits in the [[Skyranger]].

-- [[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]]

<i>The [[OBDATA.DAT|OBDATA]] file says the Mind Probe is a two-handed object. However, I don't think this affects its usage. - [[User:Danial|Danial]]</i>

== Notes ==
* If the alien is nearly out of [[TU]]'s, you can move without fear of drawing reaction fire.
* If the alien is nearly out of [[health]], you might be able to bring it down or [[stun]] it with light weaponry.
* If the alien is low on [[morale]], it is likely to panic easily. In particular, soon after you get [[psionics|Psi]] technology, you might let psi-locked troops (not yet trained in the [[Psi Lab]]) peek at aliens to see whether other, newly psi-''un''locked troops (with a low chance of success) have successfully panic-attacked an alien down to low levels of Morale.
* Mind Probes can be used by anyone; they do not require psi training. They also do not give any [[experience]] toward increasing your [[Psi Skill]].
* Mind Probes are [[UFO Recovery Values|highly prized]] by governments and advertising firms, so you can sell your spares at $304K each.
* They are mostly found on Scout ships.

{{Equipment (UFO Defense) Navbar}}
[[Category:Equipment (UFO Defense)]]

Known Bugs

2008-08-09T06:08:52Z

Brunpal: /* Fuel dump on transfer */

== Base Construction Bugs ==

=== 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 or excessive amount of heavy plasma fire during combat but are otherwise unbreakable.

[[image:bdb.gif|center|Base Disjoint Bug]]

The walls marked in white are removed if there is an adjacent module. All green modules are not affected while the yellow modules are. The red module will be sealed off completely if anything smaller than a hangar is placed here at any given time.

[[XcomUtil]] works around this problem by stripping out the walls entirely in all the base modules.

The bug can be profitable if the hangars and the lift are accessible only through in these areas - you can gather and supply all your soldiers heavily without aliens interfering, then knock a hole in the wall and cover the area with explosives and blaster launcher fire.

===Facility Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right fee when you first buy base modules, the monthly maintenance fee is always wrong. It's actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Facility_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct summary, however ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also 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.

===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.

===Radar Stacking===
Despite the "Short Range" and "Long Range" detection bars displayed on each base's Information screen, only one radar of each type will be used at each base. Building additional radars of the same type will have no effect. One short and one long are useful until the [[Hyper-Wave Decoder|Hyper-Wave Decoder]] makes both of them obsolete.

===Phantom Radar===
When you dismantle detection equipment such as a radar or hyperwave detector, the related detection ability of the base does not decrease until a new facility of some kind is built in that base. Until a new facility is completes building at that base, the base continues to use this "phantom radar".

This bug allows you to "upgrade in place", for example building a new Hyper-Wave Decoder over the top of an existing Large Radar, and retaining the detection capability of the Large Radar until the Hyper-Wave Decoder completes building. (Unless something else completes building first).

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

As mentioned above, [[XcomUtil]] prevents the Base Disjoint bug (crudely). The [[User:Spike#Base_Fixer|BaseFixer]] utility corrects the Paying for Dirt, Phantom Radar, and Radar Stacking bugs. BaseFixer can be used manually on saved game files, or automatically via XcomUtil's hook mechanism.

==Geoscape Bugs==

===First Radar Detection Data bug===
When a UFO is detected by a radar, you get certain data on it depending on the type of radar that detected it. If the UFO later enters the range of another radar while staying in the range of the first, you will continue to get the initial data given, even if the new radar is more powerful than the first! So if you detect a craft with a [[Small Radar]], then the UFO moves into the range of a [[Hyper-Wave Decoder]], clicking on the UFO will only give you the data as if the Small Radar detected it, so long as it remains in the Small Radar range! In effect, the data you get about a UFO is determined when you first detect it, and not changed after that until you lose detection on the craft with the radar that first detected it.

This bug most commonly shows up when a UFO is first detected by a patrolling aircraft and then remains in the range of the aircraft while also entering the range of a Hyper-Wave Decoder.

=== 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.

'''Solution:''' Open up [[UIGLOB.DAT]] in a hex editor. Change hex offset 0x06 to 00. This will reset the number of minimized interceptor windows to zero. Your interceptor unit can be selected to either return to base or continue on to complete its ground assault mission. ''NOTE: Make sure to back up your save game before editing it.''

''-- 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.

===Elerium-fueled Craft Bug===
A [[Skyranger]] or [[Interceptor]], once dispatched, will return to base when it's fuel supply has dropped to a level that it will only have just enough fuel to return to base. Craft fueled by Elerium-115, however, will always report the "Low Fuel" message as soon at the fuel supply is 50% depleted, no matter where they are on the globe. This significantly shortens the already minute time that a [[Firestorm]], [[Lightning]], or [[Avenger]] can be dispatched to patrol.

===Floater Medic Research Bug===
Every single time a Floater Medic is found and researched, the game crashes after it is interrogated! I [muton commander] used a hack system to view the alien's profile, and it was a Commander with no race attached. This is probably the cause, but I have no explaination for why this situation occurs.

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
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. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

Another, potentially annoying bug occurs when a large unit's graphics become messed up. During a base defense mission, a rocket tank may end up looking like 4 silacoids bunched together.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an incendiary explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will damage it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground. This may be hard to notice since fire doesn't do much damage and does none to armored troops.

=== 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.

=== The trouble with Mines in General ===

Proximity mines are strangely implemented in UFO and TFTD. While they behave as you would expect them to half of the time, the mines do not behave like conventional weapons.

First, experience attribution is awarded to the person that sets off the mine.

Secondly, the armed states for [[Proximity Grenade]]s in both UFO and TFTD are NOT stored in save games. If a proximity grenade is primed, then the game is saved and reloaded, the grenade will not only not go off as it should, but the "Prime Grenade" action will still be absent, so it's impossible to re-arm it.

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

Primed grenades will not explode when it's in your inventory when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the grenade will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member.

For a more a detailed explanation on detonation conditions, see [[Understanding Grenades]].

=== 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]].

=== 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.

===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.

===Mind Controlled Aliens Count as MIA if you Abort===
If you happen to abort a mission with any Mind-Controlled aliens under your control, who are NOT in the dropship, the computer tallies them up as "X-COM Operatives Missing In Action." Thusly, every Mind Controlled alien left behind when you dust off is -20 points to your score! If you're leaving anyways, avoid this by bringing them back to the ship or mowing them down on the way back to the ship.

In the Playstation version of the game, any aliens under Mind Control at missions end are considered captured and hence, this bug is not a factor.

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

The array used to denote armed [[Proximity Grenade]]s is limited to 20 entries, meaning you are limited to 20 active mines at a time. The 21st and subsequent Proximity grenades can be primed like normal and will give appropriate messages, but they will not detonate even when the normal trigger conditions are met. Note that Proximity Mines that have detonated or otherwise been destroyed are removed from the array, freeing up positions; the limit is 20 ACTIVE Proximity Grenades at one time. In normal gameplay, this is probably not a restriction, in light of the [[Known_Bugs#80-Item_Limit|80 Item Limit]], since you'd need to have more than 1/4th of the cargo space in the dropship filled with Proximity Grenades.

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===
THis bug has been listed as a CRITICAL bug in exploits page. Please place it into the "Critical Bugs" section page.

'''this has been moved from exploits to here - NEEDS to be written when the time comes'''

<br>'''WARNING:''' You will see that sometimes the alien will stack equipment on its right leg. If you remove an item from their right leg, make sure you enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will have to force a quit and cannot save your game. (press ALT-TAB, then CTRL-ALT-DEL, and terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== 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.

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
Carrying unconscious units a hand slot will crash the game if they wake up. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

===Disappearing Ammo===
Partially-used clips in alien or X-COM weapons disappear at the end of a mission. This dictates that you should try to use clips that are not full. However, in DOS versions of the game, you can unload used clips to recover them as full clips with the tradeoff of all loaded clips (used or otherwise) will count as spent and disappear (this shouldn't seem to be a problem, until you start using blasters and will find that you're running out of ammo fast). You can also use [[XcomUtil]] to recover partially used clips. Even when used clips are discarded, you will still get credit ([[Scoring|score]]) at the end of missions for recovering them.

When aborting a mission, any full clips loaded in any alien weapons brought back to the transport/access lift will not be recovered unless the clips are unloaded first. This includes [[Blaster Bomb]]s and [[Stun Bomb]]s.

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

=== 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.

Another bug concerning this limit happens when there are unresearched (alien) items in your stores during a base defense mission. Even though the item cannot be used during the mission, the game still allows you to equip your soldiers with them. This rarely happens as the alien items are very low on the item list, but if your base is lean and mean with under 80 items total, everything will spawn regardless of research.

===Sticky Craft Transfer Fee glitch===
As pointed out by [[User:Zombie|Zombie]] and [[User:Danial|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):
<u>Cost of pistol transfer (↔ = to or from)</U>
EU ↔ USA 80
EU ↔ Asia 100
USA ↔ Asia 120

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

<u>Cost to transfer '''pistol''', after transferring craft from EU to Asia for $2000</U>
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 transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

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 canceled craft transfer.

===Fuel dump on transfer===
Transferring a craft with 100% fuel will dump it somewhere along the way. When it arrives at its destination, its fuel gauge will read empty (ie: 0% FUEL), but it will be listed as ready. If you launch your craft for a mission (any mission will do) its fuel gauge will still read empty. This can be [[ExploitsA#Infinite_Fuel|exploited]] but it's very annoying if you want to quickly turn around a troop transport for another mission. You can force a refuel by sending out the craft and immediately recalling it back to base.

===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. The extra cost isn't that bad. Recovering just one alien weapon will likely cover the money you will lose to this bug over the course of a game.

{| {{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)

===Purchase Limit===
The purchase limit for any item you buy via the purchase screen is 255 per line item, because it is a one-byte field. However, the impact of this bug is small, for if you have space remaining in your 100-item transfer queue, you can immediately order another 255 of said item as another line item.

===Storage Limit===
You can not store more than 9,999 examples of any one item in the general stores at a specific base at one time. However, the only times such a ridiculously huge pile of a given item is at all likely to accumulate is with [[Alien Alloys]] or [[Elerium-115]]. Still, consider yourself warned. If you're coming close to the limit, consider transferring the extra to other bases or even selling it, as any extra collected beyond the limit will 'disappear' and be wasted.

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

There is a hard limit in the game of 250 X-COM soldiers in total across all bases (not 250 per base).

The error message that pops up when you try to hire more is:

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

"You have already recruited the maximum number of soldiers."

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 250 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

In the Battlescape, there is a limit of 40 X-COM soldiers that can participate in any battle. Tanks/HWPs each count as 4 soldiers against this limit. Unless you use custom-modified aircraft, you will only see this limit in a Base Defence mission. In a Base Defence mission, all tanks/HWPs will be deployed first, in preference to soldiers.

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

If you start a project with 1 or more items to build, the required cash (and any materials) for the first item will instantly be taken from you. If you cancel the project before the job is done, or reduce the number of items to produce, you will still not be refunded the initial costs of the first item.

(Possibly this is exactly the behaviour the designers intended, and not a bug at all.)

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

If you start a manufacturing project with zero items to build, close the screen, and then go back to assign staff and a non-zero build amount later, the first item is built for free. If you only build one item at a time, you can build them all for free. Obviously, this is cheating. It's also a bit tedious. It might be excusable if you're really short of money.

=== Research Rollover ===

Whenever research completes, you are given the opportunity to re-allocate your scientists' efforts onto a new topic. If the new topic is after the topic that you have just completed (further down toward the bottom of the screen), the new effort of the scientists you allocate is applied immediately, on the same day - even though they were just working on the previous project that completed.

If you have enough scientists available to complete the new project in one day, this process can be repeated indefinitely, to complete multiple topics in one day. Each new research topic must be further down the list than the previous research topic, or the bug/exploit does not work.

By the way, this means that you should not worry about "wasted" research effort due to allocating too many scientists to a project on its last day. The chances are you will gain more free research from this bug than you will lose from "wasted" research effort.

=== 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.
*NEVER sell all of your Sonic Pistol Clips before researching it first. If you were to research the Sonic Pistol, the aliens immediately stop using that weapon (and thus, clip) so you will be unable to continue in the Sonic line of research.
Other than the MC reader one, any of the above would make it impossible to finish the game.

=== 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.

===Manufacturing Limit Bug===
The number of hours remaining on a [[Manufacturing_Profitability#Profit_tables|manufacturing project]] is stored in a two-byte integer. If you build enough items that the total number of Engineer Hours required for construction is above 65535 hours, it will wrap around to 0 hours and display from there. Typically this drastically understates the amount of time that will be spent working on the items, but strictly speaking, it only subtracts 65k hours (so a huge project like 120k hours would still show ~55k hours' worth of Engineer time needed).

This bug is not dependent on the number of engineers assigned to the project; it is a function of the number of engineer hours needed. You will most likely run into it when trying to build 2 Avengers at the same time or when queuing up large orders of items in bulk, such as armor or Laser Cannons. As a practical example, the number of Avengers needed to trigger the bug is 2. The number of Laser Cannons is 219. Toggle back and forth between 218 and 219 laser cannons at the beginning of a project to see the effects.

It is known with certainty that this exists as a display issue - the screen will say you need less time than you should when you go over 65536 Engineer hours. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] is also sure he's seen it eat an Avenger... he ordered two but only got one, even though it took the time, and cost the money, for two. He's tried to replicate this and hasn't been able to, however. So it clearly is at least a superficial display issue, and may be more than that ... possibly dependent on even something else. In any event, keep an eye on projects with more than 65k Engineer hours (and report back here!)... or just avoid going that high.

== Other Bugs ==

=== 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).

=== 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.

You can also forced a crash by pressing CTRL-C at the start of a new game (DOS only). If you don't have any missions automatically saved within the [[Game_Files#Missdat_Files|MISSDAT]] folder, you will get this big text to appear. Typically it is green for Enemy Unknown, and blue for Terror From The Deep. Other colours have been observed such as pink, purple, brown and yellow.

In the dos version, the text that you see is simply a memory dump in mode-13h (the 320x200x256 colour screen resoulution) and the text colour is based off the changes to the palette that the game made. The batch file coordinating the two main programs [[Geoscape]] and [[Battlescape]] often succeeds in soldiering on after a crash. In the Windows version of the game, the game simply crashes back to the desktop, unless you're using the [[XcomUtil]] split executable variant (which uses a batchfile).

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Wish List (EU)

2008-08-08T21:45:27Z

Brunpal: /* Fuel Ready always */

Wish List (EU)

2008-08-08T21:44:36Z

Brunpal: /* Fuel Ready always */ xcom is old, VC2008 is new. windows hates me and the feeling is mutual.

Talk:Alien Reproduction

2008-08-08T04:59:06Z

Brunpal: /* Available through interrogation? */ ya I think so...

== Available through interrogation? ==
I think that a few times I got it from interrogating live aliens. Not sure though. [[User:Mchl|Mchl]] 15:08, 1 June 2008 (PDT)
:I know I got this -somehow- when I played X-Com years ago. I remember the picture and the blurb. I know I got it through normal play since I never edited a game file. It would have been the MS-Dos version.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 21:59, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

Known Bugs

2008-08-08T04:53:56Z

Brunpal: /* Transfer Limit cash eater */ don't sweat the small stuff

== Base Construction Bugs ==

=== 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 or excessive amount of heavy plasma fire during combat but are otherwise unbreakable.

[[image:bdb.gif|center|Base Disjoint Bug]]

The walls marked in white are removed if there is an adjacent module. All green modules are not affected while the yellow modules are. The red module will be sealed off completely if anything smaller than a hangar is placed here at any given time.

[[XcomUtil]] works around this problem by stripping out the walls entirely in all the base modules.

The bug can be profitable if the hangars and the lift are accessible only through in these areas - you can gather and supply all your soldiers heavily without aliens interfering, then knock a hole in the wall and cover the area with explosives and blaster launcher fire.

===Facility Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right fee when you first buy base modules, the monthly maintenance fee is always wrong. It's actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Facility_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct summary, however ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also 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.

===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.

===Radar Stacking===
Despite the "Short Range" and "Long Range" detection bars displayed on each base's Information screen, only one radar of each type will be used at each base. Building additional radars of the same type will have no effect. One short and one long are useful until the [[Hyper-Wave Decoder|Hyper-Wave Decoder]] makes both of them obsolete.

===Phantom Radar===
When you dismantle detection equipment such as a radar or hyperwave detector, the related detection ability of the base does not decrease until a new facility of some kind is built in that base. Until a new facility is completes building at that base, the base continues to use this "phantom radar".

This bug allows you to "upgrade in place", for example building a new Hyper-Wave Decoder over the top of an existing Large Radar, and retaining the detection capability of the Large Radar until the Hyper-Wave Decoder completes building. (Unless something else completes building first).

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

As mentioned above, [[XcomUtil]] prevents the Base Disjoint bug (crudely). The [[User:Spike#Base_Fixer|BaseFixer]] utility corrects the Paying for Dirt, Phantom Radar, and Radar Stacking bugs. BaseFixer can be used manually on saved game files, or automatically via XcomUtil's hook mechanism.

==Geoscape Bugs==

===First Radar Detection Data bug===
When a UFO is detected by a radar, you get certain data on it depending on the type of radar that detected it. If the UFO later enters the range of another radar while staying in the range of the first, you will continue to get the initial data given, even if the new radar is more powerful than the first! So if you detect a craft with a [[Small Radar]], then the UFO moves into the range of a [[Hyper-Wave Decoder]], clicking on the UFO will only give you the data as if the Small Radar detected it, so long as it remains in the Small Radar range! In effect, the data you get about a UFO is determined when you first detect it, and not changed after that until you lose detection on the craft with the radar that first detected it.

This bug most commonly shows up when a UFO is first detected by a patrolling aircraft and then remains in the range of the aircraft while also entering the range of a Hyper-Wave Decoder.

=== 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.

'''Solution:''' Open up [[UIGLOB.DAT]] in a hex editor. Change hex offset 0x06 to 00. This will reset the number of minimized interceptor windows to zero. Your interceptor unit can be selected to either return to base or continue on to complete its ground assault mission. ''NOTE: Make sure to back up your save game before editing it.''

''-- 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.

===Elerium-fueled Craft Bug===
A [[Skyranger]] or [[Interceptor]], once dispatched, will return to base when it's fuel supply has dropped to a level that it will only have just enough fuel to return to base. Craft fueled by Elerium-115, however, will always report the "Low Fuel" message as soon at the fuel supply is 50% depleted, no matter where they are on the globe. This significantly shortens the already minute time that a [[Firestorm]], [[Lightning]], or [[Avenger]] can be dispatched to patrol.

===Floater Medic Research Bug===
Every single time a Floater Medic is found and researched, the game crashes after it is interrogated! I [muton commander] used a hack system to view the alien's profile, and it was a Commander with no race attached. This is probably the cause, but I have no explaination for why this situation occurs.

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
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. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

Another, potentially annoying bug occurs when a large unit's graphics become messed up. During a base defense mission, a rocket tank may end up looking like 4 silacoids bunched together.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an incendiary explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will damage it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground. This may be hard to notice since fire doesn't do much damage and does none to armored troops.

=== 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.

=== The trouble with Mines in General ===

Proximity mines are strangely implemented in UFO and TFTD. While they behave as you would expect them to half of the time, the mines do not behave like conventional weapons.

First, experience attribution is awarded to the person that sets off the mine.

Secondly, the armed states for [[Proximity Grenade]]s in both UFO and TFTD are NOT stored in save games. If a proximity grenade is primed, then the game is saved and reloaded, the grenade will not only not go off as it should, but the "Prime Grenade" action will still be absent, so it's impossible to re-arm it.

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

Primed grenades will not explode when it's in your inventory when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the grenade will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member.

For a more a detailed explanation on detonation conditions, see [[Understanding Grenades]].

=== 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]].

=== 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.

===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.

===Mind Controlled Aliens Count as MIA if you Abort===
If you happen to abort a mission with any Mind-Controlled aliens under your control, who are NOT in the dropship, the computer tallies them up as "X-COM Operatives Missing In Action." Thusly, every Mind Controlled alien left behind when you dust off is -20 points to your score! If you're leaving anyways, avoid this by bringing them back to the ship or mowing them down on the way back to the ship.

In the Playstation version of the game, any aliens under Mind Control at missions end are considered captured and hence, this bug is not a factor.

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

The array used to denote armed [[Proximity Grenade]]s is limited to 20 entries, meaning you are limited to 20 active mines at a time. The 21st and subsequent Proximity grenades can be primed like normal and will give appropriate messages, but they will not detonate even when the normal trigger conditions are met. Note that Proximity Mines that have detonated or otherwise been destroyed are removed from the array, freeing up positions; the limit is 20 ACTIVE Proximity Grenades at one time. In normal gameplay, this is probably not a restriction, in light of the [[Known_Bugs#80-Item_Limit|80 Item Limit]], since you'd need to have more than 1/4th of the cargo space in the dropship filled with Proximity Grenades.

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===
THis bug has been listed as a CRITICAL bug in exploits page. Please place it into the "Critical Bugs" section page.

'''this has been moved from exploits to here - NEEDS to be written when the time comes'''

<br>'''WARNING:''' You will see that sometimes the alien will stack equipment on its right leg. If you remove an item from their right leg, make sure you enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will have to force a quit and cannot save your game. (press ALT-TAB, then CTRL-ALT-DEL, and terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== 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.

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
Carrying unconscious units a hand slot will crash the game if they wake up. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

===Disappearing Ammo===
Partially-used clips in alien or X-COM weapons disappear at the end of a mission. This dictates that you should try to use clips that are not full. However, in DOS versions of the game, you can unload used clips to recover them as full clips with the tradeoff of all loaded clips (used or otherwise) will count as spent and disappear (this shouldn't seem to be a problem, until you start using blasters and will find that you're running out of ammo fast). You can also use [[XcomUtil]] to recover partially used clips. Even when used clips are discarded, you will still get credit ([[Scoring|score]]) at the end of missions for recovering them.

When aborting a mission, any full clips loaded in any alien weapons brought back to the transport/access lift will not be recovered unless the clips are unloaded first. This includes [[Blaster Bomb]]s and [[Stun Bomb]]s.

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

=== 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.

Another bug concerning this limit happens when there are unresearched (alien) items in your stores during a base defense mission. Even though the item cannot be used during the mission, the game still allows you to equip your soldiers with them. This rarely happens as the alien items are very low on the item list, but if your base is lean and mean with under 80 items total, everything will spawn regardless of research.

===Sticky Craft Transfer Fee glitch===
As pointed out by [[User:Zombie|Zombie]] and [[User:Danial|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):
<u>Cost of pistol transfer (↔ = to or from)</U>
EU ↔ USA 80
EU ↔ Asia 100
USA ↔ Asia 120

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

<u>Cost to transfer '''pistol''', after transferring craft from EU to Asia for $2000</U>
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 transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

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 canceled craft transfer.

==Fuel dump on transfer==
Transferring a craft with 100% fuel will dump it somewhere along the way. When it arrives at its destination, its fuel gauge will read empty (ie: 0% FUEL), but it will be listed as ready. If you launch your craft for a mission (any mission will do) its fuel gauge will still read empty. This can be [[ExploitsA#Infinite_Fuel|exploited]] but it's very annoying if you want to quickly turn around a troop transport for another mission. You can force a refuel by sending out the craft and immediately recalling it back to base.

===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. The extra cost isn't that bad. Recovering just one alien weapon will likely cover the money you will lose to this bug over the course of a game.

{| {{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)

===Purchase Limit===
The purchase limit for any item you buy via the purchase screen is 255 per line item, because it is a one-byte field. However, the impact of this bug is small, for if you have space remaining in your 100-item transfer queue, you can immediately order another 255 of said item as another line item.

===Storage Limit===
You can not store more than 9,999 examples of any one item in the general stores at a specific base at one time. However, the only times such a ridiculously huge pile of a given item is at all likely to accumulate is with [[Alien Alloys]] or [[Elerium-115]]. Still, consider yourself warned. If you're coming close to the limit, consider transferring the extra to other bases or even selling it, as any extra collected beyond the limit will 'disappear' and be wasted.

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

There is a hard limit in the game of 250 X-COM soldiers in total across all bases (not 250 per base).

The error message that pops up when you try to hire more is:

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

"You have already recruited the maximum number of soldiers."

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 250 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

In the Battlescape, there is a limit of 40 X-COM soldiers that can participate in any battle. Tanks/HWPs each count as 4 soldiers against this limit. Unless you use custom-modified aircraft, you will only see this limit in a Base Defence mission. In a Base Defence mission, all tanks/HWPs will be deployed first, in preference to soldiers.

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

If you start a project with 1 or more items to build, the required cash (and any materials) for the first item will instantly be taken from you. If you cancel the project before the job is done, or reduce the number of items to produce, you will still not be refunded the initial costs of the first item.

(Possibly this is exactly the behaviour the designers intended, and not a bug at all.)

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

If you start a manufacturing project with zero items to build, close the screen, and then go back to assign staff and a non-zero build amount later, the first item is built for free. If you only build one item at a time, you can build them all for free. Obviously, this is cheating. It's also a bit tedious. It might be excusable if you're really short of money.

=== Research Rollover ===

Whenever research completes, you are given the opportunity to re-allocate your scientists' efforts onto a new topic. If the new topic is after the topic that you have just completed (further down toward the bottom of the screen), the new effort of the scientists you allocate is applied immediately, on the same day - even though they were just working on the previous project that completed.

If you have enough scientists available to complete the new project in one day, this process can be repeated indefinitely, to complete multiple topics in one day. Each new research topic must be further down the list than the previous research topic, or the bug/exploit does not work.

By the way, this means that you should not worry about "wasted" research effort due to allocating too many scientists to a project on its last day. The chances are you will gain more free research from this bug than you will lose from "wasted" research effort.

=== 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.
*NEVER sell all of your Sonic Pistol Clips before researching it first. If you were to research the Sonic Pistol, the aliens immediately stop using that weapon (and thus, clip) so you will be unable to continue in the Sonic line of research.
Other than the MC reader one, any of the above would make it impossible to finish the game.

=== 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.

===Manufacturing Limit Bug===
The number of hours remaining on a [[Manufacturing_Profitability#Profit_tables|manufacturing project]] is stored in a two-byte integer. If you build enough items that the total number of Engineer Hours required for construction is above 65535 hours, it will wrap around to 0 hours and display from there. Typically this drastically understates the amount of time that will be spent working on the items, but strictly speaking, it only subtracts 65k hours (so a huge project like 120k hours would still show ~55k hours' worth of Engineer time needed).

This bug is not dependent on the number of engineers assigned to the project; it is a function of the number of engineer hours needed. You will most likely run into it when trying to build 2 Avengers at the same time or when queuing up large orders of items in bulk, such as armor or Laser Cannons. As a practical example, the number of Avengers needed to trigger the bug is 2. The number of Laser Cannons is 219. Toggle back and forth between 218 and 219 laser cannons at the beginning of a project to see the effects.

It is known with certainty that this exists as a display issue - the screen will say you need less time than you should when you go over 65536 Engineer hours. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] is also sure he's seen it eat an Avenger... he ordered two but only got one, even though it took the time, and cost the money, for two. He's tried to replicate this and hasn't been able to, however. So it clearly is at least a superficial display issue, and may be more than that ... possibly dependent on even something else. In any event, keep an eye on projects with more than 65k Engineer hours (and report back here!)... or just avoid going that high.

== Other Bugs ==

=== 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).

=== 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.

You can also forced a crash by pressing CTRL-C at the start of a new game (DOS only). If you don't have any missions automatically saved within the [[Game_Files#Missdat_Files|MISSDAT]] folder, you will get this big text to appear. Typically it is green for Enemy Unknown, and blue for Terror From The Deep. Other colours have been observed such as pink, purple, brown and yellow.

In the dos version, the text that you see is simply a memory dump in mode-13h (the 320x200x256 colour screen resoulution) and the text colour is based off the changes to the palette that the game made. The batch file coordinating the two main programs [[Geoscape]] and [[Battlescape]] often succeeds in soldiering on after a crash. In the Windows version of the game, the game simply crashes back to the desktop, unless you're using the [[XcomUtil]] split executable variant (which uses a batchfile).

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Wish List (EU)

2008-08-08T04:37:00Z

Brunpal: /* Fuel Ready */ ammo too

Wish List (EU)

2008-08-08T04:25:12Z

Brunpal: post your desires here. maybe a mod will be made

Scoring

2008-08-08T03:02:48Z

Brunpal: /* Alien Scoring */ notes

==X-COM Scoring==
X-COMs performance is measured by way of a score that accrues monthly and is used in part to make the decisions of the funding countries in both their council deliberations on the organisations success, and also when making their individual judgements to change funding levels.

===Interception===
X-COM receive points each time a UFO is destroyed or grounded. Note that if a UFO 'crashes' (per Intercept popup) over the ocean, it only counts as 'grounded' as the funding countries cannot be sure the aliens do not have the ability to repair craft and return from an underwater crash site, and there is no way to do a [[UFO Crash Recovery]] in the oceans to be sure.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>UFO Type</th>
<th>UFO Destroyed</th>
<th>UFO Grounded</th></tr>
<tr><td>Small Scout</td><td>100</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medium Scout</td><td>150</td><td>75</td></tr>
<tr><td>Large Scout</td><td>250</td><td>125</td></tr>
<tr><td>Harvester</td><td>500</td><td>250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Abductor</td><td>500</td><td>250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Supply Ship</td><td>800</td><td>400</td></tr>
<tr><td>Terror Ship</td><td>1000</td><td>500</td></tr>
<tr><td>Battleship</td><td>1400</td><td>700</td></tr>
</table>

X-COM lose points if one of their own craft are destroyed.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Craft Type</th>
<th>Craft Destroyed</th></tr>
<tr><td>Skyranger</td><td>-200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Interceptor</td><td>-250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Firestorm</td><td>-250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Lightning</td><td>-300</td></tr>
<tr><td>Avenger</td><td>-400</td></tr>
</table>

===Battlescape Missions===
During an X-COM battlescape mission, points can be gained or lost by the following actions.

Note that if you abort the mission without completing it, you still get points for performing the actions below. Specifically, you have to kill aliens and/or drag stunned aliens, equipment, and/or [[Elerium-115|Elerium]] back to your ship (or base green area - NOT the red elevator area). Aliens that were killed in a UFO crash (already dead when you got there) do not count. (Briefly visiting a crash site, then dusting off, doesn't get you any points - you have to <i>do</i> things to get points.)

Also note that generally speaking, you get more points from Destroying small UFOs, than for Crashing them and then completing a ground mission. The reverse is true for large UFOs. (Compare Destroying vs. Grounding points vs. Points you can walk away from a Crash with.)

However, the [[UFO Recovery Values|salvage value]] of UFOs may be of greatest importance -- and no equipment can be recovered from destroyed UFOs. The greatest possible recovery value can be gotten from UFOs which are attacked after they land under their own power -- although that earns you no [[#Interception|Interception]] points.

==== Mission Objectives ====

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Action</th>
<th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian killed by X-COM</td><td>-50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian killed by Aliens</td><td>-30</td></tr>
<tr><td>X-COM soldier MIA</td><td>-20</td></tr>
<tr><td>X-COM soldier killed</td><td>-20*</td></tr>
<tr><td>HWP destroyed</td><td>-20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian Saved</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Base destroyed</td><td>500</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> This increases as the soldier gains rank and experience.

==== Alien Casualties ====
X-COM receives point for capturing or killing an Alien during a battlescape mission.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Race/Rank</th>
<th width="70">Killed</th>
<th width="70">Captured*</th></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Soldier</td><td>12</td><td>24</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Navigator</td><td>14</td><td>28</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Medic</td><td>16</td><td>32</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Engineer</td><td>18</td><td>36</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Leader</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Commander</td><td>35</td><td>70</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Soldier</td><td>10</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Navigator</td><td>12</td><td>24</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Medic</td><td>14</td><td>28</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Engineer</td><td>16</td><td>32</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Leader</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Commander</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Soldier</td><td>15</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Navigator</td><td>17</td><td>34</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Engineer</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Leader</td><td>28</td><td>56</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Commander</td><td>36</td><td>72</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Soldier</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Leader</td><td>30</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Commander</td><td>40</td><td>80</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Soldier</td><td>15</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Navigator</td><td>17</td><td>34</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Engineer</td><td>19</td><td>38</td></tr>
<tr><td>Reaper</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Chryssalid</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Silacoid</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Celatid</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectopod</td><td>30</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cyberdisc</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Zombie</td><td>18</td><td>--</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> You will only receive 10 points for capturing any alien species + rank combo already in containment. ''[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]]: What about ones that have been researched & are no longer in containment? Needs more testing.'' ''[[User:Tequilachef|tequilachef]]: I repeatedly got zero points for capturing Reapers while already having a bunch of them in containment, but not researched.''

==== Item Recovery ====
Collection of Alien artifacts, equipment, and corpses also gain X-COM points.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Item</th>
<th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Alloys</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Grenade</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Bomb</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Probe</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stun Bomb</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Entertainment</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Food</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Surgery</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Examination Room</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Celatid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Chryssalid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cyberdisc Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Reaper Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectopod Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Silacoid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Small Launcher</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Launcher</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Elerium-115 (Per 50 units)</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Navigation</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Power Source</td><td>20</td></tr>
</table>

==== Evaluations ====
An evaluation on your total score is given at the end of each mission.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Ranking</th>
<th>Score</th></tr>
<tr><td>Excellent</td><td>501 or better</td></tr>
<tr><td>Good</td><td>201 to 500</td></tr>
<tr><td>OK</td><td>1 to 200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Poor</td><td>-199 to 0</td></tr>
<tr><td>Terrible</td><td>-200 or worse</td></tr>
</table>

===Research===
X-COM also receive points for the completion of research projects.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Research Project</th><th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol Clip</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle Clip</td><td>6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma Clip</td><td>7</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Bomb</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Laser Cannon</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Laser</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Pistol</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Rifle</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Weapons</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stun Bomb</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Defenses</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td>Tank/Laser Cannon</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Grenade</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Flying Suit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medi-Kit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Motion Scanner</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Personal Armor</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Power Suit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Psi-Amp</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Fusion Weapon</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Plasma Weapon</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fusion Defenses</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Grav Shield</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hovertank/Launcher</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hovertank/Plasma</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hyper-Wave Decoder</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Probe</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Shield</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Defenses</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Psi-Lab</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Abduction</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Alloys</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Entertainment</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Food</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Reproduction</td><td>30*</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Surgery</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>New Fighter Craft (Firestorm)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Small Launcher</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Construction</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Navigation</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Propulsion</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ultimate Craft (Avenger)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Launcher</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Elerium-115</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Autopsies (Each)</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Interrogations</td><td>50**</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Origins</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cydonia or Bust</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Martian Solution</td><td>60</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Alien Reproduction is normally not accessible (or researchable) during the game, but you can add one to your General Stores via hacking.

<nowiki>**</nowiki> You receive 50 points for each new [[UFOpaedia]] entry generated by an alien interrogation. A given alien can generate several UFOpaedia entries, or none at all. (See [[Research#Researching aliens|Researching aliens]] for more information.)

==Alien Scoring==
Aliens score points for various actions as well.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Alien Action</th><th width="50">Score</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each UFO that flies over the Earth (per 30 mins)</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each UFO that lands (per 30 mins)</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each day an alien base exists on Earth (Per base)</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">A harvest mission is performed successfully*</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">An abduction is performed successfully*</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien base is built</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Aliens sign a [[pact]] with a funding country</td><td>150</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">A terror site is ignored by X-COM</td><td>1000</td></tr>
</table>

===Notes on Alien Score===
* *Success is counted each time an UFO takes off. If a single ufo lands multiple times, it will score each time it starts flying again including if disturbed by an unsuccessful X-com mission.
The alien's score can be viewed by looking in the graphs menu. At the end of the month it is subtracted from X-Com's score to give the player's score for the month. It is reset at the end of each month just like the player's.

==Losing The Game==
You can lose the game in the following ways:

* If are in debt over $1 million at the end of any month, after funding and maintenance has been calculated, the council will cancel the project 50% of the time. It doesnt matter how much debt you have, as soon as you go one dollar past the million in debt you face the same odds of being axed. The warning they give about not going over $2 million when you are in debt like this and get away with it for a month presumably should read $1 million.
* If you have two consecutive "bad" months in terms of score--
** '''-900''' (Beginner)
** '''-800''' (Experienced)
** '''-700''' (Veteran)
** '''-600''' (Genius)
** '''-500''' (Superhuman)
* If all X-COM bases are captured by Aliens. (But you can <i>dismantle</i> your last base and stay in the game, if you have enough money to start a new one - see [[Access_Lift|Access Lift]].)
* If you fail your attempt to destroy Cydonia!

==See Also==
[[ALIEN.DAT]] - Where the Alien's score is kept track of<br>
[[XCOM.DAT]] - Where score from missions and interceptions is tracked<br>
[[UIGLOB.DAT]] - Where scores generated from research completion is stored<br>

[[Category: data tables]]

Talk:Scoring

2008-08-08T02:51:34Z

Brunpal: /* alien score */ 1 ufo can score success multiple times. counted on lift off.

Losing the game through finances - currently it suggests you lose if you are over $1 million in debt twice in a row, my tests seems to suggest they dont mention it until you are around -$1 million (not sure of exact figure yet, -$500k was okay though in a few tests). Just over -$1.6 million i got a warning three times out of four, the other time I lost the game (in February, so you dont need two in a row). At -$2.6 I lost 4 times of 8, at -$16 million it was 3/6, -$536 million 2/4. Seems like a boundary condition of a million in debt, then 50/50 you lose each month you are over that.

Checked the boundary, its actually $1,000,001 dollars overdrawn at the start of the new month (after council funding in, maintenance out), and i lost 1 out of 2 on february with that much debt, so presuming still you lose 50% of the time if past the boundary.

Will update the page to reflect this.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 12:12, 2 March 2007 (PST)

----

Amitakartok: I've personally had the number of funding nations reduced to a lone holdout. This means that if you can lose by losing all countries, the only way to do it would be to lose every single nation on the funding council. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:49, 18 January 2008 (PST)

: Just to elaborate a bit, if you do a little editing in diplom.dat so that all the countries sign a pact at the end of the month, the game doesn't end. Losing all the countries (even if it is possible) isn't one of the ways to end the game. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Thank you for the response, Zombie; I'll edit that bit out of the main page. On a second note...I don't think the data about scoring is strictly accurate. I think that if you're running a deficit on your money and are below the amount the funding council likes, or have a bad score, it's not two consecutive months. It's simply that you have a 50% chance of being shut down. I say this because in prior games, I've had a poor score in a single month and got shut down at the end of the month. Similarly, I've run bad scores sometimes more than three months in a row and kept getting warnings about POSSIBLY getting shut down, but never actually do. I haven't tested this with money, but any insight into the situation? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 00:21, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:Well, I haven't done much editing to see what happens when funds are low. [[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] did some tests on this (see top of this page) and his results seem to indicate a 50% chance your game will end if funds are below $1 million for even one month. So that basically backs up your observations. I would assume it also applies to score as well and there would be a 50% chance of getting shut down <b>every month</b> if your score falls below the skill-modified "bad" score level. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:50, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Currently it says that if you run a bad score for two consecutive months, they make you close up, but as I've noted, that doesn't seem to be the case. You want the honors? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 00:52, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:Ok, I just did some testing on score right now and it brought back a flood of old memories. See, I did some tests on this long ago and noticed something strange. With a score of -2062 for one month, the game always starts by giving a warning. If you reload the game, it terminates the project. Reload again and the game gives a warning. Reload again and it terminates. So here is where the 50% chance comes into play. This would indicate the roll isn't random, it's predetermined since the result is structured.

:Let's say you get a warning. Instead of loading the game, try aborting and then loading the game. The game only gives warnings now. See? Reloading the game without aborting plays a role in the result. But performing a fresh load always gives a warning and never terminates the project. So, I'll have to say the 50% deal only happens if you save a game and reload, the "true" result is that the game only gives a warning the first month. Confusing, eh? I'll have to test on the second month to see if the 2-month rule really applies. I bet it does. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 01:35, 19 January 2008 (PST)

: Edit: the second bad month I had a score of -1663. Same deal as before. Initially it gives a warning, but if you reload the game without aborting it shuts you down. Therefore the 2-month rule doesn't apply either. Its a bug basically. An exploitable bug to be more specific. See the importance of thorough testing now? :O --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 01:46, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Wow, quite a find! I barely have the knowledge base for hacking and can struggle through it, but yeah, that shows what tests can do. In any case, that's a ridiculously simple bug to be exploiting, considering the amount of time one month of gameplay can take after including all the missions; many people will save and reload at least a time or two unless they've set the whole day aside! This should be added to the Exploits page, then...again, you want the honors? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 03:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:If I don't get to it, feel free to add away, Arrow. BTW: I just did some more tests, this time with funds. Edited my base to have a ton of Mind/Grav Shields and 250 Scientists/Engineers, then knocked my kitty down to $0. At the start of the next month I would be -$9,968,000 in the hole - enough to be below the $2 million debt level. It works exactly the same way as score, if below the level you just get a warning that month. Reload the game after that and you face automatic termination. Reloading after that and you get the warning again. Of course, if you abort and load the game, you always get the warning first. Not sure if the debt level is -$2 million or -$1 million as Sfnhltb mentioned, so I'll need to run some more tests. Anyway, it's an exploitation plain and simple no matter which way you look at the issue. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 16:22, 20 January 2008 (PST)

----

== Alien Scoring: details? ==
I was thinking about [[Scoring#Alien Scoring|how aliens score]] and I had a bunch of unanswered questions...
* Does being shot down count as "landed"?
* Is there a time component for alien landing? Ie: Is it 2 points per instance an O becomes an X on the geoscape, or is it 2 points per ''30 mins'' a ufo has landed? (or per some other unit of time?)
* For abduction and harvest missions, what counts as ''"success"''?
* What's the maximum number of successes?
* Is it only if the ufo flies off to space unmolested?
* Is it each time it lands/takes off? (Ufos like to hop multiple times on those missions.)
* Each time it lands, does it harvest multiple times, resulting in 30 x 4= 120 score if lands once but makes off with 4 cows?
* When does it tick the score? On the act of landing, or the act of taking off, or on a certain time unit?
* Does it count as success if a ufo is shot down but a squad is never sent in to clean it up? (Crash just expires.)

BTW I assume that a player can view the total alien score by looking at the alien activity graph in the graphs menu. (Someone confirm?)

My gut tells me that a ufo can be "successful" multiple times in a single mission. Plus they continue to score if crashed and that crashing is effectively the same as landing. I base this on my general observations of the graphs rather than real testing. Without some extra ways to score over and above [[Scoring#Alien Scoring]] (or a more complex way of using that table) a typical ufo would get 10 points (20 if it was lucky) in my games. It's normally shot down as soon as it slows down enough to be caught, then it's immediately salvaged. The actual result of alien scores is much much higher.

Ufos score quickly while flying, and still continue to gain score after I've shot it down. (They would score slowly at first with a big jump at the end as they left if the opposite were true.) Plus it seems as though they often get a lot of score even if I shoot one down and immediately land to clean it up. 1 point per 30mins + 2 points (per 30mins or not) would be negligible if they weren't getting some mission score on top.
=== Example ===
A harvester ship on a harvest mission.
It flies over China for 5 hours. Lands for 10 hours. Flies for 6 hours, lands in Japan for 7 hours. Takes off and is immediately shot down by an interceptor waiting for it. The wreckage lasts for 3 days before disappearing. No UFO Crash Recovery mission attempted.
How much do the aliens score? I would guess:
(5hrs/.5 x 1)+ 30 +(10hrs/.5 x 2) + (6hrs/.5 x1) + 30 + (7hrs/.5 x2) + 30 + (72hrs/.5 x 2)
= 10 + 30 + 40 + 12 + 30 + 28 + 30 + 288
= 468 alien score

That seems high, way too high compared to actual. Cutting out the last variable (over half the total) is more reasonable. But I don't have a lot of data on that as I rarely leave a salvaged ufo, and always feel like I messed up if I have to. However I'm still pretty sure that a crashed ufo continues to tick the score. Maybe it goes to per day instead of per 30 mins? I don't know.

Anyone done any testing along these lines?

BTW I'm surprised that there isn't a wiki page for graphs, and alien scoring is barely mentioned across the whole site. It's a very important source of tactical information. I look at the aliens score every 12 hours or so to see if it's changed. If it has changed I can figure out where the aliens are and send in the planes. It effectively gives me world wide radar coverage long before I have HWDs, or even a 2nd base.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 11:27, 5 August 2008 (PDT)

:: <i>Does being shot down count as "landed"?</i> Not only does it not count, the alien score per game-time half-hour (as reported in the graphs, which are completely accurate) for a shot-down UFO is 0.
:: <i>For abduction and harvest missions, what counts as ''"success"''?</i> Same criterion as any other mission: the UFO disappears from the Geoscape on-schedule. Note that only an Avenger goes fast enough to even consider catching up to a UFO on a escape track, and obviously TerrorShips' normal escape is a terror site.
:: <i>Ufos score quickly while flying, and still continue to gain score after I've shot it down.</i> Because not all of them are shot down. In particular, the game <b>starts</b> with two UFOs at once, and only one of them is guaranteed to be working in your first bases' region of operations. So if you shoot down one UFO, that ufo is not scoring; the other one is. This gets really ugly if the other one isn't even in Interceptor range (it happens, although Base Nigeria means it doesn't happen a lot.) Things will get much clearer in-game once you have total-coverage hyperwave decoder detection.
:: <i>However I'm still pretty sure that a crashed ufo continues to tick the score. Maybe it goes to per day instead of per 30 mins? I don't know.</i> Mere confidence in categorical falsity doesn't make it so. Crashed UFOs do not tick up the score at all; furthermore, there is no special score tick for midnight (Skyranger just takes too long to get to a Siberia shootdown from Base Nigeria, so this was easy for me to test <i>in vivo</i>.) --[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 16:50, 5 August 2008 (CDT)
:::''the game starts with two UFOs at once, and only one of them is guaranteed to be working in your first bases' region of operations.'' I'm aware of that. I'm not talking about the first day of the game, and I'm not simply forgetting to count one as you suggest. I also have total coverage with HWDs and seen the score behavior I describe above. (I have played xcom more than once in the many years I've had it.) I can also tell when the score has changed and when it '''has not''' changed so I know and can account for ufos and can discount undetected bases. (Score can't be flat with an alien base.) In different games I've seen the aliens score quickly in rapid jumps that isn't explained by 1 point per 30mins or 2points per 30mins while landed*. I do know how to read the graphs and I don't only look at total score. I break it down by region. I'm not going to miss another UFO in the same region as my main base with a HWD and 2 interceptors buzzing around looking for it. I'm certainly willing to accept that a crashed ufo is worth 0, but I've seen behavior in the score not explained by [[Scoring#Alien Scoring|the known chart]] and not explained by undetected activity.
:::BTW *The 2 points while landed ''per 30 mins'' is not listed on [[Scoring#Alien Scoring]].--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 20:55, 5 August 2008 (PDT)
::::I've discovered something while watching the score closely. A battleship on a harvest mission '''got points soon as the ufo took off'''. The landed ufo at 18:25 had 60 points in China at ~18:35 it took off and at 18:45 China had 90 points. It quickly flew off the Earth and maybe hit 1 or 2 half hour ticks. It may have scored an extra point or 2 world wide but wasn't able to see any measurable difference in the graph before OR after it left detection. It only landed the once. It got no extra points for landing, but did tick up points at 2 per 30mins while on the ground.
::::'''Therefore an alien harvest mission counts as success as it takes off.''' Leaving the geoscape doesn't matter at all for score. Hopefully I'll encounter a harvest mission where an ufo lands multiple times to test if it's the first or last time it takes off, or every time it takes off.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 21:19, 6 August 2008 (PDT)
I had a single sectoid harvester on a harvest mission. It landed twice. Watching the score closely it scored 30 points <i>each time</i> it took off. If I forced it to take off early by sending a skyranger there and then immediately aborting mission, it still got 30 points as soon as it took off. Therefore a single ufo can ''succeed'' at a mission multiple times.[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 19:51, 7 August 2008 (PDT)

Known Bugs

2008-08-08T02:47:36Z

Brunpal: /* Fuel dump on transfer */ stupid bug made me lose a battleship

== Base Construction Bugs ==

=== 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 or excessive amount of heavy plasma fire during combat but are otherwise unbreakable.

[[image:bdb.gif|center|Base Disjoint Bug]]

The walls marked in white are removed if there is an adjacent module. All green modules are not affected while the yellow modules are. The red module will be sealed off completely if anything smaller than a hangar is placed here at any given time.

[[XcomUtil]] works around this problem by stripping out the walls entirely in all the base modules.

The bug can be profitable if the hangars and the lift are accessible only through in these areas - you can gather and supply all your soldiers heavily without aliens interfering, then knock a hole in the wall and cover the area with explosives and blaster launcher fire.

===Facility Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right fee when you first buy base modules, the monthly maintenance fee is always wrong. It's actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Facility_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct summary, however ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also 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.

===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.

===Radar Stacking===
Despite the "Short Range" and "Long Range" detection bars displayed on each base's Information screen, only one radar of each type will be used at each base. Building additional radars of the same type will have no effect. One short and one long are useful until the [[Hyper-Wave Decoder|Hyper-Wave Decoder]] makes both of them obsolete.

===Phantom Radar===
When you dismantle detection equipment such as a radar or hyperwave detector, the related detection ability of the base does not decrease until a new facility of some kind is built in that base. Until a new facility is completes building at that base, the base continues to use this "phantom radar".

This bug allows you to "upgrade in place", for example building a new Hyper-Wave Decoder over the top of an existing Large Radar, and retaining the detection capability of the Large Radar until the Hyper-Wave Decoder completes building. (Unless something else completes building first).

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

As mentioned above, [[XcomUtil]] prevents the Base Disjoint bug (crudely). The [[User:Spike#Base_Fixer|BaseFixer]] utility corrects the Paying for Dirt, Phantom Radar, and Radar Stacking bugs. BaseFixer can be used manually on saved game files, or automatically via XcomUtil's hook mechanism.

==Geoscape Bugs==

===First Radar Detection Data bug===
When a UFO is detected by a radar, you get certain data on it depending on the type of radar that detected it. If the UFO later enters the range of another radar while staying in the range of the first, you will continue to get the initial data given, even if the new radar is more powerful than the first! So if you detect a craft with a [[Small Radar]], then the UFO moves into the range of a [[Hyper-Wave Decoder]], clicking on the UFO will only give you the data as if the Small Radar detected it, so long as it remains in the Small Radar range! In effect, the data you get about a UFO is determined when you first detect it, and not changed after that until you lose detection on the craft with the radar that first detected it.

This bug most commonly shows up when a UFO is first detected by a patrolling aircraft and then remains in the range of the aircraft while also entering the range of a Hyper-Wave Decoder.

=== 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.

'''Solution:''' Open up [[UIGLOB.DAT]] in a hex editor. Change hex offset 0x06 to 00. This will reset the number of minimized interceptor windows to zero. Your interceptor unit can be selected to either return to base or continue on to complete its ground assault mission. ''NOTE: Make sure to back up your save game before editing it.''

''-- 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.

===Elerium-fueled Craft Bug===
A [[Skyranger]] or [[Interceptor]], once dispatched, will return to base when it's fuel supply has dropped to a level that it will only have just enough fuel to return to base. Craft fueled by Elerium-115, however, will always report the "Low Fuel" message as soon at the fuel supply is 50% depleted, no matter where they are on the globe. This significantly shortens the already minute time that a [[Firestorm]], [[Lightning]], or [[Avenger]] can be dispatched to patrol.

===Floater Medic Research Bug===
Every single time a Floater Medic is found and researched, the game crashes after it is interrogated! I [muton commander] used a hack system to view the alien's profile, and it was a Commander with no race attached. This is probably the cause, but I have no explaination for why this situation occurs.

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
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. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

Another, potentially annoying bug occurs when a large unit's graphics become messed up. During a base defense mission, a rocket tank may end up looking like 4 silacoids bunched together.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an incendiary explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will damage it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground. This may be hard to notice since fire doesn't do much damage and does none to armored troops.

=== 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.

=== The trouble with Mines in General ===

Proximity mines are strangely implemented in UFO and TFTD. While they behave as you would expect them to half of the time, the mines do not behave like conventional weapons.

First, experience attribution is awarded to the person that sets off the mine.

Secondly, the armed states for [[Proximity Grenade]]s in both UFO and TFTD are NOT stored in save games. If a proximity grenade is primed, then the game is saved and reloaded, the grenade will not only not go off as it should, but the "Prime Grenade" action will still be absent, so it's impossible to re-arm it.

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

Primed grenades will not explode when it's in your inventory when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the grenade will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member.

For a more a detailed explanation on detonation conditions, see [[Understanding Grenades]].

=== 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]].

=== 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.

===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.

===Mind Controlled Aliens Count as MIA if you Abort===
If you happen to abort a mission with any Mind-Controlled aliens under your control, who are NOT in the dropship, the computer tallies them up as "X-COM Operatives Missing In Action." Thusly, every Mind Controlled alien left behind when you dust off is -20 points to your score! If you're leaving anyways, avoid this by bringing them back to the ship or mowing them down on the way back to the ship.

In the Playstation version of the game, any aliens under Mind Control at missions end are considered captured and hence, this bug is not a factor.

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

The array used to denote armed [[Proximity Grenade]]s is limited to 20 entries, meaning you are limited to 20 active mines at a time. The 21st and subsequent Proximity grenades can be primed like normal and will give appropriate messages, but they will not detonate even when the normal trigger conditions are met. Note that Proximity Mines that have detonated or otherwise been destroyed are removed from the array, freeing up positions; the limit is 20 ACTIVE Proximity Grenades at one time. In normal gameplay, this is probably not a restriction, in light of the [[Known_Bugs#80-Item_Limit|80 Item Limit]], since you'd need to have more than 1/4th of the cargo space in the dropship filled with Proximity Grenades.

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===
THis bug has been listed as a CRITICAL bug in exploits page. Please place it into the "Critical Bugs" section page.

'''this has been moved from exploits to here - NEEDS to be written when the time comes'''

<br>'''WARNING:''' You will see that sometimes the alien will stack equipment on its right leg. If you remove an item from their right leg, make sure you enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will have to force a quit and cannot save your game. (press ALT-TAB, then CTRL-ALT-DEL, and terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== 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.

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
Carrying unconscious units a hand slot will crash the game if they wake up. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

===Disappearing Ammo===
Partially-used clips in alien or X-COM weapons disappear at the end of a mission. This dictates that you should try to use clips that are not full. However, in DOS versions of the game, you can unload used clips to recover them as full clips with the tradeoff of all loaded clips (used or otherwise) will count as spent and disappear (this shouldn't seem to be a problem, until you start using blasters and will find that you're running out of ammo fast). You can also use [[XcomUtil]] to recover partially used clips. Even when used clips are discarded, you will still get credit ([[Scoring|score]]) at the end of missions for recovering them.

When aborting a mission, any full clips loaded in any alien weapons brought back to the transport/access lift will not be recovered unless the clips are unloaded first. This includes [[Blaster Bomb]]s and [[Stun Bomb]]s.

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

=== 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.

Another bug concerning this limit happens when there are unresearched (alien) items in your stores during a base defense mission. Even though the item cannot be used during the mission, the game still allows you to equip your soldiers with them. This rarely happens as the alien items are very low on the item list, but if your base is lean and mean with under 80 items total, everything will spawn regardless of research.

===Sticky Craft Transfer Fee glitch===
As pointed out by [[User:Zombie|Zombie]] and [[User:Danial|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):
<u>Cost of pistol transfer (↔ = to or from)</U>
EU ↔ USA 80
EU ↔ Asia 100
USA ↔ Asia 120

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

<u>Cost to transfer '''pistol''', after transferring craft from EU to Asia for $2000</U>
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 transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

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 canceled craft transfer.

==Fuel dump on transfer==
Transferring a craft with 100% fuel will dump it somewhere along the way. When it arrives at its destination, its fuel gauge will read empty (ie: 0% FUEL), but it will be listed as ready. If you launch your craft for a mission (any mission will do) its fuel gauge will still read empty. This can be [[ExploitsA#Infinite_Fuel|exploited]] but it's very annoying if you want to quickly turn around a troop transport for another mission. You can force a refuel by sending out the craft and immediately recalling it back to base.

===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)

===Purchase Limit===
The purchase limit for any item you buy via the purchase screen is 255 per line item, because it is a one-byte field. However, the impact of this bug is small, for if you have space remaining in your 100-item transfer queue, you can immediately order another 255 of said item as another line item.

===Storage Limit===
You can not store more than 9,999 examples of any one item in the general stores at a specific base at one time. However, the only times such a ridiculously huge pile of a given item is at all likely to accumulate is with [[Alien Alloys]] or [[Elerium-115]]. Still, consider yourself warned. If you're coming close to the limit, consider transferring the extra to other bases or even selling it, as any extra collected beyond the limit will 'disappear' and be wasted.

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

There is a hard limit in the game of 250 X-COM soldiers in total across all bases (not 250 per base).

The error message that pops up when you try to hire more is:

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

"You have already recruited the maximum number of soldiers."

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 250 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

In the Battlescape, there is a limit of 40 X-COM soldiers that can participate in any battle. Tanks/HWPs each count as 4 soldiers against this limit. Unless you use custom-modified aircraft, you will only see this limit in a Base Defence mission. In a Base Defence mission, all tanks/HWPs will be deployed first, in preference to soldiers.

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

If you start a project with 1 or more items to build, the required cash (and any materials) for the first item will instantly be taken from you. If you cancel the project before the job is done, or reduce the number of items to produce, you will still not be refunded the initial costs of the first item.

(Possibly this is exactly the behaviour the designers intended, and not a bug at all.)

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

If you start a manufacturing project with zero items to build, close the screen, and then go back to assign staff and a non-zero build amount later, the first item is built for free. If you only build one item at a time, you can build them all for free. Obviously, this is cheating. It's also a bit tedious. It might be excusable if you're really short of money.

=== Research Rollover ===

Whenever research completes, you are given the opportunity to re-allocate your scientists' efforts onto a new topic. If the new topic is after the topic that you have just completed (further down toward the bottom of the screen), the new effort of the scientists you allocate is applied immediately, on the same day - even though they were just working on the previous project that completed.

If you have enough scientists available to complete the new project in one day, this process can be repeated indefinitely, to complete multiple topics in one day. Each new research topic must be further down the list than the previous research topic, or the bug/exploit does not work.

By the way, this means that you should not worry about "wasted" research effort due to allocating too many scientists to a project on its last day. The chances are you will gain more free research from this bug than you will lose from "wasted" research effort.

=== 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.
*NEVER sell all of your Sonic Pistol Clips before researching it first. If you were to research the Sonic Pistol, the aliens immediately stop using that weapon (and thus, clip) so you will be unable to continue in the Sonic line of research.
Other than the MC reader one, any of the above would make it impossible to finish the game.

=== 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.

===Manufacturing Limit Bug===
The number of hours remaining on a [[Manufacturing_Profitability#Profit_tables|manufacturing project]] is stored in a two-byte integer. If you build enough items that the total number of Engineer Hours required for construction is above 65535 hours, it will wrap around to 0 hours and display from there. Typically this drastically understates the amount of time that will be spent working on the items, but strictly speaking, it only subtracts 65k hours (so a huge project like 120k hours would still show ~55k hours' worth of Engineer time needed).

This bug is not dependent on the number of engineers assigned to the project; it is a function of the number of engineer hours needed. You will most likely run into it when trying to build 2 Avengers at the same time or when queuing up large orders of items in bulk, such as armor or Laser Cannons. As a practical example, the number of Avengers needed to trigger the bug is 2. The number of Laser Cannons is 219. Toggle back and forth between 218 and 219 laser cannons at the beginning of a project to see the effects.

It is known with certainty that this exists as a display issue - the screen will say you need less time than you should when you go over 65536 Engineer hours. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] is also sure he's seen it eat an Avenger... he ordered two but only got one, even though it took the time, and cost the money, for two. He's tried to replicate this and hasn't been able to, however. So it clearly is at least a superficial display issue, and may be more than that ... possibly dependent on even something else. In any event, keep an eye on projects with more than 65k Engineer hours (and report back here!)... or just avoid going that high.

== Other Bugs ==

=== 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).

=== 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.

You can also forced a crash by pressing CTRL-C at the start of a new game (DOS only). If you don't have any missions automatically saved within the [[Game_Files#Missdat_Files|MISSDAT]] folder, you will get this big text to appear. Typically it is green for Enemy Unknown, and blue for Terror From The Deep. Other colours have been observed such as pink, purple, brown and yellow.

In the dos version, the text that you see is simply a memory dump in mode-13h (the 320x200x256 colour screen resoulution) and the text colour is based off the changes to the palette that the game made. The batch file coordinating the two main programs [[Geoscape]] and [[Battlescape]] often succeeds in soldiering on after a crash. In the Windows version of the game, the game simply crashes back to the desktop, unless you're using the [[XcomUtil]] split executable variant (which uses a batchfile).

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Scoring

2008-08-07T04:30:31Z

Brunpal: /* Alien Scoring */ (per 30 mins)

==X-COM Scoring==
X-COMs performance is measured by way of a score that accrues monthly and is used in part to make the decisions of the funding countries in both their council deliberations on the organisations success, and also when making their individual judgements to change funding levels.

===Interception===
X-COM receive points each time a UFO is destroyed or grounded. Note that if a UFO 'crashes' (per Intercept popup) over the ocean, it only counts as 'grounded' as the funding countries cannot be sure the aliens do not have the ability to repair craft and return from an underwater crash site, and there is no way to do a [[UFO Crash Recovery]] in the oceans to be sure.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>UFO Type</th>
<th>UFO Destroyed</th>
<th>UFO Grounded</th></tr>
<tr><td>Small Scout</td><td>100</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medium Scout</td><td>150</td><td>75</td></tr>
<tr><td>Large Scout</td><td>250</td><td>125</td></tr>
<tr><td>Harvester</td><td>500</td><td>250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Abductor</td><td>500</td><td>250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Supply Ship</td><td>800</td><td>400</td></tr>
<tr><td>Terror Ship</td><td>1000</td><td>500</td></tr>
<tr><td>Battleship</td><td>1400</td><td>700</td></tr>
</table>

X-COM lose points if one of their own craft are destroyed.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Craft Type</th>
<th>Craft Destroyed</th></tr>
<tr><td>Skyranger</td><td>-200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Interceptor</td><td>-250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Firestorm</td><td>-250</td></tr>
<tr><td>Lightning</td><td>-300</td></tr>
<tr><td>Avenger</td><td>-400</td></tr>
</table>

===Battlescape Missions===
During an X-COM battlescape mission, points can be gained or lost by the following actions.

Note that if you abort the mission without completing it, you still get points for performing the actions below. Specifically, you have to kill aliens and/or drag stunned aliens, equipment, and/or [[Elerium-115|Elerium]] back to your ship (or base green area - NOT the red elevator area). Aliens that were killed in a UFO crash (already dead when you got there) do not count. (Briefly visiting a crash site, then dusting off, doesn't get you any points - you have to <i>do</i> things to get points.)

Also note that generally speaking, you get more points from Destroying small UFOs, than for Crashing them and then completing a ground mission. The reverse is true for large UFOs. (Compare Destroying vs. Grounding points vs. Points you can walk away from a Crash with.)

However, the [[UFO Recovery Values|salvage value]] of UFOs may be of greatest importance -- and no equipment can be recovered from destroyed UFOs. The greatest possible recovery value can be gotten from UFOs which are attacked after they land under their own power -- although that earns you no [[#Interception|Interception]] points.

==== Mission Objectives ====

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Action</th>
<th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian killed by X-COM</td><td>-50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian killed by Aliens</td><td>-30</td></tr>
<tr><td>X-COM soldier MIA</td><td>-20</td></tr>
<tr><td>X-COM soldier killed</td><td>-20*</td></tr>
<tr><td>HWP destroyed</td><td>-20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Civilian Saved</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Base destroyed</td><td>500</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> This increases as the soldier gains rank and experience.

==== Alien Casualties ====
X-COM receives point for capturing or killing an Alien during a battlescape mission.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Race/Rank</th>
<th width="70">Killed</th>
<th width="70">Captured*</th></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Soldier</td><td>12</td><td>24</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Navigator</td><td>14</td><td>28</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Medic</td><td>16</td><td>32</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Engineer</td><td>18</td><td>36</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Leader</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Commander</td><td>35</td><td>70</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Soldier</td><td>10</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Navigator</td><td>12</td><td>24</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Medic</td><td>14</td><td>28</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Engineer</td><td>16</td><td>32</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Leader</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Commander</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Soldier</td><td>15</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Navigator</td><td>17</td><td>34</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Engineer</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Leader</td><td>28</td><td>56</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Commander</td><td>36</td><td>72</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Soldier</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Leader</td><td>30</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Commander</td><td>40</td><td>80</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Soldier</td><td>15</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Navigator</td><td>17</td><td>34</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Engineer</td><td>19</td><td>38</td></tr>
<tr><td>Reaper</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Chryssalid</td><td>25</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Silacoid</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Celatid</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectopod</td><td>30</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cyberdisc</td><td>20</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Zombie</td><td>18</td><td>--</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> You will only receive 10 points for capturing any alien species + rank combo already in containment. ''[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]]: What about ones that have been researched & are no longer in containment? Needs more testing.'' ''[[User:Tequilachef|tequilachef]]: I repeatedly got zero points for capturing Reapers while already having a bunch of them in containment, but not researched.''

==== Item Recovery ====
Collection of Alien artifacts, equipment, and corpses also gain X-COM points.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Item</th>
<th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Alloys</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Grenade</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Bomb</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Probe</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle Clip</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stun Bomb</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Entertainment</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Food</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Surgery</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Examination Room</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Celatid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Chryssalid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cyberdisc Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Reaper Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectopod Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Silacoid Corpse</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Small Launcher</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Launcher</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Elerium-115 (Per 50 units)</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ethereal Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Floater Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Muton Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sectoid Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Snakeman Corpse</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Navigation</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Power Source</td><td>20</td></tr>
</table>

==== Evaluations ====
An evaluation on your total score is given at the end of each mission.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Ranking</th>
<th>Score</th></tr>
<tr><td>Excellent</td><td>501 or better</td></tr>
<tr><td>Good</td><td>201 to 500</td></tr>
<tr><td>OK</td><td>1 to 200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Poor</td><td>-199 to 0</td></tr>
<tr><td>Terrible</td><td>-200 or worse</td></tr>
</table>

===Research===
X-COM also receive points for the completion of research projects.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Research Project</th><th>Points</th></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol Clip</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle Clip</td><td>6</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma Clip</td><td>7</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Bomb</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Laser Cannon</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Laser</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Pistol</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Rifle</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Weapons</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Stun Bomb</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Laser Defenses</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td>Tank/Laser Cannon</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Grenade</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Flying Suit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medi-Kit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Motion Scanner</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Personal Armor</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Pistol</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Power Suit</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Psi-Amp</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Fusion Weapon</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Craft Plasma Weapon</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fusion Defenses</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Grav Shield</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hovertank/Launcher</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hovertank/Plasma</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Hyper-Wave Decoder</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Probe</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mind Shield</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Defenses</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Plasma Rifle</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Psi-Lab</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Abduction</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Alloys</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Entertainment</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Food</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Reproduction</td><td>30*</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Surgery</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Heavy Plasma</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>New Fighter Craft (Firestorm)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>New Fighter-Transporter (Lightning)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Small Launcher</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Construction</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Navigation</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>UFO Propulsion</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ultimate Craft (Avenger)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Blaster Launcher</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Elerium-115</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Autopsies (Each)</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Interrogations</td><td>50**</td></tr>
<tr><td>Alien Origins</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cydonia or Bust</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>The Martian Solution</td><td>60</td></tr>
</table>

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Alien Reproduction is normally not accessible (or researchable) during the game, but you can add one to your General Stores via hacking.

<nowiki>**</nowiki> You receive 50 points for each new [[UFOpaedia]] entry generated by an alien interrogation. A given alien can generate several UFOpaedia entries, or none at all. (See [[Research#Researching aliens|Researching aliens]] for more information.)

==Alien Scoring==
Aliens score points for various actions as well.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Alien Action</th><th width="50">Score</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each UFO that flies over the Earth (per 30 mins)</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each UFO that lands (per 30 mins)</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Each day an alien base exists on Earth (Per base)</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">A harvest mission is performed successfully</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">An abduction is performed successfully</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien base is built</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Aliens sign a [[pact]] with a funding country</td><td>150</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">A terror site is ignored by X-COM</td><td>1000</td></tr>
</table>

==Losing The Game==
You can lose the game in the following ways:

* If are in debt over $1 million at the end of any month, after funding and maintenance has been calculated, the council will cancel the project 50% of the time. It doesnt matter how much debt you have, as soon as you go one dollar past the million in debt you face the same odds of being axed. The warning they give about not going over $2 million when you are in debt like this and get away with it for a month presumably should read $1 million.
* If you have two consecutive "bad" months in terms of score--
** '''-900''' (Beginner)
** '''-800''' (Experienced)
** '''-700''' (Veteran)
** '''-600''' (Genius)
** '''-500''' (Superhuman)
* If all X-COM bases are captured by Aliens. (But you can <i>dismantle</i> your last base and stay in the game, if you have enough money to start a new one - see [[Access_Lift|Access Lift]].)
* If you fail your attempt to destroy Cydonia!

==See Also==
[[ALIEN.DAT]] - Where the Alien's score is kept track of<br>
[[XCOM.DAT]] - Where score from missions and interceptions is tracked<br>
[[UIGLOB.DAT]] - Where scores generated from research completion is stored<br>

[[Category: data tables]]

Talk:Scoring

2008-08-07T04:25:28Z

Brunpal:

Losing the game through finances - currently it suggests you lose if you are over $1 million in debt twice in a row, my tests seems to suggest they dont mention it until you are around -$1 million (not sure of exact figure yet, -$500k was okay though in a few tests). Just over -$1.6 million i got a warning three times out of four, the other time I lost the game (in February, so you dont need two in a row). At -$2.6 I lost 4 times of 8, at -$16 million it was 3/6, -$536 million 2/4. Seems like a boundary condition of a million in debt, then 50/50 you lose each month you are over that.

Checked the boundary, its actually $1,000,001 dollars overdrawn at the start of the new month (after council funding in, maintenance out), and i lost 1 out of 2 on february with that much debt, so presuming still you lose 50% of the time if past the boundary.

Will update the page to reflect this.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 12:12, 2 March 2007 (PST)

----

Amitakartok: I've personally had the number of funding nations reduced to a lone holdout. This means that if you can lose by losing all countries, the only way to do it would be to lose every single nation on the funding council. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:49, 18 January 2008 (PST)

: Just to elaborate a bit, if you do a little editing in diplom.dat so that all the countries sign a pact at the end of the month, the game doesn't end. Losing all the countries (even if it is possible) isn't one of the ways to end the game. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Thank you for the response, Zombie; I'll edit that bit out of the main page. On a second note...I don't think the data about scoring is strictly accurate. I think that if you're running a deficit on your money and are below the amount the funding council likes, or have a bad score, it's not two consecutive months. It's simply that you have a 50% chance of being shut down. I say this because in prior games, I've had a poor score in a single month and got shut down at the end of the month. Similarly, I've run bad scores sometimes more than three months in a row and kept getting warnings about POSSIBLY getting shut down, but never actually do. I haven't tested this with money, but any insight into the situation? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 00:21, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:Well, I haven't done much editing to see what happens when funds are low. [[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] did some tests on this (see top of this page) and his results seem to indicate a 50% chance your game will end if funds are below $1 million for even one month. So that basically backs up your observations. I would assume it also applies to score as well and there would be a 50% chance of getting shut down <b>every month</b> if your score falls below the skill-modified "bad" score level. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:50, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Currently it says that if you run a bad score for two consecutive months, they make you close up, but as I've noted, that doesn't seem to be the case. You want the honors? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 00:52, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:Ok, I just did some testing on score right now and it brought back a flood of old memories. See, I did some tests on this long ago and noticed something strange. With a score of -2062 for one month, the game always starts by giving a warning. If you reload the game, it terminates the project. Reload again and the game gives a warning. Reload again and it terminates. So here is where the 50% chance comes into play. This would indicate the roll isn't random, it's predetermined since the result is structured.

:Let's say you get a warning. Instead of loading the game, try aborting and then loading the game. The game only gives warnings now. See? Reloading the game without aborting plays a role in the result. But performing a fresh load always gives a warning and never terminates the project. So, I'll have to say the 50% deal only happens if you save a game and reload, the "true" result is that the game only gives a warning the first month. Confusing, eh? I'll have to test on the second month to see if the 2-month rule really applies. I bet it does. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 01:35, 19 January 2008 (PST)

: Edit: the second bad month I had a score of -1663. Same deal as before. Initially it gives a warning, but if you reload the game without aborting it shuts you down. Therefore the 2-month rule doesn't apply either. Its a bug basically. An exploitable bug to be more specific. See the importance of thorough testing now? :O --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 01:46, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Wow, quite a find! I barely have the knowledge base for hacking and can struggle through it, but yeah, that shows what tests can do. In any case, that's a ridiculously simple bug to be exploiting, considering the amount of time one month of gameplay can take after including all the missions; many people will save and reload at least a time or two unless they've set the whole day aside! This should be added to the Exploits page, then...again, you want the honors? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 03:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:If I don't get to it, feel free to add away, Arrow. BTW: I just did some more tests, this time with funds. Edited my base to have a ton of Mind/Grav Shields and 250 Scientists/Engineers, then knocked my kitty down to $0. At the start of the next month I would be -$9,968,000 in the hole - enough to be below the $2 million debt level. It works exactly the same way as score, if below the level you just get a warning that month. Reload the game after that and you face automatic termination. Reloading after that and you get the warning again. Of course, if you abort and load the game, you always get the warning first. Not sure if the debt level is -$2 million or -$1 million as Sfnhltb mentioned, so I'll need to run some more tests. Anyway, it's an exploitation plain and simple no matter which way you look at the issue. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 16:22, 20 January 2008 (PST)

----

== Alien Scoring: details? ==
I was thinking about [[Scoring#Alien Scoring|how aliens score]] and I had a bunch of unanswered questions...
* Does being shot down count as "landed"?
* Is there a time component for alien landing? Ie: Is it 2 points per instance an O becomes an X on the geoscape, or is it 2 points per ''30 mins'' a ufo has landed? (or per some other unit of time?)
* For abduction and harvest missions, what counts as ''"success"''?
* What's the maximum number of successes?
* Is it only if the ufo flies off to space unmolested?
* Is it each time it lands/takes off? (Ufos like to hop multiple times on those missions.)
* Each time it lands, does it harvest multiple times, resulting in 30 x 4= 120 score if lands once but makes off with 4 cows?
* When does it tick the score? On the act of landing, or the act of taking off, or on a certain time unit?
* Does it count as success if a ufo is shot down but a squad is never sent in to clean it up? (Crash just expires.)

BTW I assume that a player can view the total alien score by looking at the alien activity graph in the graphs menu. (Someone confirm?)

My gut tells me that a ufo can be "successful" multiple times in a single mission. Plus they continue to score if crashed and that crashing is effectively the same as landing. I base this on my general observations of the graphs rather than real testing. Without some extra ways to score over and above [[Scoring#Alien Scoring]] (or a more complex way of using that table) a typical ufo would get 10 points (20 if it was lucky) in my games. It's normally shot down as soon as it slows down enough to be caught, then it's immediately salvaged. The actual result of alien scores is much much higher.

Ufos score quickly while flying, and still continue to gain score after I've shot it down. (They would score slowly at first with a big jump at the end as they left if the opposite were true.) Plus it seems as though they often get a lot of score even if I shoot one down and immediately land to clean it up. 1 point per 30mins + 2 points (per 30mins or not) would be negligible if they weren't getting some mission score on top.
=== Example ===
A harvester ship on a harvest mission.
It flies over China for 5 hours. Lands for 10 hours. Flies for 6 hours, lands in Japan for 7 hours. Takes off and is immediately shot down by an interceptor waiting for it. The wreckage lasts for 3 days before disappearing. No UFO Crash Recovery mission attempted.
How much do the aliens score? I would guess:
(5hrs/.5 x 1)+ 30 +(10hrs/.5 x 2) + (6hrs/.5 x1) + 30 + (7hrs/.5 x2) + 30 + (72hrs/.5 x 2)
= 10 + 30 + 40 + 12 + 30 + 28 + 30 + 288
= 468 alien score

That seems high, way too high compared to actual. Cutting out the last variable (over half the total) is more reasonable. But I don't have a lot of data on that as I rarely leave a salvaged ufo, and always feel like I messed up if I have to. However I'm still pretty sure that a crashed ufo continues to tick the score. Maybe it goes to per day instead of per 30 mins? I don't know.

Anyone done any testing along these lines?

BTW I'm surprised that there isn't a wiki page for graphs, and alien scoring is barely mentioned across the whole site. It's a very important source of tactical information. I look at the aliens score every 12 hours or so to see if it's changed. If it has changed I can figure out where the aliens are and send in the planes. It effectively gives me world wide radar coverage long before I have HWDs, or even a 2nd base.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 11:27, 5 August 2008 (PDT)

:: <i>Does being shot down count as "landed"?</i> Not only does it not count, the alien score per game-time half-hour (as reported in the graphs, which are completely accurate) for a shot-down UFO is 0.
:: <i>For abduction and harvest missions, what counts as ''"success"''?</i> Same criterion as any other mission: the UFO disappears from the Geoscape on-schedule. Note that only an Avenger goes fast enough to even consider catching up to a UFO on a escape track, and obviously TerrorShips' normal escape is a terror site.
:: <i>Ufos score quickly while flying, and still continue to gain score after I've shot it down.</i> Because not all of them are shot down. In particular, the game <b>starts</b> with two UFOs at once, and only one of them is guaranteed to be working in your first bases' region of operations. So if you shoot down one UFO, that ufo is not scoring; the other one is. This gets really ugly if the other one isn't even in Interceptor range (it happens, although Base Nigeria means it doesn't happen a lot.) Things will get much clearer in-game once you have total-coverage hyperwave decoder detection.
:: <i>However I'm still pretty sure that a crashed ufo continues to tick the score. Maybe it goes to per day instead of per 30 mins? I don't know.</i> Mere confidence in categorical falsity doesn't make it so. Crashed UFOs do not tick up the score at all; furthermore, there is no special score tick for midnight (Skyranger just takes too long to get to a Siberia shootdown from Base Nigeria, so this was easy for me to test <i>in vivo</i>.) --[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 16:50, 5 August 2008 (CDT)
:::''the game starts with two UFOs at once, and only one of them is guaranteed to be working in your first bases' region of operations.'' I'm aware of that. I'm not talking about the first day of the game, and I'm not simply forgetting to count one as you suggest. I also have total coverage with HWDs and seen the score behavior I describe above. (I have played xcom more than once in the many years I've had it.) I can also tell when the score has changed and when it '''has not''' changed so I know and can account for ufos and can discount undetected bases. (Score can't be flat with an alien base.) In different games I've seen the aliens score quickly in rapid jumps that isn't explained by 1 point per 30mins or 2points per 30mins while landed*. I do know how to read the graphs and I don't only look at total score. I break it down by region. I'm not going to miss another UFO in the same region as my main base with a HWD and 2 interceptors buzzing around looking for it. I'm certainly willing to accept that a crashed ufo is worth 0, but I've seen behavior in the score not explained by [[Scoring#Alien Scoring|the known chart]] and not explained by undetected activity.
:::BTW *The 2 points while landed ''per 30 mins'' is not listed on [[Scoring#Alien Scoring]].--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 20:55, 5 August 2008 (PDT)
::::I've discovered something while watching the score closely. A battleship on a harvest mission '''got points soon as the ufo took off'''. The landed ufo at 18:25 had 60 points in China at ~18:35 it took off and at 18:45 China had 90 points. It quickly flew off the Earth and maybe hit 1 or 2 half hour ticks. It may have scored an extra point or 2 world wide but wasn't able to see any measurable difference in the graph before OR after it left detection. It only landed the once. It got no extra points for landing, but did tick up points at 2 per 30mins while on the ground.
::::'''Therefore an alien harvest mission counts as success as it takes off.''' Leaving the geoscape doesn't matter at all for score. Hopefully I'll encounter a harvest mission where an ufo lands multiple times to test if it's the first or last time it takes off, or every time it takes off.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 21:19, 6 August 2008 (PDT)

Talk:Scoring

2008-08-07T04:19:13Z

Brunpal: alien scores when the ufo takes off

Losing the game through finances - currently it suggests you lose if you are over $1 million in debt twice in a row, my tests seems to suggest they dont mention it until you are around -$1 million (not sure of exact figure yet, -$500k was okay though in a few tests). Just over -$1.6 million i got a warning three times out of four, the other time I lost the game (in February, so you dont need two in a row). At -$2.6 I lost 4 times of 8, at -$16 million it was 3/6, -$536 million 2/4. Seems like a boundary condition of a million in debt, then 50/50 you lose each month you are over that.

Checked the boundary, its actually $1,000,001 dollars overdrawn at the start of the new month (after council funding in, maintenance out), and i lost 1 out of 2 on february with that much debt, so presuming still you lose 50% of the time if past the boundary.

Will update the page to reflect this.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 12:12, 2 March 2007 (PST)

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Amitakartok: I've personally had the number of funding nations reduced to a lone holdout. This means that if you can lose by losing all countries, the only way to do it would be to lose every single nation on the funding council. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:49, 18 January 2008 (PST)

: Just to elaborate a bit, if you do a little editing in diplom.dat so that all the countries sign a pact at the end of the month, the game doesn't end. Losing all the countries (even if it is possible) isn't one of the ways to end the game. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Thank you for the response, Zombie; I'll edit that bit out of the main page. On a second note...I don't think the data about scoring is strictly accurate. I think that if you're running a deficit on your money and are below the amount the funding council likes, or have a bad score, it's not two consecutive months. It's simply that you have a 50% chance of being shut down. I say this because in prior games, I've had a poor score in a single month and got shut down at the end of the month. Similarly, I've run bad scores sometimes more than three months in a row and kept getting warnings about POSSIBLY getting shut down, but never actually do. I haven't tested this with money, but any insight into the situation? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 00:21, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:Well, I haven't done much editing to see what happens when funds are low. [[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] did some tests on this (see top of this page) and his results seem to indicate a 50% chance your game will end if funds are below $1 million for even one month. So that basically backs up your observations. I would assume it also applies to score as well and there would be a 50% chance of getting shut down <b>every month</b> if your score falls below the skill-modified "bad" score level. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 00:50, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Currently it says that if you run a bad score for two consecutive months, they make you close up, but as I've noted, that doesn't seem to be the case. You want the honors? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 00:52, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:Ok, I just did some testing on score right now and it brought back a flood of old memories. See, I did some tests on this long ago and noticed something strange. With a score of -2062 for one month, the game always starts by giving a warning. If you reload the game, it terminates the project. Reload again and the game gives a warning. Reload again and it terminates. So here is where the 50% chance comes into play. This would indicate the roll isn't random, it's predetermined since the result is structured.

:Let's say you get a warning. Instead of loading the game, try aborting and then loading the game. The game only gives warnings now. See? Reloading the game without aborting plays a role in the result. But performing a fresh load always gives a warning and never terminates the project. So, I'll have to say the 50% deal only happens if you save a game and reload, the "true" result is that the game only gives a warning the first month. Confusing, eh? I'll have to test on the second month to see if the 2-month rule really applies. I bet it does. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 01:35, 19 January 2008 (PST)

: Edit: the second bad month I had a score of -1663. Same deal as before. Initially it gives a warning, but if you reload the game without aborting it shuts you down. Therefore the 2-month rule doesn't apply either. Its a bug basically. An exploitable bug to be more specific. See the importance of thorough testing now? :O --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 01:46, 19 January 2008 (PST)

Wow, quite a find! I barely have the knowledge base for hacking and can struggle through it, but yeah, that shows what tests can do. In any case, that's a ridiculously simple bug to be exploiting, considering the amount of time one month of gameplay can take after including all the missions; many people will save and reload at least a time or two unless they've set the whole day aside! This should be added to the Exploits page, then...again, you want the honors? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 03:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)

:If I don't get to it, feel free to add away, Arrow. BTW: I just did some more tests, this time with funds. Edited my base to have a ton of Mind/Grav Shields and 250 Scientists/Engineers, then knocked my kitty down to $0. At the start of the next month I would be -$9,968,000 in the hole - enough to be below the $2 million debt level. It works exactly the same way as score, if below the level you just get a warning that month. Reload the game after that and you face automatic termination. Reloading after that and you get the warning again. Of course, if you abort and load the game, you always get the warning first. Not sure if the debt level is -$2 million or -$1 million as Sfnhltb mentioned, so I'll need to run some more tests. Anyway, it's an exploitation plain and simple no matter which way you look at the issue. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 16:22, 20 January 2008 (PST)

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== Alien Scoring: details? ==
I was thinking about [[Scoring#Alien Scoring|how aliens score]] and I had a bunch of unanswered questions...
* Does being shot down count as "landed"?
* Is there a time component for alien landing? Ie: Is it 2 points per instance an O becomes an X on the geoscape, or is it 2 points per ''30 mins'' a ufo has landed? (or per some other unit of time?)
* For abduction and harvest missions, what counts as ''"success"''?
* What's the maximum number of successes?
* Is it only if the ufo flies off to space unmolested?
* Is it each time it lands/takes off? (Ufos like to hop multiple times on those missions.)
* Each time it lands, does it harvest multiple times, resulting in 30 x 4= 120 score if lands once but makes off with 4 cows?
* When does it tick the score? On the act of landing, or the act of taking off, or on a certain time unit?
* Does it count as success if a ufo is shot down but a squad is never sent in to clean it up? (Crash just expires.)

BTW I assume that a player can view the total alien score by looking at the alien activity graph in the graphs menu. (Someone confirm?)

My gut tells me that a ufo can be "successful" multiple times in a single mission. Plus they continue to score if crashed and that crashing is effectively the same as landing. I base this on my general observations of the graphs rather than real testing. Without some extra ways to score over and above [[Scoring#Alien Scoring]] (or a more complex way of using that table) a typical ufo would get 10 points (20 if it was lucky) in my games. It's normally shot down as soon as it slows down enough to be caught, then it's immediately salvaged. The actual result of alien scores is much much higher.

Ufos score quickly while flying, and still continue to gain score after I've shot it down. (They would score slowly at first with a big jump at the end as they left if the opposite were true.) Plus it seems as though they often get a lot of score even if I shoot one down and immediately land to clean it up. 1 point per 30mins + 2 points (per 30mins or not) would be negligible if they weren't getting some mission score on top.
=== Example ===
A harvester ship on a harvest mission.
It flies over China for 5 hours. Lands for 10 hours. Flies for 6 hours, lands in Japan for 7 hours. Takes off and is immediately shot down by an interceptor waiting for it. The wreckage lasts for 3 days before disappearing. No UFO Crash Recovery mission attempted.
How much do the aliens score? I would guess:
(5hrs/.5 x 1)+ 30 +(10hrs/.5 x 2) + (6hrs/.5 x1) + 30 + (7hrs/.5 x2) + 30 + (72hrs/.5 x 2)
= 10 + 30 + 40 + 12 + 30 + 28 + 30 + 288
= 468 alien score

That seems high, way too high compared to actual. Cutting out the last variable (over half the total) is more reasonable. But I don't have a lot of data on that as I rarely leave a salvaged ufo, and always feel like I messed up if I have to. However I'm still pretty sure that a crashed ufo continues to tick the score. Maybe it goes to per day instead of per 30 mins? I don't know.

Anyone done any testing along these lines?

BTW I'm surprised that there isn't a wiki page for graphs, and alien scoring is barely mentioned across the whole site. It's a very important source of tactical information. I look at the aliens score every 12 hours or so to see if it's changed. If it has changed I can figure out where the aliens are and send in the planes. It effectively gives me world wide radar coverage long before I have HWDs, or even a 2nd base.
--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 11:27, 5 August 2008 (PDT)

:: <i>Does being shot down count as "landed"?</i> Not only does it not count, the alien score per game-time half-hour (as reported in the graphs, which are completely accurate) for a shot-down UFO is 0.
:: <i>For abduction and harvest missions, what counts as ''"success"''?</i> Same criterion as any other mission: the UFO disappears from the Geoscape on-schedule. Note that only an Avenger goes fast enough to even consider catching up to a UFO on a escape track, and obviously TerrorShips' normal escape is a terror site.
:: <i>Ufos score quickly while flying, and still continue to gain score after I've shot it down.</i> Because not all of them are shot down. In particular, the game <b>starts</b> with two UFOs at once, and only one of them is guaranteed to be working in your first bases' region of operations. So if you shoot down one UFO, that ufo is not scoring; the other one is. This gets really ugly if the other one isn't even in Interceptor range (it happens, although Base Nigeria means it doesn't happen a lot.) Things will get much clearer in-game once you have total-coverage hyperwave decoder detection.
:: <i>However I'm still pretty sure that a crashed ufo continues to tick the score. Maybe it goes to per day instead of per 30 mins? I don't know.</i> Mere confidence in categorical falsity doesn't make it so. Crashed UFOs do not tick up the score at all; furthermore, there is no special score tick for midnight (Skyranger just takes too long to get to a Siberia shootdown from Base Nigeria, so this was easy for me to test <i>in vivo</i>.) --[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 16:50, 5 August 2008 (CDT)
:::''the game starts with two UFOs at once, and only one of them is guaranteed to be working in your first bases' region of operations.'' I'm aware of that. I'm not talking about the first day of the game, and I'm not simply forgetting to count one as you suggest. I also have total coverage with HWDs and seen the score behavior I describe above. (I have played xcom more than once in the many years I've had it.) I can also tell when the score has changed and when it '''has not''' changed so I know and can account for ufos and can discount undetected bases. (Score can't be flat with an alien base.) In different games I've seen the aliens score quickly in rapid jumps that isn't explained by 1 point per 30mins or 2points per 30mins while landed*. I do know how to read the graphs and I don't only look at total score. I break it down by region. I'm not going to miss another UFO in the same region as my main base with a HWD and 2 interceptors buzzing around looking for it. I'm certainly willing to accept that a crashed ufo is worth 0, but I've seen behavior in the score not explained by [[Scoring#Alien Scoring|the known chart]] and not explained by undetected activity.
:::BTW *The 2 points while landed ''per 30 mins'' is not listed on [[Scoring#Alien Scoring]].--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 20:55, 5 August 2008 (PDT)
::::I've discovered something while watching the score closely. A battleship on a harvest mission '''got points soon as the ufo took off'''. The landed ufo at 18:25 had 60 points in China at ~18:35 it took off and at 18:45 China had 90 points. It quickly flew off the Earth and maybe hit 1 or 2 half hour ticks. It may have scored an extra point or 2 world wide but wasn't able to see any measurable difference in the graph before OR after it left detection. It only landed the once.
::::'''Therefore an alien harvest mission counts as success as it takes off.''' Leaving the geoscape doesn't matter at all for score. Hopefully I'll encounter a harvest mission where an ufo lands multiple times to test if it's the first or last time it lands, or every time it lands.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 21:19, 6 August 2008 (PDT)

Talk:Incendiary

2008-08-06T04:39:17Z

Brunpal: incendiary vs fire, a subtle difference

For now, we'll just say the smoke + incendiary stun effects only work on X-Com owned units until some tests can be run to confirm this. It's unusual that only X-Com units are affected, but the game has been known to surprise you even after you think you've worked something out.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

----

Given how aliens love to hang around in a smoke-filled crashed UFO, IC rounds would be insanely powerful if they did actually work against aliens in smoke. I'm glad they don't ''seem to'', as I'd be very tempted to cheat with it. They do work against aliens standing in fire, though, which is still quite cheaty...--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 21:35, 5 May 2006 (PDT)

-----

I just edited the Incendiary page a bunch, because Brunpal's [[Talk:Experience]] questions about Incendiary sparked my interest... I never did test IN vs. experience. It's a very good question ''if'' it turns out to cause Firing experience. But while reviewing this page, I had a number of questions, for anyone interested. Also, I only tried to clarify things, and don't know Incendiary well, so fix anything you know I got wrong:
#Did I get it right re: the set [ 0, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ] for chance of initially catching fire? I over-wrote "linear" because it seemed odd when XCOM usually goes, e.g., 0-10. (Who tested this? - A little help here please. Just making sure.)
#Why flame a zombie unless it's near death (and how can you know if it is)? It's been a long time since I used fire - if you don't have flying armor, why mess around with a zombie by burning it, why not Heavy Plasma it.
#Any research/data on tile flammability versus duration of burning is appreciated. Probably it should go on the [[Terrain]] page byte, but be clearly referenced here. It's just a curiousity, but an interesting one.
#The last line of the page says ''"The damage values listed in the UFOpaedia do not determine how powerful an incendiary round deals damage; it only determines how wide an area will be blanketed with flames."'' Does anyone know IN strength vs radius, then? Should be easy to test and post.
#NKF, Zombie, or anyone else... would you mind seeing if Incendiary causes the Experience counter to increase? Brunpal is right that it's important to [[Experience]]... I found [[Small_Launcher#Experience|Stun Bombs]] to count for experience across their whole range, even if no stun damage occurred... if you have 11+ Mutons in a firing squad situation, passing around an [[Auto Cannon]] with Incendiary may be better than standard pistols, depending on the range of the blast. I could test it, but it's been a long time since I've delved into the files; maybe one of you have them more close to hand. [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]]
-----
:Offhand, the only way I could think of to check the remaining HP on a Zombie would be by using a [[Mind Probe]]. Given the relative uselessness of a Mind Probe after Psionics are developed, as well as the time needed to use the Probe once, this seems a rather impractical course of action, unless your Rear Commander has nothing better to do. I agree, Heavy Plasma on Auto is better. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 20:33, 1 August 2008 (PDT)
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#Yeah, the set is correct. When a unit is shot with an incendiary round, the game does a calculation to determine if the unit catches fire. If it doesn't catch fire, the unit takes no damage (the 0 in the set). If the unit does catch fire, it will take between 5-10 damage points. Stupid discontinuous range, but that's what happens. As you may guess, I did the Incendiary trials over at the StrategyCore forums in the Damage Modifier topic - see [http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=746&view=findpost&p=39672 this] post for the particulars.
#Why flame a Zombie? Simple. A Zombie which is killed by an Incendiary round doesn't turn into a Chryssalid. Zombies are easily outrun, so you can just keep picking at them from a short distance with Auto-Cannon Incendiary rounds and then running away. Fairly effective, even when your troops do not yet have armor to protect them. And when you do not have the luxury of the Heavy Plasma early in the game, Incendiary is a good way to avoid an overabundance of Chryssalids who are not so easy to kill. As for checking the Zombie's stats, you can only rely on the Mind Probe or Psi. Neither are available early either (the Mind Probe is usually low on the research tree for most people even though you can collect enough, and Psi is difficult to use as a soldier needs to be quite proficient to use MC.
#I have been meaning to do some tests in flammability vs terrain but only recently started fooling with MCD values. It'll be next on my list.
#Here, I uploaded a very recent spreadsheet containing both I and Smoke when damage values are hacked. See [[Media:Incendiary_and_Smoke_Patterns.zip | this file]] which contains both.
#I think I fooled around with Incendiary recently in conjunction with promotions. Soldiers who shot aliens with "I" didn't get promoted. Logically, that would mean the experience counter didn't increment. UNITREF.DAT would need to be checked to verify though. Addendum: indeed, as BB mentioned in the experience page (and a quick glance at the UNITREF.DAT experience counters by myself to triple-check my aging brain), Incendiary rounds do not increase any of the experience counters.

Hope this clears up some of the issues/concerns here. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 21:16, 1 August 2008 (PDT)
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<i>"The damage values listed in the [[UFOpaedia]] do not determine how powerful an incendiary round deals damage; it only determines how wide an area will be blanketed with flames. Fire is unlike other damage; it works at initial blast and then over time, as described above."</i> and
<i>"Initial "impact" damage from incendiary ammunition is either for no points (unit does not catch fire), or between 5-10 points (unit catches fire)."</i>

This should be stressed on ALL the various relevant pages. It's important. 6.4 dmg vs 90 dmg is a significant difference!--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 09:31, 2 August 2008 (PDT)
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It looks like Incendiary is gaining some clarity (at least for me), thanks for starting it Brunpal...
*The "6.4" was only for the initial IN round impact (set [ 0, 5-10 ]); it can then burn for 4 more rounds (set [5-10]). Perhaps a short way to state this complicated damage type is "Minimum 0 (unit does not catch on fire) ''OR'' unit catches on fire 1-5 turns, 5-10 damage/turn, 5-50 damage in total (average 21.5)". Does that look right, Zombie? I'm not sure where you got 90 from Brunpal...
:90 is the listed damage from an IN rocket.--[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 21:39, 5 August 2008 (PDT)
*However, the numbers I just stated do not count possible additional damage from nearby terrain being on fire (as opposed to yourself). Maybe those should be included somehow. (And clearly, fire is much more dangerous outdoors than inside UFOs, where terrain does not burn.) But since terrain fire can last a variable number of turns, I guess you can't have a maximum damage. Average terrain damage from fire would be 6.5/terrain (1-12), but also, it can keep the unit itself burning more than 5 turns... hard to model.
*Good point about flaming zombies, Zombie. I guess you ought to know, eh? :)
*The spreadsheet looks great. Perhaps one of us can pull out the area patterns for non-hacked IN weapons and put them on the relevant pages. When it's done, the spreadsheet itself would be an asset to Incendiary (or maybe [[Damage]], if it's listing all types of damage). As has been stated, it's the size (area) of the blast that actually directly relates to incendiary weapon "strength"... the diameters you found are probably what should be in parentheses next to weapon strength, although damage can appear as well.
*Ok, no experience from Incendiary blasts. It might've been real interesting if there were, but it didn't occur to me to test. (Or maybe I tested it briefly so long ago that I forgot.) I would've guessed that they did, because the stun bomb and explosives do. Oh well.
*P.S. Brunpal, we may not have touched pages in a year, but most/all of us have "Watch this page" turned on, so we get immediate notification of any pages we've edited or Watched. :)
-[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 09:17, 5 August 2008 (PDT)
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*Sounds correct MTR. I think Brunpal was just comparing the "damage" (actually strength) of the Incendiary Rocket (90) to the average damage due to the "impact" of the blast (6.4).
*Well, it isn't ''nearby'' terrain on fire which you have to worry about, it's the tile directly underneath a units feet which causes the most concern. If that tile is on fire and the unit doesn't move, it will take 1-12 damage points. While true that terrain on fire can last a variable number of turns, there is a definite upper-limit to how much damage a unit can possibly take. Fires don't last forever, and the combustibles eventually are consumed leaving either scorched earth or a damaged tile. Those damaged/destroyed tiles usually cannot be started on fire again by the spread of flames. They can only be set ablaze with incendiary ammo, and even then for only 1-3 turns (normal for dead tiles). So it's certainly possible to find a max damage. And for the most part, the things that burn the longest are usually objects, not tiles. And most objects you can't stand on anyway. But I totally agree that it's hard to model how fire functions due to the two forces at work: "impact" damage and damage due to standing in fire.

P.S. Some of us are actually around here and don't need to be coaxed back into existence by an email when a watched page is changed either. Just because it's quiet, it doesn't mean nobody's home. :) --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 20:34, 5 August 2008 (PDT)
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While understanding the whole formula for fire and fire damage happens is useful, it was not thinking to go that broad. I was just interested in what occurs from the moment a solider takes his shot, to the time that solider gets his TU back. ie damage from incendiary rounds vs fire damage. --[[User:Brunpal|Brunpal]] 21:39, 5 August 2008 (PDT)

Talk:Scoring

2008-08-06T03:55:26Z

Brunpal: /* Alien Scoring: details? */