UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Displacer /Sonic

2009-08-11T01:50:56Z

Hajo:

[[Image:DisplacerSonic.gif|right]]
The sonic displacer leverages off Manta technology and vehicle-mounted sonic weapons to provide a small, airborne weapons system of unsurpassed mobility.

The displacer is superior in both armor and agility to the standard tracked chassis, while mounting a powerful sonic cannon in the turret. In addition to its ability to hover, it can move over 50% faster. The displacer chassis's armor is stronger than the standard tank's, and more uniformly distributed. In fact, there is only one weak point on the chassis-- its underside-- and even this weak spot is more resilient than the main armor of the standard tank.

The zrbite power source allows the cannon to fire indefinitely without power depletion. It has a HUGE advantage over the man portable Sonic Cannon, it's Snap Shot only costs 30% TU, which means it can spend 10 TU and still be able to fire 3 times.
The weapon has its weaknesses, however. Primarily it lacks auto-fire capability (Then again, in TFTD, ALL the Sonic weapons lack this), and furthermore the aimed-shot mode requires too much aiming time for too little accuracy.

Like all tanks, its larger size precludes it from moving into confined spaces.
However, its sonic weapon and generous ammunition supply allow it to blast open pathways when required.

The research requirements of the tank mean that, by the time the displacer becomes available, commanders will typically have access to high-tech armor and alien weapons. However, its benefits still compel most commanders to bring along at least one on each mission. Specifically, the Displacer/Sonic's weapon is the ONLY gun with recharging ammo in the game (besides the drills), they are faster than any soldier (100 TU vs 80 max for soldiers), their side, back and under armour are stronger than even Magnetic Ion Armour, they're immune to Tentaculat zombification, and they can fly on land missions.

== Vital Statistics ==
<table>
<tr><td>Cost:</td><td>Manufacture only. $850,000</td></tr>
<tr><td>Manufacturing Requirements:</td><td>1200 Engineer hours, 30 Zrbite and 5 Aqua Plastics</td></tr>
<tr><td>Research Requirements:</td><td>Sonic Cannon, New Fighter Flying Sub</td></tr>
</table>

{{Hover Tank Stats}}

{| {{stdTable}}
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
| colspan = "3" | '''Sonic Turret Specifications'''
|-
| colspan = "3" {{stdTable Sub Heading}} | Ammuntion
|-
| Weapon/Damage Type || '''Sonic'''
|-
| Damage || '''130'''
|-
| Rounds || '''99'''
|-
| Purchase Price || '''Free'''
|-
| Sale Price || '''N/A'''
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| '''Firing Modes'''
| Accuracy
| Cost
|-
| Aimed
| '''100%''' (60%)
| '''60%''' (60 TU)
|-
| Snap
| '''85%''' (51%)
| '''30%''' (30 TU)
|-
| Auto || '''n/a''' || '''n/a'''
|-
|  
|-
| colspan = "3" | <small>Numbers in parenthesis are the actual values after modified by the chassis' abilities.
Actual costs are in fixed [[Time Units]]</small>
|}

== Notes ==
* The sonic beam on the Displacer/Sonic is barely more powerful than the Gauss on the Coelacanth/Gauss. (Discounting damage type resistances)
* The sonic beam is exactly equal in power to the Sonic Cannon, unlike the slightly weaker Tank/Plasma vs Heavy Plasma in XCom. Furthermore, the severe nerf to the Sonic Cannon's TU use means even a stationary sniper will often only be able to get 1 snapshot off, whereas the Sonic Cannon can occasionally get 3 shots off.
* When on land, the displacer, like all flying units, can avoid physical attacks from [[Calcinite]]s by staying above ground level.
* Unlike the [[Magnetic Ion Armor]], displacers can fly both in and out of water.

== See Also ==
[[Template:Hover Tank Stats|Hover Tank Stats]]

[[Category:Submersible Weapons Systems]]

{{Equipment (TFTD) Navbar}}

Magnetic Navigation

2009-08-11T00:38:00Z

Hajo:

{{STUB}}
This is the alien's form of navigation, and is usually operated by a Navigator rank alien. If the craft was shot down, then expect some Mag. Navigation units to still be there.
Can possibly be found in Alien bases (Not sure, can someone check this?).

The main purpose of this item is to be used in the creation of X-COM Craft, such as the Manta, Leviathan, or Hammerhead.
It requires Aqua-Plastics to make, but if you do enough missions, you should have enough to last you for a few months.
Also needed in the creation of Magnetic Ion Armor and to open research of the Transmission Revolver and Alien Sub Construction.

==See Also==
{{USO Navbar}}

Ion-Beam Accelerators

2009-08-11T00:35:24Z

Hajo:

{{STUB}}
Ion-Beam Accelerators are the engines for propulsion of all Alien craft.
Expect to always see one on every craft (unless you shot it down, of course).
The Cruiser has '''two''' Accelerators and is also as common as the Large Scout, making it easy to find.
Each Accelerator contains 50 units of Zrbite, and explodes upon destruction.

Accelerators are needed for the production of all X-COM Craft, such as the Leviathan, Manta, and Hammerhead. It is needed for the research of Alien Sub Construction and Ion Armor.
This is also the only way to obtain Zrbite, so do not destroy these to kill some aliens!

==See Also==
{{USO Navbar}}

Chemical-flare

2009-08-10T19:07:06Z

Hajo: /* Hints And Tips */

This compact device produces a bright flare of light at any depth or on dry land. This illuminates enemy units in the vicinity of the flare during deep sea or night missions.

The Chemical Flare is a package of chemicals that, when combined, create a long-lasting powerful glow that illuminates the battlefield, revealing friend and foe alike. Left on its own, a Chemical Flare will glow for many hours. While the chemicals are slowly expended during use, the cost of the chemicals is low enough that any X-Com base can 'top off' flares coming back from the battlefield.

Mirroring the [[Electro-flare]] of the First Alien War in use and function, the Chemical Flare makes one noticeable improvement upon the Electro-flare. Namely, it is far more durable. Lacking any delicate electronics and covered in a thick plastic shell, the Chemical Flare can survive almost any hit from a Magna-Blast Grenade, except at ground zero.

== Stats ==
<table><tr><td>[[Image:Chemflare.gif|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*TUs: 25% to throw.
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $60
*Sell Price: $40</td></tr></table>

== Hints And Tips ==
* Incendiary munitions and flares should be brought along on any [[Night Missions]] or [[Colony Assault|Alien Colony Assault]]. Incendiary ammo provides a compact but limited light source that can be deployed offensively and anywhere in the field as long as there's a clear path. Especially effective in wilderness missions. The chemical flares provide long lasting redeployable, recoverable and non-lethal lighting solutions. This makes them ideal for urban missions or in situations where fire would only hinder your progress.

* Remember: chemical-flares can be recovered. While it would be ideal to give everyone a flare, or two, it is not practical and is a waste of equipment space on the troop transport. Be smart. Recover the flares as soon as you are able to win more ground. One other good strategy is to use a leap frogging system. When approaching a flare that you wish to recover, deploy another flare further ahead so that any aliens shrouded in the darkness are not hidden from view. Then move in, recover the flare, then repeat the process.

* If you cannot decide which to bring, consider this: throwing flares increases throwing accuracy, shooting off IN rounds from an [[Gas Cannon]] doesn't increase firing accuracy unless you hit an alien directly.

==See Also==
{{Equipment (TFTD) Navbar}}

[[Category:Equipment (TFTD)]]

Alien Life Forms (TFTD)

2009-08-10T18:51:40Z

Hajo: /* Terror Units */ Typo

There exists many alien races.
Some are cretaceous creatures... some are aliens, here you will find info on races from the [[Second Alien War]].

===Weapon-Carrying Aliens===

*[[Aquatoid]]
:Technically the most vulnerable aliens, can be easily killed even with harpoons. Usually their subs appear mostly very early in the game. However, their leaders are M.C. capable which can lead to a nasty surprise.

*[[Gillman]]
:Overall, probably the easiest opponents. Slightly tougher than Aquatoids, but still vulnerable. They make themselves scarce as the game progresses.

*[[Lobsterman]]
:Oh Boy. An extremely tough shell, [[Damage Modifiers (TFTD)|resistant to]] most ranged attacks and damage types. You definitely need heavy weapons and lots of ammo. Prone to stunning and melee attacks, though – if you have the gear and/or can get close enough. Usually first appear a few months into the game and soon account for most alien subs.

*[[Tasoth]]
:Although not armoured, they can take quite some punishment and still fight back. Being skilled marksmen to begin with, injured Tasoth will still be as dangerous as any other hale alien. Their leaders are M.C. capable. Arguably the most dangerous aliens in the game, but by the time they show up one should be able to handle them.

===Terror Units===

*[[Bio-Drone]]
:Basically a hover-tank. Can take a few hits and still return fire with high accuracy, will go down in a huge explosion like the [[Cyberdisc]]. Very dangerous. Accompanies Tasoth and Lobstermen on land.

*[[Calcinite]]
:Melee attack only, the most harmless alien in the game. Also the only alien that wears clothes in TFTD, which might be related. Comes with Aquatoids on land missions.

*[[Deep One]]
:Has a built-in ranged attack (called Electric Shock or Electric Blast) but is easily killed. Follows Gillmen on land missions. Make sure to catch a live specimen.

*[[Hallucinoid]]
:These large Jellyfish are deadly, and can take a surprising amount of damage. Can swim. Only on submerged missions, mostly with Aquatoids. Also appear on alien bases.

*[[Tentaculat]]
:A deadly melee attack that zombifies their victims. Armour offers little protection. They're incredibly fast and can swim. Don't play games, shoot on sight.

*[[Triscene]]
:A baby dinosaur with metallic teeth and guns on their back. Associated with the Tasoth, may be met usually below, sometimes above water. Just like their masters, you'd better be ready for them by the time they show up.

*[[Xarquid]]
:Xarquids are actually giant Nautilus with a weapon shoved up the tentacles. Their shell provides some protection, but it's nowhere as good as the Lobstermen's. Xarquids usually associate with Gillmen on submerged missions, but have occasionally been spotted on land.

*[[Zombie (TFTD)|Zombie]]
:That's what becomes of your troops if they're bitten by a Tentaculat.

===Nota Bene===
The "who associates with whom" information is right most of the time. However, there's also the occasional [[Mixed Crew]] Mission where (almost) anything goes.
<br />
{{Aliens (TFTD)}}

Time Units

2009-08-10T18:23:20Z

Hajo: /* Percentage Costs */ Typo

==Time Units==
Time units or TUs are one of several vital resources available to [[X-COM]] Soldiers.

A single [[Turn Order|game turn]] is an unspecified amount of time. There has been many arguments as to what duration of time this could be, but no one can agree on a hard figure. [[User_talk:Danial#Turn_Length|Here's]] one example of a detailed estimate. Maybe it's a minute, maybe it's 5 seconds.

In any case, a [[Turn Order|game turn]] is merely the duration in which actions are taken by each side.

The Time Unit is a fraction of this time. If a soldier has a maximum of 64 Time Units, then each TU is worth 1/64th of a turn. A soldier with 80 TUs uses 1/80th of the turn for every TU spent. This means that Time Units are synonymous with ''[[User_talk:Danial#Speed|speed]]''.

==Starting Values==
New recruits always begin with a value from 50 to 60 time units.

==Improvement==

TU points are awarded (at end of mission) any time you perform at least one [[Experience#How_Experience_Points_Are_Applied|primary action]]. Just one action is enough - additional ones do not cause more TU points to be awarded.

The possible points earned are dependent on your current TUs. At recruit minimum (50 TUs), an average of 2.2 points are earned. This slopes evenly down to where, at cap minus one (79), an average of 1.0 points are earned (range 0-2).

==Maximum Caps==
A soldier's TUs [[Experience#Regarding_Caps|caps]] at 80, but it is possible to 'overflow' the cap by one point on the last combat when you go over the cap (in other words, 79 plus 2 gives you 81). On average, you have a 33% chance of getting capped at 81 instead of 80: this is because there are two ways to get capped at 80 (78+2 or 79+1), but only one way to reach 81 (79+2). Once at 80+, all TU improvements cease.

Older versions of X-COM did not have a cap and stats could reach 255 and then wrap back to 0. This could potentially cripple an otherwise good soldier.

==Time Unit Expenditure==
Time Units are spent in two ways. In fixed amounts and in percentages.

===Fixed Costs===
Actions such as walking, turning, moving inventory around, reloading weapons, and using the [[Medi-Kit|medkit]] all cost the same fixed amount of TUs for all soldiers. Soldiers with high TUs benefit the most from fixed TU actions.<br>

{| {{StdDescTable}}
|-{{StdDescTable_Heading}}
|+ '''Fixed Cost Actions'''
! Action
! Cost
|-
|Accessing Medikit Panel
|0
|-
|Turning in place 45 degrees
|1
|-
|Kneeling
|4
|-
|Standing after kneeling
|8
|-
| Unloading a weapon
|8
|-
|Changing elevation in a [[Flying Suit]] or grav lift
|8
|-
|Using a Medi-kit charge
|10
|-
|Reloading a weapon
|15
|-
|Using a Psi Amp
|25
|-
|Walking
| Dependent on terrain, from 4 to 18TUs per square; diagonal movement costs 50% more. Refer to the [[Walking Costs (UFO)| walking cost table]]

|-
|Moving items in the inventory
| Variable. Refer to the [[Inventory TU Table|inventory movement cost table]]
|}

===Percentage Costs===
Actions that cost a percentage, such as firing a gun or priming a grenade, will always take a percentage of the soldier's base Time Units to perform. This means that the soldier's base TUs has no bearing on how many times the action can be performed during any given turn.

For example, if a weapon costs 25% to fire, it can only be fired a maximum of 4 times a turn, for every soldier, regardless of his/her amount of TUs. Because of this, it's smart to put low-TU soldiers in long range fire support roles.

'''Note''': Costs are based on the ''maximum'' amount of your soldier's TUs, not the current amount. Therefore, percentage costs do not change as you use up TUs (or if you have more TUs than usual, due to going [[berserk]]).

'''Note''': Due to integer rounding, some TU values will allow certain weapons to be fired more than usual. For example, a soldier firing a heavy plasma with auto-fire (35% TUs) will get 3 rounds at some TU values but not others.

{| {{StdDescTable}}
|-{{StdDescTable_Heading}}
|+ '''Percentage Cost Actions'''
! Action
! Cost
|-
| Firing any weapon
| Depending on weapon and firing mode from 18% up to 80%
|-
| Throwing
| 25%
|-
| Using Motion Scanner
| 25%
|-
| Using Stun Rod
| 30%
|-
| Using Mind Probe
| 50%
|-
| Priming an explosive
| 50%
|}

==Encumbrance==
Encumbrance is the weighing down, or burdening, of a soldier. Any [[Item_Weight|weight]] over the soldier's [[strength]] stat will cause encumbrance. This lowers their available TUs, essentially slowing them down.

'''Formula:'''

Encumbrance = Strength / Carried Weight<sup>*</sup>

''If Encumbrance >= 1 then''

Available TUs = Base TUs

''Else''

Available TUs = INT(Encumbrance x Base TUs)

''<sup>*</sup> If Carried Weight = 0, then Carried Weight = 1''

'''Example:'''

A low-end Rookie with a base of 50 TUs, 20 strength, and carrying 80 weight units, will have an encumbrance of 25%, leaving him with a meager 12 TUs per turn.

==Fatal Wounds==
Each [[Fatal Wounds|fatal wound]] to the left or right leg reduces the soldier's TUs by 10%.

==Influences==
* Time Units heavily influences a unit's [[Reactions]].
* Closely associated with TUs is the [[Energy]] stat.
** A moving unit consumes both TUs and Stamina ([[Energy]]) points. How many energy points are consumed depends on the type of terrain the unit is walking on. More difficult terrain consumes more energy and time units. All other actions only consume TUs. The sole exception is that some aliens use [[Energy]] for turning around as well and can provoke reaction fire by just turning around while a soldier cannot.
** Energy recovery is calculated by taking your soldier's initial time units (the TUs they had as a new recruit) and dividing this by three. Drop the fraction. This will be the soldier's energy recovery rate throughout the campaign. For more details, see [[Energy]].

==Time Unit Walking Usage Tables==
Refer to the [[Walking Costs (UFO)|Walking Costs]] table.

==See Also==
*[[Inventory TU Table]]
*[[Item Weight]]
*[[Raw recruit statistical likelihood|Recruit statistics]]
*[[Walking Costs (UFO)| TU Cost table for walking]]

{{Unit Stats Navbar}}
[[Category:Soldiers]]

Item Stacking Bug

2009-08-10T17:31:44Z

Hajo: /* Item Stacking Trick */ Typo

The item stacking bug occurs when several items are stacked in the same location in a unit's inventory. It can happen naturally, via the alien AI, or by using the item stacking trick.

The most common occurances of stacked items happen when accessing an alien's inventory, as they always stack their equipment in the third slot (offset [2]). Oddly enough, that's one of the small right leg "pockets".

Because we were never meant to access alien inventories, the AI manages them internally and doesn't care about object placement rules. <i>Dunno if they even spend TUs in there. - [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 16:49, 25 October 2007 (PDT)</i>

A stacked item can happen to X-Com units if they're mind controlled and the AI briefly switches their weapons. Depending on whether they get changed back before you regain control, you may just find your huge rocket launcher taped to your right leg slot, stacked on top of whatever else was in there.

= Item Stacking Trick =
The item stacking trick allows players to stack two items in the same inventory slot at the same time.

To perform the item stacking trick:

;Step 1
[[Image:Stack_1.png]]

* Go to the inventory screen.
* Pick up an item - any item - by clicking on it.
* With the item on your cursor, click on the arrow that scrolls and consolidates the floor inventory items.

;Step 2
[[Image:Stack_2.png]]

* Place the item where you want it. You'll hear it get placed, but it will look empty. At this point in time, do not click on the arrow button or it'll refresh the inventory screen and you'll have to start over.

;Step 3
[[Image:Stack_3.png]]

* Pick up another item and place it over the item you just placed.

;Step 4
[[Image:Stack_4.png]]

* Leave the inventory screen and come back in, switch to another soldier and come back, or just hit the ground item tab button to refresh the screen to see the result.

Because of the way this trick works, you can only have a maximum of two items in any given inventory location. For example, you can have a pistol on the left side of your belt, plus two grenades there as well (one in each of the two inventory locations that the pistol occupies).

As you can see, this effectively doubles your equipment space. But be careful! The weight of all the items you're carrying still applies.

Be sure to read the rest of this document, particularly the word of caution at the end, before you proceed to try this trick in an actual game.

'''Note''': This only works in versions of UFO with the inventory ground item tab button (the arrow). Early versions of UFO, such as v1.2, do not have the arrow.

This trick does not work in TFTD. While you can hack a TFTD save game in order to stack items, there is no known way to do this from within the game.

= Effects of stacked items in hand slots =

When placed in the hand slots, strange things can happen when you start to use these items. It's up to the player to experiment and see what does what, and what causes the game to crash, if any. The safest items to try are ranged weapons and grenades. Observe the following two screenshots for an example of a mind probe combined with a laser rifle:

[[Image:Stack example 1.png]] [[Image:Stack example 2.png]]

The strangest but most useful effect is when you stack a stun rod and a ranged weapon into a hand slot.

If you stacked the stun rod and gun, you will find that in addition to your normal firing commands, you'll have the [[stun]] command as well. Also take note that your weapon will look like a stun-rod and your ammo counter will be missing. Rest assured, your weapon will continue to fire normally.

'''NOTE!''' The order that you stack the item is important. Pile the weapon on first, then put the stun rod over it.

What's more interesting is the stun command. A stun rod only uses 30% of your total TUs for an attack. The stun command listed will instead cost 50% of your total TUs. If you use it on an enemy target, you will not stun it. Instead, you will kill it.

This has, in effect, re-enabled the game's disabled [[Melee Accuracy|melee]] attack. Or the elusive 'hit' command seen in the illustrations used in the game's manual.

Apart from the previously mentioned problems, the biggest problem is finding out what weapons do what damage. The stun rod obviously does stun damage, but the other weapons do not seem to conform to the melee damage types and values listed in the game's battlescape object file. So, again, you'll need to experiment to find what's best for you.

Although expensive in TU, a melee attack with the right stun rod and weapon combo can sometimes kill a sectopod in one hit.

= Danger: Moving Stacked Items =
In the initial equipment screen prior to the start of the battle, you can stack and unstack items all you want as no TUs are spent.

However, be very careful when picking up items from an item stack after the battle has commenced and you are using [[Time Units]] to manage your inventory.

If you pick up an item from a stack and don't have the time units to drop it, put it down in an empty spot within the same object slot area. This costs nothing.

If there is no space and you've run out of time units, you will have put the game into the state of an infinite loop where you can never put the item back down again. This is especially true when fiddling with alien inventories, as they like to put items as large as [[Heavy Plasma]]s in their right leg slot. You simply cannot place the heavy plasma back onto the stack, or into the adjoining empty slot.

At least for aliens, there seems to be a "magic" TU value indicating when it is safe to unstack items: 20. Since the aliens never carry more than 3 items stacked on the leg slot, you need to conserve 18 TU to drop these items to the ground (3 items * 6 TU/item), plus 2 TU to drop the customary weapon in the hand. If you intend to shift items around instead of dropping them to the ground, beware. Twenty time units will not be enough.

The best time to stack items, or fiddle with stacked items, is when you have a sufficiently full [[Time Units|TU]] bar. If you get it beneath the 50% or 25% threshold, then you may want to continue stacking items on the next turn.

If you do get into an infinte loop, the only way to stop the game is to force the game to shut down via your operating system. Switch to your desktop, then have your operating system forcibly shut down the console or emulator you're running the game in, or use your task manager if your operating system comes with one. If you're in Pure Dos Mode, you must manually reset your computer from the mains.

Field Manual: Terrain

2009-08-10T14:05:35Z

Hajo: /* Artificial Structures: UFO Hulls */

==Natural Features==

Firing over the crest of a hill, known as the reverse-slope position, exposes the minimum sight picture to the enemy and provides the greatest protection from return fire.
Simply ducking into concealment protects the soldier from all but indirect-fire weaponry (grenades). Allow time to climb the hill before seeking out the enemy.

Soldiers should seek to overwatch from hill crests and move in the protection of valleys or next to slopes.

Movement up and down hills takes time, so a soldier on flat ground will always outpace a soldier on a slope.

Enemies hiding in valleys are best dealt with through grenades or other indirect fire.

==Artificial Features: Wooden Structures==

Wooden frame structures such as barns provide good concealment and some degree of protection. However they are highly vulnerable to explosives (and energy weapons) and can be penetrated by high caliber weaponry. (See [[Destroying Terrain]] for more information.)

They are excellent for concealing movement and approach, but equally conceal the enemy in their windows, doors, and corridors.
In a free-fire zone, flatten these with explosive rounds to deny cover to the enemy.

Sniping from a high position or window minimizes exposure, but the soldier must be prepared for return fire and move to different cover if spotted.

==Vegetation==

Vegetation, especially in [[Jungle Terrain|jungle]] or [[Forest_Terrain|forest]] environments, provides a high degree of cover. Thick-trunked vegetation can often stop enemy fire temporarily, but will quickly be shredded by powerful weaponry.

Thick vegetation reduces sight lines and is a dangerous environment to move through.
Scouts have to look all around them as each movement can reveal previously hidden areas. Overwatch and support teams will find trees blocking both direct and indirect fire and will have to move closer to the scouts to adequately support them.
Paths through the vegetation are not always evident and soldiers may be forced to double back if their path becomes impassable.

Clearings should be exploited as rally points and kill zones.
Soldiers concealed in vegetation on the edges of a clearing have the best combination of concealment and field of fire. High explosive can be used to clear vegetation as necessary.

''[Jasonred] : Try experimenting with [[Incendiary|Incendiaries]] in this environment! Clear the landing area of enemies, retreat to the transport, fire a round or two of incendiaries, and wait for either the aliens to come to you as the fire catches them, or for the whole place to burn down and give visibility.''

==Artificial Structures: UFO Hulls==

UFO Outer Hulls, like our reinforced concrete bunkers, are generally impervious to man-portable weaponry. [1]
<br>
The commander has two choices: siege or storm.

Sieging has the benefit that time is on the commander's side, so forces can be arranged in good concealed positions with good fields of fire.
All exits from the structure should be covered.
Avoid placing units directly in line with exits or windows as these units will be the first ones attacked when the enemy ventures forth.
The enemy will hide from a barrage but will hopefully become curious enough, if all is quiet and movement unopposed, to reveal themselves.
This then allows your marksmen to engage them.

Sending forward a scout is risky, but can fool the enemy into revealing themselves to shoot at the presented target.

Sieges succeed through attrition of the enemy as they reveal themselves.
A resolute enemy with adequate supplies, however, can choose to remain hidden indefinitely.
So eventually the structure will have to be stormed.

Storming these structures is always hazardous, because no amount of "target softening" can guarantee them to be clear of enemy presence before the assault, EXCEPT in the case of Medium Scouts, in which case target softening can end up killing everything inside (and also destroying bounty from alien technology).
The first soldiers in will always be in harm's way. [2]
Single file entry is often required, so the assault team must enter quickly and spread out again to maximize effectiveness.
Assault teams should carry weapons with high rate of fire and high stopping power.
Armor is a must. [[Stun Rod]]s can also be useful. [[Heavy Cannon]] can provide stopping power.

Training must emphasize prioritizing targets.

*a) An enemy facing the soldier and in line with the entryway, should be handed off to a following soldier or even to a support sniper outside the entryway. If neither of these are practical (due to blocked lines of fire) then engage at short range with burst fire (autofire).
*b) An enemy facing the soldier, but not in line with the entryway, must be engaged. At short range, use three-shot burst fire (autofire).
*c) If enough time remains to take cover and let a following soldier engage the enemy, but not enough time to both fire on the enemy and take cover, then take cover.
*d) An enemy facing away from the soldier should be engaged only if time permits, or if no other soldiers can move into position to take the shot. Stun rods are best used on this presentation of target.
*e) Enemies packed into a corridor are best engaged with burst fire. Use of explosives in such situations is unpredictable, given the close range and risk of secondary explosions.

[[Motion_Scanner|Motion detector]]s are invaluable in gaining information about the enemy in such a structure. The soldier with the motion detector does not have to be a member of the assault team but should be moved up next to the structure.

*[1] [[Blaster Launcher]]s will penetrate an outer hull. No other unmodified weapon has sufficient power. [[Heavy Plasma]] will eventually penetrate inner bulkheads.
*[2] SWAT teams get thick full length shields for this sort of thing. X-Com gets ... rookies.

==See Also==

[[Field Manual: Terrain]] | [[Field Manual: Movement Tactics]] | [[Destroying Terrain]] | [[UFO Assault]] | [[:Category:Missions]]
[[Category:Field Manual|Terrain]]
[[Category:Terrain]]

Field Manual: Terrain

2009-08-10T13:53:51Z

Hajo: /* Vegetation */

==Natural Features==

Firing over the crest of a hill, known as the reverse-slope position, exposes the minimum sight picture to the enemy and provides the greatest protection from return fire.
Simply ducking into concealment protects the soldier from all but indirect-fire weaponry (grenades). Allow time to climb the hill before seeking out the enemy.

Soldiers should seek to overwatch from hill crests and move in the protection of valleys or next to slopes.

Movement up and down hills takes time, so a soldier on flat ground will always outpace a soldier on a slope.

Enemies hiding in valleys are best dealt with through grenades or other indirect fire.

==Artificial Features: Wooden Structures==

Wooden frame structures such as barns provide good concealment and some degree of protection. However they are highly vulnerable to explosives (and energy weapons) and can be penetrated by high caliber weaponry. (See [[Destroying Terrain]] for more information.)

They are excellent for concealing movement and approach, but equally conceal the enemy in their windows, doors, and corridors.
In a free-fire zone, flatten these with explosive rounds to deny cover to the enemy.

Sniping from a high position or window minimizes exposure, but the soldier must be prepared for return fire and move to different cover if spotted.

==Vegetation==

Vegetation, especially in [[Jungle Terrain|jungle]] or [[Forest_Terrain|forest]] environments, provides a high degree of cover. Thick-trunked vegetation can often stop enemy fire temporarily, but will quickly be shredded by powerful weaponry.

Thick vegetation reduces sight lines and is a dangerous environment to move through.
Scouts have to look all around them as each movement can reveal previously hidden areas. Overwatch and support teams will find trees blocking both direct and indirect fire and will have to move closer to the scouts to adequately support them.
Paths through the vegetation are not always evident and soldiers may be forced to double back if their path becomes impassable.

Clearings should be exploited as rally points and kill zones.
Soldiers concealed in vegetation on the edges of a clearing have the best combination of concealment and field of fire. High explosive can be used to clear vegetation as necessary.

''[Jasonred] : Try experimenting with [[Incendiary|Incendiaries]] in this environment! Clear the landing area of enemies, retreat to the transport, fire a round or two of incendiaries, and wait for either the aliens to come to you as the fire catches them, or for the whole place to burn down and give visibility.''

==Artificial Structures: UFO Hulls==

UFO Outer Hulls, like our reinforced concrete bunkers, are generally impervious to man-portable weaponry. [1] The commander has two choices: siege or storm.

Sieging has the benefit that time is on the commander's side, so forces can be arranged in good concealed positions with good fields of fire. All exits from the structure should be covered. Avoid placing units directly in line with exits or windows as these units will be the first ones attacked when the enemy ventures forth. The enemy will hide from a barrage but will hopefully become curious enough, if all is quiet and movement unopposed, to reveal themselves. This then allows your marksmen to engage them.

Sending forward a scout is risky but can fool the enemy into revealing themselves to shoot at the presented target.

Sieges succeed through attrition of the enemy as they reveal themselves. A resolute enemy with adequate supplies, however, can choose to remain hidden indefinitely. So eventually the structure will have to be stormed.

Storming these structures is always hazardous because no amount of "target softening" can guarantee them clear of enemy presence before the assault, EXCEPT in the case of Medium Scouts, in which case target softening can end up killing everything inside (and also destroying bounty from alien technology). The first soldiers in will always be in harm's way. [2] Single file entry is often required so the assault team must enter quickly and spread out again to maximize effectiveness. Assault teams should carry weapons with high rate of fire and high stopping power. Armor is a must. [[Stun Rod]]s can also be useful. [[Heavy Cannon]] can provide stopping power.

Training must emphasize prioritizing targets.

*a) An enemy facing the soldier and in line with the entryway, should be handed off to a following soldier or even to a support sniper outside the entryway. If neither of these are practical (due to blocked lines of fire) then engage at short range with burst fire (autofire).
*b) An enemy facing the soldier, but not in line with the entryway, must be engaged. At short range, use three-shot burst fire (autofire).
*c) If enough time remains to take cover and let a following soldier engage the enemy, but not enough time to both fire on the enemy and take cover, then take cover.
*d) An enemy facing away from the soldier should be engaged only if time permits or if no other soldiers can move into position to take the shot. Stun rods are best used on this presentation of target.
*e) Enemies packed into a corridor are best engaged with burst fire. Use of explosives in such situations is unpredictable given the close range and risk of secondary explosions.

[[Motion_Scanner|Motion detector]]s are invaluable in gaining information about the enemy in such a structure. The soldier with the motion detector does not have to be a member of the assault team but should be moved up next to the structure.

*[1] [[Blaster Launcher]]s will penetrate an outer hull. No other unmodified weapon has sufficient power. [[Heavy Plasma]] will eventually penetrate inner bulkheads.
*[2] SWAT teams get thick full length shields for this sort of thing. X-Com get ... rookies.

==See Also==

[[Field Manual: Terrain]] | [[Field Manual: Movement Tactics]] | [[Destroying Terrain]] | [[UFO Assault]] | [[:Category:Missions]]
[[Category:Field Manual|Terrain]]
[[Category:Terrain]]

Field Manual: Terrain

2009-08-10T13:52:01Z

Hajo: /* Artificial Features: Wooden Structures */ Comma

==Natural Features==

Firing over the crest of a hill, known as the reverse-slope position, exposes the minimum sight picture to the enemy and provides the greatest protection from return fire.
Simply ducking into concealment protects the soldier from all but indirect-fire weaponry (grenades). Allow time to climb the hill before seeking out the enemy.

Soldiers should seek to overwatch from hill crests and move in the protection of valleys or next to slopes.

Movement up and down hills takes time, so a soldier on flat ground will always outpace a soldier on a slope.

Enemies hiding in valleys are best dealt with through grenades or other indirect fire.

==Artificial Features: Wooden Structures==

Wooden frame structures such as barns provide good concealment and some degree of protection. However they are highly vulnerable to explosives (and energy weapons) and can be penetrated by high caliber weaponry. (See [[Destroying Terrain]] for more information.)

They are excellent for concealing movement and approach, but equally conceal the enemy in their windows, doors, and corridors.
In a free-fire zone, flatten these with explosive rounds to deny cover to the enemy.

Sniping from a high position or window minimizes exposure, but the soldier must be prepared for return fire and move to different cover if spotted.

==Vegetation==

Vegetation, especially in [[Jungle Terrain|jungle]] or [[Forest_Terrain|forest]] environments, provides a high degree of cover. Thick-trunked vegetation can often stop enemy fire temporarily but will quickly be shredded by powerful weaponry.

Thick vegetation reduces sight lines and is a dangerous environment to move through. Scouts have to look all around them as each movement can reveal previously hidden areas. Overwatch and support teams will find trees blocking both direct and indirect fire and will have to move closer to the scouts to adequately support them. Paths through the vegetation are not always evident and soldiers may be forced to double back if their path becomes impassable.

Clearings should be exploited as rally points and kill zones. Soldiers concealed in vegetation on the edges of a clearing have the best combination of concealment and field of fire. High explosive can be used to clear vegetation as necessary.

''[Jasonred] : Try experimenting with [[Incendiary|Incendiaries]] in this environment! Clear the landing area of enemies, retreat to the transport, fire a round or two of incendiaries, and wait for either the aliens to come to you as the fire catches them, or for the whole place to burn down and give visibility.''

==Artificial Structures: UFO Hulls==

UFO Outer Hulls, like our reinforced concrete bunkers, are generally impervious to man-portable weaponry. [1] The commander has two choices: siege or storm.

Sieging has the benefit that time is on the commander's side, so forces can be arranged in good concealed positions with good fields of fire. All exits from the structure should be covered. Avoid placing units directly in line with exits or windows as these units will be the first ones attacked when the enemy ventures forth. The enemy will hide from a barrage but will hopefully become curious enough, if all is quiet and movement unopposed, to reveal themselves. This then allows your marksmen to engage them.

Sending forward a scout is risky but can fool the enemy into revealing themselves to shoot at the presented target.

Sieges succeed through attrition of the enemy as they reveal themselves. A resolute enemy with adequate supplies, however, can choose to remain hidden indefinitely. So eventually the structure will have to be stormed.

Storming these structures is always hazardous because no amount of "target softening" can guarantee them clear of enemy presence before the assault, EXCEPT in the case of Medium Scouts, in which case target softening can end up killing everything inside (and also destroying bounty from alien technology). The first soldiers in will always be in harm's way. [2] Single file entry is often required so the assault team must enter quickly and spread out again to maximize effectiveness. Assault teams should carry weapons with high rate of fire and high stopping power. Armor is a must. [[Stun Rod]]s can also be useful. [[Heavy Cannon]] can provide stopping power.

Training must emphasize prioritizing targets.

*a) An enemy facing the soldier and in line with the entryway, should be handed off to a following soldier or even to a support sniper outside the entryway. If neither of these are practical (due to blocked lines of fire) then engage at short range with burst fire (autofire).
*b) An enemy facing the soldier, but not in line with the entryway, must be engaged. At short range, use three-shot burst fire (autofire).
*c) If enough time remains to take cover and let a following soldier engage the enemy, but not enough time to both fire on the enemy and take cover, then take cover.
*d) An enemy facing away from the soldier should be engaged only if time permits or if no other soldiers can move into position to take the shot. Stun rods are best used on this presentation of target.
*e) Enemies packed into a corridor are best engaged with burst fire. Use of explosives in such situations is unpredictable given the close range and risk of secondary explosions.

[[Motion_Scanner|Motion detector]]s are invaluable in gaining information about the enemy in such a structure. The soldier with the motion detector does not have to be a member of the assault team but should be moved up next to the structure.

*[1] [[Blaster Launcher]]s will penetrate an outer hull. No other unmodified weapon has sufficient power. [[Heavy Plasma]] will eventually penetrate inner bulkheads.
*[2] SWAT teams get thick full length shields for this sort of thing. X-Com get ... rookies.

==See Also==

[[Field Manual: Terrain]] | [[Field Manual: Movement Tactics]] | [[Destroying Terrain]] | [[UFO Assault]] | [[:Category:Missions]]
[[Category:Field Manual|Terrain]]
[[Category:Terrain]]

Field Manual: Terrain

2009-08-10T13:49:47Z

Hajo: /* Natural Features */

==Natural Features==

Firing over the crest of a hill, known as the reverse-slope position, exposes the minimum sight picture to the enemy and provides the greatest protection from return fire.
Simply ducking into concealment protects the soldier from all but indirect-fire weaponry (grenades). Allow time to climb the hill before seeking out the enemy.

Soldiers should seek to overwatch from hill crests and move in the protection of valleys or next to slopes.

Movement up and down hills takes time, so a soldier on flat ground will always outpace a soldier on a slope.

Enemies hiding in valleys are best dealt with through grenades or other indirect fire.

==Artificial Features: Wooden Structures==

Wooden frame structures such as barns provide good concealment and some degree of protection. However they are highly vulnerable to explosives (and energy weapons) and can be penetrated by high caliber weaponry. (See [[Destroying Terrain]] for more information.)

They are excellent for concealing movement and approach but equally conceal the enemy in their windows, doors, and corridors. In a free-fire zone, flatten these with explosive rounds to deny cover to the enemy.

Sniping from a high position or window minimizes exposure but the soldier must be prepared for return fire and move to different cover if spotted.

==Vegetation==

Vegetation, especially in [[Jungle Terrain|jungle]] or [[Forest_Terrain|forest]] environments, provides a high degree of cover. Thick-trunked vegetation can often stop enemy fire temporarily but will quickly be shredded by powerful weaponry.

Thick vegetation reduces sight lines and is a dangerous environment to move through. Scouts have to look all around them as each movement can reveal previously hidden areas. Overwatch and support teams will find trees blocking both direct and indirect fire and will have to move closer to the scouts to adequately support them. Paths through the vegetation are not always evident and soldiers may be forced to double back if their path becomes impassable.

Clearings should be exploited as rally points and kill zones. Soldiers concealed in vegetation on the edges of a clearing have the best combination of concealment and field of fire. High explosive can be used to clear vegetation as necessary.

''[Jasonred] : Try experimenting with [[Incendiary|Incendiaries]] in this environment! Clear the landing area of enemies, retreat to the transport, fire a round or two of incendiaries, and wait for either the aliens to come to you as the fire catches them, or for the whole place to burn down and give visibility.''

==Artificial Structures: UFO Hulls==

UFO Outer Hulls, like our reinforced concrete bunkers, are generally impervious to man-portable weaponry. [1] The commander has two choices: siege or storm.

Sieging has the benefit that time is on the commander's side, so forces can be arranged in good concealed positions with good fields of fire. All exits from the structure should be covered. Avoid placing units directly in line with exits or windows as these units will be the first ones attacked when the enemy ventures forth. The enemy will hide from a barrage but will hopefully become curious enough, if all is quiet and movement unopposed, to reveal themselves. This then allows your marksmen to engage them.

Sending forward a scout is risky but can fool the enemy into revealing themselves to shoot at the presented target.

Sieges succeed through attrition of the enemy as they reveal themselves. A resolute enemy with adequate supplies, however, can choose to remain hidden indefinitely. So eventually the structure will have to be stormed.

Storming these structures is always hazardous because no amount of "target softening" can guarantee them clear of enemy presence before the assault, EXCEPT in the case of Medium Scouts, in which case target softening can end up killing everything inside (and also destroying bounty from alien technology). The first soldiers in will always be in harm's way. [2] Single file entry is often required so the assault team must enter quickly and spread out again to maximize effectiveness. Assault teams should carry weapons with high rate of fire and high stopping power. Armor is a must. [[Stun Rod]]s can also be useful. [[Heavy Cannon]] can provide stopping power.

Training must emphasize prioritizing targets.

*a) An enemy facing the soldier and in line with the entryway, should be handed off to a following soldier or even to a support sniper outside the entryway. If neither of these are practical (due to blocked lines of fire) then engage at short range with burst fire (autofire).
*b) An enemy facing the soldier, but not in line with the entryway, must be engaged. At short range, use three-shot burst fire (autofire).
*c) If enough time remains to take cover and let a following soldier engage the enemy, but not enough time to both fire on the enemy and take cover, then take cover.
*d) An enemy facing away from the soldier should be engaged only if time permits or if no other soldiers can move into position to take the shot. Stun rods are best used on this presentation of target.
*e) Enemies packed into a corridor are best engaged with burst fire. Use of explosives in such situations is unpredictable given the close range and risk of secondary explosions.

[[Motion_Scanner|Motion detector]]s are invaluable in gaining information about the enemy in such a structure. The soldier with the motion detector does not have to be a member of the assault team but should be moved up next to the structure.

*[1] [[Blaster Launcher]]s will penetrate an outer hull. No other unmodified weapon has sufficient power. [[Heavy Plasma]] will eventually penetrate inner bulkheads.
*[2] SWAT teams get thick full length shields for this sort of thing. X-Com get ... rookies.

==See Also==

[[Field Manual: Terrain]] | [[Field Manual: Movement Tactics]] | [[Destroying Terrain]] | [[UFO Assault]] | [[:Category:Missions]]
[[Category:Field Manual|Terrain]]
[[Category:Terrain]]

Night Missions

2009-08-10T12:54:41Z

Hajo: /* Flares */

Night missions are very challenging as the visibility is about a third of day missions.
It is possible to avoid most night missions by delaying your landing until daytime.
Night [[Terror Mission]]s will disappear before daytime unless you can keep the site continually targeted with different aircraft by using an [[ExploitsD#All_Terror_Missions_During_Daylight|exploit]]. If you only have one [[Skyranger]] you may find yourself landing at night.

The most important additional operation in night missions is to manage your illumination. It comes in four varieties - flares, fires, artificial lighting, and personal lighting. But first, an important message about alien night vision.

== Alien Nightvision ==
In full daylight, every unit in the game can see up to 20 tiles away (counting from zero where the unit is standing), not counting obstructions to [[Line of sight]].

At night, your agents and tanks cannot see enemies that stand in dark places. Personal light carried by soldiers illuminates enemies up to 9 tiles away, ''but aliens can still see 20''. '''Aliens always see the full 20''' (and night missions can end in disaster!) Anything you do to improve lighting only affects ''you''. Your flares do not make you more obvious to aliens, etc. - aliens can always see just fine. Aliens under X-com mind control can see 20 tiles away.

Although dusk or dawn battlescapes clearly have light levels intermediate between day and night, there is no visual range in-between. It is either 9 or 20. ''(Needs testing: Can the amount of sunlight on the Geoscape somehow be used to accurately determine if you'll wind up with full night or not? Oceans seem to have the clearest delineation... can they be accurately used as "longitudinal indicators"? - [[User:MikeTheRed|MTR]])

''I tried some time ago to create a check between GEOSCAPE.EXE and TACTICAL.EXE (for automatic night/day uniform camouflage change). Unfortunately, MISSDAT directory doesn't have BGLOB.DAT file (which stores ambient light value), and I went out of ideas. Probably it is calculated from battle time and coordinates. --Quantifier

Note that visual range and lighting rules ignore elevation levels. If you can see 9 (or 20) when both you and your visual target are on the ground, you will also be able to see them when you're flying 4 stories high and they're on the ground 9 (or 20) tiles away, ignoring vertical distance. Elevation differences do not add to distance for vision and lighting.

== Flares ==
[[image:FlarePattern.png|right|thumb|202px|Pattern of light produced by Flares and Personal Lighting. Numbers refer to value that palette is shifted to darker colours. Line shows effective radius - outside it light is purely cosmetic.]] Start combat with some of your soldiers holding [[flare]]s. The first soldiers shown on the combat load-out screen will be the first out the door. The smallest number of [[Inventory_TU_Table|inventory TUs]] are needed to move something from your shoulder to your hand (3 TUs), although the belt and leg are a close second (4 TUs).

Key advantages to flares are that they never "burn out", and they can be picked up and re-thrown, including as part of a [[grenade relay]]. Leapfrogging flares reduces this important count against your [[Known_Bugs#80-item_Limit|80 item limit]]. Usually one throws them to the places they want to walk to, or which will reveal the most "around corners", but read onward for the most efficient throwing patterns. A key disadvantage of flares is that they are always destroyed by any explosion they're caught within; indeed, they have the weakest [[Explosions#Object_Destruction|explosion resistance]] of any item in the game. So you might think twice before fragging an alien revealed by a flare - or you might very well not!

Flares cause a circle of light of effective radius 9 (not counting ground-zero tile), diameter 19 (including GZ). Graphically radius is 15, but at the edge there is not enough light to reveal enemies. They cast the exact same amount/pattern of light as Personal Lighting (below). In real life, something seen in very dim light would probably only be visible to the closest person, but this is not the case in X-COM. If anyone can see an alien, everyone can (as long as they have [[Line of sight]]). (In fact, even if NO ONE can currently see an alien, but someone spotted him during the turn, everyone can see him. Very important for sniping purposes [[User:Jasonred|Jasonred]] 05:54, 28 February 2009 (CST)) I guess everyone's in radio contact.

Due to the fact that both soldiers and flares have radius 9 light patterns, flares should be thrown approx. 18 tiles away (laterally; less for diagonally) for complete coverage. Of course, this doesn't take into account that you will be moving, etc. Likewise, flares should be about 18 tiles away from each other. A hexagon of flares around a soldier will cause almost complete coverage out to approximately 27 tiles -- further than your visual range.

It is possible to see the outline of an alien against a light backdrop if you get lucky, even though no one can "officially" see him (and get the glowing red number). This can happen if, e.g., the alien is elevated. The edge of a lit area (9 tiles from a flare or soldier) is extremely dim, making it impossible to see an alien just in front of an edge. But an elevated alien is in profile against farther, less-dim parts of the illuminated area. It can also happen in situations where an alien is just off to the side of a well-lit area, due to light being blocked from hitting his tile by, e.g., the corner of a building.

Using the [[Throwing_Accuracy#Throwing_Distance|throwing formula]] vs. flare [[Item_Weight|weight]] of 3, the weakest soldier ([[Strength|STR]] 20) can throw a flare approx. 17 tiles, and the strongest soldier (STR 70) can throw it approx. 58 tiles - all the way across even the largest map (except diagonally). BUT, as pointed out by NKF, there is an unfortunate limit on how high an object can go before its arc intercepts the fourth-level "ceiling", which causes the confusing/annoying "Unable to throw here!" message even when the route is obviously clear. Ceiling interception appears to make the actual maximum throwing distance approx. 35 tiles. ''(More testing needed, pls.)''
<br>
Unfortunately, the stronger you are, a greater percentage of your possible distance gets clipped, but even fairly weak soldiers may see some clipping. ''(THAT'S why we often get this frustrating message when trying to throw flares as far as we can!)

As a parlor game: Flares illuminate 269 tiles (see inset).
Small maps (4x4 [[Module|tilesets]] for small and medium scouts) have 1,600 tiles and would need 5.9 flares to totally cover them, using the extremely simple (and unrealistic) math of 1600/269.
Large maps (5x5) have 2,500 tiles and would need 9.3 flares to totally cover them.
This does not take into account any issues of properly joining/overlapping the patterns, etc., nor that your soldiers or other sources produce light.
Anyway, there it is.
(Using the information from [http://www.stetson.edu/~efriedma/circovsqu/ here] we can show that a small map would require 9-10 flares for full coverage, a large map 15-16. So now you know.)

For what it's worth, flares that are dropped or picked up do not change their light status until the start of the next turn.
To wit: If you drop a flare and walk away, it does not give illumination until the next turn. (Not that it matters, since your soldier had the same range-9 lighting as the flare when he was standing there.)
And if you pick up a flare and walk away, its lighting remains behind until next turn.
Conversely, if flares are [[Throwing Accuracy|thrown]], they do immediately light up their area.

== Personal lighting ==
As discussed under Flares (above), soldiers can see to a radius of 9 around them, and are effectively light sources exactly equal to flares. This does not matter to aliens; they always see the full 20, day or night.

If you have just mind controlled an alien, you will not get its personal lighting until you move someone (including your new pet alien, or any other MC'd aliens). For these purposes, turning in place does not cause personal lighting to come on - only actual movement does. Since movement of your new pet can trigger reaction fire, move one of your 'back field' troops if you want to light up the pet's area while playing it safe re: your new pet drawing reaction fire. Note that turning in place also does not cause reaction fire.

More specifically, ''aliens do not check for personal lighting status '''change''' until someone on your team uses '''energy'''''. For example, using an elevator or flying up/down will ''not'' cause newly-MC'd aliens to light up. This also means that ''aliens that you MC'd last turn, will stay lit this turn, '''until''' one of your guys moves in a way that uses energy''. This might be useful on night missions or in those dark, windy alien base 'gardens' - at the start of a turn, aliens you MC'd last turn stay lit until one of your soldiers moves. Then again, while all of this is true, you will '''still''' get the glowing 'alien seen' number, even if you do move - and it's the most important thing of all, by far. Perhaps these insights will help, some cold dark night.

== Incendiaries ==
[[Incendiary]] ammo also provides light, plus it can travel further and do some damage if it hits the enemy. It does not do very much damage, so never rely on it to kill an alien.

Pattern around map tile on fire is identical to those of flares and personal light.

Load up the [[Auto-Cannon]] with Incendiary before starting the mission. Use on snap-shot to light up the depths of the map, further than flares can be thrown. Give the soldier a back-up pistol. Incendiary ammo is also available for the [[Heavy Cannon]] and [[Rocket Launcher]], but the Auto Cannon's fast shot makes it best for the mission - a soldier can still use his pistol the same turn. Incendiary rounds detonated into the canopy of a forest will still cast light on the ground but without the troublesome fires which hinder movement.

Enemy units on fire do not provide any light.

== Artificial Lighting ==
Certain items in the game produce their own light. This can be a big bonus on night terror city missions. Explosives and shots that can destroy the object will stop the lighting (see terrain damage [[Damage#Overview|here]]).

There are 11 [[TERRAIN|terrain]] items that produce light:

<table {{StdCenterTable}} class="sortable">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left" width="150">Object</th><th width="150">Description</th><th width="130">Brightness</th><th width="100">Image</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">ROADS[16]<sup>1</sup></td><td align="left">Streetlight</td><td>1</td><td>[[Image:Streetlight.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">FRNITURE[10]</td><td align="left">Lamp</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:Lamp.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_BASE[10-13]<sup>2</sup></td><td align="left">Alien Tank #1</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:Alien-Tank-1.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_BASE[14-17]<sup>2</sup></td><td align="left">Alien Tank #2</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:Alien-Tank-2.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_BASE[18-21]<sup>2</sup></td><td align="left">Alien Tank #3</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:Alien-Tank-3.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_BASE[22-25]<sup>2</sup></td><td align="left">Alien Tank #4</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:Alien-Tank-4.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_PODS[00]</td><td align="left">UFO Fuel Pod #1</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:U_PODS_00.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_PODS[01]</td><td align="left">UFO Fuel Pod #2</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:U_PODS-02-.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_PODS[02]</td><td align="left">UFO Pod</td><td>12</td><td>[[Image:U_PODS_04.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">XBASE1[06]</td><td align="left">Base Floor Tile #1</td><td>16</td><td>[[Image:Base-Tile-1.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">XBASE1[09]</td><td align="left">Base Floor Tile #2</td><td>16</td><td>[[Image:Base-Tile-2.gif]]</td></tr>
</table>[[Image:Palette.gif|thumb|This is the colour palette used by UFO: Enemy Unknown.]]
 <sup>1</sup> Only the top segment is illuminating<br>
 <sup>2</sup> Only the front segment is illuminating

Note: Because the palette (see image to the right) uses 16 hues ranging through 16 shades of brightness (256 colours), it's assumed that the brightness value simply tells the tile how many shades to scale each colour down from full-bright.

Ones that were checked (street lamp and liquid containers) were found to also illuminate aliens within 9 tiles of them, even though these two object types cast very different light. (The street lamp casts a lot of light; the containers only cast a little.) Thus it is presumed that '''all''' light sources give the ability to visualize aliens up to 9 tiles away, regardless of how much light they appear to cast.

See byte 58 of the [[TERRAIN|MCD]] file structure for more info on lighting data.
<br clear="all">

== Behind the scenes ==
For those techies who like to look [[Under The Hood]], the X-COM engine handles varying levels of illumination quite cleverly. The palette is arranged so that the base colours of a tile can be added to the degree of illumination to get the dimmer colours.

==See Also==

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

Night Missions

2009-08-10T12:53:24Z

Hajo: /* Flares */

Night missions are very challenging as the visibility is about a third of day missions.
It is possible to avoid most night missions by delaying your landing until daytime.
Night [[Terror Mission]]s will disappear before daytime unless you can keep the site continually targeted with different aircraft by using an [[ExploitsD#All_Terror_Missions_During_Daylight|exploit]]. If you only have one [[Skyranger]] you may find yourself landing at night.

The most important additional operation in night missions is to manage your illumination. It comes in four varieties - flares, fires, artificial lighting, and personal lighting. But first, an important message about alien night vision.

== Alien Nightvision ==
In full daylight, every unit in the game can see up to 20 tiles away (counting from zero where the unit is standing), not counting obstructions to [[Line of sight]].

At night, your agents and tanks cannot see enemies that stand in dark places. Personal light carried by soldiers illuminates enemies up to 9 tiles away, ''but aliens can still see 20''. '''Aliens always see the full 20''' (and night missions can end in disaster!) Anything you do to improve lighting only affects ''you''. Your flares do not make you more obvious to aliens, etc. - aliens can always see just fine. Aliens under X-com mind control can see 20 tiles away.

Although dusk or dawn battlescapes clearly have light levels intermediate between day and night, there is no visual range in-between. It is either 9 or 20. ''(Needs testing: Can the amount of sunlight on the Geoscape somehow be used to accurately determine if you'll wind up with full night or not? Oceans seem to have the clearest delineation... can they be accurately used as "longitudinal indicators"? - [[User:MikeTheRed|MTR]])

''I tried some time ago to create a check between GEOSCAPE.EXE and TACTICAL.EXE (for automatic night/day uniform camouflage change). Unfortunately, MISSDAT directory doesn't have BGLOB.DAT file (which stores ambient light value), and I went out of ideas. Probably it is calculated from battle time and coordinates. --Quantifier

Note that visual range and lighting rules ignore elevation levels. If you can see 9 (or 20) when both you and your visual target are on the ground, you will also be able to see them when you're flying 4 stories high and they're on the ground 9 (or 20) tiles away, ignoring vertical distance. Elevation differences do not add to distance for vision and lighting.

== Flares ==
[[image:FlarePattern.png|right|thumb|202px|Pattern of light produced by Flares and Personal Lighting. Numbers refer to value that palette is shifted to darker colours. Line shows effective radius - outside it light is purely cosmetic.]] Start combat with some of your soldiers holding [[flare]]s. The first soldiers shown on the combat load-out screen will be the first out the door. The smallest number of [[Inventory_TU_Table|inventory TUs]] are needed to move something from your shoulder to your hand (3 TUs), although the belt and leg are a close second (4 TUs).

Key advantages to flares are that they never "burn out", and they can be picked up and re-thrown, including as part of a [[grenade relay]]. Leapfrogging flares reduces this important count against your [[Known_Bugs#80-item_Limit|80 item limit]]. Usually one throws them to the places they want to walk to, or which will reveal the most "around corners", but read onward for the most efficient throwing patterns. A key disadvantage of flares is that they are always destroyed by any explosion they're caught within; indeed, they have the weakest [[Explosions#Object_Destruction|explosion resistance]] of any item in the game. So you might think twice before fragging an alien revealed by a flare - or you might very well not!

Flares cause a circle of light of effective radius 9 (not counting ground-zero tile), diameter 19 (including GZ). Graphically radius is 15, but at the edge there is not enough light to reveal enemies. They cast the exact same amount/pattern of light as Personal Lighting (below). In real life, something seen in very dim light would probably only be visible to the closest person, but this is not the case in X-COM. If anyone can see an alien, everyone can (as long as they have [[Line of sight]]). (In fact, even if NO ONE can currently see an alien, but someone spotted him during the turn, everyone can see him. Very important for sniping purposes [[User:Jasonred|Jasonred]] 05:54, 28 February 2009 (CST)) I guess everyone's in radio contact.

Due to the fact that both soldiers and flares have radius 9 light patterns, flares should be thrown approx. 18 tiles away (laterally; less for diagonally) for complete coverage. Of course, this doesn't take into account that you will be moving, etc. Likewise, flares should be about 18 tiles away from each other. A hexagon of flares around a soldier will cause almost complete coverage out to approximately 27 tiles -- further than your visual range.

It is possible to see the outline of an alien against a light backdrop if you get lucky, even though no one can "officially" see him (and get the glowing red number). This can happen if, e.g., the alien is elevated. The edge of a lit area (9 tiles from a flare or soldier) is extremely dim, making it impossible to see an alien just in front of an edge. But an elevated alien is in profile against farther, less-dim parts of the illuminated area. It can also happen in situations where an alien is just off to the side of a well-lit area, due to light being blocked from hitting his tile by, e.g., the corner of a building.

Using the [[Throwing_Accuracy#Throwing_Distance|throwing formula]] vs. flare [[Item_Weight|weight]] of 3, the weakest soldier ([[Strength|STR]] 20) can throw a flare approx. 17 tiles, and the strongest soldier (STR 70) can throw it approx. 58 tiles - all the way across even the largest map (except diagonally). BUT, as pointed out by NKF, there is an unfortunate limit on how high an object can go before its arc intercepts the fourth-level "ceiling", which causes the confusing/annoying "Unable to throw here!" message even when the route is obviously clear. Ceiling interception appears to make the actual maximum throwing distance approx. 35 tiles. ''(More testing needed, pls.)'' Unfortunately, the stronger you are, a greater percentage of your possible distance gets clipped, but even fairly weak soldiers may see some clipping. ''(THAT'S why we often get this frustrating message when trying to throw flares as far as we can!)

As a parlor game: Flares illuminate 269 tiles (see inset).
Small maps (4x4 [[Module|tilesets]] for small and medium scouts) have 1,600 tiles and would need 5.9 flares to totally cover them, using the extremely simple (and unrealistic) math of 1600/269.
Large maps (5x5) have 2,500 tiles and would need 9.3 flares to totally cover them.
This does not take into account any issues of properly joining/overlapping the patterns, etc., nor that your soldiers or other sources produce light.
Anyway, there it is.
(Using the information from [http://www.stetson.edu/~efriedma/circovsqu/ here] we can show that a small map would require 9-10 flares for full coverage, a large map 15-16. So now you know.)

For what it's worth, flares that are dropped or picked up do not change their light status until the start of the next turn.
To wit: If you drop a flare and walk away, it does not give illumination until the next turn. (Not that it matters, since your soldier had the same range-9 lighting as the flare when he was standing there.)
And if you pick up a flare and walk away, its lighting remains behind until next turn.
Conversely, if flares are [[Throwing Accuracy|thrown]], they do immediately light up their area.

== Personal lighting ==
As discussed under Flares (above), soldiers can see to a radius of 9 around them, and are effectively light sources exactly equal to flares. This does not matter to aliens; they always see the full 20, day or night.

If you have just mind controlled an alien, you will not get its personal lighting until you move someone (including your new pet alien, or any other MC'd aliens). For these purposes, turning in place does not cause personal lighting to come on - only actual movement does. Since movement of your new pet can trigger reaction fire, move one of your 'back field' troops if you want to light up the pet's area while playing it safe re: your new pet drawing reaction fire. Note that turning in place also does not cause reaction fire.

More specifically, ''aliens do not check for personal lighting status '''change''' until someone on your team uses '''energy'''''. For example, using an elevator or flying up/down will ''not'' cause newly-MC'd aliens to light up. This also means that ''aliens that you MC'd last turn, will stay lit this turn, '''until''' one of your guys moves in a way that uses energy''. This might be useful on night missions or in those dark, windy alien base 'gardens' - at the start of a turn, aliens you MC'd last turn stay lit until one of your soldiers moves. Then again, while all of this is true, you will '''still''' get the glowing 'alien seen' number, even if you do move - and it's the most important thing of all, by far. Perhaps these insights will help, some cold dark night.

== Incendiaries ==
[[Incendiary]] ammo also provides light, plus it can travel further and do some damage if it hits the enemy. It does not do very much damage, so never rely on it to kill an alien.

Pattern around map tile on fire is identical to those of flares and personal light.

Load up the [[Auto-Cannon]] with Incendiary before starting the mission. Use on snap-shot to light up the depths of the map, further than flares can be thrown. Give the soldier a back-up pistol. Incendiary ammo is also available for the [[Heavy Cannon]] and [[Rocket Launcher]], but the Auto Cannon's fast shot makes it best for the mission - a soldier can still use his pistol the same turn. Incendiary rounds detonated into the canopy of a forest will still cast light on the ground but without the troublesome fires which hinder movement.

Enemy units on fire do not provide any light.

== Artificial Lighting ==
Certain items in the game produce their own light. This can be a big bonus on night terror city missions. Explosives and shots that can destroy the object will stop the lighting (see terrain damage [[Damage#Overview|here]]).

There are 11 [[TERRAIN|terrain]] items that produce light:

<table {{StdCenterTable}} class="sortable">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left" width="150">Object</th><th width="150">Description</th><th width="130">Brightness</th><th width="100">Image</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">ROADS[16]<sup>1</sup></td><td align="left">Streetlight</td><td>1</td><td>[[Image:Streetlight.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">FRNITURE[10]</td><td align="left">Lamp</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:Lamp.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_BASE[10-13]<sup>2</sup></td><td align="left">Alien Tank #1</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:Alien-Tank-1.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_BASE[14-17]<sup>2</sup></td><td align="left">Alien Tank #2</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:Alien-Tank-2.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_BASE[18-21]<sup>2</sup></td><td align="left">Alien Tank #3</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:Alien-Tank-3.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_BASE[22-25]<sup>2</sup></td><td align="left">Alien Tank #4</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:Alien-Tank-4.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_PODS[00]</td><td align="left">UFO Fuel Pod #1</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:U_PODS_00.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_PODS[01]</td><td align="left">UFO Fuel Pod #2</td><td>10</td><td>[[Image:U_PODS-02-.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">U_PODS[02]</td><td align="left">UFO Pod</td><td>12</td><td>[[Image:U_PODS_04.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">XBASE1[06]</td><td align="left">Base Floor Tile #1</td><td>16</td><td>[[Image:Base-Tile-1.gif]]</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">XBASE1[09]</td><td align="left">Base Floor Tile #2</td><td>16</td><td>[[Image:Base-Tile-2.gif]]</td></tr>
</table>[[Image:Palette.gif|thumb|This is the colour palette used by UFO: Enemy Unknown.]]
 <sup>1</sup> Only the top segment is illuminating<br>
 <sup>2</sup> Only the front segment is illuminating

Note: Because the palette (see image to the right) uses 16 hues ranging through 16 shades of brightness (256 colours), it's assumed that the brightness value simply tells the tile how many shades to scale each colour down from full-bright.

Ones that were checked (street lamp and liquid containers) were found to also illuminate aliens within 9 tiles of them, even though these two object types cast very different light. (The street lamp casts a lot of light; the containers only cast a little.) Thus it is presumed that '''all''' light sources give the ability to visualize aliens up to 9 tiles away, regardless of how much light they appear to cast.

See byte 58 of the [[TERRAIN|MCD]] file structure for more info on lighting data.
<br clear="all">

== Behind the scenes ==
For those techies who like to look [[Under The Hood]], the X-COM engine handles varying levels of illumination quite cleverly. The palette is arranged so that the base colours of a tile can be added to the degree of illumination to get the dimmer colours.

==See Also==

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

UFO Recovery Values

2009-08-03T13:12:37Z

Hajo: /* X-COM Base Defense */ Clarify sentence

Although [[Country Funding]] is thought of as the mainstay of X-COM's working budget, and [[manufacturing]] can be a great supplement to that, alien artefacts and UFO components recovered from [[UFO Ground Assault]]s are the greatest source of funds for commanders.

The following tables list values for fully-intact ships. If you attack ships while they are landed, you can recover most of the items listed below.

UFOs which have been shot down will usually have several destroyed components, especially [[UFO Power Source]]s and the [[Elerium-115]] contained within them. That's half a mil down the drain, for each lost Power Source & Elerium. Aliens which were standing near the power source(s) will often be killed. Their corpses and personal armament may or may not survive the blast.

The best way to ensure a UFO is intact in order to maximize loot is to let it land without shooting it down.

Artefacts and UFO components can also be destroyed during the course of a mission, particularly by [[Explosions]] -- so use HE munitions and grenades sparingly inside UFOs if you want maximum salvage value.

== Alien Armaments ==

Items which the aliens carry -- weapons, almost exclusively -- are identified as "Alien Artefacts" until you fully research them. They can still be sold at full price once you get them back to base.

In the first few months of the game, the aliens will be relatively lightly armed -- primarily [[Plasma Pistol]]s or [[Plasma Rifle|Rifles]], although sometimes they will carry [[Small Launcher]]s or [[Heavy Plasma]]s instead. Within a few months, they will abandon pistols and rifles altogether in favor of Heavy Plasmas. [[Blaster Launcher]]s can be found on [[Battleship]]s, [[Alien Base]]s, and [[Base Defense]] missions.

Aliens on Small, Medium, or Large Scout ships will also sometimes carry a [[Mind Probe]], worth $304,000, the highest-priced alien artefact in the game. Since the UFOs you encounter in the first few months will mostly be scout ships, the average value of alien artefacts (per alien) will remain relatively constant throughout the game.

Here are items carried by aliens, and their [[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|value]]:

'''Value
Plasma Pistol $84,000
Clip $4,440

Plasma Rifle $126,500
Clip $6,290

Heavy Plasma $171,600
Clip $9,590

Blaster Launcher $144,000
Blaster Bomb $17,028

Small Launcher $120,000
Stun Bomb $15,200

Alien Grenade $14,850

Mind Probe $304,000

Here are item sets commonly found on aliens:

'''Total Value'''
Plasma Pistol + 2 Plasma Pistol Clips $92,880
Plasma Rifle + 2 Plasma Rifle Clips + 1 Alien Grenade $153,930
Heavy Plasma + 2 Heavy Plasma Clips + 1 Alien Grenade $205,630
Small Launcher + 3 Stun Bombs $165,600
Blaster Launcher + 4 Blaster Bombs $212,112

You will only recover ammunition clips if they have not been used.
Each time an alien fires a Heavy Plasma for the first time, its clip becomes unrecoverable, and $10k is lost. Bang goes an Alien Grenade? $15k up in smoke.

Every alien corpse you recover is worth $20,000. Terror units have built-in weapons and will never carry artefacts, although their corpses are worth $20,000 as well. Unconscious (i.e., live) aliens don't leave behind corpses and aren't worth any money, so don't stun everything in sight -- only stun what you need (see [[Research#Researching_aliens|Research]]). Live aliens do produce a higher [[Scoring#Alien_Casualties|score]], but only if you don't currently have that alien species+rank in containment.

== UFO Recovery Value Tables ==

In the tables below, the average value of each alien's armament is assumed to be about $180,000. The number of aliens found on each ship type varies; on higher difficulty settings, many more aliens will appear. In addition, on Terror Sites with Chryssalids the number of alien corpses could climb as high as 16 more if the max amount of civilians were turned to Zombies. This doesn't take into account X-COM soldiers which get turned either.

=== Small Scout ===

; Total Aliens:
: 1 (all difficulty levels; guaranteed to spawn carrying a Mind Probe)

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| Alien Alloys || align="right"| $6,500 || align="right"| 1 || align="right"| $6,500
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 1 || align="right"| $20,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 1 || align="right"| $180,000
|-
| [[Mind Probe]] || align="right"| $304,000 || align="right"| 1 || align="right"| $304,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$510,500'''
|}
----
<br>

=== Medium Scout ===

; Total Aliens:
: Beg./Exp.: 3 - 6
: Vet./Gen.: 4 - 7
: Super.: 6 - 9

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| UFO Power Source || align="right"| $250,000 || align="right"| 1 || align="right"| $250,000
|-
| UFO Navigation || align="right"| $80,000 || align="right"| 2 || align="right"| $160,000
|-
| Alien Alloys || align="right"| $6,500 || align="right"| 11 || align="right"| $71,500
|-
| Elerium-115 || align="right"| $5,000 || align="right"| 50 || align="right"| $250,000
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 3 - 9 || align="right"| $60,000 - $180,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 3 - 9 || align="right"| $540,000 - $1,620,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$1,331,500 - $2,531,500'''
|}
----
<br>
=== Large Scout ===

; Total Aliens:
: Beg./Exp.: 3 - 10
: Vet./Gen.: 4 - 11
: Super.: 6 - 13

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| UFO Power Source || align="right"| $250,000 || align="right"| 1 || align="right"| $250,000
|-
| UFO Navigation || align="right"| $80,000 || align="right"| 2 || align="right"| $160,000
|-
| Alien Alloys || align="right"| $6,500 || align="right"| 35 || align="right"| $227,500
|-
| Elerium-115 || align="right"| $5,000 || align="right"| 50 || align="right"| $250,000
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 3 - 13 || align="right"| $60,000 - $260,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 3 - 13 || align="right"| $540,000 - $2,340,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$1,487,500 - $3,487,500'''
|}
----
<br>
=== Abductor ===

; Total Aliens:
: Beg./Exp.: 9 - 14
: Vet./Gen.: 11 - 16
: Super.: 13 - 18

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| UFO Power Source || align="right"| $250,000 || align="right"| 2 || align="right"| $500,000
|-
| UFO Navigation || align="right"| $80,000 || align="right"| 5 || align="right"| $400,000
|-
| Examination Room || align="right"| $9,000 || align="right"| 4 || align="right"| $36,000
|-
| Alien Alloys || align="right"| $6,500 || align="right"| 70 || align="right"| $455,000
|-
| Elerium-115 || align="right"| $5,000 || align="right"| 100 || align="right"| $500,000
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 9 - 18 || align="right"| $180,000 - $360,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 9 - 18 || align="right"| $1,620,000 - $3,240,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$3,691,000 - $5,491,000'''
|}
----
<br>
=== Harvester ===

; Total Aliens:
: Beg./Exp.: 10 - 15
: Vet./Gen.: 12 - 17
: Super.: 16 - 21

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| UFO Power Source || align="right"| $250,000 || align="right"| 2 || align="right"| $500,000
|-
| UFO Navigation || align="right"| $80,000 || align="right"| 10 || align="right"| $800,000
|-
| Alien Food || align="right"| $5,000 || align="right"| 14 || align="right"| $70,000
|-
| Alien Surgery || align="right"| $38,000 || align="right"| 8 || align="right"| $304,000
|-
| Alien Alloys || align="right"| $6,500 || align="right"| 97 || align="right"| $630,500
|-
| Elerium-115 || align="right"| $5,000 || align="right"| 100 || align="right"| $500,000
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 10 - 21 || align="right"| $200,000 - $420,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 10 - 21 || align="right"| $1,800,000 - $3,780,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$4,804,500 - $7,004,500'''
|}
----
<br>
=== Supply Ship ===

; Total Aliens:
: Beg./Exp.: 9 - 15
: Vet./Gen.: 10 - 16
: Super.: 14 - 20

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| UFO Power Source || align="right"| $250,000 || align="right"| 3 || align="right"| $750,000
|-
| UFO Navigation || align="right"| $80,000 || align="right"| 4 || align="right"| $320,000
|-
| Alien Food || align="right"| $5,000 || align="right"| 20 || align="right"| $100,000
|-
| Alien Surgery || align="right"| $38,000 || align="right"| 2 || align="right"| $76,000
|-
| Alien Alloys || align="right"| $6,500 || align="right"| 141 || align="right"| $916,500
|-
| Elerium-115 || align="right"| $5,000 || align="right"| 150 || align="right"| $750,000
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 9 - 20 || align="right"| $180,000 - $400,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 9 - 20 || align="right"| $1,620,000 - $3,600,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$4,712,000 - $6,912,000'''
|}
----
<br>
=== Terror Ship ===

; Total Armed Aliens:
: Beg./Exp.: 8 - 10
: Vet./Gen.: 9 - 11
: Super.: 12 - 14

; Total Terrorists:
: Beg./Exp.: 2 - 6
: Vet./Gen.: 4 - 8
: Super.: 6 - 10

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| UFO Power Source || align="right"| $250,000 || align="right"| 4 || align="right"| $1,000,000
|-
| UFO Navigation || align="right"| $80,000 || align="right"| 8 || align="right"| $640,000
|-
| Alien Entertainment || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 8 || align="right"| $160,000
|-
| Alien Alloys || align="right"| $6,500 || align="right"| 92 || align="right"| $598,000
|-
| Elerium-115 || align="right"| $5,000 || align="right"| 200 || align="right"| $1,000,000
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 10 - 24 || align="right"| $200,000 - $480,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 8 - 14 || align="right"| $1,440,000 - $2,520,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$5,038,000 - $6,398,000'''
|}
----
<br>
=== Battleship ===

; Total Armed Aliens:
: Beg./Exp.: 9 - 13
: Vet./Gen.: 12 - 16
: Super.: 18 - 22

; Total Terrorists:
: Beg./Exp.: 0 - 2
: Vet./Gen.: 2 - 4
: Super.: 4 - 6

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| UFO Power Source || align="right"| $250,000 || align="right"| 4 || align="right"| $1,000,000
|-
| UFO Navigation || align="right"| $80,000 || align="right"| 4 || align="right"| $320,000
|-
| Alien Entertainment || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 24 || align="right"| $480,000
|-
| Alien Alloys || align="right"| $6,500 || align="right"| 231 || align="right"| $1,501,500
|-
| Elerium-115 || align="right"| $5,000 || align="right"| 200 || align="right"| $1,000,000
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 9 - 28 || align="right"| $180,000 - $560,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 9 - 22 || align="right"| $1,620,000 - $3,960,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$6,101,500 - $8,821,500'''
|}

== Terror Missions ==

When a [[Terror Mission]] has begun, there is no ship to recover: the Terror Ship will disgorge its aliens upon some hapless city and take straight off into space.
Alien corpses and their armament can still be recovered.

It is presumed that the same number (and type) of aliens present on a [[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] will appear during a terror mission.

; Total Armed Aliens:
: Beg./Exp.: 8 - 10
: Vet./Gen.: 9 - 11
: Super.: 12 - 14

; Total Terrorists:
: Beg./Exp.: 2 - 6
: Vet./Gen.: 4 - 8
: Super.: 6 - 10

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 10 - 24 || align="right"| $200,000 - $480,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 8 - 14 || align="right"| $1,440,000 - $2,520,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$1,640,000 - $3,000,000'''
|}

== X-COM Base Defense ==

As with Terror Missions, there is no ship to recover during a [[Base Defense]] mission: only corpses and armament can be recovered.

It is presumed that the same number (and type) of aliens present on a [[Battleship]] will appear during a base invasion.

; Total Armed Aliens:
: Beg./Exp.: 9 - 13
: Vet./Gen.: 12 - 16
: Super.: 18 - 22

; Total Terrorists:
: Beg./Exp.: 0 - 2
: Vet./Gen.: 2 - 4
: Super.: 4 - 6

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 9 - 28 || align="right"| $180,000 - $560,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 9 - 22 || align="right"| $1,620,000 - $3,960,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$1,800,000 - $4,520,000'''
|}

On DOS versions, a [[Known_Bugs#Base_Defense_Elerium_bug|known bug]] may occur, which can multiply Elerium in stores up to 50 times in the base.
This is a completely unintentional glitch and Elerium will not spawn during base defense on any game version past 1.2.

== Alien Base Assaults ==

The loot available from alien bases is quite variable. Each base is randomly assembled from several standard modules (see [[Alien Base Terrain]]), which contain [[Alien Entertainment]], [[Alien Alloys]], and sometimes [[UFO Power Source]]s (and [[Elerium-115]]).

In eight trials, the number of Alien Entertainments recovered from different bases ranged from 26 to 95, and averaged 55; Alloys ranged from 42 to 50, averaging 45; and Power Sources were only seen in two bases -- one with two Power Sources (and 50 Elerium), the other with four Power Sources (and 150 Elerium). The largest share of recovered value from an alien base is likely to be from alien armaments.

Based on the following figures, it seems that "[[Alien Base Assault#Smash And Grab|milking]]" an alien base is less profitable overall (and probably more dangerous) than just waylaying its [[Supply ship|Supply Ship]]s. Especially considering the propensity of the aliens to blow up all the loot under the grav lift with a stray blaster bomb. Attacking but not destroying alien bases may still have some use for [[Experience Training]].

; Total Armed Aliens:
: Beg./Exp.: 11 - 15
: Vet./Gen.: 13 - 17
: Super.: 17 - 21

; Total Terrorists:
: Beg./Exp.: 1 - 3
: Vet./Gen.: 3 - 5
: Super.: 5 - 7

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| Alien Entertainment (average) || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 55 || align="right"| $1,100,000
|-
| Alien Alloys (average) || align="right"| $6,500 || align="right"| 45 || align="right"| $292,500
|-
| Corpses || align="right"| $20,000 || align="right"| 12 - 28 || align="right"| $240,000 - $560,000
|-
| Alien Armament || align="right"| $180,000 || align="right"| 11 - 21 || align="right"| $1,980,000 - $3,780,000
|-
| height=60| '''Total''' || || || align="right"| '''$3,612,500 - $5,732,500'''
|}

'''Also, if any:'''

{|
|-
! align="left" width=170| Item || align="right" width=75| Sell Price || align="right" width=75| Quantity || align="right" width=180| Value
|-
| UFO Power Source (per) || align="right"| $250,000 || align="right"| 1 || align="right"| $250,000
|-
| Elerium-115 (per) || align="right"| $5,000 || align="right"| 50 || align="right"| $250,000
|}

== See Also ==

[[Category: UFOs]]
[[Category: data tables]]

Scoring

2009-08-03T12:46:23Z

Hajo: /* Losing The Game */

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

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

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

However, it is actually impossible to destroy a Supply Ship, Terror Ship or Battleship, unless you use a game editor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

==== Mission Objectives ====

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

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

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

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

However, it is actually impossible to capture a live Sectopod or Cyberdisk.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

==Losing The Game==

You can lose the game in the following ways:

* If you are in debt over $1 million at the end of any month, after funding and maintenance has been calculated, the council will give you a warning. The warning they give about not going over $2 million in debt should presumably read $1 million. The 2nd time you are over $1 million in debt, the project is cancelled. However, there is a rather large bug. There is actually a check whether the "Has X-com received a financial warning?" flag has been raised. If no, a warning is issued and the flag is raised. If yes, then the game ends, and the flag is lowered. HOWEVER, this flag is erronously not connected to any particular savegame, it is global across all savegames. This allows strange results when saving and loading games.
* If you have two consecutive "bad" months in terms of score--
** '''-900''' (Beginner)
** '''-800''' (Experienced)
** '''-700''' (Veteran)
** '''-600''' (Genius)
** '''-500''' (Superhuman)
* If all X-COM bases are captured by Aliens. (But you can stay in the game by starting a new base before your last base is captured - see [[Access_Lift|Access Lift]].)
* If you fail your attempt to destroy Cydonia!

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

[[Category: data tables]]

Plasma Pistol

2009-07-26T13:32:25Z

Hajo: /* Tips */

The Plasma Pistol is the first in the alien's plasma weapon line. It is the most powerful, accurate and lightest pistol-class weapon available. It also has the fastest auto shot in the plasma weapon line. As it is a pistol, it fits on the belt and makes a respectable sidearm for a heavy weapons specialist.

This weapon suffers several drawbacks. In relation to the other plasma weapons, it does not stand out, and the requirement for ammunition makes it less desirable as a sidearm as this will cut into the item limit. The biggest drawback is its limited availability as it does not take very long for the aliens to stop using this weapon. They have good reasons to abandon it: it is not very effective against the second generation of X-COM armour and [[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWPs]]. This means X-Com will not have a reliable supply of free clips and must manufacture them for further use. This requires [[Elerium-115|Elerium]], although it is notable that the plasma pistol is the most efficient of the three plasma weapons to make ammunition for. This means little however as the other weapons rarely need to have their ammunition manufactured.

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

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

== Recommendations ==
Despite being a powerful pistol, its role is superceded in almost every way by other weapons. The [[Heavy Plasma]] and [[Plasma Rifle]] outclass it for accuracy (even taking into consideration the -20% penalty), power, ammunition and most importantly availability. The laser pistol outclasses it with speed and thus has a much higher damage potential, and not requiring any ammunition allows for more equipment flexibility.

What it does have over the other plasma weapons is that it is very light and compact, thus can be stored easier. What it has above the laser pistol is its increased damage potential per shot and increased accuracy to make up for its lack in speed.

Overall it is a moderately well balanced weapon, but this is also its weakness.

The plasma pistol is an isolated research topic that does not lead to new developments. If you don't intend to ever use them, consider skipping the [[research]] on the weapon and its clip until you stop recovering them in battle. Recovering as-yet unresearched items will add additional points and improve your end-of-mission [[Scoring#Item Recovery|scoring]].

If you do intend to make limited use of the plasma pistol as a specialist weapon, consider treating them the same way as Plasma Rifles and only only keep one or two of them and stockpile every clip you can find. It's a finite supply, but should last a considerable while if used conservatively.

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

* Aimed: 1 Shot, 40% Remaining TUs (enough for 1 Snap shot or 1 Auto burst)
* Snap: 3 Shots, 10% Remaining TUs
* Auto: 3 Bursts (9 Shots), 10% Remaining TUs

== Tips ==
* The lightest sidearm, weighing 6 weight units when loaded.
* The slowest but most powerful sidearm.
* The TUs needed for a Snapshot and the time needed for an Autofire burst are the same; this means that the only time you should NOT spray the enemy with autofire is when accuracy or ammo are a concern. The Plasma Pistol has a reasonably large ammo count.
* For the most bang for your buck per unit of Elerium used in ammo manufacture, look no further.
* This weapon will often disappear by April; if you haven't captured one by then, you won't ever get the chance.
* Recommended for heavy weapons troopers or scouts. Also pairs very well with the Laser Pistol, allowing you to alternate between brute force or volume when necessary.
* If you don't intend to use the weapon, leave it unresearched until they no longer appear, so you can reap the benefit of points that you get for unresearched artefacts.

== General pistol warning ==
This note covers the regulation [[Pistol]], Laser Pistol and the Plasma Pistol.

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

==See also==
{{Equipment (UFO Defense) Navbar}}
[[Category:Equipment]]
[[Category:Research]]

Plasma Rifle

2009-07-26T13:24:48Z

Hajo: /* Tips */

The next generation of plasma weapon, the plasma rifle is an effective rapid fire sniper rifle.

The plasma rifle improves considerably on the performance of its predecessor the [[Plasma Pistol]] in terms of damage and accuracy. It offers the best snap and auto fire accuracy of all the weapons. While not the highest, it also has 100% aimed accuracy.

The aliens have apparently bought the argument that the [[Heavy Plasma]] is better and abandon all other plasma weapons a few months into the invasion. This means that ammunition for the plasma rifle quickly becomes scarce. Once ammunition stockpiles are depleted, [[Elerium]] will need to be spent to produce more ammunition for this weapon.

Researching the Plasma Rifle and its clip is one of two options available for initiating the [[Plasma Beam]] and consequently [[Hovertank/Plasma]] projects.

== Stats ==
<b>Plasma Rifle:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS31.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 3 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 5
*TUs:
**Auto: 36% (Accuracy 55%)
**Snap: 30% (Accuracy 86%)
**Aimed: 60% (Accuracy 100%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $88,000 for parts, 820 Engineer Hours, 1 Alien Alloy
*Sell Price: $126,600</td></tr></table>

<b>Plasma Rifle Clip:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS41.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 80 Plasma
*Ammo: 28
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $3,000 for parts, 80 Engineer Hours, 2 Elerium
*Sell Price: $6,290</td></tr></table>

== Recommendations ==
Although this weapon straddles the middle ground for performance in the plasma weapon family, its increased snapshot accuracy make it a very good rapid-fire rifle for training snipers in actual battle.

A kneeled snapshot allows the shooter to make use of 98.9% of his or her base accuracy level while enjoying the speed of a snapshot, allowing for more attempts that equals to more accumulated experience and improved accuracy for the next mission.

A master marksman will eventually be able to consistently make 100% accurate snapshots with the plasma rifle. Once accuracy reaches or goes beyond 116, the sniper no longer needs to kneel. The sniper can even migrate to the Heavy Plasma and achieve the same level of performance by kneeling.

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

* Aimed: 1 Shot, 40% Remaining TUs (enough for 1 Snap shot or 1 Auto burst)
* Snap: 3 Shots, 10% Remaining TUs
* Auto: 2 Bursts (6 Shots), 28% Remaining TUs

== Tips ==
* When loaded, weighs as much as a loaded standard [[Pistol]]. If a unit for some reason can't move around with a Heavy Plasma, this is an excellent secondary weapon.
* Unless you can achieve 100% accuracy, aimed shot takes too long for too little of an accuracy boost. Snapshot use is recommended, as it will gives you more attempts.

==See also==
{{Equipment (UFO Defense) Navbar}}
[[Category:Equipment]]
[[Category:Research]]

Heavy Plasma

2009-07-26T13:19:29Z

Hajo: /* Usage notes */ Typo

The larger cousin of the [[Plasma Rifle]] is a powerful squad support weapon which is nonetheless light enough to be usable by nearly any soldier. It is the most powerful weapon available to X-Com agents short of the [[Blaster Launcher]], plus it has a fast rate of fire and high accuracy.

This weapon is capable of penetrating a wide variety of terrain features, including most inner UFO walls and doors (See [[Destroying Terrain]] for more info). This property makes it indispensable for certain [[UFO Assault]] tactics, while its clip size of 35 rounds is usually more than sufficient for the typical engagement.

Researching the Heavy Plasma and its clip allows you to begin the [[Plasma Beam]] and [[Hovertank/Plasma]] projects.

'''Pros:''' High stopping power. High penetration power. Light weight. Spare clips and almost fully loaded guns are plentiful by mid-game - Just pry them out of dead alien fingers. Its auto and snap fire modes are second only to the [[Plasma Rifle]] in accuracy. However, the Heavy Plasma has a higher accuracy in aimed fire.

'''Cons:''' Clips count towards 80-item limit. Doesn't have infinite ammo like the [[Laser Rifle]], although 35 shots goes a long way. Clips can be hard to come by in the early part of the game, and require Elerium if manufactured.

== Stats ==
<b>Heavy Plasma:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS30.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 3 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 8
*TUs:
**Auto: 35% (Accuracy 50%)
**Snap: 30% (Accuracy 75%)
**Aimed: 60% (Accuracy 110%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $122,000 for parts, 1,000 Engineer Hours, 1 Alien Alloy
*Sell Price: $171,600</td></tr></table>

<b>Heavy Plasma Clip:</b>
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS25.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 115 Plasma
*Ammo: 35
*Size: 1 high x 1 wide
*Weight: 3
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Manufacturable_Prices|Manufacturing]]: $6,000 for parts, 80 Engineer Hours, 3 Elerium
*Sell Price: $9,590</td></tr></table>

== Recommendation ==
As this is practically the be-all-and-end-all general purpose firearm in the game, there is little need to make any real recommendations for its usage as it will fit most of your needs except for its size and lack of unlimited ammo.

What can be recommended is that you'll eventually get '''PILES''' of these things in storage after a few successful missions. After you've stored what you need on the [[Skyranger]], don't be afraid to sell the entire lot of them as there'll only be more on the way. Feel free to make use of the generous cash injection by investing it in other aspects of saving the world.

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

* Aimed: 1 Shot, 40% Remaining TUs (enough for 1 Snap shot or 1 Auto burst)
* Snap: 3 Shots, 10% Remaining TUs
* Auto: 2 Bursts (6 Shots), 30% Remaining TUs (enough for 1 Snap shot)

Note: Soldiers with 51,54,57 TU will be able to fire 3 bursts with 0 TU remaining.
While this might seem a low occurence rate (3 out of 32 possibilities), this means that *rookies* have a 27% chance of firing 3 bursts, since starting TU range is 50-60.
An interesting reason to arm rookies with heavy Plasmas, instead of waiting until they become squaddies to earn the privilege...

== Tips ==
* Do you desire to wield inhuman power against the invading aliens? This is the weapon for you. It's often able to drop a Muton in a single shot.
* This weapon also comes into its own destroying the internal bulkheads, doors, floors, and ceilings of UFOs. Want a door somewhere that there isn't one? Bring in a Heavy Plasma and make one.
* Weighs the same as a standard [[Rifle]]. Unless you're weighing them down with tons of gear, any soldier should be able to use this effectively.
* Sports the largest clip in the game after the Lasers, and totally outclasses them in terms of damage.
* After about June or July, the aliens will only use this weapon for the remainder of the game, meaning that ammo and guns are plentiful.
* Sells quite well on the market. You'll literally have PILES of them in storage, just waiting to be sold to the highest bidder.

==See also==
{{Equipment (UFO Defense) Navbar}}
[[Category:Equipment]]
[[Category:Research]]

Supply ship

2009-07-26T05:36:03Z

Hajo: /* Additional Information */

==General Information==
The supply vessel is used during the construction of alien bases, for supplying existing bases or for infiltration missions. It carries [[Alien Food|alien food]] containers and a [[Alien Surgery|surgical]] chamber.

==Statistics==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Statistic</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Size</td><td>Large</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Max Speed(km)</td><td>3,200</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Power</td><td>60</tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Range(km)</td><td>34</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Range(range units)</td><td>288</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Damage Capacity</td><td>2,200</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Downed points</td><td>400</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Destroyed points</td><td>800</td></tr>
</table><br />

==Additional Information==
You usually don't want to shoot these down, as most of them actually land for supply missions to alien bases.
You can get a nice steady supply of [[Elerium-115|elerium]] this way.

This ship has 3 [[UFO Power Source|power sources]] and 4 [[UFO Navigation|navigations]].

The race aboard this ship is the same as the one inside the base under resupply. --[[User:60.241.66.150|60.241.66.150]]

Supply Missions are '''always''' dispatched by the aliens at 00:30 sharp, any time an alien base is resupplied. This can be helpful in determining the mission type of a Supply Ship if you lack a [[Hyper-wave Decoder]]

==Plan Of Attack==
=== 1. Ground floor: Power ===
Best tactic here involves a 2 stage attack on the ship: securing the hatches and securing the lifts. It's best to storm both hatches simultaneously; this prevents the aliens within from swarming one door from all sides.

If the power sources have exploded due to a crash, there will be little left of the inner walls on this floor, and often holes in the ceiling exposing the middle floor. You shouldn't have shot it down, really.

Once you have moved soldiers onto each of the one-square lifts on the ground floor, you can prepare for the final assault at some leisure, due to the aliens' typical reluctance to shoot straight down a gravlift. You can, of course, shoot straight up at them. Throwing grenades up the lifts can be very effective as well.

=== 2. Middle floor: Supplies ===
The assault on the middle floor can be executed as a pincer attack from both lifts if you cut through the wall of the three-story lift with [[Heavy Plasma]].

=== 3. Top floor: Bridge ===
The assault on the bridge often proceeds like this:
*1. Secure the lift exit with 3 or 4 soldiers. Check those corners!
*2. Set up snipers to cover the north hallway with reaction fire.
*3. Optionally send a team through the winding south hallway.
*4. Use splash damage from [[Grenade]]s to take down the bridge guards before you turn the corner.
*5. Flank the bridge door. Bust in. Confront the leader cowering behind the navigation consoles and take him down as you see fit.

Alternatively, cut through the bridge's walls with a [[Heavy Plasma]] (see [[Destroying Terrain]]).

=== Alternative Plan ===
Blow through the ceiling or walls of the third floor and storm the navigation room. Attack the first floor with a pincer through the hatches. Combine forces to clean out the second floor. [[Blaster Launcher]] and [[Flying Suit]]s required.

==Recoverable Components==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Item</th>
<th>Sell Price</th>
<th>Quantity</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Power Source</td><td>$250,000</td><td>3</td><td>$750,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Navigation</td><td>$80,000</td><td>4</td><td>$320,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Food</td><td>$5,000</td><td>20</td><td>$100,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Surgery</td><td>$38,000</td><td>2</td><td>$76,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Entertainment</td><td>$20,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Examination Room</td><td>$9,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Alloys</td><td>$6,500</td><td>141</td><td>$916,500</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Elerium-115</td><td>$5,000</td><td>150</td><td>$750,000</td></tr>
<tr><th colspan="3">Totals</th><td>$2,912,500</td></tr>
</table><br />
Also see [[UFO Recovery Values#Supply Ship|UFO Recovery Values]].

==Alien Deployment==
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5"><tr>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Sectoids/Floaters</b></caption>
<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>5-11</td><td>6-12</td><td>7-13</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>1-2</td><td>1-2</td><td>1-2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>9-16</td><td>10-17</td><td>14-21</td></tr>
</table></td>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Snakemen</b></caption>
<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>6-12</td><td>7-13*</td><td>9-15</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>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</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>1-2</td><td>1-2</td><td>1-2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>9-16</td><td>10-17</td><td>14-21</td></tr>
</table></td>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Mutons</b></caption>
<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>7-14</td><td>8-15*</td><td>10-17</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>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</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>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>9-16</td><td>10-17</td><td>14-21</td></tr>
</table></td>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Ethereals</b></caption>
<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>5-11</td><td>6-12</td><td>7-13</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Navigators</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Medics</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Engineers</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Leaders</td><td>4-5</td><td>4-5*</td><td>7-8</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>9-16</td><td>10-17</td><td>14-21</td></tr>
</table></td></tr></table>
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Needs testing to determine actual number.

==Floor Plans==
<gallery>
Image:SupplyShip_0.gif|Level 0
Image:SupplyShip_1.gif|Level 1
Image:SupplyShip_2.gif|Level 2
</gallery>

==Terrain Maps==
<gallery>
Image:UFO_170MAP-L1.JPG|Level 0
Image:UFO_170MAP-L2.JPG|Level 1
Image:UFO_170MAP-L3.JPG|Level 2
Image:UFO_170MAP.JPG|Level 3
</gallery>

==See Also==
{{UFO Navbar}}

[[UFO_Ground_Assault#Assaulting_Supply_Ships_with_JFG|Assaulting Supply Ships with JFG]]

[[Category: UFOs]]
[[Category: Tactics]]
[[Category:Research]]

Terror ship

2009-07-26T05:31:46Z

Hajo: /* Ship Layout */

==General Information==
The terror ship has a containment facility for large alien terror weapons or creatures. It is used to transport these alien terrorists into [[Terror Mission|populated areas]].

==Statistics==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Statistic</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Size</td><td>Large</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Max Speed(km)</td><td>4,800</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Power</td><td>120</tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Range(km)</td><td>42</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Range(range units)</td><td>336</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Damage Capacity</td><td>1,200</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Downed points</td><td>500</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Destroyed points</td><td>1,000</td></tr>
</table><br />

==Additional Information==
The Terror Ship is one of the most feared of all alien [[UFOs]]. It is fast, has weapons second only to a [[Battleship]] in power and range, but worst of all transports the deadly [[Terror Units]] that accompany aliens. As its name implies, the appearance of a Terror Ship usually bodes ill - a [[Terror Mission|Terror Site]] is usually soon to occur, but it may be on an equally devastating [[Alien_Missions#Alien_Infiltration|Alien Infiltration]] mission.

==Missions==
Terror Ships mostly engage in [[Terror Mission]]s, but they have been seen participating in [[Alien Missions#Alien Infiltration|Alien Infiltration]] missions as well. In both cases, the Large-class ship will be seen descending upon a city. However, a Terror Ship en route to terrorize a city acts alone. When the Terror Ship is part of a large flotilla, all of which are targetting urban centers, then it is likely part of an infiltration attempt. Perhaps the aliens use the threat of terrorizing a city to swing the deal in their favour.

Needless to say, commanders should shoot down any Terror Ships immediately.

==Air Combat==
This ship has a powerful weapon with a long range, capable of destroying an [[Interceptor]] in two shots. They can be safely shot down using one or more [[Plasma Beam]]s, however.

Terror ships are also extremely fast, and can outrun every X-COM craft except the [[Avenger]] at its maximum speed. Prior to landing in a city, they will slow down, at which time they can be engaged by any craft, including Interceptors.

It is possible to down a Terror Ship using two Interceptors each armed with twin [[Avalanche]] missiles, although you must hit with nearly every missile they carry. Unfortunately, when firing your last salvo of ammunition, your craft will automatically retreat to "standoff" distance, causing the missiles you just fired to go out of range and miss. To hit a UFO with your last salvo, you must switch to "Aggressive" attack shortly before it is fired. After the missiles are released, you can retreat again. If you manage to hit a Terror Ship with at least five out of six salvos of Avalanches, it will generally be shot down.

==Ship Layout==
The ship has two large doors. These are needed to allow the larger alien [[Terror Units]] to get out, but they also allow X-COM's [[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]s to get in. There are two small rooms in the upper level with no way out for large units, except for a 2x2 hole in the floor. How the aliens get their [[Reaper|Reapers]] and [[Sectopod|Sectopods]] up there is unknown. Exercise extreme caution here, as [[Chryssalid]]s will often hide out of sight until your troops pass by, and then drop down and attack from behind with devastating results.
[[Flying Suit]]s are useful here. Throwing grenades and firing explosives up there is usually a good idea.

The ship contains 8 [[UFO_Navigation|navigation units]], 8 entertainments and 4 [[UFO_Power_Source|power sources]]. Unfortunately, the power sources are very close to each other. If one power source is destroyed, it generally takes the other three with it, along with some of the surrounding walls and bits of the ceiling.
This sometimes has the nasty side-effect of leaving the bridge inaccessible without a [[Flying Suit]]. The only solution in this case is to use the exploit to fire explosives/ throw grenades through the floor/ceiling.

==Recoverable Components==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Item</th>
<th>Sell Price</th>
<th>Quantity</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Power Source</td><td>$250,000</td><td>4</td><td>$1,000,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Navigation</td><td>$80,000</td><td>8</td><td>$640,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Food</td><td>$5,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Surgery</td><td>$38,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Entertainment</td><td>$20,000</td><td>8</td><td>$160,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Examination Room</td><td>$9,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Alloys</td><td>$6,500</td><td>92</td><td>$598,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Elerium-115</td><td>$5,000</td><td>200</td><td>$1,000,000</td></tr>
<tr><th colspan="3">Totals</th><td>$3,398,000</td></tr>
</table><br />
Also see [[UFO Recovery Values#Terror Ship|UFO Recovery Values]].

==Alien Deployment==
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5"><tr>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Sectoids/Floaters</b></caption>
<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>4-5</td><td>5-6</td><td>6-7</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>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>2-4</td><td>4-7</td><td>6-10</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>10-13</td><td>13-17</td><td>18-23</td></tr>
</table></td>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Snakemen</b></caption>
<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>5-6</td><td>6-7</td><td>7-8</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>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</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>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>2-4</td><td>4-7</td><td>6-10</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>10-13</td><td>13-17</td><td>18-23</td></tr>
</table></td>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Mutons</b></caption>
<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>6-7</td><td>7-8</td><td>8-9</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>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</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>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>2-4</td><td>4-7</td><td>6-10</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>10-13</td><td>13-17</td><td>18-23</td></tr>
</table></td>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Ethereals</b></caption>
<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>4-5</td><td>5-6</td><td>6-7</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Navigators</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Medics</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Engineers</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Leaders</td><td>4</td><td>4*</td><td>6</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>2-4</td><td>4-7</td><td>6-10</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>10-13</td><td>13-17</td><td>18-23</td></tr>
</table></td></tr></table>
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Needs testing to determine actual number.

==Floor Plans==
<gallery>
Image:TerrorShip_0.gif|Level 0
Image:TerrorShip_1.gif|Level 1
</gallery>

==Terrain Maps==
<gallery>
Image:UFO_150MAP-L1.JPG|Level 0
Image:UFO_150MAP-L2.JPG|Level 1
Image:UFO_150MAP.JPG|Level 2
</gallery>

==See Also==
{{UFO Navbar}}
[[Category: UFOs]]
[[Category:Research]]

Battleship

2009-07-26T05:28:25Z

Hajo: /* TFTD Note */

==General Information==
The battleship is the largest and most powerful [[UFOs|alien craft]]. It is normally the primary alien mission craft, equipped with powerful weapons and numerous crew members.

==Statistics==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Statistic</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Size</td><td>Very Large</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Max Speed(km/h)</td><td>5,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Power</td><td>148</tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Range(km)</td><td>65</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Weapon Range(range units)</td><td>520</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Damage Capacity</td><td>3,200</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Downed points</td><td>700</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Destroyed points</td><td>1,400</td></tr>
</table><br />

==Alien Missions==
Battleships are normally associated with retaliation, base construction and Infiltration missions, however, unlike Terran Battleships the alien battleship can fulfill a very diverse set of mission profiles. Unlike [[Supply ship|Supply Ships]], [[Terror ship|Terror Ships]], [[Harvester]]s, or [[Abductor]]s, a Battleship's presence does not lend itself to one or two specific [[Alien Missions|alien missions]]. For an [[X-COM]] Commander tracking a Battleship using radar, he or she must observe the Battleship's movement patterns in order to guess its mission. The Commander must then take appropriate measures to deal with the battleship. He or she may even choose to ignore the Battleship, as their size and firepower require an extensive commitment of personnel and equipment that may not justify the attack. Though not often, Battleships can occasionally accomplish nothing, with no penalty aside from a slightly raised [[UFO Activity]] graph. (''See: Alien Retaliation'')

Battleships can be involved in the following missions:

===Alien Base===
The construction of [[Alien Base Assault|alien bases]] are marked by heavy UFO activity in rural areas. In addition to the scouts and Supply Ships sent by the aliens to survey the potential base site, a Battleship is sent to inaugurate the base as soon as the construction is completed. To be precise, the moment the battleship appears in orbit means that the base is fully operational.
So, if a Very Large UFO appears as part of a large force of Small and Large UFOs, then it is likely to be on an Alien Base mission, and is likely to make a landing. It is possible to capture the Battleship's commander and 4 power plants intact at this time. It is much easier to find the commander on the bridge of a Battleship than deep inside the maze of an Alien Base.

===Alien Infiltration===
Two Battleships are always the primary component in the final phase of an infiltration. The Battleships are part of a large force of five ships sent, much like in Alien Base missions. However, ships involved in an Alien Infiltration mission will instead land in urban locations. Battleships contain the alien "diplomats" who will persuade (with 100% success rate, best door to door salesman ever!) one of Earth's countries to cease funding X-COM, and form a [[pact]] with the aliens. The alien "diplomats" leave the ship immediately upon entering the Earth's atmosphere, presumably through teleportation or alien parachutes, however, and continue their goal of signing a pact with one of Earth's countries regardless of what happens to their base ship. This means that a ground assault on the UFO will not prevent the aliens from accomplishing their mission. In addition, this alien diplomat will then convince the nation he has just converted to build an alien base for their new allies, which will be completed in a matter of hours.

In effect, as soon as you see the Battleships appear (with Hyperwave Decoder informing you that it is) performing Alien Infiltration, you have lost 1 funding country, and the an alien base has just appeared in or next to that country.

Battleships are most often seen on this type of mission. When two Battleships a force of three smaller craft are in the same region (sometimes coined the Mass Infiltration Fleet), then it is very likely a mass Infiltration mission.

===Alien Retaliation===
Alien Retaliation missions have two main components: Search, and Destroy. The Battleship quite often fulfills the "destroy" component for obvious reasons - it's the troop carrier. The heavy firepower of a Battleship is required to breach any barricaded underground [[Hangar]]s and [[Access Lift]]s, and they contain the troops, weapons, and terror units for the subsequent assault on any [[Base Defense|X-COM Base]] itself.

There are two theories on what occurs with the Battleship itself.
1st theory: After unloading its troops, a Battleship on a retaliatory mission will return to space instantly, disappearing from our detection range instantaneously. Perhaps is engages some form of FTL drive.
2nd Theory: Based on how the Battleship comes from space, enters Earth's atmosphere at Very High altitude, very rapidly switches to Very Low altitude, does not decelerate from it's maximum speed at any point, and disappears from radar existance as soon as it makes contact with the Xcom Base... it seems highly possible that the aliens use a kamikaze ramming attack in order to create a direct insertion of troops into the Xcom Base, thus explaining why your forces perform an interior assault defence, instead of exterior. This also explains why your base defences only have time for 1 volley, unless you use the Grav Shield to repel the battleship.
In any case, is thus impossible to assault the Battleship after the base has been defended.

Any Battleship that is going to attack your base will head on a direct path for the base at near-maximum speed. It is thus impossible to shoot down the Battleship except with the Avenger, or with base defenses. Even then, the chances of shooting down a battleship with an Avenger from the target base is very minimal. If a Very Large craft is detected on a direct course for one of your bases, then start [[Base Defense|base defense]] preparations immediately.

If [[Craft|X-COM craft]] are successful at downing all alien scout craft on a retaliatory operation, then the Battleship itself must search for your base. Despite the Battleship's formidable strength, one thing it does seem to lack is scanning and sensing equipment. It is rare that a Battleship searching for your base will ever find it, so these Battleships can be safely ignored.

An easy way to tell whether the battleship found your base is it's altitude. It always starts Very High, but if it almost immediately shifts to Very Low, your base has been found and it is going to head straight for your base and land at top speed. If it remains Very High, then it is merely searching.

Battleship movement on an Alien Retaliation mission is characterized by either a fast, direct course for one of your bases, or a repeated "weaving" pattern around where many UFOs have been downed recently. Often, a battleship which has not detected your base will make a fast direct course towards your base, but will then begin it's weaving pattern. They will only land to attack your base. A Battleship searching for your base will soon give up and head for space.

===Alien Harvest===
It seems that if X-COM forces are successful in downing or assaulting many [[Harvester]]s, then the aliens will send their glorious Battleships to do the dirty work in the hopes that X-COM does not have the resources to attack them. Or maybe they hope you just won't want to waste the effort

Battleships on harvest missions will fly and land in rural areas. Sometimes they work in pairs.

Of all the missions available, Harvest missions only generate activity points and can be safely ignored if you do not have the manpower or resources to tackle the Battleship.

===Alien Abduction===
The Battleship will sometimes participate in Alien Abduction missions. Like its participation in Harvest missions, this occurs only when X-Com has already been successful in preventing lesser craft from doing the job. The actual effects are minimal and can be easily compensated by having generated good area activity points for the month.

== Intercepting Battleships ==
===Speed===
Despite being the largest class of ships, alien Battleships have four [[Elerium-115]] powered [[UFO Power Source|power sources]], and as such can travel through Earth's atmosphere at a surprisingly high speed - they have been known to travel at over five thousand knots during atmospheric entry and exit. Because of this, it is very difficult for standard [[Craft|X-COM craft]] to intercept a Battleship during these phases of its flight. X-COM Commanders must usually wait for the Battleship to slow down as they approach their mission zone in order to intercept it.

===Weapon===

When X-COM forces have engaged a Battleship, the commander and pilots must be extra cautious due to the powerful nature of the battleship's weapon. The battleship's weapon has a range of sixty-five kilometres - equal to the Fusion Ball Launcher, which mean it has a firing range greater than every other weapon. Battleships have a damage range of 74-148 damage per hit. The Battleship will just barely fire 3 times before X-COM craft can get within Plasma Beam range to return fire.

To get a rough idea of how long the various aircraft can survive against direct hits from the Battleship weapon, refer to the following table.

<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Ship(health)</th><th>Hits to destroy</th>
<tr><td align="left">[[Interceptor]] (100)</td><td>1 ~ 2</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Skyranger]] (150)</td><td>2 ~ 3</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Firestorm]] (500)</td><td>3 ~ 6</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Lightning]] (800)</td><td>5 ~ 10</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">[[Avenger]] (1200)</td><td>8 ~ 16</td></tr>
</table>

From here we can see that the lighter class Terran [[Interceptor]]s must rely on luck to survive the initial barrage from the UFO before they can get within [[Plasma Beam]] range. This means they have the great risk of destruction when sent against a battleship.

Advanced ships are therefore recommended due to their greater hit point allotments, allowing them to withstand more attacks. Multiple aircraft will always improve the odds of survival no matter the aircraft setup.

===Armour===
A Battleship is well armoured (3200 to be destroyed, 1600 to crash it). Native terran technology - [[Cannon]], [[Stingray]]s, and [[Avalanche]]s - have little chance of downing a battleship quickly unless used in high quantity. Anything less than an [[Avenger]] with single or twin [[Plasma Beam]]s is not discouraged as even an Avenger will sustain moderate damage when intercepting a Battleship by itself. [[Fusion Ball Launcher]]s may be effective, but only when intercepting with multiple craft or used in combination with a Plasma Beam.

If for what ever mad reason you suddenly decide to use cannons against the Battleship, four fully armed cannons are the absolute minimum, with some allowances given for multiple misses. The four cannons spread across two or more Avengers are required for any chance of success.

===Geoscape Engagement: Summary ===

The Battleship is the fastest, strongest and most durable UFO in the alien fleet. Only the best available ships armed with powerful long ranged weapons should be used to engage it in air to air combat.

Even with the best preparations, any ship can sustain heavy damage from a Battleship, resulting in long repair time. Engaging with multiple aircraft improves the efficiency of the interception and reduces overall damage received while allowing you to shoot down the Battleship sooner.

As a counterpoint to attacking a Battleship, because their appearance is often merely an obligatory gesture and is independent on the success rate of an Alien Base or Infiltration mission, there is no immediate benefit to shooting down a battleship to directly influence the effect of the mission. It may therefore be preferable to do an ordinary ground assault on a Battleship that has landed rather than attack it in the air.

Shooting down the Battleship also causes you to lose some of the power units, and consequently the elerium pods that come with them. Few aliens will be lost as between 0 to 1 engineer will be in any one of the Battleship's four struts. It must be noted however that Engineers on Battleships are armed with Blaster Bombs, making each engineer killed rather significant. Furthermore, these struts are considered fairly good UFO entry points, and a blown up power source will usually result in busted walls in the strut.

The primary advantage of shooting down a Battleship is therefore to forcibly ground it for a few hours, allowing you to attack it when you are ready.

== Assaulting/Recovering Battleships ==
===Mission Spoils===

Assaulting a landed or downed Battleship with ground forces is a dangerous operation, and the rewards from a successful raid are equally proportionate to the difficulty.

A Battleship has four [[UFO Power Source|power sources]], and two hundred units of [[Elerium-115]]. In addition, these Power Sources are far away from each other, which let's them vastly better survival rates compared to the Power Unit clusters found in Terror Ship. In short, the Battleship has the highest probability of any shot down UFO to have at least 1 surviving Power Source.

Battleships carry many [[Alien Entertainment]] and [[UFO Navigation]] units, and is constructed of vast quantities of [[Alien Alloys]].

Battleships are manned by a large crew comprising of every possible rank and alien combination in addition to their terror unit counterpart(s). From soldiers to the commanders X-COM needs to capture to end the war. Because the crew size is large, one can often find large amounts of alien [[Weapons|weapons]] and ammo. The Battleship is the *ONLY* UFO where it is possible to find and recover the Blaster Launcher and Blaster Launcher Bombs.

===Ground Threats===
The Battleship carries a large crew complement. These are often equipped with [[Heavy Plasma]]s and [[Alien Grenade]]s, which pose a large threat. In addition to the regular alien species, their associated [[Terror Units]] accompany them on Battleships. Last but not least, high ranking officers on a Battleship are armed with the dreaded [[Blaster Launcher]]. Squad leaders must be careful in their deployment of personnel on the battlefield.

===Entry===

Heavy Weapons Platforms can enter the central lift and navigate much of the second floor, however the lift on the third floor is closed off via small doorways. HWPs are very useful for opening the main doors on the bottom level and allowing soldiers to fire at any aliens inside, or to send a blaster bomb up into the interior of the UFO.

Forced entry using a Blaster Bomb is often used, as it also reduces the risk of succumbing to an alien ambush on the second or third floors. The four corner legs can be one entry point, although elerium may be damaged from such an entry. If [[Flying Suit]]s are available, then an entry from the top level is also an effective tactic that also minimizes the risk of damaging elerium. Entering via the top floor also gives a good chance of surprising and capturing alien officers. A pincer movement, with two or more fire teams working from multiple entry points, is a very effective tactic while storming a Battleship.

==Battleship Layout==

The Battleship consists of three layers. The ground level, mid section and the top level.

See [[#Terrain Maps|Terrain Maps and Floorpans]] for visuals of the various layers.

===Level 0: Ground Level===

The ground level has four "legs" one on each corner and a central leg that acts as the primary carriage way for the ship. lift shaft. The corner legs cannot be entered from the outside, as they house the power sources. The center leg or lift has two doors that give access to a wide lift.

Due to the compass orientation that the battleship always lands, the doors always open towards the south and west, the other directions are effectively blind. The doors are large enough to allow passage of large terror units and [[Heavy Weapons Platforms]] into the UFO. This pair of doors is the only formal access point in or out of the Battleship, therefore a siege is very effective here.

Be warned that any groups of soldiers sieging the the Battleship will be vulnerable to hostile blaster bombs, so use the tactic with discretion and consider your troop spacing with care. Alien Engineers have been known to patrol the fields with their trusty blaster launchers, and most aliens will carry alien grenades.

=== Level 1: Middle Level ===

The second level has four major hallways (or two, if you look at it that way). Each leads to a small lift that accesses the four outer pods holding the Power Sources. There are three main rooms, two of which seem to be used for storage. One is filled with the red spheres and cylinders on blue support legs that we have not yet identified. The fourth room, constructed heavily out of alien entertainment walls, is best thought of as the recreation deck.

Note that there is a small access grav-lift in the north-western portion of this floor, which can allow you to enter the upper level indirectly.

=== Level 2: Top Level ===

Unlike the level below it, the lift on this level is surrounded by strong walls. This level of the UFO has lots of smaller rooms and tight corridors, making it very dangerous. There are two major rooms which appear to be the navigation room, and bridge. Both rooms have the distinctive blue chairs, yet only one has any navigation modules. The two rooms are on opposite ends of the ship. The third level is also where X-COM forces are most likely to find any Alien Navigators or Alien Leaders, or possibly even the commander on non-Muton Battleships.

=== Level 3: Roof ===
The roof is a flat surface and nothing much else. It is of no threat to anyone. Suitable entrances into the level underneath it can be made with the aid of Blaster Bombs.

As with any UFO, soldiers wearing flying suits can also land on the roof and provide support for troops that are storming the UFO from the ground entrance by operating a motion scanner.

==Recoverable Components==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Item</th>
<th>Sell Price</th>
<th>Quantity</th>
<th>Value</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Power Source</td><td>$250,000</td><td>4</td><td>$1,000,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">UFO Navigation</td><td>$80,000</td><td>4</td><td>$320,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Food</td><td>$5,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Surgery</td><td>$38,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Entertainment</td><td>$20,000</td><td>24</td><td>$480,000</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Examination Room</td><td>$9,000</td><td>0</td><td>$0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Alien Alloys</td><td>$6,500</td><td>231</td><td>$1,501,500</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Elerium-115</td><td>$5,000</td><td>200</td><td>$1,000,000</td></tr>
<tr><th colspan="3">Totals</th><td>$4,301,500</td></tr>
</table><br />
Also see [[UFO Recovery Values#Battleship|UFO Recovery Values]].

==Alien Deployment==
<table width="100%" cellpadding="5"><tr>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Sectoids/Floaters</b></caption>
<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></td>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Snakemen</b></caption>
<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>7-11*</td><td>10-14</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>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</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></td>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Mutons</b></caption>
<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>7-11</td><td>10-14*</td><td>14-18</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>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</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>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</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></td>
<td><table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<caption><b>Ethereals</b></caption>
<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>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Medics</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Engineers</td><td>-</td><td>-</td><td>-</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Leaders</td><td>4</td><td>5*</td><td>9</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></td></tr></table>
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Needs testing to determine actual number.

==Terrain Maps==
<gallery>
Image:UFO_160MAP-L1.JPG|Level 0
Image:UFO_160MAP-L2.JPG|Level 1
Image:UFO_160MAP-L3.JPG|Level 2
Image:UFO_160MAP.JPG|Level 3
</gallery>

==Floor Plans==

<gallery>
Image:Battleship_0.gif|Level 0
Image:Battleship_1.gif|Level 1
Image:Battleship_2.gif|Level 2
</gallery>

==TFTD Note==
[[TFTD]] also has "Battleship" as a craft title.
However, it is relegated to the place of TFTD's version of the [[Terror Ship]].
TFTD's direct Battleship parallel is the [[Dreadnought]].

==See Also==
{{UFO Navbar}}
[[Category: UFOs]]
[[Category: Tactics]]
[[Category:Research]]

Alien Retaliation

2009-07-26T05:21:28Z

Hajo: /* Conclusions */

[[Image:Alien Retaliation.png|thumb|right|Alien Retaliation mission type.]]If X-COM [[Interceptor]]s (or Avengers/Firestorms/Lightnings) are being particularly successful in shooting down [[UFOs]] then the Aliens may take some [[Alien Retaliation|retaliatory]] action. This could result in a direct attack against an [[Base Defense|X-COM base]]. However, the aliens have to find an X-COM base in order to attack it, and provided UFOs are kept away then there should be little danger of an assault.

Scouts of various sizes will attempt to locate your base. If you shoot them down, they will be unable to do so. A battleship will appear at the end of this wave. If your base was detected, the Battleship will zoom in at top speed and immediately land, making it only possible to intercept with an Avenger, coming from head-on. If you managed to stop the scout's search efforts, the battleship will appear, fly around for a while, (as if challenging your interceptors to a fight) then fly off again into space.

Sometimes the very first UFO you encounter in a brand new game will be a Retaliation Scout. If it locates your [[X-COM Bases|base]] then you might be attacked almost immediately which is likely to be a tough mission.

Shooting down the retaliation scouts may prevent a base assault, but shooting them down close to your base almost guarantees an attack, presumably as they report your base if they come down close enough for your base to be in its radar range. Therefore, shoot down retaliation scouts with great care.

Aliens do not directly [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|score]] for this mission. Losing a base will give you negative points depending on what was in the base.

==Mission Profile==

Retaliation missions consist of the scout that looks for your base. When found, it is followed up by a [[Battleship]] dropship carrying a team of aliens that are to be inserted into your base. The assault team consists of aliens that you can find manning Battleships and Alien Bases. The Battleship vanishes once it has inserted the troops - presumably escaping into the atmosphere during the attack.

Each retaliation wave consists of a single group of aliens that are seeking to destroy your base. Each group, which can be of the same species, will independently target your base for retaliation. Once your base is located, they will continuously send [[Battleship]]s at the base until one breaks through your defences. They will not stop until this happens.

Once they manage to drop a retaliation squad into your base the group sending the battleships will have a sudden case of amnesia and forget the base location. Why this is a bit of mystery, but what's important is that you will not have to worry about another attack until the retaliation scouts appear.

If you are being targeted by several groups of aliens at the same time, you will have to crush both (or all) of the assault squads before the aliens stop attacking your base.

==Conclusions==
First, each wave of retaliation ends when the retaliation squad is inserted into the base - then the base is forgotten.
<br>
Second, an impenetrable base is highly discouraged as it will never be left alone until the battleships are let through. As base defenses can either completely stop an attempted attack or effectively do nothing, this means that base defenses are of very limited value in most circumstances, except for the [[Mind Shield]].

==See Also==
[[Base Defense]]
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}

Alien Terror

2009-07-26T05:16:08Z

Hajo:

[[Image:Alien Terror.png|thumb|right|Alien Terror mission type.]]
When the Aliens [[Terror Mission|terrorise]] a city, they will deploy some [[Terror Units|special forces]] with awesome powers. [[Civilian]]s will be directly threatened, and governments will be forced to evacuate whole areas. The main purpose behind this activity is to generate sufficient public hysteria so that governments will threaten the X-COM project.

If successful, the aliens will [[Scoring#Alien_Scoring|score]] 1000 points, which is eventually subtracted from your score.
However, merely arriving at the Terror Site and aborting immediately will render the Terror Mission a failure for both parties. The aliens will only gain points equal to the number of killed civilians.

==See Also==
[[Terror Mission]]
{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Research]]

Alien Infiltration

2009-07-26T05:14:01Z

Hajo:

[[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 a Battleship. It has been shown that shooting down all 4 of these craft IMMEDIATELY will delay the coming of the final Battleship, by perhaps 2 weeks. Any delay in shooting them all down will result in the 2nd Battleship making it's appearance really fast and will join the other 4 ships in landing.
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]]

Alien Missions

2009-07-26T05:10:12Z

Hajo: list-ify

UFOs are sent out periodically to conduct a number of types of '''Alien Missions''', some of whom the purpose is fairly inscrutable, others are fairly obvious in their reasoning. Especially once the [[Hyper-wave Decoder]] is deployed, knowing the mission of the aliens can help make strategic plans for further actions that the aliens may attempt in the near future.

==List of Alien Missions==

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

==Additional Research==

There are also a few key research topics essential to winning the game that can be uncovered by capturing and interrogating aliens, with the more important topics requiring aliens of higher rank to uncover them.
Each topic can only be [[research]]ed when the previous one has been completed.

[[Alien Origins]]

[[The Martian Solution]]

[[Cydonia or Bust]]

==See Also==
*[[Alien Life Forms]]<br />
*[[UFOs]]<br />
*[[Research]]<br />

{{Alien Missions Navbar}}
[[Category:Missions]]
[[Category:Research]]

Terror Mission

2009-07-26T05:04:09Z

Hajo: /* UFOs with Terror Missions */

Large numbers of aliens have landed in a major city! The population panics! There are special large "[[Terror Units|Terror Unit]]s" we haven't seen before!

Funnily enough, these seem to be more of a trap for your squad than a political move by the aliens... Oh well, into the breach once more...

==Briefing==
Mission will be successful when all enemy units have been eliminated or neutralised. You must attempt to save the lives of any [[civilian]]s in the area by neutralising the alien menace.

==A Debriefing==
An excerpt from a soldier's journal who shall remain nameless:

'-- it's very strange. The aliens don't appear to want to kill the poor citizens they're terrorising. At least not at first. They won't hesitate in the least and will immediately open fire on the civilians the very moment our dropship lands in the area and lowers its access ramp . If we ignore the terror alert for a few hours, they'll kill the townsfolk anyway.

They appear to know when one of our ships is en route to the site, and will patiently wait for us to arrive. I wonder if we have any moles in the organisation, or if the aliens just have awfully powerful scanners? They just know. I guess that's all there is to say about it.

Sgt. Mikhail Okabe says it all boils down to psychological warfare. They want to break our morale by making us watch helplessly as they slaughter the people we're sworn to protect. If we arrived and all the civilians were dead, we'd probably not think twice about it, or at least not as much if we were to watch them being murdered before our very eyes, or having to listen to their tormented screams. Or maybe it is to hamper our firepower, similiar to a hostage situation? Just the other week, Captain Jason Smith spotted a cyberdisk... several feet away from 2 civilians! Though it pained him to do so, he had no choice but to give the order to fire the Rocket Launchers at it, killing cyberdisk and civilians together. I have known some officers try to save/spare civilian lives, and cause the death of their entire squads. In the end, we are at war with the aliens, and in every war, there is collateral damage.

The aliens also seem to do something to the civilians before we arrive. At every terror site I've been to, the locals always appeared to be in a rather addle minded state, and walked about as if they're in a dream. They'll merrily walk through a hail of flying lead just to let the aliens get a better shot at them, and yet they won't seek shelter in nearby buildings or the relative safety of our dropship.

The third time they attacked Novosibirsk, I remember trying to protect an old woman from one of those furry bipedal aliens that was chasing after her. Instead of getting behind me for protection, she stared at me with a vacant smile, turned around and walked towards the alien and... That happened only a week ago, but every time I try to rest, my sleep is plagued with the same nightmare. If this keeps up, the base commander's going to need to find a new firearms instructor, and I'm going to be sporting a new jacket with very long sleeves.

But I think that's not the worst of it. If we knock out any civilians during the battle with our shock sticks, they just change. I don't really know how to describe it, except that they become someone.. no something else. . I've a feeling these people, who are in a very weakened mental state, are holding onto their minds for their dear lives. Any interference on our part just causes them to lose concentration and are thus defenceless against whatever it is that enters their heads and practically kicks them out so that it can then make itself at home.

These posessed civilians are harmless when awake, but we are still required to deal with them somehow. No matter how we decide to do that, our Damage Control specialists jump in and 'vanish' any of the affected persons. It's a very hush-hush matter. Even the inspection team from the UN who come around to assess the damage aren't made aware of the posessed civilians, so we are not credited or discredited for this little mistake of ours.

After the aliens have been dealt with, the rest of the civilians seem to recover after a few hours, and have no recollection of what had just happened to them. This is rather convenient and saves having to lug all the brainwashing equipment out there. But one does have to wonder how Damage Control is going to explain the big crater where the old gas station should be, or what's up with that inside-out vege-mart. "

-- [[User:NKF]] pasted by [[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]] 13:18, 25 Apr 2005 (BST)

==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>4-5</td><td>5-6</td><td>6-7</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>1-2</td><td>1-2</td><td>1-2</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>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Commanders</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Terrorists</td><td>2-6</td><td>4-8</td><td>6-10</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>10-16</td><td>13-19</td><td>18-24</td></tr>
</table><br />

==Civilian Deployment==
The number of civilians spawning during a Terror Mission is between 0-16. Generally, expect between 8 and 16 civilians to still be alive when you arrive. However, if the aliens have wiped them all out, they'll still happily combat your squad.

==Tips & Tricks==
* The Terror UFO isn't anywhere to be found during a terror mission.
* [[Urban Terrain]] (city/suburb).
* In a terror site - worry about your soldiers first. Civilians later. Very important. This is a game, so you can choose to be a bit heartless. (It's called collateral damage)
* The gas pumps are explosive!
* All buildings in the cityscape are very weak. Light gunfire can destroy fences and walls.
*To save a few more civilians than usual, try limiting HE rounds.
* TIME is NOT on your side. If you want a half-decent score, expand quickly and secure. The quicker you kill aliens or get them to panic, the more civilians you'll save overall.
*The aliens will have grenades and heavy plasma, but they never bring blaster bombs along on terror missions. I suppose they don't want to end it that quickly.
* Bring lots of heavy rockets and high-explosive. First people off the transport should create a "free fire" zone around the craft with them. You aren't penalized for property damage, so level the place.
* You can get a rough idea for how many civilians are left by gauging the length of the alien turn (Civilians move after aliens.) The other way to determine is to save your game, abort the mission, check the debriefing tally of killed civilians, and then reload. Some may view the latter method as cheating.

==UFOs with Terror Missions==
The city-raiding terror mission mentioned above occurs only when a [[Terror ship|Terror Ship]] is sent on an Alien Terror mission and lands on a city.

But before this happens the aliens will send a [[Small Scout|Small]]/[[Medium Scout|Medium]]/[[Large Scout|Large Scout]] which will show on a [[Hyper-wave Decoder]] as on a Terror Mission.
The ship will land randomly, in some non-urban area, and behave much like you would expect to see on a an [[Alien Missions#Alien_Research|Alien Research]] or [[Alien Missions#Alien_Abduction|Alien Abduction]] mission. Unlike a city raid, these scout terror missions will not include [[Terror Units]].

If this scout is shot down by X-COM craft and/or assaulted on the ground, chances are that the following Terror Ship will not be able to target any city when it arrives at its target region. It will then wander around for some hours on the area before finally departing back to its hidden base. To know if a Terror Ship will attack a city, watch for its flight pattern: if it immediately heads towards a city after arriving at a region, then it will perform a Terror Mission.

While the city-raiding missions cannot be ignored because of the drop in X-Com's funding and esteem that it would cause, they can be largely avoided by shooting down the scouts. Another alternative, perhaps more risky, is to try to shoot the Terror Ship before it lands. However, both might risk some sort of [[Alien Missions#Alien Retaliation|Alien Retaliation]].

==See Also==
*[[Terror Units]]<br />
*[[Alien Terror]]<br />
*[[Urban Terrain]]<br />

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

UFO Crash Recovery

2009-07-25T13:40:15Z

Hajo: /* Supply Ship */

==Overview==
Exercise caution - There may be operatives in the UFO or around the crash site. Your mission will be successful when all enemy units have been eliminated or neutralised. Recovery of UFO remains, artefacts, and alien corpses can then be initiated.

Specific listings of items that can be recovered from each UFO type can be found by following links on the [[UFOs]] page. However, those listings do not (yet) reflect the effects of a crash landing on recoverable items, particularly the all-important Elerium and Power Sources. For this, see the next section.

== Power Source Explosions and Elerium Recovery ==

When [[UFOs]] crash land (except the [[Small Scout]], which has no engine), there is a 75% chance that its [[UFO Power Source|Power Source(s)]] will explode, which also destroys their [[Elerium-115|Elerium]]. It is an extremely powerful [[Explosions|explosion]], usually even stronger than a [[Blaster Bomb]]. Power Sources (PSs) explode with an average (rated) strength of 215 ± 35 HE (min 180, max 250('''!!''')). The actual equation used is 180+(Rnd#×70). A PS explosion is always enough to [[Explosions#Object_Destruction|destroy]] any Elerium caught in its blast, and its blasts have a radius of 11 tiles (diameter 23), as wide as a Blaster.
It is thus a great mystery how the Medium Scout has any survivors after the power source blows.

In terms of Elerium recovery, all but the [[Supply ship|Supply Ship]] fall into two easy categories:

=== Isolated PSs ===

In four UFOs, the PSs can never impact other PSs. 25% of the time, you'll recover 50 Elerium from each PS. In other words, you get an average of 12.5 Elerium per PS, and it's additive:

:[[Medium Scout]], [[Large Scout]], 1 PS: Average of 12.5 Elerium
:[[Abductor]], 2 PSs: Average of 25 Elerium
:[[Battleship]], 4 PSs: Average of 50 Elerium

On average, 1 PS is left on a Battleship (25% x 4 PSs). Only 0.39% of the time will all 4 PSs be intact (0.25<sup>4</sup>).

=== Adjacent PSs ===

If one blows, all Elerium is destroyed. So the chance that any Elerium is left, is the chance that not a single one blows - it's 0.25 raised to the number of PSs.

:[[Harvester]], 2 PSs: Average of 9 Elerium (6.25% chance, 100 Elerium)
:[[Terror ship|Terror Ship]], 4 PSs: Average of 0.78 Elerium (0.39% chance, 200 Elerium)

This is why the guts of a crashed Terror Ship are almost always a smoking crater... there ''isn't'' a Blaster explosion (or worse), only once every 256 crashes! (0.39%)

=== Supply Ship ===

This one is an oddball, because if a side PS explodes it takes out the middle one (before it has a chance to explode), but just barely doesn't reach to the PS on the other side (the explosion radius is 11). Yet if the middle one explodes, it takes out all 3 PSs. So there are three possible scenarios with PSs left: only the left-most PS left, only the right-most PS left, or all 3 PSs left. But there are two ways to get to the right-most PS being left, and one of those ways has a higher chance of happening than the other.

The table below was first made by constructing a simple Yes/No table of the eight possible combinations for the 3 PSs blowing (Y) or not (N).
Then I filled in by hand how many engines would be left.
Then I constructed a simple odds table (75% chance if there was a Y for that PS, 25% if not), multiplied the three odds for a cumulative probability, and finally multiplied the cumulative probability by the number of engines left, times 50 for the Elerium PSs hold. As a last touch, I sorted on decreasing cumulative odds (i.e., probability):

<u>PS Explodes</u> PSs <u>Odds for PS ...</u> Cum. E115
<u>L</u> <u>M</u> <u>R</u> <u>Left</u> <u>L</u> <u>M</u> <u>R</u> <u>Odds</u> <u>Left</u>
Y Y Y 0 0.75 0.75 0.75 .422 0.00
Y N Y 0 0.75 0.25 0.75 .141 0.00
Y Y <u>N</u> <u>R</u> 0.75 0.75 0.25 .141 <u>7.03</u> ''Note 1''
N <u>Y</u> Y <u>0</u> 0.25 0.75 0.75 .141 <u>0.00</u> ''Note 2''
N Y N 0 0.25 0.75 0.25 .047 0.00
Y N N R 0.75 0.25 0.25 .047 2.34
N N Y L 0.25 0.25 0.75 .047 2.34
N N N All 0.25 0.25 0.25 <u> .016</u> <u> 2.34</u>
'''''Totals''''' 1.000 14.06

Notes:
* (1) If the left one blows, it kills the middle, even if it was "supposed to" blow, and the right PS remains, at a high-ish chance... but
* (2) if the left PS doesn't blow and the middle one does, they're all dead. Zero chance of any Elerium.

So. The total cumulative probability is 100% (''check''). And the final answer is: '''14.06 Elerium is recovered from Supply Ships, on average'''.
Here is what you'll tend to see:

<u>PS(s) Left</u> <u>Likelihood</u>
None 74.9%
Right-most 18.8%
Left-most 4.7%
All three <u> 1.6%</u>
100.0%
For the record, you will see some of the worst internal UFO damage in Supply Ships where both of the side PSs have blown up. This is because the damage from a Blaster+ explosion has been superimposed over the damage from another Blaster+ explosion, in the mid area between the two. This has a 50% chance of happening, via "two" ways (the first two lines in the table). If both of the PSs blew with high strength, there will be extensive roof damage, letting you see into the floor above (or to the raw dirt beneath).
The left PS damages the pristine roof/floor tile to its damaged (a.k.a. "dead") tile with HE from 80 to 125, but doesn't have the 130 need to completely vaporize both the pristine tile ''and'' the damaged tile... and then the right PS blows and easily adds the 50 HE needed to vaporize a number of damaged tiles in the middle. The damage would be much more extensive if the inner UFO walls didn't prevent the first blast from damaging a lot more tiles; there may not have been any floor left in the middle of the second level, to go from one end of the UFO to the other on that level.

For the record, PS explosions differ from other explosions in a couple of ways - although for all practical purposes, you'd never know the difference. For more info, see [[Explosions#UFO_Power_Sources]].

== Field Notes: Clearing a landing site with JFG ==
Here's one I was so proud of I took notes. This was about Dec 2003. Nothing really weird here, but just went really professionally, without losing anybody.
May I present:
*Sectoid, large scout crash, farm in california, early evening, Superhuman difficulty.
*8 soldiers and a rocket tank respond.

Loosely numbered turn-by-turn, actually event-by-event.
=== Events ===
0. Successfully deployed in circle around Skyranger with no sightings. <br>
1. Tank scouts first. Alien sighting by tank. Squaddies do 2-stage alien grenade relay. Takes out a hidden alien and part of a wall as well as the target (2 kills)<br>
2. Tank sights a second alien, fires rocket, misses. Squaddie takes armed grenade, approaches, then crouches behind tank before throwing. (Out of sight so no reaction fire.) (3rd kill)<br>
3. Scout (with RE of 60) moves in a different direction, spots one and freezes. Support sniper with rifle takes the shot (FA of 64, 87% chance) and hits. (4th kill)<br>
4. Tank sights a third among the stables and stops. Squaddies manage to land a grenade in the area. (5th kill)<br>
5. Aliens' turn, tank is shot at and responds with rocket fire. (6th kill)<br>
6. Scout found one, support sniper hits but does not get a kill. A tossed HE pack misses, and no-one is in range to add a grenade. End of turn. Alien does not kill scout; sniper is successful on next turn. (7th kill)<br>
7. Tank flushes an alien but is blocking support fire. It moves to clear the line of fire and is slightly damaged by reaction fire by doing so. Support fire takes out the alien. (8th kill)<br>
8. Team finishes sweep and gathers at UFO door for a breach. At the start of the breach turn, the tank fires a rocket into the diagonal walls forming the inside corner of the cross. This kills one alien (9th kill)<br>
9. Craft is filled with smoke. Two additional corpses are seen. The second squaddie in has enough TU's to push forward into the hollowed out centre; he sees an alien at the bridge of the ship and freezes. Third, fourth, and fifth breachers take up kneeling positions inside the door and start shooting at the alien through the smoke cloud; the third shot drops it. (10th kill)<br>
=== Score sheet ===
Alien kills registered - 9<br>
Corpses - 9<br>
Captured aliens - 1 (soldier rank)<br>
Artifacts - 41<br>
Alloys - 31<br>
Nav consoles - 2<br>
(Engines destroyed in crash)<br>
Soldiers KIA/MIA - none!<br>
Final score 275. <br>

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

UFO Interception

2009-07-25T13:30:51Z

Hajo: /* Interception Damage */

To attempt a '''UFO Interception''' select the global intercept command or click on the base you want the ship to be launched from. The second option only lists the ships at that base, where the general list is good for launching dropships but may be a little too cluttered for launching interceptors once you have a number of them.

While selecting the interceptor's destination, world time is halted. You can continue to scroll the map by way of the controls or the more recommended centre-on-location command (RMB). This is a great way to pause the map in order to survey the globe if there are too many things happening at the same time - and if your [[Geoscape]] time is moving too fast for your liking.

==Movement==
* Elerium-based ships have the highest acceleration and maximum speed but the shortest air time. Conventional aircraft have the longest air time, but are very slow. By virtue of its speed and large fuel capacity, the [[Avenger]] has the longest range overall, about twice that of a [[Skyranger]].

* Your ship autopilot prefers to move along lines of latitude (parallel to the equator) for long-range travel. This is especially noticeable when charting trans-polar routes: the ship will circle around the pole instead of flying straight across it. You can shorten the route taken by directing the ship to several intermediate waypoints along a straight line towards your destination. This way, you can probably squeeze a little more range out of the Lightning, which has very little air-time.

* Note that when you tell your craft to intercept a UFO, they will head directly for it. This is fine when you have plenty of fuel to spare or if it is headed directly towards you. If the UFO is traveling at an oblique angle to your base however, you will find that your craft will follow a roughly parabolic arc in its pursuit, using up more fuel and time than is strictly necessary. It may be worth trying to judge an approximate interception point and sending your craft to that waypoint and then re-targetting as the distance closes.

* With slower conventional aircraft (or faster UFOs), you may end up in a protracted, frustrating tail chase, waiting for the UFO to slow down and/or double back on itself. Even when it does, the poor intercept algorithms (and/or poor acceleration?) of conventional craft mean you will often miss the UFO on the turn.

* While chasing a UFO, it may land. It will stop and turn to a green icon. At that point, if you feel tactically strong enough, launch an immediate UFO Ground Assault mission against the landed UFO. Keep the interceptor stationed above the UFO, in case it moves off. UFO Ground Assaults are harder than Crash Recovery missions, for the simple reason that more aliens are left alive to fight back. However, the rewards are correspondingly greater. An interceptor can do you a better service by tracking a UFO to a landing site, than it can by forcing the UFO to crash, and much less by destroying the UFO (which earns only victory points, no material gains).

* There is a 'scramble' delay while your aircraft gets airborne, and before it starts moving toward the target. For Interceptors this delay is about 4 minutes after issuing the order to Intercept.

== Interception ==
[[Image:Interception.PNG|300px|right]]
* [[Craft Armaments|Ship weapons]] will fire continuously at set intervals (based on weapon type, weapon speed, current attack mode, and possibly range) at an enemy target as long as it is within maximum firing range (represented by the range bars) - until it runs out of ammo. After one weapon type runs out of ammo, the ship will move to the maximum range of the remaining weapon (if any).

* Multiple ships (up to 4), can join the battle by way of minimising the controls while in stand-off and waiting for extra friendlies to arrive on the scene. This can be key if you only have regular Interceptors when a Terror Ship or Battleship turns up.

* The three different attack modes have various effects. Attack mode affects the distance of the interceptor and the [[UFOs|UFO]], and the closer you are, the faster the combat between UFO and interceptor can become. This means the interceptor and UFO can be exposed to more fire from each other's weapons, possibly at a shorter range, and are possibly engaged by additional (shorter range) weapons. Another effect is that the more aggressive the attack mode, the harder it is for either side to break off, and escape. Note, the selected attack mode for each interceptor controls the exchange of fire between that individual interceptor and the UFO only. Apparently, if you have two ships engaging the UFO at the same time using different attack modes, one on a more cautious mode will give and receive fire at a slower rate than a ship that's on a more Aggressive mode.

* When chasing a ship, if the UFO starts to back off and you minimise the window, you must wait until your interceptor starts to catch up with the UFO before you re-open the intercept window, otherwise the interception will break off and will only start again once the UFO is back in stand-off range. If you let the UFO get away, the interception will halt and will only resume when the ship catches up with the UFO again - the net result is the same. The only difference is that the first method keeps the intercept window open while the other mode exits and then enters the intercept screen. There's no real advantage to this, except perhaps in TFTD when your ships are near the coast.

* When intercepting a UFO, you may want to take care where you actually complete the interception - sometimes you might have little choice, but if you shoot down a UFO over water you will not be able to perform a [[UFO Crash Recovery]] mission later. In addition, shooting down a UFO (and later performing a mission on the crash site) over a sponsor countries airspace will cause increase in XCOM activity for that month (based on the score awarded), which helps keep that country happy and might persuade them to increase their [[Country Funding|funding]] at the end of the month.

* Also be aware when intercepting using Cautious attack that there is a [[Known_Bugs#Interceptions:_Using_Cautious_Attack|bug]] when you fire you final shots that will cause them to always miss. Try to change modes before the last shot ('aggressive' while last missile is en route, 'disengage' after it hits).

* Multiple ships take a UFO down faster, and the UFO splits its fire between all of them that are in range. I.e. fires randomly, making each of your craft more likely to survive longer on average. Try to make it so that all your ships come into firing range at the same time, so you can maximise the advantage of bringing them all together.

===Interception Window===

The Interception Window shows several things. It graphically displays the range, type, and remaining ammunition of the Interceptor's weapons with small brackets, shows shots traveling to each combatant, indicates distance to and relative size of the UFO, and shows the amount of damage that the interception craft has taken so far.

There are several commands available to you in Interception:

*Standoff (Top Left): Aircraft maintains standoff range with UFO (70km). Neither side can shoot due to range. If selected during active combat, the aircraft ceases fire ''immediately'' (regardless of whether any weapons are in range) and attempts to open the range out to stand-off range, and hold there.
*Cautious Attack (Top Right): Interceptor will close to the UFO until it can fire its weapon with the longest range (unless the aircraft carries identical paired weapons, only one weapon will fire.) Should this weapon's ammo be depleted, the Interceptor will then close until the other weapon can be brought to bear. Should the Interceptor be damaged by alien fire, it will retreat back to Standoff range and mode. The UFO has a good chance of successfully fleeing if the interceptor's top speed is lower.
*Standard Attack (Top-middle Left): The interceptor will close with UFO until it can fire both weapons and then maintain that distance. (If paired weapons are carried, this is the same as Cautious) If the interceptor is damaged badly in a single shot, it will retreat back to Standoff range and mode. The UFO has a chance of successfully fleeing if the interceptor's top speed is lower.
*Aggressive Attack (Top-middle Right): Interceptor will attempt to get as close as possible to the UFO, firing both weapons as soon and as often as possible. Interception craft '''will not retreat''' regardless of damage, unless switched to a different combat mode. UFO will have difficulty fleeing combat even if interceptor is slower.
*Disengage (Bottom-middle Right): Interception craft will ''immediately'' cease firing (regardless of whether any weapons are in range), and attempt to open the range beyond Interception range, > 75km. Once out of the Interception window, on the Geoscape the aircraft will disengage the UFO and start returning to base, though it can be ordered to do something else as soon as combat is broken.
*View UFO (Bottom Right): View a side picture of the UFO; the same picture that will appear in the UFOpaedia upon successfully gaining the details of the vessel from an alien Engineer. Can be used to identify targets.
*Minimise Window (Outside Top Left). Returns to the Geoscape view. Used to wait until target is over land, or until the aircraft closes to Intercept range, or to allow other aircraft to join the battle. Can only be activated when at Stand-off range.

===Interception Damage===

Every time the weapon from an interceptor hits, it will deal anywhere from 50% to 100% of the damage rating listed on [[Craft Armaments]].
If a UFO has taken 50% or more of its damage capacity in Interception damage, it will crash-land (assuming it is over land) and X-COM will be credited UFO Grounding points and can later launch a UFO Crash Recovery raid to clean up anything left.
<br>
If the UFO takes 100% or more of its damage capacity without crash landing, the UFO will be destroyed. No crash site will be generated, and X-COM is credited with UFO Destroyed points (which are double the points given for grounding the UFO).
<br>
It should be noted that some UFOs yield enough points in recoverable loot to make it preferable to ground them, instead of destroying them.
More to the point, UFO Crash Recovery missions yield tactical experience, saleable loot, and researchable items, all of which are essential to winning the game and usually (but not always) more important than scoring points.

==Patrolling==
You can use this command to make ships act as mobile radars, sending them out to areas of suspected alien activity, or just as radar pickets to cover areas distant from your base (similar to an aircraft carrier's Sentry early warning aircraft). Particularly when looking for [[Alien Missions#Alien Bases|Alien Bases]] you will need to patrol a suspect area, but your crafts localised but powerful onboard radars can be useful elsewhere, and means they can be sent after a UFO which has left your tracking radius and should be able to reacquire them if you can anticipate the UFOs movement in the interim. Another potential benefit is that [[Interceptor]]s and [[Skyranger]]s will consume half as much fuel when patrolling than when flying around at top speed. This means they can stay "on station" for twice as long. This can make one or two conventional aircraft useful to have around even in the later game when they are otherwise mostly redundant in their original roles.

UFO Interception

2009-07-25T13:29:31Z

Hajo: /* Interception Damage */

To attempt a '''UFO Interception''' select the global intercept command or click on the base you want the ship to be launched from. The second option only lists the ships at that base, where the general list is good for launching dropships but may be a little too cluttered for launching interceptors once you have a number of them.

While selecting the interceptor's destination, world time is halted. You can continue to scroll the map by way of the controls or the more recommended centre-on-location command (RMB). This is a great way to pause the map in order to survey the globe if there are too many things happening at the same time - and if your [[Geoscape]] time is moving too fast for your liking.

==Movement==
* Elerium-based ships have the highest acceleration and maximum speed but the shortest air time. Conventional aircraft have the longest air time, but are very slow. By virtue of its speed and large fuel capacity, the [[Avenger]] has the longest range overall, about twice that of a [[Skyranger]].

* Your ship autopilot prefers to move along lines of latitude (parallel to the equator) for long-range travel. This is especially noticeable when charting trans-polar routes: the ship will circle around the pole instead of flying straight across it. You can shorten the route taken by directing the ship to several intermediate waypoints along a straight line towards your destination. This way, you can probably squeeze a little more range out of the Lightning, which has very little air-time.

* Note that when you tell your craft to intercept a UFO, they will head directly for it. This is fine when you have plenty of fuel to spare or if it is headed directly towards you. If the UFO is traveling at an oblique angle to your base however, you will find that your craft will follow a roughly parabolic arc in its pursuit, using up more fuel and time than is strictly necessary. It may be worth trying to judge an approximate interception point and sending your craft to that waypoint and then re-targetting as the distance closes.

* With slower conventional aircraft (or faster UFOs), you may end up in a protracted, frustrating tail chase, waiting for the UFO to slow down and/or double back on itself. Even when it does, the poor intercept algorithms (and/or poor acceleration?) of conventional craft mean you will often miss the UFO on the turn.

* While chasing a UFO, it may land. It will stop and turn to a green icon. At that point, if you feel tactically strong enough, launch an immediate UFO Ground Assault mission against the landed UFO. Keep the interceptor stationed above the UFO, in case it moves off. UFO Ground Assaults are harder than Crash Recovery missions, for the simple reason that more aliens are left alive to fight back. However, the rewards are correspondingly greater. An interceptor can do you a better service by tracking a UFO to a landing site, than it can by forcing the UFO to crash, and much less by destroying the UFO (which earns only victory points, no material gains).

* There is a 'scramble' delay while your aircraft gets airborne, and before it starts moving toward the target. For Interceptors this delay is about 4 minutes after issuing the order to Intercept.

== Interception ==
[[Image:Interception.PNG|300px|right]]
* [[Craft Armaments|Ship weapons]] will fire continuously at set intervals (based on weapon type, weapon speed, current attack mode, and possibly range) at an enemy target as long as it is within maximum firing range (represented by the range bars) - until it runs out of ammo. After one weapon type runs out of ammo, the ship will move to the maximum range of the remaining weapon (if any).

* Multiple ships (up to 4), can join the battle by way of minimising the controls while in stand-off and waiting for extra friendlies to arrive on the scene. This can be key if you only have regular Interceptors when a Terror Ship or Battleship turns up.

* The three different attack modes have various effects. Attack mode affects the distance of the interceptor and the [[UFOs|UFO]], and the closer you are, the faster the combat between UFO and interceptor can become. This means the interceptor and UFO can be exposed to more fire from each other's weapons, possibly at a shorter range, and are possibly engaged by additional (shorter range) weapons. Another effect is that the more aggressive the attack mode, the harder it is for either side to break off, and escape. Note, the selected attack mode for each interceptor controls the exchange of fire between that individual interceptor and the UFO only. Apparently, if you have two ships engaging the UFO at the same time using different attack modes, one on a more cautious mode will give and receive fire at a slower rate than a ship that's on a more Aggressive mode.

* When chasing a ship, if the UFO starts to back off and you minimise the window, you must wait until your interceptor starts to catch up with the UFO before you re-open the intercept window, otherwise the interception will break off and will only start again once the UFO is back in stand-off range. If you let the UFO get away, the interception will halt and will only resume when the ship catches up with the UFO again - the net result is the same. The only difference is that the first method keeps the intercept window open while the other mode exits and then enters the intercept screen. There's no real advantage to this, except perhaps in TFTD when your ships are near the coast.

* When intercepting a UFO, you may want to take care where you actually complete the interception - sometimes you might have little choice, but if you shoot down a UFO over water you will not be able to perform a [[UFO Crash Recovery]] mission later. In addition, shooting down a UFO (and later performing a mission on the crash site) over a sponsor countries airspace will cause increase in XCOM activity for that month (based on the score awarded), which helps keep that country happy and might persuade them to increase their [[Country Funding|funding]] at the end of the month.

* Also be aware when intercepting using Cautious attack that there is a [[Known_Bugs#Interceptions:_Using_Cautious_Attack|bug]] when you fire you final shots that will cause them to always miss. Try to change modes before the last shot ('aggressive' while last missile is en route, 'disengage' after it hits).

* Multiple ships take a UFO down faster, and the UFO splits its fire between all of them that are in range. I.e. fires randomly, making each of your craft more likely to survive longer on average. Try to make it so that all your ships come into firing range at the same time, so you can maximise the advantage of bringing them all together.

===Interception Window===

The Interception Window shows several things. It graphically displays the range, type, and remaining ammunition of the Interceptor's weapons with small brackets, shows shots traveling to each combatant, indicates distance to and relative size of the UFO, and shows the amount of damage that the interception craft has taken so far.

There are several commands available to you in Interception:

*Standoff (Top Left): Aircraft maintains standoff range with UFO (70km). Neither side can shoot due to range. If selected during active combat, the aircraft ceases fire ''immediately'' (regardless of whether any weapons are in range) and attempts to open the range out to stand-off range, and hold there.
*Cautious Attack (Top Right): Interceptor will close to the UFO until it can fire its weapon with the longest range (unless the aircraft carries identical paired weapons, only one weapon will fire.) Should this weapon's ammo be depleted, the Interceptor will then close until the other weapon can be brought to bear. Should the Interceptor be damaged by alien fire, it will retreat back to Standoff range and mode. The UFO has a good chance of successfully fleeing if the interceptor's top speed is lower.
*Standard Attack (Top-middle Left): The interceptor will close with UFO until it can fire both weapons and then maintain that distance. (If paired weapons are carried, this is the same as Cautious) If the interceptor is damaged badly in a single shot, it will retreat back to Standoff range and mode. The UFO has a chance of successfully fleeing if the interceptor's top speed is lower.
*Aggressive Attack (Top-middle Right): Interceptor will attempt to get as close as possible to the UFO, firing both weapons as soon and as often as possible. Interception craft '''will not retreat''' regardless of damage, unless switched to a different combat mode. UFO will have difficulty fleeing combat even if interceptor is slower.
*Disengage (Bottom-middle Right): Interception craft will ''immediately'' cease firing (regardless of whether any weapons are in range), and attempt to open the range beyond Interception range, > 75km. Once out of the Interception window, on the Geoscape the aircraft will disengage the UFO and start returning to base, though it can be ordered to do something else as soon as combat is broken.
*View UFO (Bottom Right): View a side picture of the UFO; the same picture that will appear in the UFOpaedia upon successfully gaining the details of the vessel from an alien Engineer. Can be used to identify targets.
*Minimise Window (Outside Top Left). Returns to the Geoscape view. Used to wait until target is over land, or until the aircraft closes to Intercept range, or to allow other aircraft to join the battle. Can only be activated when at Stand-off range.

===Interception Damage===

Every time the weapon from an interceptor hits, it will deal anywhere from 50% to 100% of the damage rating listed on [[Craft Armaments]].
If a UFO has taken 50% or more of its damage capacity in Interception damage, it will crash-land (assuming it is over land) and X-COM will be credited UFO Grounding points and can later launch a UFO Crash Recovery raid to clean up anything left.
<br>
If the UFO takes 100% or more of its damage capacity without crash landing, the UFO will be destroyed. No crash site will be generated, and X-COM is credited with UFO Destroyed points (which are double the points given for grounding the UFO).
<br>
It should be noted that some UFOs yield enough points in recoverable loot to make it preferable to ground them instead of destroy them). More to the point, UFO Crash Recovery missions yield tactical experience, saleable loot, and researchable items, all of which are essential to winning the game and usually (but not always) more important than scoring points.

==Patrolling==
You can use this command to make ships act as mobile radars, sending them out to areas of suspected alien activity, or just as radar pickets to cover areas distant from your base (similar to an aircraft carrier's Sentry early warning aircraft). Particularly when looking for [[Alien Missions#Alien Bases|Alien Bases]] you will need to patrol a suspect area, but your crafts localised but powerful onboard radars can be useful elsewhere, and means they can be sent after a UFO which has left your tracking radius and should be able to reacquire them if you can anticipate the UFOs movement in the interim. Another potential benefit is that [[Interceptor]]s and [[Skyranger]]s will consume half as much fuel when patrolling than when flying around at top speed. This means they can stay "on station" for twice as long. This can make one or two conventional aircraft useful to have around even in the later game when they are otherwise mostly redundant in their original roles.

UFO Interception

2009-07-25T13:26:25Z

Hajo: /* Interception */

To attempt a '''UFO Interception''' select the global intercept command or click on the base you want the ship to be launched from. The second option only lists the ships at that base, where the general list is good for launching dropships but may be a little too cluttered for launching interceptors once you have a number of them.

While selecting the interceptor's destination, world time is halted. You can continue to scroll the map by way of the controls or the more recommended centre-on-location command (RMB). This is a great way to pause the map in order to survey the globe if there are too many things happening at the same time - and if your [[Geoscape]] time is moving too fast for your liking.

==Movement==
* Elerium-based ships have the highest acceleration and maximum speed but the shortest air time. Conventional aircraft have the longest air time, but are very slow. By virtue of its speed and large fuel capacity, the [[Avenger]] has the longest range overall, about twice that of a [[Skyranger]].

* Your ship autopilot prefers to move along lines of latitude (parallel to the equator) for long-range travel. This is especially noticeable when charting trans-polar routes: the ship will circle around the pole instead of flying straight across it. You can shorten the route taken by directing the ship to several intermediate waypoints along a straight line towards your destination. This way, you can probably squeeze a little more range out of the Lightning, which has very little air-time.

* Note that when you tell your craft to intercept a UFO, they will head directly for it. This is fine when you have plenty of fuel to spare or if it is headed directly towards you. If the UFO is traveling at an oblique angle to your base however, you will find that your craft will follow a roughly parabolic arc in its pursuit, using up more fuel and time than is strictly necessary. It may be worth trying to judge an approximate interception point and sending your craft to that waypoint and then re-targetting as the distance closes.

* With slower conventional aircraft (or faster UFOs), you may end up in a protracted, frustrating tail chase, waiting for the UFO to slow down and/or double back on itself. Even when it does, the poor intercept algorithms (and/or poor acceleration?) of conventional craft mean you will often miss the UFO on the turn.

* While chasing a UFO, it may land. It will stop and turn to a green icon. At that point, if you feel tactically strong enough, launch an immediate UFO Ground Assault mission against the landed UFO. Keep the interceptor stationed above the UFO, in case it moves off. UFO Ground Assaults are harder than Crash Recovery missions, for the simple reason that more aliens are left alive to fight back. However, the rewards are correspondingly greater. An interceptor can do you a better service by tracking a UFO to a landing site, than it can by forcing the UFO to crash, and much less by destroying the UFO (which earns only victory points, no material gains).

* There is a 'scramble' delay while your aircraft gets airborne, and before it starts moving toward the target. For Interceptors this delay is about 4 minutes after issuing the order to Intercept.

== Interception ==
[[Image:Interception.PNG|300px|right]]
* [[Craft Armaments|Ship weapons]] will fire continuously at set intervals (based on weapon type, weapon speed, current attack mode, and possibly range) at an enemy target as long as it is within maximum firing range (represented by the range bars) - until it runs out of ammo. After one weapon type runs out of ammo, the ship will move to the maximum range of the remaining weapon (if any).

* Multiple ships (up to 4), can join the battle by way of minimising the controls while in stand-off and waiting for extra friendlies to arrive on the scene. This can be key if you only have regular Interceptors when a Terror Ship or Battleship turns up.

* The three different attack modes have various effects. Attack mode affects the distance of the interceptor and the [[UFOs|UFO]], and the closer you are, the faster the combat between UFO and interceptor can become. This means the interceptor and UFO can be exposed to more fire from each other's weapons, possibly at a shorter range, and are possibly engaged by additional (shorter range) weapons. Another effect is that the more aggressive the attack mode, the harder it is for either side to break off, and escape. Note, the selected attack mode for each interceptor controls the exchange of fire between that individual interceptor and the UFO only. Apparently, if you have two ships engaging the UFO at the same time using different attack modes, one on a more cautious mode will give and receive fire at a slower rate than a ship that's on a more Aggressive mode.

* When chasing a ship, if the UFO starts to back off and you minimise the window, you must wait until your interceptor starts to catch up with the UFO before you re-open the intercept window, otherwise the interception will break off and will only start again once the UFO is back in stand-off range. If you let the UFO get away, the interception will halt and will only resume when the ship catches up with the UFO again - the net result is the same. The only difference is that the first method keeps the intercept window open while the other mode exits and then enters the intercept screen. There's no real advantage to this, except perhaps in TFTD when your ships are near the coast.

* When intercepting a UFO, you may want to take care where you actually complete the interception - sometimes you might have little choice, but if you shoot down a UFO over water you will not be able to perform a [[UFO Crash Recovery]] mission later. In addition, shooting down a UFO (and later performing a mission on the crash site) over a sponsor countries airspace will cause increase in XCOM activity for that month (based on the score awarded), which helps keep that country happy and might persuade them to increase their [[Country Funding|funding]] at the end of the month.

* Also be aware when intercepting using Cautious attack that there is a [[Known_Bugs#Interceptions:_Using_Cautious_Attack|bug]] when you fire you final shots that will cause them to always miss. Try to change modes before the last shot ('aggressive' while last missile is en route, 'disengage' after it hits).

* Multiple ships take a UFO down faster, and the UFO splits its fire between all of them that are in range. I.e. fires randomly, making each of your craft more likely to survive longer on average. Try to make it so that all your ships come into firing range at the same time, so you can maximise the advantage of bringing them all together.

===Interception Window===

The Interception Window shows several things. It graphically displays the range, type, and remaining ammunition of the Interceptor's weapons with small brackets, shows shots traveling to each combatant, indicates distance to and relative size of the UFO, and shows the amount of damage that the interception craft has taken so far.

There are several commands available to you in Interception:

*Standoff (Top Left): Aircraft maintains standoff range with UFO (70km). Neither side can shoot due to range. If selected during active combat, the aircraft ceases fire ''immediately'' (regardless of whether any weapons are in range) and attempts to open the range out to stand-off range, and hold there.
*Cautious Attack (Top Right): Interceptor will close to the UFO until it can fire its weapon with the longest range (unless the aircraft carries identical paired weapons, only one weapon will fire.) Should this weapon's ammo be depleted, the Interceptor will then close until the other weapon can be brought to bear. Should the Interceptor be damaged by alien fire, it will retreat back to Standoff range and mode. The UFO has a good chance of successfully fleeing if the interceptor's top speed is lower.
*Standard Attack (Top-middle Left): The interceptor will close with UFO until it can fire both weapons and then maintain that distance. (If paired weapons are carried, this is the same as Cautious) If the interceptor is damaged badly in a single shot, it will retreat back to Standoff range and mode. The UFO has a chance of successfully fleeing if the interceptor's top speed is lower.
*Aggressive Attack (Top-middle Right): Interceptor will attempt to get as close as possible to the UFO, firing both weapons as soon and as often as possible. Interception craft '''will not retreat''' regardless of damage, unless switched to a different combat mode. UFO will have difficulty fleeing combat even if interceptor is slower.
*Disengage (Bottom-middle Right): Interception craft will ''immediately'' cease firing (regardless of whether any weapons are in range), and attempt to open the range beyond Interception range, > 75km. Once out of the Interception window, on the Geoscape the aircraft will disengage the UFO and start returning to base, though it can be ordered to do something else as soon as combat is broken.
*View UFO (Bottom Right): View a side picture of the UFO; the same picture that will appear in the UFOpaedia upon successfully gaining the details of the vessel from an alien Engineer. Can be used to identify targets.
*Minimise Window (Outside Top Left). Returns to the Geoscape view. Used to wait until target is over land, or until the aircraft closes to Intercept range, or to allow other aircraft to join the battle. Can only be activated when at Stand-off range.

===Interception Damage===

Every time the weapon from an interceptor hits, it will deal anywhere from 50% to 100% of the damage rating listed on [[Craft Armaments]]. If a UFO has taken 50% or more of its damage capacity in Interception damage, it will crash-land (assuming it is over land) and X-COM will be credited UFO Grounding points and can later launch a UFO Crash Recovery raid to clean up anything left. If the UFO takes 100% or more of its damage capacity without crash landing, the UFO will be destroyed. No crash site will be generated, and X-COM is credited with UFO Destroyed points (which are double the points given for Grounding the UFO. It should be noted that some UFOs yield enough points in recoverable loot to make it preferable to ground them instead of destroy them). More to the point, UFO Crash Recovery missions yield tactical experience, saleable loot, and researchable items, all of which are essential to winning the game and usually (but not always) more important than scoring points.

==Patrolling==
You can use this command to make ships act as mobile radars, sending them out to areas of suspected alien activity, or just as radar pickets to cover areas distant from your base (similar to an aircraft carrier's Sentry early warning aircraft). Particularly when looking for [[Alien Missions#Alien Bases|Alien Bases]] you will need to patrol a suspect area, but your crafts localised but powerful onboard radars can be useful elsewhere, and means they can be sent after a UFO which has left your tracking radius and should be able to reacquire them if you can anticipate the UFOs movement in the interim. Another potential benefit is that [[Interceptor]]s and [[Skyranger]]s will consume half as much fuel when patrolling than when flying around at top speed. This means they can stay "on station" for twice as long. This can make one or two conventional aircraft useful to have around even in the later game when they are otherwise mostly redundant in their original roles.

UFO Interception

2009-07-25T13:16:15Z

Hajo: /* Movement */

To attempt a '''UFO Interception''' select the global intercept command or click on the base you want the ship to be launched from. The second option only lists the ships at that base, where the general list is good for launching dropships but may be a little too cluttered for launching interceptors once you have a number of them.

While selecting the interceptor's destination, world time is halted. You can continue to scroll the map by way of the controls or the more recommended centre-on-location command (RMB). This is a great way to pause the map in order to survey the globe if there are too many things happening at the same time - and if your [[Geoscape]] time is moving too fast for your liking.

==Movement==
* Elerium-based ships have the highest acceleration and maximum speed but the shortest air time. Conventional aircraft have the longest air time, but are very slow. By virtue of its speed and large fuel capacity, the [[Avenger]] has the longest range overall, about twice that of a [[Skyranger]].

* Your ship autopilot prefers to move along lines of latitude (parallel to the equator) for long-range travel. This is especially noticeable when charting trans-polar routes: the ship will circle around the pole instead of flying straight across it. You can shorten the route taken by directing the ship to several intermediate waypoints along a straight line towards your destination. This way, you can probably squeeze a little more range out of the Lightning, which has very little air-time.

* Note that when you tell your craft to intercept a UFO, they will head directly for it. This is fine when you have plenty of fuel to spare or if it is headed directly towards you. If the UFO is traveling at an oblique angle to your base however, you will find that your craft will follow a roughly parabolic arc in its pursuit, using up more fuel and time than is strictly necessary. It may be worth trying to judge an approximate interception point and sending your craft to that waypoint and then re-targetting as the distance closes.

* With slower conventional aircraft (or faster UFOs), you may end up in a protracted, frustrating tail chase, waiting for the UFO to slow down and/or double back on itself. Even when it does, the poor intercept algorithms (and/or poor acceleration?) of conventional craft mean you will often miss the UFO on the turn.

* While chasing a UFO, it may land. It will stop and turn to a green icon. At that point, if you feel tactically strong enough, launch an immediate UFO Ground Assault mission against the landed UFO. Keep the interceptor stationed above the UFO, in case it moves off. UFO Ground Assaults are harder than Crash Recovery missions, for the simple reason that more aliens are left alive to fight back. However, the rewards are correspondingly greater. An interceptor can do you a better service by tracking a UFO to a landing site, than it can by forcing the UFO to crash, and much less by destroying the UFO (which earns only victory points, no material gains).

* There is a 'scramble' delay while your aircraft gets airborne, and before it starts moving toward the target. For Interceptors this delay is about 4 minutes after issuing the order to Intercept.

== Interception ==
[[Image:Interception.PNG|300px|right]]
* [[Craft Armaments|Ship weapons]] will fire continuously at set intervals (based on weapon type,weapon speed, current attack mode, and possibly range) at an enemy target as long as it's within maximum firing range (represented by the range bars) - until it runs out of ammo. After one weapon type runs out of ammo, the ship will move to the maximum range of the remaining weapon (if any).

* Multiple ships (up to 4), can join the battle by way of minimising the controls while in stand-off and waiting for extra friendlies to arrive on the scene. This can be key if you only have regular Interceptors when a Terror Ship or Battleship turns up.

* The three different attack modes have various effects. Attack mode affects the distance of the interceptor and the [[UFOs|UFO]], and the closer you are, the faster the combat between UFO and interceptor can become. This means the interceptor and UFO can be exposed to more fire from each other's weapons, possibly at a shorter range, and are possibly engaged by additional (shorter range) weapons. Another effect is that the more aggressive the attack mode, the harder it is for either side to break off, and escape. Note, the selected attack mode for each interceptor controls the exchange of fire between that individual interceptor and the UFO only. Apparently, if you have two ships engaging the UFO at the same time using different attack modes, one on a more cautious mode will give and receive fire at a slower rate than a ship that's on a more Aggressive mode.

* When chasing a ship, if the UFO starts to back off and you minimise the window, you must wait until your interceptor starts to catch up with the UFO before you re-open the intercept window otherwise the interception will break off and will only start again once the UFO is back in stand-off range. If you let the UFO get away, the interception will halt and will only resume when the ship catches up with the UFO again - the net result is the same. The only difference is that the first method keeps the intercept window open while the other mode exits and then enters the intercept screen. There's no real advantage to this, except perhaps in TFTD when your ships are near the coast.

* When intercepting a UFO, you may want to take care where you actually complete the interception - sometimes you might have little choice, but if you shoot down a UFO over water you will not be able to perform a [[UFO Crash Recovery]] mission later. In addition shooting down a UFO (and later performing a mission on the crash site) over a sponsor countries airspace will cause increase in XCOM activity for that month (based on the score awarded), which helps keep that country happy and might persuade them to increase their [[Country Funding|funding]] at the end of the month.

* Also be aware when intercepting using Cautious attack that there is a [[Known_Bugs#Interceptions:_Using_Cautious_Attack|bug]] when you fire you final shots that will cause them to always miss. Try to change modes before the last shot.

* Multiple ships take a UFO down faster, and the UFO splits its fire between all of them that are in range in turn, randomly, making each of your craft more likely to survive longer on average. Try to make it so that all your ships come into firing range at the same time so you can maximise the advantage of bringing them all together.

===Interception Window===

The Interception Window shows several things. It graphically displays the range, type, and remaining ammunition of the Interceptor's weapons with small brackets, shows shots traveling to each combatant, indicates distance to and relative size of the UFO, and shows the amount of damage that the interception craft has taken so far.

There are several commands available to you in Interception.

*Standoff (Top Left): Aircraft maintains standoff range with UFO (70km). Neither side can shoot due to range. If selected during active combat, the aircraft ceases fire ''immediately'' (regardless of whether any weapons are in range) and attempts to open the range out to stand-off range, and hold there.
*Cautious Attack (Top Right): Interceptor will close to the UFO until it can fire its weapon with the longest range (unless the aircraft carries identical paired weapons, only one weapon will fire.) Should this weapon's ammo be depleted, the Interceptor will then close until the other weapon can be brought to bear. Should the Interceptor be damaged by alien fire, it will retreat back to Standoff range and mode. The UFO has a good chance of successfully fleeing if the interceptor's top speed is lower.
*Standard Attack (Top-middle Left): The interceptor will close with UFO until it can fire both weapons and then maintain that distance. (If paired weapons are carried, this is the same as Cautious) If the interceptor is damaged badly in a single shot, it will retreat back to Standoff range and mode. The UFO has a chance of successfully fleeing if the interceptor's top speed is lower.
*Aggressive Attack (Top-middle Right): Interceptor will attempt to get as close as possible to the UFO, firing both weapons as soon and as often as possible. Interception craft '''will not retreat''' regardless of damage, unless switched to a different combat mode. UFO will have difficulty fleeing combat even if interceptor is slower.
*Disengage (Bottom-middle Right): Interception craft will ''immediately'' cease firing (regardless of whether any weapons are in range), and attempt to open the range beyond Interception range, > 75km. Once out of the Interception window, on the Geoscape the aircraft will disengage the UFO and start returning to base, though it can be ordered to do something else as soon as combat is broken.
*View UFO (Bottom Right): View a side picture of the UFO; the same picture that will appear in the UFOpaedia upon successfully gaining the details of the vessel from an alien Engineer. Can be used to identify targets.
*Minimise Window (Outside Top Left). Returns to the Geoscape view. Used to wait until target is over land, or until the aircraft closes to Intercept range, or to allow other aircraft to join the battle. Can only be activated when at Stand-off range.

===Interception Damage===

Every time the weapon from an interceptor hits, it will deal anywhere from 50% to 100% of the damage rating listed on [[Craft Armaments]]. If a UFO has taken 50% or more of its damage capacity in Interception damage, it will crash-land (assuming it is over land) and X-COM will be credited UFO Grounding points and can later launch a UFO Crash Recovery raid to clean up anything left. If the UFO takes 100% or more of its damage capacity without crash landing, the UFO will be destroyed. No crash site will be generated, and X-COM is credited with UFO Destroyed points (which are double the points given for Grounding the UFO. It should be noted that some UFOs yield enough points in recoverable loot to make it preferable to ground them instead of destroy them). More to the point, UFO Crash Recovery missions yield tactical experience, saleable loot, and researchable items, all of which are essential to winning the game and usually (but not always) more important than scoring points.

==Patrolling==
You can use this command to make ships act as mobile radars, sending them out to areas of suspected alien activity, or just as radar pickets to cover areas distant from your base (similar to an aircraft carrier's Sentry early warning aircraft). Particularly when looking for [[Alien Missions#Alien Bases|Alien Bases]] you will need to patrol a suspect area, but your crafts localised but powerful onboard radars can be useful elsewhere, and means they can be sent after a UFO which has left your tracking radius and should be able to reacquire them if you can anticipate the UFOs movement in the interim. Another potential benefit is that [[Interceptor]]s and [[Skyranger]]s will consume half as much fuel when patrolling than when flying around at top speed. This means they can stay "on station" for twice as long. This can make one or two conventional aircraft useful to have around even in the later game when they are otherwise mostly redundant in their original roles.

Known Bugs

2009-07-25T13:00:46Z

Hajo: /* Game Destroying Bugs */

== Game Destroying Bugs ==

These are the list of the worst bugs of them all, because they can render your entire game unplayable. Until a fix/ workaround is found, these bugs result in your entire X-com campaign being scuttled:
* [[Minimized interceptor bug]]
* [[Big text bug]]

== Base Construction Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

===Displayed Base Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right monthly fees for base modules, the maintenance fee displayed ''in the base info screen'' is always wrong. The displayed number is actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. However, at the end of the month, the right fee is deducted. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Displayed_Base_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct maintenance summary ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also see the next section.

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

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

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

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

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

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

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

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

==Geoscape Bugs==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
If you move a tank off a northward facing ledge, the rest of the tank will sink into a wall (if there is one), and cause the tank to get stuck. This won't happen if the tank moves off a south facing ledge as the primary quarter will fall after the rest of the tank. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

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

===Unconscious Units are items===
This is actually an intentional programming choice... but it leads to several consequences which are bugs.

Firstly, any unconscious unit can be killed instantly by even a weak explosion, like being nearby an exploding AC-HE shell... even a Muton with 125 Health or an X-com agent in Flying Armor whose high armor ratings normally make him immune to AC-HE damage.
Secondly, no experience is gained for killing enemies in this manner.

You can prevent an unconscious unit's death from an explosion by picking it up... if a blaster bomb strikes the carrier and kills him, the unconscious unit will safely fall to the floor, unharmed.

Unlike a conscious unit (not wearing x-com armor), an unconscious unit can laze about in the middle of a fire without taking damage, since a UNIT standing in fire takes damage, but an unconscious unit is an item, which all ignore fire.

Forcing an MCed alien to pick up an unconscious X-com agent and carry him in it's right hand can cause weird things to occur when you release the mind control. I think the game might crash when the alien tries to shove the agent into it's magic pocket.

If a non-flying unconscious unit wakes up while being carried by a flying unit, it will gain some sort of temporary hover ability. (I once placed an unconscious Chryssalid in my flying agent's backpack. A few turns later, some growls and screams were heard from overhead.)

Save space! Each conscious unit takes up 1 tile (4 tiles for large units). An unconscious unit does not use up the tile... this might conceivably be useful if you wanted to abort a mission, but several panicked units were preventing other agents from boarding the skyranger...
X-com agents refuse to ride piggyback or be picked up while conscious. So, if you want a non-flying unit to reach an 2nd floor place with no stairs or elevator, you will have to knock him out, then either throw him up, or have a flying unit pick him up and drop him... and presumably administer stimulant.

This also leads to the INVISIBLE UNIT glitch. Frequently happens during Base Defence missions, since the item table is usually maxed out. Basically, the item table is so full that killed units do not leave corpses. However, this also means that unconscious units do not turn into the Unconscious Unit item. The KOed unit will disappear from sight, but will still be visible as a red number and as a blue/yellow dot on overhead map. Since the unit is still a unit and not an item, you will be able to shoot it with projectile weapons and kill it. ALSO, this method enables you to raise any unit's stun bar all the way to 255, since you can still increase the stun meter, despite them already being unconscious.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an [[Incendiary]] explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will do a small amount of damage to it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground.

Similarly, if a unit (friendly units only) is standing in smoke when an incendiary explodes, it will take stun damage. This makes the combination of incendiary munitions and smoke quite hazardous until such time as all troops are armored.

There is a [[Talk:Incendiary#Incendiary_Bug|working hypothesis]] for the cause of this bug, which is that each and every Incendiary explosion triggers "end of turn processing" for Smoke and Fire - including fire damage, stun damage from smoke, fire spreading checks, and possibly "catch on fire" checks for units in fire.

Note that X-Com units wearing any kind of armor are immune to fire damage and IC-induced stun damage. Xcom HWPs are immune to stun, but take 40% damage from Incendiaries and WILL get killed quite efficiently by funky fire.

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

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

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

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

===Blaster Launcher Dud Shells Bug===

Shots which have only one waypoint, or explode before reaching their first waypoint, leave the Blaster Launcher showing 0 rounds, but still containing a dud shell which must be unloaded before the launcher can be reloaded. On earlier versions of the game (pre-Win CE) this also happens with reaction fire, and with 1-waypoint shots that fly off the map.

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

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

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

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

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

Primed grenades will not explode when it's in your inventory when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the grenade will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member. It could also be used against Chryssalids:
* Soldier is turned into a Zombie.
* Equipment is dropped to the ground.
* First grenade goes off, killing the Zombie (and the offending Chryssalid, if it's still around).
* Second grenade goes off, killing the newly hatched Chryssalid. (<i>Zaimoni: assuming the second grenade is <b>around</b> to explode. Reportedly works better in TFTD.</i>)

So when you enter an area with high risk of Chryssalid attacks (terror site or Terror ship/Battleship crash site), have every soldier arm a grenade which serves as a dead man's switch to eliminate Chryssalids. You lose a soldier or two, but the aliens don't gain anything and there's one less candidate for zombification (and, if you are lucky, one less Chryssalid if it was around the victim when the grenades exploded).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

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

===Base Defense Elerium bug===

On DOS versions of UFO Defense, Elerium pods may spawn as items from the base stockpile during a Base Defense bug. Each pod represents 50 units of Elerium and will be normally collected after the mission, same as any other item such as Heavy Lasers or Blaster Bombs. HOWEVER. The program will potentially generate 1 elerium POD for every 1 UNIT of elerium in your inventory. Thus, if you had only 10 lasers and 50 Elerium listed in your Sell screen, you would see 10 lasers and 50 Elerium Crystals in your Soldier Equip Screen, which would translate to 50 Elerium pods and 10 lasers scattered around your base. This equals 2500 Elerium, BTW. You basically have the potential to multiply your elerium stocks by 50 times.

===Berserk HWP crashes the game===

Admittedly, this is unlikely to arise under normal play. But, anyhow, your HWPs can only lose morale by killing friendly units. Not much for each unit killed, either. Anyhow, a berserk HWP will crash the game. (except for the Hovertank/Launcher, which does not fire when it goes berserk.)
Likewise, if you MC a cyberdisc or Sectopod and have it kills lots of aliens, it'll go berserk and crash the game. The error happens because of an oversight from the developers: the built-in weapons of HWP are handled differently from handed weapons, no OBDATA.DAT entries exist for them. The berserk code will try to access the nonexistent entry, resulting in a crash. The Celatid has yet to be tested.

===Limited Unit Slots - Battlescape Crash===

This tends to arise during Base Defence Missions. The game is was designed to be limited to 40 soldiers/hovertanks and XXXX aliens for a total of XXXX . Having a full complement of soldiers during a Superhuman difficulty base defence will max out these limits. Thus when either side starts playing around with mind control too much, something goes wrong causing the entire game to crash.
It might also be something to do with maximum items on the battlescape.
In any case, the workaround seems to be killing aliens and destroying items on the battlescape... doesn't always work, but it seems to help.
You might want to make several in-battle saves for these situations, even if you normally play Ironman mode.

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===

'''WARNING:''' When examining an Alien's inventory (via an Exploit), you will see that sometimes the alien will stack multiple items of equipment on the same slot - its right leg. It's not always obvious that there are multiple objects in the slot until you 'pick up' the first object and can see other objects still in the slot.
Before you remove an item from the Alien's right leg, make sure you have enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will likely have to force a quit and cannot save your game. It '''may''' be possible to move the item to the left leg slot for 0 TUs, '''if''' the item will fit in that slot. If not, you will have to terminate the game. (Press ALT-TAB to get to any other window, then CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up Task Manager, and then terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== XComUtil Inventory Stacking Bug ===

A problem similar to the Alien Inventory Stacking Bug can also occur for X-COM Soldiers, when using XComUtil. The algorithm used to assign weapons in XComUtil MUST assign all weapons to troops, so if there are more weapons than soldiers, excess weapons are stacked onto the leg slot of the first soldier in the dropship. This was a deliberate choice by Scott Jones to make this encumbrance obvious to the player. This can be readily corrected in the "equip soldiers" screen before a mission. Else, see "Alien Inventory Bug", above.

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

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
If one of your soldiers is carrying an unconscious unit in their hands and the unit either wakes up from stun or dies, they will be removed from the Inventory display, but will still appear to be in the carrying soldier's hands in the Battlescape. Clicking on the phantom body in the Battlescape will crash the game!
This error can be easily cleared by switching to the Inventory screen and moving another item into the hand that used to be carrying the body. Even swapping the gun to the other hand will do. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

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

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

===Weightless Loaded Ammo===

Ammo that is already loaded into a weapon at the start of a mission does not count towards a soldier's Encumbrance. If the weapon is subsequently unloaded and reloaded during the mission, the soldiers encumbrance will increase. This would only be noticed if the unloaded clip was not discarded (e.g. because it was not fully empty). This is due to a bug in the game's weight calculation routine that was uncovered (but not caused) by Seb76's inventory screen improvements.

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

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

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

===Transfer Limit cash eater===
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft. The extra cost isn't that bad. Recovering just one alien weapon will likely cover the money you will lose to this bug over the course of a game.

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

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

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

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

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

===Exceeding Storage Limits===

The storage capacity of a base is normally limited by the capacity of the General Stores. However this can be exceeded in a number of ways:

* By exploiting some of the Base Storage Anomalies (see below)
* By storing surplus equipment in transport aircraft (up to the 80 item limit). Note that if both the aircraft and the base are full, you can no longer move equipment between the aircraft and base (in either direction).
* Anything manufactured at the base will be stored there regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.
* Anything captured on a mission by an aircraft operating from the base will be stored at the base, regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.

These could perhaps be considered minor exploits.

===Base Storage Anomalies===

There are some quirks in how the game calculates, and displays, base storage capacity used and available. These quirks are not all consistent with each other, which leads to some strange behaviour. A typical example would be moving a set of items out of Stores, immediately trying to put the exact same set of items back into Stores, and this failing due to "insufficient space". A more detailed discussion is in [[Talk:Base Stores#Base Stores Anomalies]].

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

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

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

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

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

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 255 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

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

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

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

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

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

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

=== Research Rollover ===

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

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

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

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

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

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.
*NEVER sell all of your Sonic Pistol Clips before researching it first. If you were to research the Sonic Pistol, the aliens immediately stop using that weapon (and thus, clip) so you will be unable to continue in the Sonic line of research.
Any of the above (other than the MC reader) would make it impossible to finish the game.

=== Overcrowded Engineers And Scientists ===
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 257th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them.
This bug also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

If you hire exactly 256 scientists or engineers, the total rolls over to zero. You pay zero salaries, and the resulting free Manufacturing / Research is limited only by the capacity of your Factories / Laboratories. Also works in TFTD.
<br>
NOTE: you need to make sure that not all of their projects finish at the same time.
Otherwise, you would be stuck with 0 'available' workers/scientists, i.e. unable to assign them to a new project.

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

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

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

===Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug===

If you start a new manufacturing project at 00:01, and the screen displays a completion time of 5 hours, you might expect the work to complete at 05:00 or 05:01. In fact it will complete at 06:00, one hour longer than indicated.

The reason for this bug is that the time left to complete a project is decremented by the game by one hour, every hour, on the hour(XX:00).

This display behaviour is consistent with what is shown while manufacturing is in progress. For example, if time remaining is shown as 0 hours, the work will complete at the beginning of the ''next'' hour. In effect, the displayed number is the integer-truncated form of the real time remaining. In the first example given above, the real time to completion is 5 hrs 59 min, misleadingly truncated to 5 hrs.

===Manufacturing Rate Interruption Loss===

In addition, as a result of integer truncation (see previous bug, Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug), every time production stops, you lose an hour of manufacturing. Therefore, for most efficient production, manufacture in large batches (or increase batches while they are still in progress) to keep manufacturing as continuous as possible.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit===

There is a maximum production rate of one unit of any given type per hour per base. For example, though Alien Alloys / Aqua Plastics require 100 Engineer/Technician Hours per unit, even with 250 Engineers/Technicians you can only produce 1 unit per hour.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit Bug (TFTD)===

In UFO Enemy Unknown, the Manufacturing Rate Limit is just an irritant. The game prevents you from allocating more Engineers than is useful. In Terror From The Deep, there is no such safeguard. If you allocate more Technicians than are required to produce 1 unit per hour, the excess effort is just silently wasted. The unproductive Technicians are no doubt wasting their time playing retro computer games on their engineering workstations.

===HWP Fusion Bomb Ammo Cost Bug===

The HWP Fusion Bomb ammunition type, and its TFTD equivalent the ammunition for the SWS PWT/Displacer, appear to have the wrong manufacturing costs.
The vehicle version is ''less'' portable and ''less'' powerful than the personal version (Blaster Bomb), ''less'' capable than the craft version (Fusion Bomb) - and costs ''more'' than either of the others in total cash and in materials. In particular, it makes no sense that the small missiles on the HWP/SWS use up ''more'' of both Elerium/Zrbite and Alien Alloys/Aqua Plastics than the Craft version.

To correct this error, the craft round should have the higher base price, ''and'' the material requirements that are currently assigned to the SWS/HWP round. (It's debatable whether the SWS/HWP rounds should be more expensive than the man-carried rounds.) More discussion is on the talk page of this article.

== Other Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

Some things which will tend to cause this problem:
* Overzealous use of Psi

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS/4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[http://syndicate.lubie.org/synd/html/synd_patches.php One of these], for example. Link to Syndicate fansite, instructions included.

=== Cash Rollover Bug ===

When your cash balance goes over $2,147,483,647, it will rollover and become $-2,147,483,647. Which means your game is done for, unless you use an editor. Fortunately, by the time you accumulate this much cash, you have usually completed all necessary research to win the game.

=== UFOPaedia Craft Weapon Hit Probability Bug ===

There is a bug in the in-game UFOPaedia. It mistakenly reads the damage value field when reporting the hit chance for a craft weapon. Hence:

* Cannon shows 10% not 25%
* Avalanche shows 100% not 80%
* Laser Cannon shows 70% not 35%
* Plasma Beam shows 140% not 50%
* Fusion Ball shows 230% (!!!) not 100%

Possibly the reason this bug was missed during testing is that the first weapon in the data files, Stingray, actually does have Damage equal to its hit probability.

== See Also ==

=== [[Known Bugs (TFTD)]] ===
For bugs that '''only''' affect X-COM: Terror From The Deep.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Known Bugs

2009-07-25T12:59:43Z

Hajo: /* Game Destroying Bugs */ list-ified

== Game Destroying Bugs ==

These are the list of the worst bugs of them all, because they can render your entire game unplayable. Until a fix/ workaround is found, these bugs result in your entire X-com campaign being scuttled:
<li>[[Minimized interceptor bug]]</li>
<li>[[Big text bug]]</li>

== Base Construction Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

===Displayed Base Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right monthly fees for base modules, the maintenance fee displayed ''in the base info screen'' is always wrong. The displayed number is actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. However, at the end of the month, the right fee is deducted. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Displayed_Base_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct maintenance summary ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also see the next section.

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

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

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

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

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

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

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

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

==Geoscape Bugs==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
If you move a tank off a northward facing ledge, the rest of the tank will sink into a wall (if there is one), and cause the tank to get stuck. This won't happen if the tank moves off a south facing ledge as the primary quarter will fall after the rest of the tank. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

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

===Unconscious Units are items===
This is actually an intentional programming choice... but it leads to several consequences which are bugs.

Firstly, any unconscious unit can be killed instantly by even a weak explosion, like being nearby an exploding AC-HE shell... even a Muton with 125 Health or an X-com agent in Flying Armor whose high armor ratings normally make him immune to AC-HE damage.
Secondly, no experience is gained for killing enemies in this manner.

You can prevent an unconscious unit's death from an explosion by picking it up... if a blaster bomb strikes the carrier and kills him, the unconscious unit will safely fall to the floor, unharmed.

Unlike a conscious unit (not wearing x-com armor), an unconscious unit can laze about in the middle of a fire without taking damage, since a UNIT standing in fire takes damage, but an unconscious unit is an item, which all ignore fire.

Forcing an MCed alien to pick up an unconscious X-com agent and carry him in it's right hand can cause weird things to occur when you release the mind control. I think the game might crash when the alien tries to shove the agent into it's magic pocket.

If a non-flying unconscious unit wakes up while being carried by a flying unit, it will gain some sort of temporary hover ability. (I once placed an unconscious Chryssalid in my flying agent's backpack. A few turns later, some growls and screams were heard from overhead.)

Save space! Each conscious unit takes up 1 tile (4 tiles for large units). An unconscious unit does not use up the tile... this might conceivably be useful if you wanted to abort a mission, but several panicked units were preventing other agents from boarding the skyranger...
X-com agents refuse to ride piggyback or be picked up while conscious. So, if you want a non-flying unit to reach an 2nd floor place with no stairs or elevator, you will have to knock him out, then either throw him up, or have a flying unit pick him up and drop him... and presumably administer stimulant.

This also leads to the INVISIBLE UNIT glitch. Frequently happens during Base Defence missions, since the item table is usually maxed out. Basically, the item table is so full that killed units do not leave corpses. However, this also means that unconscious units do not turn into the Unconscious Unit item. The KOed unit will disappear from sight, but will still be visible as a red number and as a blue/yellow dot on overhead map. Since the unit is still a unit and not an item, you will be able to shoot it with projectile weapons and kill it. ALSO, this method enables you to raise any unit's stun bar all the way to 255, since you can still increase the stun meter, despite them already being unconscious.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an [[Incendiary]] explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will do a small amount of damage to it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground.

Similarly, if a unit (friendly units only) is standing in smoke when an incendiary explodes, it will take stun damage. This makes the combination of incendiary munitions and smoke quite hazardous until such time as all troops are armored.

There is a [[Talk:Incendiary#Incendiary_Bug|working hypothesis]] for the cause of this bug, which is that each and every Incendiary explosion triggers "end of turn processing" for Smoke and Fire - including fire damage, stun damage from smoke, fire spreading checks, and possibly "catch on fire" checks for units in fire.

Note that X-Com units wearing any kind of armor are immune to fire damage and IC-induced stun damage. Xcom HWPs are immune to stun, but take 40% damage from Incendiaries and WILL get killed quite efficiently by funky fire.

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

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

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

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

===Blaster Launcher Dud Shells Bug===

Shots which have only one waypoint, or explode before reaching their first waypoint, leave the Blaster Launcher showing 0 rounds, but still containing a dud shell which must be unloaded before the launcher can be reloaded. On earlier versions of the game (pre-Win CE) this also happens with reaction fire, and with 1-waypoint shots that fly off the map.

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

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

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

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

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

Primed grenades will not explode when it's in your inventory when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the grenade will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member. It could also be used against Chryssalids:
* Soldier is turned into a Zombie.
* Equipment is dropped to the ground.
* First grenade goes off, killing the Zombie (and the offending Chryssalid, if it's still around).
* Second grenade goes off, killing the newly hatched Chryssalid. (<i>Zaimoni: assuming the second grenade is <b>around</b> to explode. Reportedly works better in TFTD.</i>)

So when you enter an area with high risk of Chryssalid attacks (terror site or Terror ship/Battleship crash site), have every soldier arm a grenade which serves as a dead man's switch to eliminate Chryssalids. You lose a soldier or two, but the aliens don't gain anything and there's one less candidate for zombification (and, if you are lucky, one less Chryssalid if it was around the victim when the grenades exploded).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

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

===Base Defense Elerium bug===

On DOS versions of UFO Defense, Elerium pods may spawn as items from the base stockpile during a Base Defense bug. Each pod represents 50 units of Elerium and will be normally collected after the mission, same as any other item such as Heavy Lasers or Blaster Bombs. HOWEVER. The program will potentially generate 1 elerium POD for every 1 UNIT of elerium in your inventory. Thus, if you had only 10 lasers and 50 Elerium listed in your Sell screen, you would see 10 lasers and 50 Elerium Crystals in your Soldier Equip Screen, which would translate to 50 Elerium pods and 10 lasers scattered around your base. This equals 2500 Elerium, BTW. You basically have the potential to multiply your elerium stocks by 50 times.

===Berserk HWP crashes the game===

Admittedly, this is unlikely to arise under normal play. But, anyhow, your HWPs can only lose morale by killing friendly units. Not much for each unit killed, either. Anyhow, a berserk HWP will crash the game. (except for the Hovertank/Launcher, which does not fire when it goes berserk.)
Likewise, if you MC a cyberdisc or Sectopod and have it kills lots of aliens, it'll go berserk and crash the game. The error happens because of an oversight from the developers: the built-in weapons of HWP are handled differently from handed weapons, no OBDATA.DAT entries exist for them. The berserk code will try to access the nonexistent entry, resulting in a crash. The Celatid has yet to be tested.

===Limited Unit Slots - Battlescape Crash===

This tends to arise during Base Defence Missions. The game is was designed to be limited to 40 soldiers/hovertanks and XXXX aliens for a total of XXXX . Having a full complement of soldiers during a Superhuman difficulty base defence will max out these limits. Thus when either side starts playing around with mind control too much, something goes wrong causing the entire game to crash.
It might also be something to do with maximum items on the battlescape.
In any case, the workaround seems to be killing aliens and destroying items on the battlescape... doesn't always work, but it seems to help.
You might want to make several in-battle saves for these situations, even if you normally play Ironman mode.

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===

'''WARNING:''' When examining an Alien's inventory (via an Exploit), you will see that sometimes the alien will stack multiple items of equipment on the same slot - its right leg. It's not always obvious that there are multiple objects in the slot until you 'pick up' the first object and can see other objects still in the slot.
Before you remove an item from the Alien's right leg, make sure you have enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will likely have to force a quit and cannot save your game. It '''may''' be possible to move the item to the left leg slot for 0 TUs, '''if''' the item will fit in that slot. If not, you will have to terminate the game. (Press ALT-TAB to get to any other window, then CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up Task Manager, and then terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== XComUtil Inventory Stacking Bug ===

A problem similar to the Alien Inventory Stacking Bug can also occur for X-COM Soldiers, when using XComUtil. The algorithm used to assign weapons in XComUtil MUST assign all weapons to troops, so if there are more weapons than soldiers, excess weapons are stacked onto the leg slot of the first soldier in the dropship. This was a deliberate choice by Scott Jones to make this encumbrance obvious to the player. This can be readily corrected in the "equip soldiers" screen before a mission. Else, see "Alien Inventory Bug", above.

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

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
If one of your soldiers is carrying an unconscious unit in their hands and the unit either wakes up from stun or dies, they will be removed from the Inventory display, but will still appear to be in the carrying soldier's hands in the Battlescape. Clicking on the phantom body in the Battlescape will crash the game!
This error can be easily cleared by switching to the Inventory screen and moving another item into the hand that used to be carrying the body. Even swapping the gun to the other hand will do. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

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

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

===Weightless Loaded Ammo===

Ammo that is already loaded into a weapon at the start of a mission does not count towards a soldier's Encumbrance. If the weapon is subsequently unloaded and reloaded during the mission, the soldiers encumbrance will increase. This would only be noticed if the unloaded clip was not discarded (e.g. because it was not fully empty). This is due to a bug in the game's weight calculation routine that was uncovered (but not caused) by Seb76's inventory screen improvements.

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

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

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

===Transfer Limit cash eater===
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft. The extra cost isn't that bad. Recovering just one alien weapon will likely cover the money you will lose to this bug over the course of a game.

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

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

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

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

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

===Exceeding Storage Limits===

The storage capacity of a base is normally limited by the capacity of the General Stores. However this can be exceeded in a number of ways:

* By exploiting some of the Base Storage Anomalies (see below)
* By storing surplus equipment in transport aircraft (up to the 80 item limit). Note that if both the aircraft and the base are full, you can no longer move equipment between the aircraft and base (in either direction).
* Anything manufactured at the base will be stored there regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.
* Anything captured on a mission by an aircraft operating from the base will be stored at the base, regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.

These could perhaps be considered minor exploits.

===Base Storage Anomalies===

There are some quirks in how the game calculates, and displays, base storage capacity used and available. These quirks are not all consistent with each other, which leads to some strange behaviour. A typical example would be moving a set of items out of Stores, immediately trying to put the exact same set of items back into Stores, and this failing due to "insufficient space". A more detailed discussion is in [[Talk:Base Stores#Base Stores Anomalies]].

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

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

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

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

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

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 255 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

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

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

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

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

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

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

=== Research Rollover ===

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

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

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

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

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

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.
*NEVER sell all of your Sonic Pistol Clips before researching it first. If you were to research the Sonic Pistol, the aliens immediately stop using that weapon (and thus, clip) so you will be unable to continue in the Sonic line of research.
Any of the above (other than the MC reader) would make it impossible to finish the game.

=== Overcrowded Engineers And Scientists ===
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 257th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them.
This bug also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

If you hire exactly 256 scientists or engineers, the total rolls over to zero. You pay zero salaries, and the resulting free Manufacturing / Research is limited only by the capacity of your Factories / Laboratories. Also works in TFTD.
<br>
NOTE: you need to make sure that not all of their projects finish at the same time.
Otherwise, you would be stuck with 0 'available' workers/scientists, i.e. unable to assign them to a new project.

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

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

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

===Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug===

If you start a new manufacturing project at 00:01, and the screen displays a completion time of 5 hours, you might expect the work to complete at 05:00 or 05:01. In fact it will complete at 06:00, one hour longer than indicated.

The reason for this bug is that the time left to complete a project is decremented by the game by one hour, every hour, on the hour(XX:00).

This display behaviour is consistent with what is shown while manufacturing is in progress. For example, if time remaining is shown as 0 hours, the work will complete at the beginning of the ''next'' hour. In effect, the displayed number is the integer-truncated form of the real time remaining. In the first example given above, the real time to completion is 5 hrs 59 min, misleadingly truncated to 5 hrs.

===Manufacturing Rate Interruption Loss===

In addition, as a result of integer truncation (see previous bug, Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug), every time production stops, you lose an hour of manufacturing. Therefore, for most efficient production, manufacture in large batches (or increase batches while they are still in progress) to keep manufacturing as continuous as possible.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit===

There is a maximum production rate of one unit of any given type per hour per base. For example, though Alien Alloys / Aqua Plastics require 100 Engineer/Technician Hours per unit, even with 250 Engineers/Technicians you can only produce 1 unit per hour.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit Bug (TFTD)===

In UFO Enemy Unknown, the Manufacturing Rate Limit is just an irritant. The game prevents you from allocating more Engineers than is useful. In Terror From The Deep, there is no such safeguard. If you allocate more Technicians than are required to produce 1 unit per hour, the excess effort is just silently wasted. The unproductive Technicians are no doubt wasting their time playing retro computer games on their engineering workstations.

===HWP Fusion Bomb Ammo Cost Bug===

The HWP Fusion Bomb ammunition type, and its TFTD equivalent the ammunition for the SWS PWT/Displacer, appear to have the wrong manufacturing costs.
The vehicle version is ''less'' portable and ''less'' powerful than the personal version (Blaster Bomb), ''less'' capable than the craft version (Fusion Bomb) - and costs ''more'' than either of the others in total cash and in materials. In particular, it makes no sense that the small missiles on the HWP/SWS use up ''more'' of both Elerium/Zrbite and Alien Alloys/Aqua Plastics than the Craft version.

To correct this error, the craft round should have the higher base price, ''and'' the material requirements that are currently assigned to the SWS/HWP round. (It's debatable whether the SWS/HWP rounds should be more expensive than the man-carried rounds.) More discussion is on the talk page of this article.

== Other Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

Some things which will tend to cause this problem:
* Overzealous use of Psi

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS/4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[http://syndicate.lubie.org/synd/html/synd_patches.php One of these], for example. Link to Syndicate fansite, instructions included.

=== Cash Rollover Bug ===

When your cash balance goes over $2,147,483,647, it will rollover and become $-2,147,483,647. Which means your game is done for, unless you use an editor. Fortunately, by the time you accumulate this much cash, you have usually completed all necessary research to win the game.

=== UFOPaedia Craft Weapon Hit Probability Bug ===

There is a bug in the in-game UFOPaedia. It mistakenly reads the damage value field when reporting the hit chance for a craft weapon. Hence:

* Cannon shows 10% not 25%
* Avalanche shows 100% not 80%
* Laser Cannon shows 70% not 35%
* Plasma Beam shows 140% not 50%
* Fusion Ball shows 230% (!!!) not 100%

Possibly the reason this bug was missed during testing is that the first weapon in the data files, Stingray, actually does have Damage equal to its hit probability.

== See Also ==

=== [[Known Bugs (TFTD)]] ===
For bugs that '''only''' affect X-COM: Terror From The Deep.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Known Bugs

2009-07-25T12:51:29Z

Hajo: /* Overcrowded Engineers And Scientists */ Avoid finishing all projects

== Game Destroying Bugs ==

These are the list of the worst bugs of them all, because they can render your entire game unplayable. Until a fix/ workaround is found, these bugs result in your entire X-com campaign being scuttled:

[[Minimized interceptor bug]]
[[Big text bug]]

== Base Construction Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

===Displayed Base Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right monthly fees for base modules, the maintenance fee displayed ''in the base info screen'' is always wrong. The displayed number is actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. However, at the end of the month, the right fee is deducted. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Displayed_Base_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct maintenance summary ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also see the next section.

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

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

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

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

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

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

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

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

==Geoscape Bugs==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
If you move a tank off a northward facing ledge, the rest of the tank will sink into a wall (if there is one), and cause the tank to get stuck. This won't happen if the tank moves off a south facing ledge as the primary quarter will fall after the rest of the tank. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

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

===Unconscious Units are items===
This is actually an intentional programming choice... but it leads to several consequences which are bugs.

Firstly, any unconscious unit can be killed instantly by even a weak explosion, like being nearby an exploding AC-HE shell... even a Muton with 125 Health or an X-com agent in Flying Armor whose high armor ratings normally make him immune to AC-HE damage.
Secondly, no experience is gained for killing enemies in this manner.

You can prevent an unconscious unit's death from an explosion by picking it up... if a blaster bomb strikes the carrier and kills him, the unconscious unit will safely fall to the floor, unharmed.

Unlike a conscious unit (not wearing x-com armor), an unconscious unit can laze about in the middle of a fire without taking damage, since a UNIT standing in fire takes damage, but an unconscious unit is an item, which all ignore fire.

Forcing an MCed alien to pick up an unconscious X-com agent and carry him in it's right hand can cause weird things to occur when you release the mind control. I think the game might crash when the alien tries to shove the agent into it's magic pocket.

If a non-flying unconscious unit wakes up while being carried by a flying unit, it will gain some sort of temporary hover ability. (I once placed an unconscious Chryssalid in my flying agent's backpack. A few turns later, some growls and screams were heard from overhead.)

Save space! Each conscious unit takes up 1 tile (4 tiles for large units). An unconscious unit does not use up the tile... this might conceivably be useful if you wanted to abort a mission, but several panicked units were preventing other agents from boarding the skyranger...
X-com agents refuse to ride piggyback or be picked up while conscious. So, if you want a non-flying unit to reach an 2nd floor place with no stairs or elevator, you will have to knock him out, then either throw him up, or have a flying unit pick him up and drop him... and presumably administer stimulant.

This also leads to the INVISIBLE UNIT glitch. Frequently happens during Base Defence missions, since the item table is usually maxed out. Basically, the item table is so full that killed units do not leave corpses. However, this also means that unconscious units do not turn into the Unconscious Unit item. The KOed unit will disappear from sight, but will still be visible as a red number and as a blue/yellow dot on overhead map. Since the unit is still a unit and not an item, you will be able to shoot it with projectile weapons and kill it. ALSO, this method enables you to raise any unit's stun bar all the way to 255, since you can still increase the stun meter, despite them already being unconscious.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an [[Incendiary]] explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will do a small amount of damage to it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground.

Similarly, if a unit (friendly units only) is standing in smoke when an incendiary explodes, it will take stun damage. This makes the combination of incendiary munitions and smoke quite hazardous until such time as all troops are armored.

There is a [[Talk:Incendiary#Incendiary_Bug|working hypothesis]] for the cause of this bug, which is that each and every Incendiary explosion triggers "end of turn processing" for Smoke and Fire - including fire damage, stun damage from smoke, fire spreading checks, and possibly "catch on fire" checks for units in fire.

Note that X-Com units wearing any kind of armor are immune to fire damage and IC-induced stun damage. Xcom HWPs are immune to stun, but take 40% damage from Incendiaries and WILL get killed quite efficiently by funky fire.

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

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

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

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

===Blaster Launcher Dud Shells Bug===

Shots which have only one waypoint, or explode before reaching their first waypoint, leave the Blaster Launcher showing 0 rounds, but still containing a dud shell which must be unloaded before the launcher can be reloaded. On earlier versions of the game (pre-Win CE) this also happens with reaction fire, and with 1-waypoint shots that fly off the map.

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

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

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

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

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

Primed grenades will not explode when it's in your inventory when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the grenade will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member. It could also be used against Chryssalids:
* Soldier is turned into a Zombie.
* Equipment is dropped to the ground.
* First grenade goes off, killing the Zombie (and the offending Chryssalid, if it's still around).
* Second grenade goes off, killing the newly hatched Chryssalid. (<i>Zaimoni: assuming the second grenade is <b>around</b> to explode. Reportedly works better in TFTD.</i>)

So when you enter an area with high risk of Chryssalid attacks (terror site or Terror ship/Battleship crash site), have every soldier arm a grenade which serves as a dead man's switch to eliminate Chryssalids. You lose a soldier or two, but the aliens don't gain anything and there's one less candidate for zombification (and, if you are lucky, one less Chryssalid if it was around the victim when the grenades exploded).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

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

===Base Defense Elerium bug===

On DOS versions of UFO Defense, Elerium pods may spawn as items from the base stockpile during a Base Defense bug. Each pod represents 50 units of Elerium and will be normally collected after the mission, same as any other item such as Heavy Lasers or Blaster Bombs. HOWEVER. The program will potentially generate 1 elerium POD for every 1 UNIT of elerium in your inventory. Thus, if you had only 10 lasers and 50 Elerium listed in your Sell screen, you would see 10 lasers and 50 Elerium Crystals in your Soldier Equip Screen, which would translate to 50 Elerium pods and 10 lasers scattered around your base. This equals 2500 Elerium, BTW. You basically have the potential to multiply your elerium stocks by 50 times.

===Berserk HWP crashes the game===

Admittedly, this is unlikely to arise under normal play. But, anyhow, your HWPs can only lose morale by killing friendly units. Not much for each unit killed, either. Anyhow, a berserk HWP will crash the game. (except for the Hovertank/Launcher, which does not fire when it goes berserk.)
Likewise, if you MC a cyberdisc or Sectopod and have it kills lots of aliens, it'll go berserk and crash the game. The error happens because of an oversight from the developers: the built-in weapons of HWP are handled differently from handed weapons, no OBDATA.DAT entries exist for them. The berserk code will try to access the nonexistent entry, resulting in a crash. The Celatid has yet to be tested.

===Limited Unit Slots - Battlescape Crash===

This tends to arise during Base Defence Missions. The game is was designed to be limited to 40 soldiers/hovertanks and XXXX aliens for a total of XXXX . Having a full complement of soldiers during a Superhuman difficulty base defence will max out these limits. Thus when either side starts playing around with mind control too much, something goes wrong causing the entire game to crash.
It might also be something to do with maximum items on the battlescape.
In any case, the workaround seems to be killing aliens and destroying items on the battlescape... doesn't always work, but it seems to help.
You might want to make several in-battle saves for these situations, even if you normally play Ironman mode.

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===

'''WARNING:''' When examining an Alien's inventory (via an Exploit), you will see that sometimes the alien will stack multiple items of equipment on the same slot - its right leg. It's not always obvious that there are multiple objects in the slot until you 'pick up' the first object and can see other objects still in the slot.
Before you remove an item from the Alien's right leg, make sure you have enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will likely have to force a quit and cannot save your game. It '''may''' be possible to move the item to the left leg slot for 0 TUs, '''if''' the item will fit in that slot. If not, you will have to terminate the game. (Press ALT-TAB to get to any other window, then CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up Task Manager, and then terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== XComUtil Inventory Stacking Bug ===

A problem similar to the Alien Inventory Stacking Bug can also occur for X-COM Soldiers, when using XComUtil. The algorithm used to assign weapons in XComUtil MUST assign all weapons to troops, so if there are more weapons than soldiers, excess weapons are stacked onto the leg slot of the first soldier in the dropship. This was a deliberate choice by Scott Jones to make this encumbrance obvious to the player. This can be readily corrected in the "equip soldiers" screen before a mission. Else, see "Alien Inventory Bug", above.

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

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
If one of your soldiers is carrying an unconscious unit in their hands and the unit either wakes up from stun or dies, they will be removed from the Inventory display, but will still appear to be in the carrying soldier's hands in the Battlescape. Clicking on the phantom body in the Battlescape will crash the game!
This error can be easily cleared by switching to the Inventory screen and moving another item into the hand that used to be carrying the body. Even swapping the gun to the other hand will do. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

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

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

===Weightless Loaded Ammo===

Ammo that is already loaded into a weapon at the start of a mission does not count towards a soldier's Encumbrance. If the weapon is subsequently unloaded and reloaded during the mission, the soldiers encumbrance will increase. This would only be noticed if the unloaded clip was not discarded (e.g. because it was not fully empty). This is due to a bug in the game's weight calculation routine that was uncovered (but not caused) by Seb76's inventory screen improvements.

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

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

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

===Transfer Limit cash eater===
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft. The extra cost isn't that bad. Recovering just one alien weapon will likely cover the money you will lose to this bug over the course of a game.

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

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

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

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

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

===Exceeding Storage Limits===

The storage capacity of a base is normally limited by the capacity of the General Stores. However this can be exceeded in a number of ways:

* By exploiting some of the Base Storage Anomalies (see below)
* By storing surplus equipment in transport aircraft (up to the 80 item limit). Note that if both the aircraft and the base are full, you can no longer move equipment between the aircraft and base (in either direction).
* Anything manufactured at the base will be stored there regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.
* Anything captured on a mission by an aircraft operating from the base will be stored at the base, regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.

These could perhaps be considered minor exploits.

===Base Storage Anomalies===

There are some quirks in how the game calculates, and displays, base storage capacity used and available. These quirks are not all consistent with each other, which leads to some strange behaviour. A typical example would be moving a set of items out of Stores, immediately trying to put the exact same set of items back into Stores, and this failing due to "insufficient space". A more detailed discussion is in [[Talk:Base Stores#Base Stores Anomalies]].

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

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

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

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

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

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 255 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

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

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

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

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

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

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

=== Research Rollover ===

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

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

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

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

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

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.
*NEVER sell all of your Sonic Pistol Clips before researching it first. If you were to research the Sonic Pistol, the aliens immediately stop using that weapon (and thus, clip) so you will be unable to continue in the Sonic line of research.
Any of the above (other than the MC reader) would make it impossible to finish the game.

=== Overcrowded Engineers And Scientists ===
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 257th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them.
This bug also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

If you hire exactly 256 scientists or engineers, the total rolls over to zero. You pay zero salaries, and the resulting free Manufacturing / Research is limited only by the capacity of your Factories / Laboratories. Also works in TFTD.
<br>
NOTE: you need to make sure that not all of their projects finish at the same time.
Otherwise, you would be stuck with 0 'available' workers/scientists, i.e. unable to assign them to a new project.

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

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

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

===Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug===

If you start a new manufacturing project at 00:01, and the screen displays a completion time of 5 hours, you might expect the work to complete at 05:00 or 05:01. In fact it will complete at 06:00, one hour longer than indicated.

The reason for this bug is that the time left to complete a project is decremented by the game by one hour, every hour, on the hour(XX:00).

This display behaviour is consistent with what is shown while manufacturing is in progress. For example, if time remaining is shown as 0 hours, the work will complete at the beginning of the ''next'' hour. In effect, the displayed number is the integer-truncated form of the real time remaining. In the first example given above, the real time to completion is 5 hrs 59 min, misleadingly truncated to 5 hrs.

===Manufacturing Rate Interruption Loss===

In addition, as a result of integer truncation (see previous bug, Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug), every time production stops, you lose an hour of manufacturing. Therefore, for most efficient production, manufacture in large batches (or increase batches while they are still in progress) to keep manufacturing as continuous as possible.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit===

There is a maximum production rate of one unit of any given type per hour per base. For example, though Alien Alloys / Aqua Plastics require 100 Engineer/Technician Hours per unit, even with 250 Engineers/Technicians you can only produce 1 unit per hour.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit Bug (TFTD)===

In UFO Enemy Unknown, the Manufacturing Rate Limit is just an irritant. The game prevents you from allocating more Engineers than is useful. In Terror From The Deep, there is no such safeguard. If you allocate more Technicians than are required to produce 1 unit per hour, the excess effort is just silently wasted. The unproductive Technicians are no doubt wasting their time playing retro computer games on their engineering workstations.

===HWP Fusion Bomb Ammo Cost Bug===

The HWP Fusion Bomb ammunition type, and its TFTD equivalent the ammunition for the SWS PWT/Displacer, appear to have the wrong manufacturing costs.
The vehicle version is ''less'' portable and ''less'' powerful than the personal version (Blaster Bomb), ''less'' capable than the craft version (Fusion Bomb) - and costs ''more'' than either of the others in total cash and in materials. In particular, it makes no sense that the small missiles on the HWP/SWS use up ''more'' of both Elerium/Zrbite and Alien Alloys/Aqua Plastics than the Craft version.

To correct this error, the craft round should have the higher base price, ''and'' the material requirements that are currently assigned to the SWS/HWP round. (It's debatable whether the SWS/HWP rounds should be more expensive than the man-carried rounds.) More discussion is on the talk page of this article.

== Other Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

Some things which will tend to cause this problem:
* Overzealous use of Psi

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS/4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[http://syndicate.lubie.org/synd/html/synd_patches.php One of these], for example. Link to Syndicate fansite, instructions included.

=== Cash Rollover Bug ===

When your cash balance goes over $2,147,483,647, it will rollover and become $-2,147,483,647. Which means your game is done for, unless you use an editor. Fortunately, by the time you accumulate this much cash, you have usually completed all necessary research to win the game.

=== UFOPaedia Craft Weapon Hit Probability Bug ===

There is a bug in the in-game UFOPaedia. It mistakenly reads the damage value field when reporting the hit chance for a craft weapon. Hence:

* Cannon shows 10% not 25%
* Avalanche shows 100% not 80%
* Laser Cannon shows 70% not 35%
* Plasma Beam shows 140% not 50%
* Fusion Ball shows 230% (!!!) not 100%

Possibly the reason this bug was missed during testing is that the first weapon in the data files, Stingray, actually does have Damage equal to its hit probability.

== See Also ==

=== [[Known Bugs (TFTD)]] ===
For bugs that '''only''' affect X-COM: Terror From The Deep.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Known Bugs

2009-07-25T12:42:09Z

Hajo: /* TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide */

== Game Destroying Bugs ==

These are the list of the worst bugs of them all, because they can render your entire game unplayable. Until a fix/ workaround is found, these bugs result in your entire X-com campaign being scuttled:

[[Minimized interceptor bug]]
[[Big text bug]]

== Base Construction Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

===Displayed Base Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right monthly fees for base modules, the maintenance fee displayed ''in the base info screen'' is always wrong. The displayed number is actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. However, at the end of the month, the right fee is deducted. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Displayed_Base_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct maintenance summary ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also see the next section.

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

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

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

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

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

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

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

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

==Geoscape Bugs==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
If you move a tank off a northward facing ledge, the rest of the tank will sink into a wall (if there is one), and cause the tank to get stuck. This won't happen if the tank moves off a south facing ledge as the primary quarter will fall after the rest of the tank. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

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

===Unconscious Units are items===
This is actually an intentional programming choice... but it leads to several consequences which are bugs.

Firstly, any unconscious unit can be killed instantly by even a weak explosion, like being nearby an exploding AC-HE shell... even a Muton with 125 Health or an X-com agent in Flying Armor whose high armor ratings normally make him immune to AC-HE damage.
Secondly, no experience is gained for killing enemies in this manner.

You can prevent an unconscious unit's death from an explosion by picking it up... if a blaster bomb strikes the carrier and kills him, the unconscious unit will safely fall to the floor, unharmed.

Unlike a conscious unit (not wearing x-com armor), an unconscious unit can laze about in the middle of a fire without taking damage, since a UNIT standing in fire takes damage, but an unconscious unit is an item, which all ignore fire.

Forcing an MCed alien to pick up an unconscious X-com agent and carry him in it's right hand can cause weird things to occur when you release the mind control. I think the game might crash when the alien tries to shove the agent into it's magic pocket.

If a non-flying unconscious unit wakes up while being carried by a flying unit, it will gain some sort of temporary hover ability. (I once placed an unconscious Chryssalid in my flying agent's backpack. A few turns later, some growls and screams were heard from overhead.)

Save space! Each conscious unit takes up 1 tile (4 tiles for large units). An unconscious unit does not use up the tile... this might conceivably be useful if you wanted to abort a mission, but several panicked units were preventing other agents from boarding the skyranger...
X-com agents refuse to ride piggyback or be picked up while conscious. So, if you want a non-flying unit to reach an 2nd floor place with no stairs or elevator, you will have to knock him out, then either throw him up, or have a flying unit pick him up and drop him... and presumably administer stimulant.

This also leads to the INVISIBLE UNIT glitch. Frequently happens during Base Defence missions, since the item table is usually maxed out. Basically, the item table is so full that killed units do not leave corpses. However, this also means that unconscious units do not turn into the Unconscious Unit item. The KOed unit will disappear from sight, but will still be visible as a red number and as a blue/yellow dot on overhead map. Since the unit is still a unit and not an item, you will be able to shoot it with projectile weapons and kill it. ALSO, this method enables you to raise any unit's stun bar all the way to 255, since you can still increase the stun meter, despite them already being unconscious.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an [[Incendiary]] explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will do a small amount of damage to it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground.

Similarly, if a unit (friendly units only) is standing in smoke when an incendiary explodes, it will take stun damage. This makes the combination of incendiary munitions and smoke quite hazardous until such time as all troops are armored.

There is a [[Talk:Incendiary#Incendiary_Bug|working hypothesis]] for the cause of this bug, which is that each and every Incendiary explosion triggers "end of turn processing" for Smoke and Fire - including fire damage, stun damage from smoke, fire spreading checks, and possibly "catch on fire" checks for units in fire.

Note that X-Com units wearing any kind of armor are immune to fire damage and IC-induced stun damage. Xcom HWPs are immune to stun, but take 40% damage from Incendiaries and WILL get killed quite efficiently by funky fire.

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

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

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

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

===Blaster Launcher Dud Shells Bug===

Shots which have only one waypoint, or explode before reaching their first waypoint, leave the Blaster Launcher showing 0 rounds, but still containing a dud shell which must be unloaded before the launcher can be reloaded. On earlier versions of the game (pre-Win CE) this also happens with reaction fire, and with 1-waypoint shots that fly off the map.

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

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

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

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

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

Primed grenades will not explode when it's in your inventory when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the grenade will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member. It could also be used against Chryssalids:
* Soldier is turned into a Zombie.
* Equipment is dropped to the ground.
* First grenade goes off, killing the Zombie (and the offending Chryssalid, if it's still around).
* Second grenade goes off, killing the newly hatched Chryssalid. (<i>Zaimoni: assuming the second grenade is <b>around</b> to explode. Reportedly works better in TFTD.</i>)

So when you enter an area with high risk of Chryssalid attacks (terror site or Terror ship/Battleship crash site), have every soldier arm a grenade which serves as a dead man's switch to eliminate Chryssalids. You lose a soldier or two, but the aliens don't gain anything and there's one less candidate for zombification (and, if you are lucky, one less Chryssalid if it was around the victim when the grenades exploded).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

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

===Base Defense Elerium bug===

On DOS versions of UFO Defense, Elerium pods may spawn as items from the base stockpile during a Base Defense bug. Each pod represents 50 units of Elerium and will be normally collected after the mission, same as any other item such as Heavy Lasers or Blaster Bombs. HOWEVER. The program will potentially generate 1 elerium POD for every 1 UNIT of elerium in your inventory. Thus, if you had only 10 lasers and 50 Elerium listed in your Sell screen, you would see 10 lasers and 50 Elerium Crystals in your Soldier Equip Screen, which would translate to 50 Elerium pods and 10 lasers scattered around your base. This equals 2500 Elerium, BTW. You basically have the potential to multiply your elerium stocks by 50 times.

===Berserk HWP crashes the game===

Admittedly, this is unlikely to arise under normal play. But, anyhow, your HWPs can only lose morale by killing friendly units. Not much for each unit killed, either. Anyhow, a berserk HWP will crash the game. (except for the Hovertank/Launcher, which does not fire when it goes berserk.)
Likewise, if you MC a cyberdisc or Sectopod and have it kills lots of aliens, it'll go berserk and crash the game. The error happens because of an oversight from the developers: the built-in weapons of HWP are handled differently from handed weapons, no OBDATA.DAT entries exist for them. The berserk code will try to access the nonexistent entry, resulting in a crash. The Celatid has yet to be tested.

===Limited Unit Slots - Battlescape Crash===

This tends to arise during Base Defence Missions. The game is was designed to be limited to 40 soldiers/hovertanks and XXXX aliens for a total of XXXX . Having a full complement of soldiers during a Superhuman difficulty base defence will max out these limits. Thus when either side starts playing around with mind control too much, something goes wrong causing the entire game to crash.
It might also be something to do with maximum items on the battlescape.
In any case, the workaround seems to be killing aliens and destroying items on the battlescape... doesn't always work, but it seems to help.
You might want to make several in-battle saves for these situations, even if you normally play Ironman mode.

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===

'''WARNING:''' When examining an Alien's inventory (via an Exploit), you will see that sometimes the alien will stack multiple items of equipment on the same slot - its right leg. It's not always obvious that there are multiple objects in the slot until you 'pick up' the first object and can see other objects still in the slot.
Before you remove an item from the Alien's right leg, make sure you have enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will likely have to force a quit and cannot save your game. It '''may''' be possible to move the item to the left leg slot for 0 TUs, '''if''' the item will fit in that slot. If not, you will have to terminate the game. (Press ALT-TAB to get to any other window, then CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up Task Manager, and then terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== XComUtil Inventory Stacking Bug ===

A problem similar to the Alien Inventory Stacking Bug can also occur for X-COM Soldiers, when using XComUtil. The algorithm used to assign weapons in XComUtil MUST assign all weapons to troops, so if there are more weapons than soldiers, excess weapons are stacked onto the leg slot of the first soldier in the dropship. This was a deliberate choice by Scott Jones to make this encumbrance obvious to the player. This can be readily corrected in the "equip soldiers" screen before a mission. Else, see "Alien Inventory Bug", above.

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

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
If one of your soldiers is carrying an unconscious unit in their hands and the unit either wakes up from stun or dies, they will be removed from the Inventory display, but will still appear to be in the carrying soldier's hands in the Battlescape. Clicking on the phantom body in the Battlescape will crash the game!
This error can be easily cleared by switching to the Inventory screen and moving another item into the hand that used to be carrying the body. Even swapping the gun to the other hand will do. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

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

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

===Weightless Loaded Ammo===

Ammo that is already loaded into a weapon at the start of a mission does not count towards a soldier's Encumbrance. If the weapon is subsequently unloaded and reloaded during the mission, the soldiers encumbrance will increase. This would only be noticed if the unloaded clip was not discarded (e.g. because it was not fully empty). This is due to a bug in the game's weight calculation routine that was uncovered (but not caused) by Seb76's inventory screen improvements.

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

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

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

===Transfer Limit cash eater===
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft. The extra cost isn't that bad. Recovering just one alien weapon will likely cover the money you will lose to this bug over the course of a game.

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

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

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

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

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

===Exceeding Storage Limits===

The storage capacity of a base is normally limited by the capacity of the General Stores. However this can be exceeded in a number of ways:

* By exploiting some of the Base Storage Anomalies (see below)
* By storing surplus equipment in transport aircraft (up to the 80 item limit). Note that if both the aircraft and the base are full, you can no longer move equipment between the aircraft and base (in either direction).
* Anything manufactured at the base will be stored there regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.
* Anything captured on a mission by an aircraft operating from the base will be stored at the base, regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.

These could perhaps be considered minor exploits.

===Base Storage Anomalies===

There are some quirks in how the game calculates, and displays, base storage capacity used and available. These quirks are not all consistent with each other, which leads to some strange behaviour. A typical example would be moving a set of items out of Stores, immediately trying to put the exact same set of items back into Stores, and this failing due to "insufficient space". A more detailed discussion is in [[Talk:Base Stores#Base Stores Anomalies]].

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

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

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

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

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

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 255 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

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

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

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

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

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

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

=== Research Rollover ===

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

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

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

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

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

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.
*NEVER sell all of your Sonic Pistol Clips before researching it first. If you were to research the Sonic Pistol, the aliens immediately stop using that weapon (and thus, clip) so you will be unable to continue in the Sonic line of research.
Any of the above (other than the MC reader) would make it impossible to finish the game.

=== Overcrowded Engineers And Scientists ===
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 257th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them. This bug also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

If you hire exactly 256 scientists or engineers, the total rolls over to zero. You pay zero salaries, and the resulting free Manufacturing / Research is limited only by the capacity of your Factories / Laboratories. Also works in TFTD.

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

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

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

===Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug===

If you start a new manufacturing project at 00:01, and the screen displays a completion time of 5 hours, you might expect the work to complete at 05:00 or 05:01. In fact it will complete at 06:00, one hour longer than indicated.

The reason for this bug is that the time left to complete a project is decremented by the game by one hour, every hour, on the hour(XX:00).

This display behaviour is consistent with what is shown while manufacturing is in progress. For example, if time remaining is shown as 0 hours, the work will complete at the beginning of the ''next'' hour. In effect, the displayed number is the integer-truncated form of the real time remaining. In the first example given above, the real time to completion is 5 hrs 59 min, misleadingly truncated to 5 hrs.

===Manufacturing Rate Interruption Loss===

In addition, as a result of integer truncation (see previous bug, Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug), every time production stops, you lose an hour of manufacturing. Therefore, for most efficient production, manufacture in large batches (or increase batches while they are still in progress) to keep manufacturing as continuous as possible.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit===

There is a maximum production rate of one unit of any given type per hour per base. For example, though Alien Alloys / Aqua Plastics require 100 Engineer/Technician Hours per unit, even with 250 Engineers/Technicians you can only produce 1 unit per hour.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit Bug (TFTD)===

In UFO Enemy Unknown, the Manufacturing Rate Limit is just an irritant. The game prevents you from allocating more Engineers than is useful. In Terror From The Deep, there is no such safeguard. If you allocate more Technicians than are required to produce 1 unit per hour, the excess effort is just silently wasted. The unproductive Technicians are no doubt wasting their time playing retro computer games on their engineering workstations.

===HWP Fusion Bomb Ammo Cost Bug===

The HWP Fusion Bomb ammunition type, and its TFTD equivalent the ammunition for the SWS PWT/Displacer, appear to have the wrong manufacturing costs.
The vehicle version is ''less'' portable and ''less'' powerful than the personal version (Blaster Bomb), ''less'' capable than the craft version (Fusion Bomb) - and costs ''more'' than either of the others in total cash and in materials. In particular, it makes no sense that the small missiles on the HWP/SWS use up ''more'' of both Elerium/Zrbite and Alien Alloys/Aqua Plastics than the Craft version.

To correct this error, the craft round should have the higher base price, ''and'' the material requirements that are currently assigned to the SWS/HWP round. (It's debatable whether the SWS/HWP rounds should be more expensive than the man-carried rounds.) More discussion is on the talk page of this article.

== Other Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

Some things which will tend to cause this problem:
* Overzealous use of Psi

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS/4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[http://syndicate.lubie.org/synd/html/synd_patches.php One of these], for example. Link to Syndicate fansite, instructions included.

=== Cash Rollover Bug ===

When your cash balance goes over $2,147,483,647, it will rollover and become $-2,147,483,647. Which means your game is done for, unless you use an editor. Fortunately, by the time you accumulate this much cash, you have usually completed all necessary research to win the game.

=== UFOPaedia Craft Weapon Hit Probability Bug ===

There is a bug in the in-game UFOPaedia. It mistakenly reads the damage value field when reporting the hit chance for a craft weapon. Hence:

* Cannon shows 10% not 25%
* Avalanche shows 100% not 80%
* Laser Cannon shows 70% not 35%
* Plasma Beam shows 140% not 50%
* Fusion Ball shows 230% (!!!) not 100%

Possibly the reason this bug was missed during testing is that the first weapon in the data files, Stingray, actually does have Damage equal to its hit probability.

== See Also ==

=== [[Known Bugs (TFTD)]] ===
For bugs that '''only''' affect X-COM: Terror From The Deep.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Known Bugs

2009-07-25T12:34:44Z

Hajo: /* Storage Limit */

== Game Destroying Bugs ==

These are the list of the worst bugs of them all, because they can render your entire game unplayable. Until a fix/ workaround is found, these bugs result in your entire X-com campaign being scuttled:

[[Minimized interceptor bug]]
[[Big text bug]]

== Base Construction Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

===Displayed Base Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right monthly fees for base modules, the maintenance fee displayed ''in the base info screen'' is always wrong. The displayed number is actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. However, at the end of the month, the right fee is deducted. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Displayed_Base_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct maintenance summary ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also see the next section.

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

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

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

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

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

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

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

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

==Geoscape Bugs==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
If you move a tank off a northward facing ledge, the rest of the tank will sink into a wall (if there is one), and cause the tank to get stuck. This won't happen if the tank moves off a south facing ledge as the primary quarter will fall after the rest of the tank. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

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

===Unconscious Units are items===
This is actually an intentional programming choice... but it leads to several consequences which are bugs.

Firstly, any unconscious unit can be killed instantly by even a weak explosion, like being nearby an exploding AC-HE shell... even a Muton with 125 Health or an X-com agent in Flying Armor whose high armor ratings normally make him immune to AC-HE damage.
Secondly, no experience is gained for killing enemies in this manner.

You can prevent an unconscious unit's death from an explosion by picking it up... if a blaster bomb strikes the carrier and kills him, the unconscious unit will safely fall to the floor, unharmed.

Unlike a conscious unit (not wearing x-com armor), an unconscious unit can laze about in the middle of a fire without taking damage, since a UNIT standing in fire takes damage, but an unconscious unit is an item, which all ignore fire.

Forcing an MCed alien to pick up an unconscious X-com agent and carry him in it's right hand can cause weird things to occur when you release the mind control. I think the game might crash when the alien tries to shove the agent into it's magic pocket.

If a non-flying unconscious unit wakes up while being carried by a flying unit, it will gain some sort of temporary hover ability. (I once placed an unconscious Chryssalid in my flying agent's backpack. A few turns later, some growls and screams were heard from overhead.)

Save space! Each conscious unit takes up 1 tile (4 tiles for large units). An unconscious unit does not use up the tile... this might conceivably be useful if you wanted to abort a mission, but several panicked units were preventing other agents from boarding the skyranger...
X-com agents refuse to ride piggyback or be picked up while conscious. So, if you want a non-flying unit to reach an 2nd floor place with no stairs or elevator, you will have to knock him out, then either throw him up, or have a flying unit pick him up and drop him... and presumably administer stimulant.

This also leads to the INVISIBLE UNIT glitch. Frequently happens during Base Defence missions, since the item table is usually maxed out. Basically, the item table is so full that killed units do not leave corpses. However, this also means that unconscious units do not turn into the Unconscious Unit item. The KOed unit will disappear from sight, but will still be visible as a red number and as a blue/yellow dot on overhead map. Since the unit is still a unit and not an item, you will be able to shoot it with projectile weapons and kill it. ALSO, this method enables you to raise any unit's stun bar all the way to 255, since you can still increase the stun meter, despite them already being unconscious.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an [[Incendiary]] explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will do a small amount of damage to it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground.

Similarly, if a unit (friendly units only) is standing in smoke when an incendiary explodes, it will take stun damage. This makes the combination of incendiary munitions and smoke quite hazardous until such time as all troops are armored.

There is a [[Talk:Incendiary#Incendiary_Bug|working hypothesis]] for the cause of this bug, which is that each and every Incendiary explosion triggers "end of turn processing" for Smoke and Fire - including fire damage, stun damage from smoke, fire spreading checks, and possibly "catch on fire" checks for units in fire.

Note that X-Com units wearing any kind of armor are immune to fire damage and IC-induced stun damage. Xcom HWPs are immune to stun, but take 40% damage from Incendiaries and WILL get killed quite efficiently by funky fire.

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

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

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

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

===Blaster Launcher Dud Shells Bug===

Shots which have only one waypoint, or explode before reaching their first waypoint, leave the Blaster Launcher showing 0 rounds, but still containing a dud shell which must be unloaded before the launcher can be reloaded. On earlier versions of the game (pre-Win CE) this also happens with reaction fire, and with 1-waypoint shots that fly off the map.

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

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

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

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

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

Primed grenades will not explode when it's in your inventory when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the grenade will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member. It could also be used against Chryssalids:
* Soldier is turned into a Zombie.
* Equipment is dropped to the ground.
* First grenade goes off, killing the Zombie (and the offending Chryssalid, if it's still around).
* Second grenade goes off, killing the newly hatched Chryssalid. (<i>Zaimoni: assuming the second grenade is <b>around</b> to explode. Reportedly works better in TFTD.</i>)

So when you enter an area with high risk of Chryssalid attacks (terror site or Terror ship/Battleship crash site), have every soldier arm a grenade which serves as a dead man's switch to eliminate Chryssalids. You lose a soldier or two, but the aliens don't gain anything and there's one less candidate for zombification (and, if you are lucky, one less Chryssalid if it was around the victim when the grenades exploded).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

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

===Base Defense Elerium bug===

On DOS versions of UFO Defense, Elerium pods may spawn as items from the base stockpile during a Base Defense bug. Each pod represents 50 units of Elerium and will be normally collected after the mission, same as any other item such as Heavy Lasers or Blaster Bombs. HOWEVER. The program will potentially generate 1 elerium POD for every 1 UNIT of elerium in your inventory. Thus, if you had only 10 lasers and 50 Elerium listed in your Sell screen, you would see 10 lasers and 50 Elerium Crystals in your Soldier Equip Screen, which would translate to 50 Elerium pods and 10 lasers scattered around your base. This equals 2500 Elerium, BTW. You basically have the potential to multiply your elerium stocks by 50 times.

===Berserk HWP crashes the game===

Admittedly, this is unlikely to arise under normal play. But, anyhow, your HWPs can only lose morale by killing friendly units. Not much for each unit killed, either. Anyhow, a berserk HWP will crash the game. (except for the Hovertank/Launcher, which does not fire when it goes berserk.)
Likewise, if you MC a cyberdisc or Sectopod and have it kills lots of aliens, it'll go berserk and crash the game. The error happens because of an oversight from the developers: the built-in weapons of HWP are handled differently from handed weapons, no OBDATA.DAT entries exist for them. The berserk code will try to access the nonexistent entry, resulting in a crash. The Celatid has yet to be tested.

===Limited Unit Slots - Battlescape Crash===

This tends to arise during Base Defence Missions. The game is was designed to be limited to 40 soldiers/hovertanks and XXXX aliens for a total of XXXX . Having a full complement of soldiers during a Superhuman difficulty base defence will max out these limits. Thus when either side starts playing around with mind control too much, something goes wrong causing the entire game to crash.
It might also be something to do with maximum items on the battlescape.
In any case, the workaround seems to be killing aliens and destroying items on the battlescape... doesn't always work, but it seems to help.
You might want to make several in-battle saves for these situations, even if you normally play Ironman mode.

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===

'''WARNING:''' When examining an Alien's inventory (via an Exploit), you will see that sometimes the alien will stack multiple items of equipment on the same slot - its right leg. It's not always obvious that there are multiple objects in the slot until you 'pick up' the first object and can see other objects still in the slot.
Before you remove an item from the Alien's right leg, make sure you have enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will likely have to force a quit and cannot save your game. It '''may''' be possible to move the item to the left leg slot for 0 TUs, '''if''' the item will fit in that slot. If not, you will have to terminate the game. (Press ALT-TAB to get to any other window, then CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up Task Manager, and then terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== XComUtil Inventory Stacking Bug ===

A problem similar to the Alien Inventory Stacking Bug can also occur for X-COM Soldiers, when using XComUtil. The algorithm used to assign weapons in XComUtil MUST assign all weapons to troops, so if there are more weapons than soldiers, excess weapons are stacked onto the leg slot of the first soldier in the dropship. This was a deliberate choice by Scott Jones to make this encumbrance obvious to the player. This can be readily corrected in the "equip soldiers" screen before a mission. Else, see "Alien Inventory Bug", above.

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

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
If one of your soldiers is carrying an unconscious unit in their hands and the unit either wakes up from stun or dies, they will be removed from the Inventory display, but will still appear to be in the carrying soldier's hands in the Battlescape. Clicking on the phantom body in the Battlescape will crash the game!
This error can be easily cleared by switching to the Inventory screen and moving another item into the hand that used to be carrying the body. Even swapping the gun to the other hand will do. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

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

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

===Weightless Loaded Ammo===

Ammo that is already loaded into a weapon at the start of a mission does not count towards a soldier's Encumbrance. If the weapon is subsequently unloaded and reloaded during the mission, the soldiers encumbrance will increase. This would only be noticed if the unloaded clip was not discarded (e.g. because it was not fully empty). This is due to a bug in the game's weight calculation routine that was uncovered (but not caused) by Seb76's inventory screen improvements.

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

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

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

===Transfer Limit cash eater===
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft. The extra cost isn't that bad. Recovering just one alien weapon will likely cover the money you will lose to this bug over the course of a game.

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

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

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

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

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

===Exceeding Storage Limits===

The storage capacity of a base is normally limited by the capacity of the General Stores. However this can be exceeded in a number of ways:

* By exploiting some of the Base Storage Anomalies (see below)
* By storing surplus equipment in transport aircraft (up to the 80 item limit). Note that if both the aircraft and the base are full, you can no longer move equipment between the aircraft and base (in either direction).
* Anything manufactured at the base will be stored there regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.
* Anything captured on a mission by an aircraft operating from the base will be stored at the base, regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.

These could perhaps be considered minor exploits.

===Base Storage Anomalies===

There are some quirks in how the game calculates, and displays, base storage capacity used and available. These quirks are not all consistent with each other, which leads to some strange behaviour. A typical example would be moving a set of items out of Stores, immediately trying to put the exact same set of items back into Stores, and this failing due to "insufficient space". A more detailed discussion is in [[Talk:Base Stores#Base Stores Anomalies]].

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

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

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

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

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

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 255 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

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

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

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

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

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

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

=== Research Rollover ===

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

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

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

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

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

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.
*NEVER sell all of your Sonic Pistol Clips before researching it first. If you were to research the Sonic Pistol, the aliens immediately stop using that weapon (and thus, clip) so you will be unable to continue in the Sonic line of research.
Other than the MC reader one, any of the above would make it impossible to finish the game.

=== Overcrowded Engineers And Scientists ===
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 257th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them. This bug also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

If you hire exactly 256 scientists or engineers, the total rolls over to zero. You pay zero salaries, and the resulting free Manufacturing / Research is limited only by the capacity of your Factories / Laboratories. Also works in TFTD.

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

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

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

===Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug===

If you start a new manufacturing project at 00:01, and the screen displays a completion time of 5 hours, you might expect the work to complete at 05:00 or 05:01. In fact it will complete at 06:00, one hour longer than indicated.

The reason for this bug is that the time left to complete a project is decremented by the game by one hour, every hour, on the hour(XX:00).

This display behaviour is consistent with what is shown while manufacturing is in progress. For example, if time remaining is shown as 0 hours, the work will complete at the beginning of the ''next'' hour. In effect, the displayed number is the integer-truncated form of the real time remaining. In the first example given above, the real time to completion is 5 hrs 59 min, misleadingly truncated to 5 hrs.

===Manufacturing Rate Interruption Loss===

In addition, as a result of integer truncation (see previous bug, Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug), every time production stops, you lose an hour of manufacturing. Therefore, for most efficient production, manufacture in large batches (or increase batches while they are still in progress) to keep manufacturing as continuous as possible.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit===

There is a maximum production rate of one unit of any given type per hour per base. For example, though Alien Alloys / Aqua Plastics require 100 Engineer/Technician Hours per unit, even with 250 Engineers/Technicians you can only produce 1 unit per hour.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit Bug (TFTD)===

In UFO Enemy Unknown, the Manufacturing Rate Limit is just an irritant. The game prevents you from allocating more Engineers than is useful. In Terror From The Deep, there is no such safeguard. If you allocate more Technicians than are required to produce 1 unit per hour, the excess effort is just silently wasted. The unproductive Technicians are no doubt wasting their time playing retro computer games on their engineering workstations.

===HWP Fusion Bomb Ammo Cost Bug===

The HWP Fusion Bomb ammunition type, and its TFTD equivalent the ammunition for the SWS PWT/Displacer, appear to have the wrong manufacturing costs.
The vehicle version is ''less'' portable and ''less'' powerful than the personal version (Blaster Bomb), ''less'' capable than the craft version (Fusion Bomb) - and costs ''more'' than either of the others in total cash and in materials. In particular, it makes no sense that the small missiles on the HWP/SWS use up ''more'' of both Elerium/Zrbite and Alien Alloys/Aqua Plastics than the Craft version.

To correct this error, the craft round should have the higher base price, ''and'' the material requirements that are currently assigned to the SWS/HWP round. (It's debatable whether the SWS/HWP rounds should be more expensive than the man-carried rounds.) More discussion is on the talk page of this article.

== Other Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

Some things which will tend to cause this problem:
* Overzealous use of Psi

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS/4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[http://syndicate.lubie.org/synd/html/synd_patches.php One of these], for example. Link to Syndicate fansite, instructions included.

=== Cash Rollover Bug ===

When your cash balance goes over $2,147,483,647, it will rollover and become $-2,147,483,647. Which means your game is done for, unless you use an editor. Fortunately, by the time you accumulate this much cash, you have usually completed all necessary research to win the game.

=== UFOPaedia Craft Weapon Hit Probability Bug ===

There is a bug in the in-game UFOPaedia. It mistakenly reads the damage value field when reporting the hit chance for a craft weapon. Hence:

* Cannon shows 10% not 25%
* Avalanche shows 100% not 80%
* Laser Cannon shows 70% not 35%
* Plasma Beam shows 140% not 50%
* Fusion Ball shows 230% (!!!) not 100%

Possibly the reason this bug was missed during testing is that the first weapon in the data files, Stingray, actually does have Damage equal to its hit probability.

== See Also ==

=== [[Known Bugs (TFTD)]] ===
For bugs that '''only''' affect X-COM: Terror From The Deep.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Known Bugs

2009-07-25T12:29:55Z

Hajo: /* Fuel dump on transfer */

== Game Destroying Bugs ==

These are the list of the worst bugs of them all, because they can render your entire game unplayable. Until a fix/ workaround is found, these bugs result in your entire X-com campaign being scuttled:

[[Minimized interceptor bug]]
[[Big text bug]]

== Base Construction Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

===Displayed Base Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right monthly fees for base modules, the maintenance fee displayed ''in the base info screen'' is always wrong. The displayed number is actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. However, at the end of the month, the right fee is deducted. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Displayed_Base_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct maintenance summary ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also see the next section.

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

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

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

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

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

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

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

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

==Geoscape Bugs==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
If you move a tank off a northward facing ledge, the rest of the tank will sink into a wall (if there is one), and cause the tank to get stuck. This won't happen if the tank moves off a south facing ledge as the primary quarter will fall after the rest of the tank. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

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

===Unconscious Units are items===
This is actually an intentional programming choice... but it leads to several consequences which are bugs.

Firstly, any unconscious unit can be killed instantly by even a weak explosion, like being nearby an exploding AC-HE shell... even a Muton with 125 Health or an X-com agent in Flying Armor whose high armor ratings normally make him immune to AC-HE damage.
Secondly, no experience is gained for killing enemies in this manner.

You can prevent an unconscious unit's death from an explosion by picking it up... if a blaster bomb strikes the carrier and kills him, the unconscious unit will safely fall to the floor, unharmed.

Unlike a conscious unit (not wearing x-com armor), an unconscious unit can laze about in the middle of a fire without taking damage, since a UNIT standing in fire takes damage, but an unconscious unit is an item, which all ignore fire.

Forcing an MCed alien to pick up an unconscious X-com agent and carry him in it's right hand can cause weird things to occur when you release the mind control. I think the game might crash when the alien tries to shove the agent into it's magic pocket.

If a non-flying unconscious unit wakes up while being carried by a flying unit, it will gain some sort of temporary hover ability. (I once placed an unconscious Chryssalid in my flying agent's backpack. A few turns later, some growls and screams were heard from overhead.)

Save space! Each conscious unit takes up 1 tile (4 tiles for large units). An unconscious unit does not use up the tile... this might conceivably be useful if you wanted to abort a mission, but several panicked units were preventing other agents from boarding the skyranger...
X-com agents refuse to ride piggyback or be picked up while conscious. So, if you want a non-flying unit to reach an 2nd floor place with no stairs or elevator, you will have to knock him out, then either throw him up, or have a flying unit pick him up and drop him... and presumably administer stimulant.

This also leads to the INVISIBLE UNIT glitch. Frequently happens during Base Defence missions, since the item table is usually maxed out. Basically, the item table is so full that killed units do not leave corpses. However, this also means that unconscious units do not turn into the Unconscious Unit item. The KOed unit will disappear from sight, but will still be visible as a red number and as a blue/yellow dot on overhead map. Since the unit is still a unit and not an item, you will be able to shoot it with projectile weapons and kill it. ALSO, this method enables you to raise any unit's stun bar all the way to 255, since you can still increase the stun meter, despite them already being unconscious.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an [[Incendiary]] explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will do a small amount of damage to it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground.

Similarly, if a unit (friendly units only) is standing in smoke when an incendiary explodes, it will take stun damage. This makes the combination of incendiary munitions and smoke quite hazardous until such time as all troops are armored.

There is a [[Talk:Incendiary#Incendiary_Bug|working hypothesis]] for the cause of this bug, which is that each and every Incendiary explosion triggers "end of turn processing" for Smoke and Fire - including fire damage, stun damage from smoke, fire spreading checks, and possibly "catch on fire" checks for units in fire.

Note that X-Com units wearing any kind of armor are immune to fire damage and IC-induced stun damage. Xcom HWPs are immune to stun, but take 40% damage from Incendiaries and WILL get killed quite efficiently by funky fire.

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

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

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

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

===Blaster Launcher Dud Shells Bug===

Shots which have only one waypoint, or explode before reaching their first waypoint, leave the Blaster Launcher showing 0 rounds, but still containing a dud shell which must be unloaded before the launcher can be reloaded. On earlier versions of the game (pre-Win CE) this also happens with reaction fire, and with 1-waypoint shots that fly off the map.

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

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

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

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

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

Primed grenades will not explode when it's in your inventory when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the grenade will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member. It could also be used against Chryssalids:
* Soldier is turned into a Zombie.
* Equipment is dropped to the ground.
* First grenade goes off, killing the Zombie (and the offending Chryssalid, if it's still around).
* Second grenade goes off, killing the newly hatched Chryssalid. (<i>Zaimoni: assuming the second grenade is <b>around</b> to explode. Reportedly works better in TFTD.</i>)

So when you enter an area with high risk of Chryssalid attacks (terror site or Terror ship/Battleship crash site), have every soldier arm a grenade which serves as a dead man's switch to eliminate Chryssalids. You lose a soldier or two, but the aliens don't gain anything and there's one less candidate for zombification (and, if you are lucky, one less Chryssalid if it was around the victim when the grenades exploded).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

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

===Base Defense Elerium bug===

On DOS versions of UFO Defense, Elerium pods may spawn as items from the base stockpile during a Base Defense bug. Each pod represents 50 units of Elerium and will be normally collected after the mission, same as any other item such as Heavy Lasers or Blaster Bombs. HOWEVER. The program will potentially generate 1 elerium POD for every 1 UNIT of elerium in your inventory. Thus, if you had only 10 lasers and 50 Elerium listed in your Sell screen, you would see 10 lasers and 50 Elerium Crystals in your Soldier Equip Screen, which would translate to 50 Elerium pods and 10 lasers scattered around your base. This equals 2500 Elerium, BTW. You basically have the potential to multiply your elerium stocks by 50 times.

===Berserk HWP crashes the game===

Admittedly, this is unlikely to arise under normal play. But, anyhow, your HWPs can only lose morale by killing friendly units. Not much for each unit killed, either. Anyhow, a berserk HWP will crash the game. (except for the Hovertank/Launcher, which does not fire when it goes berserk.)
Likewise, if you MC a cyberdisc or Sectopod and have it kills lots of aliens, it'll go berserk and crash the game. The error happens because of an oversight from the developers: the built-in weapons of HWP are handled differently from handed weapons, no OBDATA.DAT entries exist for them. The berserk code will try to access the nonexistent entry, resulting in a crash. The Celatid has yet to be tested.

===Limited Unit Slots - Battlescape Crash===

This tends to arise during Base Defence Missions. The game is was designed to be limited to 40 soldiers/hovertanks and XXXX aliens for a total of XXXX . Having a full complement of soldiers during a Superhuman difficulty base defence will max out these limits. Thus when either side starts playing around with mind control too much, something goes wrong causing the entire game to crash.
It might also be something to do with maximum items on the battlescape.
In any case, the workaround seems to be killing aliens and destroying items on the battlescape... doesn't always work, but it seems to help.
You might want to make several in-battle saves for these situations, even if you normally play Ironman mode.

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===

'''WARNING:''' When examining an Alien's inventory (via an Exploit), you will see that sometimes the alien will stack multiple items of equipment on the same slot - its right leg. It's not always obvious that there are multiple objects in the slot until you 'pick up' the first object and can see other objects still in the slot.
Before you remove an item from the Alien's right leg, make sure you have enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will likely have to force a quit and cannot save your game. It '''may''' be possible to move the item to the left leg slot for 0 TUs, '''if''' the item will fit in that slot. If not, you will have to terminate the game. (Press ALT-TAB to get to any other window, then CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up Task Manager, and then terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== XComUtil Inventory Stacking Bug ===

A problem similar to the Alien Inventory Stacking Bug can also occur for X-COM Soldiers, when using XComUtil. The algorithm used to assign weapons in XComUtil MUST assign all weapons to troops, so if there are more weapons than soldiers, excess weapons are stacked onto the leg slot of the first soldier in the dropship. This was a deliberate choice by Scott Jones to make this encumbrance obvious to the player. This can be readily corrected in the "equip soldiers" screen before a mission. Else, see "Alien Inventory Bug", above.

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

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
If one of your soldiers is carrying an unconscious unit in their hands and the unit either wakes up from stun or dies, they will be removed from the Inventory display, but will still appear to be in the carrying soldier's hands in the Battlescape. Clicking on the phantom body in the Battlescape will crash the game!
This error can be easily cleared by switching to the Inventory screen and moving another item into the hand that used to be carrying the body. Even swapping the gun to the other hand will do. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

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

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

===Weightless Loaded Ammo===

Ammo that is already loaded into a weapon at the start of a mission does not count towards a soldier's Encumbrance. If the weapon is subsequently unloaded and reloaded during the mission, the soldiers encumbrance will increase. This would only be noticed if the unloaded clip was not discarded (e.g. because it was not fully empty). This is due to a bug in the game's weight calculation routine that was uncovered (but not caused) by Seb76's inventory screen improvements.

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

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

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

===Transfer Limit cash eater===
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft. The extra cost isn't that bad. Recovering just one alien weapon will likely cover the money you will lose to this bug over the course of a game.

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

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

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

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

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

===Exceeding Storage Limits===

The storage capacity of a base is normally limited by the capacity of the General Stores. However this can be exceeded in a number of ways:

* By exploiting some of the Base Storage Anomalies (see below)
* By storing surplus equipment in transport aircraft (up to the 80 item limit). Note that if both the aircraft and the base are full, you can no longer move equipment between the aircraft and base (in either direction).
* Anything manufactured at the base will be stored there regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.
* Anything captured on a mission by an aircraft operating from the base will be stored at the base, regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.

These could perhaps be considered minor exploits.

===Base Storage Anomalies===

There are some quirks in how the game calculates, and displays, base storage capacity used and available. These quirks are not all consistent with each other, which leads to some strange behaviour. A typical example would be moving a set of items out of Stores, immediately trying to put the exact same set of items back into Stores, and this failing due to "insufficient space". A more detailed discussion is in [[Talk:Base Stores#Base Stores Anomalies]].

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

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

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

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

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

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 255 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

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

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

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

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

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

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

=== Research Rollover ===

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

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

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

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

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

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.
*NEVER sell all of your Sonic Pistol Clips before researching it first. If you were to research the Sonic Pistol, the aliens immediately stop using that weapon (and thus, clip) so you will be unable to continue in the Sonic line of research.
Other than the MC reader one, any of the above would make it impossible to finish the game.

=== Overcrowded Engineers And Scientists ===
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 257th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them. This bug also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

If you hire exactly 256 scientists or engineers, the total rolls over to zero. You pay zero salaries, and the resulting free Manufacturing / Research is limited only by the capacity of your Factories / Laboratories. Also works in TFTD.

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

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

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

===Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug===

If you start a new manufacturing project at 00:01, and the screen displays a completion time of 5 hours, you might expect the work to complete at 05:00 or 05:01. In fact it will complete at 06:00, one hour longer than indicated.

The reason for this bug is that the time left to complete a project is decremented by the game by one hour, every hour, on the hour(XX:00).

This display behaviour is consistent with what is shown while manufacturing is in progress. For example, if time remaining is shown as 0 hours, the work will complete at the beginning of the ''next'' hour. In effect, the displayed number is the integer-truncated form of the real time remaining. In the first example given above, the real time to completion is 5 hrs 59 min, misleadingly truncated to 5 hrs.

===Manufacturing Rate Interruption Loss===

In addition, as a result of integer truncation (see previous bug, Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug), every time production stops, you lose an hour of manufacturing. Therefore, for most efficient production, manufacture in large batches (or increase batches while they are still in progress) to keep manufacturing as continuous as possible.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit===

There is a maximum production rate of one unit of any given type per hour per base. For example, though Alien Alloys / Aqua Plastics require 100 Engineer/Technician Hours per unit, even with 250 Engineers/Technicians you can only produce 1 unit per hour.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit Bug (TFTD)===

In UFO Enemy Unknown, the Manufacturing Rate Limit is just an irritant. The game prevents you from allocating more Engineers than is useful. In Terror From The Deep, there is no such safeguard. If you allocate more Technicians than are required to produce 1 unit per hour, the excess effort is just silently wasted. The unproductive Technicians are no doubt wasting their time playing retro computer games on their engineering workstations.

===HWP Fusion Bomb Ammo Cost Bug===

The HWP Fusion Bomb ammunition type, and its TFTD equivalent the ammunition for the SWS PWT/Displacer, appear to have the wrong manufacturing costs.
The vehicle version is ''less'' portable and ''less'' powerful than the personal version (Blaster Bomb), ''less'' capable than the craft version (Fusion Bomb) - and costs ''more'' than either of the others in total cash and in materials. In particular, it makes no sense that the small missiles on the HWP/SWS use up ''more'' of both Elerium/Zrbite and Alien Alloys/Aqua Plastics than the Craft version.

To correct this error, the craft round should have the higher base price, ''and'' the material requirements that are currently assigned to the SWS/HWP round. (It's debatable whether the SWS/HWP rounds should be more expensive than the man-carried rounds.) More discussion is on the talk page of this article.

== Other Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

Some things which will tend to cause this problem:
* Overzealous use of Psi

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS/4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[http://syndicate.lubie.org/synd/html/synd_patches.php One of these], for example. Link to Syndicate fansite, instructions included.

=== Cash Rollover Bug ===

When your cash balance goes over $2,147,483,647, it will rollover and become $-2,147,483,647. Which means your game is done for, unless you use an editor. Fortunately, by the time you accumulate this much cash, you have usually completed all necessary research to win the game.

=== UFOPaedia Craft Weapon Hit Probability Bug ===

There is a bug in the in-game UFOPaedia. It mistakenly reads the damage value field when reporting the hit chance for a craft weapon. Hence:

* Cannon shows 10% not 25%
* Avalanche shows 100% not 80%
* Laser Cannon shows 70% not 35%
* Plasma Beam shows 140% not 50%
* Fusion Ball shows 230% (!!!) not 100%

Possibly the reason this bug was missed during testing is that the first weapon in the data files, Stingray, actually does have Damage equal to its hit probability.

== See Also ==

=== [[Known Bugs (TFTD)]] ===
For bugs that '''only''' affect X-COM: Terror From The Deep.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Known Bugs

2009-07-25T12:21:20Z

Hajo: /* Alien Inventory Stacking Bug */

== Game Destroying Bugs ==

These are the list of the worst bugs of them all, because they can render your entire game unplayable. Until a fix/ workaround is found, these bugs result in your entire X-com campaign being scuttled:

[[Minimized interceptor bug]]
[[Big text bug]]

== Base Construction Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

===Displayed Base Maintenance Costs===
Although X-COM charges the right monthly fees for base modules, the maintenance fee displayed ''in the base info screen'' is always wrong. The displayed number is actually based on the placement within the base grid, '''not''' the price displayed in the in-game UFOpaedia. However, at the end of the month, the right fee is deducted. For more information, see [[Base_Facilities#Displayed_Base_Maintenance_Cost_Bug]]. The Geo finance Graph shows a correct maintenance summary ([[LIGLOB.DAT]], updated once a month). Also see the next section.

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

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

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

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

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

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

===Fixes for Base Construction Bugs===

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

==Geoscape Bugs==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Battlescape Bugs ==

=== Faulty Large Units ===
If you move a tank off a northward facing ledge, the rest of the tank will sink into a wall (if there is one), and cause the tank to get stuck. This won't happen if the tank moves off a south facing ledge as the primary quarter will fall after the rest of the tank. Aliens can also get stuck this way.

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

===Unconscious Units are items===
This is actually an intentional programming choice... but it leads to several consequences which are bugs.

Firstly, any unconscious unit can be killed instantly by even a weak explosion, like being nearby an exploding AC-HE shell... even a Muton with 125 Health or an X-com agent in Flying Armor whose high armor ratings normally make him immune to AC-HE damage.
Secondly, no experience is gained for killing enemies in this manner.

You can prevent an unconscious unit's death from an explosion by picking it up... if a blaster bomb strikes the carrier and kills him, the unconscious unit will safely fall to the floor, unharmed.

Unlike a conscious unit (not wearing x-com armor), an unconscious unit can laze about in the middle of a fire without taking damage, since a UNIT standing in fire takes damage, but an unconscious unit is an item, which all ignore fire.

Forcing an MCed alien to pick up an unconscious X-com agent and carry him in it's right hand can cause weird things to occur when you release the mind control. I think the game might crash when the alien tries to shove the agent into it's magic pocket.

If a non-flying unconscious unit wakes up while being carried by a flying unit, it will gain some sort of temporary hover ability. (I once placed an unconscious Chryssalid in my flying agent's backpack. A few turns later, some growls and screams were heard from overhead.)

Save space! Each conscious unit takes up 1 tile (4 tiles for large units). An unconscious unit does not use up the tile... this might conceivably be useful if you wanted to abort a mission, but several panicked units were preventing other agents from boarding the skyranger...
X-com agents refuse to ride piggyback or be picked up while conscious. So, if you want a non-flying unit to reach an 2nd floor place with no stairs or elevator, you will have to knock him out, then either throw him up, or have a flying unit pick him up and drop him... and presumably administer stimulant.

This also leads to the INVISIBLE UNIT glitch. Frequently happens during Base Defence missions, since the item table is usually maxed out. Basically, the item table is so full that killed units do not leave corpses. However, this also means that unconscious units do not turn into the Unconscious Unit item. The KOed unit will disappear from sight, but will still be visible as a red number and as a blue/yellow dot on overhead map. Since the unit is still a unit and not an item, you will be able to shoot it with projectile weapons and kill it. ALSO, this method enables you to raise any unit's stun bar all the way to 255, since you can still increase the stun meter, despite them already being unconscious.

===Funky Fire===
If a unit (alien or friendly) is on fire or standing in flames, an [[Incendiary]] explosion ''anywhere else on the map'' will do a small amount of damage to it, even if you just shoot an IC round at a random patch of ground.

Similarly, if a unit (friendly units only) is standing in smoke when an incendiary explodes, it will take stun damage. This makes the combination of incendiary munitions and smoke quite hazardous until such time as all troops are armored.

There is a [[Talk:Incendiary#Incendiary_Bug|working hypothesis]] for the cause of this bug, which is that each and every Incendiary explosion triggers "end of turn processing" for Smoke and Fire - including fire damage, stun damage from smoke, fire spreading checks, and possibly "catch on fire" checks for units in fire.

Note that X-Com units wearing any kind of armor are immune to fire damage and IC-induced stun damage. Xcom HWPs are immune to stun, but take 40% damage from Incendiaries and WILL get killed quite efficiently by funky fire.

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

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

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

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

===Blaster Launcher Dud Shells Bug===

Shots which have only one waypoint, or explode before reaching their first waypoint, leave the Blaster Launcher showing 0 rounds, but still containing a dud shell which must be unloaded before the launcher can be reloaded. On earlier versions of the game (pre-Win CE) this also happens with reaction fire, and with 1-waypoint shots that fly off the map.

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

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

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

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

=== Grenade Timer Behaviour ===

Primed grenades will not explode when it's in your inventory when the timer runs out. It will only detonate when it's on the ground. If your soldier falls unconscious or gets killed, the grenade will be counted as being on the ground. Then it will blow up, likely taking out your gear and body. This 'feature' allows for the hot potato or [[Grenade Relay]] strategy which is fairly unique to X-COM where a live grenade well past its use-by date can be passed from squad member to squad member. It could also be used against Chryssalids:
* Soldier is turned into a Zombie.
* Equipment is dropped to the ground.
* First grenade goes off, killing the Zombie (and the offending Chryssalid, if it's still around).
* Second grenade goes off, killing the newly hatched Chryssalid. (<i>Zaimoni: assuming the second grenade is <b>around</b> to explode. Reportedly works better in TFTD.</i>)

So when you enter an area with high risk of Chryssalid attacks (terror site or Terror ship/Battleship crash site), have every soldier arm a grenade which serves as a dead man's switch to eliminate Chryssalids. You lose a soldier or two, but the aliens don't gain anything and there's one less candidate for zombification (and, if you are lucky, one less Chryssalid if it was around the victim when the grenades exploded).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

===20 Proximity Grenade Limit===

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

===Base Defense Elerium bug===

On DOS versions of UFO Defense, Elerium pods may spawn as items from the base stockpile during a Base Defense bug. Each pod represents 50 units of Elerium and will be normally collected after the mission, same as any other item such as Heavy Lasers or Blaster Bombs. HOWEVER. The program will potentially generate 1 elerium POD for every 1 UNIT of elerium in your inventory. Thus, if you had only 10 lasers and 50 Elerium listed in your Sell screen, you would see 10 lasers and 50 Elerium Crystals in your Soldier Equip Screen, which would translate to 50 Elerium pods and 10 lasers scattered around your base. This equals 2500 Elerium, BTW. You basically have the potential to multiply your elerium stocks by 50 times.

===Berserk HWP crashes the game===

Admittedly, this is unlikely to arise under normal play. But, anyhow, your HWPs can only lose morale by killing friendly units. Not much for each unit killed, either. Anyhow, a berserk HWP will crash the game. (except for the Hovertank/Launcher, which does not fire when it goes berserk.)
Likewise, if you MC a cyberdisc or Sectopod and have it kills lots of aliens, it'll go berserk and crash the game. The error happens because of an oversight from the developers: the built-in weapons of HWP are handled differently from handed weapons, no OBDATA.DAT entries exist for them. The berserk code will try to access the nonexistent entry, resulting in a crash. The Celatid has yet to be tested.

===Limited Unit Slots - Battlescape Crash===

This tends to arise during Base Defence Missions. The game is was designed to be limited to 40 soldiers/hovertanks and XXXX aliens for a total of XXXX . Having a full complement of soldiers during a Superhuman difficulty base defence will max out these limits. Thus when either side starts playing around with mind control too much, something goes wrong causing the entire game to crash.
It might also be something to do with maximum items on the battlescape.
In any case, the workaround seems to be killing aliens and destroying items on the battlescape... doesn't always work, but it seems to help.
You might want to make several in-battle saves for these situations, even if you normally play Ironman mode.

== Character Inventory Bugs ==

=== Alien Inventory Stacking Bug ===

'''WARNING:''' When examining an Alien's inventory (via an Exploit), you will see that sometimes the alien will stack multiple items of equipment on the same slot - its right leg. It's not always obvious that there are multiple objects in the slot until you 'pick up' the first object and can see other objects still in the slot.
Before you remove an item from the Alien's right leg, make sure you have enough time units to place it somewhere else. If you run out of time units, you will likely have to force a quit and cannot save your game. It '''may''' be possible to move the item to the left leg slot for 0 TUs, '''if''' the item will fit in that slot. If not, you will have to terminate the game. (Press ALT-TAB to get to any other window, then CTRL-ALT-DEL to bring up Task Manager, and then terminate the process that corresponds to the game).

=== XComUtil Inventory Stacking Bug ===

A problem similar to the Alien Inventory Stacking Bug can also occur for X-COM Soldiers, when using XComUtil. The algorithm used to assign weapons in XComUtil MUST assign all weapons to troops, so if there are more weapons than soldiers, excess weapons are stacked onto the leg slot of the first soldier in the dropship. This was a deliberate choice by Scott Jones to make this encumbrance obvious to the player. This can be readily corrected in the "equip soldiers" screen before a mission. Else, see "Alien Inventory Bug", above.

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

===Carrying Unconscious Units===
If one of your soldiers is carrying an unconscious unit in their hands and the unit either wakes up from stun or dies, they will be removed from the Inventory display, but will still appear to be in the carrying soldier's hands in the Battlescape. Clicking on the phantom body in the Battlescape will crash the game!
This error can be easily cleared by switching to the Inventory screen and moving another item into the hand that used to be carrying the body. Even swapping the gun to the other hand will do. Refer to : [[Unconscious#Bug|Unconscious]].

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

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

===Weightless Loaded Ammo===

Ammo that is already loaded into a weapon at the start of a mission does not count towards a soldier's Encumbrance. If the weapon is subsequently unloaded and reloaded during the mission, the soldiers encumbrance will increase. This would only be noticed if the unloaded clip was not discarded (e.g. because it was not fully empty). This is due to a bug in the game's weight calculation routine that was uncovered (but not caused) by Seb76's inventory screen improvements.

== Storage and Transfer Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This only appears to happen with aircraft, although it does happen for them all. So try to transfer aircraft individually, and not transfer anything else while you do - assuming you aren't awash in money. (The bug will cost you in the low thousands of dollars per craft being transferred.)

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

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

===Transfer Limit cash eater===
Only 100 items can be in transit at a time. (Here, a transfer of e.g. 200 Elerium counts as one "item". Also, all soldiers are counted individually.) If you go over the limit, you will get a warning that there is no more transport capacity. If you STILL try to transport something after getting the warning, the item will stay where it is, but the transportation cost still gets deducted. Bad if you're shuffling expensive aircraft. The extra cost isn't that bad. Recovering just one alien weapon will likely cover the money you will lose to this bug over the course of a game.

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

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

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

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

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

===Exceeding Storage Limits===

The storage capacity of a base is normally limited by the capacity of the General Stores. However this can be exceeded in a number of ways:

* By exploiting some of the Base Storage Anomalies (see below)
* By storing surplus equipment in transport aircraft (up to the 80 item limit). Note that if both the aircraft and the base are full, you can no longer move equipment between the aircraft and base (in either direction).
* Anything manufactured at the base will be stored there regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.
* Anything captured on a mission by an aircraft operating from the base will be stored at the base, regardless of the base's General Stores capacity.

These could perhaps be considered minor exploits.

===Base Storage Anomalies===

There are some quirks in how the game calculates, and displays, base storage capacity used and available. These quirks are not all consistent with each other, which leads to some strange behaviour. A typical example would be moving a set of items out of Stores, immediately trying to put the exact same set of items back into Stores, and this failing due to "insufficient space". A more detailed discussion is in [[Talk:Base Stores#Base Stores Anomalies]].

== Soldier Limits and Recruiting Bugs ==

=== Soldier Recruiting Limit ===

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

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

"NO MORE SOLDIERS ALLOWED"

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

=== Soldier Recruiting Bugs ===

Also there are 3 bugs related to recruiting soldiers:

* You still get charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the No More Soldiers limit.
* The error message that appears when you hire too many soldiers must be dismissed (click OK) once for each soldier over the limit, i.e. up to 255 times.
* You get also charged for Soldiers you try to purchase above the Transfer Limit (100 at a time).

=== Soldier Battlescape Limit ===

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

== Manufacturing and Research Bugs ==

=== Cancel Manufacturing Bug ===

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

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

=== Zero Unit Manufacturing Exploit ===

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

=== Research Rollover ===

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

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

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

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

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

For now:

*ONLY research Deep One Terrorist AFTER you have completed Plastic Aqua Armor and Ion Beam Accelerators.
*You MUST have at least one "Sub Construction" in storage before completing research on Zrbite and/or Transmission Resolver.
*NEVER research the Tasoth Commander. There's no reason to - and as of the last patch, they should no longer appear on the research list. They can block the T'Leth research.
*DO NOT research M.C. Lab unless you have AT LEAST one MC Reader in storage.
*NEVER sell all of your Sonic Pistol Clips before researching it first. If you were to research the Sonic Pistol, the aliens immediately stop using that weapon (and thus, clip) so you will be unable to continue in the Sonic line of research.
Other than the MC reader one, any of the above would make it impossible to finish the game.

=== Overcrowded Engineers And Scientists ===
In the Dos version (probably the others as well) if you hire more than 255 engineers in a single base, the number of engineers in the base will read a negative number once the 257th engineer arrives. Any Engineers engaged in projects will continue to work on them, but if you cancel the project you will lose engineers until you have lost 255 of them. This bug also affects scientists. It may be exploitable to pay a negative salary at the end of the month.

If you hire exactly 256 scientists or engineers, the total rolls over to zero. You pay zero salaries, and the resulting free Manufacturing / Research is limited only by the capacity of your Factories / Laboratories. Also works in TFTD.

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

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

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

===Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug===

If you start a new manufacturing project at 00:01, and the screen displays a completion time of 5 hours, you might expect the work to complete at 05:00 or 05:01. In fact it will complete at 06:00, one hour longer than indicated.

The reason for this bug is that the time left to complete a project is decremented by the game by one hour, every hour, on the hour(XX:00).

This display behaviour is consistent with what is shown while manufacturing is in progress. For example, if time remaining is shown as 0 hours, the work will complete at the beginning of the ''next'' hour. In effect, the displayed number is the integer-truncated form of the real time remaining. In the first example given above, the real time to completion is 5 hrs 59 min, misleadingly truncated to 5 hrs.

===Manufacturing Rate Interruption Loss===

In addition, as a result of integer truncation (see previous bug, Manufacturing Completion Time Display Bug), every time production stops, you lose an hour of manufacturing. Therefore, for most efficient production, manufacture in large batches (or increase batches while they are still in progress) to keep manufacturing as continuous as possible.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit===

There is a maximum production rate of one unit of any given type per hour per base. For example, though Alien Alloys / Aqua Plastics require 100 Engineer/Technician Hours per unit, even with 250 Engineers/Technicians you can only produce 1 unit per hour.

===Manufacturing Rate Limit Bug (TFTD)===

In UFO Enemy Unknown, the Manufacturing Rate Limit is just an irritant. The game prevents you from allocating more Engineers than is useful. In Terror From The Deep, there is no such safeguard. If you allocate more Technicians than are required to produce 1 unit per hour, the excess effort is just silently wasted. The unproductive Technicians are no doubt wasting their time playing retro computer games on their engineering workstations.

===HWP Fusion Bomb Ammo Cost Bug===

The HWP Fusion Bomb ammunition type, and its TFTD equivalent the ammunition for the SWS PWT/Displacer, appear to have the wrong manufacturing costs.
The vehicle version is ''less'' portable and ''less'' powerful than the personal version (Blaster Bomb), ''less'' capable than the craft version (Fusion Bomb) - and costs ''more'' than either of the others in total cash and in materials. In particular, it makes no sense that the small missiles on the HWP/SWS use up ''more'' of both Elerium/Zrbite and Alien Alloys/Aqua Plastics than the Craft version.

To correct this error, the craft round should have the higher base price, ''and'' the material requirements that are currently assigned to the SWS/HWP round. (It's debatable whether the SWS/HWP rounds should be more expensive than the man-carried rounds.) More discussion is on the talk page of this article.

== Other Bugs ==

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

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

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

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

Some things which will tend to cause this problem:
* Overzealous use of Psi

At least some of the instability crashes can be fixed by replacing the DOS/4GW dos extender with a later version from another DOS game.

[http://syndicate.lubie.org/synd/html/synd_patches.php One of these], for example. Link to Syndicate fansite, instructions included.

=== Cash Rollover Bug ===

When your cash balance goes over $2,147,483,647, it will rollover and become $-2,147,483,647. Which means your game is done for, unless you use an editor. Fortunately, by the time you accumulate this much cash, you have usually completed all necessary research to win the game.

=== UFOPaedia Craft Weapon Hit Probability Bug ===

There is a bug in the in-game UFOPaedia. It mistakenly reads the damage value field when reporting the hit chance for a craft weapon. Hence:

* Cannon shows 10% not 25%
* Avalanche shows 100% not 80%
* Laser Cannon shows 70% not 35%
* Plasma Beam shows 140% not 50%
* Fusion Ball shows 230% (!!!) not 100%

Possibly the reason this bug was missed during testing is that the first weapon in the data files, Stingray, actually does have Damage equal to its hit probability.

== See Also ==

=== [[Known Bugs (TFTD)]] ===
For bugs that '''only''' affect X-COM: Terror From The Deep.

[[Category: Oddities and bugs]]

Exploiting Mind Control

2009-07-25T12:19:25Z

Hajo: /* Zombie's Permanent Control of Aliens via Stunning */ Formulation

'''THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''

=Mind Control Madness=
==Civilian Traitors==
Whenever you mind control another unit, it automatically returns to the alien side at the end of the aliens' turn. This is true even if you mind control a [[Civilian]].
While saving civilians leads to higher scores, "removing" them from play in this way, then killing them off as aliens removes the risk of a score penalty that would result if the civilians were killed by the aliens.

==Resurrect Zombified Agents==
also known as: '''Permanent Control of a Chryssalid/Tentaculat'''
<br>To 'rescue' your zombified agent you must [[mind control]]/[[molecular control]] its [[zombie]] form, then shoot it to make it hatch.
The chrysallid/tentaculat that just hatched will appear to be hostile, but don't kill it. Next turn, and for the rest of the mission, it will be controlled by you without additional psionic actions.
If one of your agents got zombified, and you use this trick, you can 'recover' the agent if the chrysallid/tentaculat version of the soldier survives until the end of the mission. The resurrected agent will be back at base.
<br>If your pet chrysallid/tentaculat happens to get zombified, just repeat the steps to gaining permanent control. This action effectively regenerates your pet's health.
However, each time this happens, you lose morale and the counter for the number of X-Com soldiers lost on that mission increases as if it were a different soldier being killed.
So you may go in with 10 soldiers, but leave with 10 and -5 casualties.
<br>This exploit can also be used when civilians get zombified. And, since the terror units have many TU, they make excellent scouts. You could give your pet alien a weapon, but they have terrible throwing and accuracy skills. However, if you give you pet a primed high explosive and send them off to scout, they will drop it when they die.
<br>IMHO, the BEST use of your pet is to use the Alien Inventory exploit and give it a Stun Rod. With it's rather insane TU, it can pretty much run up to and stun anything it can see, assuming it isn't killed in mid-sprint. Alternatively, give it a med-kit, since those use a fixed 10 TU per use, and your pet has a LOT of TU, it can become the best doctor in the game...

==My Pet Alien==
Any alien can be your agent's personal escort. Just remember to mind control the alien every turn. When there are large terrorists on a mission, you'll notice that they take up four squares. Each square has its own stats. If you mind control one quadrant, the other three quadrants still stay under alien control.
If you move the large alien, there is a good chance that it will SHOOT ITSELF (if it can) via reaction fire! If the large alien does not shoot itself, you can use up its TU to fire on hostiles, or use it to scout. Once the TU are used up, mind control another quadrant to keep using this alien. You can do this four times.
<br>Alternatively, you can target the other quadrants of the alien and make the terror unit shoot itself. This is a worthwhile tactic to use on Cyberdiscs and Sectopods.
Cyberdiscs explode on death, while the Sectopod has a Laser Auto Shot which can dish out a maximum of 300 points of damage each shot.

The best use of mind control: scout. If you see someone holding a [[Blaster Launcher]], mind control it and fire, then drop the weapon, rendering a bunch of aliens dead and one harmless if you're lucky.

==Access the Alien Inventory Screen==
When an alien is mind controlled, you can't directly see their inventory by clicking the inventory button. However, if you switch to a human soldier, and check their inventory, you can use the arrows in the top corner to cycle through '''all''' units.

<br>'''WARNING''' There is a critical bug which is connected to this exploit. Read about it here: [[Known_Bugs#Alien_Inventory_Stacking_Bug| Alien Inventory Stacking Bug]]

<br> Use this exploit to change their inventory. You can give them weapons (eg: for [[Reaction Training]]), live grenades, or anything else. Remember to mind control them each turn if you use them as mules.

==Exponential Mind Control==
Any creature with psionic skill can use a [[Psi-Amp|psionic amplifier]].
Therefore, you can take control of (e.g.) an Ethereal and then toss it a psi-amp, use the [[Exploits#Access_the_Alien_Inventory_Screen|alien inventory exploit]], and have him pick it up.
Then you can use the Ethereal's psionic talents to take over other aliens. With the right application of psi-amp relay tosses and mind control, this can have an exponential effect of complete control of all the aliens in the very first turn.

It is even easier to use several high-level Psi troops (80+ Psi Strength & Skill), each with their own Psi-Amp, to create chains of aliens extending across the entire map; each new alien discovered and controlled becomes the forwardmost scout while your troops remain safely at the back of the chain (or even in the transport).
This is easily the single most imbalancing tactic in the game, short of hacking the game files.

==Zombie's Permanent Control of Aliens via Stunning==
<ol>
<li> Mindcontrol any 1x1-sized alien, except Zombies (as these can't be awakened once unconscious).</li>
<li> Stun that alien. Stun Bombs from the Small Launcher are the preferred method, because the stun rod depends on alien status to function. (On Windows Version, you can´t use the Stun Rod on friendly units).</li>
<li> Revive the alien. You can either wait until the alien recovers on it's own, or use stimulant shots from a Medi-Kit to speed things along.</li>
<li> Wait until the start of your next round. After the alien wakes up, it will appear as alien, but this lasts just for your present turn.</li>
</ol>

That's it, the alien should now be under permanent X-COM control. You can do anything with an X-COM alien as you can with a normal soldier: Directly access the aliens inventory screen without scrolling through all your guys first.
Arm it and send it in as a advance scout into UFOs. In all practicality, they are yours to do with as you please.

Exploiting Mind Control

2009-07-25T12:14:30Z

Hajo: /* Exponential Mind Control */

'''THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''

=Mind Control Madness=
==Civilian Traitors==
Whenever you mind control another unit, it automatically returns to the alien side at the end of the aliens' turn. This is true even if you mind control a [[Civilian]].
While saving civilians leads to higher scores, "removing" them from play in this way, then killing them off as aliens removes the risk of a score penalty that would result if the civilians were killed by the aliens.

==Resurrect Zombified Agents==
also known as: '''Permanent Control of a Chryssalid/Tentaculat'''
<br>To 'rescue' your zombified agent you must [[mind control]]/[[molecular control]] its [[zombie]] form, then shoot it to make it hatch.
The chrysallid/tentaculat that just hatched will appear to be hostile, but don't kill it. Next turn, and for the rest of the mission, it will be controlled by you without additional psionic actions.
If one of your agents got zombified, and you use this trick, you can 'recover' the agent if the chrysallid/tentaculat version of the soldier survives until the end of the mission. The resurrected agent will be back at base.
<br>If your pet chrysallid/tentaculat happens to get zombified, just repeat the steps to gaining permanent control. This action effectively regenerates your pet's health.
However, each time this happens, you lose morale and the counter for the number of X-Com soldiers lost on that mission increases as if it were a different soldier being killed.
So you may go in with 10 soldiers, but leave with 10 and -5 casualties.
<br>This exploit can also be used when civilians get zombified. And, since the terror units have many TU, they make excellent scouts. You could give your pet alien a weapon, but they have terrible throwing and accuracy skills. However, if you give you pet a primed high explosive and send them off to scout, they will drop it when they die.
<br>IMHO, the BEST use of your pet is to use the Alien Inventory exploit and give it a Stun Rod. With it's rather insane TU, it can pretty much run up to and stun anything it can see, assuming it isn't killed in mid-sprint. Alternatively, give it a med-kit, since those use a fixed 10 TU per use, and your pet has a LOT of TU, it can become the best doctor in the game...

==My Pet Alien==
Any alien can be your agent's personal escort. Just remember to mind control the alien every turn. When there are large terrorists on a mission, you'll notice that they take up four squares. Each square has its own stats. If you mind control one quadrant, the other three quadrants still stay under alien control.
If you move the large alien, there is a good chance that it will SHOOT ITSELF (if it can) via reaction fire! If the large alien does not shoot itself, you can use up its TU to fire on hostiles, or use it to scout. Once the TU are used up, mind control another quadrant to keep using this alien. You can do this four times.
<br>Alternatively, you can target the other quadrants of the alien and make the terror unit shoot itself. This is a worthwhile tactic to use on Cyberdiscs and Sectopods.
Cyberdiscs explode on death, while the Sectopod has a Laser Auto Shot which can dish out a maximum of 300 points of damage each shot.

The best use of mind control: scout. If you see someone holding a [[Blaster Launcher]], mind control it and fire, then drop the weapon, rendering a bunch of aliens dead and one harmless if you're lucky.

==Access the Alien Inventory Screen==
When an alien is mind controlled, you can't directly see their inventory by clicking the inventory button. However, if you switch to a human soldier, and check their inventory, you can use the arrows in the top corner to cycle through '''all''' units.

<br>'''WARNING''' There is a critical bug which is connected to this exploit. Read about it here: [[Known_Bugs#Alien_Inventory_Stacking_Bug| Alien Inventory Stacking Bug]]

<br> Use this exploit to change their inventory. You can give them weapons (eg: for [[Reaction Training]]), live grenades, or anything else. Remember to mind control them each turn if you use them as mules.

==Exponential Mind Control==
Any creature with psionic skill can use a [[Psi-Amp|psionic amplifier]].
Therefore, you can take control of (e.g.) an Ethereal and then toss it a psi-amp, use the [[Exploits#Access_the_Alien_Inventory_Screen|alien inventory exploit]], and have him pick it up.
Then you can use the Ethereal's psionic talents to take over other aliens. With the right application of psi-amp relay tosses and mind control, this can have an exponential effect of complete control of all the aliens in the very first turn.

It is even easier to use several high-level Psi troops (80+ Psi Strength & Skill), each with their own Psi-Amp, to create chains of aliens extending across the entire map; each new alien discovered and controlled becomes the forwardmost scout while your troops remain safely at the back of the chain (or even in the transport).
This is easily the single most imbalancing tactic in the game, short of hacking the game files.

==Zombie's Permanent Control of Aliens via Stunning==
<ol>
<li> Mind Control any 1x1 alien. Zombies are exempt from this as well as 2x2 terror units (as these can't be awakened once unconscious), but all the other aliens are fair game.</li>
<li> Stun that alien. Stun Bombs from the Small Launcher are the preferred method because the stun rod depends on alien status to function. (On Windows Version, you can´t use the Stun Rod on friendly units).</li>
<li> Revive the alien. You can either wait until the alien recovers on it's own, or use stimulant shots from a Medi-Kit to speed things along.</li>
<li> Wait until the start of your next round. After the alien wakes up it will appear as alien, but this just lasts for your present turn.</li>
</ol>

That's it, the alien should now be under permanent X-COM control. You can do anything with an X-COM alien as you can with a normal soldier: Directly access the aliens inventory screen without scrolling through all your guys first. Arm it and send it in as a advance scout into UFOs. In all practicality, they are yours to do with as you please.

Exploiting Mind Control

2009-07-25T12:11:22Z

Hajo: /* My Pet Alien */

'''THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''

=Mind Control Madness=
==Civilian Traitors==
Whenever you mind control another unit, it automatically returns to the alien side at the end of the aliens' turn. This is true even if you mind control a [[Civilian]].
While saving civilians leads to higher scores, "removing" them from play in this way, then killing them off as aliens removes the risk of a score penalty that would result if the civilians were killed by the aliens.

==Resurrect Zombified Agents==
also known as: '''Permanent Control of a Chryssalid/Tentaculat'''
<br>To 'rescue' your zombified agent you must [[mind control]]/[[molecular control]] its [[zombie]] form, then shoot it to make it hatch.
The chrysallid/tentaculat that just hatched will appear to be hostile, but don't kill it. Next turn, and for the rest of the mission, it will be controlled by you without additional psionic actions.
If one of your agents got zombified, and you use this trick, you can 'recover' the agent if the chrysallid/tentaculat version of the soldier survives until the end of the mission. The resurrected agent will be back at base.
<br>If your pet chrysallid/tentaculat happens to get zombified, just repeat the steps to gaining permanent control. This action effectively regenerates your pet's health.
However, each time this happens, you lose morale and the counter for the number of X-Com soldiers lost on that mission increases as if it were a different soldier being killed.
So you may go in with 10 soldiers, but leave with 10 and -5 casualties.
<br>This exploit can also be used when civilians get zombified. And, since the terror units have many TU, they make excellent scouts. You could give your pet alien a weapon, but they have terrible throwing and accuracy skills. However, if you give you pet a primed high explosive and send them off to scout, they will drop it when they die.
<br>IMHO, the BEST use of your pet is to use the Alien Inventory exploit and give it a Stun Rod. With it's rather insane TU, it can pretty much run up to and stun anything it can see, assuming it isn't killed in mid-sprint. Alternatively, give it a med-kit, since those use a fixed 10 TU per use, and your pet has a LOT of TU, it can become the best doctor in the game...

==My Pet Alien==
Any alien can be your agent's personal escort. Just remember to mind control the alien every turn. When there are large terrorists on a mission, you'll notice that they take up four squares. Each square has its own stats. If you mind control one quadrant, the other three quadrants still stay under alien control.
If you move the large alien, there is a good chance that it will SHOOT ITSELF (if it can) via reaction fire! If the large alien does not shoot itself, you can use up its TU to fire on hostiles, or use it to scout. Once the TU are used up, mind control another quadrant to keep using this alien. You can do this four times.
<br>Alternatively, you can target the other quadrants of the alien and make the terror unit shoot itself. This is a worthwhile tactic to use on Cyberdiscs and Sectopods.
Cyberdiscs explode on death, while the Sectopod has a Laser Auto Shot which can dish out a maximum of 300 points of damage each shot.

The best use of mind control: scout. If you see someone holding a [[Blaster Launcher]], mind control it and fire, then drop the weapon, rendering a bunch of aliens dead and one harmless if you're lucky.

==Access the Alien Inventory Screen==
When an alien is mind controlled, you can't directly see their inventory by clicking the inventory button. However, if you switch to a human soldier, and check their inventory, you can use the arrows in the top corner to cycle through '''all''' units.

<br>'''WARNING''' There is a critical bug which is connected to this exploit. Read about it here: [[Known_Bugs#Alien_Inventory_Stacking_Bug| Alien Inventory Stacking Bug]]

<br> Use this exploit to change their inventory. You can give them weapons (eg: for [[Reaction Training]]), live grenades, or anything else. Remember to mind control them each turn if you use them as mules.

==Exponential Mind Control==
Any creature with psionic skill can use a [[Psi-Amp|psionic amplifier]]. Therefore, you can take control of, (eg:) an Ethereal and then toss it a psi-amp, use the [[Exploits#Access_the_Alien_Inventory_Screen|alien inventory exploit]], and have him pick it up. You can then use the Ethereal's psionic talents to take over other aliens. With the right application of psi-amp relay tosses and mind control, this can have an exponential effect of complete control of all the aliens in the very first turn.

It is even easier to use several high-level Psi troops (80+ Psi Strength & Skill), each with their own Psi-Amp, to create chains of aliens extending across the entire map; each new alien discovered and controlled becomes the forwardmost scout while your troops remain safely at the back of the chain (or even in the transport). This is easily the single most imbalancing tactic in the game, short of hacking the game files.

==Zombie's Permanent Control of Aliens via Stunning==
<ol>
<li> Mind Control any 1x1 alien. Zombies are exempt from this as well as 2x2 terror units (as these can't be awakened once unconscious), but all the other aliens are fair game.</li>
<li> Stun that alien. Stun Bombs from the Small Launcher are the preferred method because the stun rod depends on alien status to function. (On Windows Version, you can´t use the Stun Rod on friendly units).</li>
<li> Revive the alien. You can either wait until the alien recovers on it's own, or use stimulant shots from a Medi-Kit to speed things along.</li>
<li> Wait until the start of your next round. After the alien wakes up it will appear as alien, but this just lasts for your present turn.</li>
</ol>

That's it, the alien should now be under permanent X-COM control. You can do anything with an X-COM alien as you can with a normal soldier: Directly access the aliens inventory screen without scrolling through all your guys first. Arm it and send it in as a advance scout into UFOs. In all practicality, they are yours to do with as you please.

Exploiting Mind Control

2009-07-25T11:50:01Z

Hajo: /* Resurrect Zombified Agents */

'''THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''

=Mind Control Madness=
==Civilian Traitors==
Whenever you mind control another unit, it automatically returns to the alien side at the end of the aliens' turn. This is true even if you mind control a [[Civilian]].
While saving civilians leads to higher scores, "removing" them from play in this way, then killing them off as aliens removes the risk of a score penalty that would result if the civilians were killed by the aliens.

==Resurrect Zombified Agents==
also known as: '''Permanent Control of a Chryssalid/Tentaculat'''
<br>To 'rescue' your zombified agent you must [[mind control]]/[[molecular control]] its [[zombie]] form, then shoot it to make it hatch.
The chrysallid/tentaculat that just hatched will appear to be hostile, but don't kill it. Next turn, and for the rest of the mission, it will be controlled by you without additional psionic actions.
If one of your agents got zombified, and you use this trick, you can 'recover' the agent if the chrysallid/tentaculat version of the soldier survives until the end of the mission. The resurrected agent will be back at base.
<br>If your pet chrysallid/tentaculat happens to get zombified, just repeat the steps to gaining permanent control. This action effectively regenerates your pet's health.
However, each time this happens, you lose morale and the counter for the number of X-Com soldiers lost on that mission increases as if it were a different soldier being killed.
So you may go in with 10 soldiers, but leave with 10 and -5 casualties.
<br>This exploit can also be used when civilians get zombified. And, since the terror units have many TU, they make excellent scouts. You could give your pet alien a weapon, but they have terrible throwing and accuracy skills. However, if you give you pet a primed high explosive and send them off to scout, they will drop it when they die.
<br>IMHO, the BEST use of your pet is to use the Alien Inventory exploit and give it a Stun Rod. With it's rather insane TU, it can pretty much run up to and stun anything it can see, assuming it isn't killed in mid-sprint. Alternatively, give it a med-kit, since those use a fixed 10 TU per use, and your pet has a LOT of TU, it can become the best doctor in the game...

==My Pet Alien==
Any alien can be your agent's personal escort. Just remember to mind control the alien every turn. When there are large terrorists on a mission, you'll notice that they take up four squares. Each square has its own stats. If you mind control one quadrant, the other three quadrants still stay under alien control. If you move the large alien there is a good chance that it will SHOOT ITSELF (if it can) via reaction fire! If the large alien does not shoot itself you can use up its TU to fire on hostiles, or use it to scout. Once the TU are used up, mind control another quadrant to keep using this alien. You can do this four times. Alternatively, you can target the other alien quadrants and make the terror unit shoot itself. This is worthwhile tactic to use on Cyberdiscs and Sectopods. Cyberdiscs explode on death while the Sectopod has a Laser Auto Shot which can dish out a maximum of 300 points of damage each shot.

The best use of mind control: scout. If you see someone holding a [[Blaster Launcher]], mind control it and fire, then drop the weapon, rendering a bunch of aliens dead and one harmless if you're lucky.

==Access the Alien Inventory Screen==
When an alien is mind controlled, you can't directly see their inventory by clicking the inventory button. However, if you switch to a human soldier, and check their inventory, you can use the arrows in the top corner to cycle through '''all''' units.

<br>'''WARNING''' There is a critical bug which is connected to this exploit. Read about it here: [[Known_Bugs#Alien_Inventory_Stacking_Bug| Alien Inventory Stacking Bug]]

<br> Use this exploit to change their inventory. You can give them weapons (eg: for [[Reaction Training]]), live grenades, or anything else. Remember to mind control them each turn if you use them as mules.

==Exponential Mind Control==
Any creature with psionic skill can use a [[Psi-Amp|psionic amplifier]]. Therefore, you can take control of, (eg:) an Ethereal and then toss it a psi-amp, use the [[Exploits#Access_the_Alien_Inventory_Screen|alien inventory exploit]], and have him pick it up. You can then use the Ethereal's psionic talents to take over other aliens. With the right application of psi-amp relay tosses and mind control, this can have an exponential effect of complete control of all the aliens in the very first turn.

It is even easier to use several high-level Psi troops (80+ Psi Strength & Skill), each with their own Psi-Amp, to create chains of aliens extending across the entire map; each new alien discovered and controlled becomes the forwardmost scout while your troops remain safely at the back of the chain (or even in the transport). This is easily the single most imbalancing tactic in the game, short of hacking the game files.

==Zombie's Permanent Control of Aliens via Stunning==
<ol>
<li> Mind Control any 1x1 alien. Zombies are exempt from this as well as 2x2 terror units (as these can't be awakened once unconscious), but all the other aliens are fair game.</li>
<li> Stun that alien. Stun Bombs from the Small Launcher are the preferred method because the stun rod depends on alien status to function. (On Windows Version, you can´t use the Stun Rod on friendly units).</li>
<li> Revive the alien. You can either wait until the alien recovers on it's own, or use stimulant shots from a Medi-Kit to speed things along.</li>
<li> Wait until the start of your next round. After the alien wakes up it will appear as alien, but this just lasts for your present turn.</li>
</ol>

That's it, the alien should now be under permanent X-COM control. You can do anything with an X-COM alien as you can with a normal soldier: Directly access the aliens inventory screen without scrolling through all your guys first. Arm it and send it in as a advance scout into UFOs. In all practicality, they are yours to do with as you please.

Exploiting Mind Control

2009-07-25T11:44:06Z

Hajo: /* Civilian Traitors */

'''THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''

=Mind Control Madness=
==Civilian Traitors==
Whenever you mind control another unit, it automatically returns to the alien side at the end of the aliens' turn. This is true even if you mind control a [[Civilian]].
While saving civilians leads to higher scores, "removing" them from play in this way, then killing them off as aliens removes the risk of a score penalty that would result if the civilians were killed by the aliens.

==Resurrect Zombified Agents==
also known as: '''Permanent Control of a Chryssalid/Tentaculat'''
<br>To 'rescue' your zombified agent you must [[mind control]]/[[molecular control]] its [[zombie]] form then shoot it to make it hatch. The chrysallid/tentaculat that just hatched will appear to be hostile, but don't kill it. Next turn, and for the rest of the mission, it will be controlled by you without additional psionic actions. If you lost an agent to make a zombie and you use this trick, you can 'recover' the agent if the chrysallid/tentaculat version of the soldier survives until the end of the mission. The resurrected agent will be back at base.
<br>If your pet chrysallid/tentaculat happens to get zombified, just repeat the steps to gaining permanent control. This action effectively regenerates your pet's health. However, each time this happens, you lose morale and the counter for the number of X-Com soldiers lost on that mission increases as if it were a different soldier being killed. So you may go in with 10 soldiers, but leave with 10 and -5 casualties.
<br>This exploit can also be used when civilians get zombified. And, since the terror units have many TU, they make excellent scouts. You could give your pet alien a weapon, but they have terrible throwing and accuracy skills. However, if you give you pet a primed high explosive and send them off to scout, they will drop it when they die.
<br>IMHO, the BEST use of your pet is to use the Alien Inventory exploit and give it a Stun Rod. With it's rather insane TU, it can pretty much run up to and stun anything it can see, assuming it isn't killed in mid-sprint. Alternatively, give it a med-kit, since those use a fixed 10 TU per use, and your pet has a LOT of TU, it can become the best doctor in the game...

==My Pet Alien==
Any alien can be your agent's personal escort. Just remember to mind control the alien every turn. When there are large terrorists on a mission, you'll notice that they take up four squares. Each square has its own stats. If you mind control one quadrant, the other three quadrants still stay under alien control. If you move the large alien there is a good chance that it will SHOOT ITSELF (if it can) via reaction fire! If the large alien does not shoot itself you can use up its TU to fire on hostiles, or use it to scout. Once the TU are used up, mind control another quadrant to keep using this alien. You can do this four times. Alternatively, you can target the other alien quadrants and make the terror unit shoot itself. This is worthwhile tactic to use on Cyberdiscs and Sectopods. Cyberdiscs explode on death while the Sectopod has a Laser Auto Shot which can dish out a maximum of 300 points of damage each shot.

The best use of mind control: scout. If you see someone holding a [[Blaster Launcher]], mind control it and fire, then drop the weapon, rendering a bunch of aliens dead and one harmless if you're lucky.

==Access the Alien Inventory Screen==
When an alien is mind controlled, you can't directly see their inventory by clicking the inventory button. However, if you switch to a human soldier, and check their inventory, you can use the arrows in the top corner to cycle through '''all''' units.

<br>'''WARNING''' There is a critical bug which is connected to this exploit. Read about it here: [[Known_Bugs#Alien_Inventory_Stacking_Bug| Alien Inventory Stacking Bug]]

<br> Use this exploit to change their inventory. You can give them weapons (eg: for [[Reaction Training]]), live grenades, or anything else. Remember to mind control them each turn if you use them as mules.

==Exponential Mind Control==
Any creature with psionic skill can use a [[Psi-Amp|psionic amplifier]]. Therefore, you can take control of, (eg:) an Ethereal and then toss it a psi-amp, use the [[Exploits#Access_the_Alien_Inventory_Screen|alien inventory exploit]], and have him pick it up. You can then use the Ethereal's psionic talents to take over other aliens. With the right application of psi-amp relay tosses and mind control, this can have an exponential effect of complete control of all the aliens in the very first turn.

It is even easier to use several high-level Psi troops (80+ Psi Strength & Skill), each with their own Psi-Amp, to create chains of aliens extending across the entire map; each new alien discovered and controlled becomes the forwardmost scout while your troops remain safely at the back of the chain (or even in the transport). This is easily the single most imbalancing tactic in the game, short of hacking the game files.

==Zombie's Permanent Control of Aliens via Stunning==
<ol>
<li> Mind Control any 1x1 alien. Zombies are exempt from this as well as 2x2 terror units (as these can't be awakened once unconscious), but all the other aliens are fair game.</li>
<li> Stun that alien. Stun Bombs from the Small Launcher are the preferred method because the stun rod depends on alien status to function. (On Windows Version, you can´t use the Stun Rod on friendly units).</li>
<li> Revive the alien. You can either wait until the alien recovers on it's own, or use stimulant shots from a Medi-Kit to speed things along.</li>
<li> Wait until the start of your next round. After the alien wakes up it will appear as alien, but this just lasts for your present turn.</li>
</ol>

That's it, the alien should now be under permanent X-COM control. You can do anything with an X-COM alien as you can with a normal soldier: Directly access the aliens inventory screen without scrolling through all your guys first. Arm it and send it in as a advance scout into UFOs. In all practicality, they are yours to do with as you please.

Sectopod

2009-07-25T07:58:03Z

Hajo: /* Notes */

[[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%

== Autopsy ==
[[Image:sectopodautopsy.png|right|Sectopod, Disassembled]]
The Sectopod appears to be capable of self-sustained propulsion and attack. Its "brain", whilst small compared to modern electronics, is incredibly powerful. It is anywhere from 5 to 10, to even 20 times as powerful as standard Earth processors. This may be a machine, but it is a machine with near sentience although its intelligence is supressed so that it does not start thinking of its own accord.

There are signs of specialised biomechanical components, which may be used to psionically remotely control the Sectopod. Unlike the Sectoid's Cyberdisks, the Sectopod's power module is far more robust and as such, despite our best attempts, the module cannot and will not explode, except where immense amounts of energy are involved.

Whilst it is nearly impervious to most damage types, the sensing circuitry seems particularly vulnerable to laser weapons. The Sectopod is elerium powered.

==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 and bring as many as you can.

* 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. Fortunatly, 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 dependant 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 Heavy Laser, Heavy Plasma and Laser Rifle 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]]

Understanding Grenades

2009-07-25T04:28:39Z

Hajo: /* How The Timer is Implemented */

This article aims to provide an in-depth explanation on how the X-Com UFO/TFTD grenade functions.

This article refers to all grenade types but not the proximity grenade unless otherwise noted.

= How the Grenade Timer Works =

The grenade timer can be quite confusing, particularly to new players. What do all the numbers mean? Turn 0? Why did the grenade blow up in 2 turns when you set it to 3?

The confusion stems from the fact that each grenade timer delay settings do not correspond to the number of turns that you see during the alien movement phase. Each time delay in fact represents half a turn. That is not quite right, but it's the easiest way to explain the timer settings.

So how does that work? A grenade will only explode at the end of a move by either the player or the AI. Observe the following delay settings:

0 = Explodes as soon as you end the turn, before the aliens move<br>
1 = Explodes after the aliens end their turn<br>
2 = Explodes at the end of your next turn<br>
3 = Explodes at the end of the aliens' next turn<br>

== Turns and the Grenade Timer In-Depth ==

There are two turn counters that the game keeps track of throughout the battle. One counter that counts how many times each side has moved, and another to store a number that is equal to half of this value. For this article, to simplify the explanation, we'll call these the '''movement phase''' counter and the other the '''round''' counter. To avoid ambiguity, round refers to a group or set, not circle.

The move counter is incremented to count every move made by either the player or the AI. So if you end your move, this counter gets incremented by 1. The aliens then make their move and end their turn. The counter gets incremented again to 2, and your move starts.

Move order is always Player then Aliens. Because the counter starts at 0, we can assume that a counter with an even number will always be the player's movement phase, while an odd number means it's the aliens move phase.

The Round Counter is always equal to half the value of the move counter. For example, if the move counter has totaled up to 6 moves (3 turns have passed), the Round counter will equal 3. As you can see, this counter is the same as the number of turns that have elapsed. A Round is therefore two Movement phases, the player and then the AI.

We never see the moment phase counter, but we can assume that it is always double the value of the turn number.

You probably already see where this is leading: The grenade timer works off the movement phase counter.

Note, there isn't a separate movement phase for civilians - they are controlled by the AI, though they are flagged as a 3rd party. If there was a separate phase, the delay settings would've been in 1/3rds, which would've been even more confusing.

== Detonation conditions ==

A grenade will only explode when '''both''' of these two trigger conditions are met:

# The grenade counter has run out (detailed explanation in next section)
# The grenade is on the ground at the end of the current side's turn

If either of these two conditions are not met, the grenade will not explode.

Except in very buggy circumstances, a grenade will never explode during a movement phase. Only between them, before either side gets control of their units.

Because of the strict detonation conditions, you can safely hold and carry a grenade even though it's well past its timer setting.

This allows you to arm grenades several turns in advance to avoid the 50% [[Time Units|Time Unit]] arming cost when the grenade is needed the most. As long as the grenades are in your inventory, they will be safe to carry. (Unless the soldier carrying them is killed or rendered unconscious - then the grenades end up on the ground and may explode if the counter has also run out).

== How The Timer is Implemented ==

Ever wondered why the delay settings for the timer begin at 0?

Rather than being assigned a number of turn and then counting down after each movement phase, a grenade is instead assigned a scheduled detonation time. This is a number that equals the current movement phase count plus the delay setting of your choosing.

In short a grenade's 'timer' is really a scheduled detonation time more than a true countdown timer.

If the current movement phase count is greater than this number, the first condition for the grenade to explode will be met and it's cleared to explode.

For example, it's the 120th movement phase (that's 60 turns into the game). You get a soldier to prime a grenade with a delay of 1. The grenade will be given a detonation time of 120 + 1 = 121.

When you end your turn, the turn counter increments to 121. This is equal to the grenade scheduled time. That's fine for now. When the alien's end their turn, the movement phase counter jumps up to 122. This is greater than 121, and thus the grenade's first detonation condition is met. If the grenade was on the ground, it will be able to explode.

If the grenade was held in the hand or inventory past this point, the other condition will not be cleared, so the grenade will not explode until it is dropped and the turn has ended.

=Standard Grenade Experience Attribution=

In order for the game to properly reward experience to soldiers who've harmed enemies with grenades, it assigns an ownership value to every grenade. Unfortunately this only occurs if the grenade is thrown, not when its dropped.

Until thrown, a grenade always refers to the very first unit on the map. (Unit 0 - in unitpos.dat terms). This is either the soldier that starts on the equipment pile, or a HWP if one is on the ship.

=Proximity Grenade Experience Attribution=
Unlike the other grenade types the proximity grenade awards experience to the person that set it off. The mine layer will therefore not earn any experience by using the mine.

= Item Destruction =

== Grenades ==
If an armed grenade is destroyed by another explosion before it can go off, the grenade will no longer exist, thus negating the pending explosion. A stack of armed grenades will therefore only explode once.

X-COM UFO and TFTD vary slightly in this department due to the different object armor levels. In UFO, grenades will be destroyed by other explosions. In TFTD, grenade armor have been enhanced considerably that grenade types are indestructible to explosions from their own types. Some grenades like the [[Sonic Pulser]] have such high armor levels that they are indestructible.

For more information on how explosives can destroy objects in general, refer to [[Explosions#Object_Destruction|Object Destruction]]. Refer also to [[Item Destruction Table (TFTD)| TFTD's item destruction table]] to get the damage thresholds for TFTD's grenades and mines.

== Proximity Mines ==

Due to the odd behaviour of the 20 Armed Proximity Mine flags that govern whether a proximity mine is live or otherwise, a mine that gets destroyed will not clear their armed flag. This has the possibility of passing the armed status onto another object during the battle.

If this flag is not cleared, be extra wary as any item in the battlescape that is on the ground could explode on your approach, with the explosive force of the item's strength (where applicable). The most hilarious consequence of this I have ever seen is a dead X-com agent simulating a popper and blowing up next to an aquatoid.

In TFTD, the mine armor levels are increased a little, so most light explosions should not destroy the mine too easily.

= Article TODOs =

* Section on strategies to briefly mention pre-arming, Dead Man's Trigger, grenade relay, etc. Passing the experience trick. Then linking to the right section.
* Strength, weight, the throwing arc and an invisible ceiling.
* Make a separate companion article called Understanding Proximity Mines
* Cover a few other items mentioned in the Talk pages.
* etc.

Understanding Grenades

2009-07-25T04:25:57Z

Hajo: /* Detonation conditions */

This article aims to provide an in-depth explanation on how the X-Com UFO/TFTD grenade functions.

This article refers to all grenade types but not the proximity grenade unless otherwise noted.

= How the Grenade Timer Works =

The grenade timer can be quite confusing, particularly to new players. What do all the numbers mean? Turn 0? Why did the grenade blow up in 2 turns when you set it to 3?

The confusion stems from the fact that each grenade timer delay settings do not correspond to the number of turns that you see during the alien movement phase. Each time delay in fact represents half a turn. That is not quite right, but it's the easiest way to explain the timer settings.

So how does that work? A grenade will only explode at the end of a move by either the player or the AI. Observe the following delay settings:

0 = Explodes as soon as you end the turn, before the aliens move<br>
1 = Explodes after the aliens end their turn<br>
2 = Explodes at the end of your next turn<br>
3 = Explodes at the end of the aliens' next turn<br>

== Turns and the Grenade Timer In-Depth ==

There are two turn counters that the game keeps track of throughout the battle. One counter that counts how many times each side has moved, and another to store a number that is equal to half of this value. For this article, to simplify the explanation, we'll call these the '''movement phase''' counter and the other the '''round''' counter. To avoid ambiguity, round refers to a group or set, not circle.

The move counter is incremented to count every move made by either the player or the AI. So if you end your move, this counter gets incremented by 1. The aliens then make their move and end their turn. The counter gets incremented again to 2, and your move starts.

Move order is always Player then Aliens. Because the counter starts at 0, we can assume that a counter with an even number will always be the player's movement phase, while an odd number means it's the aliens move phase.

The Round Counter is always equal to half the value of the move counter. For example, if the move counter has totaled up to 6 moves (3 turns have passed), the Round counter will equal 3. As you can see, this counter is the same as the number of turns that have elapsed. A Round is therefore two Movement phases, the player and then the AI.

We never see the moment phase counter, but we can assume that it is always double the value of the turn number.

You probably already see where this is leading: The grenade timer works off the movement phase counter.

Note, there isn't a separate movement phase for civilians - they are controlled by the AI, though they are flagged as a 3rd party. If there was a separate phase, the delay settings would've been in 1/3rds, which would've been even more confusing.

== Detonation conditions ==

A grenade will only explode when '''both''' of these two trigger conditions are met:

# The grenade counter has run out (detailed explanation in next section)
# The grenade is on the ground at the end of the current side's turn

If either of these two conditions are not met, the grenade will not explode.

Except in very buggy circumstances, a grenade will never explode during a movement phase. Only between them, before either side gets control of their units.

Because of the strict detonation conditions, you can safely hold and carry a grenade even though it's well past its timer setting.

This allows you to arm grenades several turns in advance to avoid the 50% [[Time Units|Time Unit]] arming cost when the grenade is needed the most. As long as the grenades are in your inventory, they will be safe to carry. (Unless the soldier carrying them is killed or rendered unconscious - then the grenades end up on the ground and may explode if the counter has also run out).

== How The Timer is Implemented ==

Ever wondered why the delay settings for the timer begin at 0?

Rather than being assigned a number of turn and then counting down after each movement phase, a grenade is instead assign a scheduled detonation time. This is a number that equals the current movement phase count plus the delay setting of your choosing.

In short a grenade's 'timer' is really a scheduled detonation time more than a true countdown timer.

If the current movement phase count is greater than this number, the first condition for the grenade to explode will be met and it's cleared to explode.

For example, it's the 120th movement phase (that's 60 turns into the game). You get a soldier to prime a grenade with a delay of 1. The grenade will be given a detonation time of 120 + 1 = 121.

When you end your turn, the turn counter increments to 121. This is equal to the grenade scheduled time. That's fine for now. When the alien's end their turn, the movement phase counter jumps up to 122. This is greater than 121, and thus the grenade's first detonation condition is met. If the grenade was on the ground, it will be able to explode.

If the grenade was held in the hand or inventory past this point, the other condition will not be cleared, so the grenade will not explode until it is dropped and the turn has ended.

=Standard Grenade Experience Attribution=

In order for the game to properly reward experience to soldiers who've harmed enemies with grenades, it assigns an ownership value to every grenade. Unfortunately this only occurs if the grenade is thrown, not when its dropped.

Until thrown, a grenade always refers to the very first unit on the map. (Unit 0 - in unitpos.dat terms). This is either the soldier that starts on the equipment pile, or a HWP if one is on the ship.

=Proximity Grenade Experience Attribution=
Unlike the other grenade types the proximity grenade awards experience to the person that set it off. The mine layer will therefore not earn any experience by using the mine.

= Item Destruction =

== Grenades ==
If an armed grenade is destroyed by another explosion before it can go off, the grenade will no longer exist, thus negating the pending explosion. A stack of armed grenades will therefore only explode once.

X-COM UFO and TFTD vary slightly in this department due to the different object armor levels. In UFO, grenades will be destroyed by other explosions. In TFTD, grenade armor have been enhanced considerably that grenade types are indestructible to explosions from their own types. Some grenades like the [[Sonic Pulser]] have such high armor levels that they are indestructible.

For more information on how explosives can destroy objects in general, refer to [[Explosions#Object_Destruction|Object Destruction]]. Refer also to [[Item Destruction Table (TFTD)| TFTD's item destruction table]] to get the damage thresholds for TFTD's grenades and mines.

== Proximity Mines ==

Due to the odd behaviour of the 20 Armed Proximity Mine flags that govern whether a proximity mine is live or otherwise, a mine that gets destroyed will not clear their armed flag. This has the possibility of passing the armed status onto another object during the battle.

If this flag is not cleared, be extra wary as any item in the battlescape that is on the ground could explode on your approach, with the explosive force of the item's strength (where applicable). The most hilarious consequence of this I have ever seen is a dead X-com agent simulating a popper and blowing up next to an aquatoid.

In TFTD, the mine armor levels are increased a little, so most light explosions should not destroy the mine too easily.

= Article TODOs =

* Section on strategies to briefly mention pre-arming, Dead Man's Trigger, grenade relay, etc. Passing the experience trick. Then linking to the right section.
* Strength, weight, the throwing arc and an invisible ceiling.
* Make a separate companion article called Understanding Proximity Mines
* Cover a few other items mentioned in the Talk pages.
* etc.

Why civilians go rogue

2009-07-24T19:27:42Z

Hajo:

All units in the [[Info#Battlescape|Battlescape]] have an ownership flag (i.e. belongs to Alien, X-Com, Civilian), and a flag that tells the game that the unit is currently under mind control (which is a binary flag and contains Yes/No, True/False or if you prefer, zero or non-zero values only).

When a unit is mind controlled, the ownership flag is automatically set to the mind controller's side and the temporary mind control flag is set to true.
At the end of the turn, the game checks all units to see if they've got the temporary mind control flag set to true. If found, it is set to false, and then the ownership flag is flipped to the other team's side.

The ownership flags look like the following:

X-Com = 0
Alien = 1
Civilian = 2

On the computer, true/false statements are done with 1's and 0's.
1's are actually meant to be non-zero valus, and can be be any number except 0's.

So, when you mind-control a civilian, their flag changes to Owner = 0, Under Mind Control = 1

At the end of the turn, the game finds that the civilian is under mind control, it sets this to 0 and flips the ownership flag from a 0 to a non-zero. This is done by a simply binary NOT function (or a set of conditional statements that effectively achieve the same thing).

A NOT function simply inverts a zero into non-zeroes, and non-zeroes into zeroes. On the computer a non-zero value is often simply expressed as a 1.

Notice what's going wrong here? It's flipping a 0 into a 1, which is the value for an alien unit instead of remembering what faction the unit originally belonged to. In fact, the game does not store this information at all.

It's almost as if civilians were either added in as an afterthought, or the programmers never ever expected players were going to use mind control on the civilians (aliens don't do it on civilians as a general rule - not that they possibly could not, they just don't have any instructions to do so).

For scoring purposes, civilians killed when they are under civilian control will deduct a certain amount of points from your final score. However, a civilian under alien control (or your control, if you manage to fudge things a bit with [[ExploitsB#Zombie.27s_Permanent_Control_of_Aliens_via_Stunning|Zombie's stun/Mind Control combination]]) will only add or subtract their 'unit value' to the score.
Because their unit value is 0, they cost nothing.

A unit value is a number all your units get that tells the game how much to add or subtract when soldiers or aliens are killed. Civilians have this too.
However scores are also awarded in other ways.

That's it in an overly elaborate nutshell.

==A Good Intention==
'''[the scene]''' Terror mission out near Arkansas, USA. Sectoid Race interrupting the local Hicksville sunday markets where car-parts and moonshine are generally traded. Xcom Command received the terror alert and are just landing on the road one city block away. Skyranger craft equipped with seven local lads who joined up to 'protect America and kick some Alien butt'. The story now unfolds:

'''Sarge:''' Awriight gurls, git orf my ship and kick some ass
[three Soldiers jump off the ramp and take position near the landing gear]

'''Bubba:''' Hey Sarge, I see a god damn varmit!

'''Billy-Ray:''' Careful there Bubba, those yer-aliens, there smart.

'''Sarge:''' Not as smart as me, i'll show em'
[whips out the Psi-amp, whilst Bubba readies a shot from his Laser Rifle]

'''Bubba:''' Damn, I missed ... HOLD UP!. I see some city-folk milling around. GIT AWAY yer fools.
[the cilivians are being attacked with plasma fire from a Sectiod Engineer's pistol]

'''Billy-Ray:''' Sarge! there killin our friends. Don't let them, Sarge!

'''Sarge:''' Hold on to yer hats! I'll git the civvie with ma Psi-Amp and git him away from that no-good alien.
[bravely, Sarge mind-controls the cilivian and leads him to the skyranger]

'''Bubba:''' Hey? What?
[with Sarge now tired from the mind-force, the cilivian is released from the mind-control]

'''Billy-Ray:''' God-damn, what is that cilivian doing? He's not one of ours? Sarge!, whata we do?

'''Sarge:''' KILL IT!....Kill it!, it ain't one of ours!
[Sarge opens with his Pistol, trying to shoot the un-friendly cilivian. Bubba and Billy-Ray follow as well]

'''Bubba:''' DIE! god-damn varmit!
[with the cilivian now dead...]

'''Billy-Ray:''' That city-folk, he turned weird or somethin'. Did ya see the look in his eyes? There were all monster-like.

'''Bubba:''' Hey Sarge? what did ya do?

'''Sarge:''' Don't know, but them city-folk, there not right in the head after we play with it.

'''Bubba:''' Yeah, you'd better not do that again, Sarge.

'''Billy-Ray:''' Hold Up! I see another alien....

That might explain a few things....

= See Also =

Civilian

2009-07-24T19:15:37Z

Hajo: /* Appearance Information */

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

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

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

==Tips on Dealing with Civilians==
If you don't care about [[score]], then let the aliens have their way with civilians. While the aliens shoot at civilians, they aren't shooting at you. But that can mean losing up to 480 points.

If you '''do''' care about score, then your best bet is to [[stun]] any civilian you encounter. This takes them out of the picture as a glitch put them into alien control. However, at this point they are no longer worth points to either side in the conflict. The same happens when using mind control on civilians. See [[why civilians go rogue]] for more information.

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

Keep in mind that you are are only penalized for civilian deaths that occur while X-COM is at the site.

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

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

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

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

Psi Skill 0
Psi Strength 5

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

[[Scoring]]

[[Terror Mission]]s

Chryssalid

2009-07-24T19:12:21Z

Hajo: /* 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.

==General Information==
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 Autocannons or better.

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.

Listen during the alien turn closely. Chryssies howl when they spot a target. This saved the life of one of my ''([[user:amitakartok|amitakartok]])'' soldiers on a Terror Ship: I heard a Chryssie howl, turn around and spotted it eight hexes away.

==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">

==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!
* 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]] chryssies are as vulnerable to ordinary grenades as any other object (which is a good thing, seeing that leaving stunned chryssies 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.
*[[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]]'s can't be turned into Zombies but a Chryssalid attack can still make a mess of them.
* 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.
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 "ressurecting" as a zombie. Regardless however there'll be no corpse left behind.

2nd case, zombification without death 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 critical life, and will very often be a Chryssalid that was knocked unconscious by bonus stun damage from conventional weapon fire. 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!
'''HOWEVER''', 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 Alien Turn 3 will only be able to move and attack during Alien Turn 4.

As commented under [[Zombie]], zombie research teams under controlled conditions have never seen a spontaneous Chrys 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 Chrys immediately afterwards. Run away!

Chryssies 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.

==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]]

Tank/Laser Cannon

2009-07-24T18:54:05Z

Hajo: /* Notes */

[[Image:tank_laser_cannon.png|right|framed|Tank/Laser Cannon]]
[[Image:BIGOBS54.GIF|right|framed|Tank Turret]]
The Tank/Laser Cannon is the first of the tanks that must be manufactured, or third in the [[Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]] hierarchy. It is a byproduct derived from the technologies used in the [[Firestorm]] and craft mounted [[Laser Cannon]].

Though it borrows the old tracked tank torso, and suffers from the same limitations, it is fitted with a much more powerful variant of the [[Heavy Laser]] that is equal in strength to the [[Hovertank/Plasma]]'s turret. It is therefore the most powerful tracked tank available and a most potent weapon against [[Sectopod]]s.

The turret has a limit of 255 shots, but is recharged for free after every battle. The high damage gives a 4.55% chance of breaching an inner UFO wall, giving them a potentially useful role as a low-cost breaching weapon (see [[Destroying Terrain]] for more details).

Tank/Laser Cannons can be produced at a significantly lower cost than the more-advanced hovertanks, and do not require [[Elerium]] in their manufacture. However, they must be produced in a [[workshop]], not bought, and like the Hovertanks, incur a 25 workshop space overhead.

While not as immediately accessible as the standard tanks, the Tank/Laser Cannon are good for mass-produce production - whether for general use or for replacing fallen tanks - while still retaining high firepower. The slightly higher cost over conventional tanks is offset through the lack of ammunition costs

== Vital Statistics ==
<table>
<tr><td>Cost:</td><td>Manufacture only. $500,000</td></tr>
<tr><td>Manufacturing Requirements:</td><td>1200 Engineer hours</td></tr>
<tr><td>Research Requirements:</td><td>Laser Cannon</td></tr>
</table>

{{Tracked Tank Stats }}

{| {{stdTable}}
|- {{stdTable Heading}}
| colspan = "3" | '''Laser Turret Specifications'''
|-
| colspan = "3" {{stdTable Sub Heading}} | '''Ammunition'''
|-
| Type || '''Laser Beam'''
|-
| Damage || '''110 Laser'''
|-
| Rounds || '''255'''
|-
| Purchase Price || '''Free'''
|-
| Sale Price || '''n/a'''
|- {{stdTable Sub Heading}}
| '''Firing Modes'''
| Accuracy
| Cost
|-
| Aimed
| '''85%'''(51%)
| '''75%'''(52)
|-
| Snap
| '''50%'''(30%)
| '''33%'''(23)
|-
| Auto || '''n/a''' || '''n/a'''
|-
|  
|-
| colspan = "3" | <small>Numbers in parenthesis are the actual values after modified by the chassis' abilities. <br />Actual costs are in fixed [[Time Units]]</small>
|}

==Notes==
* Tank/Heavy Lasers have the strongest Laser weapons in the game. This can make all the difference on Ethereal Alien Base Attacks on harder difficulty levels as they are the natural enemy of the [[Sectopod]].
* The laser cannon can penetrate UFO inner walls approximately 4.5% of the time. See [[Destroying Terrain]] for more information.
* Like all the advanced tanks, no research topic needs to be prompted to get the Tank/Laser Cannon. While probably a side-effect of doodles in the margins, it is most definitely a side product of the Firestorm and related craft weapon technology. More time may have been spent on the improved laser weapon due to the lack in foresight in recycling the old tank torso.

== See Also ==

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