UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Panic (EU2012)

2013-04-17T10:55:38Z

FullAuto:

== Basics ==
Panic is the mechanic that will make you lose the game, once you have enough (8) countries reach high enough panic to leave the XCOM project; then the game is over. As the Commander, it's your task to keep this from happening. Each country has a panic value of 0-5, and a country has a high chance of leaving the project if its panic level is 5 at the end of a month. Failing a terror mission will cause the targeted country to leave the project immediately.

'''Panic Increase'''<br/>
Panic will increase in countries as they are targeted by alien attacks, and will also spread to other countries on that continent. Abduction and Terror activity will cause panic to neighbouring countries; UFO activity and Council missions will only cause panic (if unsuccessful) in the targeted country, and not in neighbouring countries.

'''Panic Decrease'''<br/>
Satellites are the primary way to lower panic; deploying a satellite over a country will immediately calm the population. Succeeding at a Terror mission will reduce the panic level in that country and continent, as will many council missions. Completing the Alien Base mission will cause global panic to decrease.

'''Panic Level'''
The panic level of a country will be reflected on the content of the [[News Items (EU2012)|news headlines]] displayed under the world map at the Situation Room.


==Choosing a Mission==
* Often you will be presented with multiple missions at the same time and asked to choose 1 (e.g., Abduction sites).
:While Panic plays a big role in your choice, so does the reward.
:The rewards generally consist of either Scientists, Engineers, Soldiers, or credits.
* Engineers are generally better than Scientists – Building things requires a minimum number of Engineers, and that number keeps going up each time you build a type of facility.
:So the third Generator needs more engineers than the second, and so on.
:Plus, you tend to get enough scientists via monthly bonuses from the Funding Council.
* If you are offered more than one country from the same continent to chose from, choosing one of the countries on the continent will mean that this country gets panic decrease and other countries from same continent get no change in panic levels. Leaving more than one country on same continent unattended will not multiply continent-wide panic (eg., on classic ignoring China and Japan will raise panic in those countries by 2 and in other asian countries by 1)
* It might be worth ignoring South American abduction missions. An unanswered abduction on that continent raises total panic by 3 points (2+1) while an unanswered one in Europe or Asia gives 5 panic points (2+1+1+1).

==Satellite Management==
* Overall, to have no countries leave your project your aim is to have, by the end of the month, no more countries in the "red" (full panic) zone than you have satellites, and launch those satellites to save those countries from defecting. This means you will not be getting the continent you want, but the continent that got more unlucky with panic levels.
* Your other goal is to cover full continents as soon as possible for both the continent bonus AND no furhter panic problems with this country. Having a country not covered in a partially covered continent leaves you very vulnerable, because you cannot manage panic in already covered countries (like you can with uncovered countries by launching satellite in those countries right before council report). Worst case scenario, when you barely saved a country from defecting (launched satellite into panicked country), you can only afford to have 1 abduction there until you have full panic again, plus 1 for each council mission that awards worldwide panic reduction. Therefore, there is a huge incentitive to cover full continents.
* Getting all continents but one covered stops abduction missions from happening alltogether, and solves the panic problem for the rest of the game. Therefore, deploying satellites as fast as possible is the best way to control the panic. Consider deploying 1 satellite in the first month, 3 in the second month, at least 3 (if you can, 5) in the third month and cover all remaining countries except one in the next month.
* It is never a good idea to launch a satellite at any time except right before council report. That is, because abductions can happen even right before the council report, and if you dont have spare satellites to fix panic after them, you will lose countires. Launch satellites right before the council report, first fixing any countries in "Red", and then according to your plan.

[[Category: Guides (EU2012)]]
[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]

Panic (EU2012)

2013-04-17T10:55:24Z

FullAuto:

== Basics ==
Panic is the mechanic that will make you lose the game, once you have enough (8) countries reach high enough panic to leave the XCOM project; then the game is over. As the Commander, it's your task to keep this from happening. Each country has a panic value of 0-5, and a country has a high chance of leaving the project if its panic level is 5 at the end of a month. Failing a terror mission will cause the targeted country to leave the project immediately.

'''Panic Increase'''<br/>
Panic will increase in countries as they are targeted by alien attacks, and will also spread to other countries on that continent. Abduction and Terror activity will cause panic to neighbouring countries; UFO activity and Council missions will only cause panic (if unsuccessful) in the targeted country, and not in neighbouring countries.

'''Panic Decrease'''<br/>
Satellites are the primary way to lower panic; deploying a satellite over a country will immediately calm the population. Succeeding at a Terror mission will reduce the panic level in that country and continent, as will many council missions. Completing the Alien Base mission will cause global panic to decrease.

'''Panic Level'''
The panic level of a country will be reflected on the content of the [[News Items (EU2012)|news headlines]] displayed under the world map at the Situation Room.



==Choosing a Mission==
* Often you will be presented with multiple missions at the same time and asked to choose 1 (e.g., Abduction sites).
:While Panic plays a big role in your choice, so does the reward.
:The rewards generally consist of either Scientists, Engineers, Soldiers, or credits.
* Engineers are generally better than Scientists – Building things requires a minimum number of Engineers, and that number keeps going up each time you build a type of facility.
:So the third Generator needs more engineers than the second, and so on.
:Plus, you tend to get enough scientists via monthly bonuses from the Funding Council.
* If you are offered more than one country from the same continent to chose from, choosing one of the countries on the continent will mean that this country gets panic decrease and other countries from same continent get no change in panic levels. Leaving more than one country on same continent unattended will not multiply continent-wide panic (eg., on classic ignoring China and Japan will raise panic in those countries by 2 and in other asian countries by 1)
* It might be worth ignoring South American abduction missions. An unanswered abduction on that continent raises total panic by 3 points (2+1) while an unanswered one in Europe or Asia gives 5 panic points (2+1+1+1).

==Satellite Management==
* Overall, to have no countries leave your project your aim is to have, by the end of the month, no more countries in the "red" (full panic) zone than you have satellites, and launch those satellites to save those countries from defecting. This means you will not be getting the continent you want, but the continent that got more unlucky with panic levels.
* Your other goal is to cover full continents as soon as possible for both the continent bonus AND no furhter panic problems with this country. Having a country not covered in a partially covered continent leaves you very vulnerable, because you cannot manage panic in already covered countries (like you can with uncovered countries by launching satellite in those countries right before council report). Worst case scenario, when you barely saved a country from defecting (launched satellite into panicked country), you can only afford to have 1 abduction there until you have full panic again, plus 1 for each council mission that awards worldwide panic reduction. Therefore, there is a huge incentitive to cover full continents.
* Getting all continents but one covered stops abduction missions from happening alltogether, and solves the panic problem for the rest of the game. Therefore, deploying satellites as fast as possible is the best way to control the panic. Consider deploying 1 satellite in the first month, 3 in the second month, at least 3 (if you can, 5) in the third month and cover all remaining countries except one in the next month.
* It is never a good idea to launch a satellite at any time except right before council report. That is, because abductions can happen even right before the council report, and if you dont have spare satellites to fix panic after them, you will lose countires. Launch satellites right before the council report, first fixing any countries in "Red", and then according to your plan.

[[Category: Guides (EU2012)]]
[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]

Alien Infiltration

2013-04-17T10:54:18Z

FullAuto:

[[Image:Alien Infiltration.png|thumb|right|Alien Infiltration research topic and mission.]]
This Alien mission represents the worst threat to X-COM. Earth governments can be infiltrated by Alien agents which are Human in appearance. This can result in official contact between Aliens and governments at the highest level. The climax of this activity is characterised by intense [[UFOs|UFO]] activity in the vicinity of major cities. The aliens will attempt to sign a [[pact]] with an earth government by offering knowledge of their superior technology. In return, the government will allow the Aliens to conduct their activity unhindered.

If a government agrees to a pact then its funding will cease. If successful, the aliens will [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|score]] 150 points, and an alien base will also be constructed which generates daily activity points, which are eventually subtracted from your score.

Initially, several Scouts will perform investigations prior to the main infiltration attempt.

In the main Infiltration wave, a Large Scout will appear, followed by a Terror Ship, Supply Ship and two Battleships. It has been shown that shooting down any of these craft before they slow down will delay the next craft by a couple of days; if the craft are ignored even for a short while, long enough to slow down, the sequence proceeds extremely quickly.
It has been conclusively shown that shooting down the UFOs or [[UFO Ground Assault|assaulting the landed ships]] will NOT stop the infiltration from succeeding. Shooting down the earlier ships will delay, but not entirely stop the second Battleship. The moment the second battleship appears in Earth's atmosphere, the infiltration is successful and complete.

When a country is successfully infiltrated, an alien base will be instantly created in or near the country. Always search for the alien base after the second Battleship. And once you know that the base is there, you have several options available to you.

==See also==
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Alien Infiltration

2013-04-17T10:53:55Z

FullAuto: Gamefaqs bs

[[Image:Alien Infiltration.png|thumb|right|Alien Infiltration research topic and mission.]]
This Alien mission represents the worst threat to X-COM. Earth governments can be infiltrated by Alien agents which are Human in appearance. This can result in official contact between Aliens and governments at the highest level. The climax of this activity is characterised by intense [[UFOs|UFO]] activity in the vicinity of major cities. The aliens will attempt to sign a [[pact]] with an earth government by offering knowledge of their superior technology. In return, the government will allow the Aliens to conduct their activity unhindered.

If a government agrees to a pact then its funding will cease. If successful, the aliens will [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|score]] 150 points, and an alien base will also be constructed which generates daily activity points, which are eventually subtracted from your score.

Initially, several Scouts will perform investigations prior to the main infiltration attempt.

In the main Infiltration wave, a Large Scout will appear, followed by a Terror Ship, Supply Ship and two Battleships. It has been shown that shooting down any of these craft before they slow down will delay the next craft by a couple of days; if the craft are ignored even for a short while, long enough to slow down, the sequence proceeds extremely quickly.
It has been conclusively shown that shooting down the UFOs or [[UFO Ground Assault|assaulting the landed ships]] will NOT stop the infiltration from succeeding. Shooting down the earlier ships will delay, but not entirely stop the 2nd Battleship. The moment the second battleship appears in Earth's atmosphere, the infiltration is successful and complete.

When a country is successfully infiltrated, an alien base will be instantly created in or near the country. Always search for the alien base after the second Battleship. And once you know that the base is there, you have several options available to you.

==See also==
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Smoke Grenade

2013-04-17T10:50:09Z

FullAuto: /* Protecting Exposed Soldiers */

A Smoke grenade provides a portable smoke-screen that you can deploy to hide your troops. It operates the same way as a conventional grenade, but on detonation releases a medium sized dense cloud cover. The cloud will eventually thin and spread out over the course of several turns.

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

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

This item appears in ''[[X-COM|UFO: Enemy Unknown]]''. For the ''[[TFTD|Terror from the Deep]]'' equivalent, refer to the [[Dye Grenade]].

== Stats ==
[[Image:Smoke Grenade Pattern.png|right|200 px|thumb|Smoke Grenade "blast" pattern formed after initial explosion.]]
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS20.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 60 (Smoke)
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs:
**Transfer from shoulder strap to hand: 3 TU. See [[Inventory TU Table]]
**Priming: 50%
**Throwing: 25%
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $150
*Sell Price: $120</td></tr></table><br clear="all">

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

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

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

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

=== Protecting exposed soldiers ===

If a soldier is moved and ends up stranded in an open field with an alien in full view, the chance this soldier of surviving tend to be very slim. You can alter the odds very slightly by throwing a '''0 turn''' smoke grenade between the soldier and the alien to provide cover.

Even though the alien be facing and may already be attacking the soldier, as long as the smoke cloud is up by the time the alien move begins, it will affect the alien's ability to target the soldier and may prevent it from attacking.

Rockets are an instant means to provide similar support, but the cloud generated will not be as dense.

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

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

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

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

=== Night missions ===
Soldiers' [[line of sight|visual range]] at night is only 9 squares, but aliens' night-time visual range is the same day or night: 20 squares. Thus, you might be able to even the odds a bit using well-placed smoke grenades.

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

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

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

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

== Visual range ==
The smoke cloud produced by a smoke grenade provides the best screen within the first turn after detonation. The initial visibility through the cloud is 4-6 squares. Over time the smoke will spread out and cover a larger area, but by then the smoke will have grown thin and units and allies alike will be able to see much farther through the smoke than when it was a tight mass. Smoke has a variable starting effectiveness, which falls off as time passes. A good rule to know is that every turn allows the aliens (and you) to see one tile further per 3 tiles of smoke, until all the smoke particles clear.

The formula is at [[SMOKREF.DAT]]

If you take the amount of turns a given tile of smoke is due to last, divide that by three and round the result down, you have the amount of tiles worth of visibility it'll reduce. However, there is no way to tell a cloud's age just by looking at it. Typically each tile produced by a freshly detonated smoke grenade will block from one to four tiles.

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

== Hazards ==
Using smoke grenades on the battlefield can cause your own units to take [[Stun]] damage, weakening them and potentially leading to [[unconscious]]ness.

Unarmoured units will take stun damage whenever they end their turn inside a cloud of smoke. The stun damage to an unarmoured unit is 1-3 points per round. Soldiers in Power Suits or Flying Suits are immune to stun effects from smoke. Even unarmoured troops will have to spend a long time in smoke before they become unconscious, so as long as you remain aware of your soldiers' Stun levels (the narrow white bar within the Health bar), it should not present major problems.

A more serious hazard emerges from a bug in the way the game handles fire, smoke and [[Incendiary]] effects. Fire and smoke are interdependent in the game. One unintended consequence is that stun damage is done to all friendly units standing in any smoke area, every time an incendiary explosion occurs anywhere on the map. This happens instantaneously, affecting soldiers who are in smoke at the time of detonation. Therefore, be very careful in your use of IC munitions if you wish to move unarmored units through smoke, or hide them in smoke.

Unfortunately this is another major drawback that prevents smoke from fulfilling its powerful tactical potential. A few turns maneuvering through smoke, followed by an inadvertent burst of Incendiary rounds from an Auto-Cannon, is capable of knocking out half of your force. Of course this becomes less of a problem once all your troops are outfitted with heavy armour and immune to these effects.

Note - under no circumstances will enemy-controlled units take stun damage from smoke, or from incendiary action while standing in smoke. If aliens are under X-COM mind control, they will take stun damage from smoke, but never when enemy-controlled.

Note - You can use this bug to your advantage, to save the life of the soldier who first goes through the door of a medium scout. One clever solution given by forum-ites was to have some snipers stationed a bit further away from the UFO. Then one unit bursts into the UFO but is not fired upon due to mutual surprise. You then KO this scout with a stun launcher, then snipe the aliens within the UFO from out of vision range.
However, early game, you don't have access to stun launchers. However, you can have someone toss a smoke grenade, putting the interior of the UFO in smoke, then fire off some AC-IN rounds elsewhere to intentionally KO him.

== Tips ==
* Smoke will extinguish a raging fire. However, a unit on fire cannot be extinguished by smoke.
* Dropping an activated smoke grenade instead of throwing it saves TU, using 50%+2 TU instead of 75+%.
* Smoke does not travel vertically, upwards or downwards.

==See also==
[[Smoke and Fire]]<br>
[[Understanding Grenades]]<br>

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

Class Builds (EU2012)

2013-04-17T10:47:11Z

FullAuto: /* Support Alpha (Medic/Scout) */ doesn't apply, this build has 3 medikits

Each class has been designed with two main ability builds, Alpha (left side) and Beta (right side). Each build is a combination of abilities designed to fulfill a specific tactical role. Although experienced players will design soldiers according to their own preferences, this article will focus on the basic builds available to each class, and how the different abilities on each one can synergize together.

__TOC__
==Assault==
===Assault Alpha (Scout)===
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
! width="10%" align="center" | Rank
! width="40%" align="center" colspan="1"| Ability
! width="50%" align="center" | Alpha
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SQUADDIE.png|24px]]<br/>'''Squaddie'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:ASSAULT RUNGUN.png|32px|left]]'''Run & Gun''' <br/> Allows firing or Overwatch after Dashing on the turn Run & Gun is activated. 2 turn cooldown.
| rowspan="7" | [[File:AssaultA (EU2012).png|450px]]
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CORPORAL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Corporal'''
| width="40%" | [[File:ASSAULT TACTICALSENSE.png|32px|left]]'''Tactical Sense''' <br/> Confers +5 Defense per enemy in sight (max +20).
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SERGEANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Sergeant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:ASSAULT LIGHTNINGREFLEXES.png|32px|left]]'''Lightning Reflexes''' <br/> Forces the first reaction shot against this unit each turn to miss.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK LIEUTENANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Lieutenant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:ASSAULT FLUSH.png|32px|left]]'''Flush''' <br/> Fire a shot that causes enemies to run out of cover. The shot is easy to hit with, but does reduced damage.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CAPTAIN.png|24px]]<br/>'''Captain'''
| width="40%" | [[File:ASSAULT CLOSECOMBAT.png|32px|left]]'''Close Combat Specialist''' <br/> Confers a reaction shot against any enemy who closes to within 4 tiles. Does not require Overwatch.
|- align="center"
! rowspan=2" | [[File:RANK MAJOR.png|24px]]<br/>'''Major'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:ASSAULT EXTRACONDITIONING.png|32px|left]]'''Extra Conditioning''' <br/> Confers bonus health based on which type of armor is equipped. Heavier armor increases the bonus.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK COLONEL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Colonel'''
| width="40%" | [[File:ASSAULT RESILLIENCE.png|32px|left]]'''Resilience''' <br/> Confers immunity to critical hits.
|}
* The Assault Alpha build is designed for evasion and survival, allowing it to excel in scouting roles. The two first abilities, '''Tactical Sense''' and '''Lightning Reflexes''' greatly increase the soldier's defense while '''Resillience''' allows him/her to soak hits.
* '''Run & Gun''' give it the ability to easily finish off already wounded hostiles and set Overwatch over outflanked enemies.
* ''' Lightning Reflexes''' can be used to prevent an enemy on Overwatch from hitting anyone, by moving the Assault Alpha first before the other units.
* '''Flush''' gives the Alpha the option to force an enemy to vacate a position. One possible combination of moves is to set other units on Overwatch before using Flush, giving them shots at the alien as it moves to another position. '''Flush''' is also the only medium range fire option the Assault Alpha has, unless he/she brings an [[Assault Rifle (EU2012)|Assault Rifle]] instead of the Shotgun.

===Assault Beta (Assault/Rifleman)===
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
! width="10%" align="center" | Rank
! width="40%" align="center" colspan="1"| Ability
! width="50%" align="center" | Beta
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SQUADDIE.png|24px]]<br/>'''Squaddie'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:ASSAULT RUNGUN.png|32px|left]]'''Run & Gun''' <br/> Allows firing or Overwatch after Dashing on the turn Run & Gun is activated. 2 turn cooldown.
| rowspan="7" | [[File:AssaultB (EU2012).png|450px]]
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CORPORAL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Corporal'''
| width="40%" | [[File:ASSAULT AGGRESSION.png|32px|left]]'''Aggression''' <br/> Confers +10% critical chance per enemy in sight (max +30%).
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SERGEANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Sergeant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:ASSAULT CLOSEPERSONAL.png|32px|left]]'''Close & Personal''' <br/> Confers +30% critical chance against adjacent targets. The bonus declines with distance from the target.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK LIEUTENANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Lieutenant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:ASSAULT RAPIDFIRE.png|32px|left]]'''Rapid Fire''' <br/> Take two shots against a single target in quick succession. Each shot carries a -15 penalty to Aim.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CAPTAIN.png|24px]]<br/>'''Captain'''
| width="40%" | [[File:ASSAULT BRINGTHEMON.png|32px|left]]'''Bring 'Em On''' <br/> Adds 1 damage on critical hits for each enemy the squad can see (up to 5).
|- align="center"
! rowspan=2" | [[File:RANK MAJOR.png|24px]]<br/>'''Major'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:ASSAULT EXTRACONDITIONING.png|32px|left]]'''Extra Conditioning''' <br/> Confers bonus health based on which type of armor is equipped. Heavier armor increases the bonus.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK COLONEL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Colonel'''
| width="40%" | [[File:ASSAULT KILLERINSTINCT.png|32px|left]]'''Killer Instinct''' <br/> Activating Run & Gun now also grants +50% critical damage for the rest of the turn.
|}
* XCOM's equivalent of the [[Muton_(EU2012)#Muton_Berserker|Berserker]]. The Beta build is able of charging and killing nearly any alien unit that comes within close range or it can act as a rifleman, depending on weapon choice (Shotgun/Assault Rifle).
* '''Aggression''', '''Close & Personal''' plus the [[Shotgun (EU2012)|Shotgun]]'s own critical chance bonus turn most shots into critical hits. '''Rapid Fire''' gives it two shots and '''Bring 'Em On''' and '''Killer Instinct''' add even more critical damage to each one.
* For engagements at medium range the Assault Beta can use its '''Rapid Fire''' ability for increased odds. The drawback is the ammo depletion that continued use of '''Rapid Fire''' will bring.
* The Shotgun is the preferred weapon to take full advantage of '''Run & Gun''' and '''Killer Instinct'''. However, all of Assault Beta's abilities also apply to Assault Rifles, so '''Aggression''', '''Rapid Fire''' and '''Bring 'Em On''' can turn the Assault into a deadly Rifleman.
* It's main disadvantage is the lack of additional defense/armor other than that provided by '''Extra Conditioning''', [[Armor (EU2012)|armors]] or [[Chitin Plating (EU2012)|Chitin Plating]].
===Alternate Builds===
* '''Tactical Sense''' + '''Lightning Reflexes''' + '''Rapid Fire''' + '''Bring 'Em On''' + '''Resillience''' makes a tough shock troop.
* '''Rapid Fire''' can be more useful, in most cases, than '''Flush'''.
* '''Close Combat Specialist''' is very useful on both builds, specially when dealing with melee units such as [[Chryssalid (EU2012)|Chryssalids]] and Bezerkers.

==Heavy==
===Heavy Alpha (Demolitions)===
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
! width="10%" align="center" | Rank
! width="40%" align="center" colspan="1"| Ability
! width="50%" align="center" | Heavy
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SQUADDIE.png|24px]]<br/>'''Squaddie'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:HEAVY FIREROCKET.png|32px|left]]'''Fire Rocket''' <br/> Fire a rocket using an equipped launcher. This ability can not be used after moving, nor more than once per mission.
| rowspan="7" | [[File:HeavyA (EU2012).png|450px]]
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CORPORAL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Corporal'''
| width="40%" | [[File:HEAVY BULLETSWARM.png|32px|left]]'''Bullet Swarm''' <br/> Firing the primary weapon as the first action no longer ends the turn.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SERGEANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Sergeant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:HEAVY SHREDDER.png|32px|left]]'''Shredder Rocket''' <br/> Fire a rocket that causes all enemies hit to take +33% damage from all sources for the next 4 turns. The rocket's blast is weaker than a standard rocket's.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK LIEUTENANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Lieutenant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:HEAVY HEAT AMMO.png|32px|left]]'''HEAT Ammo''' <br/> +100% to damage against robotic enemies.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CAPTAIN.png|24px]]<br/>'''Captain'''
| width="40%" | [[File:HEAVY GRENADIER.png|32px|left]]'''Grenadier''' <br/> Allows to carry 2 grenades in a single inventory slot.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK MAJOR.png|24px]]<br/>'''Major'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:HEAVY WILLTOSURVIVE.png|32px|left]]'''Will to Survive''' <br/> Reduces all normal damage taken by 2 if in cover and not flanked.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK COLONEL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Colonel'''
| width="40%" | [[File:HEAVY ROCKETEER.png|32px|left]]'''Rocketeer''' <br/> Allows 1 additional standard rocket to be fired per battle.
|}
* While 3 rockets and 2 grenades can be spent quickly during missions, the additional firepower of a Heavy Alpha can turn a battle around.
* Any situation can be dealt with the proper use of explosives: close, medium and long range, either to kill aliens or blast away their cover.
* '''Bullet Swarm''' allows for double shots or to fire and move, giving the Alpha more options during a firefight and can it deadly at close range.
* '''HEAT Ammo''' is vital against robotic aliens such as [[Drone (EU2012)|Drone]]s, [[Cyberdisc (EU2012)|Cyberdisc]]s or [[Sectopod (EU2012)|Sectopods]]
* Their drawback is the Heavy's usual low Aim stat, which limits the effectiveness of their weapons at medium and long range.

===Heavy Beta (Tagger)===
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
! width="10%" align="center" | Rank
! width="40%" align="center" colspan="1"| Ability
! width="50%" align="center" | Tagger
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SQUADDIE.png|24px]]<br/>'''Squaddie'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:HEAVY FIREROCKET.png|32px|left]]'''Fire Rocket''' <br/> Fire a rocket using an equipped launcher. This ability can not be used after moving, nor more than once per mission.
| rowspan="7" | [[File:HeavyB (EU2012).png|450px]]
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CORPORAL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Corporal'''
| width="40%" | [[File:HEAVY HOLO.png|32px|left]]'''Holo-Targeting''' <br/> Shooting at or suppressing enemies also confers a +10 Aim to any allies' attacks on those enemies.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SERGEANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Sergeant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:HEAVY SUPPRESSION.png|32px|left]]'''Suppression''' <br/> Can fire a special shot that grants reaction fire at a single target. The target also suffers a -30 Aim penalty.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK LIEUTENANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Lieutenant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:HEAVY RAPIDREACTION.png|32px|left]]'''Rapid Reaction''' <br/> Confers a second reaction shot, if on Overwatch and the first reaction shot is a hit.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CAPTAIN.png|24px]]<br/>'''Captain'''
| width="40%" | [[File:HEAVY DANGERZONE.png|32px|left]]'''Danger Zone''' <br/> Increases hit area of rockets and suppression by 2 tiles.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK MAJOR.png|24px]]<br/>'''Major'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:HEAVY WILLTOSURVIVE.png|32px|left]]'''Will to Survive''' <br/> Reduces all normal damage taken by 2 if in cover and not flanked.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK COLONEL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Colonel'''
| width="40%" | [[File:HEAVY MAYHEM.png|32px|left]]'''Mayhem''' <br/> Confers additional damage based on weapon tech level to Suppression and all area-effect abilities.
|}
* Heavy Betas are team players. Their role is to tag an enemy unit to increase the aim of other squad members firing at it ('''Holo-Targeting'''), suppress their shots ('''Suppression'''), keep an eye for enemy movement ('''Rapid Reaction'''), suppress more than one alien ('''Danger Zone''') and deal damage to enemies under suppression ('''Mayhem'''), which may be the killing blow to an already weakened alien.
* Despite being limited to one Rocket, both '''Danger Zone''' and '''Mayhem''' upgrade both the rocket's damage radius and power. The Heavy Beta may also first suppress a target to prevent it from reacting until it's ready to fire the rocket shot at the alien.
* The disadvantage is the Heavy's usual low Aim stat, which makes '''Rapid Reaction''' less useful at long range Overwatch shots. At close range however, the low Aim is less relevant.

=== Alternate Builds ===
* '''Grenadier''' + '''Mayhem''' gives an additional punch to grenades.
* '''Shredder Rocket''' + '''Danger Zone''' + '''Rocketeer''' gives 3 rockets with extra blast range.
* For maximum Machinegun firepower: '''Bullet Swarm''' + '''Suppression''' + '''Rapid Reaction''' + '''Danger Zone''' + '''Mayhem'''.
* '''HEAT Ammo''' is very helpful to deal with unpleasant surprises such as Cyberdiscs and Sectopods.

==Sniper==
===Sniper Alpha (Gunslinger)===
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
! width="10%" align="center" | Rank
! width="40%" align="center" colspan="1"| Ability
! width="50%" align="center" | Gunslinger
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SQUADDIE.png|24px]]<br/>'''Squaddie'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:SNIPER HEADSHOT.png|32px|left]]'''Headshot''' <br/> Fire a shot with +30% critical chance and extra damage on critical hits based on the tech level of the sniper rifle. 2 turn cooldown.
| rowspan="7" | [[File:SniperA (EU2012).png|450px]]
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CORPORAL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Corporal'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SNIPER SNAPSHOT.png|32px|left]]'''Snap Shot''' <br/> Removes the sniper rifle's restriction on firing and Overwatch after moving. Any shots taken suffer a -20 Aim penalty.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SERGEANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Sergeant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SNIPER GUNSLINGER.png|32px|left]]'''Gunslinger''' <br/> Confers 2 bonus damage with pistols.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK LIEUTENANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Lieutenant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SNIPER DISABLINGSHOT.png|32px|left]]'''Disabling Shot''' <br/> Allows the Sniper to fire a shot that causes the target's main weapon to malfunction. The target may use Reload to fix the weapon. The shot cannot inflict a critical hit. 2 turn cooldown. -10 Aim penalty
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CAPTAIN.png|24px]]<br/>'''Captain'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SNIPER EXECUTIONER.png|32px|left]]'''Executioner''' <br/> +10% Aim against targets with less than 50% Health.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK MAJOR.png|24px]]<br/>'''Major'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:SNIPER_LOWPROFILE.png|32px|left]]'''Low Profile''' <br/> Makes partial cover count as full.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK COLONEL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Colonel'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SNIPER_ITZ.png|32px|left]]'''In The Zone''' <br/> Killing a flanked or uncovered target with the sniper rifle does not cost an action.
|}
* Sniper Alphas are mobile marksmen, designed to be experts with either the [[Sniper Rifle (EU2012)|Sniper Rifle]] or the [[Pistol (EU2012)|Pistol]].
* '''Snap Shot''' has a major Aim drawback but it can be offset by equipment or stat progression. '''Disabling Shot''' gives the Alpha an additional options to use against the aliens, specially for capturing them. '''Executioner''' turns it into a killer (and partially compensating for the '''Snap Shot''' penalty) and '''In The Zone''' can allows it to kill a dozen of enemies on a single turn.
* '''Gunslinger''' can be used together with '''Executioner''' but it can only used with '''In The Zone''' once.
* Their drawbacks are: the lack of protection/HPs when compared to other classes, which makes it challenging to use them in frontline roles; their lack of firepower at close range, despite the added damage to pistols from '''Gunslinger'''.

===Sniper Beta (Sniper)===
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
! width="10%" align="center" | Rank
! width="40%" align="center" colspan="1"| Ability
! width="50%" align="center" | Sniper
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SQUADDIE.png|24px]]<br/>'''Squaddie'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:SNIPER HEADSHOT.png|32px|left]]'''Headshot''' <br/> Fire a shot with +30% critical chance and extra damage on critical hits based on the tech level of the sniper rifle. 2 turn cooldown.
| rowspan="7" | [[File:SniperB (EU2012).png|450px]]
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CORPORAL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Corporal'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SNIPER SQUADSIGHT.png|32px|left]]'''Squad Sight''' <br/> Allows firing at targets in any ally's sight radius.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SERGEANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Sergeant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SNIPER_DGG.png|32px|left]]'''Damn Good Ground''' <br/> +10 Aim and +10 Defense against enemies at lower elevation in addition to the usual elevation bonuses.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK LIEUTENANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Lieutenant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SNIPER BATTLESCANNER.png|32px|left]]'''Battle Scanner''' <br/> Scanning device, when thrown creates a new source of vision for 2 turns. Can only be used 2 times per battle.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CAPTAIN.png|24px]]<br/>'''Captain'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SNIPER OPPORTUNIST.png|32px|left]]'''Opportunist''' <br/> Eliminates the Aim penalty on reaction shots, and allows reaction shots to cause critical hits.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK MAJOR.png|24px]]<br/>'''Major'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:SNIPER_LOWPROFILE.png|32px|left]]'''Low Profile''' <br/> Makes partial cover count as full.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK COLONEL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Colonel'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SNIPER_DOUBLETAP.png|32px|left]]'''Double Tap''' <br/> Allows both actions to be used for Standard Shot, Headshot, or Disable Shot, provided no moves were made. 1 turn cooldown.
|}
* Sniper Betas are true snipers, designed to stay afar from well chosen positions and drop targets at very long ranges.
* '''Squad Sight''' gives them the ability to fire at any place with a clear line of sight while '''Opportunist''' turns them into deadly sentries and '''Double Tap''' doubles their damage output.
* '''Battle Scanner''' can be used to recon distant areas, specially at mission start.
* Their main drawback is their lack of protection and inadequate firepower at close range.

===Alternate Builds===
* '''Gunslinger''' makes the Sniper more useful while clearing UFOs and other close range situations.
* '''Battle Scanner''' can be also used better by Snipers with '''Snap Shot''', due to their mobile role.
* '''Double Tap''' can't be used combined with '''Snap Shot''' but '''In The Zone''' can be used with '''Squad Sight'''.
* '''Opportunist''' and '''Executioner''' can be switched together, depending on personal taste.

==Support==
===Support Alpha (Medic/Scout)===
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
! width="10%" align="center" | Rank
! width="40%" align="center" colspan="1"| Ability
! width="50%" align="center" | Medic
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SQUADDIE.png|24px]]<br/>'''Squaddie'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:SUPPORT SMOKEGRENADE.png|32px|left]]'''Smoke Grenade''' <br/> Deploy a smoke grenade once per mission. The smoke confers +20 defense to all units, not just allies, and lasts during the enemy turn.
| rowspan="7" | [[File:SupportA (EU2012).png|450px]]
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CORPORAL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Corporal'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SUPPORT SPRINTER.png|32px|left]]'''Sprinter''' <br/> Allows the support to move 3 additional tiles.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SERGEANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Sergeant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SUPPORT FIELDMEDIC.png|32px|left]]'''Field Medic''' <br/> Allows medikits to be used 3 times per battle instead of once.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK LIEUTENANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Lieutenant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SUPPORT REVIVE.png|32px|left]]'''Revive''' <br/> Allows Medikits to revive critically wounded Soldiers at 33% of maximum health instead of just stabilizing them.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CAPTAIN.png|24px]]<br/>'''Captain'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SUPPORT DENSESMOKE.png|32px|left]]'''Dense Smoke''' <br/> Smoke Grenades have increased area of effect and further increase units' Defense by 20.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK MAJOR.png|24px]]<br/>'''Major'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:SUPPORT DEEPPOCKETS.png|32px|left]]'''Deep Pockets''' <br/> Confers an additional item slot in inventory.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK COLONEL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Colonel'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SUPPORT SAVIOR.png|32px|left]]'''Savior''' <br/> Medikits restore 4 more health per use.
|}
* The Alpha Support's primary role is as a medic but it can also be used as a scout, due to the '''Sprinter''' ability.
* Alphas can be used as support units, healing and providing smoke cover.
* They can also be used quite effectively as scouts, but they have less protection than other classes.

===Support Beta (Support)===
{| class="wikitable" width="100%"
|-
! width="10%" align="center" | Rank
! width="40%" align="center" colspan="1"| Ability
! width="50%" align="center" | Support
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SQUADDIE.png|24px]]<br/>'''Squaddie'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:SUPPORT SMOKEGRENADE.png|32px|left]]'''Smoke Grenade''' <br/> Deploy a smoke grenade once per mission. The smoke confers +20 defense to all units, not just allies, and lasts during the enemy turn.
| rowspan="7" | [[File:SupportB (EU2012).png|450px]]
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CORPORAL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Corporal'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SUPPORT COVERINGFIRE.png|32px|left]]'''Covering Fire''' <br/> Allows reaction shot to trigger on enemy attacks, not just movement.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK SERGEANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Sergeant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SUPPORT SMOKEMIRRORS.png|32px|left]]'''Smoke and Mirrors''' <br/> Allows 1 additional use of Smoke Grenade each mission.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK LIEUTENANT.png|24px]]<br/>'''Lieutenant'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SUPPORT RIFLESUPPRESSION.png|32px|left]]'''Rifle Suppression''' <br/> Fires a barrage that pins down a target, granting reaction fire against it and imposing a 30 penalty to aim.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK CAPTAIN.png|24px]]<br/>'''Captain'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SUPPORT COMBATDRUGS.png|32px|left]]'''Combat Drugs''' <br/> Smoke Grenades now contain powerful stimulants that grant +20 Will and +10% Critical Chance for all units in the cloud. (Also grants +20 Aim Bonus)
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK MAJOR.png|24px]]<br/>'''Major'''
| colspan="1" | [[File:SUPPORT DEEPPOCKETS.png|32px|left]]'''Deep Pockets''' <br/> Confers an additional item slot in inventory.
|- align="center"
! rowspan="1" | [[File:RANK COLONEL.png|24px]]<br/>'''Colonel'''
| width="40%" | [[File:SUPPORT SENTINEL.png|32px|left]]'''Sentinel''' <br/> Allows two reaction shots during Overwatch, instead of only one.
|}
* The Support Beta is can be used either in offensive or defensive roles, having a similar role to the Heavy Beta.
* '''Smoke and Mirrors''' and '''Combat Drugs''' give it the ability to pump up twice a squad's stats inside the smoke cloud for two rounds.
* '''Covering Fire''', '''Suppression''' and '''Sentinel''' give it more Overwatch options/shots while also allowing it to suppress an enemy.
* Its drawbacks include insuficient firepower against high level aliens plus Supports are one of the weakest human units and not built for trading shots with the aliens.

===Alternate Builds===
* Switching between '''Sprinter''' and '''Covering Fire''' on either build, between speed or Overwatch upgrade.
* Scout build: '''Sprinter''' + '''Smoke and Mirrors''' + '''Suppression''' + '''Dense Smoke''' + '''Sentinel'''.
* '''Dense Smoke''' and '''Combat Drugs''' can be switched between both builds.

==See Also==
* [[Classes (EU2012)]]
* [[Weapons (EU2012)]]
* [[Armour (EU2012)]]
* [[Equipment (EU2012)]]

[[Category: Enemy Unknown (2012)]]
[[Category: Soldiers (EU2012)]]
[[Category: Guides (EU2012)]]

Equipment (EU)

2012-02-14T14:31:10Z

FullAuto: /* See Also */

There are many different types of '''equipment''' available in [[X-COM]]. Aside from conventional weaponry, two human-based technologies (the [[Smoke Grenade]] and the [[Electro-flare]]) are available for purchase right from the start of the game, and with a little bit of research you can unlock the other two ([[Motion Scanner]] and [[Medi-Kit]]). Alien items such as the [[Mind Probe]] must first be collected, [[Research|researched]] and then [[Manufacturing|manufactured]].

==Armour==
:''Main article:'' [[Armour]]
Armour is worn by your agents to protect them against enemy fire both direct and indirect. Initially your agents will all be wearing basic kevlar plates that provide some minimal level of defense, as your technology progresses your [[soldiers]] will be able to survive significant levels of damage without injury.

==Weapons==
:''Main article:'' [[Weapons]]
Weapons are required to take on the alien threat, you initially have access to a fair range of weapons of various types, and research will give you access to both use captured alien weapons and manufacture a few of of your own.

==Portable equipment==
Small easily portable equipment provide supporting roles and functions that do not fall into the offensive or defensive equipment categories above. Except for elerium which is a collectible raw material for production, much of this equipment can be used by soldiers to assist others, reconnoiter or even gain direct control of enemy targets.

* [[Smoke Grenade]]: Provides a smoke screen to conceal your movements.
* [[Motion Scanner]]: Scans a part of the battlescape to show the whereabouts of any units which have moved in the previous (and current) round.
* [[Medi-Kit (EU)|Medi-Kit]]: Heals, revives or restores lost morale to your battle weary troops.
* [[Electro-flare]]: Lights up dark areas of the map allowing you to see further.
* [[Psi-Amp]]: A hybrid human/alien item which allows soldiers to wage psionic attacks just like the aliens.
* [[Mind Probe]]: This silver globe gives soldiers the ability to see the stats of an alien in combat.
* [[Elerium-115]]: An object that serves no purpose to soldiers on a mission but can be recovered.

==See also==
*[[Item Weight]]
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring]]
*[[Equipment (TFTD)]]
*[[Agents Equipment (Apocalypse)]]
*[[Vehicle Equipment (Apocalypse)]]

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

Equipment (EU)

2012-02-14T14:30:55Z

FullAuto: /* Portable Equipment */

There are many different types of '''equipment''' available in [[X-COM]]. Aside from conventional weaponry, two human-based technologies (the [[Smoke Grenade]] and the [[Electro-flare]]) are available for purchase right from the start of the game, and with a little bit of research you can unlock the other two ([[Motion Scanner]] and [[Medi-Kit]]). Alien items such as the [[Mind Probe]] must first be collected, [[Research|researched]] and then [[Manufacturing|manufactured]].

==Armour==
:''Main article:'' [[Armour]]
Armour is worn by your agents to protect them against enemy fire both direct and indirect. Initially your agents will all be wearing basic kevlar plates that provide some minimal level of defense, as your technology progresses your [[soldiers]] will be able to survive significant levels of damage without injury.

==Weapons==
:''Main article:'' [[Weapons]]
Weapons are required to take on the alien threat, you initially have access to a fair range of weapons of various types, and research will give you access to both use captured alien weapons and manufacture a few of of your own.

==Portable equipment==
Small easily portable equipment provide supporting roles and functions that do not fall into the offensive or defensive equipment categories above. Except for elerium which is a collectible raw material for production, much of this equipment can be used by soldiers to assist others, reconnoiter or even gain direct control of enemy targets.

* [[Smoke Grenade]]: Provides a smoke screen to conceal your movements.
* [[Motion Scanner]]: Scans a part of the battlescape to show the whereabouts of any units which have moved in the previous (and current) round.
* [[Medi-Kit (EU)|Medi-Kit]]: Heals, revives or restores lost morale to your battle weary troops.
* [[Electro-flare]]: Lights up dark areas of the map allowing you to see further.
* [[Psi-Amp]]: A hybrid human/alien item which allows soldiers to wage psionic attacks just like the aliens.
* [[Mind Probe]]: This silver globe gives soldiers the ability to see the stats of an alien in combat.
* [[Elerium-115]]: An object that serves no purpose to soldiers on a mission but can be recovered.

==See Also==
*[[Item Weight]]
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring]]
*[[Equipment (TFTD)]]
*[[Agents Equipment (Apocalypse)]]
*[[Vehicle Equipment (Apocalypse)]]

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

Equipment (EU)

2012-02-14T14:30:42Z

FullAuto: /* Portable Equipment */ disambig

There are many different types of '''equipment''' available in [[X-COM]]. Aside from conventional weaponry, two human-based technologies (the [[Smoke Grenade]] and the [[Electro-flare]]) are available for purchase right from the start of the game, and with a little bit of research you can unlock the other two ([[Motion Scanner]] and [[Medi-Kit]]). Alien items such as the [[Mind Probe]] must first be collected, [[Research|researched]] and then [[Manufacturing|manufactured]].

==Armour==
:''Main article:'' [[Armour]]
Armour is worn by your agents to protect them against enemy fire both direct and indirect. Initially your agents will all be wearing basic kevlar plates that provide some minimal level of defense, as your technology progresses your [[soldiers]] will be able to survive significant levels of damage without injury.

==Weapons==
:''Main article:'' [[Weapons]]
Weapons are required to take on the alien threat, you initially have access to a fair range of weapons of various types, and research will give you access to both use captured alien weapons and manufacture a few of of your own.

==Portable Equipment==
Small easily portable equipment provide supporting roles and functions that do not fall into the offensive or defensive equipment categories above. Except for elerium which is a collectible raw material for production, much of this equipment can be used by soldiers to assist others, reconnoiter or even gain direct control of enemy targets.

* [[Smoke Grenade]]: Provides a smoke screen to conceal your movements.
* [[Motion Scanner]]: Scans a part of the battlescape to show the whereabouts of any units which have moved in the previous (and current) round.
* [[Medi-Kit (EU)|Medi-Kit]]: Heals, revives or restores lost morale to your battle weary troops.
* [[Electro-flare]]: Lights up dark areas of the map allowing you to see further.
* [[Psi-Amp]]: A hybrid human/alien item which allows soldiers to wage psionic attacks just like the aliens.
* [[Mind Probe]]: This silver globe gives soldiers the ability to see the stats of an alien in combat.
* [[Elerium-115]]: An object that serves no purpose to soldiers on a mission but can be recovered.

==See Also==
*[[Item Weight]]
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring]]
*[[Equipment (TFTD)]]
*[[Agents Equipment (Apocalypse)]]
*[[Vehicle Equipment (Apocalypse)]]

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

Motion Scanner

2012-02-14T14:28:48Z

FullAuto: /* See Also */

[[Image:Xenomorphs.png|thumb|right|320px|"Nine meters. Seven. Six."<br />"That can't be! That's inside the room!"]]
This sophisticated device uses a variety of detectors and advanced computer algorithms to identify moving enemy units. However, it requires some practice to use effectively.

This item appears in ''[[X-COM|UFO: Enemy Unknown]]''. For the ''[[TFTD|Terror from the Deep]]'' equivalent, refer to the [[Particle Disturbance Sensor]].

== Stats ==
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS23.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs:
**25% per use.
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $34,000 for parts, 440 Engineer Hours
*Sell Price: $45,600</td></tr></table>

== Use ==
Click on the motion scanner icon on the tactical display. Select 'Use Scanner' from the menu. The Scanner display shows an arrow in the centre which is the direction the soldier is facing (North is at the top). The flashing blobs show units which have moved recently. The main use is to check for movement of units in an enclosed area - i.e. the UFO or a building or even the outside of the Skyranger before you embark after waiting the first or more turn.

The orientation is simple. It's the same as the overhead map. Top is North, then clockwise it's East, South and West. The numbers on the rings on the screen represent every tile away from you. It goes up to 8 or 9 rings, so that's a 9 tile radius. Which is coincidentally your visual range at night, so there's absolutely no point in using a motion scanner out in the open.

Using soldiers as an example, when no movement has occured, you'll get nothing on the screen.

<div align = "center"> [[Image:Mscannerex1.png]]</div>

After movement, units that have moved will register on the display. Note that the more they have to walk, the larger their blip on the screen.

<div align = "centeR" > [[Image:Mscannerex2.png]]</div>

That's it really. It's useful if you've got a wall and cannot see what's behind it. Out in the open, it's useless. The further a unit has moved, the larger a blob it will produce. Large units produce bigger blobs with less movement. Sectoids produce smaller blobs then any other unit.

== Tips ==
*Motion scanners will only pick up units that moved. [[Alien movement patterns#Guards|Enemies lying in ambush]] will be invisible.
*The motion scanner has a very short range, making it useless in open terrain: you will be in a firefight long before anything shows up on the scanner.
* It is most useful during [[UFO Ground Assault|UFO assaults]] and [[UFO Crash Recovery|recoveries]]; park a trooper beside the UFO to see where the aliens are inside.
* The scanners is useful when disembarking from the transport after waiting at least one turn.
*Use the motion scanner at the beginning of your turn, before any friendly units have moved apart from the scanner operator. This will reduce confusing "clutter" on the screen, caused by the movement of friendly units.
*Although the scanner is calibrated radially, in rings, it is also possible to read grid coordinates off the scanner. This helps greatly in exactly pinpointing enemy blips (and eliminating friendly blips). If you project at right angles from the horizontal and vertical red range indicators, to the blip, you can determine that it is e.g. "3 ahead, 5 left".
*For complicated or critical situations, it may help to sketch the scan result on paper (or graph paper). Once you dismiss the scan screen, you need to expend TUs again in order to see the scan (even if nothing has changed and no one has moved). So if you can't keep the key information in your short term memory, write it down.
*Since you can learn the exact positions of unseen enemies, you can attack their positions with grenades or other explosives, even though you have no line of sight. You will need to listen for the death cry of the alien to know if and when you have killed it.
*Or, you can attack towards their position with direct fire weapons, destroying the intervening cover and hopefully revealing the enemy into line of sight, to permit an aimed attack.
* In multi-story buildings and UFOs, soldiers on the ground level can use the scanner to check the upper levels for movement before moving any soldiers upstairs.
* In base defense, soldiers hiding in the upper levels of modules near the access lift and hangars can be used to watch alien movement into the base.
* If [[Flying Suit]]s are available, a soldier can land on the roof of a building or UFO and use the scanner to watch for movement.

== See also ==
*[[DETBLOB.DAT]]
*[[Data Canister: Motion Scanner]]

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

Motion Scanner

2012-02-14T14:28:33Z

FullAuto: /* Hints and tips */

[[Image:Xenomorphs.png|thumb|right|320px|"Nine meters. Seven. Six."<br />"That can't be! That's inside the room!"]]
This sophisticated device uses a variety of detectors and advanced computer algorithms to identify moving enemy units. However, it requires some practice to use effectively.

This item appears in ''[[X-COM|UFO: Enemy Unknown]]''. For the ''[[TFTD|Terror from the Deep]]'' equivalent, refer to the [[Particle Disturbance Sensor]].

== Stats ==
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS23.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs:
**25% per use.
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $34,000 for parts, 440 Engineer Hours
*Sell Price: $45,600</td></tr></table>

== Use ==
Click on the motion scanner icon on the tactical display. Select 'Use Scanner' from the menu. The Scanner display shows an arrow in the centre which is the direction the soldier is facing (North is at the top). The flashing blobs show units which have moved recently. The main use is to check for movement of units in an enclosed area - i.e. the UFO or a building or even the outside of the Skyranger before you embark after waiting the first or more turn.

The orientation is simple. It's the same as the overhead map. Top is North, then clockwise it's East, South and West. The numbers on the rings on the screen represent every tile away from you. It goes up to 8 or 9 rings, so that's a 9 tile radius. Which is coincidentally your visual range at night, so there's absolutely no point in using a motion scanner out in the open.

Using soldiers as an example, when no movement has occured, you'll get nothing on the screen.

<div align = "center"> [[Image:Mscannerex1.png]]</div>

After movement, units that have moved will register on the display. Note that the more they have to walk, the larger their blip on the screen.

<div align = "centeR" > [[Image:Mscannerex2.png]]</div>

That's it really. It's useful if you've got a wall and cannot see what's behind it. Out in the open, it's useless. The further a unit has moved, the larger a blob it will produce. Large units produce bigger blobs with less movement. Sectoids produce smaller blobs then any other unit.

== Tips ==
*Motion scanners will only pick up units that moved. [[Alien movement patterns#Guards|Enemies lying in ambush]] will be invisible.
*The motion scanner has a very short range, making it useless in open terrain: you will be in a firefight long before anything shows up on the scanner.
* It is most useful during [[UFO Ground Assault|UFO assaults]] and [[UFO Crash Recovery|recoveries]]; park a trooper beside the UFO to see where the aliens are inside.
* The scanners is useful when disembarking from the transport after waiting at least one turn.
*Use the motion scanner at the beginning of your turn, before any friendly units have moved apart from the scanner operator. This will reduce confusing "clutter" on the screen, caused by the movement of friendly units.
*Although the scanner is calibrated radially, in rings, it is also possible to read grid coordinates off the scanner. This helps greatly in exactly pinpointing enemy blips (and eliminating friendly blips). If you project at right angles from the horizontal and vertical red range indicators, to the blip, you can determine that it is e.g. "3 ahead, 5 left".
*For complicated or critical situations, it may help to sketch the scan result on paper (or graph paper). Once you dismiss the scan screen, you need to expend TUs again in order to see the scan (even if nothing has changed and no one has moved). So if you can't keep the key information in your short term memory, write it down.
*Since you can learn the exact positions of unseen enemies, you can attack their positions with grenades or other explosives, even though you have no line of sight. You will need to listen for the death cry of the alien to know if and when you have killed it.
*Or, you can attack towards their position with direct fire weapons, destroying the intervening cover and hopefully revealing the enemy into line of sight, to permit an aimed attack.
* In multi-story buildings and UFOs, soldiers on the ground level can use the scanner to check the upper levels for movement before moving any soldiers upstairs.
* In base defense, soldiers hiding in the upper levels of modules near the access lift and hangars can be used to watch alien movement into the base.
* If [[Flying Suit]]s are available, a soldier can land on the roof of a building or UFO and use the scanner to watch for movement.

== See Also ==
*[[DETBLOB.DAT]]
*[[Data Canister: Motion Scanner]]

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

Smoke Grenade

2012-02-14T14:27:57Z

FullAuto:

A Smoke grenade provides a portable smoke-screen that you can deploy to hide your troops. It operates the same way as a conventional grenade, but on detonation releases a medium sized dense cloud cover. The cloud will eventually thin and spread out over the course of several turns.

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

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

This item appears in ''[[X-COM|UFO: Enemy Unknown]]''. For the ''[[TFTD|Terror from the Deep]]'' equivalent, refer to the [[Dye Grenade]].

== Stats ==
[[Image:Smoke Grenade Pattern.png|right|200 px|thumb|Smoke Grenade "blast" pattern formed after initial explosion.]]
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS20.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 60 (Smoke)
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs:
**Transfer from shoulder strap to hand: 3 TU. See [[Inventory TU Table]]
**Priming: 50%
**Throwing: 25%
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $150
*Sell Price: $120</td></tr></table><br clear="all">

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

=== Night missions ===
Soldiers' [[line of sight|visual range]] at night is only 9 squares, but aliens' night-time visual range is the same day or night: 20 squares. Thus, you might be able to even the odds a bit using well-placed smoke grenades.

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

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

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

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

== Visual range ==
The smoke cloud produced by a smoke grenade provides the best screen within the first turn after detonation. The initial visibility through the cloud is 4-6 squares. Over time the smoke will spread out and cover a larger area, but by then the smoke will have grown thin and units and allies alike will be able to see much farther through the smoke than when it was a tight mass. Smoke has a variable starting effectiveness, which falls off as time passes. A good rule to know is that every turn allows the aliens (and you) to see one tile further per 3 tiles of smoke, until all the smoke particles clear.

The formula is at [[SMOKREF.DAT]]

If you take the amount of turns a given tile of smoke is due to last, divide that by three and round the result down, you have the amount of tiles worth of visibility it'll reduce. However, there is no way to tell a cloud's age just by looking at it. Typically each tile produced by a freshly detonated smoke grenade will block from one to four tiles.

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

== Hazards ==
Using smoke grenades on the battlefield can cause your own units to take [[Stun]] damage, weakening them and potentially leading to [[unconscious]]ness.

Unarmoured units will take stun damage whenever they end their turn inside a cloud of smoke. The stun damage to an unarmoured unit is 1-3 points per round. Soldiers in Power Suits or Flying Suits are immune to stun effects from smoke. Even unarmoured troops will have to spend a long time in smoke before they become unconscious, so as long as you remain aware of your soldiers' Stun levels (the narrow white bar within the Health bar), it should not present major problems.

A more serious hazard emerges from a bug in the way the game handles fire, smoke and [[Incendiary]] effects. Fire and smoke are interdependent in the game. One unintended consequence is that stun damage is done to all friendly units standing in any smoke area, every time an incendiary explosion occurs anywhere on the map. This happens instantaneously, affecting soldiers who are in smoke at the time of detonation. Therefore, be very careful in your use of IC munitions if you wish to move unarmored units through smoke, or hide them in smoke.

Unfortunately this is another major drawback that prevents smoke from fulfilling its powerful tactical potential. A few turns maneuvering through smoke, followed by an inadvertent burst of Incendiary rounds from an Auto-Cannon, is capable of knocking out half of your force. Of course this becomes less of a problem once all your troops are outfitted with heavy armour and immune to these effects.

Note - under no circumstances will enemy-controlled units take stun damage from smoke, or from incendiary action while standing in smoke. If aliens are under X-COM mind control, they will take stun damage from smoke, but never when enemy-controlled.

Note - You can use this bug to your advantage, to save the life of the soldier who first goes through the door of a medium scout. One clever solution given by forum-ites was to have some snipers stationed a bit further away from the UFO. Then one unit bursts into the UFO but is not fired upon due to mutual surprise. You then KO this scout with a stun launcher, then snipe the aliens within the UFO from out of vision range.
However, early game, you don't have access to stun launchers. However, you can have someone toss a smoke grenade, putting the interior of the UFO in smoke, then fire off some AC-IN rounds elsewhere to intentionally KO him.

== Tips ==
* Smoke will extinguish a raging fire. However, a unit on fire cannot be extinguished by smoke.
* Dropping an activated smoke grenade instead of throwing it saves TU, using 50%+2 TU instead of 75+%.
* Smoke does not travel vertically, upwards or downwards.

==See also==
[[Smoke and Fire]]<br>
[[Understanding Grenades]]<br>

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

Smoke Grenade

2012-02-14T14:27:00Z

FullAuto: /* Map Limitations */

A Smoke grenade provides a portable smoke-screen that you can deploy to hide your troops. It operates the same way as a conventional grenade, but on detonation releases a medium sized dense cloud cover. The cloud will eventually thin and spread out over the course of several turns.

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

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

This item appears in ''[[X-COM|UFO: Enemy Unknown]]''. For the ''[[TFTD|Terror from the Deep]]'' equivalent, refer to the [[Dye Grenade]].

== Stats ==
[[Image:Smoke Grenade Pattern.png|right|200 px|thumb|Smoke Grenade "blast" pattern formed after initial explosion.]]
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS20.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 60 (Smoke)
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs:
**Transfer from shoulder strap to hand: 3 TU. See [[Inventory TU Table]]
**Priming: 50%
**Throwing: 25%
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $150
*Sell Price: $120</td></tr></table><br clear="all">

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

=== Night missions ===
Soldiers' [[line of sight|visual range]] at night is only 9 squares, but aliens' night-time visual range is the same day or night: 20 squares. Thus, you might be able to even the odds a bit using well-placed smoke grenades.

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

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

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

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

== Visual Range ==
The smoke cloud produced by a smoke grenade provides the best screen within the first turn after detonation. The initial visibility through the cloud is 4-6 squares. Over time the smoke will spread out and cover a larger area, but by then the smoke will have grown thin and units and allies alike will be able to see much farther through the smoke than when it was a tight mass. Smoke has a variable starting effectiveness, which falls off as time passes. A good rule to know is that every turn allows the aliens (and you) to see one tile further per 3 tiles of smoke, until all the smoke particles clear.

The formula is at [[SMOKREF.DAT]]

If you take the amount of turns a given tile of smoke is due to last, divide that by three and round the result down, you have the amount of tiles worth of visibility it'll reduce. However, there is no way to tell a cloud's age just by looking at it. Typically each tile produced by a freshly detonated smoke grenade will block from one to four tiles.

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

== Hazards of Smoke ==
Using smoke grenades on the battlefield can cause your own units to take [[Stun]] damage, weakening them and potentially leading to [[Unconscious|Unconsciousness]].

Unarmoured units will take stun damage whenever they end their turn inside a cloud of smoke. The stun damage to an unarmoured unit is 1-3 points per round. Soldiers in Power Suits or Flying Suits are immune to stun effects from smoke. Even unarmoured troops will have to spend a long time in smoke before they become unconscious, so as long as you remain aware of your soldiers' Stun levels (the narrow white bar within the Health bar), it should not present major problems.

A more serious hazard emerges from a bug in the way the game handles fire, smoke and [[Incendiary]] effects. Fire and smoke are interdependent in the game. One unintended consequence is that stun damage is done to all friendly units standing in any smoke area, every time an incendiary explosion occurs anywhere on the map. This happens instantaneously, affecting soldiers who are in smoke at the time of detonation. Therefore, be very careful in your use of IC munitions if you wish to move unarmored units through smoke, or hide them in smoke.

Unfortunately this is another major drawback that prevents smoke from fulfilling its powerful tactical potential. A few turns maneuvering through smoke, followed by an inadvertent burst of Incendiary rounds from an Auto-Cannon, is capable of knocking out half of your force. Of course this becomes less of a problem once all your troops are outfitted with heavy armour and immune to these effects.

Note - under no circumstances will enemy-controlled units take stun damage from smoke, or from incendiary action while standing in smoke. If aliens are under X-COM mind control, they will take stun damage from smoke, but never when enemy-controlled.

Note - You can use this bug to your advantage, to save the life of the soldier who first goes through the door of a medium scout. One clever solution given by forum-ites was to have some snipers stationed a bit further away from the UFO. Then one unit bursts into the UFO but is not fired upon due to mutual surprise. You then KO this scout with a stun launcher, then snipe the aliens within the UFO from out of vision range.
However, early game, you don't have access to stun launchers. However, you can have someone toss a smoke grenade, putting the interior of the UFO in smoke, then fire off some AC-IN rounds elsewhere to intentionally KO him.

== Other Tips ==
* Smoke will extinguish a raging fire. However, a unit on fire cannot be extinguished by smoke.
* Dropping an activated smoke grenade instead of throwing it saves TU, using 50%+2 TU instead of 75+%.
* Smoke does not travel vertically, upwards or downwards.

==See Also==
[[Smoke and Fire]]<br>
[[Understanding Grenades]]<br>

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

Smoke Grenade

2012-02-14T14:26:40Z

FullAuto: /* During Night Missions */

A Smoke grenade provides a portable smoke-screen that you can deploy to hide your troops. It operates the same way as a conventional grenade, but on detonation releases a medium sized dense cloud cover. The cloud will eventually thin and spread out over the course of several turns.

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

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

This item appears in ''[[X-COM|UFO: Enemy Unknown]]''. For the ''[[TFTD|Terror from the Deep]]'' equivalent, refer to the [[Dye Grenade]].

== Stats ==
[[Image:Smoke Grenade Pattern.png|right|200 px|thumb|Smoke Grenade "blast" pattern formed after initial explosion.]]
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS20.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 60 (Smoke)
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs:
**Transfer from shoulder strap to hand: 3 TU. See [[Inventory TU Table]]
**Priming: 50%
**Throwing: 25%
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $150
*Sell Price: $120</td></tr></table><br clear="all">

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

=== Night missions ===
Soldiers' [[line of sight|visual range]] at night is only 9 squares, but aliens' night-time visual range is the same day or night: 20 squares. Thus, you might be able to even the odds a bit using well-placed smoke grenades.

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

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

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

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

== Visual Range ==
The smoke cloud produced by a smoke grenade provides the best screen within the first turn after detonation. The initial visibility through the cloud is 4-6 squares. Over time the smoke will spread out and cover a larger area, but by then the smoke will have grown thin and units and allies alike will be able to see much farther through the smoke than when it was a tight mass. Smoke has a variable starting effectiveness, which falls off as time passes. A good rule to know is that every turn allows the aliens (and you) to see one tile further per 3 tiles of smoke, until all the smoke particles clear.

The formula is at [[SMOKREF.DAT]]

If you take the amount of turns a given tile of smoke is due to last, divide that by three and round the result down, you have the amount of tiles worth of visibility it'll reduce. However, there is no way to tell a cloud's age just by looking at it. Typically each tile produced by a freshly detonated smoke grenade will block from one to four tiles.

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

== Hazards of Smoke ==
Using smoke grenades on the battlefield can cause your own units to take [[Stun]] damage, weakening them and potentially leading to [[Unconscious|Unconsciousness]].

Unarmoured units will take stun damage whenever they end their turn inside a cloud of smoke. The stun damage to an unarmoured unit is 1-3 points per round. Soldiers in Power Suits or Flying Suits are immune to stun effects from smoke. Even unarmoured troops will have to spend a long time in smoke before they become unconscious, so as long as you remain aware of your soldiers' Stun levels (the narrow white bar within the Health bar), it should not present major problems.

A more serious hazard emerges from a bug in the way the game handles fire, smoke and [[Incendiary]] effects. Fire and smoke are interdependent in the game. One unintended consequence is that stun damage is done to all friendly units standing in any smoke area, every time an incendiary explosion occurs anywhere on the map. This happens instantaneously, affecting soldiers who are in smoke at the time of detonation. Therefore, be very careful in your use of IC munitions if you wish to move unarmored units through smoke, or hide them in smoke.

Unfortunately this is another major drawback that prevents smoke from fulfilling its powerful tactical potential. A few turns maneuvering through smoke, followed by an inadvertent burst of Incendiary rounds from an Auto-Cannon, is capable of knocking out half of your force. Of course this becomes less of a problem once all your troops are outfitted with heavy armour and immune to these effects.

Note - under no circumstances will enemy-controlled units take stun damage from smoke, or from incendiary action while standing in smoke. If aliens are under X-COM mind control, they will take stun damage from smoke, but never when enemy-controlled.

Note - You can use this bug to your advantage, to save the life of the soldier who first goes through the door of a medium scout. One clever solution given by forum-ites was to have some snipers stationed a bit further away from the UFO. Then one unit bursts into the UFO but is not fired upon due to mutual surprise. You then KO this scout with a stun launcher, then snipe the aliens within the UFO from out of vision range.
However, early game, you don't have access to stun launchers. However, you can have someone toss a smoke grenade, putting the interior of the UFO in smoke, then fire off some AC-IN rounds elsewhere to intentionally KO him.

== Other Tips ==
* Smoke will extinguish a raging fire. However, a unit on fire cannot be extinguished by smoke.
* Dropping an activated smoke grenade instead of throwing it saves TU, using 50%+2 TU instead of 75+%.
* Smoke does not travel vertically, upwards or downwards.

==See Also==
[[Smoke and Fire]]<br>
[[Understanding Grenades]]<br>

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

Smoke Grenade

2012-02-14T14:26:21Z

FullAuto: /* During Base Defense */

A Smoke grenade provides a portable smoke-screen that you can deploy to hide your troops. It operates the same way as a conventional grenade, but on detonation releases a medium sized dense cloud cover. The cloud will eventually thin and spread out over the course of several turns.

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

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

This item appears in ''[[X-COM|UFO: Enemy Unknown]]''. For the ''[[TFTD|Terror from the Deep]]'' equivalent, refer to the [[Dye Grenade]].

== Stats ==
[[Image:Smoke Grenade Pattern.png|right|200 px|thumb|Smoke Grenade "blast" pattern formed after initial explosion.]]
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS20.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 60 (Smoke)
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs:
**Transfer from shoulder strap to hand: 3 TU. See [[Inventory TU Table]]
**Priming: 50%
**Throwing: 25%
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $150
*Sell Price: $120</td></tr></table><br clear="all">

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

=== During Night Missions ===
Soldiers' [[line of sight|visual range]] at night is only 9 squares, but aliens' night-time visual range is the same day or night: 20 squares. Thus, you might be able to even the odds a bit using well-placed smoke grenades.

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

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

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

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

== Visual Range ==
The smoke cloud produced by a smoke grenade provides the best screen within the first turn after detonation. The initial visibility through the cloud is 4-6 squares. Over time the smoke will spread out and cover a larger area, but by then the smoke will have grown thin and units and allies alike will be able to see much farther through the smoke than when it was a tight mass. Smoke has a variable starting effectiveness, which falls off as time passes. A good rule to know is that every turn allows the aliens (and you) to see one tile further per 3 tiles of smoke, until all the smoke particles clear.

The formula is at [[SMOKREF.DAT]]

If you take the amount of turns a given tile of smoke is due to last, divide that by three and round the result down, you have the amount of tiles worth of visibility it'll reduce. However, there is no way to tell a cloud's age just by looking at it. Typically each tile produced by a freshly detonated smoke grenade will block from one to four tiles.

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

== Hazards of Smoke ==
Using smoke grenades on the battlefield can cause your own units to take [[Stun]] damage, weakening them and potentially leading to [[Unconscious|Unconsciousness]].

Unarmoured units will take stun damage whenever they end their turn inside a cloud of smoke. The stun damage to an unarmoured unit is 1-3 points per round. Soldiers in Power Suits or Flying Suits are immune to stun effects from smoke. Even unarmoured troops will have to spend a long time in smoke before they become unconscious, so as long as you remain aware of your soldiers' Stun levels (the narrow white bar within the Health bar), it should not present major problems.

A more serious hazard emerges from a bug in the way the game handles fire, smoke and [[Incendiary]] effects. Fire and smoke are interdependent in the game. One unintended consequence is that stun damage is done to all friendly units standing in any smoke area, every time an incendiary explosion occurs anywhere on the map. This happens instantaneously, affecting soldiers who are in smoke at the time of detonation. Therefore, be very careful in your use of IC munitions if you wish to move unarmored units through smoke, or hide them in smoke.

Unfortunately this is another major drawback that prevents smoke from fulfilling its powerful tactical potential. A few turns maneuvering through smoke, followed by an inadvertent burst of Incendiary rounds from an Auto-Cannon, is capable of knocking out half of your force. Of course this becomes less of a problem once all your troops are outfitted with heavy armour and immune to these effects.

Note - under no circumstances will enemy-controlled units take stun damage from smoke, or from incendiary action while standing in smoke. If aliens are under X-COM mind control, they will take stun damage from smoke, but never when enemy-controlled.

Note - You can use this bug to your advantage, to save the life of the soldier who first goes through the door of a medium scout. One clever solution given by forum-ites was to have some snipers stationed a bit further away from the UFO. Then one unit bursts into the UFO but is not fired upon due to mutual surprise. You then KO this scout with a stun launcher, then snipe the aliens within the UFO from out of vision range.
However, early game, you don't have access to stun launchers. However, you can have someone toss a smoke grenade, putting the interior of the UFO in smoke, then fire off some AC-IN rounds elsewhere to intentionally KO him.

== Other Tips ==
* Smoke will extinguish a raging fire. However, a unit on fire cannot be extinguished by smoke.
* Dropping an activated smoke grenade instead of throwing it saves TU, using 50%+2 TU instead of 75+%.
* Smoke does not travel vertically, upwards or downwards.

==See Also==
[[Smoke and Fire]]<br>
[[Understanding Grenades]]<br>

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

Alien Grenade

2012-02-14T14:21:10Z

FullAuto: /* Tips */

The '''alien grenade''' is pretty much the ultimate grenade in the game, combining power with light weight and small size. It is the second most powerful grenade in the game next to the [[High Explosive]] but is much more convenient with its smaller size and weight, making heavy firepower the standard of all troopers instead of only a few soldiers carrying the high explosive. However, the increased firepower comes with an increased price-tag, with a single alien grenade being able to buy 49.5 standard grenades or 9.9 high explosives when sold.

Scrounge enough of these from the battlefield and you shouldn't have to manufacture any, unless your tactics always involve grenades and big explosions.

This weapon appears in ''[[X-COM|UFO: Enemy Unknown]]''. For the ''[[TFTD|Terror from the Deep]]'' equivalent, refer to the [[Sonic Pulser]].

== Stats ==
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS39.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 90 High Explosive
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs:
**Transfer from shoulder strap to hand: 3 TU. See [[Inventory TU Table]]
**Priming: 50%
**Throwing: 25%
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $6,700 for parts, 200 Engineer Hours, 2 Elerium
*Sell Price: $14,850<br>
</td></tr></table>

==Tips==
As you can end up having a lot of them it may be a good idea to sell some off.

== See also==
[[Understanding Grenades]]

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

Heavy Weapons Platforms

2012-02-14T14:20:33Z

FullAuto:

'''Heavy Weapons Platforms''', or '''HWPs''', are small unmanned tanks. They are fast, heavily-armored, and carry specialized versions of several weapon types available to your soldiers.

The five HWP types available to X-COM commanders are:
*[[Tank/Cannon]] (Available from start)
*[[Tank/Rocket Launcher]] (Available from start)
*[[Tank/Laser Cannon]] (Needs Laser Cannon research)
*[[Hovertank/Plasma]] (Needs Plasma Cannon, UFO Power Source and UFO Navigation researches)
*[[Hovertank/Launcher]] (Same as above, except it needs Fusion Ball Launcher instead of Plasma Cannon)

=== Types ===
HWPs are divided into two distinct chassis types, the standard miniature tracked tank and the hover tank.

;Tracked Chassis
[[Image:tank_body.png | left | Standard tracked tank]]
The tracked tank chassis is the weaker but more readily available and can be purchased off the market. Engineers can produce - without the aide of special materials - a replica of the tracked tank in the workshops fitted with a powerful heavy laser turret.
<br clear="all">
;Hover Chassis
[[Image:hovertank_body.png | left | Hovertank tank]]
The hovertank, a hybrid of human and alien technology, must be built. It is expensive and requires exotic resources in its manufacture, but has superior overall performance, generous layers of armour, and most importantly is able to hover in the air much like a [[Cyberdisc]].
<br clear="all">

=== Weapons ===
HWPs use turrets to fire. These turrets can turn independently of the tanks themselves. For example, if you tell a tank to fire behind itself, the turret will turn and not the tank. The turret will keep its new bearing relative to the tank until it is told to fire again. Moving the turret costs 1 [[Time Units|TU]] per directional change. The turret do not contain any optical perception sensors, so the turret can only see what the tank sees.

With the exception of the [[Tank/Laser Cannon]] and the [[Hovertank/Plasma]], you must have sufficient ammunition in your stores before loading the tank onto a transport craft.

A special allowance is made for protecting bases during attacks if you do not have ammunition available. Tanks will always be granted a full payload of ammunition. Any rounds remaining after a successful [[Base Defense|base defense]] will be added to your stores.

== Advantages ==
*Tanks are not affected by psi attacks. They cannot lose [[morale]], except by killing "friendly" units (which includes mind-controlled aliens).
*Tanks are not affected by [[stun]], nor can they receive [[Fatal Wounds|fatal wounds]]. (unlike alien tanks, which ARE affected by stun.)
*Tanks start off with fairly decent stats, except for their Reactions, which are extremely low.
**Tanks have greater Time Units than normal [[Soldiers|soldiers]] and also regenerate to full Energy every turn, which can be quite a big advantage when crossing rough or uphill terrain, making them excellent as scouts.
*Tanks have huge Health and massive armor, especially the Hovertanks. This let's them often remain unscathed from shots that would have killed a normal unarmored soldier, and Hovertanks can take more damage before being destroyed than even the best soldier wearing a Flying Suit, EXCEPT for explosive weapons, which do 4x damage to tanks.
*Tanks are counted as items, not staff. This lets them be stored in general storage instead of Living Quarters.
*When starting up a new base and fearing alien attacks, it's convenient to buy/send a couple of HWPs there on guard duty. You still need at least one soldier on duty there for a base defense though.
*A damaged tank is instantly repaired at the end of a mission.
*Other units can fire over the top of a tank without the tank getting hit in the crossfire.

* Tanks have better ammunition management than their man-portable counterpart. This significantly affects launcher type tanks like the [[Hovertank/Launcher]] and [[Tank/Rocket Launcher]].
** Tanks carry more (large) ammunition than a soldier can at one time.
** The ammo loaded in the tank does not count towards the 80 item limit.
** All of the tank's ammunition is loaded in a single magazine. Ammo is therefore automatically fed into the gun, and does not require 15TUs to reload after every shot.
*Tanks do not draw salaries. While their initial cost is large, you don't have to keep shelling out cash every month for them. Ammunition expenses take its place.
*As expensive as they are, everything is included in the cost of the tank except ammunition. You do not need to buy weapons, armor or equipment for them.
*Tanks cannot be implanted by [[Chryssalid]]s. Their bite may well destroy the tank, but at least you don't have to worry about the tank turning into a [[Zombie]]. This also means that tanks have a chance of surviving being bitten/clawed by a Chrssalid, unlike soldiers who are automatically zombified aka insta-killed in 1 hit.
*Hovertanks, like all flying units, can avoid physical attacks from melee aliens by hovering one tile above them.
*Losing a tank affects morale the same as losing a newbie - much less than the death of a soldier of somewhat similar stats, who would probably have earned a high officer [[rank]]. Despite being a significant [[economic]] loss, the destruction of a tank doesn't trigger the panic wave the fall of a Colonel would.
* Hovertank/Plasma has 255 shots, which are refilled instantly for free for every battle. .. admittedly, this might be a considered a miniscule advantage, considering the amount of heavy plasma clips that Xcom ends up scavenging from aliens, especially in the late game.

== Disadvantages ==
*Tanks cannot perform Mind Control.
*Tanks are much more expensive than [[Soldiers|soldiers]] - eg $420,000 vs $40,000. Their cost and usefulness are inverse with time. When you need them for their superior mobility and defenses you cannot easily afford them. By the time you can afford them, you will already have better alternatives. They will always remain useful as expendable scouts.
*Each tank takes up four soldiers' worth of space in the transport.
*They do not gain [[experience]] during combat.
*Tanks have very low [[reactions]]. In other words, tanks draw fire. Aliens will prefer to fire on tanks than your troops because tanks have low reaction levels.
**Many commanders consider this an advantage, however, knowing they can bring a tank in to distract the enemy from vulnerable troops. This works by making the enemy use up their remaining Time Units on a tough and expendable decoy.
*The tank's size introduces a variety of problems.
**They make bigger targets
**More damage is taken from explosives.
**They cannot pass through narrow gaps such as doorways.
**They can go up a 1 tile wide stairway (BUG), and get completely stuck upstairs, since they cannot come DOWN a 1 tile stairway.
**They can also get stuck in walls if they fall off ledges while traveling north or east.
**It's possible for a tank to be "halfway" (one square) past a wall and be visible to enemies and vulnerable to their fire, yet unable to spot those same enemies or return fire. This occurs because the tank can only see via one of its quarters. The others three quarters are blind.
* Tank versions of the various weapons are limited:
**Tanks do not have any Auto-Fire capability and their snap shots are time consuming.
**Tanks cannot re-arm during the battle.
**Though many of the weapons are very powerful, they are reduced in effectiveness thanks to the tank's own accuracy levels.
**Plasma hovertanks are poorer than Heavy Plasmas at breaching UFO inner walls, due to a 5 point power difference (see [[Destroying Terrain]] for more details).
**Normal lasers have infinite ammunition for the duration of a battle, but the [[Tank/Laser Cannon]] has a limit of 255 charges, like all HWP direct energy weapons. In practise, this hardly matters.
**Launcher tanks in general have weaker missiles. [[Tank/Rocket Launcher]]s use mid-weight rockets that sit between the small and large rockets, while [[Hovertank/Launcher]] have weaker blaster bombs that cannot breach outer UFO walls.
*Tanks cannot carry additional equipment. This means they cannot pick up loot during a hit-run-abandon mission; cannot throw smoke grenades, flares, or explosive grenades; cannot equip or use medkits...
*The aimed shots on most tanks are not worthwhile. The gain in accuracy does not nearly match the extra time units they require. This is especially true on the [[Hovertank/Plasma]].
*Once destroyed, tanks or their ammunition cannot be recovered.
*Tanks can go [[Morale#Panicking_and_Berserking|berserk]], although only by killing a large number of friendly units (including mind-controlled aliens). Although soldiers go berserk much more easily, and can potentially kill a huge number of fellow soldiers with friendly fire, a berserk HWP will scuttle your campaign by causing your game to crash! Note that HWP/Launchers do not fire their weapon or crash the game when berserk... a significant point considering that HWP/Launchers are the biggest cause of unintentional friendly fire, other than berserk and mind control.

== See also ==
*[[Field Manual: HWP]]
*[[Data Canister: HWP]]
*[[Tank Comparison]]s
* [[Submersible Weapons Systems|Submersible Weapons Systems for ''Terror from the Deep'']]

{{Equipment (UFO Defense) Navbar}}
[[Category:Heavy Weapons Platforms]]
[[Category: Tactics]]

Cydonia

2012-02-14T14:19:18Z

FullAuto:

A two part mission. Note that this is a DO OR DIE mission. If you fail or hit abort at any time, the entire campaign ends, you lose.
To have this mission available, you must research "Cydonia or Bust", and access it by launching an avenger. It'll either give the option to go to intercept or to Cydonia. The "Cydonia" button is at the top of the screen if you have an Avenger selected in the Geoscape.

=Mars: Cydonia landing=
==Briefing==
Your [[Avenger]] craft has landed in the region of Cydonia on the surface of [[Mars]]. Our information indicates that one of the pyramid constructions contains a green access lift to an underground complex. Once you have assembled all your soldiers in the lift area, continue to the next stage…

==Description==
First part is on the surface of Mars. Lots of Pyramid structures with singular windows, some with aliens inside, some empty. Only one has the entrance to the aliens HQ, the entrance being an area with glowing green floor. Now, this floor has 36 squares, or a 6x6 area. Anyhow, you can step onto that with as many people as possible, hit abort, and it'll bring them and whatever they're carrying to part 2. OR, you can just kill everything on the stage and everyone will go to part 2.

This is a night mission, so remember that the aliens can see much farther than you.

The surface is filled with many many [[Sectoid]]s and [[Cyberdisc]]s. Much Commanders and leaders methinks, as there's Psi all around. I find this mission hilarious when I shoot a Cyberdisc, it blows up, and the chain reaction kills over 5 other Cyberdiscs. Plus many many Sectoids. It then turns into Pyramid hunting.

Despite urban legends, and common sense, your soldiers do not need power armor or whatever to breathe on the surface of Mars, feel free to send them up wearing coveralls.

The easiest way to look at this mission is that it is basically a Sectoid Battleship/Base crew in a one-of-a-kind map with a choice of two different winning conditions except that the navigators, engineers, and medics are substituted with leaders and commanders.

==Alien deployment (surface)==
<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">Sectoid Soldiers</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>6</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Navigators</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Medics</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Engineers</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Leaders</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Commanders</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Cyberdiscs</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>12</td><td>16</td><td>20</td></tr>
</table><br />

==Tips==
[[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]s can follow you onto the lift and the next level if you use the [[Blaster Launcher|tools at your disposal]] to widen the doorway for them.

Plasma weapons can do the job, too.

Try to blast away the top of the pyramid with the lift with a rocket, so every alien up there is killed.

=Mars: the final assault=
==Briefing==
The pyramid lift takes your battle weary soldiers deep below the planet's surface. They arrive in the heart of a large complex of tunnels and chambers. The alien brain is hidden somewhere in the labyrinth. It must be destroyed if the earth is to be saved from alien enslavement.

==Description==
[[Image:Brain.gif|right|The Alien Brain]]Second part is almost like a [[Alien Base Assault]]. It's filled with all manner of creatures: [[Ethereal]]s, [[Sectopod]]s, [[Silacoid]]s, [[Celatid]]s, and [[Chryssalid]]s. Anyhow, you need to destroy at least one portion of a four-part [[Brain|Alien Brain]] (40 armor - pictured on the right) to win the mission (and the game). There's a whole bunch of heavily armed Ethereals defending the Brain Room. Of course, either a [[Blaster Launcher|Blaster Bomb]], or plain mind controlling one of them to shoot the Brain ends the mission easily... to be true to storyline, kill all opposition, then shoot the Brain pointblank with a Plasma-based weapon. Afterwards scramble for the lifts before the whole complex blows up (as shown in the PS movies).

This is UFO's only mixed crew mission. It's an Ethereal crew with a few extras, mainly [[Terror Units]], from the other races. This mission only really needs a Blaster Launcher, and with luck, if you locate the command theatre right away, will be over in less than a few turns. If you want to bypass the "luck" element, you can take advantage of the fact that you can see unexplored terrain by moving the cursor over it. The brain room is quite recognisable, and once you've found it, it's simple enough to send Blaster Bombs there on your first turn. (If you choose to find the Command Center the harder way ("Blaster Launchers? Bah! Too impersonal for my taste") be aware that unlike the Alien Bases there can be dead ends).

An alternate way to do the final assault avoiding the carnage of the lifts or Blaster-bombing blind is to breach through an upper Brain Room wall from an adjacent garden or storage area with 2-3 Blaster Bombs. With a hole in the dirt wall, throw smoke in front of the brain and advance an Power Suited agent to kneel in front of the Brain. During their turn one of the Ethereals will open up with an Auto shot - missing the agent - sealing the fate of the Aliens.

===PSX Cydonian base layout===
[[Image:PSX Cydonia Base.png|right|thumb|The underground Cydonia base in the Playstation version of the game.]]Unlike the PC versions of the game which have a randomly generated base, the Playstation version is always the same (see pic to the right). This has some important implications, because since you know where the brain room is, you can fire a couple Blaster Bombs and the mission will be over. <br clear="all">

==Alien deployment (underground base)==
<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">Ethereal Soldiers</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Ethereal Leaders</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Ethereal Commanders</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Chryssalids</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Silacoids</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Celatids</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectopods</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>17</td><td>24</td><td>31</td></tr>
</table><br />

As this is the first time in X-COM which has a "mixed" mission, the programmers didn't quite get the substitutions correct per se. The proper aliens and ranks show up, but substitution was used in some instances where it wasn't necessary. For instance, instead of just spawning Ethereal commanders normally, the programmers substituted commanders for the missing engineer rank and instead of spawning Ethereal soldiers normally they substituted them in lieu of commanders.<br /><br />

<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Rank Value</th>
<th>Normal Rank</th>
<th>Cydonia Rank</th></tr>
<tr><td>7</td><td>Terrorist #1</td><td>Sectopod</td></tr>
<tr><td>6</td><td>Soldier</td><td>Celatid</td></tr>
<tr><td>5</td><td>Navigator</td><td>Silacoid</td></tr>
<tr><td>4</td><td>Medic</td><td>Chryssalid</td></tr>
<tr><td>3</td><td>Engineer</td><td>Commander</td></tr>
<tr><td>2</td><td>Leader</td><td>Leader</td></tr>
<tr><td>1</td><td>Commander</td><td>Soldier</td></tr>
</table><br />

==Tips==
Go armed for bear. Bring many troops, the best weapons and best armour possible. The 80 Item Limit is perhaps your worst enemy.

The surface part of the mission is nothing special; you should however have some means of illuminating the battlefield. The [[Auto-Cannon]] with incendiary rounds (14 light sources per clip) can come in handy. Only equipment carried by your soldiers at the end of that stage will be taken into the base proper, so you maybe want to take it slowly and pick up some ammunition before killing the last alien or activating the lift. If your troops are low in energy/stamina, it is advisable to rest them a little before continuing on as well.

Underground is like any other base assault, only more so. More corridors to watch, more opponents hidden. Most enemies will take several hits to die, so when using conventional weapons you will need a great many seasoned troops. Even with the support of two or three Mind Controllers and Blaster Launchers each (Hovertanks are great as they carry 8 rounds yet count as only one item) you will need at least eight or ten men for the actual killing and may still only advance with utmost care. Also, sort out all known PSI weaklings and then some: With so many Ethereal Commanders around, you may see soldiers mind controlled who previously appeared to be absolutely safe even from panic attacks.

... and for the masochist (cough cough try this) Total loadout.... 1 [[Psi-Amp]] & 1 Soldier with no armour.
This works in every difficulty and the only way you can lose is if you get shot from an alien in its reaction, but with a soldier having 200+ time units you have plenty of time to find the first alien, control it (25 TU not a percentage!!) and find the way to the elevator or the brain.

=See also=
{{Mission Types Navbar}}
[[Category:Missions]]

Base Defence

2012-02-14T14:17:19Z

FullAuto:

==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.

"this is a fight to the death" - implies that when you hit Abandon Mission, Xcom forces decide it is better to die and take the enemy with them, rather than admit defeat, and blow the base up.

== 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 and at their top speed. They obviously do 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]], but the game is programmed to just send another on the exact same mission. (To be precise, the game does not check/remove the "Xcom Base detected, send in the battleship" flag).
It has 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 is 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...
Blowing the battleship out of the sky with Aircraft Interception ALSO seems to uncheck the Battleship assault flag, so keep that in mind.

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.

If you decide to dismantle the base while there is a battleship enroute to attack it, the battle ship will head for that base's ex-location anyhow. It will then realise it's been duped, BUT, after consulting it's alien masters, will simply head to the next closest base. In a straight line, top speed. HOWEVER, once it arrives there, it will realise that they only have the lift access codes to your old base, and will then simply hang there hovering over your base for ages and ages. In fact, this is due to the nature of the code which sends out the scouts. If successful, it sets the "aliens know where base is" flag, and applies it to the next battleship launched on a retaliation mission. This flag is only removed after a battleship actually manages to land and send troops inside your base. This flag is not removed by base defence blowing up battleships, craft blowing up battleships (I think), or, as I just mentioned, by removing that base entirely. Nor is this flag restricted to that base in particular.

== 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. And in Collector's Edition, you don't get to use the injured guys in med-bay. Even worse, if you don't have a single soldier who is fit for duty, you lose the base automatically. Yes, even if you have 10 Ace soldiers who only have 1 day of recovery remaining, 10 Hovertank Launchers and 5 Hovertank Plasma, and you managed to *almost* destroy the incoming battleship with your 6000 defence strength... you still automatically lose.

Losing or abandoning the battle means losing the base, and everything in it. Although sometimes you can still come out with a positive score for your trouble.
Any aircraft which are assigned to this base will be lost... even if they are outside the base at the time. Your Interceptor enroute for shootdown will abruptly self destruct. Your Skyranger with your best soldiers returning from a successful Alien Base Assault will crash and burn.

In battle, the odds are in your favor. You know the layout, it's fully lit (even the Hangars give 20 tiles of vision, despite visual effects to the contrary), 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 [[#Destruction Of Base Facilities|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 (plus the Alien Containment chamber) can't be collapsed.

You can recover lots of alien weapons from a successful base defense. In at least one version of the game, there is a bug where you can collect an extraordinary amount of Elerium, enough to start <i>selling</i> it.

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).

''[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 ==
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!)There can sometimes even be Base Defense mission on Veteran on the first month (I got mine on January 8th against Sectoids and i had to quit because they had psi abilties and all I had were rifles and pistols with only 4 people with laser rifles but everyone was going berserk) - 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 Medics, Leaders and Commanders.

== Destruction of base facilities ==
Excessive damage to the structure of your base can result in some [[Base Facilities (EU)|modules]] being completely destroyed, ''even if'' you win the battle.

Certain modules have "special" tiles in them, and if ''all'' of these are visibly damaged (or completely obliterated), then that module will be considered lost. Furthermore, if any other modules used the destroyed areas for passage to the access lift, they'll be forfeit as well!

Fortunately, these tiles only exist on the upper floors of your base, and the aliens make no attempt to target them. While explosions on the lower floors may damage the upper flooring, they leave the ''furnishings'' unscathed - ''even if'' the floor gives way completely, they'll still hang safely in midair. Presumably the builders had the foresight to attach them to the ceiling with wires.

For example, the [[Fusion Ball Defences]] contain eight gun arrays made up of four tiles each. All 32 of these must be destroyed in order to take out the module.

<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Module</th><th>Targets</th><th>Module</th><th>Targets</th></tr>
<tr><td>[[Grav Shield]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-gravshield.gif]]</td><td>[[Small Radar System]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-smallradar.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Hyper-wave Decoder]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-hyperwave.gif]]</td><td>[[Workshop]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-workshop.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Laboratory]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-laboratory.gif]]</td><td>[[Missile Defences]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-missile.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Large Radar System]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-largeradar.gif]]</td><td>[[Laser Defences]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-laser.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Mind Shield]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-mindshield.gif]]</td><td>[[Plasma Defences]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-plasma.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Psionic Laboratory]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-psilab.gif]]</td><td>[[Fusion Ball Defences]]</td><td>[[Image:targets-fusion.gif]]</td></tr>
</table><br />

The remaining modules - the [[Access Lift]], [[Alien Containment]], [[General Stores]], [[Hangar]] and [[Living Quarters]] - are completely indestructible, and can take any amount of damage without danger of collapse.

== 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 three 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. 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 combination of many soldiers and few spawn points, soldiers will start taking alien spawn points. Which usually means less aliens (unless you built a lot of hangars).

*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 ''

* On a related note, Xcom can only have a maximum of 40 soldiers on base defence. HWPs are prioritized and will be spawned before any soldiers. Each HWP counts as 4 soldiers. Therefore a base with 9 HWPs will only spawn 4 soldiers. Having 10 HWPs in base might cause your game to crash. (it will attempt to create the Equip Soldier screen but will face problems).

*Elerium collection from a base defence mission can only happen if elerium pods are generated in the battlescape. 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! This will only happen in earlier versions of the game.

==See also==
*[[X-Com Base Terrain]]
*[[Base Layout Strategy]]
*[[Alien Retaliation]]

{{Mission Types Navbar}}
[[Category:Missions]]
[[Category: Tactics]]

Alien Base

2012-02-14T14:15:37Z

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[[Image:Alien Base Mission.png|thumb|right|Alien Base mission type.]]Aliens will construct secret underground bases in remote locations. After some initial reconnaissance flights some intense [[UFOs|UFO]] activity will occur as the base is being built. These bases are known to contain experimental labs for human abductees, and supplies for further activity in the region. The presence of Alien bases will generate a large amount of reported Alien activity without the presence of UFOs. In order to locate a base, an [[Craft|X-COM craft]] must patrol an area for a few hours to stand some chance of detection. An [[Alien Base Assault]] will remove the threat but should never be taken lightly.

If successful the aliens will [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|score]] 50 points, and an extra 5 points per day which is eventually subtracted from your score. Alien Bases add significantly to the Alien [[score]] when they are constructed and between that and the much higher UFO activity present will have neighbouring countries in particular very agitated, possibly leading to them reducing or withdrawing funding. As such Alien Bases in key areas will need to be dealt with somehow, while Bases in remote locations might well not be so critical to target for action immediately. <br clear="all">

There is no limit to the number of alien bases that can be built, but there is a limit as to how many can exist on the globe at the same time. Only fifty Geoscape Tokens (bases, waypoints, ships, etc) that can exist on the globe at any given time, and because you have to share this space with pretty much everything that you can interact with on the Geoscape, you can only have as many Alien bases as there are unused slots.

Note: UFO flight pattern investigation has found that the base is placed as soon as the battleship arrives in the atmosphere, so if it shows, the aliens have a base.

==Locating an alien base==
Alien bases do not show up on the Geoscape by default, they are hidden until you find them. To locate one, an X-COM [[craft]] must patrol in its vicinity for a short time. Also, X-COM agents may report a base location to you at the beginning of the month, but that shouldn't be relied upon.

There are several clues that indicate the presence of an alien base:
*A large UFO performing an Alien Base mission may indicate the creation of a base, or a preliminary scouting mission. Several UFOS running alien base missions simultaneously indicate the construction of a base, and the base may be built even if you [[UFO Interception|interdict]] all of those UFOs. See: [[Alien Missions]]
*An [[Alien Supply]] mission will always land directly on top of a base; patrol the location until you find it.
*For each nation that the aliens enter a [[pact]] with, they will also build a base somewhere in that nation's region-- but not necessarily within that nation's borders.
*Check your graphs for UFO activity by region. A spike of UFO activity in a given region probably indicates the construction of a base there.
*Alien bases are numbered by generation, not by detection. If you already have destroyed 3 alien bases before discovering "alien base 5" you should continue your search to find number 4.

==Goal==
There are two ways of destroying a base:

* Destroying the contents of the room on the second floor of the Command Center renders the base destroyed for all intents of a base assault. Specifically, you must destroy all 16 sections of the 4 purple octagonal tables (normally these are UFO Navigations). A single [[Blaster Bomb]] to the upper level will usually set off a chain reaction: if you hear 16 explosions in a row, you're all set. If you abort the mission after destroying the Command Center, the mission will end and the base will be destroyed. Be sure to move all your troops onto the green tiles in the "exit areas" on the upper level. Any troops not on a green tile (including those on the red lift tiles in the exit rooms) will be counted as MIA.
It is often much easier to infiltrate the Command Center by shooting through its walls (and ceiling) than by entering it via its doors and access lift. See [[Destroying Terrain#UFO walls]] for more details.

* Kill all the aliens. This method will of course give greater rewards, but is sometimes more difficult to achieve. Especially in the case of Chryssalids, Sectopods and Cyberdisks hiding in obscure distant closets, waiting to ambush your troops as you search for the last remaining stragglers.

== Recoverable components ==
The components that can be recovered from an alien base varies, dependent on what modules are used in its layout (see [[Alien Base Terrain]]). Most of the recovery value from an alien base assault will come from recovered alien armaments. See [[UFO Recovery Values#Alien Base Assaults]] for more details.

==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>5-9</td><td>6-10</td><td>7-11</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>1</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>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</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>1-3</td><td>3-5</td><td>5-7</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>12-18</td><td>16-22</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.

==Smash and grab==
Alien bases can be a very quick and dirty (dangerous) way to get [[Elerium-115|Elerium]], using what we call the "smash and grab" mission. Raid them by seeking out the storage room with power units. Destroy the power units without using explosives, and pick up the purple Elerium canisters that were underneath. Boogie back to the entry lift, and abort the mission. You get the Elerium and the base is not destroyed. This means you can raid as often as you dare. Consider grabbing a few pieces of alien equipment on your retreat to replenish any spent equipment during the raid, and perhaps if you are lucky enough to knock out a high ranking alien, drag it back to the entrance to have it abducted.

'''Note''': Raiding the supply [[Supply ship]]s for a base rather then the base itself may be much more profitable. A base populated by docile aliens (floaters) in a convenient terrain (flat ice, flat desert) will have an easy to grab supply ships. The constant 150 - 900 elerium/month are well worth the 150 points penalty for letting the base exist.

If you want to do repeated Smash And Grabs on the same base, you must not destroy the base Control Center, and you must leave at least one alien alive in the base.

One tip is to knock out an alien, bring it somewhere safe where you can watch over it (such as the small storage rooms with the small grav-lift), then revive it with a [[Medi-Kit]]. Proceed to wipe out the rest of the aliens, but do not damage the command consoles in the command centre. As soon as the base is neutralized, initiate a recovery mission and gather as much equipment (and corpses, if you're really stretched for cash) in the green entrance pads before aborting the mission. Though this may seem time consuming, it does allow you to reap the rewards of a normal successful mission.

The mission will be counted as a technical failure, but that's nothing to worry about, as the activity points, loot and experience will tell you otherwise.

Many (or most?) alien bases will ''not'' have power units, or any Elerium. Recent research has shown that attacking a base's [[Supply ship|Supply Ships]] is likely to be more profitable (and less dangerous) than attacking the base itself, and a more reliable source of Elerium. See [[UFO Recovery Values#Alien Base Assaults]] for more details.

==Tactics==
===Camping===
Camping exploits two quirks of the game: aliens cannot fire conventional weapons up or down through lift tiles, and will fall prey to the "[[Known Bugs#Collectors Edition Blaster Bomb Bug|Vertical Waypoint Bug]]". When the aliens attempt to fire [[Blaster Bomb]]s up the lift shaft, this bug will cause the bomb to travel south, not up, keeping your troops safe on the upper level. The vertical waypont bug only exists in the "Collector's Edition" (Windows) version of X-COM; the camping strategy cannot be safely used in any other version of the game.

Note that when your starting point is in the far south of the map this is not entirely safe. The aliens have about 10-20 blaster bombs. Those are able to destroy even the earth terrain behind the base walls made of alien alloys. After two shots the alloys at the south wall of the lower level of the starting point are destroyed and the aliens begin to "dig" a new hallway. If this hallway reaches the edge of the map the blaster bombs following will fly off the map and then reappear on their next waypoint, which is located on the unit blocking the north west tile of the elevator. The result is obviously the death of almost all of your units in that area and the destruction of any items located there. If your other starting point is for some reason not suitable for camping (for example because no aliens are passing it or being located in the far south, too) abort the mission and try again.

To use the camping strategy, have all your troops retreat to the upper level of the access lifts (the green-tiled rooms). Position a soldier on each square of the lift on the upper level so aliens cannot use the lift to come up (this requires a minimum of eight [[soldiers]] or two [[HWP]]s). The simplest thing to do is then wait until turn 20+, when all the aliens will exit their own encampments and mass on the lift squares below you. You can then shoot them. To reduce the chance of your troops accidentally shooting each other, have them only shoot at aliens located directly beneath them.

Camping tactics can also be used on other lifts found within an alien base, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Rooms which have only one entrance (including the control room) are best, as you do not have to guard your back. However, these rooms are dangerous to approach and clear of aliens in the first place.

Camping cannot be used in [[Sectoid]] or [[Ethereal]] bases unless your troops have extremely high [[Psionic Strength]] and are able to completely withstand [[Psionic]] attacks (especially [[Mind Control]]).

==== Camp and scout ====
Instead of waiting, you can also choose to send a scout down the lift every turn. Have the scout turn in place to survey the immediate area; if any aliens are spotted, you can send other troops down to shoot or grenade them. Depending on how many [[TUs]] the alien(s) have left, your scout may get fired upon when descending the lift, or the other soldiers when firing upon the aliens. Dropping a [[Smoke Grenade]] in the center of the lower lift room can reduce the number of aliens that can see your troops while they scout.

If the coast is clear, you may wish to have soldiers retrieve nearby corpses or alien gear, so as to prevent them from being destroyed if a Blaster Bomb is set off in the room. You may come under fire from aliens that were not initially visible, however, and it is easy to miscalculate how many TUs are needed to retrieve items and return to the upper room.

==== Camp and grab ====
After killing several aliens, most of the surviving aliens will panic. If you wish to use camper tactics during a "Smash and Grab" mission, it is easy to approach one of these survivors, stun him, drag him up the lift and use a [[Medi-Kit]] to revive him (don't use a [[Terror Units|Terror Unit]], as they have in-built weapons). You can then kill any remaining aliens you see and collect Elerium and whatever other goodies you wish.

==== Farming ====
All of the above leads to the conclusion that alien bases can be used for farming to pursue several goals: Collecting aliens, weaponry or ammunition, earning money, getting elerium, improving the monthly rating or for training soldiers (especially psionics).
As mentioned above [[Sectoid]] or [[Ethereal]] bases are not suitable.
Since [[Chryssalid]]s are both annoying and dangerous, [[Snakeman]] bases should be avoided.
This leaves [[Floater]] and [[Muton]] bases.
Since Mutons are very vulnerable to [[Psionic]] attacks they should be preferred.
They have another vital advantage: Since Mutons do not have leaders or [[Commander (Alien Rank)|Commanders]] there will be no units spawning with [[Blaster Launcher]]s in the command center. This ensures the aliens will not destroy their base (and your precious farming ground with it) by themselves.
Additionally, Muton bases are home to [[Silacoid]]s, which are tailor-made for [[Silacoid#Reactions_Training|Reactions training]].

Another point to consider is the location of the base on the [[Geoscape]]. One could easily think this is not important, but it is in fact. [[Alien Supply]] missions are ALWAYS within the same time window of the day. This means that raiding [[Supply ship|Supply Ships]] and getting all the weaponry and 150 units of [[Elerium]] from them is much easier when the base is located in an area where this time of the day brings daylight.
For [[UFO Ground Assault|UFO ground assaults]] the third factor is the kind of [[Terrain]] the base has been built in.

Conclusion: The perfect alien base for farming is:

- A [[Muton]] base

- Located in the area east of Germany and west of or in New Zealand (in this area anywhere between Arctic and Antarctic)

- Located in an area of your favourite [[Terrain]] for ground combat

If you plan to raid the landing Supply Ships, [[Floater]] and [[Snakeman]] bases will be perfectly fine, since you do not have to worry about terror units.

=== Mind control ===

Once you have a large number of psi-talented troops, it is easy to win all combats with ease: Mind Control one alien, have it seek out others, then Mind Control any aliens it spots, and have them explore further. Disarm them, then line them up for slaughter.

==Notes==
*Somebody turned the lights out. Alien bases are dim, but your soldiers can still see pretty far without electroflares.
*Remember those [[Proximity Grenade]]s; you can't guard every intersection. (unfortunatly, a Chryssalid will almost unfailingly get blown up, shrug it off, and run up to perform its zombifying ways on your troops)
*The alien base will be staffed by the same race of aliens that ran the "alien base" or "alien infiltration" UFO mission that set the base up, and the aliens that run the "alien supply" missions to that base. See [[Alien Missions]] for more detail. They will have their associated terror units there.
*Alien bases populated with Snakemen deserve special caution. The high mobility of the [[Chryssalid]] makes it especially dangerous here -- it can run around three corners and still have enough time to infect your troops.
*The Alien Base Commander and a couple leaders will usually -- but not always -- be hanging around the Control Center. Expect some of them to have blaster launchers in the mid-to-late missions.
*Alien Engineers hang out around the Storage Loft sections. Many of them will be armed with blasters as well.
*Don't linger long in the rooms beneath the access lifts, and stay spread out at all times. There WILL be aliens with blaster bombs here, and they will be happy to use them on any clusters of your troops.
*If you are trying to capture a [[Commander]], be aware that before entering the inner door of the command center, if the commander and leaders are not killed or incapacitated before the end of the turn where the door is opened, they may fire their blaster launchers and kill themselves accidentally. Or, worse, they might fire their blaster launchers CORRECTLY, and kill off your entire squad.
*Also be aware that bases staffed by [[Muton]]s will never have a Commander; Mutons can only be Soldiers, Engineers, or Navigators. Just like the Battleship, you still have to contend with Engineers and Navigators armed with Blaster Launchers, though.
*Feel free to throw explosives around to open up the terrain, especially in those garden areas. It's your enemy's base, after all.

==See also==
[[Alien Base Terrain]]

{{Mission Types Navbar}}

{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Missions]]
[[Category:Tactics]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Alien Infiltration

2012-02-14T14:11:48Z

FullAuto:

[[Image:Alien Infiltration.png|thumb|right|Alien Infiltration research topic and mission.]]
This Alien mission represents the worst threat to X-COM. Earth governments can be infiltrated by Alien agents which are Human in appearance. This can result in official contact between Aliens and governments at the highest level. The climax of this activity is characterised by intense [[UFOs|UFO]] activity in the vicinity of major cities. The aliens will attempt to sign a [[pact]] with an earth government by offering knowledge of their superior technology. In return, the government will allow the Aliens to conduct their activity unhindered.

If a government agrees to a pact then its funding will cease. If successful, the aliens will [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|score]] 150 points, and an alien base will also be constructed which generates daily activity points, which are eventually subtracted from your score.

Initially, several Scouts will perform investigations prior to the main infiltration attempt.

According to the GameFAQs user IRS in the thread [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/199362-x-com-ufo-defense/49304840?page=1], it is possible to entirely stop an infiltration attempt if you manage to prevent every single Infiltration Scout from reaching the target country's soil. This means they must either be destroyed or shot down outside the country's borders. --[[User:Siegfried667|Siegfried667]] 07:16, 26 May 2010 (EDT)

In the main Infiltration wave, A Large Scout will appear, followed by a Terror Ship, Supply Ship and two Battleships. It has been shown that shooting down any of these craft before they slow down will delay the next craft by a couple of days; if the craft are ignored even for a short while, long enough to slow down, the sequence proceeds extremely quickly.
It has been conclusively shown that shooting down the UFOs or [[UFO Ground Assault|assaulting the landed ships]] will NOT stop the infiltration from succeeding. Shooting down the earlier ships will delay, but not entirely stop the 2nd Battleship. The moment the second battleship appears in Earth's atmosphere, the infiltration is successful and complete.

When a country is successfully infiltrated, an alien base will be instantly created in or near the country. Always search for the alien base after the second Battleship. And once you know that the base is there, you have several options available to you.

==See also==
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Alien Infiltration

2012-02-14T14:11:18Z

FullAuto:

[[Image:Alien Infiltration.png|thumb|right|Alien Infiltration research topic and mission.]]
This Alien mission represents the worst threat to X-COM. Earth governments can be infiltrated by Alien agents which are Human in appearance. This can result in official contact between Aliens and governments at the highest level. The climax of this activity is characterised by intense [[UFOs|UFO]] activity in the vicinity of major cities. The aliens will attempt to sign a [[pact]] with an earth government by offering knowledge of their superior technology. In return, the government will allow the Aliens to conduct their activity unhindered.

If a government agrees to a pact then its funding will cease. If successful, the aliens will [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|score]] 150 points, and an alien base will also be constructed which generates daily activity points, which are eventually subtracted from your score.

Initially, several Scouts will perform investigations prior to the main infiltration attempt.

According to the GameFAQs user IRS in the thread [http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/199362-x-com-ufo-defense/49304840?page=1], it is possible to entirely stop an infiltration attempt if you manage to prevent every single Infiltration Scout from reaching the target country's soil. This means they must either be destroyed or shot down outside the country's borders. --[[User:Siegfried667|Siegfried667]] 07:16, 26 May 2010 (EDT)

In the main Infiltration wave, A Large Scout will appear, followed by a Terror Ship, Supply Ship and two Battleships. It has been shown that shooting down any of these craft before they slow down will delay the next craft by a couple of days; if the craft are ignored even for a short while, long enough to slow down, the sequence proceeds extremely quickly.
It has been conclusively shown that shooting down the UFOs or [[UFO Ground Assault|assaulting the landed ships]] will NOT stop the infiltration from succeeding. Shooting down the earlier ships will delay, but not entirely stop the 2nd Battleship. The moment the 2nd battleship appears in Earth's atmosphere, the infiltration is successful and complete.

When a country is successfully infiltrated, an alien base will be instantly created in or near the country. Always search for the alien base after the 2nd Battleship. And once you know that the base is there, you have several options available to you...

==See also==
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Alien Abduction

2012-02-14T14:10:53Z

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[[Image:Alien Abduction.png|thumb|right|Alien Abduction research topic and mission.]]
This is the most insidious form of Alien activity. The abduction by Aliens is widely reported, despite the Aliens' attempts to erase the experience from their victims' memories. Abductees report being subject to humiliating physical examinations, including impregnation of alien foetuses and bizarre genetic experiments. The purpose behind this activity appears to be linked to genetic mutation and manipulation of the Aliens own genetic material. This activity causes great alarm, and occurs in populated areas or cities.

If successful the aliens will [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|score]] 50 points, which is eventually subtracted from your score.

==See also==
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Alien Harvest

2012-02-14T14:10:38Z

FullAuto:

[[Image:Alien Harvest.png|thumb|right|Alien Harvest research topic and mission.]]
The Aliens have many uses for Earth's fauna. Animals are abducted secretly, and returned with various organs removed. Cattle mutilations are predominantly reported along with [[UFOs|UFO]] sightings. This type of Alien activity causes great concern by governments and considerable anxiety amongst the population. This type of activity occurs mainly in farming land. The theory behind the 'Alien Harvest' suggests that Alien races originally "seeded" the planet with its flora and fauna, and now they have returned to reap the harvest they have sown.

If successful the aliens will [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|score]] 30 points, which is eventually subtracted from your score.

==See also==
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Alien Research

2012-02-14T14:10:26Z

FullAuto:

[[Image:Alien Research.png|thumb|right|Alien Research mission type.]]The Alien research mission is used for collecting basic data on Earth and its inhabitants. Small vehicles are predominantly used, with occasional landings in deserted areas. This type of Alien activity poses the least threat to X-COM, with little concern from governments or the public.

Aliens do not directly [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|score]] for this mission.

==See also==
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Cydonia or Bust

2012-02-14T14:10:13Z

FullAuto:

[[Image:Cydonia or Bust.png|thumb|right|Cydonia or Bust research topic.]]
It is now clear that the Alien hordes are being controlled from an underground base in [[Cydonia]] - which is an unusual area of Mars featuring five-sided pyramids and a large formation resembling a human face. Cydonian civilisation once flourished on Mars many millions of years ago, but we do not know why it died out, or what the connection is with the latest Alien activity there. Whatever the explanation, we must send an expedition to Cydonia. This is the only way that we can defeat the aliens. We must destroy the controlling master 'Brain'. We will need an [[Avenger]] craft equipped with the most awesome destructive power at our disposal. There is nothing more we can learn here - we must await the outcome of the Cydonian assault.

==Notes==
This research item becomes available after first researching [[The Martian Solution]], ''then'' interrogating a live [[Commander (Alien Rank)|Alien Commander]]. Any Commanders "researched" prior to coming up with the Martian Solution will not contribute to the availability of the Cydonia project.

==See also==
*[[Cydonia]]<br />

{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

The Martian Solution

2012-02-14T14:09:58Z

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[[Image:The Martian Solution.png|thumb|right|The Martian Solution research topic.]]
Our research now points to Mars as the base of Alien operations. The base is well hidden, and contains all the manufacturing and cloning facilities to fuel the infiltration of earth. It also seems to contain a controlling computer of some kind that controls the whole operation. It seems that the hive-like Alien society has some kind of 'Queen Bee'. This is their fundamental weakness - if we can eliminate the 'Brain' then the body will die. We must step up our [[Research|research]] efforts before it is too late. In order to progress we must capture the highest ranking Aliens - the [[Commander (Alien_Rank)|Commanders]] - which only reside in [[Alien Base Assault|Alien Bases]].

==Notes==
This research item becomes available after first researching [[Alien Origins]], ''then'' interrogating a live [[Leader (Alien Rank)|Alien Leader]]. Any Leaders "researched" prior to determining the Alien Origins will not contribute to the availability of the Solution project.

Note that the last sentence of the official in-game description suggests that commanders can only be captured from alien bases. This is not correct as they also appear as part of a [[Battleship]] or even a base invasion crew. The game makes no distinction where the commanders are captured so any one can be used.

This is advantageous if you feel more comfortable capturing a Commander from a Battleship than from a base.

==See also==
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Alien Origins

2012-02-14T14:09:41Z

FullAuto:

[[Image:Alien Origins.png|thumb|right|Alien Origins research topic.]]
It is clear that we are fighting a losing battle on Earth. The Alien hordes are overwhelming in number. The best we can do is slow down their progress. The only hope for humanity is to tackle the aliens at their source. Our research seems to indicate a nearby base of operations within our solar system. Aliens indicate this place to be the centre of an ancient civilisation that pre-dates Human history. We must locate this place as soon as possible. However we need to capture and interrogate an [[Leader (Alien_Rank)|Alien Leader]] to gain more detailed information. The larger [[UFOs]] probably contain at least one Alien Leader.

==Notes==
This research item becomes available after first interrogating any live alien.

==See also==
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Alien Appearance Ratios

2012-02-14T14:09:27Z

FullAuto: /* See Also */

{| {{StdTable}} border = "1"
|-
! Colspan = "6" {{StdDescTable Heading}} align = "left" | December (1998) - January
|- {{StdTable Sub Heading}}
| Mission/Race
| [[Sectoid]]
| [[Snakeman]]
| [[Ethereal]]
| [[Muton]]
| [[Floater]]
|-
| [[Alien Research]]
| 70%
| 10%
| -
| -
| 20%
|-
| [[Alien Harvest]]
| 50%
| 20%
| -
| -
| 30%
|-
| [[Alien Abduction]]
| 60%
| -
| -
| -
| 40%
|-
| [[Alien Infiltration]]
| 60%
| 20%
| -
| -
| 20%
|-
| [[Alien Base]]
| 30%
| 20%
| -
| -
| 50%
|-
| [[Alien Terror]]
| 30%
| -
| -
| -
| 70%
|-
| [[Alien Retaliation]]
| 60%
| 20%
| -
| -
| 20%
|}

{| {{StdTable}} border = "1"
|-
! Colspan = "6" {{StdDescTable Heading}} align = "left" | February - March
|- {{StdTable Sub Heading}}
| Mission/Race
| [[Sectoid]]
| [[Snakeman]]
| [[Ethereal]]
| [[Muton]]
| [[Floater]]
|-
| [[Alien Research]]
| 60%
| 10%
| -
| -
| 30%
|-
| [[Alien Harvest]]
| 50%
| -
| -
| -
| 50%
|-
| [[Alien Abduction]]
| 40%
| -
| -
| -
| 60%
|-
| [[Alien Infiltration]]
| 50%
| 20%
| -
| -
| 30%
|-
| [[Alien Base]]
| 40%
| 20%
| -
| -
| 40%
|-
| [[Alien Terror]]
| 60%
| -
| -
| -
| 40%
|-
| [[Alien Retaliation]]
| 30%
| 30%
| -
| -
| 40%
|}

{| {{StdTable}} border = "1"
|-
! Colspan = "6" {{StdDescTable Heading}} align = "left" | April - May
|- {{StdTable Sub Heading}}
| Mission/Race
| [[Sectoid]]
| [[Snakeman]]
| [[Ethereal]]
| [[Muton]]
| [[Floater]]
|-
| [[Alien Research]]
| 30%
| 10%
| -
| 30%
| 30%
|-
| [[Alien Harvest]]
| 30%
| -
| -
| 30%
| 40%
|-
| [[Alien Abduction]]
| 50%
| -
| -
| -
| 50%
|-
| [[Alien Infiltration]]
| 20%
| 20%
| -
| 50%
| 10%
|-
| [[Alien Base]]
| 10%
| 40%
| -
| 30%
| 20%
|-
| [[Alien Terror]]
| 20%
| 60%
| -
| -
| 20%
|-
| [[Alien Retaliation]]
| 20%
| 20%
| -
| 40%
| 20%
|}

{| {{StdTable}} border = "1"
|-
! Colspan = "6" {{StdDescTable Heading}} align = "left" | June - July
|- {{StdTable Sub Heading}}
| Mission/Race
| [[Sectoid]]
| [[Snakeman]]
| [[Ethereal]]
| [[Muton]]
| [[Floater]]
|-
| [[Alien Research]]
| 20%
| 10%
| -
| 40%
| 30%
|-
| [[Alien Harvest]]
| 10%
| -
| -
| 40%
| 50%
|-
| [[Alien Abduction]]
| 30%
| -
| -
| -
| 70%
|-
| [[Alien Infiltration]]
| 10%
| 10%
| 40%
| 30%
| 10%
|-
| [[Alien Base]]
| 10%
| 40%
| 10%
| 20%
| 20%
|-
| [[Alien Terror]]
| 10%
| 20%
| 40%
| 20%
| 10%
|-
| [[Alien Retaliation]]
| 20%
| 20%
| 20%
| 20%
| 20%
|}

{| {{StdTable}} border = "1"
|-
! Colspan = "6" {{StdDescTable Heading}} align = "left" | August and Beyond
|- {{StdTable Sub Heading}}
| Mission/Race
| [[Sectoid]]
| [[Snakeman]]
| [[Ethereal]]
| [[Muton]]
| [[Floater]]
|-
| [[Alien Research]]
| 30%
| 10%
| -
| 30%
| 30%
|-
| [[Alien Harvest]]
| 30%
| -
| -
| 30%
| 40%
|-
| [[Alien Abduction]]
| 50%
| -
| -
| -
| 50%
|-
| [[Alien Infiltration]]
| 20%
| 20%
| 10%
| 40%
| 10%
|-
| [[Alien Base]]
| 10%
| 20%
| 40%
| 20%
| 10%
|-
| [[Alien Terror]]
| 20%
| 30%
| 20%
| 20%
| 10%
|-
| [[Alien Retaliation]]
| 10%
| 10%
| 40%
| 20%
| 20%
|}

<noinclude>
== Notes ==

* The first appearance rate block includes December 1998, however the game starts in January 1999. It is included because the tables cover 2 month blocks.

* All months beyond August 1999 use the August table.

* All values listed above are interpreted off probability tables obtained directly from [[GEOSCAPE.EXE]].

* The crew of already established [[Alien Base|Alien Bases]], ships on [[Alien Supply]] missions, and [[Alien Terror|Terror Sites]] will be crewed by the same crew that founded the base or terror site, and are not affected by these tables.

* The [[Cydonia]] mission has a pre-defined crew setup.

== See also ==
{{Aliens Navbar}}

{{Alien Missions Navbar}}

[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Data tables]]
</noinclude>

Cyberdisc

2012-02-14T14:08:53Z

FullAuto: /* Autopsy */

[[Image:cyberdisc.gif|right|Cyberdisc]]
'''Cyberdiscs''' are an alien [[Terror Units|terror unit]] accompanying [[Sectoid]]s. As with all terror units, they can be encountered on [[Terror Mission]]s, [[Base Defense]], with a [[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]], [[Alien Base Assault]]s and finally in [[Cydonia]].

The Cyberdisc's only means of attack is its plasma beam doing an impressive 130HP damage. The Cyberdisc has another characteristic which makes it rather deadly, and that is, it can explode upon death with an average GZ strength of 120 and damage radius of 7 (diameter 15). Upon targeting a Cyberdisc, be wary of this blast radius as your soldiers, or perhaps a wandering [[Civilian]], could find themselves in a world of hurts.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 62-71
'''Health:''' 120
'''Energy:''' 90-104
'''Reactions:''' 64-79
'''Strength:''' 90-97
'''Bravery:''' 110
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 30-70
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' N/A
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 100-116

'''Damage:''' 130
'''TUs-'''
'''Snap:''' 30% (Accuracy 75%)
'''Aimed:''' 60% (Accuracy 110%)

==Live specimen==
( Note: it is not possible to capture one, the only way to get this report is to get it from a captured [[medic]].)
This miniature flying saucer is an automated terror weapon armed with a powerful plasma beam. The anti-grav propulsion gives it a big advantage in difficult terrain. Its primary function is destruction and terror in the service of the [[Sectoid]] race.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:cyberdiscautopsy.gif|right|Cyberdisc - Autopsy]]
The Cyberdisc is well shielded and is particularly good at withstanding explosive ammunition. The primary anti-gravity system is too badly damaged to gain any understanding of its functioning.

Note: you may have difficulty getting an intact corpse because of its explosive nature. Shoot the Cyberdisc to kill it when its one level above the ground, it drops down to ground level, hits the ground and becomes a corpse, THEN the explosion goes off where it was just hovering: ie: at one level off the ground. Guaranteed works if corpse falls flat. Or you could just stun it with a Stun Rod and bypass the explosive characteristic altogether (Stun Bombs set off the self-destruct).

Another way to get a cyberdisc corpse is to shoot it with an explosive weapon, or get lucky with a grenade, to kill it. This negates the usual explosion and keeps the corpse since it was there AFTER the explosion.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Cyberdisc:
* The Cyberdisc takes 0.8x damage from armour-piercing weapons.
* It takes 0.6x damage from high explosives.
* It has a flat profile (smaller than a Sectoid), making for a harder target (per square).
* Takes up 4 squares on the battlescape.
* Is the Sectoid's equivalent of a HWP. It has very high health, [[Psionic Strength]], and bravery, making it tough to disable.
* Unlike human HWPs, it has very high reactions and firing accuracy. This, combined with its powerful plasma shot, make it capable of one-hit killing many targets.
* Can attack up to 3 times in one turn. It fires with such frequency that many commanders have mistaken it for an auto-shot. If a one-hit kill fails, 3 hits from this has a VERY good chance of killing.
*On any mission where the Sectoids have their Cyberdisc terror unit, they will also have a Leader capable of [[Psionics]].
**However, not all missions with Sectoid Psionics will have Cyberdiscs.
* Take this hovering manhole cover down with (in this order): High Explosive packs, Laser Rifles, Heavy Rockets, Tank Rockets, Heavy Lasers, Alien Grenades, Laser Pistols, or Tank Cannon. Heavy Cannon (AP only) can be used but you will need the massed fire of half a full squad for a whole turn to bring down just one disc. Forget standard Rifles or Pistols - they're just too tough. HE rounds (Heavy Cannon or Auto Cannon) and regular Grenades (even Proximity mines) are almost totally ineffective. Of course, once you have Plasma weapons, things start to look up.
* If two Cyberdiscs are close together, the self-destruct explosion from one may be enough to bring down the second. Mutually Assured Destruction (or MAD for short) is a great way to kill these creatures without using advanced weaponry. If you have psionics, MC one quarter of the unit then send it within line of sight of the closest Sectoid. Usually the Sectoid will reaction fire and kill the Cyberdisc and the resulting explosion will kill the Sectoid too. Even the act of firing on the Cyberdisc with its own weapon may precipitate reaction fire from nearby Sectoids, thus assuring that if the initial shot didn't do enough damage to kill, the reaction fire should.
* Although they cannot be captured, Cyberdiscs take damage from [[Stun Rod]]s and [[Stun Bomb]]s and will not explode if they are finished by one. This is very useful if a Cyberdisc spawns in the small storage room (1st floor right north of the central lift) on a battleship ground assault mission or a Terror Ship (the overlooks on L1 are notorious for this). What otherwise might make it necessary to sacrifice some soldiers to kill it, this at least gives your men a chance. In fact, out of the starting weapons, the Stun Rod is the most effective vs Cyberdiscs - if you can get close enough.
* Because of its large size, Cyberdiscs take roughly quadruple damage from explosive weapons; rather, they take damage once for every segment caught in the blast. This is another way to take down stuck or camping Cyberdiscs without losing men. But because of their strong armour and high resistance to HE, this is only effective with very powerful explosives (Blaster Bomb, HE Pack, Heavy Rocket, Alien Grenade).
* You might try fighting armoured vehicles with armoured vehicles.
**Standard Cannon tanks have limited effectiveness against Cyberdiscs (midway between Heavy Rockets and HC-AP), but have the ammo to keep slugging away for a relatively long time.
**Rocket-armed tanks are initally more effective, but very soon run out of ammo. And 4 soldiers with Rocket launchers are about 4 times as destructive as the Rocket tank (though with limited ammo the soldiers will likely run out of ammo twice as quickly even than the tank).
**Laser tanks are even better - but 4 soldiers with Laser Rifles are about 3 times as destructive as one Laser tank.
**Unfortunately, until you get the more heavily armoured and better gunned hovertanks, using tanks against Cyberdiscs is improvisation, not a battle-winning tactic.

==See also==
*[[Bio-Drone]]
*[[Mind Control#Mind controlling 4-square units - a bug|Problems with mind control]]

{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Cyberdisc

2012-02-14T14:08:16Z

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[[Image:cyberdisc.gif|right|Cyberdisc]]
'''Cyberdiscs''' are an alien [[Terror Units|terror unit]] accompanying [[Sectoid]]s. As with all terror units, they can be encountered on [[Terror Mission]]s, [[Base Defense]], with a [[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]], [[Alien Base Assault]]s and finally in [[Cydonia]].

The Cyberdisc's only means of attack is its plasma beam doing an impressive 130HP damage. The Cyberdisc has another characteristic which makes it rather deadly, and that is, it can explode upon death with an average GZ strength of 120 and damage radius of 7 (diameter 15). Upon targeting a Cyberdisc, be wary of this blast radius as your soldiers, or perhaps a wandering [[Civilian]], could find themselves in a world of hurts.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 62-71
'''Health:''' 120
'''Energy:''' 90-104
'''Reactions:''' 64-79
'''Strength:''' 90-97
'''Bravery:''' 110
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 30-70
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' N/A
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 100-116

'''Damage:''' 130
'''TUs-'''
'''Snap:''' 30% (Accuracy 75%)
'''Aimed:''' 60% (Accuracy 110%)

==Live specimen==
( Note: it is not possible to capture one, the only way to get this report is to get it from a captured [[medic]].)
This miniature flying saucer is an automated terror weapon armed with a powerful plasma beam. The anti-grav propulsion gives it a big advantage in difficult terrain. Its primary function is destruction and terror in the service of the [[Sectoid]] race.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:cyberdiscautopsy.gif|right|Cyberdisc - Autopsy]]
The Cyberdisc is well shielded and is particularly good at withstanding explosive ammunition. The primary anti-gravity system is too badly damaged to gain any understanding of its functioning.

Note: you may have difficulty getting an intact corpse because of its explosive nature. Shoot the Cyberdisc to kill it when its one level above the ground, it drops down to ground level, hits the ground and becomes a corpse, THEN the explosion goes off where it was just hovering: ie: at one level off the ground. Guaranteed works if corpse falls flat. Or you could just stun it with a Stun Rod and bypass the explosive characteristic altogether (Stun Bombs set off the self-destruct).<br clear="all"> Another way to get a cyberdisc corpse is to shoot it with an explosive weapon, or get lucky with a grenade, to kill it. This negates the usual explosion and keeps the corpse since it was there AFTER the explosion.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Cyberdisc:
* The Cyberdisc takes 0.8x damage from armour-piercing weapons.
* It takes 0.6x damage from high explosives.
* It has a flat profile (smaller than a Sectoid), making for a harder target (per square).
* Takes up 4 squares on the battlescape.
* Is the Sectoid's equivalent of a HWP. It has very high health, [[Psionic Strength]], and bravery, making it tough to disable.
* Unlike human HWPs, it has very high reactions and firing accuracy. This, combined with its powerful plasma shot, make it capable of one-hit killing many targets.
* Can attack up to 3 times in one turn. It fires with such frequency that many commanders have mistaken it for an auto-shot. If a one-hit kill fails, 3 hits from this has a VERY good chance of killing.
*On any mission where the Sectoids have their Cyberdisc terror unit, they will also have a Leader capable of [[Psionics]].
**However, not all missions with Sectoid Psionics will have Cyberdiscs.
* Take this hovering manhole cover down with (in this order): High Explosive packs, Laser Rifles, Heavy Rockets, Tank Rockets, Heavy Lasers, Alien Grenades, Laser Pistols, or Tank Cannon. Heavy Cannon (AP only) can be used but you will need the massed fire of half a full squad for a whole turn to bring down just one disc. Forget standard Rifles or Pistols - they're just too tough. HE rounds (Heavy Cannon or Auto Cannon) and regular Grenades (even Proximity mines) are almost totally ineffective. Of course, once you have Plasma weapons, things start to look up.
* If two Cyberdiscs are close together, the self-destruct explosion from one may be enough to bring down the second. Mutually Assured Destruction (or MAD for short) is a great way to kill these creatures without using advanced weaponry. If you have psionics, MC one quarter of the unit then send it within line of sight of the closest Sectoid. Usually the Sectoid will reaction fire and kill the Cyberdisc and the resulting explosion will kill the Sectoid too. Even the act of firing on the Cyberdisc with its own weapon may precipitate reaction fire from nearby Sectoids, thus assuring that if the initial shot didn't do enough damage to kill, the reaction fire should.
* Although they cannot be captured, Cyberdiscs take damage from [[Stun Rod]]s and [[Stun Bomb]]s and will not explode if they are finished by one. This is very useful if a Cyberdisc spawns in the small storage room (1st floor right north of the central lift) on a battleship ground assault mission or a Terror Ship (the overlooks on L1 are notorious for this). What otherwise might make it necessary to sacrifice some soldiers to kill it, this at least gives your men a chance. In fact, out of the starting weapons, the Stun Rod is the most effective vs Cyberdiscs - if you can get close enough.
* Because of its large size, Cyberdiscs take roughly quadruple damage from explosive weapons; rather, they take damage once for every segment caught in the blast. This is another way to take down stuck or camping Cyberdiscs without losing men. But because of their strong armour and high resistance to HE, this is only effective with very powerful explosives (Blaster Bomb, HE Pack, Heavy Rocket, Alien Grenade).
* You might try fighting armoured vehicles with armoured vehicles.
**Standard Cannon tanks have limited effectiveness against Cyberdiscs (midway between Heavy Rockets and HC-AP), but have the ammo to keep slugging away for a relatively long time.
**Rocket-armed tanks are initally more effective, but very soon run out of ammo. And 4 soldiers with Rocket launchers are about 4 times as destructive as the Rocket tank (though with limited ammo the soldiers will likely run out of ammo twice as quickly even than the tank).
**Laser tanks are even better - but 4 soldiers with Laser Rifles are about 3 times as destructive as one Laser tank.
**Unfortunately, until you get the more heavily armoured and better gunned hovertanks, using tanks against Cyberdiscs is improvisation, not a battle-winning tactic.

==See also==
*[[Bio-Drone]]
*[[Mind Control#Mind controlling 4-square units - a bug|Problems with mind control]]

{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Reaper

2012-02-14T14:07:43Z

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[[Image:reaper.gif|right|Reaper]]
Reapers are an alien [[Terror Units|terror unit]] accompanying [[Floater]]s. As with all terror units, they can be encountered in [[Terror Mission]], [[Base Defense]], [[Alien Base Assault]], with a [[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]], and finally [[Cydonia]].

The Reaper's only means of attack is its bite. This means that it can't attack unless it's standing right next to its target, so as long as you're more than 12 squares away, it can't hurt you. The Reaper's main defense is that it has the highest health (148HP) of any unit in the game.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 62-71
'''Health:''' 148
'''Energy:''' 90-104
'''Reactions:''' 64-79
'''Strength:''' 90-97
'''Bravery:''' 90
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 35-40

'''Damage:''' 90-97
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 80-92%
'''TUs:''' 15

==Live specimen==
This bipedal carnivore has powerful jaws and a voracious appetite. It has a number of brain implants which are used to control its activity. The primitive predatory instincts of this creature are of little use except to terrorise and destroy. Reapers are commonly associated with [[Floater]]s.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:reaperautopsy.gif|right|Reaper - Autopsy]]
The Reaper contains two 'brains' and two 'hearts' which allow it to function even when heavily wounded. However its furry skin is highly flammable, making the creature vulnerable to incendiary weapons.<br clear="all">

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Reaper:
* The Reaper's bite does 1.2x damage to unarmoured soldiers and [[civilian]]s.
* It does 0.9x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
* It takes 1.7x damage from incendiary weapons.
* It's quite large, making for an easy target.
* Takes up 4 squares on the battlescape.
* Has very high strength.
* Quite low [[Psionic Strength]], making it easier to mind-control and/or panic.
* If next to its target, the Reaper can attack up to 4 or 5 times in one turn.

==See also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Muton

2012-02-14T14:07:16Z

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[[Image:muton.png|right|Muton]]
'''Mutons''' are the most physically-powerful sentient race in X-COM. They may be accompanied by [[Silacoid]] and [[Celatid]] terror units.

Mutons have high stats and armor and are resistant to [[Weapons#Armour-Piercing|AP ammunition]], making them quite hard to defeat with an inexperienced force. Fortunately they have a relatively low Intelligence score, and will "forget" the whereabouts of your soldiers after only 4 turns. They are also highly susceptible to [[psionic]] attacks.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 56-64
'''Health:''' 125
'''Energy:''' 90-104
'''Reactions:''' 60-74
'''Strength:''' 70-75
'''Bravery:''' 80
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 27-66
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' 62
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 25-29

==Live specimen==
This humanoid creature is physically powerful and intelligent. They have a particular appetite for consuming raw flesh of any kind, which they need for sustenance like earth based carnivores. They appear to rely on telepathic commands from a race known as '[[Ethereal]]s'. Once separated from this telepathic link their mental system appears to break down and they die. The cybernetic implants are used to enhance their combat performance. They are clearly the foot soldiers for a higher intelligence.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:mutonautopsy.png|right|Muton - Autopsy]]
The 'skin' of this creature appears to be an organically created protective armour which is grafted onto the body. There are numerous cybernetic implants which are used to enhance the cardio-vascular system and the senses. The reproductive organs appear to have been surgically removed. Evidently these unfortunate creatures are limited to a life of warfare and conquest. [[Weapons#Armour-Piercing|Armour piercing ammunition]] is not very effective against their toughened skin.
<br style =" clear:both;">

==Notes==
{| align = "right" width = "20%" style = "border: 1px silver dashed; margin: 1em;"
|-
| <div align = "center">[[Image:mutblending.png | Find the Muton!]] </div>
|-
| <div align = "center"><small>A classic case of Find The Muton</small></div>
|}

The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Muton:
* The Muton takes 0.6x damage from armour-piercing weaponry.
* Very high Health. A Superhuman-grade Muton standing on a [[High Explosive]] ''will usually survive.''
* Very high Strength.
* Very high Energy.
* Average Reactions.
* Is fast (high TUs).
* Average Firing and Throwing Accuracy.
* Very low Psi Strength.
* There are no Muton Leaders, Commanders, or even Medics. In crew setups where these classes appear, they will be substituted by Muton soldiers .
* Mr. Angry Red Suit as seen in the opening animation does not appear in the game.
* While the troops on the ground can see them just fine, neglectful Commanders might lose track of Mutons in vegetation, especially on Jungle maps, as their green armor blends in well with flora. Use the target centering boxes down the right side of the screen or the overhead map to assist locating them.
* They can be seen in the intro. Apart from Mr. Angry Red Suit, they are the only aliens seen there.

==See also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Ethereal

2012-02-14T14:06:55Z

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[[Image:ethereal.png|right|Ethereal]]
The '''Ethereal''' race is arguably the most dangerous species that X-COM forces faced during the First Alien War.

Ethereals are rarely seen on Earth as they prefer to send other races (especially [[Muton]]s) to carry out missions on their behalf.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 68-79
'''Health:''' 55
'''Energy:''' 96-111
'''Reactions:''' 75-93
'''Strength:''' 48-52
'''Bravery:''' 80
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 37-92
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' 80
'''Psi Skill:''' 40-46, 45-52, 50-58
'''Psi Strength:''' 50-58, 60-70, 65-75

==Special abilities==
Every member of the Ethereal race possesses very powerful [[Psionics|psionic abilities]] that can be used to make X-COM forces panic. It is even possible for Ethereals to take control of X-COM units and use them against us.

Terror attacks by Ethereals are the most dangerous for both [[Civilian]]s and X-COM units - apart from having to deal with their psionic abilities, we also have to fight against [[Sectopod]]s.

Be aware of the fact that ethereals can fly, giving them access to just about anywhere on the map. They often use this to set up midair sniping positions, especially on the harder difficulties but not as much for across-the-map movement. [[Night Missions]] ARE A PAIN, especially since their nightvision is far superior to humans. Plus, flares and incendiaries aren't useful for illuminating empty air.

If an ethereal is "spotting" for his pals from around level 9 of the map and you can't find him, and his friends are all bombarding you with psi, you will probably have to abort... if you still can.

== Live specimen ==
This being has awesome mental powers which allow for telepathic communication and telekinetic abilities.

The apparently weak physical abilities of this creature are sustained by its mental powers. We do not understand how these telekinetic powers work, since they seem to defy the laws of physics as we know them.

They are extremely dangerous in any combat situation, where they rely on their mental powers for combat. They rarely appear on Earth since they seem to rely on other races to pursue their objectives.

== Autopsy ==
[[Image:etherealautopsy.png|right|Ethereal - Autopsy]]
This being is physically retarded and seems incapable of sustaining any life functions.

The muscles are severely atrophied and the internal organs appear to be under-developed. The sensory organs, including the eyes, do not appear to function at all.

The brain, however, is well developed and draws on a high proportion of the body's blood supply. It is a mystery as to how this creature can sustain itself without external support.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Ethereal:
* The Ethereal takes 0.7x damage from [[Incendiary|fire]], and 0.8x [[stun]] damage.
* Very high Firing and Throwing Accuracy.
* Is very fast (very high TUs).
* High Health.
* Very high Energy.
* Very high Reactions.
* High Strength.
* Very high Psi Strength.
* There are no Ethereal Navigators, Engineers, or Medics. Ethereal Leaders will be used in their place.

==See also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Snakeman

2012-02-14T14:06:22Z

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[[Image:snakeman.png|right|Snakeman]]
'''Snakemen''' were quite a common sight on Earth after a few months of fighting during the First Alien War. After the repeated [[Terror Mission|terror attacks]] by [[Sectoid]]s and [[Floater]]s, the Snakemen came out of nowhere and surprised us all.

Fortunately, by the time they arrived we had acquired far superior weaponry (in the form of [[Heavy Plasma]] rifles) and the threat posed by this race was reduced dramatically. However Snakemen are also frequent terror agents, and are accompanied at terror sites by the fearsome [[Chryssalid]]. This association means that X-COM squads attending Snakemen terror sites should be well prepared.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 40-52
'''Health:''' 45-55
'''Energy:''' 80-97
'''Reactions:''' 45-80
'''Strength:''' 47-50
'''Bravery:''' 80
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 29-71
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' 65
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 40-58

== Live specimen ==
This race developed in an extremely hostile environment. They are extremely tough and can resist extreme temperature variations.

Their mobility depends on a snake-like giant "foot" which protects all the vital organs.

Their objectives appear to be purely predatory and they appear to be under the command of some other Intelligence which directs their military-style incursions on earth.

== Autopsy ==
[[Image:snakemanautopsy.png|right|Snakeman - Autopsy]]
The skin is extremely tough and heat resistant.

The cardio-vascular system is part of the muscular system which uses the hydraulic principle to create motion. The only true muscle is the "heart".

The reproductive system appears to be very efficient. Reproduction is asexual, with each snakeman carrying up to fifty eggs inside its body at any one time.

Left to its own devices this species would be a severe threat to life on earth.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Snakeman:
* The Snakeman takes 0.7x damage from [[Incendiary|fire]].
* High Firing and Throwing Accuracy.
* High Psi Strength.
* Average Health.
* Average Strength.
* Is very slow (very low TUs).
* Very low Energy.
* Very low Reactions (except Leader and Commander).
* Snakemen don't have Medics. Snakeman soldiers will be used in their place.
* They don't lay eggs during the mission, despite their flavour text, probably too busy.

==See also==
*[[Data Canister: Snakemen]]
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Sectoid

2012-02-14T14:05:32Z

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[[Image:sectoid.png|right|Sectoid]]
An alien considered the weakest of them all. Sectoids look like the stereotypical alien abductor - skinny, grey and with big black eyes.

Sectoids are usually the first alien species a Commander will come across. They are lightly armoured and are slow moving in comparison to other alien species. They will usually go down after taking one or two direct hits with standard Earth pistols and rifles.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 54-62
'''Health:''' 30
'''Energy:''' 90-104
'''Reactions:''' 63-78
'''Strength:''' 30-32
'''Bravery:''' 80
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 26-64
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' 58
'''Psi Skill:''' 40-58
'''Psi Strength:''' 50-69

==General information==
This race is often involved in [[Terror Mission|terror attacks]] and is supported in these endeavours by the [[Cyberdisc]].

Though weak, high ranking sectoids such as the Leaders and Commanders have the ability to use [[psionics]] to mentally attack and disrupt the activities of [[X-COM]] squads. Just one Sectoid with psi powers can be a deadly threat to even the toughest of squads if there are any weak links in their mental defences.

Capturing either alien, or any [[Ethereal]], will allow R&D to further their research into the field of [[psionics]].

==Live specimen==
The Sectoid hierarchy ranges from soldiers to leaders with powerful [[Psionics|psionic abilities]]. These psionic powers can be used to demoralise soldiers in combat, or even take control of their minds.

They tend to indulge in human abductions and cattle mutilation. The abduction is used to extract genetic material for cross breeding and developing clones for infiltrating human society. The cattle provide both nutrition and genetic material.

This race appears to want to develop superior genetic hybrids to increase the efficiency of their hive-like society.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:sectoidautopsy.png|right|Sectoid Autopsy]]
The autopsy reveals vestigial digestive organs and a simple structure. The brain and eyes are very well developed. The structure suggests genetic alteration or mutation.

The small mouth and nose appear to have little function. The webbing between the fingers and the flat feet suggest aquatic origins.

There are no reproductive organs and no clues as to how this species can reproduce. They are most probably a genetically engineered species.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Sectoid:
* The Sectoid takes 1.2x damage from melee attacks, and 1.6x damage from a Celatid's acid spit.
* High Reactions.
* Average speed (average TUs).
* Average Psi Strength.
* Low Energy.
* Low Firing and Throwing Accuracy.
* Very low Health.
* Very low Strength.

==Other references==
* Sectoids firstly appeared on [[Laser Squad]], the predecessor to UFO Defense, on mission 5 'Paradise Valley', where they are mentioned as "A sentient race known as the Sectoids tend to collect and store weaponry taken from humans unfortunate enough to meet them, and they have the ability to use these weapons as well."

==See also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Floater

2012-02-14T14:04:58Z

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[[Image:floater.png|right|Floater]]
'''Floaters''' are weak creatures that- as their name suggests- are capable of flight.

Unlike [[Sectoid]]s, who can be very dangerous when accompanied by [[Cyberdisc]]s and/or a Sectoid Leader, Floaters are not particularly dangerous. Their main tactical advantage is their ability to fly - this can often make them more difficult to spot and also allows them to take up sniping positions on roofs and other high areas, although this is rarely done.

Floaters are usually to be found performing scouting or [[Terror Mission]]s, and are accompanied on the latter by [[Reaper]]s.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 50-69
'''Health:''' 35-45
'''Energy:''' 90-116
'''Reactions:''' 50-81
'''Strength:''' 40-51
'''Bravery:''' 80
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 25-78
'''Throwing Accuracy:''' 58-65
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 35-52

==Live specimen==
The Floaters are primarily soldiers and terror agents.

They are naturally predatory beasts, genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced to make formidable warriors. The lower half of the body and most internal organs are surgically removed, and a life support system is installed.

This implant contains an anti-gravity unit which enables the creature to float, albeit unsteadily, through the air.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:floaterautopsy.png|right|Floater Autopsy]]
The creature has been drastically altered by surgery. The device which seems to form the core of the body is a life support system, taking over the function of heart, lungs and digestive system.

This would enable the creature to survive in extremely hostile environments. The brain is smaller than ours, but the sensory organs are well developed.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Floater:
* The Floater takes 1.2x damage from melee attacks, and 1.6x damage from a Celatid's acid spit.
* Average Energy.
* Is slow (low TUs).
* Low Health.
* Low Reactions.
* Low Strength.
* Low Psi Strength.
* Very low Firing and Throwing Accuracy.
* Rank matters when fighting Floaters. Floater Leaders and Commanders have much better stats than the other ranks, especially concerning [[Firing Accuracy|Firing]], [[Reactions|Reactions]] and Armor. This can lead to some unpleasant surprises when those ranks are present but it is also a way to figure out the higher ranks if you don't have a [[Mind Probe|Mind Probe]].

==See also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Alien Life Forms

2012-02-14T14:04:33Z

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There are a number of '''Alien Life Forms''' encountered during the [[First Alien War]], each having a unique collection of strengths, weaknesses and abilities. It is critical for any commander to know what these are, especially on the battlefield, or the lives of his [[soldiers]] are likely to be cut short unnecessarily.

== Overviews ==
See [[Overviews of Aliens]]. For information on the vital statistics of aliens, see [[Alien Stats]].

== Alien races and thralls ==
*[[Sectoid]]
**[[Cyberdisc]]
*[[Floater]]
**[[Reaper]]
*[[Snakeman]]
**[[Chryssalid]]
***[[Zombie]]
*[[Muton]]
**[[Celatid]]
**[[Silacoid]]
*[[Ethereal]]
**[[Sectopod]]

==See also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}

Alien Life Forms

2012-02-14T14:04:16Z

FullAuto:

There are a number of types of '''Alien Life Forms''' encountered during the [[First Alien War]], each having a unique collection of strengths, weaknesses and abilities. It is critical for any commander to know what these are, especially on the battlefield, or the lives of his [[soldiers]] are likely to be cut short unnecessarily.

== Overviews ==
See [[Overviews of Aliens]]. For information on the vital statistics of aliens, see [[Alien Stats]].

== Alien races and thralls ==
*[[Sectoid]]
**[[Cyberdisc]]
*[[Floater]]
**[[Reaper]]
*[[Snakeman]]
**[[Chryssalid]]
***[[Zombie]]
*[[Muton]]
**[[Celatid]]
**[[Silacoid]]
*[[Ethereal]]
**[[Sectopod]]

==See also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}

Alien Stats

2012-02-14T14:03:35Z

FullAuto: /* Notes */

:''For the TFTD version, see [[Alien Stats (TFTD)]].''

The information on this page was gathered from Zombie's excellent page at [http://www.strategycore.co.uk/xcom/pg/ufoalienstats Strategy Core] and the Excel files that can be found there.

For historical discussion and background info on alien stats, see this page's [[talk:Alien Stats|Discussion tab]]

==Core statistics==
These statistics are found in the executable of the game (except for Zombies). ([[GEOSCAPE.EXE#Alien Stats|GEOSCAPE.EXE]] for DOS versions, and X-COM UFO Defense for the Windows version)
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>
<th align="left" rowspan="2" width="140">Alien Race/Rank</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">TU</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Sta</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">He</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Br</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Rea</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">FA</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">TA</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Str</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">PST</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">PSK</th>
<th colspan="4" width="120">Armor</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">EnR</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">VPS</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Agg</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Mel</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Int</th>
<th colspan="2" width="60">Height</th></tr>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>
<th width="30">Fr</th>
<th width="30">L/R</th>
<th width="30">Re</th>
<th width="30">Un</th>
<th width="30">St</th>
<th width="30">Kn</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Floater]] Soldier</td><td>50</td><td>90</td><td>35</td><td>80</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>58</td><td>40</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>8</td><td>6</td><td>4</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>12</td><td>2</td><td>70</td><td>4</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Floater Navigator</td><td>50</td><td>90</td><td>35</td><td>80</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>58</td><td>40</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>8</td><td>6</td><td>4</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>14</td><td>2</td><td>70</td><td>5</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Floater Medic</td><td>50</td><td>90</td><td>35</td><td>80</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>58</td><td>40</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>8</td><td>6</td><td>4</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>16</td><td>1</td><td>70</td><td>6</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Floater Engineer</td><td>50</td><td>90</td><td>35</td><td>80</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>58</td><td>40</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>8</td><td>6</td><td>4</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>18</td><td>2</td><td>70</td><td>7</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Floater Leader</td><td>55</td><td>95</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>60</td><td>60</td><td>58</td><td>47</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>16</td><td>12</td><td>8</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>70</td><td>8</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Floater Commander</td><td>60</td><td>100</td><td>45</td><td>80</td><td>66</td><td>63</td><td>65</td><td>48</td><td>45</td><td>0</td><td>24</td><td>18</td><td>12</td><td>16</td><td>30</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>76</td><td>8</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Sectoid]] Soldier</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>10</td><td>2</td><td>76</td><td>3</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Navigator</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>12</td><td>2</td><td>76</td><td>4</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Medic</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>14</td><td>1</td><td>76</td><td>5</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Engineer</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>16</td><td>2</td><td>76</td><td>6</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Leader</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>20</td><td>1</td><td>76</td><td>7</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Commander</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>50</td><td>60</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>76</td><td>8</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Snakeman]] Soldier</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>58</td><td>65</td><td>47</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>18</td><td>16</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>15</td><td>2</td><td>54</td><td>2</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Snakeman Navigator</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>58</td><td>65</td><td>47</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>18</td><td>16</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>17</td><td>2</td><td>54</td><td>3</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Snakeman Engineer</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>58</td><td>65</td><td>47</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>18</td><td>16</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>20</td><td>2</td><td>54</td><td>4</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Snakeman Leader</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>80</td><td>55</td><td>65</td><td>65</td><td>47</td><td>45</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>24</td><td>22</td><td>20</td><td>30</td><td>28</td><td>2</td><td>54</td><td>5</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Snakeman Commander</td><td>45</td><td>84</td><td>55</td><td>80</td><td>65</td><td>58</td><td>65</td><td>47</td><td>50</td><td>0</td><td>26</td><td>26</td><td>22</td><td>20</td><td>30</td><td>36</td><td>2</td><td>54</td><td>6</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Ethereal]] Soldier</td><td>68</td><td>96</td><td>55</td><td>80</td><td>75</td><td>74</td><td>80</td><td>48</td><td>50</td><td>40</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>40</td><td>20</td><td>1</td><td>85</td><td>6</td><td>20</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Ethereal Leader</td><td>68</td><td>96</td><td>55</td><td>80</td><td>75</td><td>74</td><td>80</td><td>48</td><td>60</td><td>45</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>30</td><td>1</td><td>85</td><td>7</td><td>20</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Ethereal Commander</td><td>68</td><td>96</td><td>55</td><td>80</td><td>75</td><td>74</td><td>80</td><td>48</td><td>65</td><td>50</td><td>45</td><td>45</td><td>45</td><td>45</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>1</td><td>85</td><td>8</td><td>20</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Muton]] Soldier</td><td>56</td><td>90</td><td>125</td><td>80</td><td>60</td><td>54</td><td>62</td><td>70</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>20</td><td>20</td><td>10</td><td>40</td><td>15</td><td>2</td><td>78</td><td>2</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Muton Navigator</td><td>56</td><td>90</td><td>125</td><td>80</td><td>60</td><td>54</td><td>62</td><td>70</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>24</td><td>24</td><td>24</td><td>15</td><td>40</td><td>17</td><td>2</td><td>78</td><td>3</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Muton Engineer</td><td>56</td><td>90</td><td>125</td><td>80</td><td>60</td><td>54</td><td>62</td><td>70</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>20</td><td>40</td><td>19</td><td>2</td><td>78</td><td>4</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Reaper]]</td><td>62</td><td>90</td><td>148</td><td>90</td><td>64</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>90</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>4</td><td>34</td><td>25</td><td>2</td><td>80</td><td>2</td><td>23</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Chryssalid]]</td><td>110</td><td>140</td><td>96</td><td>100</td><td>70</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>110</td><td>50</td><td>0</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>40</td><td>25</td><td>2</td><td>80</td><td>4</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Silacoid]]</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>114</td><td>100</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>70</td><td>80</td><td>0</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>10</td><td>40</td><td>20</td><td>2</td><td>80</td><td>3</td><td>10</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Celatid]]</td><td>70</td><td>90</td><td>68</td><td>90</td><td>40</td><td>100</td><td>0</td><td>70</td><td>60</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>20</td><td>20</td><td>20</td><td>40</td><td>20</td><td>2</td><td>80</td><td>4</td><td>12</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Sectopod]]</td><td>62</td><td>90</td><td>96</td><td>110</td><td>64</td><td>60</td><td>0</td><td>90</td><td>100</td><td>0</td><td>145</td><td>130</td><td>100</td><td>90</td><td>50</td><td>30</td><td>1</td><td>80</td><td>4</td><td>23</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Cyberdisc]]</td><td>62</td><td>90</td><td>120</td><td>110</td><td>64</td><td>60</td><td>0</td><td>90</td><td>100</td><td>0</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>50</td><td>20</td><td>1</td><td>80</td><td>5</td><td>15</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Zombie]]</td><td>40</td><td>110</td><td>84</td><td>110</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>84</td><td>80</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>20</td><td>18</td><td>2</td><td>80</td><td>3</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
</table>
<br/>
===Key===
*'''TU''': The number of Time Units the alien has per turn.
*'''Sta''': Stamina (or Energy).
*'''He''': Health.
*'''Br''': Bravery.
*'''Rea''': Reactions.
*'''FA''': Firing Accuracy.
*'''TA''': Throwing Accuracy.
*'''Str''': Strength
*'''PST''': Psionic Strength.
*'''PSK''': Psionic Skill.
*'''Fr, L/R, Re, Un''': Front, Left/Right, Rear and Under armor.
*'''EnR''': Energy Recharge. This number represents how fast a unit will recover Energy lost due to movement.
*'''VPS''': The number of Victory Points X-COM will get for killing that alien.
*'''Agg''': Aggression is a number between 0 and 2. The larger the value, the more aggressive the alien will be. High ranking aliens usually prefer to stay concealed, rather than get involved in a raging fire-fight..
*'''Mel''': (Also known as CCBA or Close Combat Base Accuracy). This number acts as the accuracy for hand-to-hand combat attacks.
*'''Int''': Intelligence of the alien ranked from 2-8. This number correponds to the number of turns the alien will remember the location of your troops.
*'''St, Kn''': Standing, Kneeling height.

==Calculating statistics==
{|
|
{| {{StdDescTable}}
| {{StdDescTable_Heading}} | Statistic
| {{StdDescTable_Heading}} | Percentage
|-
| Health || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Bravery || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Throwing Accuracy || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Energy Recharge || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Victory Points || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Aggression || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Intelligence || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Standing || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Kneeling Height || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Time Units || align="right"| 4%
|-
| Stamina/Energy || align="right"| 4%
|-
| Reactions || align="right"| 6%
|-
| Firing Accuracy || align="right" | ''6%''*
|-
| Strength || align="right"| 2%
|-
| Psionic Strength || align="right"| 4%
|-
| Psionic Skill || align="right"| 4%
|-
| Melee (aka CCBA) || align="right"| 4%
|}
<small>'''NOTE:''' Statistics with 0 percentage are constant and therefore do not change with difficulty level</small>
| valign="top" |
{|
| valign="top" |To find a statistic which increases by a constant amount, the game adjusts the core value by a percentage which is dependent upon a skill level "multiplier". Generally, the Beginner skill level numbers match the core group exactly so no modification is necessary. This multiplier (referred to as SLM) is the same value for the difficulty stored in [[IGLOB.DAT]] (if patched) They are reproduced to the right.
|
{|{{StdDescTable}}
| {{StdDescTable_Heading}} | Difficulty
| {{StdDescTable_Heading}} | SLM
|-
|Beginner ||align="right"| 0
|-
|Experienced ||align="right"| 1
|-
|Veteran ||align="right"| 2
|-
|Genius ||align="right"| 3
|-
|Superhuman ||align="right"| 4
|}
|}
===Equation===
This equation gives the statistic for any of the statistics to the left. The [[#Core Stats | core values]] are in the table above. Credit goes to [[User:Zombie|Zombie]] (the user, not the unit) for discovery of this (and about everything on this page).
Skill Value = INT(Core Value * (100 + (Percentage * SLM)) / 100)

'''Firing Accuracy*'''<br/>
Beginner level aliens have a firing accuracy one-half the core value. Experienced through Superhuman skill levels are modified by a 6% change per level increase.

'''Armor'''<br/>
Beginner level aliens have an armor rating of one-half the core value. Higher skill levels just receive the core value with no percentage adjustment.

|}

==Notes==
* [[Zombie]] stats are not listed in the executable where the normal aliens are situated. Not only that, but their stats do not change as the skill level increases. For more information on this oddity, see the Editing Alien Stats heading on this page.
* [[Civilian]] stats are also constants and do not change.
* [[Chryssalid]]s which are spawned in a mission by the game have stats modified in the normal way. However, Chryssalids which hatch from Zombies have all their stats set to their core, regardless of current difficulty level.

==See also==
* [[Alien Life Forms]]
* [[Overviews of Aliens]]
* [[Terror Units]]
* [[:Category:Soldiers]] - Category containing more information on what each statistic does
* [[Saved Game Files]] / [[:Category:Game Files]]

[[Category:Data tables]]

Alien Stats

2012-02-14T14:03:16Z

FullAuto:

:''For the TFTD version, see [[Alien Stats (TFTD)]].''

The information on this page was gathered from Zombie's excellent page at [http://www.strategycore.co.uk/xcom/pg/ufoalienstats Strategy Core] and the Excel files that can be found there.

For historical discussion and background info on alien stats, see this page's [[talk:Alien Stats|Discussion tab]]

==Core statistics==
These statistics are found in the executable of the game (except for Zombies). ([[GEOSCAPE.EXE#Alien Stats|GEOSCAPE.EXE]] for DOS versions, and X-COM UFO Defense for the Windows version)
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>
<th align="left" rowspan="2" width="140">Alien Race/Rank</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">TU</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Sta</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">He</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Br</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Rea</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">FA</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">TA</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Str</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">PST</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">PSK</th>
<th colspan="4" width="120">Armor</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">EnR</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">VPS</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Agg</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Mel</th>
<th rowspan="2" width="30">Int</th>
<th colspan="2" width="60">Height</th></tr>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>
<th width="30">Fr</th>
<th width="30">L/R</th>
<th width="30">Re</th>
<th width="30">Un</th>
<th width="30">St</th>
<th width="30">Kn</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Floater]] Soldier</td><td>50</td><td>90</td><td>35</td><td>80</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>58</td><td>40</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>8</td><td>6</td><td>4</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>12</td><td>2</td><td>70</td><td>4</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Floater Navigator</td><td>50</td><td>90</td><td>35</td><td>80</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>58</td><td>40</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>8</td><td>6</td><td>4</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>14</td><td>2</td><td>70</td><td>5</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Floater Medic</td><td>50</td><td>90</td><td>35</td><td>80</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>58</td><td>40</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>8</td><td>6</td><td>4</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>16</td><td>1</td><td>70</td><td>6</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Floater Engineer</td><td>50</td><td>90</td><td>35</td><td>80</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>58</td><td>40</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>8</td><td>6</td><td>4</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>18</td><td>2</td><td>70</td><td>7</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Floater Leader</td><td>55</td><td>95</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>60</td><td>60</td><td>58</td><td>47</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>16</td><td>12</td><td>8</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>70</td><td>8</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Floater Commander</td><td>60</td><td>100</td><td>45</td><td>80</td><td>66</td><td>63</td><td>65</td><td>48</td><td>45</td><td>0</td><td>24</td><td>18</td><td>12</td><td>16</td><td>30</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>76</td><td>8</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Sectoid]] Soldier</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>10</td><td>2</td><td>76</td><td>3</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Navigator</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>12</td><td>2</td><td>76</td><td>4</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Medic</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>14</td><td>1</td><td>76</td><td>5</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Engineer</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>16</td><td>2</td><td>76</td><td>6</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Leader</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>20</td><td>1</td><td>76</td><td>7</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Commander</td><td>54</td><td>90</td><td>30</td><td>80</td><td>63</td><td>52</td><td>58</td><td>30</td><td>50</td><td>60</td><td>4</td><td>3</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>30</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>76</td><td>8</td><td>16</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Snakeman]] Soldier</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>58</td><td>65</td><td>47</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>18</td><td>16</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>15</td><td>2</td><td>54</td><td>2</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Snakeman Navigator</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>58</td><td>65</td><td>47</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>18</td><td>16</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>17</td><td>2</td><td>54</td><td>3</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Snakeman Engineer</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>58</td><td>65</td><td>47</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>18</td><td>16</td><td>12</td><td>30</td><td>20</td><td>2</td><td>54</td><td>4</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Snakeman Leader</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>45</td><td>80</td><td>55</td><td>65</td><td>65</td><td>47</td><td>45</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>24</td><td>22</td><td>20</td><td>30</td><td>28</td><td>2</td><td>54</td><td>5</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Snakeman Commander</td><td>45</td><td>84</td><td>55</td><td>80</td><td>65</td><td>58</td><td>65</td><td>47</td><td>50</td><td>0</td><td>26</td><td>26</td><td>22</td><td>20</td><td>30</td><td>36</td><td>2</td><td>54</td><td>6</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Ethereal]] Soldier</td><td>68</td><td>96</td><td>55</td><td>80</td><td>75</td><td>74</td><td>80</td><td>48</td><td>50</td><td>40</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>35</td><td>40</td><td>20</td><td>1</td><td>85</td><td>6</td><td>20</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Ethereal Leader</td><td>68</td><td>96</td><td>55</td><td>80</td><td>75</td><td>74</td><td>80</td><td>48</td><td>60</td><td>45</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>30</td><td>1</td><td>85</td><td>7</td><td>20</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Ethereal Commander</td><td>68</td><td>96</td><td>55</td><td>80</td><td>75</td><td>74</td><td>80</td><td>48</td><td>65</td><td>50</td><td>45</td><td>45</td><td>45</td><td>45</td><td>40</td><td>40</td><td>1</td><td>85</td><td>8</td><td>20</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Muton]] Soldier</td><td>56</td><td>90</td><td>125</td><td>80</td><td>60</td><td>54</td><td>62</td><td>70</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>20</td><td>20</td><td>10</td><td>40</td><td>15</td><td>2</td><td>78</td><td>2</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Muton Navigator</td><td>56</td><td>90</td><td>125</td><td>80</td><td>60</td><td>54</td><td>62</td><td>70</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>24</td><td>24</td><td>24</td><td>15</td><td>40</td><td>17</td><td>2</td><td>78</td><td>3</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Muton Engineer</td><td>56</td><td>90</td><td>125</td><td>80</td><td>60</td><td>54</td><td>62</td><td>70</td><td>25</td><td>0</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>20</td><td>40</td><td>19</td><td>2</td><td>78</td><td>4</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Reaper]]</td><td>62</td><td>90</td><td>148</td><td>90</td><td>64</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>90</td><td>35</td><td>0</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>28</td><td>4</td><td>34</td><td>25</td><td>2</td><td>80</td><td>2</td><td>23</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Chryssalid]]</td><td>110</td><td>140</td><td>96</td><td>100</td><td>70</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>110</td><td>50</td><td>0</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>40</td><td>25</td><td>2</td><td>80</td><td>4</td><td>21</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Silacoid]]</td><td>40</td><td>80</td><td>114</td><td>100</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>70</td><td>80</td><td>0</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>50</td><td>10</td><td>40</td><td>20</td><td>2</td><td>80</td><td>3</td><td>10</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Celatid]]</td><td>70</td><td>90</td><td>68</td><td>90</td><td>40</td><td>100</td><td>0</td><td>70</td><td>60</td><td>0</td><td>20</td><td>20</td><td>20</td><td>20</td><td>40</td><td>20</td><td>2</td><td>80</td><td>4</td><td>12</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Sectopod]]</td><td>62</td><td>90</td><td>96</td><td>110</td><td>64</td><td>60</td><td>0</td><td>90</td><td>100</td><td>0</td><td>145</td><td>130</td><td>100</td><td>90</td><td>50</td><td>30</td><td>1</td><td>80</td><td>4</td><td>23</td><td>16</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Cyberdisc]]</td><td>62</td><td>90</td><td>120</td><td>110</td><td>64</td><td>60</td><td>0</td><td>90</td><td>100</td><td>0</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>34</td><td>50</td><td>20</td><td>1</td><td>80</td><td>5</td><td>15</td><td>15</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Zombie]]</td><td>40</td><td>110</td><td>84</td><td>110</td><td>40</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>84</td><td>80</td><td>0</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>4</td><td>20</td><td>18</td><td>2</td><td>80</td><td>3</td><td>18</td><td>18</td></tr>
</table>
<br/>
===Key===
*'''TU''': The number of Time Units the alien has per turn.
*'''Sta''': Stamina (or Energy).
*'''He''': Health.
*'''Br''': Bravery.
*'''Rea''': Reactions.
*'''FA''': Firing Accuracy.
*'''TA''': Throwing Accuracy.
*'''Str''': Strength
*'''PST''': Psionic Strength.
*'''PSK''': Psionic Skill.
*'''Fr, L/R, Re, Un''': Front, Left/Right, Rear and Under armor.
*'''EnR''': Energy Recharge. This number represents how fast a unit will recover Energy lost due to movement.
*'''VPS''': The number of Victory Points X-COM will get for killing that alien.
*'''Agg''': Aggression is a number between 0 and 2. The larger the value, the more aggressive the alien will be. High ranking aliens usually prefer to stay concealed, rather than get involved in a raging fire-fight..
*'''Mel''': (Also known as CCBA or Close Combat Base Accuracy). This number acts as the accuracy for hand-to-hand combat attacks.
*'''Int''': Intelligence of the alien ranked from 2-8. This number correponds to the number of turns the alien will remember the location of your troops.
*'''St, Kn''': Standing, Kneeling height.

==Calculating statistics==
{|
|
{| {{StdDescTable}}
| {{StdDescTable_Heading}} | Statistic
| {{StdDescTable_Heading}} | Percentage
|-
| Health || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Bravery || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Throwing Accuracy || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Energy Recharge || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Victory Points || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Aggression || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Intelligence || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Standing || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Kneeling Height || align="right"| 0%
|-
| Time Units || align="right"| 4%
|-
| Stamina/Energy || align="right"| 4%
|-
| Reactions || align="right"| 6%
|-
| Firing Accuracy || align="right" | ''6%''*
|-
| Strength || align="right"| 2%
|-
| Psionic Strength || align="right"| 4%
|-
| Psionic Skill || align="right"| 4%
|-
| Melee (aka CCBA) || align="right"| 4%
|}
<small>'''NOTE:''' Statistics with 0 percentage are constant and therefore do not change with difficulty level</small>
| valign="top" |
{|
| valign="top" |To find a statistic which increases by a constant amount, the game adjusts the core value by a percentage which is dependent upon a skill level "multiplier". Generally, the Beginner skill level numbers match the core group exactly so no modification is necessary. This multiplier (referred to as SLM) is the same value for the difficulty stored in [[IGLOB.DAT]] (if patched) They are reproduced to the right.
|
{|{{StdDescTable}}
| {{StdDescTable_Heading}} | Difficulty
| {{StdDescTable_Heading}} | SLM
|-
|Beginner ||align="right"| 0
|-
|Experienced ||align="right"| 1
|-
|Veteran ||align="right"| 2
|-
|Genius ||align="right"| 3
|-
|Superhuman ||align="right"| 4
|}
|}
===Equation===
This equation gives the statistic for any of the statistics to the left. The [[#Core Stats | core values]] are in the table above. Credit goes to [[User:Zombie|Zombie]] (the user, not the unit) for discovery of this (and about everything on this page).
Skill Value = INT(Core Value * (100 + (Percentage * SLM)) / 100)

'''Firing Accuracy*'''<br/>
Beginner level aliens have a firing accuracy one-half the core value. Experienced through Superhuman skill levels are modified by a 6% change per level increase.

'''Armor'''<br/>
Beginner level aliens have an armor rating of one-half the core value. Higher skill levels just receive the core value with no percentage adjustment.

|}

==Notes==
* [[Zombie]] stats are not listed in the executable where the normal aliens are situated. Not only that, but their stats do not change as the skill level increases. For more information on this oddity, see the Editing Alien Stats heading on this page.
* [[Civilian]] stats are also constants and do not change.
* [[Chryssalid|Chryssalids]] which are spawned in a mission by the game have stats modified in the normal way. However, Chryssalids which hatch from Zombies have all their stats set to their core, regardless of current difficulty level.

==See also==
* [[Alien Life Forms]]
* [[Overviews of Aliens]]
* [[Terror Units]]
* [[:Category:Soldiers]] - Category containing more information on what each statistic does
* [[Saved Game Files]] / [[:Category:Game Files]]

[[Category:Data tables]]

Silacoid

2012-02-14T14:02:25Z

FullAuto:

[[Image:silacoid.gif|right|Silacoid]]
Silacoids are an alien [[Terror Units|terror unit]] accompanying [[Muton]]s along with [[Celatid]]s. As with all terror units, they can be encountered on [[Terror Mission]]s, [[Base Defense]], with a [[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]], on [[Alien Base Assault]]s, and finally on [[Cydonia]].

Silacoids are the least dangerous alien of any in the game: they cannot make ranged attacks and are slow enough to be easily outrun. Their heavy armor makes them hard to damage without at least a Laser Rifle (although they are also vulnerable to any form of explosive attack). They are furthermore totally immune to fire. All of these qualities makes them the perfect alien on which to train your troops' Firing Accuracy and Reactions.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 40-46
'''Health:''' 114
'''Energy:''' 80-92
'''Reactions:''' 40-49
'''Strength:''' 70-75
'''Bravery:''' 100
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 80-92

'''Damage:''' 70-75
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 92%
'''TUs:''' 15

==Live specimen==
This silicon based life form generates an enormous amount of heat. It has the strength to crush rocks which can then be ingested by the hot core. It has a primitive intelligence and can be controlled by implants or telepathic beings. It works with the [[Muton]] alien race.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:silacoidautopsy.gif|right|Silacoid - Autopsy]]
The core of the creature is extremely hot, and seems to be the basis for a digestive system. Its unique muscle system has tremendous power and speed. Its rock like skin is not harmed by fire or incendiary ammunition.

==Reactions training==
Silacoids are perfect for [[Reactions Training]]; they will not "freeze" like disarmed humanoid aliens will, and will trigger reaction shots from even your slowest soldiers (30 Reactions). Flying troops are completely safe from Silacoids and ground troops can still outrun them (stay at least 8 squares away at all times). If that weren't enough, they are completely immune to fire, which means you can train several troops on one Silacoid using multiple [[Auto-Cannon|AC-I]] clips (11 shots per soldier gives the maximum possible benefit). Their high armor (50 points in most locations) makes them quite resistant to other weak weapons as well (but don't use HE ammo). Note that your soldiers will ''not'' gain firing accuracy while using IN rounds, only their reaction levels may improve.

==Notes==
* The Silacoid's hit does 1.2x damage to unarmoured soldiers and [[civilian]]s.
* It does 0.9x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
* Silacoids take ''no'' damage at all from fire or incendiary weapons.
* They take 1.3x damage from explosives.
* Silacoids are very small (10 [[height]]), making them hard to hit "by accident", although this does not affect normal [[accuracy formula|firing accuracy]].
* If next to its target, a Silacoid can attack 2 times in one turn (3 times on Superhuman difficulty).
* Silacoids burn the ground when they move; watch for tell-tale signs of their presence by the burn trails they leave behind on the battlefield.
* You cannot hit a Silacoid with a Blaster Launcher if you fire it on the same plane that it's on. You must make the Blaster Bomb hit it from above so that it hits the ground or the Silacoid itself, hit a nearby obstacle, or hit a taller unit.

==See also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Celatid

2012-02-14T14:01:51Z

FullAuto: /* See Also */

[[Image:celatid.gif|right|Celatid]]
'''Celatids''' are an alien [[Terror Units|Terror Unit]] accompanying [[Muton]]s along with [[Silacoid]]s. As with all terror units, they can be encountered on [[Terror Mission]]s, [[Base Defense]], with a [[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]], [[Alien Base Assault]]s, and finally on [[Cydonia]].

The Celatid's only means of attack is its acid spit. This does an exceptional 140HP damage, making it the most powerful non-HE weapon in the game(!), increased by 60% on unarmoured soldiers and [[civilian]]s (and even 10% on [[Personal Armour]]ed soldiers). Now combine this with a firing accuracy that can reach 124% (on Superhuman difficulty) and the Celatid makes for a rather deadly foe.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 70-81
'''Health:''' 62
'''Energy:''' 90-104
'''Reactions:''' 40-49
'''Strength:''' 70-75
'''Bravery:''' 90
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 50-124
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 60-69

'''Damage:''' 140 Venom
'''Accuracy-'''
'''Snap:''' 75%
'''Aimed:''' 110%
'''TUs-'''
'''Snap:''' 30%
'''Aimed:''' 60%

==Live specimen==
This life-form has the mysterious natural ability to float through the air. It appears to detect human brain waves and will move towards a human target even if well hidden. Once a target is detected the Celatid lands and fires small globules of extremely corrosive venom. The creature has the ability to clone itself at an alarming rate. It accompanies the [[Muton]] race in its wanderings.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:celatidautopsy.gif|right|Celatid - Autopsy]]
The core contains a small bio-mechanical device which appears to be a naturally evolved anti-gravity propulsion system. The sac of venom is the largest organ and there does not appear to be a separate brain structure. There is no discernible digestive or reproductive system. A small organ contains embryos which can grow rapidly into a new being.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Celatid:
* We're not sure what the eggheads mean about tracking hidden targets or rapid reproduction cycles, but none of this activity has ever been observed in the field, except the tracking hidden targets after turn 20, which ALL aliens perform.
* The Celatids acid spit does 1.6x damage to unarmoured soldiers and civilians.
* It does 0.4x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
* Celatid has a weakness to its own spit!
* Very accurate attack.
* If in range, can attack up to 3 times in one turn.
* It's quite fast.
* It's quite small, making for a harder target.
* It has poor armor. It can fall to conventional weapons, and even a glancing shot from heavy plasma will usually kill it.
* Its acid spit follows a grenade-like trajectory.
* Due to its arcing trajectory, the effective range of the celatid's spit is 7 squares indoors (with a roof immediately overhead), or 16 squares outdoors.
* If aimed at an outer UFO hull (most likely via [[Mind Control]]), Celatid spit is strong enough to penetrate 7.14% of the time (see [[Destroying Terrain]]). However, it cannot target walls directly -- although it can target (and penetrate) a UFO's roof.

==See also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Celatid

2012-02-14T14:01:39Z

FullAuto: /* Live Specimen */

[[Image:celatid.gif|right|Celatid]]
'''Celatids''' are an alien [[Terror Units|Terror Unit]] accompanying [[Muton]]s along with [[Silacoid]]s. As with all terror units, they can be encountered on [[Terror Mission]]s, [[Base Defense]], with a [[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]], [[Alien Base Assault]]s, and finally on [[Cydonia]].

The Celatid's only means of attack is its acid spit. This does an exceptional 140HP damage, making it the most powerful non-HE weapon in the game(!), increased by 60% on unarmoured soldiers and [[civilian]]s (and even 10% on [[Personal Armour]]ed soldiers). Now combine this with a firing accuracy that can reach 124% (on Superhuman difficulty) and the Celatid makes for a rather deadly foe.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 70-81
'''Health:''' 62
'''Energy:''' 90-104
'''Reactions:''' 40-49
'''Strength:''' 70-75
'''Bravery:''' 90
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 50-124
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 60-69

'''Damage:''' 140 Venom
'''Accuracy-'''
'''Snap:''' 75%
'''Aimed:''' 110%
'''TUs-'''
'''Snap:''' 30%
'''Aimed:''' 60%

==Live specimen==
This life-form has the mysterious natural ability to float through the air. It appears to detect human brain waves and will move towards a human target even if well hidden. Once a target is detected the Celatid lands and fires small globules of extremely corrosive venom. The creature has the ability to clone itself at an alarming rate. It accompanies the [[Muton]] race in its wanderings.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:celatidautopsy.gif|right|Celatid - Autopsy]]
The core contains a small bio-mechanical device which appears to be a naturally evolved anti-gravity propulsion system. The sac of venom is the largest organ and there does not appear to be a separate brain structure. There is no discernible digestive or reproductive system. A small organ contains embryos which can grow rapidly into a new being.

==Notes==
The following are some miscellaneous notes on the Celatid:
* We're not sure what the eggheads mean about tracking hidden targets or rapid reproduction cycles, but none of this activity has ever been observed in the field, except the tracking hidden targets after turn 20, which ALL aliens perform.
* The Celatids acid spit does 1.6x damage to unarmoured soldiers and civilians.
* It does 0.4x damage to tanks and hovertanks.
* Celatid has a weakness to its own spit!
* Very accurate attack.
* If in range, can attack up to 3 times in one turn.
* It's quite fast.
* It's quite small, making for a harder target.
* It has poor armor. It can fall to conventional weapons, and even a glancing shot from heavy plasma will usually kill it.
* Its acid spit follows a grenade-like trajectory.
* Due to its arcing trajectory, the effective range of the celatid's spit is 7 squares indoors (with a roof immediately overhead), or 16 squares outdoors.
* If aimed at an outer UFO hull (most likely via [[Mind Control]]), Celatid spit is strong enough to penetrate 7.14% of the time (see [[Destroying Terrain]]). However, it cannot target walls directly -- although it can target (and penetrate) a UFO's roof.

==See Also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Sectopod

2012-02-14T14:01:23Z

FullAuto:

[[Image:sectopod.png|right|Sectopod]]
The '''Sectopod''' is one of the most dangerous terror units X-COM has come up against. Their armour is nearly impervious to all weapons fire, but they appear to be vulnerable to [[Weapons#Laser Technology|lasers]].

Sectopods are seen in the company of [[Ethereal]]s in base defenses and terror missions. Beware, their weapon is a powerful laser with autofire capability, which can make short work of any enemy of the Sectopod in seconds.

== General information ==
Every Sectopod is completely identical and is built not only for self-sufficient commands and operation, but also psychic/psionic manipulation -- an Ethereal could potentially control a Sectopod as if it were it's own body, from millions of miles away.

If X-COM ground forces encounter Sectopods on Earth, it will usually be during a [[Base Defense]], [[Alien Base Assault]], or [[Terror Mission]]. Terror attacks by [[Ethereal]]s are the most dangerous for both [[Civilian]]s and X-COM units - apart from having to deal with their psionic abilities, we also have to fight against Sectopods.

== Statistics ==
'''TUs:''' 62-71
'''Health:''' 96
'''Energy:''' 90-104
'''Reactions:''' 64-79
'''Strength:''' 90-97
'''Bravery:''' 110
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 30-70
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 100-116

'''Damage:''' 100 Laser
'''Accuracy-'''
'''Snap:''' 75%
'''Auto:''' 50%
'''Aimed:''' 110%
'''TUs-'''
'''Snap:''' 30%
'''Auto:''' 35%
'''Aimed:''' 60%

== Live specimen ==
Sectopods are robot creatures with a powerful plasma beam weapon. The control of these mechanical beasts is via a telepathic link to their controllers, the [[Ethereal|Ethereals]]. Sectopods are the most powerful terror weapon available to the alien forces. ''Note: it is not possible to capture one, the only way to get this report is to get it from a captured [[medic]]. Also, the ufopedia is lying... the sectopod uses a LASER weapon, not plasma. It just LOOKS like plasma.''

== Autopsy ==
[[Image:sectopodautopsy.png|right|Sectopod, Disassembled]]
This robot is sturdily constructed with powerful armour capable of resisting most forms of attack, in particular plasma weapons. However, the sensing circuitry seems particularly vulnerable to laser weapons.

==Notes==
* Sectopods take 80% damage from high explosives and plasma, and 150% from laser. Combined with their strong armour, even the [[Heavy Plasma]] will have a very difficult time taking down a Sectopod - expect to expend many clips. Ideally the rear should be targeted, since it has a sizable 40 points (20 points on easy) less armour than the front. If you anticipate fighting Sectopods, dust off your old Heavy Lasers. Blaster and Stun bombs are even more effective if you have them.

* Some commanders keep [[Tank/Laser Cannon]]s on hand to deal with Sectopods. The turret laser's high power, combined with the Sectopods vulnerability to lasers, encourages troops to keep Laser tanks on hand when they would otherwise be scrapped in favour of hovertanks.

* The extremely impressive under armor of the Sectopod(45 on Beginner, 90 at all other difficulties) combined with the resistance to explosives means that a Sectopod is immune to standard grenades, and almost immune to Alien Grenades, and it will require around 10 High-Explosives to kill one. Fortunately, the mighty Blaster Bomb has a high chance of killing a Sectopod in one hit.

* As a robot, a Sectopod has incredibly high Psi Strength, making it almost impossible to effectively use Psionics against it. However, if you do have a soldier strong enough to Mind-Control a Sectopod, by all means do so; it's basically like adding a tank to your troop roster for the turn. As an added bonus, because the Sectopod fires lasers, the fastest way to destroy a Sectopod is to partially MC it, and then have the MC'ed portions fire upon the non MC'ed portions. On average, a Sectopod can kill another Sectopod in about one turn of continuous fire. Sometimes you can make the sectopod walk, and the non-MC'ed portions will reaction fire on itself.

* The Sectopod's turret, although masquerading as a plasma weapon, is really a laser weapon. This explains how the Sectopods can self-kill themselves so easily during partial mind control. A quickly-made-up excuse would be that they are 'green' lasers. Green lasers that fire thick globs of light.

* The only infantry weapons that are effective against the front and side armour of a Sectopod (or under armour, for explosives) are (in order of effectiveness) the Blaster Bomb, Stun Bomb, Heavy Laser, HE Pack, Heavy Plasma, Laser Rifle and Large Rocket. (Laser Pistols have a theoretical chance but it's almost nil.) On average a Heavy Laser will take down a Sectopod in about 3-5 hits, more at higher difficulty levels. A Blaster Bomb ought to take out the Sectopod in one direct hit (usually). A Stun Bomb is about fifty percent more effective, per hit, than a turn of fire from a Heavy Laser. And even the HE Pack, Heavy Plasma and Laser Rifle (about as good as each other) will only nibble away at it - the Rocket's nibbles are even smaller.

* However, due to the 40 point armor difference in front and rear, weapon ranking is dependent on which armor is being attacked. From behind, Laser Rifle and Heavy Plasma will kill a Sectopod even faster than a Heavy Laser. From the front, the Laser Rifle, Heavy Plasma and Heavy Laser will on average take 22, 18 and 4 hits for a kill. From the back it is 6, 5 and 2 hits respectively. Considering that the Heavy Laser has no auto mode and is quite inaccurate, the other two take seem to take the lead from behind.

==See also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Sectopod

2012-02-14T14:00:57Z

FullAuto: /* General Information */

[[Image:sectopod.png|right|Sectopod]]
The '''Sectopod''' "Walker" is one of the most dangerous terror units X-COM has come up against. Their armour is nearly impervious to all weapons fire, but they appear to be vulnerable to [[Weapons#Laser Technology|lasers]].

Sectopods are seen in the company of [[Ethereal]]s in base defenses and terror missions. Beware, their weapon is a powerful laser with autofire capability, which can make short work of any enemy of the Sectopod in seconds.

== General information ==
Every Sectopod is completely identical and is built not only for self-sufficient commands and operation, but also psychic/psionic manipulation -- an Ethereal could potentially control a Sectopod as if it were it's own body, from millions of miles away.

If X-COM ground forces encounter Sectopods on Earth, it will usually be during a [[Base Defense]], [[Alien Base Assault]], or [[Terror Mission]]. Terror attacks by [[Ethereal]]s are the most dangerous for both [[Civilian]]s and X-COM units - apart from having to deal with their psionic abilities, we also have to fight against Sectopods.

== Statistics ==
'''TUs:''' 62-71
'''Health:''' 96
'''Energy:''' 90-104
'''Reactions:''' 64-79
'''Strength:''' 90-97
'''Bravery:''' 110
'''Firing Accuracy:''' 30-70
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 100-116

'''Damage:''' 100 Laser
'''Accuracy-'''
'''Snap:''' 75%
'''Auto:''' 50%
'''Aimed:''' 110%
'''TUs-'''
'''Snap:''' 30%
'''Auto:''' 35%
'''Aimed:''' 60%

== Live Specimen ==
Sectopods are robot creatures with a powerful plasma beam weapon. The control of these mechanical beasts is via a telepathic link to their controllers, the [[Ethereal|Ethereals]]. Sectopods are the most powerful terror weapon available to the alien forces. ''Note: it is not possible to capture one, the only way to get this report is to get it from a captured [[medic]]. Also, the ufopedia is lying... the sectopod uses a LASER weapon, not plasma. It just LOOKS like plasma.''

== Autopsy ==
[[Image:sectopodautopsy.png|right|Sectopod, Disassembled]]
This robot is sturdily constructed with powerful armour capable of resisting most forms of attack, in particular plasma weapons. However, the sensing circuitry seems particularly vulnerable to laser weapons.

==Notes==
* Sectopods take 80% damage from high explosives and plasma, and 150% from laser. Combined with their strong armour, even the [[Heavy Plasma]] will have a very difficult time taking down a Sectopod - expect to expend many clips. Ideally the rear should be targeted, since it has a sizable 40 points (20 points on easy) less armour than the front. If you anticipate fighting Sectopods, dust off your old Heavy Lasers. Blaster and Stun bombs are even more effective if you have them.

* Some commanders keep [[Tank/Laser Cannon]]s on hand to deal with Sectopods. The turret laser's high power, combined with the Sectopods vulnerability to lasers, encourages troops to keep Laser tanks on hand when they would otherwise be scrapped in favour of hovertanks.

* The extremely impressive under armor of the Sectopod(45 on Beginner, 90 at all other difficulties) combined with the resistance to explosives means that a Sectopod is immune to standard grenades, and almost immune to Alien Grenades, and it will require around 10 High-Explosives to kill one. Fortunately, the mighty Blaster Bomb has a high chance of killing a Sectopod in one hit.

* As a robot, a Sectopod has incredibly high Psi Strength, making it almost impossible to effectively use Psionics against it. However, if you do have a soldier strong enough to Mind-Control a Sectopod, by all means do so; it's basically like adding a tank to your troop roster for the turn. As an added bonus, because the Sectopod fires lasers, the fastest way to destroy a Sectopod is to partially MC it, and then have the MC'ed portions fire upon the non MC'ed portions. On average, a Sectopod can kill another Sectopod in about one turn of continuous fire. Sometimes you can make the sectopod walk, and the non-MC'ed portions will reaction fire on itself.

* The Sectopod's turret, although masquerading as a plasma weapon, is really a laser weapon. This explains how the Sectopods can self-kill themselves so easily during partial mind control. A quickly-made-up excuse would be that they are 'green' lasers. Green lasers that fire thick globs of light.

* The only infantry weapons that are effective against the front and side armour of a Sectopod (or under armour, for explosives) are (in order of effectiveness) the Blaster Bomb, Stun Bomb, Heavy Laser, HE Pack, Heavy Plasma, Laser Rifle and Large Rocket. (Laser Pistols have a theoretical chance but it's almost nil.) On average a Heavy Laser will take down a Sectopod in about 3-5 hits, more at higher difficulty levels. A Blaster Bomb ought to take out the Sectopod in one direct hit (usually). A Stun Bomb is about fifty percent more effective, per hit, than a turn of fire from a Heavy Laser. And even the HE Pack, Heavy Plasma and Laser Rifle (about as good as each other) will only nibble away at it - the Rocket's nibbles are even smaller.

* However, due to the 40 point armor difference in front and rear, weapon ranking is dependent on which armor is being attacked. From behind, Laser Rifle and Heavy Plasma will kill a Sectopod even faster than a Heavy Laser. From the front, the Laser Rifle, Heavy Plasma and Heavy Laser will on average take 22, 18 and 4 hits for a kill. From the back it is 6, 5 and 2 hits respectively. Considering that the Heavy Laser has no auto mode and is quite inaccurate, the other two take seem to take the lead from behind.

==See Also==
{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Chryssalid

2012-02-14T14:00:01Z

FullAuto: /* Zombification */

[[Image:chryssalid.gif|right|Chryssalid]]
'''Chryssalids''' are an alien [[Terror Units|Terror Unit]] accompanying [[Snakeman|Snakemen]].

Nasty. Toothy. Very very fast. Able to implant an egg (that turns you into a [[Zombie]]) with little regard for body armor. The ability of single Chryssalids to multiply and wipe out entire squads makes them more feared than even the tougher [[Ethereal]]s.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 110-127
'''Health:''' 96
'''Energy:''' 140-162
'''Reactions:''' 70-86
'''Strength:''' 110-118
'''Bravery:''' 100
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 50-69

'''Damage:''' 110-118
'''Damage Type:''' <i>???</i>
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 80%
'''TUs:''' 15* (See Discussion page)

==Live specimen==
The crab like claws of this creature are a powerful weapon in close combat. The high metabolism and strength of this creature give it speed and dexterity. Instead of killing its victim it impregnates it with an egg and injects a venom which turns it into a walking [[Zombie]]. A new Chryssalid will burst from the victim shortly after impregnation. Chryssalids are associated with the [[Snakeman]] race.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:chryssalidautopsy.gif|right|Chryssalid - Autopsy]]
The exo-skeleton of this creature is extremely tough, but surprisingly vulnerable to explosive ammunition. The brain is well developed, and its cell growth rate very fast. The creature carries twenty eggs which are laid inside other organisms. This creature is a very effective [[Terror Mission|terror weapon]].

<br>''[ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: Note, the above is taken directly from the game [[UFOpaedia]]. Technically, the comment about the vulnerability to explosives is only true when the Chryssalid is unconscious. Chryssalids, in fact, take normal damage from Explosives. To confirm this, refer to the [[Damage#Damage Modifiers | Damage Modifiers]].<br><br>With the [[Auto-Cannon|Auto]] or [[Heavy Cannon|Heavy]] Cannon, Chryssalids are more likely to get knocked unconscious with HE rounds while AP rounds often kills them. Make it habit of examining the corpse before moving on if you haven't destroyed the corpse outright. ] ''
<br clear="all">

<br>''[ [[User:Tsunamiatunzen1|Tsunamiatunzen1]]: The entry about the twenty eggs isn't true either. Although this doesn't do you much good since twenty zombies is enough to make the rest of your squad go berserk and at least one or two of your former soldiers would have certainly become a new chryssalid by then.

==Notes==
*Beginner level Chryssalids have 110TU, and each melee attack costs 15TU. This means they can be out of visual range at the beginning of the turn and cross the 23 intervening tiles and still attack you in the same turn! But sometimes the Chryssalid will pop out of a building, run a few tiles, take a look at your soldiers, and the pop back into the cover it had before. This makes them susceptible to reaction fire since they do this several times, as long as you don't move up any further to get a better angle.
*They can perform 7 attacks per turn max at Beginner difficulty and 8 at Superhuman difficulty.
*Chryssalid Damage Modifiers: Fire 80%, Stun 90%. They aren't particularly susceptible to anything, despite the "vulnerability to explosives" mentioned above.
*[[Unconscious]] Chryssalids are as vulnerable to ordinary Grenades as any other object (which is a good thing, seeing that leaving stunned Chryssalids alive is generally a bad idea unless you can stun them again in case they get up).
*If you find yourself in a Chryssalid-infested area without a flying suit, you can try heading upstairs then shooting away the stairs. This works too if you just sit on the next level the stairs are on and block the way up since a Chryssalid is considered to still be on the bottom level. Sitting at the top of Transport aircraft ramps works too.
*If you're afraid of a Chryssalid popping out of a corner while you're assaulting a base or a big UFO, place yourself below or above the Chryssalid's level and then pop out and blast it on your next turn.
*If you find a lone Chryssalid in your area and you're still using human rifles or laser pistols, you'll have to do the unthinkable, get in its face and unload the entire clip into it! It's probably not going to die even from point-blank full-auto Rifle fire, but it's sure better than shooting wildly and missing or waiting for a reaction shot that never comes.
*[[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]'s can't be turned into Zombies but a Chryssalid attack can still make a mess of them. The HWP may survive the attack but will have a serious damage.
*Chryssalids usually dont have guns; using [[Flying Suit]]s you can just hover in the air and shoot them or drop [[High Explosive]]s down on them. A flying suited soldier can potentially distract a Chryssalid to an extent since a Chryssalid next to a flying soldier will stare angrily at it as long as there aren't any other ground units running amok nearby.
*Their lack of ranged attack or flying ability makes them easy meat once you have flying armor.
*AP works but you may want to skip the rifles and go straight to Heavy Cannon or Autocannons. Human weapons don't work very well unless it's a rocket launcher or something stronger than a laser pistol. Laser Rifles are reasonably effective as long as you have about 2 soldiers firing at each Chryssalid.
*All-round armour means Chryssalids are relatively quite HE-resistant, unless the Chryssalid was spawned from a Zombie that had its under armour damaged (this carries over to the Chryssalid form). Making it a good idea to kill Zombies with ground-zero explosions.
*A horrible way to meet one is shooting a Zombie with reaction fire as it shambles in for melee... then a Chryssalid pops out and sprints at you, turning your squad into more zombies.
*The only known way to prevent a Chryssalid hatching is to land killing blows on zombies with [[Incendiary]] rounds.
*Usually Chryssalids are unarmed, so they're sitting ducks during X-Com's turn. If you have a chance to kill one you should take it before it's too late.
*If one of your soldiers was Zombified alive, and so didn't drop all its weapons, the resulting Zombie and Chryssalid will reaction fire at you aggressively (if inaccurately).
*Listen during the alien turn closely. Chryssalids howl when they spot a target.

As with all terror units, they can be encountered in the following mission types:
* [[Terror Mission]]
* [[Base Defense]]
* [[UFO Ground Assault]] ([[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]])
* [[Alien Base Assault]]
* [[Cydonia]]

==Zombification==

If a human unit (or Chryssalid under permanent control) is attacked by a Chryssalid - even once - it will become a [[Zombie]]. This happens regardless of what the other effects of the attack are, including death.

Zombification occurs at the end of a Chryssalid's series of attacks on that particular opponent. So, even though only one attack is sufficient for zombification, a Chryssalid will keep attacking the same target until it dies, is stunned, or they run out of TU.
This means that armor causes a major difference in Chryssalid attack patterns. An unarmored soldier will often die in just one hit, so a single Chryssalid will often run up to soldier A, kill and Zombify him, run to soldier B, kill and Zombify, and repeat this many times. For grounded soldiers in Flying Suits, it will often take many more hits to kill it's target, often not leaving it enough TU to go after a fresh target.

If the damage dealt to the subject was enough to kill it (usually the case), it will scream and drop its weapons in the usual way before "resurrecting" as a Zombie. Regardless there'll be no corpse left behind.

In the second case, Zombification without death, being "Zombified alive", is special, in that it does not cause units to scream or drop their weapons. No morale loss for unit death will occur, and no points for killed soldiers will be lost in this case. Armed Zombies can only use their equipment via [[Reaction Fire]], and when killed, change to armed Chryssalids (which have the same limitation).

This scenario usually occurs in the case of a Chryssalid which has been reduced to critically low Health, and will very often be a Chryssalid that was previously knocked unconscious by bonus stun damage from conventional weapon fire. This is because Chryssalid melee accuracy is affected by Health %, so a critically wounded Chryssalid will often flail away and not be able to get a single hit in. Nonetheless, even a single missed attack has 100% chance of causing Zombification.

The third option is if the attacks ended up [[Stun|stunning]] the unit. The unconscious body will fall in the usual way, but then the victim itself will be turned into a standard Zombie. The result is that the body remains and appears to belong to the (conscious) alien.

Zombie-spawned Chryssalids suffer from a oversight in the game code which means that they will always have their core stats, unadjusted by difficulty level. In difficulties above Beginner, this means that Chryssalids birthed from Zombies will have lower stats than those that spawned at the beginning of the mission, and are thus less dangerous.
'''However''', if playing in Beginner mode, armor of units is adjusted to 50% of core for all units. This means that in Beginner mode, Zombie-spawned Chryssalids will be significantly better armored than mission-start Chryssalids! So if you're playing on Beginner, make sure you are prepared to kill a Chryssalid significantly stronger than what you have been facing normally!

Any damage done to the Zombie's armor will carry over to the resulting Chryssalid, in % terms! So, if you shoot the zombie in a certain location a few times, say the rear (it doesn't matter since zombies have 4 armor all over on Superhuman), and it gets reduced to zero, the resulting Chryssalid will have zero armor in that location when it spawns! Since Chryssalids have 34 armor on all sides on difficulty above Beginner, a reduction to 0 armor is very very significant.

Zombies created during (for example) Alien Turn 3 will only be able to move and attack during (for example) Alien Turn 4.

As noted under [[Zombie]], Zombie research teams under controlled conditions have never seen a spontaneous Chryssalid hatching while the Zombie is still mobile and unharmed.
So although the Zombie packs a wallop in melee, don't shoot them if you aren't prepared to deal with the Chryssalid immediately afterwards. Run away until you can bring to bear enough firepower to deal with both the Zombie and the Chryssalid.

Chryssalids left on their own with [[civilian]]s in a [[Terror Mission]] can quite quickly raise an army of the undead. This is one of the few tricky situations where you might end up shooting civilians for their own good. And yours, of course.

However, the newly raised civilian zombies, as well as the accompanying Snakemen, tend to attack first before the chryssalid so there tend to be quite a few deaths before another zombie comes into play. So now the question is, death by plasma, strangling, and/or zombification or death by bullets, lasers, and explosives?

==See Also==
*[[Tentaculat]]
*[[Data Canister: Chryssalid]]
*[[Gaining_permanent_control_of_a_Chryssalid/Tentaculat|Exploit: gaining permanent control via psionics]]

{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Chryssalid

2012-02-14T13:59:48Z

FullAuto: /* Zombification */

[[Image:chryssalid.gif|right|Chryssalid]]
'''Chryssalids''' are an alien [[Terror Units|Terror Unit]] accompanying [[Snakeman|Snakemen]].

Nasty. Toothy. Very very fast. Able to implant an egg (that turns you into a [[Zombie]]) with little regard for body armor. The ability of single Chryssalids to multiply and wipe out entire squads makes them more feared than even the tougher [[Ethereal]]s.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 110-127
'''Health:''' 96
'''Energy:''' 140-162
'''Reactions:''' 70-86
'''Strength:''' 110-118
'''Bravery:''' 100
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 50-69

'''Damage:''' 110-118
'''Damage Type:''' <i>???</i>
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 80%
'''TUs:''' 15* (See Discussion page)

==Live specimen==
The crab like claws of this creature are a powerful weapon in close combat. The high metabolism and strength of this creature give it speed and dexterity. Instead of killing its victim it impregnates it with an egg and injects a venom which turns it into a walking [[Zombie]]. A new Chryssalid will burst from the victim shortly after impregnation. Chryssalids are associated with the [[Snakeman]] race.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:chryssalidautopsy.gif|right|Chryssalid - Autopsy]]
The exo-skeleton of this creature is extremely tough, but surprisingly vulnerable to explosive ammunition. The brain is well developed, and its cell growth rate very fast. The creature carries twenty eggs which are laid inside other organisms. This creature is a very effective [[Terror Mission|terror weapon]].

<br>''[ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: Note, the above is taken directly from the game [[UFOpaedia]]. Technically, the comment about the vulnerability to explosives is only true when the Chryssalid is unconscious. Chryssalids, in fact, take normal damage from Explosives. To confirm this, refer to the [[Damage#Damage Modifiers | Damage Modifiers]].<br><br>With the [[Auto-Cannon|Auto]] or [[Heavy Cannon|Heavy]] Cannon, Chryssalids are more likely to get knocked unconscious with HE rounds while AP rounds often kills them. Make it habit of examining the corpse before moving on if you haven't destroyed the corpse outright. ] ''
<br clear="all">

<br>''[ [[User:Tsunamiatunzen1|Tsunamiatunzen1]]: The entry about the twenty eggs isn't true either. Although this doesn't do you much good since twenty zombies is enough to make the rest of your squad go berserk and at least one or two of your former soldiers would have certainly become a new chryssalid by then.

==Notes==
*Beginner level Chryssalids have 110TU, and each melee attack costs 15TU. This means they can be out of visual range at the beginning of the turn and cross the 23 intervening tiles and still attack you in the same turn! But sometimes the Chryssalid will pop out of a building, run a few tiles, take a look at your soldiers, and the pop back into the cover it had before. This makes them susceptible to reaction fire since they do this several times, as long as you don't move up any further to get a better angle.
*They can perform 7 attacks per turn max at Beginner difficulty and 8 at Superhuman difficulty.
*Chryssalid Damage Modifiers: Fire 80%, Stun 90%. They aren't particularly susceptible to anything, despite the "vulnerability to explosives" mentioned above.
*[[Unconscious]] Chryssalids are as vulnerable to ordinary Grenades as any other object (which is a good thing, seeing that leaving stunned Chryssalids alive is generally a bad idea unless you can stun them again in case they get up).
*If you find yourself in a Chryssalid-infested area without a flying suit, you can try heading upstairs then shooting away the stairs. This works too if you just sit on the next level the stairs are on and block the way up since a Chryssalid is considered to still be on the bottom level. Sitting at the top of Transport aircraft ramps works too.
*If you're afraid of a Chryssalid popping out of a corner while you're assaulting a base or a big UFO, place yourself below or above the Chryssalid's level and then pop out and blast it on your next turn.
*If you find a lone Chryssalid in your area and you're still using human rifles or laser pistols, you'll have to do the unthinkable, get in its face and unload the entire clip into it! It's probably not going to die even from point-blank full-auto Rifle fire, but it's sure better than shooting wildly and missing or waiting for a reaction shot that never comes.
*[[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]'s can't be turned into Zombies but a Chryssalid attack can still make a mess of them. The HWP may survive the attack but will have a serious damage.
*Chryssalids usually dont have guns; using [[Flying Suit]]s you can just hover in the air and shoot them or drop [[High Explosive]]s down on them. A flying suited soldier can potentially distract a Chryssalid to an extent since a Chryssalid next to a flying soldier will stare angrily at it as long as there aren't any other ground units running amok nearby.
*Their lack of ranged attack or flying ability makes them easy meat once you have flying armor.
*AP works but you may want to skip the rifles and go straight to Heavy Cannon or Autocannons. Human weapons don't work very well unless it's a rocket launcher or something stronger than a laser pistol. Laser Rifles are reasonably effective as long as you have about 2 soldiers firing at each Chryssalid.
*All-round armour means Chryssalids are relatively quite HE-resistant, unless the Chryssalid was spawned from a Zombie that had its under armour damaged (this carries over to the Chryssalid form). Making it a good idea to kill Zombies with ground-zero explosions.
*A horrible way to meet one is shooting a Zombie with reaction fire as it shambles in for melee... then a Chryssalid pops out and sprints at you, turning your squad into more zombies.
*The only known way to prevent a Chryssalid hatching is to land killing blows on zombies with [[Incendiary]] rounds.
*Usually Chryssalids are unarmed, so they're sitting ducks during X-Com's turn. If you have a chance to kill one you should take it before it's too late.
*If one of your soldiers was Zombified alive, and so didn't drop all its weapons, the resulting Zombie and Chryssalid will reaction fire at you aggressively (if inaccurately).
*Listen during the alien turn closely. Chryssalids howl when they spot a target.

As with all terror units, they can be encountered in the following mission types:
* [[Terror Mission]]
* [[Base Defense]]
* [[UFO Ground Assault]] ([[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]])
* [[Alien Base Assault]]
* [[Cydonia]]

==Zombification==

If a human unit (or Chryssalid under permanent control) is attacked by a Chryssalid - even once - it will become a [[Zombie]]. This happens regardless of what the other effects of the attack are, including death.

Zombification occurs at the end of a Chryssalid's series of attacks on that particular opponent. So, even though only one attack is sufficient for zombification, a Chryssalid will keep attacking the same target until it dies, is stunned, or they run out of TU.
This means that armor causes a major difference in Chryssalid attack patterns. An unarmored soldier will often die in just one hit, so a single Chryssalid will often run up to soldier A, kill and Zombify him, run to soldier B, kill and Zombify, and repeat this many times. For grounded soldiers in Flying Suits, it will often take many more hits to kill it's target, often not leaving it enough TU to go after a fresh target.

If the damage dealt to the subject was enough to kill it (usually the case), it will scream and drop its weapons in the usual way before "resurrecting" as a Zombie. Regardless there'll be no corpse left behind.

In the second case, Zombification without death, being "Zombified alive", is special, in that it does not cause units to scream or drop their weapons. No morale loss for unit death will occur, and no points for killed soldiers will be lost in this case. Armed Zombies can only use their equipment via [[Reaction Fire]], and when killed, change to armed Chryssalids (which have the same limitation).

This scenario usually occurs in the case of a Chryssalid which has been reduced to critically low Health, and will very often be a Chryssalid that was previously knocked unconscious by bonus stun damage from conventional weapon fire. This is because Chryssalid melee accuracy is affected by Health %, so a critically wounded Chryssalid will often flail away and not be able to get a single hit in. Nonetheless, even a single missed attack has 100% chance of causing Zombification.

The third option is if the attacks ended up [[Stun|stunning]] the unit. The unconscious body will fall in the usual way, but then the victim itself will be turned into a standard Zombie. The result is that the body remains and appears to belong to the (conscious) alien.

Zombie-spawned Chryssalids suffer from a oversight in the game code which means that they will always have their core stats, unadjusted by difficulty level. In difficulties above Beginner, this means that Chryssalids birthed from Zombies will have lower stats than those that spawned at the beginning of the mission, and are thus less dangerous.
'''However''', if playing in Beginner mode, armor of units is adjusted to 50% of core for all units. This means that in Beginner mode, Zombie-spawned Chryssalids will be significantly better armored than mission-start Chryssalids! So if you're playing on Beginner, make sure you are prepared to kill a Chryssalid significantly stronger than what you have been facing normally!

Any damage done to the Zombie's armor will carry over to the resulting Chryssalid, in % terms! So, if you shoot the zombie in a certain location a few times, say the rear (it doesn't matter since zombies have 4 armor all over on Superhuman), and it gets reduced to zero, the resulting Chryssalid will have zero armor in that location when it spawns! Since Chryssalids have 34 armor on all sides on difficulty above Beginner, a reduction to 0 armor is very very significant.

Zombies created during (for example) Alien Turn 3 will only be able to move and attack during (for example) Alien Turn 4.

As noted under [[Zombie]], Zombie research teams under controlled conditions have never seen a spontaneous Chryssalid hatching while the Zombie is still mobile and unharmed.
So although the Zombie packs a wallop in melee, don't shoot them if you aren't prepared to deal with the Chryssalid immediately afterwards. Run away until you can bring to bear enough firepower to deal with both the Zombie and the Chryssalid.

Chryssalids left on their own with [[civilian]]s in a [[Terror Mission]] can quite quickly raise an army of the undead. This is one of the few tricky situations where you might end up shooting civilians for their own good. And yours, of course.

However, the newly raised civilian zombies, as well as the accompanying Snakemen, tend to attack first before the chryssalid so there tend to be quite a few deaths before another zombie comes into play. So now the question is, death by plasma, strangling, and/or zombiefication or death by bullets, lasers, and explosives?

==See Also==
*[[Tentaculat]]
*[[Data Canister: Chryssalid]]
*[[Gaining_permanent_control_of_a_Chryssalid/Tentaculat|Exploit: gaining permanent control via psionics]]

{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Chryssalid

2012-02-14T13:58:41Z

FullAuto: /* Zombification */

[[Image:chryssalid.gif|right|Chryssalid]]
'''Chryssalids''' are an alien [[Terror Units|Terror Unit]] accompanying [[Snakeman|Snakemen]].

Nasty. Toothy. Very very fast. Able to implant an egg (that turns you into a [[Zombie]]) with little regard for body armor. The ability of single Chryssalids to multiply and wipe out entire squads makes them more feared than even the tougher [[Ethereal]]s.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 110-127
'''Health:''' 96
'''Energy:''' 140-162
'''Reactions:''' 70-86
'''Strength:''' 110-118
'''Bravery:''' 100
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 50-69

'''Damage:''' 110-118
'''Damage Type:''' <i>???</i>
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 80%
'''TUs:''' 15* (See Discussion page)

==Live specimen==
The crab like claws of this creature are a powerful weapon in close combat. The high metabolism and strength of this creature give it speed and dexterity. Instead of killing its victim it impregnates it with an egg and injects a venom which turns it into a walking [[Zombie]]. A new Chryssalid will burst from the victim shortly after impregnation. Chryssalids are associated with the [[Snakeman]] race.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:chryssalidautopsy.gif|right|Chryssalid - Autopsy]]
The exo-skeleton of this creature is extremely tough, but surprisingly vulnerable to explosive ammunition. The brain is well developed, and its cell growth rate very fast. The creature carries twenty eggs which are laid inside other organisms. This creature is a very effective [[Terror Mission|terror weapon]].

<br>''[ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: Note, the above is taken directly from the game [[UFOpaedia]]. Technically, the comment about the vulnerability to explosives is only true when the Chryssalid is unconscious. Chryssalids, in fact, take normal damage from Explosives. To confirm this, refer to the [[Damage#Damage Modifiers | Damage Modifiers]].<br><br>With the [[Auto-Cannon|Auto]] or [[Heavy Cannon|Heavy]] Cannon, Chryssalids are more likely to get knocked unconscious with HE rounds while AP rounds often kills them. Make it habit of examining the corpse before moving on if you haven't destroyed the corpse outright. ] ''
<br clear="all">

<br>''[ [[User:Tsunamiatunzen1|Tsunamiatunzen1]]: The entry about the twenty eggs isn't true either. Although this doesn't do you much good since twenty zombies is enough to make the rest of your squad go berserk and at least one or two of your former soldiers would have certainly become a new chryssalid by then.

==Notes==
*Beginner level Chryssalids have 110TU, and each melee attack costs 15TU. This means they can be out of visual range at the beginning of the turn and cross the 23 intervening tiles and still attack you in the same turn! But sometimes the Chryssalid will pop out of a building, run a few tiles, take a look at your soldiers, and the pop back into the cover it had before. This makes them susceptible to reaction fire since they do this several times, as long as you don't move up any further to get a better angle.
*They can perform 7 attacks per turn max at Beginner difficulty and 8 at Superhuman difficulty.
*Chryssalid Damage Modifiers: Fire 80%, Stun 90%. They aren't particularly susceptible to anything, despite the "vulnerability to explosives" mentioned above.
*[[Unconscious]] Chryssalids are as vulnerable to ordinary Grenades as any other object (which is a good thing, seeing that leaving stunned Chryssalids alive is generally a bad idea unless you can stun them again in case they get up).
*If you find yourself in a Chryssalid-infested area without a flying suit, you can try heading upstairs then shooting away the stairs. This works too if you just sit on the next level the stairs are on and block the way up since a Chryssalid is considered to still be on the bottom level. Sitting at the top of Transport aircraft ramps works too.
*If you're afraid of a Chryssalid popping out of a corner while you're assaulting a base or a big UFO, place yourself below or above the Chryssalid's level and then pop out and blast it on your next turn.
*If you find a lone Chryssalid in your area and you're still using human rifles or laser pistols, you'll have to do the unthinkable, get in its face and unload the entire clip into it! It's probably not going to die even from point-blank full-auto Rifle fire, but it's sure better than shooting wildly and missing or waiting for a reaction shot that never comes.
*[[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]'s can't be turned into Zombies but a Chryssalid attack can still make a mess of them. The HWP may survive the attack but will have a serious damage.
*Chryssalids usually dont have guns; using [[Flying Suit]]s you can just hover in the air and shoot them or drop [[High Explosive]]s down on them. A flying suited soldier can potentially distract a Chryssalid to an extent since a Chryssalid next to a flying soldier will stare angrily at it as long as there aren't any other ground units running amok nearby.
*Their lack of ranged attack or flying ability makes them easy meat once you have flying armor.
*AP works but you may want to skip the rifles and go straight to Heavy Cannon or Autocannons. Human weapons don't work very well unless it's a rocket launcher or something stronger than a laser pistol. Laser Rifles are reasonably effective as long as you have about 2 soldiers firing at each Chryssalid.
*All-round armour means Chryssalids are relatively quite HE-resistant, unless the Chryssalid was spawned from a Zombie that had its under armour damaged (this carries over to the Chryssalid form). Making it a good idea to kill Zombies with ground-zero explosions.
*A horrible way to meet one is shooting a Zombie with reaction fire as it shambles in for melee... then a Chryssalid pops out and sprints at you, turning your squad into more zombies.
*The only known way to prevent a Chryssalid hatching is to land killing blows on zombies with [[Incendiary]] rounds.
*Usually Chryssalids are unarmed, so they're sitting ducks during X-Com's turn. If you have a chance to kill one you should take it before it's too late.
*If one of your soldiers was Zombified alive, and so didn't drop all its weapons, the resulting Zombie and Chryssalid will reaction fire at you aggressively (if inaccurately).
*Listen during the alien turn closely. Chryssalids howl when they spot a target.

As with all terror units, they can be encountered in the following mission types:
* [[Terror Mission]]
* [[Base Defense]]
* [[UFO Ground Assault]] ([[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]])
* [[Alien Base Assault]]
* [[Cydonia]]

==Zombification==

If a human unit (or Chryssalid under permanent control) is attacked by a Chryssalid - even once - it will become a [[Zombie]]. This happens regardless of what the other effects of the attack are, including death.

Zombification occurs at the end of a Chryssalid's series of attacks on that particular opponent. So, even though only one attack is sufficient for zombification, a Chryssalid will keep attacking the same target until it dies, is stunned, or they run out of TU.
This means that armor causes a major difference in Chryssalid attack patterns. An unarmored soldier will often die in just one hit, so a single Chryssalid will often run up to soldier A, kill and Zombify him, run to soldier B, kill and Zombify, and repeat this many times. For grounded soldiers in Flying Suits, it will often take many more hits to kill it's target, often not leaving it enough TU to go after a fresh target.

If the damage dealt to the subject was enough to kill it (usually the case), it will scream and drop its weapons in the usual way before "resurrecting" as a Zombie. Regardless there'll be no corpse left behind.

In the second case, Zombification without death, being "Zombified alive", is special, in that it does not cause units to scream or drop their weapons. No morale loss for unit death will occur, and no points for killed soldiers will be lost in this case. Armed Zombies can only use their equipment via [[Reaction Fire]], and when killed, change to armed Chryssalids (which have the same limitation).

This scenario usually occurs in the case of a Chryssalid which has been reduced to critically low Health, and will very often be a Chryssalid that was previously knocked unconscious by bonus stun damage from conventional weapon fire. This is because Chryssalid melee accuracy is affected by Health %, so a critically wounded Chryssalid will often flail away and not be able to get a single hit in. Nonetheless, even a single missed attack has 100% chance of causing Zombification.

The third option is if the attacks ended up [[Stun|stunning]] the unit. The unconscious body will fall in the usual way, but then the victim itself will be turned into a standard Zombie. The result is that the body remains and appears to belong to the (conscious) alien.

Zombie-spawned Chryssalids suffer from a oversight in the game code which means that they will always have their core stats, unadjusted by difficulty level. In difficulties above Beginner, this means that Chryssalids birthed from Zombies will have lower stats than those that spawned at the beginning of the mission, and are thus less dangerous.
'''However''', if playing in Beginner mode, armor of units is adjusted to 50% of core for all units. This means that in Beginner mode, Zombie-spawned Chryssalids will be significantly better armored than mission-start Chryssalids! So if you're playing on Beginner, make sure you are prepared to kill a Chryssalid significantly stronger than what you have been facing normally!

Any damage done to the Zombie's armor will carry over to the resulting Chryssalid, in % terms! So, if you shoot the zombie in a certain location a few times, say the rear (it doesn't matter since zombies have 4 armor all over on Superhuman), and it gets reduced to zero, the resulting Chryssalid will have zero armor in that location when it spawns! Since Chryssalids have 34 armor on all sides on difficulty above Beginner, a reduction to 0 armor is very very significant.

Zombies created during (for example) Alien Turn 3 will only be able to move and attack during (for example) Alien Turn 4.

As noted under [[Zombie]], Zombie research teams under controlled conditions have never seen a spontaneous Chryssalid hatching while the Zombie is still mobile and unharmed.
So although the Zombie packs a wallop in melee, don't shoot them if you aren't prepared to deal with the Chryssalid immediately afterwards. Run away until you can bring to bear enough firepower to deal with both the Zombie and the Chryssalid.

Chryssalids left on their own with [[civilian]]s in a [[Terror Mission]] can quite quickly raise an army of the undead. This is one of the few tricky situations where you might end up shooting civilians for their own good. And yours, of course.

However, the newly raised civilian zombies, as well as the accompanying snakemen, tend to attack first before the chryssalid so there tend to be quite a few deaths before another zombie comes into play. So now the question is, death by plasma, strangling, and/or zombiefication or death by bullets, lasers, and explosives?

==See Also==
*[[Tentaculat]]
*[[Data Canister: Chryssalid]]
*[[Gaining_permanent_control_of_a_Chryssalid/Tentaculat|Exploit: gaining permanent control via psionics]]

{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]

Chryssalid

2012-02-14T13:56:38Z

FullAuto: /* Live Specimen */

[[Image:chryssalid.gif|right|Chryssalid]]
'''Chryssalids''' are an alien [[Terror Units|Terror Unit]] accompanying [[Snakeman|Snakemen]].

Nasty. Toothy. Very very fast. Able to implant an egg (that turns you into a [[Zombie]]) with little regard for body armor. The ability of single Chryssalids to multiply and wipe out entire squads makes them more feared than even the tougher [[Ethereal]]s.

==Statistics==
'''TUs:''' 110-127
'''Health:''' 96
'''Energy:''' 140-162
'''Reactions:''' 70-86
'''Strength:''' 110-118
'''Bravery:''' 100
'''Psi Skill:''' N/A
'''Psi Strength:''' 50-69

'''Damage:''' 110-118
'''Damage Type:''' <i>???</i>
'''Close Combat Accuracy:''' 80%
'''TUs:''' 15* (See Discussion page)

==Live specimen==
The crab like claws of this creature are a powerful weapon in close combat. The high metabolism and strength of this creature give it speed and dexterity. Instead of killing its victim it impregnates it with an egg and injects a venom which turns it into a walking [[Zombie]]. A new Chryssalid will burst from the victim shortly after impregnation. Chryssalids are associated with the [[Snakeman]] race.

==Autopsy==
[[Image:chryssalidautopsy.gif|right|Chryssalid - Autopsy]]
The exo-skeleton of this creature is extremely tough, but surprisingly vulnerable to explosive ammunition. The brain is well developed, and its cell growth rate very fast. The creature carries twenty eggs which are laid inside other organisms. This creature is a very effective [[Terror Mission|terror weapon]].

<br>''[ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: Note, the above is taken directly from the game [[UFOpaedia]]. Technically, the comment about the vulnerability to explosives is only true when the Chryssalid is unconscious. Chryssalids, in fact, take normal damage from Explosives. To confirm this, refer to the [[Damage#Damage Modifiers | Damage Modifiers]].<br><br>With the [[Auto-Cannon|Auto]] or [[Heavy Cannon|Heavy]] Cannon, Chryssalids are more likely to get knocked unconscious with HE rounds while AP rounds often kills them. Make it habit of examining the corpse before moving on if you haven't destroyed the corpse outright. ] ''
<br clear="all">

<br>''[ [[User:Tsunamiatunzen1|Tsunamiatunzen1]]: The entry about the twenty eggs isn't true either. Although this doesn't do you much good since twenty zombies is enough to make the rest of your squad go berserk and at least one or two of your former soldiers would have certainly become a new chryssalid by then.

==Notes==
*Beginner level Chryssalids have 110TU, and each melee attack costs 15TU. This means they can be out of visual range at the beginning of the turn and cross the 23 intervening tiles and still attack you in the same turn! But sometimes the Chryssalid will pop out of a building, run a few tiles, take a look at your soldiers, and the pop back into the cover it had before. This makes them susceptible to reaction fire since they do this several times, as long as you don't move up any further to get a better angle.
*They can perform 7 attacks per turn max at Beginner difficulty and 8 at Superhuman difficulty.
*Chryssalid Damage Modifiers: Fire 80%, Stun 90%. They aren't particularly susceptible to anything, despite the "vulnerability to explosives" mentioned above.
*[[Unconscious]] Chryssalids are as vulnerable to ordinary Grenades as any other object (which is a good thing, seeing that leaving stunned Chryssalids alive is generally a bad idea unless you can stun them again in case they get up).
*If you find yourself in a Chryssalid-infested area without a flying suit, you can try heading upstairs then shooting away the stairs. This works too if you just sit on the next level the stairs are on and block the way up since a Chryssalid is considered to still be on the bottom level. Sitting at the top of Transport aircraft ramps works too.
*If you're afraid of a Chryssalid popping out of a corner while you're assaulting a base or a big UFO, place yourself below or above the Chryssalid's level and then pop out and blast it on your next turn.
*If you find a lone Chryssalid in your area and you're still using human rifles or laser pistols, you'll have to do the unthinkable, get in its face and unload the entire clip into it! It's probably not going to die even from point-blank full-auto Rifle fire, but it's sure better than shooting wildly and missing or waiting for a reaction shot that never comes.
*[[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]'s can't be turned into Zombies but a Chryssalid attack can still make a mess of them. The HWP may survive the attack but will have a serious damage.
*Chryssalids usually dont have guns; using [[Flying Suit]]s you can just hover in the air and shoot them or drop [[High Explosive]]s down on them. A flying suited soldier can potentially distract a Chryssalid to an extent since a Chryssalid next to a flying soldier will stare angrily at it as long as there aren't any other ground units running amok nearby.
*Their lack of ranged attack or flying ability makes them easy meat once you have flying armor.
*AP works but you may want to skip the rifles and go straight to Heavy Cannon or Autocannons. Human weapons don't work very well unless it's a rocket launcher or something stronger than a laser pistol. Laser Rifles are reasonably effective as long as you have about 2 soldiers firing at each Chryssalid.
*All-round armour means Chryssalids are relatively quite HE-resistant, unless the Chryssalid was spawned from a Zombie that had its under armour damaged (this carries over to the Chryssalid form). Making it a good idea to kill Zombies with ground-zero explosions.
*A horrible way to meet one is shooting a Zombie with reaction fire as it shambles in for melee... then a Chryssalid pops out and sprints at you, turning your squad into more zombies.
*The only known way to prevent a Chryssalid hatching is to land killing blows on zombies with [[Incendiary]] rounds.
*Usually Chryssalids are unarmed, so they're sitting ducks during X-Com's turn. If you have a chance to kill one you should take it before it's too late.
*If one of your soldiers was Zombified alive, and so didn't drop all its weapons, the resulting Zombie and Chryssalid will reaction fire at you aggressively (if inaccurately).
*Listen during the alien turn closely. Chryssalids howl when they spot a target.

As with all terror units, they can be encountered in the following mission types:
* [[Terror Mission]]
* [[Base Defense]]
* [[UFO Ground Assault]] ([[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] or [[Battleship]])
* [[Alien Base Assault]]
* [[Cydonia]]

==Zombification==

If a human unit (or Chryssalid under permanent control) is ATTACKED by a Chryssalid - Even once - It will become a [[Zombie]]. This happens regardless of what the other effects of the attack are, including DEATH.

Zombification occurs at the END of a Chryssalid's series of attacks on that particular opponent. So, even though only 1 attack is sufficient for zombification, a Chryssalid will keep attacking the same target that it begins attacking, until it dies, is stunned, or they run out of TU.
This means that armor causes a major difference in Chryssalid attack patterns. An unarmored soldier will often die in just 1 hit, so a single Chryssalid will often run up to soldier A, kill and Zombify him, run to soldier B, kill and Zombify, and repeat this many times. For grounded soldiers in Flying Suits, it will often take many more hits to kill it's target, often not leaving it enough TU to go after a fresh target.

If the damage dealt to the subject was enough to kill it (usually the case), it will scream and drop it's weapons in the usual way before "resurrecting" as a Zombie. Regardless however there'll be no corpse left behind.

The 2nd case, Zombification without death, being "Zombified alive", is special, in that it does not cause units to scream or drop their weapons. No morale loss for unit death will occur, and no points for killed soldiers will be lost in this case. Armed Zombies can only use their equipment via [[Reaction Fire]], and when killed, change to armed Chryssalids (which have the same limitation).

This scenario usually occurs in the case of a Chryssalid which has been reduced to critically low Health, and will very often be a Chryssalid that was previously knocked unconscious by bonus stun damage from conventional weapon fire. This is because Chryssalid melee accuracy is affected by Health %, so a critically wounded Chryssalid will often flail away and not be able to get a single hit in. Nonetheless, even a single missed attack has 100% chance of causing Zombification.

The 3rd option is if the attacks ended up [[Stun|stunning]] the unit. The unconscious body will fall in the usual way, but then the victim itself will be turned into a standard Zombie. The result is that the body remains and appears to belong to the (conscious) alien.

Zombie-spawned Chryssalids suffer from a oversight in the game code which means that they will always have their core stats, unadjusted by difficulty level. In difficulties above Beginner, this means that Chryssalids birthed from Zombies will have lower stats than those that spawned at the beginning of the mission, and are thus less dangerous.
'''However''', if playing in Beginner mode, armor of units is adjusted to 50% of core for all units. This means that in Beginner mode, Zombie-spawned Chryssalids will be significantly better armored than mission-start Chryssalids! So if you're playing on Beginner, make sure you are prepared to kill a Chryssalid significantly stronger than what you have been facing normally!

Any damage done to the Zombie's armor will carry over to the resulting Chryssalid, in % terms! So, if you shoot the zombie in a certain location a few times, say the rear (it doesn't matter since zombies have 4 armor all over on Superhuman), and it gets reduced to zero, the resulting Chryssalid will have zero armor in that location when it spawns! Since Chryssalids have 34 armor on all sides on difficulty above Beginner, a reduction to 0 armor is very very significant.

Zombies created during (for example) Alien Turn 3 will only be able to move and attack during (for example) Alien Turn 4.

As noted under [[Zombie]], Zombie research teams under controlled conditions have never seen a spontaneous Chryssalid hatching while the Zombie is still mobile and unharmed.
So although the Zombie packs a wallop in melee, don't shoot them if you aren't prepared to deal with the Chryssalid immediately afterwards. Run away until you can bring to bear enough firepower to deal with both the Zombie and the Chryssalid.

Chryssalids left on their own with [[civilian]]s in a [[Terror Mission]] can quite quickly raise an army of the undead. This is one of the few tricky situations where you might end up shooting civilians for their own good. And yours, of course.

However, the newly raised civilian zombies, as well as the accompanying snakemen, tend to attack first before the chryssalid so there tend to be quite a few deaths before another zombie comes into play. So now the question is, death by plasma, strangling, and/or zombiefication or death by bullets, lasers, and explosives?

==See Also==
*[[Tentaculat]]
*[[Data Canister: Chryssalid]]
*[[Gaining_permanent_control_of_a_Chryssalid/Tentaculat|Exploit: gaining permanent control via psionics]]

{{Aliens Navbar}}
[[Category:Alien Life Forms]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]