UFOpaedia - User contributions [en]

Yet Another Scheme

2015-03-15T15:04:50Z

Schnobs: slight rewrite, nothing really new.

=The way of the Privateer=

Many players try to get a steady production of Laser Cannon off the ground as soon as possible, and fund further activities with the revenue stream from their factories. That's nice and fine and works a treat; however, it's cheesy. Besides, X-Com was founded in order to fight the aliens, not as an arms producer.

Your funding fathers provided you with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque letter of marque] entitling you to intercept, seize, and sell any alien vessel you might encounter. Prizes can generate quite a revenue stream, even a small scout will easily yield over one million. Unfortunately, privateering is not as easy to pull off as just building a number of workshops and (in effect) printing your own money. This guide tries to point out some of the difficulties you may encounter, and how to deal with them.

'''Quick Overview:'''
* You don't produce stuff only for the purpose of selling it. This means you can get along with much fewer workshops; this, in turn, allows you to hire more scientists instead and get research done faster.

* It's loot that pays your bills. So you want to seize as many ships as possible, preferably intact. You will need good troops, and good detection. The latter is a bit difficult to have in the early game, and hence takes up most of this guide.

* You need to take on almost every alien vessel you become aware of. Depending on your personality, dealing with the umpteenth small scout can be a chore, and the overall gameplay experience may become positively boring.

==Immediate measures==

At the beginning of the game, do the usual run-of-the-mill stuff: sell gear you don't need, purchase stuff you want. Build a few base facilities. However, you should maybe be a bit more radical than usual about the abilities of the soldiers you hire. You will fight a great many battles, and this will be much less frustrating if you have good troops.

Personally, I consider reactions to be far and away the most important stat. Of course, the soldiers should have some firing accuracy as well. Mediocre marksmanship can be mitigated to a great extent, and will improve soon enough. The same is true for Time Units and Strength. But there's no way to fake reactions, and training is difficult or virtually impossible if your soldiers don't have high values to begin with.

However, there will be casualties; and loosing one of your precious hand-picked squaddies will be even more frustrating. So it's maybe a good idea to have a few [http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/2007/09/ensign-expendable.html Ensign Expendables] around.

==Find the Enemy==

No matter where you build your initial base, you are guaranteed to have the first aliens show up right on your doorstep. Strangely enough, they will only send small craft, and by the end of January they will cease. Even if you leave the early UFOs alone, there will be no follow-up missions with larger craft. So, after the first windfall (recovering every landed UFO through January will easily provide four or five million worth of loot), you're on your own. Getting your hands on more UFOs (=more revenue) after the initial batch is crucial.

Aliens may show up anywhere on the globe. However, anywhere is not everywhere: every month, they will start one or two missions like "Alien Research in Australasia" or "Alien Harvest in North America". There really is no way to tell where they will go. Alien missions always follow the same basic pattern: first there will be a small scout or two (the first one ussuall doesn't even land), then medium and large scouts (usually more than one each) until eventually larger craft show up, performing the actual mission. This can all take place within less than three weeks, but usually it takes at least five, sometimes up to eight. If you manage to intercept and/or capture one UFO, the follow-up mission will be delayed a few days, but the aliens will eventually pull through with their mission, even when not a single scout ever returns.

===The UFO activity graph===

With the world so large and your funds still limited, perhaps the best you can do ist to pay close attention to the Graphs. Much could be said about how to read it, but you will soon be able to see the difference between a simple flyby and an actual UFO landing. When you notice a landing in a given area, it's a clear indication that more can be expected to happen in that region in the next few weeks.

Over the course of the month, the graph will become more difficult to read; the more so if there already is an alien base anywhere on earth. However, the first few UFOs in any given month will stick out.

===Patrols===

Once you know the approximate area where the enemy will conduct it's missions for the month, send some of your craft to patrol the area for immediate radar coverage. If you think that sounds weird, you haven't tried. Example: If you expect UFO activity in North America, have a [[Skyranger]] patrol over the central US. Alright, so "North America" can be anything from Alaska to Cuba, and craft radar range is nothing to write home about. BUT: within it's limited range, craft radar is frightfully efficient. Given the tendency of UFOs to zigzag over the region before landing, you've got a pretty decent chance that it will at some time come into range of your vessel.

It's a good idea to decomission one Interceptor in favor of a second Skyranger, you may even consider to go without any Interceptor at all. Generally you don't want to shoot down alien craft as long as there is any chance of capturing them in one piece, and two Skyrangers taking turns can provide 24/7 coverage of all but the most remote areas.

===Listening Posts===

Eventually you want listening posts all over the world. At approximately 2 million apiece, it will be quite some time until you've got the world covered. What's worse, they take a long time to build: you may have an idea where the center of alien activity is right now, but there's no telling where it will be by the time your detection systems finally go into service.

Patrols work very well, and will go a long way. It's possible to play and win a game without any ground-based detection systems at all. But in the long run, Hyper-Wave Decoders are so much more convenient.

===The February Famine===

For some reason or other, there often appears to be a distinct lack of alien activity in February. Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on what the random number generator spills out. But it's not at all uncommon that there will be a grand total of only two or three scouts (plus one terror mission) in the entire month. In short: don't rely on having a high income.

==Research and Production==

If you do not want to mass-produce Laser Cannon for for money, you will only need a small number of technicians to provide necessary equipment for your troops: a few laser weapons, armour and (maybe) a handful of medikits. The one workshop you begin with will suffice for a long time, up to and including the production of Flying Suits: it will take about a fortnight to make ten of these. You only really need more production capacity once you have found out how to build your own craft.

Research is more important, though. Weapons, armour, Hyper-Wave Decoder, Psi Labs: you want all of these as soon as possible. Any spare penny should go into the construction of more labs and hiring more scientists.

However, that is "any ''spare'' penny": detection is even more important. The best equipment will do you no good if you can't find any aliens to use it on. The decision whether you can afford scientists because the current radar coverage should do for a while is part of what makes privateering fun.

===High-priority research tasks:===

* Laser Rifles
:If you don't know why, this guide is not for you.

* Psi Labs
:It stands to reason that you want to have your first Psi-Lab report as soon as possible: After the first round of PSI-screening, it usually turns out that about half your soldiers can't stand up to mind controlling aliens. By then, every trooper who's still with you will be a skilled veteran; sacking them will be painful, and training new recruits to the standard you've come to expect will be quite a chore. If one of the early terror missions is Sectoid, capturing the leader becomes the primary objective, simply because it will save you several months until you get your first Psi-Lab report. All troopers are expendable, all other research secondary – get those darn labs.

* Hyper-Wave Decoder
:The latest and best in Alien Detection. You want it anyway; getting it early will save lots of cash you don't need to spend on (soon obsolete) radar systems. It requires you capture a live navigator, but that's usually not that hard to pull off.

* Armour
:Although armour is important, it's not top of the list: getting it a little sooner or later really means only one or two more missions you will need to fight without. So you can relax – a bit. Although Body Armour is still insufficient, you should hand out at least some of these while waiting for Flight Suits. You may safely skip Power Suits, though.

* Mind Probe
:Mind Probes take a long time to research, and are generally rather useless. After all, you can predict with reasonable accuracy that the interesting aliens will be on the bridge of any given UFO. However, there's one scenario where Mind Probes can make all the difference: when you try to pick out the leader on a sectoid terror site. This may never become necessary, though; and even if, it's not guaranteed that it will lead to success (with all those cyberdiscs around, the leader may die in an accidental explosion or whatnot). Research of Mind Probes should hence either be high on the queue or postponed until your scientists have nothing else to do.

===What you don't need just now===

* Plasma Weapons
:The Laser Rifle will go a long way. You can postpone research on Heavy Plasma until either: a) you have the Avenger and want Plasma Beams or b) the first Smakemen or Mutons have been sighted.

* Motion Scanner and Medi Kit
:Both can come in handy at times, but really, armour is more important. First things first.

* Laser Cannon
: The sole use of Laser Cannon is to give your engineers something to do while you have no other assignments; as long as you have only comparatively few technicians, you won't lose much if you busy them with (say) Laser Pistols instead.

==Bases==

===Placement===

South Italy, Crete, or east Turkey rank high among the best places for the starting base. For starters, a base there will cover Europe, North Africa and a large part of Central Asia – that's three out of the eleven areas. In addition: provided you detect an UFO early during it's mission, a Europe-based Skyranger can reach any point in the old world and much of the Americas in time before the aliens take off and leave for good. Alaska, Chile and Malaysia mark about the outer fringe.

If you're unlucky the Aliens will schedule a mission in Australasia. Your only chance is to build a base complete with hangar, quarters etc and either relocate your squad or hire a wholly new one. Yes, that's a lot of dough, but ultimately worth it. If you manage to seize a single Harvester that way, the bill is paid.

===Development===

Most bases can be mere listening posts, consisting of nothing but the access lift and a small radar at first. You certainly want to add Hyper-Wave Decoders as soon as possible, but those cost a lot of money and it may take a while. However, you should build a string of general stores at your first listening post: when the time comes you can quickly expand this to a large production plant. Research is best left at your initial base.

Later you may want to station a number of Firestorms at every base, but that's beyond the scope of this document.

===Random Tips===
* Playing many battles can become tedious once your soldiers are skilled and well-equipped; you may want to check out [[XcomUtil]], if only for it's "AutoCombat" feature. Although I found Statstrings invaluable, too.

* Sell the loot! For every item in storage, the question is not if it might come in handy someday, but if you will need it anytime soon. If you don't, then by all means sell it: you'll recover another one soon enough. There's no point in stockpiling power supplies or even alien alloys, certainly not in January and arguably not even later in the game. By the time you get to build your own craft, you'll seize about one scout per week, and at least two large vessels per month. You may even find yourself holding excess Elerium-115.

[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Personal Armour

2015-03-15T13:03:45Z

Schnobs:

Once you've researched [[Alien Alloys]], you will be able to research '''Personal Armour''', which is a huge improvement over the standard coveralls.

Without armor, nearly every hit will be fatal; with personal armour, there's at least a chance of the soldier remaining unscathed, or being hospitalized only for days, rather than weeks or months. It can be researched early, is inexpensive, fast to produce, and much better than nothing. It is worthwhile to hand out these even if you expect them to be obsolete within a month.

This armor is used in ''[[X-COM|UFO: Enemy Unknown]]''. In ''[[TFTD|Terror from the Deep]]'', the [[Plastic Aqua Armor]] is the equivalent.

== Statistics ==
<center>
<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="30%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Facing</th>
<th>Protection</th></tr>
<tr><td>Front</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Right</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Left</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>Rear</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td>Under</td><td>30</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
Due to a bug when units are spawned, soldiers wearing Personal Armour are treated as though they are wearing Power Armor when damage modifiers are applied -- but a [[Power Suit]] or better is needed against [[stun]] damage from smoke.

Cost to Produce: 22'000

Man hours necessary: 800

Sell Value: 54000

==Images==
[[Image:PersonalArmour.gif|Personal Armour]]

==See also==
*[[Coveralls]]
*[[Power Suit]]
*[[Flying Suit]]

{{Equipment (UFO Defense) Navbar}}
[[Category:Armour]]
[[Category:Research (EU)]]
[[Category:Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense]]

Alien Submarines

2009-01-11T17:40:46Z

Schnobs: /* USO Overview */

The '''USOs''' used by the aliens are big, blocky, shapes which resemble sea creatures and lack most forms of aerodynamics. They are able to dive and fly at breakneck speeds through the power of [[Zrbite]] and the resiliency of [[Aqua Plastics]]. USOs come in a variety of forms ranging from the tiny Survey Ships right up to the massive Dreadnoughts.

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

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

==USO Overview==
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
! Craft !! Size !! Max Speed !! Weapon Power !! Weapon Range !! Damage Capacity !! UFO Grounded points !! ~Crew !! ~Loot
|- align="right"
| [[Survey Ship]] ||Very Small || 2,000 || 0 || 0 || 60 || 50|| 1 || 500k
|- align="right"
| [[Escort]] || Small || 2,800 || 30 || 13 || 300 || 75 || 6 || 1.8M
|- align="right"
| [[Cruiser]] || Small || 2,600 || 25 || 35 || 300 || 125 || 9 || 2.2M
|- align="right"
| [[Heavy Cruiser]] || Medium || 3,800 || 60 || 20 || 450 || 250 || 15 || 3.5M
|- align="right"
| [[Hunter]] || Medium || 4,500 || 50 || 18 || 500 || 250 || 13 || 3.6M
|- align="right"
| [[Fleet Supply Cruiser]] || Large || 3,400 || 70 || 38 || 2,000 || 400 || 15 || 5.7M
|- align="right"
| [[Battleship (TFTD)|Battleship]] || Large || 4,200 || 120 || 50 || 1,400 || 500 || 9+5 || 5.0M
|- align="right"
| [[Dreadnought]] || Very Large || 4,800 || 140 || 60 || 3,400 || 700 || 16+3 || 8.5M
|}

Comments:
* Weapon Range: figures given in the in-game [[UFOpaedia]] are a factor of 8 too high. The values in this table have been corrected so they are comparable to [[Sub_Armaments|Sub Armament]] ranges.
* Crew numbers depend on difficulty level as well as luck. Your mileage will vary.
* Loot is the monetary value of recovering such a USO if you sell almost everything. This includes dead bodies and their former gear, so the figure is only a rough approximation.

== Weapons vs. USOs ==

<center>
<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="80%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Craft</th>
<th>Vmax</th></tr>

<tr><td>[[Barracuda]]</td><td>2400</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Manta]]</td><td>4600</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Hammerhead]]</td><td>4030</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Leviathan]]</td><td>5800</td></tr>
</table>
</center>

<center>
<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="80%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Armament</th>
<th>Damage</th>
<th>Range (km)</th>
<th>Accuracy</th>
<th>Reload Time (s)</th>
<th>Shots</th></tr>

<tr><td>Craft Gas Cannon</td><td>15</td><td>8</td><td>25%</td><td>3</td><td>200</td></tr>
<tr><td>AJAX</td><td>60</td><td>32</td><td>70%</td><td>17</td><td>6</td></tr>
<tr><td>D.U.P. Head</td><td>110</td><td>50</td><td>80%</td><td>21</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Gauss Cannon</td><td>90</td><td>20</td><td>35%</td><td>4</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sonic Oscillator</td><td>150</td><td>55</td><td>50%</td><td>5</td><td>100</td></tr>
<tr><td>P.W.T. Cannon</td><td>200</td><td>60</td><td>100%</td><td>28</td><td>2</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
If your craft is faster, the USO cannot escape; if your weapons have a higher range than the USO, you'll be entirely safe from return fire.

* Sonic Oscillators can safely be used (even by Barracudas) against any USOs except Dreadnoughts. Even against Dreadnoughts, Sonic Oscillators are better than P.W.T. Launchers because a minimum of ''four'' P.W.T.-armed craft are required to down a Dreadnought.

== Subs vs. USOs ==

* The Barracuda can always catch Survey Ships for the Barracuda is faster, but it often cannot dive deep enough to engage its target.
* The Manta is faster than all USOs EXCEPT the Dreadnought.
* The Hammerhead can intercept all USOs except the Hunter, the Battleship, and the Dreadnought, which must slow down in order for the Hammerhead to catch up.
* The Leviathan is 1000 speed units faster than even the mighty Dreadnought and can intercept all alien USOs.
 

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

Statstrings

2009-01-06T18:39:54Z

Schnobs:

Statstrings allow to automatically rename your soldiers in such a way that some of their stats (such as firing accuracy, reactions, strength...) are reflected in their name. For example, "Anton Miller /wmr" would be a ''w''eak good ''m''arksman of decent ''r''eactions. However, like almost everything in XcomUtil, this is fully configurable. Custom sets of statstring definitions can be found here.

=Syntax=

The entry '''w s:-25''' would add the a "w" to the name of any soldier whose strength is 25 or less. As you can guess, "w" means "weak".

An statstrings entry consists of two parts:
* first, the statstring that will be added to a soldiers' name. It can be anything you like, but should better be short.
* second, the condition to trigger that string which itself is made up of two parts: a one-letter handle for the stat, and the experience range.
Note that these are ranges: lower boundary, dash, upper boundary. Either one can be omitted if the range should be open-end. So 30-50 means "from thirty to fifty", -25 means "anything below 26" (and is equal to 0-25) and 60- means "sixty or higher" (equal to 60-255). 42, unsurprisingly, would mean "a value of exactly 42".

Single character strings accumulate. But any string with more than one character will end the search right there and no further strings will be added to the name. The strings are parsed in the order they are written in the XcomUtil.cfg file.

=Working Examples=
==The default configuration:==

Open XcomUtil.cfg with any text editor. The section on Statstrings is at around line 1200 (and can be easisly found if you search for "statstrings"). This is the default configuration as it comes out of the box. The comments have been added to make it more readable, but the actual data has not been changed. In case you messed things up and forgot to make a backup, you can copy-and-pase the following code:

NameStats
StatStrings

x p:-30 //Psi strength (resistance) 30 or less
P p:80- //virtually immune to Psi attacks
p p:60-79 //reasonably safe from Psi
K k:60- //high Psi Skill
k k:30-59 //good Psi Skill
b b:60- //very brave
c b:-10 //coward
w s:-25 //weak

Snpr f:60- r:60-

M f:70- //Marksman
m f:60-69

Sct r:50- d:60-

R r:60- //Reactions
r r:50-59

The main problem with the default scheme is that sooner or later, most of your soldiers will become a "Snpr". The same string for everyone is like having no string at all.

==Simple Numeric StatStrings==

Instead of Mnemnonics, many people prefer to have actual figures displayed. Like: firing accuracy from 45-54 becomes a "5", from 55-64 is a "6" and so on. The following statstrings will do just that, first digit is Firing Accuracy, second reactions, so "Anton Miller /45" would a Soldier whose firing accuracy is about 40, and reactions about 50. Just copy and paste this into the statstrings section of you XcomUtil.cfg file:

1 f:0-14
2 f:15-24
3 f:25-34
4 f:35-44
5 f:45-54
6 f:55-64
7 f:65-74
8 f:75-84
9 f:85-94

1 r:0-14
2 r:15-24
3 r:25-34
4 r:35-44
5 r:45-54
6 r:55-64
7 r:65-74
8 r:75-84
9 r:85-94

==Detailed numeric strings==

I've been using the above scheme for a while, but noticed that I don't really care what the actual firing accuracy of any given soldier is – all I want to know is who's better or worse than the next man. In the following example, it's no longer easy to map the strings back to actual stats; higher numbers indicate better soldiers, that's all.

I habitually only hire sodliers with 50+ in both reactions and firing accuracy: anyone who doesn't meet these requirements will have a dash added to the name.

Again, you can copy this into your config file if you want to give it a try.

NameStats
StatStrings

- f:0-49
1 f:50-54
2 f:55-60
3 f:61-64
4 f:65-70
5 f:71-75
6 f:76-80
7 f:81-85
8 f:86-90
9 f:91-95
a f:96-100
b f:101-105
c f:106-110
d f:111-115
e f:116-

- r:0-45
0 r:46-49
1 r:50-53
2 r:54-57
3 r:58-61
4 r:62-65
5 r:66-69
6 r:70-73
7 r:74-77
8 r:78-81
9 r:82-85
a r:86-89
b r:90-93
c r:94-97
d r:98-100
e r:101-

W s:0-19 //weak. can only carry Rifle + clips OR Laser Rifle + grenade
w s:20-25 //additional Medikit or Stun Rod or grenades possible
n s:26-30 //normal. no problems with standard gear
h s:31-40 //heavy cannon or auto-cannon, each plus spare clip
H s:41- //can handle 4 Large Rockets + Launcher

1 p:0-15
2 p:16-25
3 p:26-35
4 p:36-44
5 p:45-54
6 p:55-64
7 p:65-74
8 p:75-84
9 p:85-

0 k:1-15
2 k:16-24
3 k:25-34
4 k:35-44
5 k:45-54
6 k:55-64
7 k:65-74
8 k:75-84
9 k:85-

This results in Soldier names like "Anton Karas /13n" (before Psionic Training) or "Grace Kelly /41H81" (after Psi abilities have been unveiled). The scheme is: 
firing accuracy - reactions - strength - Psi strength (resistance) - Psi skill

Notes:
* I wanted to use W-w-n-s-S for weak-normal-strong, but it's impossible to distiguish an S from a 5 which really looks weird. So I settled on H for "heavy gear" instead.
* values for Firing accuracy and reactions are pseudo-hexadecimal, 1-9 then a-e; it may be that the sudden appearance of letters where you're used to numbers may look strange. I don't know, because my soldiers never become that good.

==See Also==
*[[XcomUtil]]

Tricks, Tips and Hints

2009-01-06T16:40:06Z

Schnobs: /* Geoscape Strategy */ Added the privateering guide

== Battlescape Tactics ==
* [[Reaction fire formula]]
* [[Reaction fire triggers]]
* [[Scouting]] - The few. The brave. The twitchy.
* [[Field Manual: HWP]]
* [[Field Manual: Terrain]]
* [[Morale]] - Don't Panic. Assign a [[Rear Commander]].
* [[Saving]] - Cheat or Necessity?
* [[Reaction Training]]
* [[Experience Training]]
* [[Laser Pistol Gifts]] - The Best way to train reaction stat.
* [[Time Management]] - Time, time is on your side, yes it is...
* [[Grenade Relay]] - Hot potato fun
* [[Destroying Terrain]]
* When bringing that alien down, listen for the death scream. If you don't hear that sound, the [[Chryssalid]] may only be [[unconscious]]. Follow up with a [[grenade]].

== Geoscape Strategy ==
[[Research Tips]]

[[Warlord's Foolproof Plan]]

[[Starting Your Shadowy Paramilitary Organization]] - A Beginner's Guide

[[Yet Another Scheme|The way of the Privateer]] - If you think mass-producing Laser Cannon is cheesy

=== Logistics ===
* [[Managing the Item Limit]] - To make a lean mean fighting machine and eliminate redundancies at the same time.
* [[Spring Cleaning Tips]] - Learning to cope and deal with the pressure of cleaning out the thousands of ammo clips littering the HWP closests and hallways, and deciding on what to keep.

=== Build Order ===
* On higher difficulty levels, you'll want to make your base defensible early in the game. See [[Base Layout Strategy|Overhauling The Starter Base]].
* Your first base will need [[General Stores|Stores]], [[Alien Containment]], and [[Living Quarters]] very quickly.
* If you have the cash, you can start these three simultaneously.
* You will also want an additional [[Laboratory]] as lots of scientists working is key to advancing quickly. 50 scientists will keep up with almost all your needs; 100 scientists may be overkill.

''[[User:Jasonred|Jasonred]] : Though I sometimes find even 200 scientists inadequate to my greed... er, I meant need. Especially if I've just captured an Ethereal or Sectoid leader and want Psi. Or the aliens are going battleship crazy and I want Avengers to shoot them down. Or if I capture myself a Navigator and can soon replace those stupid radars with Hyperwave Decoders! Or... if all those happen at the same time, as often happens...''

=== Manufacturing Base ===
* When you have an extra 4 million or so, start a second base on another continent, and dedicate one to research (keep all scientists here) and one to manufacturing (keep all engineers here).
* If your original base is dedicated to research, wait until the Workshop, Stores, and Living Quarters are complete in your new base, then transfer your engineers and dismantle the old base's Workshop to make room for Laboratories.
* Manufacturing Bases will need a spare hangar to build new Craft.
* Don't forget a garrison force of soldiers, and weapons for same.
* If you're confident about your cash flow, you can start building another base as early as $1.5 million, since, to build a secure base, you're only going to be building one general stores and possibly a hangar to start. Building a secure base, you're unlikely to have more than 4-7 modules built by the end of the month, methinks.
* more to follow.

=== Base Locations ===
* In terms of radar coverage of wealthy funding countries, your first two bases should go into Europe (covering Britain to Africa) and North America (USA, Canada, Mexico). Both these bases should have Interceptors and Skyrangers.
*A fairly standard base build order might be Europe, North America, China, Africa, South America, Australia, North Pole, South Pole - covering the major funding areas first, and then filling in all the remaining landmass at the end. The only gap in the coverage of such a layout is the central Pacific region.
*Alternatively, you may keep about 2 Million into February and, one week into the month or so, check the "UFO activity" [[Graph]]. You don't want to disappoint the US, of course, but what good is a base in north America if the Aliens busy themselves in Asia? The graph indicates where the aliens really are. If you start construction in early February, you'll miss out on the early scouts preparing the field. But the large radar will be finished in time to pick up the Harvesters, Abductors &c.
[[Category: Tactics]]

Yet Another Scheme

2009-01-06T16:36:50Z

Schnobs:

=The way of the Privateer=

Many players try to get a steady production of Laser Cannon off the ground as soon as possible, and fund further activities with the revenue stream from their factories. That's nice and fine and works a treat; however, it's cheesy. Besides, X-Com was founded in order to fight the aliens, not as an arms producer.

Your funding fathers provided you with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque letter of marque] entitling you to intercept, seize, and sell any alien vessel you might encounter. Prizes can generate quite an revenue stream, even a small scout will easily yield over one million. Unfortunately, privateering is not as easy to pull off as just building a number of workshops and (in effect) printing your own money. This guide tries to point out some of the difficulties you may encounter, and how to deal with them.

'''Quick Overview:'''
* You don't produce stuff only for the purpose of selling it. This means you can get along with much fewer workshops; this, in turn, allows you to hire more scientists instead and get research done faster.

* It's loot that pays your bills. So you want to seize as many ships as possible, preferably intact. You will need good troops, and good detection. The latter is a bit difficult to have in the early game, and hence takes up most of this guide.

==Immediate measures==

At the beginning of the game, do the usual run-of-the-mill stuff: sell gear you don't need, purchase stuff you want. Build a few base facilities. However, you should maybe be a bit more radical than usual about the abilities of the soldiers you hire. You will fight a great many battles, and this will be much less frustrating if you have good troops.

Personally, I consider reactions to be far and away the most important stat. Of course, the soldiers should have some firing accuracy as well. However, mediocre marksmanship can be mitigated to a great extent, and will improve soon enough. The same is true for Time Units and Strength. But there's no way to fake reactions, and training is difficult or virtually impossible if your soldiers don't have high values to begin with.

However, there will be casualties; and loosing one of your precious hand-picked squaddies will be even more frustrating. So it's maybe a good idea to have a few [http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/2007/09/ensign-expendable.html Ensign Expendables] around.

==Find the Enemy==

No matter where you build your initial base, you are guaranteed to have the first aliens show up right on your doorstep. Strangely enough, they will only send small craft, and by the end of January they will cease. Even if you leave the early UFOs alone, there will be no follow-up missions with larger craft. So, after the first windfall (recovering every landed UFO through January will easily provide four or five million worth of loot), you're on your own. Getting your hands on more UFOs (=more revenue) after the initial batch is crucial.

Aliens may show up anywhere on the globe. However, anywhere is not everywhere: every month, they will start one or two missions like "Alien Research in Australasia" or "Alien Harvest in North America". There really is no way to tell where they will go. Alien missions always follow the same basic pattern: first there will be a survey ship (that maybe doesn't even land), then medium and large scouts (usually more than one each) until eventually larger craft show up, performing the actual mission. This can all take place within less than three weeks, but usually it takes at least five, sometimes up to eight. If you manage to intercept one UFO, the follow-up mission will be delayed a few days.

===The UFO activity graph===

With the world so large and your funds still limited, perhaps the best you can do ist to pay close attention to the Graphs. Much could be said about how to read it, but you will soon be able to see the difference between a simple flyby and an actual UFO landing. When you notice a landing in a given area, it's a clear indication that more can be expected to happen in that region in the next few weeks.

Over the course of the month, the graph will become more difficult to read; the more so if there already is an alien base anywhere on earth. However, the first few UFOs in any given month will stick out.

===Patrols===

Once you know the approximate area where the enemy will conduct it's missions for the month, send some of your craft to patrol the area for immediate radar coverage. If you think that sounds weird, you haven't tried. Example: If you expect UFO activity in North America, have a [[Skyranger]] patrol over the central US. Alright, so "North America" can be anything from Alaska to Cuba, and craft radar range is nothing to write home about. BUT: within it's limited range, craft radar is frightfully efficient. Given the tendency of UFOs to zigzag over the region before landing, you've got a pretty decent chance that it will at some time come into range of your vessel.

It's a good idea to decomission one Interceptor in favor of a second Skyranger, you may even consider to go without any Interceptor at all. Generally you don't want to shoot down alien craft as long as there is any chance of capturing them in one piece, and two Skyrangers taking turns can provide 24/7 coverage of all but the most remote areas.

===Listening Posts===

Eventually you want listening posts all over the world. At approximately 2 million apiece, it will be quite some time until you've got the world covered. What's worse, they take a long time to build: you may have an idea where the center of alien activity is right now, but there's no telling where it will be by the time your detection systems finally go into service.

Patrols work very well, and will go a long way. It's possible to play and win a game without any ground-based detection systems at all. But in the long run, Hyper-Wave Decoders are so much more convenient.

===The February Famine===

For some reason or other, there often appears to be a distinct lack of alien activity in February. Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on what the random number generator spills out. But it's not at all uncommon that there will be a grand total of only two or three scouts (plus one terror mission) in the entire month. In short: don't rely on having a high income.

==Research and Production==

If you do not want to mass-produce Laser Cannon for for money, you will only need a small number of technicians to provide necessary equipment for your troops: a few laser weapons, armour and (maybe) a handful of medikits. The one workshop you begin with will suffice for a long time, up to and including the production of Flying Suits: it will take about a fortnight to make ten of these. You only really need more production capacity once you have found out how to build your own craft.

Research is more important, though. Weapons, armour, Hyper-Wave Decoder, Psi Labs: you want all of these as soon as possible. Any spare penny should go into the construction of more labs and hiring more scientists.

However, that is "any ''spare'' penny": detection is even more important. The best equipment will do you no good if you can't find any aliens to use it on. The decision whether you can afford scientists because the current radar coverage should do for a while is part of what makes privateering fun.

===High-priority research tasks:===

* Laser Rifles
:You really need that firepower.

* Psi Labs
:Usually, PSI-capable aliens don't show up until three or four months into the game. Researching and building Psi-Labs, then finally assessing your soldiers, this all takes time – your squaddies will have numerous missions under their belly with everyone being a super-hero by the time you find out that half of them are duds after all. If one of the early terror missions is Sectoid, capturing the leader becomes the primary objective, simply because it will save you several months until you get your first Psi-Lab report. All troopers are expendable, all other research secondary – get those darn labs.

* Hyper-Wave Decoder
:The latest and best in Alien Detection. You want it anyway; getting it early will save lots of cash you don't need to spend on (soon obsolete) radar systems. It requires you capture a live navigator, but that's usually not that hard to pull off.

* Armour
:Although armour is vital, it's not top of the list: getting it two weeks sooner or later really means only one or two more missions you will need to fight without. So you can relax – a bit. Although Body Armour is still insufficient, you should hand out at least some of these while waiting for Flight Suits. You may safely skip Power Suits, though.

* Mind Probe
:Mind Probes take a long time to research, and are generally rather useless. After all, you can predict with reasonable accuracy that the interesting aliens will be on the bridge of any given UFO. However, there's one scenario where Mind Probes can make all the difference: when you try to pick out the leader on a sectoid terror site. This may never become necessary, though; and even if, it's not guaranteed that it will lead to success (with all those cyberdiscs around, the leader may die in an accidental explosion or whatnot). Research of Mind Probes should hence either be high on the queue or postponed until your scientists have nothing else to do.

===What you don't need just now===

* Plasma Weapons
:The Laser Rifle will go a long way. You can postpone research on Heavy Plasma until either: a) you have the Avenger and want Plasma Beams or b) the first Smakemen or Mutons have been sighted.

* Motion Scanner and Medi Kit
:Both can come in handy at times, but really, armour is more important. First things first.

* Laser Cannon
: The sole use of Laser Cannon is to give your engineers something to do while you have no other assignments; as long as you have only comparatively few technicians, you won't lose much if you busy them with (say) Laser Pistols instead.

==Bases==

===Placement===

South Italy, Crete, or east Turkey rank high among the best places for the starting base. For starters, a base there will cover Europe, North Africa and a large part of Central Asia – that's three out of the eleven areas. In addition: provided you detect an UFO early during it's mission, a Europe-based Skyranger can reach any point in the old world and much of the Americas in time before the aliens take off and leave for good. Alaska, Chile and Malaysia mark about the outer fringe.

If you're unlucky the Aliens will schedule a mission in Australasia. Your only chance is to build a base complete with hangar, quarters etc and either relocate your squad or hire a wholly new one. Yes, that's a lot of dough, but ultimately worth it. If you manage to seize a single Harvester that way, the bill is paid.

===Development===

Most bases can be mere listening posts, consisting of nothing but the access lift and a small radar at first. You certainly want to add Hyper-Wave Decoders as soon as possible, but those cost a lot of money and it may take a while. However, you should build a string of general stores at your first listening post: when the time comes you can quickly expand this to a large production plant. Research is best left at your initial base.

Later you may want to station a number of Firestorms at every base, but that's beyond the scope of this document.

===Random Tips===
* You really need that cash from the umpteenth small scout, but playing so many battles can become tedious; you may want to check out [[XcomUtil]], if only for it's "AutoCombat" feature. Although I found Statstrings invaluable, too.

* Sell the loot! For every item in storage, you shouldn't ask whether you will need it someday, but if you will need it anytime soon. Will you really research that power source this week, or the next? If the answer is no, then by all means sell it: you'll recover another one soon enough. The habit of keeping "one of everything" ties up a lot of cash; money that could buy you another listening post, hire more staff, or whatnot.

Yet Another Scheme

2009-01-04T19:45:03Z

Schnobs:

=The way of the Privateer=

Many players try to get a steady production of Laser Cannon off the ground as soon as possible, and fund further activities with the revenue stream from their factories. That's nice and fine and works a treat; however, it's cheesy. Besides, X-Com was founded in order to fight the aliens, not as an arms producer.

Your funding fathers provided you with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque letter of marque] entitling you to intercept, seize, and sell any alien vessel you might encounter. Prizes can generate quite an revenue stream, even a small scout will easily yield over one million. Unfortunately, privateering is not as easy to pull off as just building a number of workshops and (in effect) printing your own money. This guide tries to point out some of the difficulties you may encounter, and how to deal with them.

'''Quick Overview:'''
* You don't produce stuff only for the purpose of selling it. This means you can get along with much fewer workshops; this, in turn, allows you to hire more scientists instead and get you research done faster.

* It's loot that pays your bills. So you want to seize as many ships as possible, preferably intact. You will need good troops, and good detection. The latter is the most difficult part in the early game.

==Immediate measures==

At the beginning of the game, do the usual run-of-the-mill stuff: sell gear you don't need, purchase stuff you want. Build a few base facilities. However, you should maybe be a bit more radical than usual about the abilities of the soldiers you hire. You will fight a great many battles, and this will be much less frustrating if you have good troops.

Personally, I consider reactions to be far and away the most important stat. Of course, the soldiers should have some firing accuracy as well. However, mediocre marksmanship can be mitigated to a great extent, and will improve soon enough. The same is true for Time Units and Strength. But there's no way to fake reactions, and training is difficult or virtually impossible if your soldiers don't have high values to begin with.

However, there will be casualties; and loosing one of your precious hand-picked squaddies will be even more frustrating. So it's maybe a good idea to have a few [http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/2007/09/ensign-expendable.html Ensign Expendables] around.

==Find the Enemy==

No matter where you build your initial base, you are guaranteed to have the first aliens show up right on your doorstep. Strangely enough, they will only send small craft, and by the end of January they will cease. Even if you leave the early UFOs alone, there will be no follow-up missions with larger craft. So, after the first windfall (recovering every landed UFO through January will easily provide four or five million worth of loot), you're on your own. Getting your hands on more UFOs (=more revenue) after the initial batch is crucial.

Aliens may show up anywhere on the globe. However, anywhere is not everywhere: they will perform one or (at best) two missions like "Alien Research in Australasia" or "Alien Harvest in North America". There really is no way to tell where they will go. Alien missions always follow the same basic pattern: first there will be a survey ship (that maybe doesn't even land), then medium and large scouts (usually more than one each) until eventually larger craft show up, performing the actual mission. This can all take place within less than three weeks, but usually it takes at least five, sometimes up to eight. If you manage to intercept one UFO, the follow-up mission will be delayed a few days.

===The UFO activity graph===

With the world so large and your funds still limited, perhaps the best you can do ist to pay close attention to the Graphs. Much could be said about how to read it, but you will soon be able to see the difference between a simple flyby and an actual UFO landing. When you notice a landing in a given area, it's a clear indication that more can be expected to happen in that region in the next few weeks.

Over the course of the month, the graph will become more difficult to read; the more so if there already is an alien base anywhere on earth. However, the first few UFOs in any given month will stick out.

===Patrols===

Once you know the approximate area where the enemy will cunduct it's missions for the month, send some of your craft to patrol the area for immediate radar coverage. If you think that sounds weird, you haven't tried. Example: If you expect UFO activity in North America, have a [[Skyranger]] patrol over the central US. Alright, so "North America" can be anything from Alaska to Cuba, and craft radar range is nothing to write home about. BUT: within it's limited range, craft radar is frightfully efficient. Given the tendency of UFOs to zigzag over the region before landing, you've got a pretty decent chance that it will at some time come into range of your vessel.

It's a good idea to decomission one Interceptor in favor of a second Skyranger, you may even consider to go without any Interceptor at all. Generally you don't want to shoot down alien craft as long as there is any chance of capturing them in one piece, and two Skyrangers taking turns can provide 24/7 coverage of all but the most remote areas.

===Listening Posts===

Eventually you want listening posts all over the world. At approximatly 2 million apiece, it will be quite some time until you've got the world covered. What's worse, they take a long time to build: you may have an idea where the center of alien activity is right now, but there's no telling where it will be by the time your detection systems finally go into service.

Patrols work very well, and will go a long way. It's possible to play and win a game without any ground-based detection systems at all. But in the long run, Hyper-Wave Decoders are so much more convenient.

===The February Famine===

For some reason or other, there often appears to be a distinct lack of alien activity in February. Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on what the random number generator spills out. But it's not at all uncommon that there will be a grand total of only two or three scouts (plus one terror mission) in the entire month. In short: don't rely on having a high income.

==Research and Production==

If you do not want to mass-produce Laser Cannon for for money, you will only need a small number of technicians to provide necessary equipment for your troops: a few laser weapons, armour and (maybe) a handful of medikits. The one workshop you begin with will suffice for a long time, up to and including the production of Flying Suits: it will take about a fortnight to make ten of these. You only really need more production capacity once you have found out how to build your own craft.

Research is more important, though. Weapons, armour, Hyper-Wave Decoder, Psi Labs: you want all of these as soon as possible. Any spare penny should go into the construction of more labs and hiring more scientists.

However, that is "any ''spare'' penny": detection is even more important. The best equipment will do you no good if you can't find any aliens to use it on. The decision wether you can afford scientists because the current radar coverage should do for a while is part of what makes privateering fun.

===High-priority research tasks:===

* Laser Rifles
:You really need that firepower.

* Psi Labs
:Usually, PSI-capable aliens don't show up until three or four months into the game. Researching and building Psi-Labs, then finally assessing your soldiers, this all takes time – your squaddies will have numerous missions under their belly with everyone being a super-hero by the time you find out that half of them are duds after all. If one of the early terror missions is Sectoid, capturing the leader becomes the primary objective, simply because it will save you several months until you get your first Psi-Lab report. All troopers are expendable, all other research secondary – get those darn labs.

* Hyper-Wave Decoder
:The latest and best in Alien Detection. You want it anyway; getting it early will save lots of cash you don't need to spend on (soon obsolete) radar systems. It requires you capture a live navigator, but that's usually not that hard to pull off.

* Armour
:Although armour is vital, it's not top of the list: getting it two weeks sooner or later really means only one or two more missions you will need to fight without. So you can relax – a bit. Although Body Armour is still insufficient, you should hand out at least some of these while waiting for Flight Suits. You may safely skip Power Suits, though.

* Mind Probe
:Mind Probes take a long time to research, and are generally rather useless. After all, you can predict with reasonable accuracy that the interesting aliens will be on the bridge of any given UFO. However, there's one scenario where Mind Probes can make all the difference: when you try to pick out the leader on a sectoid terror site. This may never become necessary, though; and even if, it's not guaranteed that it will lead to success (with all those cyberdiscs around, the leader may die in an accidental explosion or whatnot). Research of Mind Probes should hence either be high on the queue or postponed until your scientists have nothing else to do.

===What you don't need just now===

* Plasma Weapons
:The Laser Rifle will go a long way. You can postpone research on Heavy Plasma until either: a) you have the Avenger and want Plasma Beams or b) the first Smakemen or Mutons have been sighted.

* Motion Scanner and Medi Kit
:Both can come in handy at times, but really, armour is more important. First things first.

* Laser Cannon
: The sole use of Laser Cannon is to give your engineers something to do while you have no other assignments; as long as you have only comparatively few technicians, you won't lose much if you busy them with (say) Laser Pistols instead.

==Bases==

===Placement===

South Italy, Crete, or east Turkey rank high among the best places for the starting base. For starters, a base there will cover Europe, North Africa and a large part of Central Asia – that's three out of the eleven areas. In addition: provided you detect an UFO early during it's mission, a Europe-based Skyranger can reach any point in the old world and much of the Americas in time before the aliens take off and leave for good. Alaska, Chile and Malaysia mark about the outer fringe.

If you're unlucky the Aliens will schedule a mission in Australasia. Your only chance is to build a base complete with hangar, quarters etc and either relocate your squad or hire a wholly new one. Yes, that's a lot of dough, but ultimately worth it. If you manage to seize a single Harvester that way, the bill is paid.

===Development===

Most bases can be mere listening posts, consisting of nothing but the acess lift and a small radar at first. You certainly want to add Hyper-Wave Decoders as soon as possible, but those cost a lot of money and it may take a while. However, you should build a string of general stores at your first listening post: when the time comes you can quickly expand this to a large production plant. Research is best left at your initial base.

Later you may want to station a number of Firestorms at every base, but that's beyond the scope of this document.

===Random Tips===
* You really need that cash from the umpteenth small scout, but playing so many battles can become tedious; you may want to check out [[XcomUtil]], if only for it's "AutoCombat" feature. Although I found Statstrings invaluable, too.

* Sell the loot! For every item in storage, you shouldn't ask wether you will need it someday, but if you will need it anytime soon. Will you really reseach that power source this week, or the next? If the answer is no, then by all means sell it: you'll recover another one soon enough. The habit of keeping "one of everything" ties up a lot of cash; money that could buy you another listening post, hire more staff, or whatnot.

Yet Another Scheme

2008-04-10T09:35:39Z

Schnobs:

=The way of the Privateer=

Many players try to get a steady production of Laser Cannon off the ground as soon as possible, and fund further activities with the revenue stream from their factories. That's nice and fine and works a treat; however, it's cheesy. Besides, X-Com was founded in order to fight the aliens, not as an arms producer.

Your funding fathers provided you with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque letter of marque] entitling you to intercept, seize, and sell any alien vessel you might encounter. Prizes can generate quite an revenue stream, even a small scout will easily yield over one million. Unfortunately, privateering is not as easy to pull off as just building a number of workshops and (in effect) print your own money. This guide tries to point out some of the difficulties you may encounter, and how to deal with them.

==Immediate measures==

At the beginning of the game, do the usual run-of-the-mill stuff: sell gear you don't need, purchase stuff you want. Build a few base facilities. However, you should maybe be a bit more radical than usual about the abilities of the soldiers you hire. You will fight a great many battles, and this will be much less frustrating if you have good troops.

Personally, I consider reactions to be far and away the most important stat. Of course, the soldiers should have some firing accuracy as well. However, mediocre marksmanship can be mitigated to a great extent, and will improve soon enough. The same is true for Time Units and Strength. But there's no way to fake reactions, and training is difficult or virtually impossible if your soldiers don't have high values to begin with.

However, there will be casualties; and loosing one of your precious hand-picked squaddies will be even more frustrating. So it's maybe a good idea to have a few [http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/2007/09/ensign-expendable.html Ensign Expendables] around.

==Find the Enemy==

No matter where you build your initial base, you are guaranteed to have the first aliens show up right on your doorstep. Strangely enough, they will only send small craft, and by the end of January they will cease. Even if you leave the early UFOs alone, there will be no follow-up missions with larger craft. So, after the first windfall (recovering every landed UFO through January will easily provide four or five million worth of loot), you're on your own. Getting your hands on more UFOs (=more revenue) after the initial batch is crucial.

Aliens may show up anywhere on the globe. However, anywhere is not everywhere: they will perform one or (at best) two missions like "Alien Research in Australasia" or "Alien Harvest in North America". There really is no way to tell where they will go. With the world so large and your funds still limited, you cannot afford to build bases just any old how.

Alien missions always follow the same basic pattern: first there will be a survey ship (that maybe doesn't even land), then medium and large scouts (usually more than one each) until eventually larger craft show up, performing the actual mission. This can all take place within less than three weeks, but usually it takes at least five, sometimes up to two months. If you manage to intercept one UFO, the time until the next one shows up will increase a bit.

===The UFO activity graph===

With the world so large and your funds still limited, perhaps the best you can do ist to pay close attention to the Graphs. Much could be said about how to read it, but you will soon be able to see the difference between a simple flyby and an actual UFO landing. When you notice a landing in a given area, it's a clear indication that more can be expected to happen in that region in the next few weeks.

Over the course of the moth, the graph will become more difficult to read; the more so if there already is an alien base anywhere on earth. However, the first few UFOs in any given month will stick out.

===Patrols===

Once you know the approximate area where the enemy is, send some of your craft to patrol the area for immediate radar coverage. If you think that sounds weird, you haven't tried. Example: If you expect UFO activity in North America, have a [[Skyranger]] patrol over the central US. Alright, so "North America" can be anything from Alaska to Cuba, and craft radar range is nothing to write home about. BUT: within it's limited range, craft radar is frightfully efficient. Given the tendency of UFOs to zigzag over the region before landing, you've got a pretty decent chance that it will at some time come into range of your vessel.

It's a good idea to decomission one Interceptor in favor of a second Skyranger, you may even consider to go without any Interceptor at all. Generally you don't want to shoot down alien craft as long as there is any chance of capturing them in one piece, and two Skyrangers taking turns can provide 24/7 coverage of all but the most remote areas.

===Listening Posts===

Eventually you want listening posts all over the world. At approximatly 2 million apiece, it will be quite some time until you've got the world covered. What's worse, they take a long time to build: you may have an idea where the center of alien activity is right now, but there's no telling where it will be by the time your detection systems finally go into service.

Patrols work very well, and will go a long way. It's possible to play and win a game without any ground-based detection systems at all. But in the long run, Hyper-Wave Decoders are so much more convenient.

===The February Famine===

For some reason or other, there often appears to be a distinct lack of alien activity in February. Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on what the random number generator spills out. But it's not at all uncommon that there will be a grand total of only two or three scouts (plus one terror mission) in the entire month. In short: don't rely on having a high income.

==Research and Production==

If you do not want to build Laser Cannon for for money, you will only need a small number of technicians to provide necessary equipment for your troops: a few laser weapons, armour and (maybe) a handful of medikits. The one workshop you begin with will suffice for a long time, up to and including the production of Flying Suits: it will take about a fortnight to make ten of these. You only really need more production capacity once you have found out how to build your own craft.

Research is more important, though. Weapons, armour, Hyper-Wave Decoder, Psi Labs: you want all of these as soon as possible. Any spare penny should go into the construction of more labs and hiring more scientists.

However, that is "any ''spare'' penny": detection is even more important. The best equipment will do you no good if you can't find any aliens to use it on. The decision wether you can afford scientists because the current radar coverage should do for a while is part of what makes privateering fun.

===High-priority research tasks:===

* Laser Rifles
:You really need that firepower.

* Psi Labs
:Usually, PSI-capable aliens don't show up until three or four months into the game. Researching and building Psi-Labs, then finally assessing your soldiers, this all takes time – your squaddies will have numerous missions under their belly with everyone being a super-hero by the time you find out that half of them are duds after all. If one of the early terror missions is Sectoid, capturing the leader becomes the primary objective, simply because it will save you several months until you get your first Psi-Lab report. All troopers are expendable, all other research secondary – get those darn labs.

* Hyper-Wave Decoder
:The latest and best in Alien Detection. You want it anyway; getting it early will save lots of cash you don't need to spend on (soon obsolete) radar systems. It requires you capture a live navigator, but that's usually not that hard to pull off.

* Armour
:Although armour is vital, it's not top of the list: getting it two weeks sooner or later really means only one or two more missions you will need to fight without. So you can relax – a bit. Although Body Armour is still insufficient, you should hand out at least some of these while waiting for Flight Suits. You may safely skip Power Suits, though.

* Mind Probe
:Mind Probes take a long time to research, and are generally rather useless. After all, you can predict with reasonable accuracy that the interesting aliens will be on the bridge of any given UFO. However, there's one scenario where Mind Probes can make all the difference: when you try to pick out the leader on a sectoid terror site. This may never become necessary, though; and even if, it's not guaranteed that it will lead to success (with all those cyberdiscs around, the leader may die in an accidental explosion or whatnot). Research of Mind Probes should hence either be high on the queue or postponed until your scientists haven't anything else to do.

===What you don't need just now===

* Plasma Weapons
:The Laser Rifle will go a long way. You can postpone research on Heavy Plasma until either: a) you have the Avenger and want Plasma Beams or b) the first Smakemen or Mutons have been sighted.

* Motion Scanner and Medi Kit
:Both can come in handy at times, but really, armour is more important. First things first.

* Laser Cannon
: The sole use of Laser Cannon is to give your engineers something to do while you have no other assignments; as long as you have only comparatively few technicians, you won't lose much if you busy them with (say) Laser Pistols instead.

==Bases==

===Placement===

South Italy, Crete, or east Turkey rank high among the best places for the starting base. For starters, a base there will cover Europe, North Africa and a large part of Central Asia – that's three out of the eleven areas. In addition: provided you detect an UFO early during it's mission, a Europe-based Skyranger can reach any point in the old world and much of the Americas in time before the aliens take off and leave for good. Alaska, Chile and Malaysia mark about the outer fringe.

If you're unlucky the Aliens will schedule a mission in Australasia. Your only chance is to build a base complete with hangar, quarters etc and either relocate your squad or hire a wholly new one. Yes, that's a lot of dough, but ultimately worth it. If you manage to seize a single Harvester that way, the bill is paid.

===Development===

Most bases can be mere listening posts, consisting of nothing but the acess lift and a small radar at first. You certainly want to add Hyper-Wave Decoders as soon as possible, but those cost a lot of money and it may take a while. However, you should build a string of general stores at your first listening post: when the time comes you can quickly expand this to a large production plant. Research is best left at your initial base.

Later you may want to station a number of Firestorms at every base, but that's beyond the scope of this document.

===Random Tips===
* You really need that cash from the umpteenth small scout, but playing so many battles can become tedious; you may want to check out [[XcomUtil]], if only for it's "AutoCombat" feature. Although I found Statstrings invaluable, too.

* Sell the loot! For every item in storage, you shouldn't ask wether you will need it someday, but if you will need it anytime soon. Will you really reseach that power source this week, or the next? If the answer is no, then by all means sell it: you'll recover another one soon enough. The habit of keeping "one of everything" ties up a lot of cash; money that could buy you another listening post, hire more staff, or whatnot.

Talk:Yet Another Scheme

2008-04-09T15:38:53Z

Schnobs: orphan page. rename / link, or delete?

Heya,

right now, this article is just my ramblings. If someone else thinks it's actually useful, there maybe should be a link pointing here (in that case, I'd suggest it to be moved/renamed to "The way of the Privateer"). Otherwise, it ought to be deleted. You decide. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 08:38, 9 April 2008 (PDT)

Talk:UFO Detection

2008-04-09T15:31:56Z

Schnobs: /* Airborne Detection ( the Skyranger AWACS Platform) */

= General Discussion and Editing Comments =

As I was responsible for making this page a lot lengthier recently I thought I would try to reorganise it thematically so it is easier to use and navigate. I hope that's ok with everyone.
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 10:37, 8 March 2008 (PST)

Removed sentence suggesting using the graphs to locate UFOs general area being a 'borderline exploit', after all your base could well come with a telephone so governments can call and tell you that their civilians have been reporting UFOs flying over their terrority. It would seem to be a fairly essential way of defending the rest of the world in the first month or two while you get other bases set up to detect more aliens anyway, otherwise your interceptor would have almost nothing to do with your piddling little single radar covering about 5% of the land surface, and missing half the UFOs that wander over that terrority for 10-12 hours anyway (let alone missing anything fast moving 90-95% of the time). Its not like it is something you want to be doing for long anyway, as its fairly fiddly to keep checking the graphs every hour or so for new contacts.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 15:01, 26 February 2007 (PST)

Added a load here - the detection rates are based on the values in BASE.DAT and some hex editted trials of game saves that bore out that the values there seemed to be percentages. As this value seems to not get increased by building extra radars, this would seem to indicate the suggestions that more than one of each type are useless, but the combo of 1 short/1 long is valid (until hyperwave of course). The range of short radars was done by testing at what point on the map UFOs could get to without disappearing (factoring in that they almost always disappear only when each 30 minutes is up, so positions between those times dont count as part of the range). This assumes that the point at which you lose contact is based on the same range as you can spot them, but I think this is a reasonable assumption.

Note I tried a few things to try to disprove these hypothesis, such as building 20+ large radars in all 8 bases - no clear increase in detection rate over a dozen or more reloads of the same time period (ran for about a day, just to let the existing UFOs move about, and see if any more were seen compared to a similar amount of runs with just 1 radar). Changing the BASE.DAT detection rates for short/long to 100 each saw an immediate increase in detection rate, so it seems these values are what is used by the geoscape. They reset when you complete a build of any new facility it that base, so you could have 100% radars if you wanted, but only if you dont build anything new (or remember to go back and re-edit any time you complete something). Of course if you are doing that, why not just edit a hyperwave decoder in...

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 18:55, 26 February 2007 (PST)

----
We really need to look at the [[Small_Radar|Small]] and [[Large_Radar|Large]] radar pages. Simply put, much of the information in-game doesn't agree with game file analysis. In fact, it normally is in direct disagreement with both game files and the Official Strategy Guide (OSG). Here's a table I drew up a long time ago to show the differences. Please note that the detection ranges listed in the OSG are 1/5 that of in-game, so we can back-calculate it's hypothetical range of 480.

<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="40%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Radar</th>
<th>Det. %</th>
<th>Det. Range</th>
<th>Sweep Rate</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left" {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>Small (in-game)</td><td>5%</td><td>300nm</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>Small (game file)</td><td>10%</td><td>1500nm (OSG)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>Large (in-game)</td><td>5%</td><td>450nm</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>Large (game file)</td><td>20%</td><td>2250nm (OSG)</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>Hyperwave (in game)</td><td>100%</td><td>? (480)</td><td>DNA</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" {{StdDescTable_Heading}}>Hyperwave (game file)</td><td>100%</td><td>2400nm (OSG)</td><td>30</td></tr>
</table>
--[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 19:35, 26 February 2007 (PST)

:I think they now match up mostly to what you have above, with a couple of differences being as they have been calculated experimentally (and fairly roughly) they show some level of deviation, and also there definitely seems to be an extended tracking belt from my tests that is not covered in the table, although its exact size is open to question a little, but it certainly seems to be larger that 1500 for Small Radars.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 21:43, 26 February 2007 (PST)

----

I might have missed some of the discussion, but do UFOs leaving the tracking zone disappear and reappear on the half hour? I've always had the impression that they just dropped off and reappeared instantly the moment they cross into or out of the tracking area's borders.

Can we also work the phantom radar bug somewhere in here? The only reference of it so far has been on my [[User talk:NKF|talk page]] for yonks. I could never think of how to slip it in.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

One thing you might want to check with that bug is that it might go away when you complete any new build on the site, not just a new radar - as when I was playing with setting the radars to 100% detection rates, those got reset with a new build, whether it was another radar, or an alien containment facility (to take the example I happened to test).

If the game files suggest ranges of 1500 miles for the small radar, it then opens the reverse question - in practise I have definitely reguarly had previously detected UFOs move out to larger ranges than that, and wander around for an hour or two without dropping off, which happens almost always once they are outside something closer to 2000 miles. Maybe the detection is fixed to the number in the files, and tracking is an extra 33%. This would seem to make it less likely there is a size of UFO factor (although I guess small or medium might use it at 100%, and battleships might have a >100% factor to increase the range they can be detected in just as easily as having a reduction applied to the smaller craft). Cant really think of any decent way to test this either way though.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 21:29, 26 February 2007 (PST)

Note also that as far as my testing and experience goes, I dont think the UFOs disappear no matter what range they are at, except when the half hour check comes up. One example I saw recently I had an interceptor chase from my only base in Budapest (short radar), I called off the pursuit in central africa (maybe 3000 miles south, well out of short radar range) while the craft was a shortish distance away, but not catching it up. This was at around 20:35, at 21:00 with my craft nearly at the base, the UFO finally disappeared - it had gone past South Africa on the way to Antartica by this point.

I have noticed UFOs disappear off the radar twice in about 40 or 50 tests at other times (and there might well have been more when I wasnt paying attention), but its fairly rare for that to happen, and I would still suggest it is just them ending the mission, rather than anything different happening with the detection/tracking rules.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 21:40, 26 February 2007 (PST)

Well, blow me down, you're right. The stats are reset on the construction of any new facility. Mind you, the thought of testing this with non-radar modules never crossed my mind when I discovered this little bug. It seems to only affect the base where the module was constructed, so it won't change any existing module-less radar effects for other bases.

This certainly reduces the lifespan of the phantom radar a bit. I suppose it can still be useful in two situations, the first is when you're waiting for a new radar to be built but you need the space. The other is once you've finalised the base and no longer want to make any changes to it.

Heh, I've always said that this game often surprises you no matter how much you think you know it inside and out, and that still holds true.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

:Heh, trying to reverse engineer the exact rules and behaviour of a game, especially when you have to factor in both bugs, potentially incomplete cheats being used to do some of the testing in a reasonable time frame, hidden factors, and so on, is always going to be liable to throw up surprises.

:I get the feeling the radar bug is because of the same thing, it checks for range on new builds, but not on destructs or anything else. You could kill off a small and large radar, plus a hyperwave, and have all three continue working as long as you never complete a build again on that base. Of course one of the main reasons you might remove such facilities is to free up space, so its not much of a cheat (except for the maintenance savings, which is trivial in any normal game I have played) unless you directly hex edit (or equivalent) fully built facilities over the top of them rather than building them in game, so you have to cheat to make it a really effective cheat...

:--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 22:10, 26 February 2007 (PST)

==New Version==

Looks really good - only thing I am tempted to move out is the Radar Detection ability table, maybe move it to BASE.DAT and link to it there in case people are interested?

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 21:56, 1 March 2007 (PST)

:Fair point; I brought it in because it was the centerpiece of NKF's original article, but ultimately it's source material, and probably too under-the-hood-ish for this article. I moved it to base.dat.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 22:38, 1 March 2007 (PST)

I hope those changes are OK. Once we are sure that the aircraft range is 600nm and not 700 or 750, can someone change the graphic to show a 1200nm radius? [[User:Spike|Spike]] 11:02, 9 March 2008 (PDT)

:Did you try hex-editing the executable?
.text:004591E9 cmp ax, 0C8h
:is supposed to be the check on distance between the xcom ship and the ufo. If you put something huge and the ship starts detecting stuff on the other side of the planet, then we'll be sure... [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 11:10, 9 March 2008 (PDT)

Yes I checked and you were absolutely right. It's proven, so we should change the main page. I wish I knew how you found that needle in a haystack though! [[User:Spike|Spike]] 16:16, 9 March 2008 (PDT)

== Proposals for changes ==

I propose that we change the main page to state without caveats that the aircraft detection range (vs UFOs) is 600nm, 200 range units. This is because I have used Seb76's patch information to patch those bytes (set to 200) and they definitely control airborne detection range. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 16:22, 9 March 2008 (PDT)

Also, would it be good UFOpaedia etiquette for me to move a lot of my musings over to my User Page rather than here? [[User:Spike|Spike]] 17:20, 9 March 2008 (PDT)

=Detection=

==Losing Contact==

:''If the UFO simply goes beyond your tracking range it will just vanish. If it circles around and re-enters this range, it'll reappear instantly.''

I am reasonably confident this isnt the case, see above notes for how far they can go at times and still not be lost of radar. What might happen is that a detected UFO that leaves covered airspace disappears at the end of a 30 minutes segment. It might then 100% reappear 30 minutes later (or at any later check point) if it comes back inside any of your radar ranges - i.e. you dont have to reroll a 10% chance for a small radar to respot it when it comes back.

This would make a lot of sense - it could explain why craft radar seem so good at spotting UFOs, i.e. because you usually send craft after an already spotted UFO. This would suggest that craft might not be so much better at spotting UFOs (they might be anyway) because of this effect. If this model of detection/tracking behaviour is correct it breaks down like this:

*Previously undetected UFOs, use the basic range of 1500/2250 for radars, and you must roll your 10/20/30% chance to spot it every 30 minutes
*Previously detected UFOs, inside the (33%) extended tracking range at a 30 minute tracking checkpoint will always stay detected, no new roll is needed
*Previously detected UFOs, outside the extended tracking range will stay on screen, no matter where they go, until the next 30 minute tracking checks are made
*Previously detected UFOs that have since dropped off track due to range, will reappear if they are in range of any radar systems extended tracking range when any tracking check is made
*If a UFO ends its mission, it will immediately disappear off track from anywhere, this can happen at any time (I think)

Anyone see any holes in this, or ways to test things that havent been confirmed - quite a bit is speculation, as I cant think of any way to know what the UFOs are actually doing except while they are detected. Maybe a two base setup with one Hyperwave Detector, and the other base with radars can do something here, wait for a UFO to come in range of the Hyperwave but with a mission to go near the Radar and see if that confirms the 100% repick up (assuming it disappears in between the coverages at the 30 minute checkpoint as expected). Could take a while to find a craft to match that profile though, but once you do could repeat run a few times to confirm the behaviour, or prove that I am talking nonsense, as applicable.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 22:04, 26 February 2007 (PST)

::Previously detected UFOs that have since dropped off track due to range, will reappear if they are in range of any radar systems extended tracking range when any tracking check is made

:I am rethinking this case, and I think it may well be possible that previously detected UFOs can be reacquired at any time, I will have to try and check the clock when this happens sometimes, but I think it makes sense otherwise craft would have more trouble than they do reacquiring with their small radius if it only applied every half hour. It could be either though, will just have to see in practise.
:--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 11:20, 27 February 2007 (PST)

::I think I've seen this. It's been a few months since I've actively played, but I seem to remember seeing UFOs disappear and reappear while dancing around at my radar's maximum range. No "redetection" message was seen, the X just showed up again, briefly.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 14:58, 27 February 2007 (PST)

:About the UFO's disappearing at anytime, don't they take off? Kind of like they would in reality. Seems to me when they start traveling in a straight line at top speed and I check their altitude it's 'VERY HIGH'. They don't disappear very fast usually takes a good hour while in this state to finally disappear. Only exception to this are Terror Ships that make terror sites, which I think they go away upon making the site.
:I know the UFO's do this behavior when coming in to the earth (only in opposite of course). They start out Very High at max speed traveling in a straight line and then abruptly change and (usually) throttle down once they are in the region. I haven't actually tested any of this, just my observations in game. Usually if I have an interceptor going for a UFO, and that UFO goes to max speed I check it's altitude and if it's very high and moving in a line (usually out to sea, or at least out of the region I spotted it), I figure it's taking off and the interceptor can't well... intercept, so I call it back. Rather have it ready for the next UFO sooner, than chase it and lose it over the Pacific a few hours later only to have to wait hours for it to get back and refuel.
:--[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 20:25, 1 March 2007 (PST)

==Detection Ranges - Provisional graphic==

<s>Based on measurements done on the surface of a globe and my assertion that tracking range = 1.5x detection range (see [[Talk:Small Radar]]), here is a provisional range comparison:</s>
:I no longer believe that there is a difference between tracking and detection ranges -- the difference between the two is caused by a combination of UFOs moving at high speeds and the fact that "detections" are only updated every half hour, as Sf theorized. Updated graphic:

[[Image:Detection and tracking ranges.png]]

*Yellow = Detection range of a craft (1500nm diameter)
*Green = Detection range of a Small Radar (3000nm diameter), also maximum "base detection" range for craft
*Blue = Detection range of a Large Radar (4500nm diameter)
*Red = Detection range of a Hyper-Wave Decoder (4800nm diameter)

<s>It might look as though a Hyper-Wave can track UFOs nearly halfway around the globe, but that is due to foreshortening at the outer edge of the globe. 7200nm is exactly 1/3 of 21600, the diameter of the Earth in nautical miles.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 02:17, 27 February 2007 (PST)</s>

:Seems pretty reasonable to me, matchs up to the sort of places I would expect to see, track, and lose UFOs in each case. The craft radius initially struck me as looking a bit large, but I think this is because its fairly common for your craft to be off to the sides of a screen, which especially when you are zoomed out will make the distance between craft/UFO look shorter than it actually is if you were to center on them.

--02:53, 27 February 2007 (PST)

These ranges are substantially correct for Hyperwave Detector and Large Radar, for my standard starting base (Base Nigeria). Hyperwave may actually be a bit larger, but not much.

--[[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 10:06, 27 Feb 2007 (CST)

==Effectiveness comparision==
Can someone check this, not totally sure whether its worth adding here or not, but first want to ensure its correct:

Large Radars have 150% of the radius of a small. Therefore they cover 225% of the area (using basic trig, but based on a plane, not sure if that alters when considering radius over a sphere, it might well do), and then it has 20% instead of 10% chance per half hour of finding a UFO (assuming this is not modified by size). Using both these we can determine that adding a large radar to a small radar increases your chances by 450%, conversely adding a small radar to an existing large radar increases your chance by about 22%. Of course both is better, and some coverage after 12 days may be better than good coverage in 25 days for some situations.

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 07:57, 6 March 2007 (PST)

:I'm no mathematician, but the 225% applies even though it's overlaid on the surface of a sphere (a "simulated" one at any rate). I'm not sure if comparing the pure numbers paints a correct picture, though. Adding a small radar is probably less effective than 22%, as there's a good chance a UFO will be detected at long range before it enters the "small radar" radius. Another factor is, "where do the UFOs hang out?" If your large radar's area is partly over water, some of its detection chance is wasted, since UFOs tend to zigzag over land masses.

:The amount of time a UFO spends over a continent is a factor too: either radar will approach 100% detection the longer the UFO stays in-range. And then there's the "MUFON" approach you described, and craft-based detection, which reduce the importance of either radar. Nonetheless, large radars seem a lot better than small.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 15:42, 6 March 2007 (PST)

::Yes the main advantage of the Large Radar over the Small is for passing traffic - for example if early in the game they have targetted a neighbouring continent then it helps more, if they are aiming at a spot where you have only a small radar you will still get them most of the time due to the amount of chances they give you. Of course its great on the way in, if they have finished up and are heading out then you scramble an Interceptor for no purpose in many cases. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 15:55, 6 March 2007 (PST)

== Why build Small Radar? ==

@AQ, I often build a small radar when I start a new base, even when I can build Hyperwave Decoders. I often build both, and the same thinking applies to building Small plus Large radar at the same time. The reason is the shorter build time and the extra 13 days of detection that gives -even one extra intercept will more than repay for the cost of the Small Radar. Once the Hyperwave is online, the radar can be replaced (mitigating the phantom payment bug). The "payoff" from the extra intercepts can be diplomatic, technological & in terms of experience gain, as well as financial. This is why this UFO Detection topic is so important: Detection is the key to all other progress. There are tradeoffs as it can make the base less defensible if you don't want to delay building the HW decoder (depending on your Base Layout strategy).
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 23:44, 5 March 2008 (PST)

: There is also the fact that if you play well enough that you will often reach a point where you hardly even notice that you're paying for dirt should you not recovering the used module lot. Even if you don't value its not-too-shabby radar abilities (not too great for fly-overs, but those that hang around get detected easily enough) the defensive use of the module itself is handy, being an empty octagonal room where no units on either side get generated. - [[User:NKF|NKF]]

== Airborne Detection ( the Skyranger AWACS Platform) ==

Another detection option, and one which may speed up your initial intercepts, is to hire a Skyranger and put it up on AWACS duty. Same price as a Small Radar, and it arrives in 3 days instead of 12. That's an extra 9 days of detection, albeit on one quarter of the area coverage (750nm radius vs 1500nm radius). I don't think we know for sure the detection percentage for aircraft, do we? The refuelling cycle means the Skyranger will be off-station and off-air about 1/6th of the time. And the Skyranger costs a LOT more in maintenance in following months (25x even taking into account the facilities cost bug). But the Skyranger also has many other uses. So as a start-of-game or start-of-new-base strategy it might be a useful idea. I guess the question is, how many extra intercepts do you get in those 9 days? Even one extra intercept makes the Skyranger "free" and gets you score, experience and technology progress - plus vital extra cash.

[[User:Spike|Spike]] 10:52, 7 March 2008 (PST)

In fact, it is claimed [[UFO Detection#Craft-based UFO Detection|in this article]] that aircraft detection percentage is 100% within their radius. This in theory makes them 2.5x more effective than a small radar, at least for UFOs that don't linger around more than one detection interval (30min). [[User:Spike|Spike]] 11:47, 7 March 2008 (PST)

<s>Now consider a moving Skyranger. In theory, in addition to its base 1.767 million sq n mi circular swept area when stationary, a moving Skyranger at 760 knots adds another 380 x 1500 = 0.57 million sq n mi rectangular swept area, a further one third. With 100% detection, in theory this makes the Skyranger 3.3 times more effective than the Small Radar - 2.32 times more effective after allowing for the "duty cycle" (time airborne vs refueling) of the Skyranger (70%).

And factoring in the higher cost of the Large Radar, a moving Skyranger is ever so slightly more cost-effective than a Large Radar - for the first month of service at least. In subsequent months the cost-efficiency of hired aircraft plumments due to their 100% maintenance costs.

And if you also factor in the longer build time of the Radars vs. short aircraft delivery times, the Skyranger is 4 times as efficient in the first month of the game than a Small Radar and 3.4 times more efficient than a Large Radar. Factor in the purchase cost as well as the build/delivery time and the Skyranger even beats a Hyperwave Decoder - by a factor of two!</s>

Hurrah for Skyranger AWACS!

<s>Factoid: The breakeven point when (theoretically) a Large Radar will have generated more intercepts than a moving Skyranger is 63 days after purchase.</s>
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 14:30, 7 March 2008 (PST)

:Problem is, that second Skyranger requires a Hangar, and a Hangar takes 25 days to build...longer than a Large Radar! Of course, you could sack an Interceptor in order to free up a Hangar, but then you risk having no interception capacity if two UFOs come in quick succession(because you can't launch the Interceptor while it's refueling, rearming, etc. Missiles take a LONG time to reload!) Furthermore, my tests imply that aircraft only can detect things when they are STATIONARY. Not when moving, unless there's already been a lock established on the UFO. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 14:34, 7 March 2008 (PST)

::Very good points AQ. Not just the $200K but the 25 days for the Hangar. So we need to factor that out except for the special case of the beginning of the game. I was taking it from UFOPaedia.org that aircraft can detect UFOs (but not bases) while moving. But your experience suggests they can only re-acquire previously detected UFOs while moving, and if that's true it considerably lessens their effectiveness. Also when I was looking at moving vs static (patrolling) aircraft I forgot to consider that the duty cycle is worse for moving aircraft (if conventionally powered). Taking into account the duty cycle, the figures including both the patrolling (P) and moving (M) aircraft, relative to a small radar = 1.00, are:

=== Aircraft vs Radar Detection Efficiency (Table) ===

This table has been updated to reflect 2 considerations:

:1. Looks like craft detection range is 600nmi not 700 or 750 nmi (thanks [[User:Seb76|Seb76]]).
:2. Since detection checks are only every 30min, 'sweeping' other areas for the first 1-29 min does not help at all. All that matters is what is in range on the 30th minute, it seems.

(See spreadsheet [[Media:Detection_chart.xls|Detection Chart]]) [[User:Spike|Spike]] 11:19, 9 March 2008 (PDT)

{| align="center" border="1" cellpadding="5"
|-
!Platform
!
!Duty cycle
!Vs Sm. Radar
|-
|Skyranger||P||85%||1.35
|-
|||M||70%||1.12
|-
|Interceptor||P||62%||0.99
|-
|||M||43%||0.69
|-
|Firestorm||P||60%||0.95
|-
|||M||60%||0.95
|-
|Lightning||P||61%||0.97
|-
|||M||61%||0.97
|-
|Avenger||P||62%||0.98
|-
|||M||62%||0.98
|-
|Small Radar|| ||100%||1.00
|-
|Large Radar|| ||100%||4.50
|-
|Hyperwave|| ||100%||25.60
|}

The "duty cycle" consideration only applies to long-term surveillance, which is assumed in the numbers above. For a quick-reaction situation, all aircraft are 1.60 times more effective than a Small Radar. On the other hand, a Small Radar will eventually detect a UFO at between 600 - 1500nm, which the aircraft will never detect unless it strays closer. So the effectiveness numbers above are most relevant for detecting passing traffic.

I guess another drawback of aircraft vs radars is that radars rarely get damaged or shot down. On the other hand you can't deploy a radar to a point half way round the world in 12 hrs. And, unlike radars, aircraft detection is (probably) cumulative. That would be interesting to test, anyway. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 17:11, 7 March 2008 (PST)

:It should be noted that I meant keeping a radar bead on a detected UFO even after it leaves ground radar range, not redetecting a UFO you've lost contact with(although I think I agree that aircraft radar is close to 100% efficient). The strength of a Hyper-Wave Decoder is twofold; the 100% detection is useful, but the ability to know WHAT the UFO is doing and WHERE it's going to be doing it is even moreso! If you know where the UFO will land, you can launch a UFO Ground Assault instead of a UFO Crash Recovery. And you can get a good guess on terrain type. HWD also tells you what ship it is(so you know what to expect unless it's a Small Scout or Battleship which can be found by process of elimination) and what aliens are staffing it. This is useful if your strategy for Harvesters and Battleships involves blowing alot of holes in the walls, whereas you consider Blaster Bombs overkill on a Medium Scout. As well, knowing WHO you're up against helps you bring the right equipment to fight; put away Incendiary vs. Snakemen, AP vs. Mutons...and the tactical advantages are nice too. It's really quite nice to know that the Terror Ship you just shot down was crewed by Snakemen so you're using anti-Chryssalid movement patterns, instead of finding out the hard way when one of them rounds the corner and zombifies 4 soldiers before you can do anything! Also, if you're willing to cheat, you can use the [[ExploitsA#Infinite_Fuel|Infinite Fuel]] exploit to keep those Firestorms, Lightnings, and Avengers in the air for a long time! Until they run out of ammo, really. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 17:22, 7 March 2008 (PST)

In general, we end up using a combination of the strengths of the ground based radars and the AWACS system to cover the weaknesses of the other. Standard radars are stationary and don't spot UFOs immediately, but they are operating all the time and have little overall maintenance costs. Ships can fly out to remote areas and investigate possible activity sites. More importantly, they are for spotting bases. Ship radars get the extra benefit of being the only radars that can reveal alien bases (well, that and the Mutual UFO Network that occasionally decides to help out). Ships cost more to maintain overall, but that's expected since they have a larger number of duties to perform. Of course, relying on just one type of radar detection method is a nice enough challenge. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] 17:34, 7 March 2008 (PST)

:Good points there AQ on the many benefits of HWDs and NKF on the benefits of flexibility. [[User:Spike|Spike]]

::I generally think it's a good idea to decomission one interceptor in favor of a second skyranger. Reasons can be found [[Yet_Another_Scheme#Find_the_Enemy|here]]. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 08:31, 9 April 2008 (PDT)

== Aircraft-based detection while moving? ==

AQ above has done some tests that suggest only patrolling aircraft, not moving ones, can detect new UFO contacts. So the theory is that moving aircraft can re-acquire previously detected UFOs but not new contacts.

I tried testing this but it's tedious in the extreme as you have to spend a long time managing the aircraft if they are not on Patrol. I ended up doing racetracks around the US and Japan while MUFON (graphs) was showing high alien activity in those areas. I only managed to do a few days, it was tedious. However I did generate one contact. An aircraft took off from NeoTokyo and immediately acquired a Landed UFO nearby in Hokkaido. This was a genuinely new UFO contact as in this particular saved game I have never had any radars and no aircraft had been on patrol for months (this was my "No Detection" test rig). Other than that I did not get any actual airborne UFO contacts. Maybe landed UFOs have different criteria? But thinking about how long you sometimes wait for a contact even with multiple HWDs, weeks or more, the absence of a contact over 2-3 days isn't much evidence.

What my test did point out is how tedious it would be in practice to carry out airborne surveillance using moving aircraft rather than patrolling aircraft. The micromanagement just isn't worth it, except perhaps very early in the game. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 04:58, 8 March 2008 (PST)

Maybe the game detection logic does not check for detection while an XCom aircraft is moving. It would certainly be simpler to program and lower CPU overhead so they may have done it that way. For example when my aircraft launched from NeoTokyo it may have momentarily been considered "stationary" before moving off to its waypoint. Alternatively maybe it acquired the landed UFO only because the UFO itself was stationary.

And it's quite possible that even if the detection logic does operate while the aircraft is moving, that the game logic ignores the 'swept rectangle' during movement and only considers the radius around the aircraft at the instant of the detection check. In which case all the advantage I was theorising about for moving surveillance aircraft is just that, theoretical. I would not be unhappy with that as to be honest it makes sense for the detection ability of moving aircraft to be at least reduced, if not nil. Probably unless I can found any empirical evidence of a 'swept rectangle', we should assume the detection area is an instantaneous circle and not a sort of ellipsoid smudged out over 30 minutes of flight path. My guess would be that the game logic does the detection 'instantaneously' based on the position every 30 minutes. So then the only advantage of a moving AWACS (assuming they can detect anything at all while moving) would be if you want to scan lots of different areas, briefly. Given the presumed 100% detection rate for aircraft, this would be useful in a lot of situations though.

Until any of this is proven I would stick to using aircraft in Patrol mode, we know that works. The figures in the Aircraft vs Radar Effectiveness table above should be valid for the 'P' (Patrol) mode at least.

[[User:Spike|Spike]] 10:53, 8 March 2008 (PST)

I was going to come on and report that I had documented an intercept by a moving aircraft. But the evidence is still ambiguous, the UFO may have been in the outer limit of my Small Radar - I'm checking the screen shots. Next time I'm going to erase the Small Radar with a base editor at the start of the (test) game so I can be sure all intercepts are from aircraft. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 15:40, 8 March 2008 (PST)

Well this is all very interesting. I repeated the same test game but restarted 4 days prior to the original intercept (Jan 5th) and used a base editor to turn my starting Small Radar and under-construction Large Radar into under-construction Missile Defences. A day later they completed building and so that eliminates any detection capability, radar, or phantom radar in my starter base right? As MUFON was full of reports from Siberia I started zipping all aircraft out there one at a time and soon enough, at 2:59 in the morning of the 9th of January, Skyranger-1 en route to Siberia (and a long way off its waypoint) intercepted UFO-3.

Somehow I don't think UFO-3 had been previously detected 4 days earlier and was still hanging around. I think this is proof that XCom aircraft can detect new, previously undetected UFOs while the XCom aircraft are in flight and not yet in Patrol mode.

I have saved off the game files if anyone wants to check BASE.DAT etc to confirm. I also have some simple screenshots that tell the story.

[[User:Spike|Spike]] 18:12, 8 March 2008 (PST)

==Detection Algorithm and Ranges==

FYI, when performing UFO detection the engine skips crafts for which bit0 at offset 0x64 (in CRAFT.DAT) is not zero (most likely a flag linked to patrolling state of the ship). The detection rate _is_ 100% if the craft is less than 200 units (using the same internal units, hyperwave range is 800, long range radar is 750 and small radar is 500) from the UFO. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 15:04, 8 March 2008 (PST)
:OK, bit0 @ offset 0x64 is definitely not a 'not patrolling' flag. Since it is set to 1 when a craft gets back to its base, and that fuel level is updated when it is 0, it is most likely a bit indicating that the craft is at home in its base. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 15:39, 8 March 2008 (PST)

:Thanks Seb, really interesting! And is that definitely 200 units for aircraft, ie 600nm, not 250 units / 750nm as stated elsewhere?
::No doubt about 200, maybe you can try to patch this:
.text:004591E9 cmp ax, 0C8h
::and see what happens ;) [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 17:14, 8 March 2008 (PST)

Checked this and it works, you are right. How did you figure that one out? Amazing! By patching these values I was able to give my aircraft radar, and my starting Small Radar, global range (I did separate tests for each). This could be very useful for other diagnostic tests eg watching alien behaviour.

:Hehe, it's a secret ;) While your at it, you can check the retaliation UFOs detection range:
.text:004594B9 cmp ax, 50h
:[[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 13:04, 10 March 2008 (PDT)

Here are all the locations in Geoscape.exe / UFO_Defense.exe:

{| cellspacing="0" border="1"
!Platform
!Address
!Data bytes
!Hex
!Range
!nm
|-
|Aircraft||591EA||C8 00||x00C8||200||600
|-
|Hyperwave||59237||20 03||x0328||800||2400
|-
|Lg Radar||5926D||EE 02||x02EE||750||2250
|-
|Sm Radar||59278||F4 01||x01F4||500||1500
|}

Patching "88 13" to these locations = x1388 = 5000 range units = 15,000 nm pretty much gives that platform visibility over the whole world. Of course Small Radar still only has a 10% detection chance per half hour.

[[User:Spike|Spike]] 16:01, 9 March 2008 (PDT)

Sounds like the bit 0 at 0x64 offset is an "airborne / at base" flag. It makes sense for the game engine to only do detection checks for aircraft that are airborne. And it explains my earlier result, when an aircraft detected a nearby landed UFO as soon as the aircraft took off (flag set to true).

So now do I have to re-do all my Aircraft vs Radar charts based on 600nm range? Ah well! :)

[[User:Spike|Spike]] 18:12, 8 March 2008 (PST)
----
While we're at it: base detection. For each xcom ship and each alien base, the probability of detection looks like 2*(25-distance/20) (or (500-distance)/10 +/- rounding issues). Of course if it is negative, it is just ignored. [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 18:28, 8 March 2008 (PST)

== Raw base detection? ==

Ok I'm pretty sure I saw a new base - with no detection facilities - detect a UFO. It was a new detection (not previously detected). The UFO was very close to the base, probably in the 750 nm band. It was not a hyperwave type of detection message. No aircraft at or anywhere near the base. No other base in range. The new base was polar (Antarctic).

Does this sound plausible? That a base has the same raw detection ability as an aircraft? Anyone seen any evidence for anything like this?

[[User:Spike|Spike]] 17:49, 4 March 2008 (PST)

: I've only ever seen this effect with the phantom radar trick, where you dismantle a radar in a base, but the radar's effects stick until any new base module in construction at that base gets completed. I'm not sure how it would work with a brand new base, since the detection abilities of the base should be set to 0S, 0L, 0H. Do you still have your game? One way would've been to the save file for that base's radar stats to see if the short or long radar settings have values in them. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] 20:42, 4 March 2008 (PST)

::The other possibility is the random end-of-the-month check if X-COM agents found the base. If you're clicking very fast during the end-of-month performance evaluation, you could probably miss it. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 23:58, 4 March 2008 (PST)

:::To clarify, it was a UFO that was detected, not an alien base. There was detection popup event, the radar type not the hyperwave type. No radar or hyperwave system had ever been constructed at this base (though they were under construction). They had not finished building. I will look for save files. Is it BASE.DAT I need? If not, I guess it is an easy theory to test: just build 8 bases with no radar, let the game run, and see if any UFOs ever get detected. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 01:19, 5 March 2008 (PST)

::Be interesting to see the files. But why build any radar at a base if you're building a Hyper Wave Decoder? It's a waste of money both building and later with the [[Known_Bugs#Paying_For_Dirt|paying for dirt]] bug. HWD has (just barely) longer range than a Large Radar and detects 100% of UFOs in range; Large radar gets a 10% chance to detect any UFO in range per half hour, and Small Radar gets a dismal 5% chance to detect any UFO in range every half hour. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 15:37, 5 March 2008 (PST)

===Raw Base able to Detect? Not.===
I did the test run of 8 bases and I didn't detect any UFOs at all. I ran until the end of April. I think with the various "center on UFO" for both detection and intercept, I got confused about which polar base made the detection: it's hard to recognise the map outlines at the poles with the country names and borders off. That's my excuse anyway. So the UFO was probably in fact detected by my other polar base, which had recently built a Small Radar - for the reasons just stated!
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 23:44, 5 March 2008 (PST)
=Playing With No Detection=
It was interesting to see how the game progressed with no detection at all (not even using Patrol or in-flight aircraft for detection). It went surprisingly well. I was able to maintain a positive score and increase funding simply by responding to terror missions (very much in the spirit of the intro movie!). I did permit myself to send a Skyranger to find an Alien Base after South Africa defected at the end of March. I guess I should've waited for the XCom agents to find it. Technology and manufacturing progress was difficult, especially as there was no Elirium and very few alloys. I had to make my own Alloys which is normally not at all cost effective. Surprisingly there were no Base Defence missions, probably because I was doing no Intercepts. They probably would've happened eventually. I imagine finances would be very tough but I didn't test the economics - I just started with $1 billion for the purposes of testing the "raw detection" theory. Playing without detection would also mean taking maximum advantage of every encounter (terror or base msission) to extract maximum score, recoverables, and experience.
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 23:44, 5 March 2008 (PST)

Thinking about this more, the economics of playing "No Detection" would be very tough. Largely reliant on goverment funding, you'd need to run a very lean organisation. Probably just one or max 2 bases with Skyrangers only of course. Would you ever get any Elerium or even just one Alloy, doing only Terror, Base Defence and Base Assault missions? If you did, could you afford the scientists or engineers anyway? Probably small teams would be OK. For Base Defence, numbers of soldiers would have to make up for lack of technology. With XComUtil technology and research rules it's particularly challenging - and cool - artefacts and live captures become incredibly precious and important. The breakthrough point of course would be getting an Alien Base to milk (preferably in a low-funding nation). From then on (March/April on Superhuman?) things start to head back on track to what we would consider normal, at least from a cash point of view, if not technology. I'm not sure you could win this game as you would not get Elirium to build the Avenger for the Cydonia mission. And as you are only reacting to Alien Bases, even if you destroy them all your funding nations would eventually go over to the Alien side. Is it possible to survive on plunder alone, with zero funding?
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 04:21, 6 March 2008 (PST)

:A legitimate reason to build the Small Radar which I had not thought of. In any case, yes, it is possible to win on base raids, since Alien Bases do have a module in them that spawns small amounts of Elerium. In fact, you can beat the game by assaulting a single Battleship, provided you bring back three aliens(Commander, Leader, and other), an Alien Alloy, at least one Elerium pod, a UFO Navigation, and a UFO Power Source. I've done so several times. :) And I'm not surprised the aliens weren't attacking you; Alien Retaliation missions are triggered mainly when you REALLY piss the aliens off by being quite successful in interception and recovery. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 07:58, 6 March 2008 (PST)

:: Interception. Hard-verified triggers of Retalation acts include shooting down UFOs (immediately, and furthermore the durations are so conveniently non-random), and something that happens start-of-game that guarantees a starting act of Retalation that I've personally never seen in 100+ games (CE), but NKF has fairly reliably. I do know it's not just hacking in the Hyperwave Detection stat, as that doesn't do it for me.

:: Battlescape UFO recoveries don't trigger Retalation acts directly. It is possible that various factors (such as total score) bias the probability of creating a Retalation mission, but as I do in vivo testing it's a bit hard for me to get adequate numbers to check such things. I do know that I get far more Retaliation acts than the easy probability estimates would suggest. [[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 10:13, 6 March 2008 (CST)

:UFOPaedia.org offers mixed opinions on this one. Seems that from an Alien Base Assault mission we can definitely get Alloys, UFO Power Sources, and (from 1/2 the power sources) Elirium. But, can at least one UFO Navigation be recovered from an Alien Base? If not, it is impossible to research & build the Avenger, and so winning the game is impossible. I have not done enough alien base missions to know from experience if they ever produce a UFO Navigation from their stores. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 10:43, 6 March 2008 (PST)

::The only UFO Navigations that spawn during a Alien Base Assault are part of the Base Command Console and need to be destroyed to finish the mission(and if you kill all the aliens instead, your soldiers will gladly do the job for you anyways!) So no, you can't get a UFO Navigation from a Alien Base Assault. You'll need to shoot down and capture at least a Medium Scout for that. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 11:25, 6 March 2008 (PST)

::: Or maybe we have to wait for one to crash of its own accord, Roswell style, before we can unlock the mysteries of space travel... :) But would it be possible to "milk" the base - deliberately lose the mission - but still extract the Navigation from the control room? E.g. avoid killing all the aliens and reach the exit with it? Tricky. Or a soldier picks the Navigation item up before the aliens are all dead? Actually I don't know if a UFO Navigation can be carried. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:32, 6 March 2008 (PST)

::No, UFO Navigation items cannot be picked up and carried, nor can UFO Power Sources or Alien Alloys. However, as for milking the base, you can raid the [[Supply Ship]]s as they come, or you can do the extraordinarily dangerous [[Alien_Base#Smash_And_Grab|alien base smash and grab]]. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 13:00, 6 March 2008 (PST)

: Without radars, you'd have to rely on the Skyranger's extraordinary ability to stay up in the air for yonks, and its own radar to pick up the supply ships. Really they'd be very cat-like, waiting for their prey and ready to pounce on them once they get close. As for the bases, what about completing the mission without destroying the tables? I don't think the game simulates destroying the base by destroying the tables once the aliens are all neutralised. But I couldn't say for sure. Also, if I remember correctly, aren't elerium pods generated equal to the number of power units in the base, minus one? (i.e. 4 power units = 3 elerium pods) - [[User:NKF|NKF]] 21:59, 6 March 2008 (PST)

::NKF: Correct, you get 1 less pod than the number of UFO Power Sources spawned. Also, the game DOES simulate the destruction of those consoles if you win a Alien Base Assault by killing all the aliens. That's the only way I ever end base missions, because leaving any behind means I get no loot...and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If you kill all the aliens, the mission ends, and you're tallied up all the points for aliens killed, loot collected, units lost, and an additional +500 for "Control Console Destroyed." [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:50, 6 March 2008 (PST)

:Sounds like with "no detection" you get "no Navigation" then. My topic here of "no detection" includes "no airborne detection" by Avengers or Interceptors. Almost as if the UFOs use some strange 'Stealth' technology unknown to Earth science. :) So that means no UFO Interceptions, no UFO Crash Recovery missions. It means being restricted to only Terror, Base Defence, and Alien Base Assault mission types. Base Assault are the only 1 of those 3 that will yield UFO Recoverables: Alloys, Elirium, Power Sources, Navigation. The Elirium can be milked by smash & grab, and the Alloys and Power Sources can be recovered in an Alien Base victory, but the UFO Navigations in the control console can't be recovered as victory destroys them. Those dumb marines just love to blow everything up. So maybe I need to hack the game and award myself 1-2 UFO Navigation with a base editor after completing a Base Assault victory. That might even be a good hack for a future version of XComUtil. After all if the console's Navigation globes are removed, dismantled and sitting in an XCom science lab, they can't still be controlling the base. Or can they?? <cue XFiles music...>
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 09:25, 7 March 2008 (PST)

:By the way, my "no detection" scenario is now at the end of June and my government support is still good. A lot of time my funding is going up still! Still only one defected nation (where the Alien Base is) and still only one Alien Base that I am aware of. Does the presence of (8) XCom bases discourage nations from defecting and/or pulling their funding? The overall financial trend is good. I ran 10 tests that showed the average haul from an Alien Base Assault (Sectoid, Superhuman) - not including the precious UFO Recoverables which I wouldn't sell - is about $3.5 - $4 million for a perfect victory. This can be 'milked' indefinitely, which puts the game economics firmly back on course. Apart from the fact that in order to get Alloys and Power Sources to study you need to destroy the first base and then hope another one will come along soon. Prior to that point (2nd Alien Base) in the "no detection" game there are very few combat opportunities, just a terror mission every month or so. Experience gain is very difficult and it's important to make maximum use of each combat.
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 10:07, 7 March 2008 (PST)

I spoke too soon and as they say in Sectoid it's all gone a bit "piy't-t'ong". Come July and the Ethereals show up in force, in a LA Terror raid with 14 Ethereals and 9 Sectopods. The crack of lasers, the smell of burning flesh, and they're INSIDE MY MIND!!! It was all I could do to dust off from the LZ with a full set of frontal lobes. Sorry Los Angeles, your beautiful (and don't you know it?) but you're not worth the loss of XCom. I was totally outclassed. Not enough research to have Psi ability, not enough Elirium to build enough laser heavy weapons (XComUtil rules remember), and most important of all not enough experience. They took me apart, and ran missions aggressively all over the world. Funding and score collapsed overnight. I guess what I should've been doing is running Alien Base milking missions around the clock to build up experience, Elirium, hard cash, and a psionic leader to hand over to the interrogation boys.

[[User:Spike|Spike]] 11:15, 8 March 2008 (PST)

= Multiple Radar Effectiveness Algorithm and Hack =

== Concept and algorithm ==

As we know, additional radars of the same type have no extra effect in a base, despite the presence of the Detection Strength bar which suggests a game design intention at some point to have some kind of extra effect. I like the idea that extra Detection Strength has some kind of usefulness, and so I propose this algorithm and a possible hack to make it (sort of) work:

:Effectiveness of multiple radars=

:100% - ((100%-Basic detection percentage)^(Number of radars))

So by example a pair of large radars (basic 20%) would have

:100% - ((100%-20%)^2) = 100% - 64% = 32% detection per 30min interval

A group of 4 small radars (basic 10%) would have about 33% detection

(Clearly we can't use a linear algorithm, else 5 large radars = 5 x 20% = 100% detection and the Hyperwave Decoder loses most of its value. That would not be helpful for the game. Hence the geometric formula.)

OK one thing I haven't thought through is how to handle the fact that a Large Radar gives an additive boost to Short Range detection. What needs to be calculated is the total detection in each range band (short and long range), not for each Radar type. I think the solution is to treat give each Small Radar a short range detection of 30%, if and only if that Small Radar can be paired uniquely with another Large Radar.

Example 1: 3 Small Radars and 2 Large Radars.

:Short Range detection = (100-(20+10))% x (100-(20+10))% x (100-(0+10))% = 56%
:Long Range detection = (100-20)% x (100-20)% = 36%

Example 2: 2 Small Radars and 3 Large Radars.

:Short Range detection = (100-(20+10))% x (100-(20+10))% x (100-(20+0))% = 61%
:Long Range detection = (100-20)% x (100-20)% x (100-20)% = 49%

Looking at this, no one is going to build many Small Radars unless they are really in a hurry to get detection in 12 days instead of 25. It also makes me think that the 'phantom radar bug' is not a bad thing, as it allows you to 'upgrade in place' and improve a small radar into a large radar while keeping it in operation. That seems, well, not unreasonable.

From the way radar mechanics and UFO flight patterns interact, detection chance is high even with a single radar if the UFO hangs around in the area. The advantage gained from this multiple radar algorithm would mainly apply to fast moving UFOs that are just 'passing through'. Still, an intercept is an intercept and that means cash, score, experience and STUFF! I'm not saying whether it would or wouldn't be economically advisable to build extra radars but at least it would be an option, and open up some flexibility in base strategy.

== Effect of multiple radars on detection chances ==

Please see this [[Media:Multiple_radar.xls|spreadsheet]], I will wikify it if I get time:

== How to implement ==

(Now implemented - see Implementation section below) [[User:Spike|Spike]] 09:53, 28 March 2008 (PDT)

This is a bit trickier. In principle what we need to do is edit the base file ([[BASE.DAT]]) to increase the detection percentage to the levels computed using the algorithm. The problem is that if we are to do this by XComUtil, values can only be adjusted when switching between Battlescape and Geoscape. Meanwhile, every facility build event in a Base will reset the detection percentage back to the default values. They will remain at the default values until the next combat.

<s>I believe there is also a separate file ([[FACIL.DAT]]?)that stores the default values for detection and this offers an opportunity.</s> Any changes to the default detection values probably need to be patched into the Geoscape executable.

The approach would be this:

:1. XComUtil on re-entry to Geoscape checks for multiple radars in each base and applies the formula to each base individually to update its short range and long range detection stat.

:2. At the same time XComUtil computes the average detection (short and long) for all bases (all bases having operational radar of that type) and updates the global default values to this average.

:3. When a base builds something its detection values fall back from the previous 'specific improved' values to the previous 'average improved' values. Hopefully you weren't building a radar.
::''(But: would the game re-read the updated FACIL.DAT unless the Geoscape had been restarted? Probably not. In which case this is less helpful as the default detection values would fall back to a "historic average" that could be quite old. Probably still acceptable. Even if the update method is on-the-fly patching of GEOSCAPE.EXE after each battle.)''

:4. After next combat everything gets updated and reset again.

Obviously if this 'fall back to average' implementation was used, the 'smart' thing to do would be to give most of your bases the same radar configuration and definitely not to have one base with way more radars than others. Otherwise the results after a base had completed a facility build would be weird and counterintuitive until the next combat.

Apparently the Detection bars will increase currently if you build multiple radars. But would there be a way to scale the 'improved' detection bars so it showed how much improvement you had relative to a single radar. Eg show a Long Range Detection bar with length of 1.8 (32% / 20%) for 2 large radars. But it's by no means necessary.

Now, who is the current XComUtil maintainer? [[User:Spike|Spike]] 10:33, 7 March 2008 (PST)

I had a look at FACIL.DAT and there is nothing in there that could be the detection value, except maybe maybe maybe bit flag 1 in byte offset 0C, the so-called "Build flags" byte. So probably you would need to hack the Geoscape executable to set the default detection values. :(
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 13:13, 7 March 2008 (PST)

Thinking about this a bit more, I don't think it's worth the effort of patching the executable repeatedly, just to be able to adjust the default detection values. It's enough just to be able to 'correct' the individual base detection values everytime Geoscape is reloaded. If people got annoyed that their detection was out of whack they could just reload Geoscape, no big deal. That kind of thing would be pretty easy to write as independent program if it's hard to get changes to XComUtil.
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 11:26, 8 March 2008 (PST)

==Possible Issues==

WIth this algorithm it would be possible to get a combined short range detection probability of > 100%, since (we think from analysis of BASE.DAT) that short range and long range detection percentage is simply added together. That might have unpredictable results including maybe crashing the game - not good. From a game play point of view I don't think there's a problem in having a short range detection zone with 100% detection. You would need to build loads of radars to achieve it, about 4 Large and 5 Small, so fair play to you.
[[User:Spike|Spike]] 15:48, 8 March 2008 (PST)

:Actually, I doubt that the percentages are added together. What is more likely is that the computer rolls the "Small Radar Detection" chance against each UFO in range, and THEN rolls the "Large Radar Detection" chance against each UFO in range that hasn't been detected yet. Of course, it may be the other way around...but rolling twice isn't quite the same as rolling once against a higher number. It involves some complicated math I can't currently remember to figure out the actual detection percentage if the check is made this way, but it won't be a straight 15%. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 16:30, 8 March 2008 (PST)
::Actually, the engine checks first if the ship is in range of a hyperwave device (raw range of 800) and stop the checks if so. If not, it checks if in range of a large radar (distance 750) and if so, saves the long range capacity of the base (offset 0x12 in BASE.DAT). Then it checks if in range of small radar (500) and if so, saves the small range detection of the base (offset 0x10 in BASE.DAT), overwriting the value of long range detection. Finally, it throws dices. From the way it looks, if it is possible to have 0 small range detection capability and >0 long range capability, then it'll be impossible to detect a UFO in small range because it'll use the small range capability value (can anyone check this?). [[User:Seb76|Seb76]] 17:32, 8 March 2008 (PST)
::And the short range detection percentage definitely is additive, 20 + 10, this can be seen from the BASE.DAT files. It probably should be multiplied together (like in the algorithm above) instead of added, but there you go. It's added and that's that.
::It would make it a lot easier to do the multiple radar algorithm if the combination wasn't additive. Then short range detection for multiple radars would be a simple function f(S,L). Instead I think it's inexpressible as a single function. With the simple function, short range detection for 1 SR, 1 LR would be 28% instead of 30%. So if I ever get round to implementing this I may live with that as an approximation, to save myself the coding headache. [[User:Spike|Spike]] 17:18, 9 March 2008 (PDT)

==Implementation!==

OK it's now implemented as part of this utility: [[Media:BaseFixer.zip|BaseFixer]]. I used a simplified algorithm which is just the product of the effectiveness of all the radars, calculated for each band (short or long) in which that type radar is effective. There is a hard coded exception to force 1 Small, 1 Large to 30% Short, 20% Long (the formula would give 28% Short, 20% Long - didn't want any complaints!).

As mentioned above I decided not to worry too much about immediate updates. The utility can work with XcomUtil to update the MISSDAT files after each tactical mission, or it can be invoked manually to update any/all saved games files and/or MISSDAT.

I have yet to start my first game of UFO using this multiple radar capability. I can see a few situations where it might be used. Buying a pair or more small radars is a way of getting up and running faster in a new base (12 day build time), if you have money to burn. For the large radars, in most cases it's going to be more cost effective to put an extra large radar (if you can afford one), into a whole new base. By the time you've got 8 bases, in most games you would have Hyperwave decoders. It might be worth putting 2 Large Radars into your main, HQ base, to get better warning of attacks and scouts (assuming you care!), and maybe to pick up a few more intercepts if the aliens are busy in an area. It could work well with the 'one base' and 'one base - Hawaii' scenarios. At least until you start running out of base slots.

The strategy would work best in combination with the 'upgrade in place' bug/feature. As luck would have it the way I wrote the utility, you specify separately which bugs you want to fix. So you can leave 'upgrade in place' as a feature, while gaining extra detection for multiple radars. Of course the phantom small radar goes out of service the day the upgraded large radar comes online - fair enough!

It's a shame to have written the utility in Python, but it was fun to learn and also quick. In theory I should have done it as an XcomUtil add-on using SDUMP and the config files, but honestly the documentation was as scanty as it was impenetrable. I shall leave that as an exercise for someone brainier than me!

[[User:Spike|Spike]] 12:18, 24 March 2008 (PDT)

Hammerhead

2007-11-11T18:50:47Z

Schnobs: /* General Information */

== General Information ==
A transport and intercept craft. A replication of magnetic array systems in an X-COM ship. Although small, its design is a breathtaking technical achievement.

The Hammerhead is your typical 'Jack of all trades, master of none'. It neither excels at being an interceptor nor does it excel at being a troop transporter. Either role can be better filled with other aircraft, such as [[Barracuda]]s or [[Triton]]s, but the Hammerhead is a meld of both.

The problem with all Zrbite-powered craft is that they always burn fuel at the same rate, regardless of wether they're currently patrolling or going full speed. They will also override their orders and return to base as soon as the fuel meter drops below 50%, even if right next to their home base. On top of that, they carry only small amounts of Zrbite to begin with. That means unlike their terran counterparts, the advanced subs cannot patrol for prolonged times; if you try to follow an alien craft until it lands on it's own accord, more often than not your vessel will instead run out of fuel and return prematurely.

Having only one weapon pod is a very minor issue once you found out about [[Sonic Oscillator]]s: by virtue of it's high range and virtually infinite supply of ammo, it will win combat after combat for you. The Hammerhead's only contribution is to carry that weapon into battle, and against most opponents this is all it takes. That it is not a true interceptor becomes obvious only when fighting [[Dreadnought]]s, and indeed you should give those a wide berth.

As a troop carrier, the Hammerhead is actually really good. Although it can't stay out for long, it's fast enough to still reach any point on earth. By the time a Triton eventually arrives on the scene, the Hammerhead will already be back in base, refueled and ready for the next mission. The downside is that it can carry only 12 troops and not a single SWS; wether this is a major issue or insignificant depends solely on the Commander (that is you).

Eventually, you'll develop "[[Leviathan|The Ultimate Craft]]" which will render the Hammerhead obsolete. However, because of some [[TRTBAG#Techs_to_Win_the_Game|steep requirements]] this may take a while. Therefore the Hammerhead shouldn't be discarded outright; it's fast response time can be priceless.

== Special Requirements ==

== Vital Statistics ==
<table>
<tr><td>Maximum Speed:</td><td>4,030</td></tr>
<tr><td>Acceleration:</td><td>9</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fuel Capacity:</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Weapon Pods:</td><td>1</td></tr>
<tr><td>Damage Capacity:</td><td>960</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cargo Space:</td><td>12</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[:Category:Submersible Weapons Systems|SWS]] Capacity:</td><td>None</td></tr>
</table>

== See Also ==
*[[Triton]] - Standard Troop Transporter
*[[Leviathan]] - Ultimate Craft

Alien Submarines

2007-11-11T14:33:56Z

Schnobs: /* Weapons vs. USOs */

The '''USOs''' used by the aliens are big, blocky, shapes which resemble sea creatures and lack most forms of aerodynamics. They are able to dive and fly at breakneck speeds through the power of [[Zrbite]] and the resiliency of [[Aqua Plastics]]. USOs come in a variety of forms ranging from the tiny Survey Ships right up to the massive Dreadnoughts.

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

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

==USO Overview==
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
! Craft !! Size !! Max Speed !! Weapon Power !! Weapon Range !! Damage Capacity !! UFO Grounded points !! ~Crew !! ~Loot
|- align="right"
| [[Survey Ship]] ||Very Small || 2,000 || 0 || 0 || 60 || 50|| 1 || 500k
|- align="right"
| [[Escort]] || Small || 2,800 || 30 || 13 || 300 || 75 || 6 || 1.8M
|- align="right"
| [[Cruiser]] || Small || 2,600 || 25 || 35 || 300 || 125 || 9 || 2.2M
|- align="right"
| [[Heavy Cruiser]] || Medium || 3,800 || 60 || 20 || 450 || 250 || 15 || 3.5M
|- align="right"
| [[Hunter]] || Medium || 4,500 || 50 || 18 || 500 || 250 || 13 || 3.6M
|- align="right"
| [[Fleet Supply Cruiser]] || Large || 3,400 || 70 || 38 || 2,000 || 400 || 15 || 5.7M
|- align="right"
| [[Battleship]] || Large || 4,200 || 120 || 50 || 1,400 || 500 || 9+5 || 5.0M
|- align="right"
| [[Dreadnought]] || Very Large || 4,800 || 140 || 60 || 3,400 || 700 || 16+3 || 8.5M
|}

Comments:
* The figures given in the in-game [[UFOpaedia]] are a factor of 8 too high. The values in this table have been corrected so they are comparable to [[Sub_Armaments|Sub Armament]] ranges.
* Crew numbers depend on difficulty level as well as luck. Your mileage will vary.
* The monetary value of recovering such a USO if you sell almost everything. As this includes dead bodies and their former gear, the figure given may serve merely as rough orientation.

== Weapons vs. USOs ==

<center>
<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="80%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Craft</th>
<th>Vmax</th></tr>

<tr><td>[[Barracuda]]</td><td>2400</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Manta]]</td><td>4600</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Hammerhead]]</td><td>4030</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[Leviathan]]</td><td>5800</td></tr>
</table>
</center>

<center>
<table {{StdCenterTable}} width="80%">
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Armament</th>
<th>Damage</th>
<th>Range (km)</th>
<th>Accuracy</th>
<th>Reload Time (s)</th>
<th>Shots</th></tr>

<tr><td>Craft Gas Cannon</td><td>15</td><td>8</td><td>25%</td><td>3</td><td>200</td></tr>
<tr><td>AJAX</td><td>60</td><td>32</td><td>70%</td><td>17</td><td>6</td></tr>
<tr><td>D.U.P. Head</td><td>110</td><td>50</td><td>80%</td><td>21</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td>Gauss Cannon</td><td>90</td><td>20</td><td>35%</td><td>4</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td>Sonic Oscillator</td><td>150</td><td>55</td><td>50%</td><td>5</td><td>100</td></tr>
<tr><td>P.W.T. Cannon</td><td>200</td><td>60</td><td>100%</td><td>28</td><td>2</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
If your craft is faster, the USO cannot escape; if your weapons have a higher range than the USO, you'll be entirely safe from return fire.

* Sonic Oscillators can safely be used (even by Barracudas) against any USOs except Dreadnoughts. Even against Dreadnoughts, Sonic Oscillators are better than P.W.T. Launchers because a minimum of ''four'' P.W.T.-armed craft are required to down a Dreadnought.

== Subs vs. USOs ==

* The Barracuda can always be used effectively against Survey Ships, for the Barracuda is faster.
* The Manta is faster than all USOs EXCEPT the Dreadnought.
* The Hammerhead can intercept all USOs except the Hunter, the Battleship, and the Dreadnought, which must slow down in order for the Hammerhead to catch up.
* The Leviathan is 1000 speed units faster than even the mighty Dreadnought and can intercept all alien USOs.
 
{{USOs}}

Alien Submarines

2007-11-11T14:17:47Z

Schnobs: /* USO Overview */

The '''USOs''' used by the aliens are big, blocky, shapes which resemble sea creatures and lack most forms of aerodynamics. They are able to dive and fly at breakneck speeds through the power of [[Zrbite]] and the resiliency of [[Aqua Plastics]]. USOs come in a variety of forms ranging from the tiny Survey Ships right up to the massive Dreadnoughts.

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

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

==USO Overview==
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
! Craft !! Size !! Max Speed !! Weapon Power !! Weapon Range !! Damage Capacity !! UFO Grounded points !! ~Crew !! ~Loot
|- align="right"
| [[Survey Ship]] ||Very Small || 2,000 || 0 || 0 || 60 || 50|| 1 || 500k
|- align="right"
| [[Escort]] || Small || 2,800 || 30 || 13 || 300 || 75 || 6 || 1.8M
|- align="right"
| [[Cruiser]] || Small || 2,600 || 25 || 35 || 300 || 125 || 9 || 2.2M
|- align="right"
| [[Heavy Cruiser]] || Medium || 3,800 || 60 || 20 || 450 || 250 || 15 || 3.5M
|- align="right"
| [[Hunter]] || Medium || 4,500 || 50 || 18 || 500 || 250 || 13 || 3.6M
|- align="right"
| [[Fleet Supply Cruiser]] || Large || 3,400 || 70 || 38 || 2,000 || 400 || 15 || 5.7M
|- align="right"
| [[Battleship]] || Large || 4,200 || 120 || 50 || 1,400 || 500 || 9+5 || 5.0M
|- align="right"
| [[Dreadnought]] || Very Large || 4,800 || 140 || 60 || 3,400 || 700 || 16+3 || 8.5M
|}

Comments:
* The figures given in the in-game [[UFOpaedia]] are a factor of 8 too high. The values in this table have been corrected so they are comparable to [[Sub_Armaments|Sub Armament]] ranges.
* Crew numbers depend on difficulty level as well as luck. Your mileage will vary.
* The monetary value of recovering such a USO if you sell almost everything. As this includes dead bodies and their former gear, the figure given may serve merely as rough orientation.

== Weapons vs. USOs ==
Comparing the weapon range and damage capacity of UFOs to the range and damage of sub armaments, one can discern that:

* Any weapon, even the lowly [[Craft Gas Cannon]], can be used against Survey Ships, since they can't shoot back.
* [[AJAX Torpedo]]es, with a range of 32km, are completely safe to use against Escorts, and can even be used to safely down Heavy Cruisers and Hunters.(Shouldn't the Heavy Cruiser be better than the Cruiser? Oh well...)
* [[D.U.P. Head Torpedo]]es or [[Sonic Oscillator]]s should be used against Cruisers due to their weapon range of 35km.
* D.U.P. Head Torpedoes can fire on all but the Battleship and Dreadnought with impunity.
* Gauss Cannons, with a range of 20km, can be safely used against the Survey Ship, Escort, and Hunter. However, D.U.P. Head Torpedo-armed craft are of use against a larger variety of craft and Sonic Oscillators, once they become available, are superior in every regard.
* Sonic Oscillators can safely be used (even by Barracudas) against any USOs except Dreadnoughts. Even against Dreadnoughts, Sonic Oscillators are better than P.W.T. Launchers because a minimum of ''four'' P.W.T.-armed craft are required to down a Dreadnought.

== Subs vs. USOs ==

* The Barracuda can always be used effectively against Survey Ships, for the Barracuda is faster.
* The Manta is faster than all USOs EXCEPT the Dreadnought.
* The Hammerhead can intercept all USOs except the Hunter, the Battleship, and the Dreadnought, which must slow down in order for the Hammerhead to catch up.
* The Leviathan is 1000 speed units faster than even the mighty Dreadnought and can intercept all alien USOs.
 
{{USOs}}

Yet Another Scheme

2007-11-11T11:13:29Z

Schnobs: /* Find the Enemy */

=The way of the Privateer=

Many players try to get a steady production of Laser Cannon off the ground as soon as possible, and fund further activities with the revenue stream from their factories. That's nice and fine and works a treat; however, it's cheesy. Besides, X-Com was founded in order to fight the aliens, not as an arms producer.

Your funding fathers provided you with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque letter of marque] entitling you to intercept, seize, and sell any alien vessel you might encounter. Prizes can generate quite an revenue stream, even a small scout will easily yield over one million. Unfortunately, privateering is not as easy to pull off as just building a number of workshops and (in effect) print your own money. This guide tries to point out some of the difficulties you may encounter, and how to deal with them.

==Immediate measures==

At the beginning of the game, do the usual run-of-the-mill stuff: sell gear you don't need, purchase stuff you want. Build a few base facilities. However, you should maybe be a bit more radical than usual about the abilities of the soldiers you hire. You will fight a great many battles, and this will be much less frustrating if you have good troops.

Personally, I consider reactions to be far and away the most important stat. Of course, the soldiers should have some firing accuracy as well. However, mediocre marksmanship can be mitigated to a great extent, and will improve soon enough. The same is true for Time Units and Strength. But there's no way to fake reactions, and training is difficult or virtually impossible if your soldiers don't have high values to begin with.

However, there will be casualties; and loosing one of your precious hand-picked squaddies will be even more frustrating. So it's maybe a good idea to have a few [http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/2007/09/ensign-expendable.html Ensign Expendables] around.

==Find the Enemy==

No matter where you build your initial base, you are guaranteed to have the first aliens show up right on your doorstep. Strangely enough, they will only send small craft, and by the end of January they will cease. Even if you leave the early UFOs alone, there will be no follow-up missions with larger craft. So, after the first windfall (recovering every landed UFO through January will easily provide four or five million worth of loot), you're on your own. Getting your hands on more UFOs (=more revenue) after the initial batch is crucial.

Aliens may show up anywhere on the globe. However, anywhere is not everywhere: they will perform one or (at best) two missions like "Alien Research in Australasia" or "Alien Harvest in North America". There really is no way to tell where they will go. With the world so large and your funds still limited, you cannot afford to build bases just any old how.

Alien missions always follow the same basic pattern: first there will be a survey ship (that maybe doesn't even land), then medium and large scouts (usually more than one each) until eventually larger craft show up, performing the actual mission. This can all take place within less than three weeks, but usually it takes at least five, sometimes up to two months. If you manage to intercept one UFO, the time until the next one shows up will increase a bit.

===The UFO activity graph===

With the world so large and your funds still limited, perhaps the best you can do ist to pay close attention to the Graphs. Much could be said about how to read it, but you will soon be able to see the difference between a simple flyby and an actual UFO landing. When you notice a landing in a given area, it's a clear indication that more can be expected to happen in that region in the next few weeks.

Over the course of the moth, the graph will become more difficult to read; the more so if there already is an alien base anywhere on earth. However, the first few UFOs in any given month will stick out.

===Patrols===

Once you know the approximate area where the enemy is, send some of your craft to patrol the area for immediate radar coverage. If you think that sounds weird, you haven't tried. Example: If you expect UFO activity in North America, have a [[Skyranger]] patrol over the central US. Alright, so "North America" can be anything from Alaska to Cuba, and craft radar range is nothing to write home about. BUT: within it's limited range, craft radar is frightfully efficient. Given the tendency of UFOs to zigzag over the region before landing, you've got a pretty decent chance that it will at some time come into range of your vessel.

It's a good idea to decomission one Interceptor in favor of a second Skyranger, you may even consider to go without any Interceptor at all. Generally you don't want to shoot down alien craft as long as there is any chance of capturing them in one piece, and two Skyrangers taking turns can provide 24/7 coverage of all but the most remote areas.

===Listening Posts===

Eventually you want listening posts all over the world. However, at approximatly 2 million apiece, it will be quite some time until you've got the world covered. What's worse, they take a long time to build: you may have an idea where the center of alien activity is right now, but there's no telling where it will be by the time your detection systems finally go into service.

Patrols work very well, will go a long way. It's possible to play and win a game without any ground-based detection systems at all. But in the long run, they're so much more convenient.

===The February Famine===

For some reason or other, there often appears to be a distinct lack of alien activity in February. Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on what the random number generator spills out. But it's not at all uncommon that there will be a grand total of only two or three scouts (plus one terror mission) in the entire month. In short: don't rely on having a high income.

==Research and Production==

If you do not want to build Laser Cannon for for money, you will only need a small number of technicians to provide necessary equipment for your troops: a few laser weapons, armour and (maybe) a handful of medikits. The one workshop you begin with will suffice for a long time, up to and including the production of Flying Suits: it will take about a fortnight to make ten of these. You only really need more production capacity once you have found out how to build your own craft.

Research is more important, though. Weapons, armour, Hyper-Wave Decoder, Psi Labs: you want all of these as soon as possible. Any spare penny should go into the construction of more labs and hiring more scientists.

However, that is "any ''spare'' penny": detection is even more important. The best equipment will do you no good if you can't find any aliens to use it on. The decision wether you can afford scientists because the current radar coverage should do for a while is part of what makes privateering fun.

===High-priority research tasks:===

* Laser Rifles
:You really need that firepower.

* Psi Labs
:If one of the early terror missions is Sectoid, capturing the leader becomes the primary objective. Then drop all other research and try to get Psi Labs researched and built in time for the next 1st.

* Hyper-Wave Decoder
:The latest and best in Alien Detection. You want it anyway; getting it early will save lots of cash you don't need to spend on soon obsolete radar systems. It requires you capture a live navigator, but that's usually not that hard to pull off.

* Armour
:Although armour is vital, it's not top of the list: getting it two weeks sooner or later really means only one or two more missions you will need to fight without. So you can relax – a bit. Although Body Armour is still insufficient, you should hand out at least some of these while waiting for Flight Suits. I usually don't manufacture Power Suits, though.

* Mind Probe
:Mind Probes take a long time to research, and are generally rather useless. After all, you can predict with reasonable accuracy that the interesting aliens will be on the bridge of any given UFO. However, there's one scenario where Mind Probes can make all the difference: when you try to pick out the leader on a sectoid terror site. This may never become necessary, though; and even if, it's not guaranteed that it will lead to success (with all those cyberdiscs around, the leader may die in an accidental explosion or whatnot). Research of Mind Probes should hence either be high on the queue or postponed until your scientists haven't anything else to do.

===What you don't need just now===

* Plasma Weapons
:The Laser Rifle will go a long way. You can postpone research on Heavy Plasma until either: a) you have the Avenger and want Plasma Beams or b) the first Smakemen or Mutons have been sighted.

* Motion Scanner and Medi Kit
:Both can come in handy at times, but really, armour is more important. First things first.

* Laser Cannon
: The sole use of Laser Cannon is to give your engineers something to do while you have no other assignments; as long as you have only comparatively few technicians, you won't lose much if you busy them with (say) Laser Pistols instead.

==Bases==

===Placement===

South Italy, Crete, or east Turkey rank high among the best places for the starting base. For starters, a base there will cover Europe, North Africa and a large part of Central Asia – that's three out of the eleven areas. In addition: provided you detect an UFO early during it's mission, a Europe-based Skyranger can reach any point in Africa, much of the Americas and almost all of Asia before the aliens take off and leave for good. Alaska, Chile and Malaysia mark about the outer fringe where you may still reach at least some UFOs in time.

If you're unlucky the Aliens will schedule a mission in Australasia. Your only chance is to build a base complete with hangar, quarters etc and either relocate your squad or hire a wholly new one. Yes, that's a lot of dough, but ultimately worth it. If you manage to take a single Harvester that way, the bill is paid.

===Development===

Most bases can be mere listening posts, consisting of nothing but the acess lift and a small radar at first. You certainly want to add Hyper-Wave Decoders as soon as possible, but those cost a lot of money and it may take a while. However, you should build a string of general stores at your first listening post: when the time comes you can quickly expand this to a large production plant. Research is best left at your initial base.

Later you may want to station a number of Firestorms at every base, but that's beyond the scope of this document.

===Random Tips===
* You really need that cash from the umpteenth small scout, but playing so many battles can become tedious; you may want to check out [[XcomUtil]], if only for it's "AutoCombat" feature. Although I found Statstrings invaluable, too.

* Sell the loot! For every item in storage, you shouldn't ask wether you will need it someday, but if you will need it anytime soon. The habit of keeping "one of everything" ties up a lot of cash; money that could buy you another listening post, hire more staff, or whatnot.

Talk:Damage

2007-11-11T02:45:16Z

Schnobs: New section: Probabilities

I remember reading in a thread somewhere, that weapons do up to double damage at all times, not just on X-COM soldiers. This means that the rated in-game values are actually the averages. I think it was in Zombie's "[http://www.strategycore.co.uk/forums/index.php?s=c04cf11b996e56f4020a526d9964a895&showtopic=746 Damage Modifiers]" thread. Can anyone confirm or deny this, because the formula at the top of the page, with the 0.5 and 2 in it, is confusing to me?

In my understanding, it was simply like this:

A rifle, rated as 30 damage, will actually do anywhere from 0-60 damage. Then you multiply this by the [[Damage Formula#Damage Modifiers|damage modifiers]] and then subtract the armour...

--[[User:Danial|Danial]] 18:08, 23 Oct 2005 (PDT)
----

That's the impression I'm getting from what I've seen... that actually it's the average that's being shown in the game. So I'm with you. Want to ask Zombie? Or I can. --[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 11:17, 24 Oct 2005 (PDT)

----

Exactly correct guys. All damage numbers listed by the game's UFOpaedia are averages. I believe I mentioned this fact in my 3rd or 4th post in the Damage Modifiers thread at the StrategyCore forums. For most weapons/ammo, the Minimum is 0 and the Maximum is Average * 2. The weapons/ammo in this category include Armor Piercing, Laser, Plasma, Stun Rod and the Small Launcher's Stun Bomb.

The types of ammo that don't quite follow that category are Incendiary and High Explosives. The HE Minimum is AVE/2, while the Maximum is AVE*3/2. However, if you average the min and the max, it is still what the game mentions. Overall, it's a smaller range of damage that can be inflicted, and that means the probability of the higher damages showing up is greater than an ammo with the same max.

'''Example 1:'''

HE ammo with 100 listed strength
Min = 50
Ave = 100
Max = 150
Probability of max showing up = 1/(150-50+1) = 0.990%

AP ammo with 75 listed strength
Min = 0
Ave = 75
Max = 150
Probability of max showing up = 1/(150-0+1) = 0.662%
Conclusion: if you have the choice between HE with 100 listed damage and a normal weapon with 75, choose the HE. However, if you have two types of ammo with the same average, things become different.

'''Example 2:'''

HE ammo with 100 listed strength
Min = 50
Ave = 100
Max = 150
Probability of max showing up = 1/(150-50+1) = 0.990%

AP ammo with 100 listed strength
Min = 0
Ave = 100
Max = 200
Probability of max showing up = 1/(200-0+1) = 0.498%

Unfortunately, we are comparing apples to oranges in this case since the max for the AP is much greater than HE. In reality, AP ammo will out-perform the HE according to this: 1 / (AP max - HE Max + 1), or 1 / (200-150+1) = 1.961%. That's almost double the HE doing it's max of 0.990%. By this you would be tempted to outfit all your troopers with AP instead of HE with the same listed damage. But wait. HE will actually out-perform AP according to this: 1 / (HE min - AP min + 1), or 1 / (50-0+1) = 1.961%.

Conclusion: Is either ammo better? Nope, it's a crap-shoot. The probability of the AP under-performing the HE's min negates its probability of out-performing the HE's max. But there is one fact than still remains: the HE always does a minimum damage > 0, and it's damage affects an area instead of a single tile. This might be beneficial to soldiers since every shot that connects (or even falls a bit short) will damage the target.

Incendiary weapon strength is theorized to determine the area of flames, not the damage inflicted. Damage for that type is either 0 or between 5 and 10 depending if the unit catches fire, or between 1 and 12 if the unit is standing in fire. Hope this helps. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 15:06, 24 Oct 2005 (PDT)

----

Great stuff, Z! Thanks for clarifying. Danial or I will move this to the Damage Formula page soon. It's great to have sweeping generalities in black and white :) -[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:39, 24 Oct 2005 (PDT)

----

I'm just making a quick note:

We seem to be missing an explanation on fatal wounds received from penetrating damage. Can anyone recall where we tucked this information away? I know we got down to the bottom of this somewhere... and it's not under health or fatal wounds.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

== Melee damage ranges ==

What's the damage range used for melee attacks (stun rods/alien terrorists)? 0 to x2, x0.5 to x1.5, or something else?--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 00:36, 14 March 2007 (PDT)

----
For Stun Rods and HTH alien attacks the range is 0-2x.--[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 08:45, 14 March 2007 (PDT)

== Cool Table, Zombie ==

Thanks so much for making the time to put that there. It must have taken some tweaking.

To me, though, the mind's eye notices differences more quickly. Which is to say, here, to have made all the 100s be "-" and then the rest be +20 or -10 or whatever.

Just a thought. Please delete this after reading it! - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 00:14, 6 July 2007 (PDT)

== Probabilities ==

So weapons may do anything from zero to twice their nominal damage. I have the impression that this isn't totally random, but sort of a bell-curvish distribution. Laser Rifle vs Floater should require two hits about 1/3rd of the time and it feels as if one-shot kills were a lot more common. However, I don't have any actual data to back this up.

Also, can it be that the soldier's firing accuracy does matter? That good marksmen not only have a higher to-hit chance to begin with, but also receive a bonus on their damage roll? --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 18:45, 10 November 2007 (PST)

TRTBAG

2007-11-10T20:53:23Z

Schnobs: /* The Deep One Dilemma */

__NOTOC__
= The TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide =
<div align = "right" style = "font-size:80%;">A needlessly wordy article by [[User:NKF|NKF]]</div>

__TOC__

 

==Foreword==

The designers of X-Com Terror From The Deep seem to have attempted to make the research process in TFTD much more complicated than its very straightforward predecessor's research tree. They have succeeded in doing this, but have also introduced many glaringly unacceptable errors in the process that can prevent you from completing the game.

Some players may have had the luck of not bumping into any of these errors by picking all the right research at the right time, or have a game that doesn't seem to have these problems. Unfortunately, as the research order in TFTD is non-linear, that is to say you can research anything you've got in any order you want, a lot of us are less fortunate. This guide is to assist point out some of the stickier bits.



Also note that ''this is not a reproduction of the research tree''.
There are many documents in a variety of formats describing the complete research tree on the Internet that you can peruse. This document is merely a supplement.

===Definitions===
The word 'prerequisite' is used quite frequently
throughout this document. As prerequisite is not
an everyday word, here is its definition.

:;Pre-Requisite: Pre- means 'before', Requisite means something that is required in order to achieve something. In Layman terms and in context with the game: to get this thingy, you need to research orhave these other thingies first.
 
=== Spoiler Warning ===
While this may spoil the game if you are new to
it, it is better to be informed than to make a
mistake that is irreversible. The game IS hard,
even for X-Com UFO veterans.

With the exception of MC technology, this
document discusses a branch of the research tree
that will take you from the very start of the
game all the way to the final chamber in T'Leth. (Well, not exactly, but it'll give you everything you need!)

== Glitches in the System ==

There are two major occasions where research can grind to a halt:

* An alien is required to further research AFTER certain projects are completed
* An object is needed in storage before research is completed

== Interrogations ==

A large portion of the research can be cut off by researching an alien in the incorrect sequence.

for example, in order to open a new research branch, you have to have researched project A and B and then interrogate alien C in order to get new technology D. If you were to interrogate alien C before completing research on A and B, technology D will not appear for research once you've completed research on A and B. In order to get D to appear, you must capture another alien and interrogate it again.

So, as a rule of thumb, if an alien is a prerequisite
for any particular tech item, it's highly
recommended that hold off the completion of the interrogation until
all the prerequisites have been researched.

== The Deep One Dilemma==

The primary research path at an abstract level looks roughly like so:
  
<center>
{| cellspacing="3"
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Armour
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Subs
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | T'Leth
|}
</center>
 
The path for Armour looks roughly like:
  
<center>
{| cellspacing="3"
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Deep One Corpse
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Aqua Plastics
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Plastic Aqua Armour
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Ion Beam Accelerators
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Live Deep One Terrorist
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Ion Armour
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Magnetic Navigation
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Mag. Ion Armour
|}
</center>
 
Not all of the technologies need to be reseached in the exact order - with the exception of the live [[Deep One]], which should only be reseached after you have met the other prerequisites for Ion Armour.

Without Armours you won't get to research advanced subs; without advanced subs you can't reach T'leth and defeat the aliens once and for all.

You will need a living specimen and a
corpse. In older versions of the game, where you
need a lobsterman navigator to get magnetic
navigation, getting a live Deep One Terrorist is
not that important. However, in TFTD versions
with the v2 update, success hinges on getting a
living Deep One terrorist.

Deep One Terrorists can be found in most Gill-man
land missions. They do not appear underwater (1),
and are replaced with Xarquids if you shoot down
Gill-Men terror ships.

:(1) ''you may find some Deep One Terrorists in the second level of T'Leth; however, you may only get there after when you already have the tech they provide.''


Don't worry if you missed them, Gill-Man terror
sites do still appear when it's late in the game,
although they are abundant early in game.


Deep One Terrorists also appear in 'mixed' alien
crew land missions. A mixed crew is made up of a
variety of species, and in terror sites and base
attacks, will be supported by a variety of
land-based terror units, which includes the Deep
One Terrorist as well as the odd Xarquid (which
normally replaces the Deep One Terrorist for
underwater missions).


Just promote a terror site by leaving any ships
on terror missions alone, or encourage the
Gill-Men or 'mixed' crews to attack your base by
shooting some of their USOs down near your base.
You might also want to dismantle your M.C
generator to improve the likelihood of an attack.


Before starting research on the Deep One
Terrorist, refer to the Ion Armour section.


Finally, researching an alien medic and getting
information on the Deep One Terrorist or its
corpse is not the same as researching the real
thing. You will not get any research benefits
from the alien medic's report. Keep this in mind.


== The Tasoth Commander Trap==

Note that it is unfortunately difficult to double check the validity of this bug at the present time, so this section has been intentionally left vague for now, but is left for the benefit of the that may experience it.

Most copies of the game do not recognise the Tasoth Commander as a legal alien (Although the alien/rank combination can still exist) and cannot be researched. If for whatever reason one does somehow appear on your research list, do not complete the research on it until after obtaining a Leviathan and the final mission launch button. Researching it will prevent these topics from being researched through normal means.

If you're unsure whether you'll face this bug or otherwise, update your game with the v2 patch if you are using the Dos version. The Collectors edition of TFTD is already updated to v2.

==Required Objects ==
=== The MC Reader and Sub Construction samples===

These two items, the MC Reader and the Sub
Construction store item, are special in that they
will only become available for research if and
only if a sample is available in your general
stores before completing research for their
prerequisite technologies.


If you do not have any when completing research
on the last of their required technologies, they
will NOT appear later even after acquiring a few
samples.


For example: If you've done Zrbite and are about
to finish research on the Transmission Resolver,
make sure that you have the 'sub construction'
item in stores before the research on the
Transmission Resolver hits 100%, or vice-versa.


Between the MC Reader and the Sub Construction
store item, the 'sub construction' store item is
required to win the game. The MC Reader is
optional.


Note: This does not apply to Aqua Plastics. You
can research it even without any samples.


Note: If this happens to you and you don't have a suitable save game to revert, you can still rescue your game using a hex editor. Open the file RESEARCH.DAT that resides in the appropriate save game folder and set the byte at the hexadecimal offset 0x1B4 to 1. This will allow you to research Alien Sub Construction. (It will allow you to research it even if you don't have the prerequisite technologies, in fact, but you wouldn't cheat that way, would you?) 
Modify save games at your own risk. You should always create a backup first.


 

== Version differences==

There are two versions of TFTD. The original
unpatched version of TFTD and the one with the v2
update.


Players with the Collectors Edition of TFTD have
the version with the v2 patch.


The known changes in the research tree are as
follows:


====Unpatched====


A Lobsterman Navigator is needed to research
Magnetic Navigation


Ion Armour is not required for Magnetic Ion
Armour. All the technologies you need for
Magnetic Ion Armour are Plastic Aqua Armour, Ion
Beam Accelerators and Magnetic Navigation.


====v2====


Magnetic Navigation can be researched as soon as
one is in storage. The lobsterman navigator is
NOT required.


Ion Armour is required for Magnetic Ion Armour.
Magnetic Ion Armour now just requires Magnetic
Navigation and Ion Armour.


Yes, in other words, the v2 patch makes it easier
to get Mag. Ion Armour. However, it also means
that winning the game hinges on your ability to
obtain a live Deep One terrorist AND researching
it in the right order.


If you patch your game and reload a campaign
created before the patch, you might face a few
research problems. It's not that common, but you
might find that you'll have some trouble with
researching the more advanced armour via the V2
method. There should be no problems if you
haven't even started on the Ion Armour or Mag Ion
Armour yet. It's mostly for campaigns where
you're already half-way through researching the
armour.


= The Good Bit=
The all important good bit gets down to the brass tacks. It's probably why you're here, so dig in!
 

=== Alien Sub Components ===

{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Zrbite || None || style="text-align: left" | A clump of Zrbite can be found underneath an Ion Beam Accelerator unit. If any explosive detonations occur near the IBA unit, it will be destroyed as it is very brittle (or rather, the IBA will blow up).

You can pick up these clumps, but finding a clump only occurs in unusual circumstances. For example, throwing an unconscious soldier into an IBA and waiting for him or her to wake up. Falling down onto one or walking into one with the walk-through-walls bug.

Xcomutil users will often find Zrbite clumps lying about when selecting a USO floor map that is not the same as the type of USO you're actually attacking.
|-
| Aqua Plastics || Deep One corpse || style="text-align: left" | You don't need any aqua plastics to research it. You just need the Deep One corpse.
|-
| Ion Beam Accelerators || None || style="text-align: left" | Ion Beam Accelerator units are found in intact alien USOs. Most smaller enemy subs will lose their IBA units if shot down, although some of the IBA units may survive if they're in larger ships.
|-
| Magnetic Navigation || None (TFTD v2) or Lobsterman Navigator (TFTD pre-v2) || style="text-align: left" | In older versions of the game, a Lobsterman Navigator is required to get Magnetic Navigation. Otherwise, it should appear immediately on the research list once one is in storage.
|-
| Transmission Resolver || Magnetic Navigation || style="text-align: left" |  
|-
| Sub Construction || Sub Construction (item), Zrbite, Transmission Resolver || style="text-align: left" | Keep at least one 'sub construction' component in storage before completing either of the two prerequisites. If you don't have one when both the prerequisites have been met, you will not get the 'sub construction' tech item, which is required for the advanced submarines
|}
 

=== Armour ===
{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Plastic Aqua Armor || Aqua Plastics || style="text-align: left" | Aqua Plastics are obtained from a Deep One corpse. You need not have any actual aqua-plastics in storage to get the Aqua Plastics research item.
|-
| Ion Armour || Ion Beam Accelerators, Plastic Aqua Armour and a Deep One Terrorist || style="text-align: left" | Research the first two prerequisites in any order you wish. However, you MUST research the live Deep One Terrorist LAST. If you researched this alien earlier, you won't get Ion Armour. Capturing another Deep One Terrorist is possible, but there is a small chance that you will not be able to research any more of them.

This is especially important in versions of TFTD patched with the v2 update, as without Ion Armour, you cannot get Magnetic Ion Armour, which in turn is needed to get the advanced submarines.
|-
| Magnetic Ion Armour (TFTD v2) || Ion Armour, Magnetic Navigation || style="text-align: left" | If you don't know what version of the game you have, the method in which you obtain Mag. Ion Armour will tell you which one it is.

For versions v2 and up, Magnetic Navigation becomes available the moment you have a sample in storage. Also keep in mind that Ion Armour is compulsory.
|-
| Magnetic Ion Armour (TFTD pre-v2) || Magnetic Navigation, Ion Beam Accelerators || style="text-align: left" | In older versions of TFTD, to get Magnetic Navigation, you need a Lobsterman Navigator. Keep in mind, Ion Armour is not compulsory.
|}
 

=== Submarines ===
{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Manta || Magnetic Ion Armour, Sub Construction || style="text-align: left" | Refer to the sub component section for notes on Sub Construction. This submarine allows construction of the more advanced SWS.
|-
| Hammerhead || Manta ||  
|-
| Leviathan || Hammerhead, Lobsterman Commander || style="text-align: left" | The Lobsterman Commander should be researched after the Hammerhead. Also, for your convenience, don't forget to research 'alien origins' first so that you don't have to capture a third lobsterman commander to win the game.

If you did not research the commander and the hammerhead in the right order, don't worry, just research another Lobsterman Commander.
|}
 

=== Techs to Win the Game ===
{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Alien Origins || Any live alien ||
|-
| The Ultimate Threat || Alien Origins and a Lobsterman Commander || style="text-align: left" | Research the commander last. If you researched the commander before alien origins, don't worry. Just research another commander.
'''* A lobsterman Navigator can also substitute for the commander'''
|-
| T'Leth, the Alien's City || The Ultimate Threat and a Lobsterman Commander (another one) || style="text-align: left" | You need to research another lobsterman commander.

If you researched the Tasoth commander any time in the past, then there's a possibility that this very
important tech item will not appear, which means your current campaign has been scuttled and has already sunk all the way to the bottom of the ocean floor. Period.

If you don't have any saves made before completing research on the Tasoth commander, then your only recourse is to start a new game.
|}
 

=== Disrupter Pulse Launcher (optional) ===

Optional as you do not need the DPL torpedoes to win the game. It's not a serious problem, but is mentioned anyway to ally any concerns about the launchers not appearing for research.

{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Disrupter Pulse Launcher || Zrbite || style="text-align: left" | As soon as you've researched Zrbite, you can start research on the DPL launcher and its ammo - assuming you had a sample in storage upon completion of the project.

However, unlike Sub Construction and the Mind Probe, the DPL Launcher has a failsafe. If you did not have any samples upon completion of Zrbite, you will be able to make them appear for research the moment the '''next''' research project is completed.
|}
 

=== Molecular Control Technology (optional) ===

Optional because you don't need MC tech to win the game. But as its research branch has a notable bug, is included as well.

{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| M.C.-LAB || Deep One Terrorist or Calcinite Terrorist || style="text-align: left" | Either of the two terrorist units will give you the M.C.-Lab.

Deep One Terrorists generally follow Gill-men and Calcinites associate themselves with Aquatoids. Both aliens can be found in 'mixed' crew land missions.
|-
| MC Reader || MC Reader, M.C.-Lab || style="text-align: left" | The MC Reader research item will only become available if research on the M.C.-Lab is completed while an MC Reader is in storage.

If you miss out on this, you will NOT get the MC Disrupter or the MC Generator for the rest of the campaign.
|-
| MC Disruptor || MC Reader and any live Tasoth || style="text-align: left" | Excluding the Tasoth Commander, of course.

While the Ufopaedia says it only works underwater, this item will work on land. I believe the text was meant to say that only aquanauts with 'MC implants' can use it, the word 'underwater' seems like a typo that was never removed.
|-
| MC Generator || MC Disruptor || style="text-align: left" | This item will protect your base from being found, but it does not work 100% of the time. Aliens can still attack shielded bases if their scouts are lucky. The magnitude of USOs successfully spotting your base is reduced.
|}
 

=== Obligatory Disclaimer Claptrap ===

This document will not always be 100% accurate, as the game tends to behave differently for
different players with different computer systems and game editions.


These notes are derived through many controlled tests and observations with the MS-DOS
edition of Terror From The Deep with the TFTDv2 patch. Any noticeable difference between the
patched game and the older versions are noted. Otherwise, these notes are valid for practically
any version of TFTD available on the PC, with the possible exception of TFTD for the Sony Playstation.


TFTD, Terror From The Deep, X-Com, XCOM, et. al.
originally developed by some very fine people. Originally distributed by Microprose. Now? Who knows.


As the purpose of this document is to inform, feel free to distribute any information in this
document as you see fit.


Many thanks for the input and feedback from the
regular posters on the Xcommand and X-Com
Tactical Command forums for assisting in the
preparation of this document. Some indirect
thanks to the fine folks on the alt.games.x-com
Usenet newsgroup as well. Extra bits and pieces here and there picked up from the xcomufo.com forums as well.

Talk:TRTBAG

2007-11-10T15:03:10Z

Schnobs: The Deep One Dilemma

== The Deep One Dilemma ==

Too lazy to check, but are there really no Deep Ones in Gill Man Bases? After all, a base is considered dry ground... --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 07:03, 10 November 2007 (PST)

TRTBAG

2007-11-10T15:01:32Z

Schnobs: /* The Deep One Dilemma */

__NOTOC__
= The TFTD Research Tree Bug Avoidance Guide =
<div align = "right" style = "font-size:80%;">A needlessly wordy article by [[User:NKF|NKF]]</div>

__TOC__

 

==Foreword==

The designers of X-Com Terror From The Deep seem to have attempted to make the research process in TFTD much more complicated than its very straightforward predecessor's research tree. They have succeeded in doing this, but have also introduced many glaringly unacceptable errors in the process that can prevent you from completing the game.

Some players may have had the luck of not bumping into any of these errors by picking all the right research at the right time, or have a game that doesn't seem to have these problems. Unfortunately, as the research order in TFTD is non-linear, that is to say you can research anything you've got in any order you want, a lot of us are less fortunate. This guide is to assist point out some of the stickier bits.



Also note that ''this is not a reproduction of the research tree''.
There are many documents in a variety of formats describing the complete research tree on the Internet that you can peruse. This document is merely a supplement.

===Definitions===
The word 'prerequisite' is used quite frequently
throughout this document. As prerequisite is not
an everyday word, here is its definition.

:;Pre-Requisite: Pre- means 'before', Requisite means something that is required in order to achieve something. In Layman terms and in context with the game: to get this thingy, you need to research orhave these other thingies first.
 
=== Spoiler Warning ===
While this may spoil the game if you are new to
it, it is better to be informed than to make a
mistake that is irreversible. The game IS hard,
even for X-Com UFO veterans.

With the exception of MC technology, this
document discusses a branch of the research tree
that will take you from the very start of the
game all the way to the final chamber in T'Leth. (Well, not exactly, but it'll give you everything you need!)

== Glitches in the System ==

There are two major occasions where research can grind to a halt:

* An alien is required to further research AFTER certain projects are completed
* An object is needed in storage before research is completed

== Interrogations ==

A large portion of the research can be cut off by researching an alien in the incorrect sequence.

for example, in order to open a new research branch, you have to have researched project A and B and then interrogate alien C in order to get new technology D. If you were to interrogate alien C before completing research on A and B, technology D will not appear for research once you've completed research on A and B. In order to get D to appear, you must capture another alien and interrogate it again.

So, as a rule of thumb, if an alien is a prerequisite
for any particular tech item, it's highly
recommended that hold off the completion of the interrogation until
all the prerequisites have been researched.

== The Deep One Dilemma==

The primary research path at an abstract level looks roughly like so:
  
<center>
{| cellspacing="3"
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Armour
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Subs
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | T'Leth
|}
</center>
 
The path for Armour looks roughly like:
  
<center>
{| cellspacing="3"
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Deep One Corpse
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Aqua Plastics
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Plastic Aqua Armour
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Ion Beam Accelerators
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Live Deep One Terrorist
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Ion Armour
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Magnetic Navigation
|| →
| style="text-align: center; background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid; width: 80px;" | Mag. Ion Armour
|}
</center>
 
Not all of the technologies need to be reseached in the exact order - with the exception of the live [[Deep One]], which should only be reseached after you have met the other prerequisites for Mag. Ion Armour.

Because Mag. Ion Armour is one half of the research needed to get the advanced submarines, a Deep One Terrorist is the key to winning the game.

You will need a living specimen and a
corpse. In older versions of the game, where you
need a lobsterman navigator to get magnetic
navigation, getting a live Deep One Terrorist is
not that important. However, in TFTD versions
with the v2 update, success hinges on getting a
living Deep One terrorist.

Deep One Terrorists can be found in most Gill-man
land missions. They do not appear underwater (1),
and are replaced with Xarquids if you shoot down
Gill-Men terror ships.

:(1) ''you may find some Deep One Terrorists in the second level of T'Leth; however, you may only get there after when you already have the tech they provide.''


Don't worry if you missed them, Gill-Man terror
sites do still appear when it's late in the game,
although they are abundant early in game.


Deep One Terrorists also appear in 'mixed' alien
crew land missions. A mixed crew is made up of a
variety of species, and in terror sites and base
attacks, will be supported by a variety of
land-based terror units, which includes the Deep
One Terrorist as well as the odd Xarquid (which
normally replaces the Deep One Terrorist for
underwater missions).


Just promote a terror site by leaving any ships
on terror missions alone, or encourage the
Gill-Men or 'mixed' crews to attack your base by
shooting some of their USOs down near your base.
You might also want to dismantle your M.C
generator to improve the likelihood of an attack.


Before starting research on the Deep One
Terrorist, refer to the Ion Armour section.


Finally, researching an alien medic and getting
information on the Deep One Terrorist or its
corpse is not the same as researching the real
thing. You will not get any research benefits
from the alien medic's report. Keep this in mind.


== The Tasoth Commander Trap==

Note that it is unfortunately difficult to double check the validity of this bug at the present time, so this section has been intentionally left vague for now, but is left for the benefit of the that may experience it.

Most copies of the game do not recognise the Tasoth Commander as a legal alien (Although the alien/rank combination can still exist) and cannot be researched. If for whatever reason one does somehow appear on your research list, do not complete the research on it until after obtaining a Leviathan and the final mission launch button. Researching it will prevent these topics from being researched through normal means.

If you're unsure whether you'll face this bug or otherwise, update your game with the v2 patch if you are using the Dos version. The Collectors edition of TFTD is already updated to v2.

==Required Objects ==
=== The MC Reader and Sub Construction samples===

These two items, the MC Reader and the Sub
Construction store item, are special in that they
will only become available for research if and
only if a sample is available in your general
stores before completing research for their
prerequisite technologies.


If you do not have any when completing research
on the last of their required technologies, they
will NOT appear later even after acquiring a few
samples.


For example: If you've done Zrbite and are about
to finish research on the Transmission Resolver,
make sure that you have the 'sub construction'
item in stores before the research on the
Transmission Resolver hits 100%, or vice-versa.


Between the MC Reader and the Sub Construction
store item, the 'sub construction' store item is
required to win the game. The MC Reader is
optional.


Note: This does not apply to Aqua Plastics. You
can research it even without any samples.


Note: If this happens to you and you don't have a suitable save game to revert, you can still rescue your game using a hex editor. Open the file RESEARCH.DAT that resides in the appropriate save game folder and set the byte at the hexadecimal offset 0x1B4 to 1. This will allow you to research Alien Sub Construction. (It will allow you to research it even if you don't have the prerequisite technologies, in fact, but you wouldn't cheat that way, would you?) 
Modify save games at your own risk. You should always create a backup first.


 

== Version differences==

There are two versions of TFTD. The original
unpatched version of TFTD and the one with the v2
update.


Players with the Collectors Edition of TFTD have
the version with the v2 patch.


The known changes in the research tree are as
follows:


====Unpatched====


A Lobsterman Navigator is needed to research
Magnetic Navigation


Ion Armour is not required for Magnetic Ion
Armour. All the technologies you need for
Magnetic Ion Armour are Plastic Aqua Armour, Ion
Beam Accelerators and Magnetic Navigation.


====v2====


Magnetic Navigation can be researched as soon as
one is in storage. The lobsterman navigator is
NOT required.


Ion Armour is required for Magnetic Ion Armour.
Magnetic Ion Armour now just requires Magnetic
Navigation and Ion Armour.


Yes, in other words, the v2 patch makes it easier
to get Mag. Ion Armour. However, it also means
that winning the game hinges on your ability to
obtain a live Deep One terrorist AND researching
it in the right order.


If you patch your game and reload a campaign
created before the patch, you might face a few
research problems. It's not that common, but you
might find that you'll have some trouble with
researching the more advanced armour via the V2
method. There should be no problems if you
haven't even started on the Ion Armour or Mag Ion
Armour yet. It's mostly for campaigns where
you're already half-way through researching the
armour.


= The Good Bit=
The all important good bit gets down to the brass tacks. It's probably why you're here, so dig in!
 

=== Alien Sub Components ===

{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Zrbite || None || style="text-align: left" | A clump of Zrbite can be found underneath an Ion Beam Accelerator unit. If any explosive detonations occur near the IBA unit, it will be destroyed as it is very brittle (or rather, the IBA will blow up).

You can pick up these clumps, but finding a clump only occurs in unusual circumstances. For example, throwing an unconscious soldier into an IBA and waiting for him or her to wake up. Falling down onto one or walking into one with the walk-through-walls bug.

Xcomutil users will often find Zrbite clumps lying about when selecting a USO floor map that is not the same as the type of USO you're actually attacking.
|-
| Aqua Plastics || Deep One corpse || style="text-align: left" | You don't need any aqua plastics to research it. You just need the Deep One corpse.
|-
| Ion Beam Accelerators || None || style="text-align: left" | Ion Beam Accelerator units are found in intact alien USOs. Most smaller enemy subs will lose their IBA units if shot down, although some of the IBA units may survive if they're in larger ships.
|-
| Magnetic Navigation || None (TFTD v2) or Lobsterman Navigator (TFTD pre-v2) || style="text-align: left" | In older versions of the game, a Lobsterman Navigator is required to get Magnetic Navigation. Otherwise, it should appear immediately on the research list once one is in storage.
|-
| Transmission Resolver || Magnetic Navigation || style="text-align: left" |  
|-
| Sub Construction || Sub Construction (item), Zrbite, Transmission Resolver || style="text-align: left" | Keep at least one 'sub construction' component in storage before completing either of the two prerequisites. If you don't have one when both the prerequisites have been met, you will not get the 'sub construction' tech item, which is required for the advanced submarines
|}
 

=== Armour ===
{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Plastic Aqua Armor || Aqua Plastics || style="text-align: left" | Aqua Plastics are obtained from a Deep One corpse. You need not have any actual aqua-plastics in storage to get the Aqua Plastics research item.
|-
| Ion Armour || Ion Beam Accelerators, Plastic Aqua Armour and a Deep One Terrorist || style="text-align: left" | Research the first two prerequisites in any order you wish. However, you MUST research the live Deep One Terrorist LAST. If you researched this alien earlier, you won't get Ion Armour. Capturing another Deep One Terrorist is possible, but there is a small chance that you will not be able to research any more of them.

This is especially important in versions of TFTD patched with the v2 update, as without Ion Armour, you cannot get Magnetic Ion Armour, which in turn is needed to get the advanced submarines.
|-
| Magnetic Ion Armour (TFTD v2) || Ion Armour, Magnetic Navigation || style="text-align: left" | If you don't know what version of the game you have, the method in which you obtain Mag. Ion Armour will tell you which one it is.

For versions v2 and up, Magnetic Navigation becomes available the moment you have a sample in storage. Also keep in mind that Ion Armour is compulsory.
|-
| Magnetic Ion Armour (TFTD pre-v2) || Magnetic Navigation, Ion Beam Accelerators || style="text-align: left" | In older versions of TFTD, to get Magnetic Navigation, you need a Lobsterman Navigator. Keep in mind, Ion Armour is not compulsory.
|}
 

=== Submarines ===
{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Manta || Magnetic Ion Armour, Sub Construction || style="text-align: left" | Refer to the sub component section for notes on Sub Construction. This submarine allows construction of the more advanced SWS.
|-
| Hammerhead || Manta ||  
|-
| Leviathan || Hammerhead, Lobsterman Commander || style="text-align: left" | The Lobsterman Commander should be researched after the Hammerhead. Also, for your convenience, don't forget to research 'alien origins' first so that you don't have to capture a third lobsterman commander to win the game.

If you did not research the commander and the hammerhead in the right order, don't worry, just research another Lobsterman Commander.
|}
 

=== Techs to Win the Game ===
{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Alien Origins || Any live alien ||
|-
| The Ultimate Threat || Alien Origins and a Lobsterman Commander || style="text-align: left" | Research the commander last. If you researched the commander before alien origins, don't worry. Just research another commander.
'''* A lobsterman Navigator can also substitute for the commander'''
|-
| T'Leth, the Alien's City || The Ultimate Threat and a Lobsterman Commander (another one) || style="text-align: left" | You need to research another lobsterman commander.

If you researched the Tasoth commander any time in the past, then there's a possibility that this very
important tech item will not appear, which means your current campaign has been scuttled and has already sunk all the way to the bottom of the ocean floor. Period.

If you don't have any saves made before completing research on the Tasoth commander, then your only recourse is to start a new game.
|}
 

=== Disrupter Pulse Launcher (optional) ===

Optional as you do not need the DPL torpedoes to win the game. It's not a serious problem, but is mentioned anyway to ally any concerns about the launchers not appearing for research.

{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| Disrupter Pulse Launcher || Zrbite || style="text-align: left" | As soon as you've researched Zrbite, you can start research on the DPL launcher and its ammo - assuming you had a sample in storage upon completion of the project.

However, unlike Sub Construction and the Mind Probe, the DPL Launcher has a failsafe. If you did not have any samples upon completion of Zrbite, you will be able to make them appear for research the moment the '''next''' research project is completed.
|}
 

=== Molecular Control Technology (optional) ===

Optional because you don't need MC tech to win the game. But as its research branch has a notable bug, is included as well.

{| cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" rules="all" style="border: 1px solid gray; text-align: center; background: #F9F9F9"
|- style="background: lavender; border: 1px gray solid"
! width="15%" | Technology !! width="20%" | Prerequisities !! Notes
|-
| M.C.-LAB || Deep One Terrorist or Calcinite Terrorist || style="text-align: left" | Either of the two terrorist units will give you the M.C.-Lab.

Deep One Terrorists generally follow Gill-men and Calcinites associate themselves with Aquatoids. Both aliens can be found in 'mixed' crew land missions.
|-
| MC Reader || MC Reader, M.C.-Lab || style="text-align: left" | The MC Reader research item will only become available if research on the M.C.-Lab is completed while an MC Reader is in storage.

If you miss out on this, you will NOT get the MC Disrupter or the MC Generator for the rest of the campaign.
|-
| MC Disruptor || MC Reader and any live Tasoth || style="text-align: left" | Excluding the Tasoth Commander, of course.

While the Ufopaedia says it only works underwater, this item will work on land. I believe the text was meant to say that only aquanauts with 'MC implants' can use it, the word 'underwater' seems like a typo that was never removed.
|-
| MC Generator || MC Disruptor || style="text-align: left" | This item will protect your base from being found, but it does not work 100% of the time. Aliens can still attack shielded bases if their scouts are lucky. The magnitude of USOs successfully spotting your base is reduced.
|}
 

=== Obligatory Disclaimer Claptrap ===

This document will not always be 100% accurate, as the game tends to behave differently for
different players with different computer systems and game editions.


These notes are derived through many controlled tests and observations with the MS-DOS
edition of Terror From The Deep with the TFTDv2 patch. Any noticeable difference between the
patched game and the older versions are noted. Otherwise, these notes are valid for practically
any version of TFTD available on the PC, with the possible exception of TFTD for the Sony Playstation.


TFTD, Terror From The Deep, X-Com, XCOM, et. al.
originally developed by some very fine people. Originally distributed by Microprose. Now? Who knows.


As the purpose of this document is to inform, feel free to distribute any information in this
document as you see fit.


Many thanks for the input and feedback from the
regular posters on the Xcommand and X-Com
Tactical Command forums for assisting in the
preparation of this document. Some indirect
thanks to the fine folks on the alt.games.x-com
Usenet newsgroup as well. Extra bits and pieces here and there picked up from the xcomufo.com forums as well.

Talk:Elerium-115

2007-11-08T21:44:29Z

Schnobs: indentation

Has anyone ever came across an issue in the CE version of UFO in which a landed UFO gets assaulted and my guys leave the Power Source intact, however, at the summary screen at the end - there is no elerium, although the power source appears?? I'm confused - I don't understand how that could have happened! I've only seen it once so far - could have been data corruption... not sure :s - [[User:Phoenix|Phoenix]]

---------------

Elerium is the very last item to be spawned in a battlescape map (first X-Com equipment, then alien equipment, then Elerium).

If you brought too many items to the battle site, it's possible that there wouldn't be room in memory for the Elerium. Bring along enough stuff and you can also deprive the aliens of their equipment.

Was the Elerium visible during gameplay (little purple stun bomb thingy sitting on the power supply, or white + on the radar)? If so, try picking it up (the power supply won't explode if you just shoot it).

-[[User:Bomb_Bloke|Bomb Bloke]]

---------------

Cheers for that Bomb Bloke - I haven't seen it happen again, as there has always been elerium on the missions that I expect it. After having a read through this site, about the object table overflowing, I can understand how that can happen. I'll keep an eye out for it in the future. Cheers again! :) - [[User:Phoenix|Phoenix]]

----

If you used explosives (grenades or cannons) near the power source, it's possible the Elerium was destroyed (damage=20) while the power source remained intact (damage=50) --[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 21:33, 8 May 2006 (PDT)

----

Re the "mining near Cydonia" issue. As per the UFOpedia:

"It is not naturally found in our solar system and cannot be reproduced."

However, in X-Com 3, [[Transtellar]] mines the stuff from Mars (and brings back regular shipments). Therefore, there must be a reserve near Cydonia.

While there is no official explanation, a meteorite seems to be the most likely cause of this.

- [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 21:41, 31 May 2007 (PDT)

:My apologies. I do not have access to X-Com: Apocalypse, and was basing my data merely on what was said in the game. In light of the new information, it can be reverted if you desire. `[[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 21:56, 31 May 2007 (PDT)

----

Tequila, I've been away a while and am just noticing your "1 Elerium" section. '''Very''' interesting thoughts! Thanks for that bit of armchair science!!

But I can think of a couple of issues... on the one hand, surely at least the Avenger is space-worthy, which could mean it may fly in little or no atmosphere. This is also probably at least potentially true for all the researched craft, since they all use elerium engines and alien alloys, and are originally designed based on researching UFOs (all of which are space-worthy). Also known as, why not make is space-worthy, if you're designing something strong enough to face UFOs. (Even 1990s fighters could fly very high in the atmosphere, with a principle reason for not going to space being there's no air for their jet engines... but Elerium does away with that concern.) On the other hand, you left out of your calculations the price to be paid for fighting off gravity. That's surely energy expensive! (Look how big rockets have to be.) So you might consider toning down the drag factor... and introducing a big gravity factor, if you care to have another go at it.

I also really like the alternate approach to playing XCOM on your [[User:Tequilachef]] page. A few small conceptual constraints which make a huge difference in game play (a.k.a. there's always a real risk of losing).

- [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:34, 10 October 2007 (PDT)

----

You are right I guess. I formerly had the gravity issue included by that:
"Now we take that keeping the craft at max speed only uses 95% of required energy per mission..."
I now changed that to 75%, which seems more likely to fit but is still far from exact.
In reality, the aspect of overcoming gravity would create a VERY complex mathematical problem. Flying higher lowers the atmospheric density and therefore atmospheric drag, but raises fuel requirements for obtaining flight height. Considering that complex flying maneuvers might be necessary for interception and that the starting height might vary from base to base no absolute solution exists. Constant calculations by computers would be a necessity.
Remember: Both atmospheric density and gravity depend on height (or distance from gravity source) and are both differential equations. If anyone reads this and has loads of time, feel free to work out that one. Else, I would prefer those educated guesses ;)

- tequilachef

:It's worth noting that while the UFO Power Source may be incredibly efficient in Elerium use, there is no guarantee that this is so in regards to the alien weapons. In fact, given the size of a power unit, I'd say it's more likely that the weapons are extremely inefficient in Elerium use. (Especially the heavy plasma clip; 3 times the Elerium for one-third more shots and just over double the killing power of the [[Plasma Pistol]].) We also don't know exactly where that Elerium used in construction of the grenade(or anything else) goes; it's quite possible that only a fraction of it goes into the charge/warhead and some is used in the creation of functional parts. Also, it should be noted that explosions do NOT scale linearly; twice as large a warhead on an atomic or hydrogen bomb does not equal twice the explosive power. In addition, it's been theorized that the explosion from UFO Power Sources is not from the impact; its from trying to start the UFO's engines in order to escape incoming X-COM troops before it's ready(thus why the aliens are killed immediately before the X-COM turn begins, and not when the UFO crashes.)

:Of course, since this is fiction, it really doesn't matter, just thought I'd bring a few things to the table since you seem interested in scientific accuracy. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 15:53, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

:: After running the numbers myself (54000nm in 10hr is, indeed, 10000km/hr - or about 278m/s) I can say that the quoted figures are slightly off. According to some quick research the density of air at that altitude is the same as the density of air at sea level. However, I used the classic formula of the drag equation:
::: Fd = 1/2ρv2CdA
::where ρ is the density of the air, v is the velocity, Cd is the coefficient of friction and A is the surface area. Using this we get Fd = 1/2 1.293 * (2782) * 0.3 * 20 - or about 299,785 Newtons of force. For total power requirement we use the Power Requirement equation P=FdR, where Fd is the result of the preceding Drag equation and R is the range - stated as being 100,000km (100,000,000m). Solving that equation we find that we require 2.99785*1013 Joules of energy. This figure, following the figures, is 75% of the total available power from the Elerium, so the total available power is 3.99712848*1013 Joules. With c equal to 299,792,457m/s plugged into Einsteins famous equation of: E = mc2 we get a result of 4.4*10-4 kilograms. However, this is stated as being 99% of the total, so we have a full load of Elerium fuel for the Avenger of 4.49*10-4kilograms. That is, 4.49 '''grams''' of fuel - and as the Avenger is stated as carrying 12 units of Elerium, the result is that each unit is 0.37 grams - that's right, 37 '''centigrams''' of Elerium per fuel unit. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 18:23, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

::As for a Terror Ship containing 200 units of Elerium, if my above math is correct (as I believe), the result of that Elerium detonating at 100% conversion, isn't even equivalent to a 2 Megaton nuclear device. (200 units is about 74grams - direct conversion of all that mass would release about 6.65*1015 Joules of energy. 1 Megaton is equivalent to 4.185*1015 Joules. This places a 200 unit, 100% efficient explosive at about 1.6 Megatons in size. IIRC the largest nuclear device ever built was around 200 Megatons. (Note that the edge of non-overpressure damage for a 1 Megaton blast is around 20 Miles) - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 22:12, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

:Damn, this is all very cool armchair stuff. I just added a link at [[Realistic_Equivalents#Elerium-115]]. If anyone wants to summarize/move all this conjecture there, that's fine, but it sounds like it's still a moving target, as it were. And the E-115 page is a good enough place, anyway. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 22:42, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

:::I've found an error in my above math. The velocity is 2778m/s, not 278m/s - this makes the force 29,930,555 Newtons. (call it 2.993*107 for simplicity) This makes it 2.993*1015 for the used power, or 3.99*1015 Joules. That works out to 0.0444kg, but, as stated, this is assumed to be 99% due to the 1% inefficiency - so it's 0.0449kg. Makes it 449 grams of Elerium covering 12 units, or around 37 grams of Elerium per unit. This would give a Terror Ship about 7.5 kilo's of Elerium - at 100% efficiency the amount of generated energy would be 6.74*1017 joules released. That would be equal to about 16 thousand megatons - the "Gigaton" designation comes in at 4.184*1018 Joules. This would be enough to shatter the Earth. However, this assumes that all generators detonate at the same time, there is no "material scattering" effect from the first blast(s) and that the Elerium converts at 100% efficiency. None of these things are likely to be true. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 22:54, 2 November 2007 (PDT)
::::Bah, make that around 160 Megatons. This means that there have '''''still''''' been larger nuclear bombs produced on Earth. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 23:03, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

:Very cool. For one thing though, UFO Power Sources do not "chain react", as recently posted at [[UFO_Crash_Recovery#Power_Source_Explosions_and_Elerium_Recovery]]. In the extreme case of the Terror Ship, if 1 PS explodes, it wastes all 3 of the others so that they don't explode. However, isolated PSs can all (independently) explode, as in the case of the Battleship. I have to say though I never saw the earth shatter... clearly those UFO walls are pretty heavy armor. ;) - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 23:08, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

::That's the point I was making. At only 160MT absolute potential for the 200 units of Elerium onboard a Terror Ship, well... That's assuming that all four cores go simultaneously and the Elerium converts at 100% in the "wild" reaction. The truth is that a single core going actually would disrupt the functioning of the other cores - by causing a scattering of the Elerium. As we can assume that each of the four cores contains 50 units, the math shows that each core is capable of somewhere between 39.5 and 40 megatons at the absolute limit. But that is in a perfect reaction - where the Elerium converts 100% to energy. The fact is that an uncontrolled reaction - like that which causes an explosion - is far from ideal, and would be, at most, 90% efficient, if not closer to 50%. And that also assumes that the Elerium's conversion releases the energy in an even mix of heat, pressure and radiation. The more likely result - seeing as how Elerium is capable of being used as a power source for pistols and other compact weapons - is that it releases a lot of easily converted radiation - likely in the form of high-energy beta particles. This isn't to say that Elerium can't have an explosive form of reaction - just that the way it's used in the reactors is probably as a beta-particle and heat generator, and potentially even X-Ray and Gamma-Ray source (both of which can be used with forms of photovoltaics to generate electricty). If they go for the efficient side, then the reaction used in reactors is more than 50 percent focused towards directly convertable forms of energy. Truthfully, I'm guessing that they focus it at 75 to 80 percent "hard radiation" (beta, gamma-ray and x-ray) output. This means that such a reactor going super-critical and exploding wouldn't do a lot of physical damage from the blast, but it would irradiate quite a bit. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 14:41, 3 November 2007 (PDT)

:::I thought along similar lines. Your typical old-fashioned Hiroshima-style fission bomb contains like what, 10kg of U-235? Or whatever is the critical mass. But most of it is vaporized and sent flying in all directions as soon as things really get hot. Only a small amount actually reacts before the rest is blown apart. And this in a device that's meant to explode. IIRC, in Chernobyl none of the fissionable material actually exploded – excess heat produced a lot of steam which forced the lid open, then air rushing in allowed the graphite to catch fire and burn for days. In effect all fissionable material was wasted (in the sense of "not recoverable") yet in terms of explosions, it was nothing special. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 19:01, 3 November 2007 (PDT)

:I've written a [http://shadowwolf.keil-draco.com/solver.py.txt program in Python] that solves all the equations - including the Barometric function for atmospheric density. On running it and giving it all the above parameters I've learned that even my "corrected" figures are off. An Avenger is carrying about 25.5 grams of Elerium, which makes each unit about 21/8 grams. This would give a Terror Ship a full load of 425 grams of Elerium, and a "perfect conditions" explosive potential of around 9Mt - the MIRV warheads on most missiles in the US arsenal during the 1960's was larger than that. Taking [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed's]] reminder that Elerium reactors do not chain-react and [[User:Schnobs|Schnobs']] reminder that nuclear explosions never use the whole mass of the available material - a "high-end" estimate of material that reacts would be 50% - this would leave us with a single-reactor explosion of 1.25Mt - about four hundred times the total combined destructive potential of the (in)famous "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1944. However, the quoted figure for the size of the fireball for a 1Mt nuclear device (the US Minuteman Missile) is .96km. So the fireball from a 1.25Mt device is going to be about 1 mile. This says nothing about the area damaged or destroyed by the pressure-wave that a nuke generates. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 01:21, 4 November 2007 (PST) (corrected later - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 02:24, 4 November 2007 (PST))

::Based on the 11 tile blast radius of any power core and the 2.26 meter per tile conjecture we can see that the blast diameter of a power core is approximately 50 meters. With a 960m blast diameter being what is expected from a 1 Megaton bomb, and a 48m one from a 20 kiloton bomb, we find that the power cores detonation is right around 20 kilotons. That means that about 1 gram of material has been consumed for the explosion. In other words, not even a single unit of Elerium detonates. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 21:09, 4 November 2007 (PST)

:::I don't know where or how you came by the figures of 960m or 48m respectively, but have some doubt as to what they actually mean. Pictures from the japanese cities are not conclusive (bomb was touched off high above ground, many wooden buildings might have withstood the actual blast but we won't know as they burned to the ground anyway). However, from chemistry class I remembered an explosion in a fertilizer plant ([http://www.bufata-chemie.de/reader/ig_farben/pics/1-4-3_01_oppau-big.jpg picture]) that was rated in kilotons. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion Wikipedia] speaks of 1-2kt and a 90x125m crater, which would be like 40x50 tiles in UFO scale. This explosion happened at ground level, the buildings were brick or concrete. Looking at the picture, I don't think any explosions in UFO, not even Blaster Bombs, are anywhere near kiloton scale. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 10:51, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::The values come from the [[wikipedia:Nuclear weapon yield|Wikipedia article about Nuclear Weapons Yield]]. On that page is an equation that can determine yield from blast radius and time after the start of the blast and a diagram of blast radius based on yield. In said diagram it lists the blast diameter of a 1 Megaton bomb (W59 - the Minuteman 1) at .96km - ie: 960 meters - and the blast radius of a 20 kiloton bomb ("Fat Man" - the "gun type" uranium fission device dropped on Nagasaki) at 48 meters. Note that this is the size of the fireball and not the damage radius caused by a nuclear weapons overpressure event.

::::The city of Hiroshima sits inside a natural "Bowl" or depression in the landscape. The "Little Boy" bomb is estimated to have only been 13 kilotons and the damage effect was multiplied because of the airburst (IIRC, "Little Boy" detonated some 100 feet about the ground) and the damage was magnified by the shockwave from the detonation reflecting off the hills surrounding the city. It was nearly the same for the higher yield "Fat Man" device that was used against Nagasaki. (In fact, if I remember my High School history classes correctly, it was the geography of the two locations that was the reason for them being chosen as targets).

::::In conclusion I'd like to say that I doubt that the reactor explosions themselves are nuclear in nature. It is much more likely that they originate from sources very similar to the cause of the explosion at Chernobyl. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 15:30, 5 November 2007 (PST)

:While it doesn't change the ultimate conclusion of "not even a single unit detonating", I'd say any more then 1 meter per tile is being more then a bit generous. 2.26 meters suggests the average unit is over a meter and a half wide, and somewhere over three meters tall. Where did that value come from?! - [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 22:29, 4 November 2007 (PST)

:::It came from [[User_talk:Danial|here]]. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:38, 4 November 2007 (PST)

::::Correct. [[User:Danial|Danial]] has estimated that each tile is approximately 2.26m2 on his [[User talk:Danial|talk page]]. I have no interest in this, really, other than of an academic nature, since it can be used to estimate the yield of the device that created the fireball. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 15:30, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::If [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Blokes]] 1.6x1.6x2.4 meter size of a single tile is correct, then a Reactor has a blast diameter of 35.2 meters. Using the "Radius from Yield" equation of R = (Et2/ρ)1/5 we can solve to find the actual yield of the device. I'll run that equation later, but I'm estimating that the yield is less than 10 kilotons. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 16:21, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::Okay, assuming that the explosion is at sea-level (ρ = 1.2550kg/m3) and the explosion covers the entire 11 tile radius at the end of a TU (using [[User:Danial|Danials]] 1.71m/s speed estimate we can see that a TU is 18.7s based on the 20 tiles a soldier with 80TU's can cover) we can solve the above equation for bomb yield. (that is, E=R5ρ/t2) and arrive at a yield of about 6060.71 Joules of power - about 1.5 '''microtons'''. This seems to indicate that the estimate of the length of a TU is wrong, or that the explosion does not consume an entire TU. If we accept that the TU length is correct and that the explosion does not consume an entire TU - highly unlikely that an explosion would take 18.7 seconds to occur anyway - and run with a figure of 1/1000th of a TU (0.0187s for the explosion to occur) we find that the explosion is much more powerful 6060714855.6 J - or about 1.4 tons. And the figure will continue to rise the shorter the time-span for developing to that diameter is. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 17:03, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::Using [[User:Danial|Danials]] estimate of 2.26m per tile the result is a bit more — 34077375066.3 J - about 8.1 tons. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 17:18, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::Note: The Trinity test has been officially stated as having been 20 kilotons. Based on examination of the released videos of that blast [[wikipedia:Geoffrey Ingram Taylor|one scientist]] has calculated it's power at about [[wikipedia:Nuclear weapon yield#Calculating yields and controversy|22 kilotons]]. (The numbers he used were: R = 140m, t = 0.025, ρ = 1 - using those same numbers we can see that he arrived at a value of 86051840000000 J – about 20.6 kilotons) What the preceding means is that the above stated equation (E=R5ρ/t2 is correct :P - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 17:55, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::Sadly, [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] has pointed out an error in my math regarding the length of a TU. I used the 20 tiles in 80 TU's as a base for the equation, multiplying the '20 tiles' by the distance of 1.6 meters per tile. However, I must have been out of my mind in reporting 18.7 seconds per TU. Running the numbers by hand (on a piece of paper!) I've found that 20*1.6*1.71 makes that 80 TU turn approximately 55 seconds long. Dividing that by the 80 TU's in said turn we find that each TU is about 0.69 seconds long. Re-running the above stated equation with the reactor detonation taking 1 TU and 1/1000th of a TU we get the following results:
::::* 1 TU: 3,572,876 J - not even 1 ton
::::* one thousandth of a TU: 3,572,875,919,360 - 854 tons
::::If we use [[User:Danial|Danials]] 2.26m per tile figure we find that 1 TU is 0.97 seconds long. Solving the above equation using the 2.26 meters and 0.97 seconds per TU figure we have the following numbers for the size of a reactor cores explosion:
::::* 1 TU: 10,302,987 J - again, not even 1 ton
::::* one thousandth of a TU: 10,302,987,085,467 J - 2.5 kilotons
::::As you can see, the size of a tile not only affects the length of a TU (0.69s for a 1.6mx1.6mx2.4m tile, 0.97s for a 2.26mx2.26mx2.4m tile) but also the apparent yield of a reactors explosion. Now, as noted before (I think I mentioned it anyway), 1 gram of matter converting to energy creates an explosion of around 20 kilotons. This means that, if a reactors explosion is nuclear in nature, it's using about 1/10th of a gram of Elerium to create the result.
::::Finally, I did forget to mention that the figure only applies if the reactor detonations fireball creates the 11 tile damage radius and it is not the result of other features of a nuclear detonation. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 18:29, 5 November 2007 (PST)

:::::Stepping away from all previous figures and estimating a tile as being 1.71m2, and using the bog standard human walking rate of 1.71m/s we find that, since it takes a rookie an average of 4 TU's to cross one tile that a single TU is 1/4 of a second. Using that together with the above stated 1.71m2 tile size we get the following results:
:::::* 1TU: 37,675,928 J - about 0.009 tons
:::::* one thousandth of a TU: 37,675,928,185,077 - about 9 kilotons
:::::Again, this assumes that all the damage seen inside that 11 tile radius was caused by the fireball. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 18:57, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::::These "initial fireballs" are a somewhat artificial concept, allowing you to gauge the yield of a nuclear weapon. But equalling it to any distinguishable radius of destruction is nonsense. I suggest you refer to [[wikipedia:Effects of nuclear explosions#Direct effects]] instead. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]]

:::::::I see your Wikipedia article and raise you the one that spawned the equation I used - [[wikipedia:Nuclear weapons yield#Calculating yields and controversy. I never said "Initial Fireball" and that isn't an "Artificial Concept". Each Nuclear Detonation creates a "Fireball" of varying size, simply because, in pure fission reactions, it causes the air to superheat and in Fusion reactions, because that is what the insanely hot, reacting plasma is - a mass of super-hot plasma. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 19:23, 6 November 2007 (PST)

::::::::A value of 200m for the Nagasaki Bomb struck me as a trifle odd. Ain't that a bit small? Also, what's this talk about a precise fireball size? Shouldn't it just get larger and larger until it eventually dissipates? So, when exactly will the fireball have the stated size?

::::::::I therefore read that article and a followed a few source links (hint: each picture has an article of it's own). Apparently, the given size refers to the moment when the shock wave will overtake the plasma; the air at the shock front will be heavly compressed, hence also hot and bright, but nowhere as bright as the plasma; also, the shock front is incandescent, eclipsing the fireball inside (I'm really struggling for words here, I hope you still get what I'm trying to tell). It was me who called it an initial fireball because it happens after a few milliseconds. Check that Trinity photo -- it's dated 25ms and depicts the shockfront, not the fireball. Maybe I should have named it not "artificial but an "abstract" concept, though. But I still hold the opinion that it's too simple to equal the burst pattern on a UFO floor to the size the fireball happens to have by the time the shock front catches up. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 14:14, 7 November 2007 (PST)

:::::::::Ah, okay. I can't argue with that. And you are right, that picture is from the moment when the shock front ovtertakes the plasma. If memory serves, it's the shock front that does the damage, so I'm probably wrong in the figures, although thinking about it, there is no real way to apply the equation in the manner that I did. At that, it might be impossible to apply it at all.

:::::::::As to the small size of the fireball from both the Fat Man and Little Boy devices, you have to remember that both Hiroshima and Nagaski are located in natural depressions in the terrain. They are something like bowls, low plains surrounded by hills and mountains. The shock front was powerful enough that, when they contacted the surrounding terrain, they reflected back into the bowl. So the cities were destroyed by more than the initial shockwave and fireball - they got hit by the shockwave at least twice. And the area directly under "Ground Zero" (both bombs were air burst - Fat Man had a radar proximity trigger) got hit even worse, because it was caught by the shockwave and used as a reflector for the shockwave. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 07:42, 8 November 2007 (PST)

::::::::::If you absolutely want to gauge the yield of a power source explosion, I suggest you compare it to the damage done by something we know. How many grenades stacked on top of each other would it take to damage the UFO interior (walls & floor) in the way a power source explosion does? Then look up the amount of explosives in a typical hand grenade and there you go. As to fireball size... there's an old saying, comparing arguments like this to the paralympics. Yet I can not resist.

::::::::::a) the size stated in that wikipedia article is by no means the final size. It's not as if the fireball would reach a certain size and suddenly vanish. It grows ever larger and starts to rise, becoming the cap of the mushroom cloud (by then it's no longer a ball and merely glowing, of course). Defining the fireball size as "the size at the moment when the shockwave catches up with the fireball" is somewhat arbitrary, but you've got to draw the line somewhere. And this definition refers to a time when it's still most certainly a ball, and it'S size directly related to the yield of the bomb (that is to say, other factors like terrain, wind, air pressure, moisture etc are relatively insignificant). That's alright for an article that deals with yield (as in kt or MT equivalents); damage is something else entirely, covered in another article.
::::::::::b) "Overtaking" sounds as if the shockwave would start somewhere inside the fireball, but of course the shockwave is not a seperate effect. It's the result of all the superheated air trying to expand rapidly. Some sources say the shockwave "detaches from" the fireball, which seems more apt.
::::::::::c) I guess you've misunderstood the Mach Stem: the reflected shock front moves faster in air that has already been accelerated by the main shock front; the reflected front will therefore catch up and combine with the main shock front, reinforcing it. ([http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Mach_effect_sequence.png diagram]). That's reinforcement, not amplification: the shock wave will not become more forceful because of the Mach effect, but it will lose power at a slower rate (which means same damage over a larger area). Please note that the development of the Mach Stem does not depend on any terrain features (in fact, a flat surface may be as good as it gets). In the past few days I've read more than I ever wanted to know about nuclear explosions, but all sources go along the lines that the valley at Nagasaki served to confine the damage, not a single word about reinforcement or amplification. Maybe destruction in the valley was so complete that a possible reinforcement would have made no difference any more. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 13:42, 8 November 2007 (PST)

Talk:Elerium-115

2007-11-08T21:42:14Z

Schnobs: great balls of fire.

Has anyone ever came across an issue in the CE version of UFO in which a landed UFO gets assaulted and my guys leave the Power Source intact, however, at the summary screen at the end - there is no elerium, although the power source appears?? I'm confused - I don't understand how that could have happened! I've only seen it once so far - could have been data corruption... not sure :s - [[User:Phoenix|Phoenix]]

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Elerium is the very last item to be spawned in a battlescape map (first X-Com equipment, then alien equipment, then Elerium).

If you brought too many items to the battle site, it's possible that there wouldn't be room in memory for the Elerium. Bring along enough stuff and you can also deprive the aliens of their equipment.

Was the Elerium visible during gameplay (little purple stun bomb thingy sitting on the power supply, or white + on the radar)? If so, try picking it up (the power supply won't explode if you just shoot it).

-[[User:Bomb_Bloke|Bomb Bloke]]

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Cheers for that Bomb Bloke - I haven't seen it happen again, as there has always been elerium on the missions that I expect it. After having a read through this site, about the object table overflowing, I can understand how that can happen. I'll keep an eye out for it in the future. Cheers again! :) - [[User:Phoenix|Phoenix]]

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If you used explosives (grenades or cannons) near the power source, it's possible the Elerium was destroyed (damage=20) while the power source remained intact (damage=50) --[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 21:33, 8 May 2006 (PDT)

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Re the "mining near Cydonia" issue. As per the UFOpedia:

"It is not naturally found in our solar system and cannot be reproduced."

However, in X-Com 3, [[Transtellar]] mines the stuff from Mars (and brings back regular shipments). Therefore, there must be a reserve near Cydonia.

While there is no official explanation, a meteorite seems to be the most likely cause of this.

- [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 21:41, 31 May 2007 (PDT)

:My apologies. I do not have access to X-Com: Apocalypse, and was basing my data merely on what was said in the game. In light of the new information, it can be reverted if you desire. `[[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 21:56, 31 May 2007 (PDT)

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Tequila, I've been away a while and am just noticing your "1 Elerium" section. '''Very''' interesting thoughts! Thanks for that bit of armchair science!!

But I can think of a couple of issues... on the one hand, surely at least the Avenger is space-worthy, which could mean it may fly in little or no atmosphere. This is also probably at least potentially true for all the researched craft, since they all use elerium engines and alien alloys, and are originally designed based on researching UFOs (all of which are space-worthy). Also known as, why not make is space-worthy, if you're designing something strong enough to face UFOs. (Even 1990s fighters could fly very high in the atmosphere, with a principle reason for not going to space being there's no air for their jet engines... but Elerium does away with that concern.) On the other hand, you left out of your calculations the price to be paid for fighting off gravity. That's surely energy expensive! (Look how big rockets have to be.) So you might consider toning down the drag factor... and introducing a big gravity factor, if you care to have another go at it.

I also really like the alternate approach to playing XCOM on your [[User:Tequilachef]] page. A few small conceptual constraints which make a huge difference in game play (a.k.a. there's always a real risk of losing).

- [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 17:34, 10 October 2007 (PDT)

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You are right I guess. I formerly had the gravity issue included by that:
"Now we take that keeping the craft at max speed only uses 95% of required energy per mission..."
I now changed that to 75%, which seems more likely to fit but is still far from exact.
In reality, the aspect of overcoming gravity would create a VERY complex mathematical problem. Flying higher lowers the atmospheric density and therefore atmospheric drag, but raises fuel requirements for obtaining flight height. Considering that complex flying maneuvers might be necessary for interception and that the starting height might vary from base to base no absolute solution exists. Constant calculations by computers would be a necessity.
Remember: Both atmospheric density and gravity depend on height (or distance from gravity source) and are both differential equations. If anyone reads this and has loads of time, feel free to work out that one. Else, I would prefer those educated guesses ;)

- tequilachef

:It's worth noting that while the UFO Power Source may be incredibly efficient in Elerium use, there is no guarantee that this is so in regards to the alien weapons. In fact, given the size of a power unit, I'd say it's more likely that the weapons are extremely inefficient in Elerium use. (Especially the heavy plasma clip; 3 times the Elerium for one-third more shots and just over double the killing power of the [[Plasma Pistol]].) We also don't know exactly where that Elerium used in construction of the grenade(or anything else) goes; it's quite possible that only a fraction of it goes into the charge/warhead and some is used in the creation of functional parts. Also, it should be noted that explosions do NOT scale linearly; twice as large a warhead on an atomic or hydrogen bomb does not equal twice the explosive power. In addition, it's been theorized that the explosion from UFO Power Sources is not from the impact; its from trying to start the UFO's engines in order to escape incoming X-COM troops before it's ready(thus why the aliens are killed immediately before the X-COM turn begins, and not when the UFO crashes.)

:Of course, since this is fiction, it really doesn't matter, just thought I'd bring a few things to the table since you seem interested in scientific accuracy. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 15:53, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

:: After running the numbers myself (54000nm in 10hr is, indeed, 10000km/hr - or about 278m/s) I can say that the quoted figures are slightly off. According to some quick research the density of air at that altitude is the same as the density of air at sea level. However, I used the classic formula of the drag equation:
::: Fd = 1/2ρv2CdA
::where ρ is the density of the air, v is the velocity, Cd is the coefficient of friction and A is the surface area. Using this we get Fd = 1/2 1.293 * (2782) * 0.3 * 20 - or about 299,785 Newtons of force. For total power requirement we use the Power Requirement equation P=FdR, where Fd is the result of the preceding Drag equation and R is the range - stated as being 100,000km (100,000,000m). Solving that equation we find that we require 2.99785*1013 Joules of energy. This figure, following the figures, is 75% of the total available power from the Elerium, so the total available power is 3.99712848*1013 Joules. With c equal to 299,792,457m/s plugged into Einsteins famous equation of: E = mc2 we get a result of 4.4*10-4 kilograms. However, this is stated as being 99% of the total, so we have a full load of Elerium fuel for the Avenger of 4.49*10-4kilograms. That is, 4.49 '''grams''' of fuel - and as the Avenger is stated as carrying 12 units of Elerium, the result is that each unit is 0.37 grams - that's right, 37 '''centigrams''' of Elerium per fuel unit. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 18:23, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

::As for a Terror Ship containing 200 units of Elerium, if my above math is correct (as I believe), the result of that Elerium detonating at 100% conversion, isn't even equivalent to a 2 Megaton nuclear device. (200 units is about 74grams - direct conversion of all that mass would release about 6.65*1015 Joules of energy. 1 Megaton is equivalent to 4.185*1015 Joules. This places a 200 unit, 100% efficient explosive at about 1.6 Megatons in size. IIRC the largest nuclear device ever built was around 200 Megatons. (Note that the edge of non-overpressure damage for a 1 Megaton blast is around 20 Miles) - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 22:12, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

:Damn, this is all very cool armchair stuff. I just added a link at [[Realistic_Equivalents#Elerium-115]]. If anyone wants to summarize/move all this conjecture there, that's fine, but it sounds like it's still a moving target, as it were. And the E-115 page is a good enough place, anyway. - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 22:42, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

:::I've found an error in my above math. The velocity is 2778m/s, not 278m/s - this makes the force 29,930,555 Newtons. (call it 2.993*107 for simplicity) This makes it 2.993*1015 for the used power, or 3.99*1015 Joules. That works out to 0.0444kg, but, as stated, this is assumed to be 99% due to the 1% inefficiency - so it's 0.0449kg. Makes it 449 grams of Elerium covering 12 units, or around 37 grams of Elerium per unit. This would give a Terror Ship about 7.5 kilo's of Elerium - at 100% efficiency the amount of generated energy would be 6.74*1017 joules released. That would be equal to about 16 thousand megatons - the "Gigaton" designation comes in at 4.184*1018 Joules. This would be enough to shatter the Earth. However, this assumes that all generators detonate at the same time, there is no "material scattering" effect from the first blast(s) and that the Elerium converts at 100% efficiency. None of these things are likely to be true. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 22:54, 2 November 2007 (PDT)
::::Bah, make that around 160 Megatons. This means that there have '''''still''''' been larger nuclear bombs produced on Earth. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 23:03, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

:Very cool. For one thing though, UFO Power Sources do not "chain react", as recently posted at [[UFO_Crash_Recovery#Power_Source_Explosions_and_Elerium_Recovery]]. In the extreme case of the Terror Ship, if 1 PS explodes, it wastes all 3 of the others so that they don't explode. However, isolated PSs can all (independently) explode, as in the case of the Battleship. I have to say though I never saw the earth shatter... clearly those UFO walls are pretty heavy armor. ;) - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 23:08, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

::That's the point I was making. At only 160MT absolute potential for the 200 units of Elerium onboard a Terror Ship, well... That's assuming that all four cores go simultaneously and the Elerium converts at 100% in the "wild" reaction. The truth is that a single core going actually would disrupt the functioning of the other cores - by causing a scattering of the Elerium. As we can assume that each of the four cores contains 50 units, the math shows that each core is capable of somewhere between 39.5 and 40 megatons at the absolute limit. But that is in a perfect reaction - where the Elerium converts 100% to energy. The fact is that an uncontrolled reaction - like that which causes an explosion - is far from ideal, and would be, at most, 90% efficient, if not closer to 50%. And that also assumes that the Elerium's conversion releases the energy in an even mix of heat, pressure and radiation. The more likely result - seeing as how Elerium is capable of being used as a power source for pistols and other compact weapons - is that it releases a lot of easily converted radiation - likely in the form of high-energy beta particles. This isn't to say that Elerium can't have an explosive form of reaction - just that the way it's used in the reactors is probably as a beta-particle and heat generator, and potentially even X-Ray and Gamma-Ray source (both of which can be used with forms of photovoltaics to generate electricty). If they go for the efficient side, then the reaction used in reactors is more than 50 percent focused towards directly convertable forms of energy. Truthfully, I'm guessing that they focus it at 75 to 80 percent "hard radiation" (beta, gamma-ray and x-ray) output. This means that such a reactor going super-critical and exploding wouldn't do a lot of physical damage from the blast, but it would irradiate quite a bit. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 14:41, 3 November 2007 (PDT)

:::I thought along similar lines. Your typical old-fashioned Hiroshima-style fission bomb contains like what, 10kg of U-235? Or whatever is the critical mass. But most of it is vaporized and sent flying in all directions as soon as things really get hot. Only a small amount actually reacts before the rest is blown apart. And this in a device that's meant to explode. IIRC, in Chernobyl none of the fissionable material actually exploded – excess heat produced a lot of steam which forced the lid open, then air rushing in allowed the graphite to catch fire and burn for days. In effect all fissionable material was wasted (in the sense of "not recoverable") yet in terms of explosions, it was nothing special. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 19:01, 3 November 2007 (PDT)

:I've written a [http://shadowwolf.keil-draco.com/solver.py.txt program in Python] that solves all the equations - including the Barometric function for atmospheric density. On running it and giving it all the above parameters I've learned that even my "corrected" figures are off. An Avenger is carrying about 25.5 grams of Elerium, which makes each unit about 21/8 grams. This would give a Terror Ship a full load of 425 grams of Elerium, and a "perfect conditions" explosive potential of around 9Mt - the MIRV warheads on most missiles in the US arsenal during the 1960's was larger than that. Taking [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed's]] reminder that Elerium reactors do not chain-react and [[User:Schnobs|Schnobs']] reminder that nuclear explosions never use the whole mass of the available material - a "high-end" estimate of material that reacts would be 50% - this would leave us with a single-reactor explosion of 1.25Mt - about four hundred times the total combined destructive potential of the (in)famous "Fat Man" and "Little Boy" bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1944. However, the quoted figure for the size of the fireball for a 1Mt nuclear device (the US Minuteman Missile) is .96km. So the fireball from a 1.25Mt device is going to be about 1 mile. This says nothing about the area damaged or destroyed by the pressure-wave that a nuke generates. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 01:21, 4 November 2007 (PST) (corrected later - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 02:24, 4 November 2007 (PST))

::Based on the 11 tile blast radius of any power core and the 2.26 meter per tile conjecture we can see that the blast diameter of a power core is approximately 50 meters. With a 960m blast diameter being what is expected from a 1 Megaton bomb, and a 48m one from a 20 kiloton bomb, we find that the power cores detonation is right around 20 kilotons. That means that about 1 gram of material has been consumed for the explosion. In other words, not even a single unit of Elerium detonates. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 21:09, 4 November 2007 (PST)

:::I don't know where or how you came by the figures of 960m or 48m respectively, but have some doubt as to what they actually mean. Pictures from the japanese cities are not conclusive (bomb was touched off high above ground, many wooden buildings might have withstood the actual blast but we won't know as they burned to the ground anyway). However, from chemistry class I remembered an explosion in a fertilizer plant ([http://www.bufata-chemie.de/reader/ig_farben/pics/1-4-3_01_oppau-big.jpg picture]) that was rated in kilotons. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion Wikipedia] speaks of 1-2kt and a 90x125m crater, which would be like 40x50 tiles in UFO scale. This explosion happened at ground level, the buildings were brick or concrete. Looking at the picture, I don't think any explosions in UFO, not even Blaster Bombs, are anywhere near kiloton scale. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 10:51, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::The values come from the [[wikipedia:Nuclear weapon yield|Wikipedia article about Nuclear Weapons Yield]]. On that page is an equation that can determine yield from blast radius and time after the start of the blast and a diagram of blast radius based on yield. In said diagram it lists the blast diameter of a 1 Megaton bomb (W59 - the Minuteman 1) at .96km - ie: 960 meters - and the blast radius of a 20 kiloton bomb ("Fat Man" - the "gun type" uranium fission device dropped on Nagasaki) at 48 meters. Note that this is the size of the fireball and not the damage radius caused by a nuclear weapons overpressure event.

::::The city of Hiroshima sits inside a natural "Bowl" or depression in the landscape. The "Little Boy" bomb is estimated to have only been 13 kilotons and the damage effect was multiplied because of the airburst (IIRC, "Little Boy" detonated some 100 feet about the ground) and the damage was magnified by the shockwave from the detonation reflecting off the hills surrounding the city. It was nearly the same for the higher yield "Fat Man" device that was used against Nagasaki. (In fact, if I remember my High School history classes correctly, it was the geography of the two locations that was the reason for them being chosen as targets).

::::In conclusion I'd like to say that I doubt that the reactor explosions themselves are nuclear in nature. It is much more likely that they originate from sources very similar to the cause of the explosion at Chernobyl. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 15:30, 5 November 2007 (PST)

:While it doesn't change the ultimate conclusion of "not even a single unit detonating", I'd say any more then 1 meter per tile is being more then a bit generous. 2.26 meters suggests the average unit is over a meter and a half wide, and somewhere over three meters tall. Where did that value come from?! - [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 22:29, 4 November 2007 (PST)

:::It came from [[User_talk:Danial|here]]. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 22:38, 4 November 2007 (PST)

::::Correct. [[User:Danial|Danial]] has estimated that each tile is approximately 2.26m2 on his [[User talk:Danial|talk page]]. I have no interest in this, really, other than of an academic nature, since it can be used to estimate the yield of the device that created the fireball. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 15:30, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::If [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Blokes]] 1.6x1.6x2.4 meter size of a single tile is correct, then a Reactor has a blast diameter of 35.2 meters. Using the "Radius from Yield" equation of R = (Et2/ρ)1/5 we can solve to find the actual yield of the device. I'll run that equation later, but I'm estimating that the yield is less than 10 kilotons. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 16:21, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::Okay, assuming that the explosion is at sea-level (ρ = 1.2550kg/m3) and the explosion covers the entire 11 tile radius at the end of a TU (using [[User:Danial|Danials]] 1.71m/s speed estimate we can see that a TU is 18.7s based on the 20 tiles a soldier with 80TU's can cover) we can solve the above equation for bomb yield. (that is, E=R5ρ/t2) and arrive at a yield of about 6060.71 Joules of power - about 1.5 '''microtons'''. This seems to indicate that the estimate of the length of a TU is wrong, or that the explosion does not consume an entire TU. If we accept that the TU length is correct and that the explosion does not consume an entire TU - highly unlikely that an explosion would take 18.7 seconds to occur anyway - and run with a figure of 1/1000th of a TU (0.0187s for the explosion to occur) we find that the explosion is much more powerful 6060714855.6 J - or about 1.4 tons. And the figure will continue to rise the shorter the time-span for developing to that diameter is. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 17:03, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::Using [[User:Danial|Danials]] estimate of 2.26m per tile the result is a bit more — 34077375066.3 J - about 8.1 tons. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 17:18, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::Note: The Trinity test has been officially stated as having been 20 kilotons. Based on examination of the released videos of that blast [[wikipedia:Geoffrey Ingram Taylor|one scientist]] has calculated it's power at about [[wikipedia:Nuclear weapon yield#Calculating yields and controversy|22 kilotons]]. (The numbers he used were: R = 140m, t = 0.025, ρ = 1 - using those same numbers we can see that he arrived at a value of 86051840000000 J – about 20.6 kilotons) What the preceding means is that the above stated equation (E=R5ρ/t2 is correct :P - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 17:55, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::Sadly, [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] has pointed out an error in my math regarding the length of a TU. I used the 20 tiles in 80 TU's as a base for the equation, multiplying the '20 tiles' by the distance of 1.6 meters per tile. However, I must have been out of my mind in reporting 18.7 seconds per TU. Running the numbers by hand (on a piece of paper!) I've found that 20*1.6*1.71 makes that 80 TU turn approximately 55 seconds long. Dividing that by the 80 TU's in said turn we find that each TU is about 0.69 seconds long. Re-running the above stated equation with the reactor detonation taking 1 TU and 1/1000th of a TU we get the following results:
::::* 1 TU: 3,572,876 J - not even 1 ton
::::* one thousandth of a TU: 3,572,875,919,360 - 854 tons
::::If we use [[User:Danial|Danials]] 2.26m per tile figure we find that 1 TU is 0.97 seconds long. Solving the above equation using the 2.26 meters and 0.97 seconds per TU figure we have the following numbers for the size of a reactor cores explosion:
::::* 1 TU: 10,302,987 J - again, not even 1 ton
::::* one thousandth of a TU: 10,302,987,085,467 J - 2.5 kilotons
::::As you can see, the size of a tile not only affects the length of a TU (0.69s for a 1.6mx1.6mx2.4m tile, 0.97s for a 2.26mx2.26mx2.4m tile) but also the apparent yield of a reactors explosion. Now, as noted before (I think I mentioned it anyway), 1 gram of matter converting to energy creates an explosion of around 20 kilotons. This means that, if a reactors explosion is nuclear in nature, it's using about 1/10th of a gram of Elerium to create the result.
::::Finally, I did forget to mention that the figure only applies if the reactor detonations fireball creates the 11 tile damage radius and it is not the result of other features of a nuclear detonation. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 18:29, 5 November 2007 (PST)

:::::Stepping away from all previous figures and estimating a tile as being 1.71m2, and using the bog standard human walking rate of 1.71m/s we find that, since it takes a rookie an average of 4 TU's to cross one tile that a single TU is 1/4 of a second. Using that together with the above stated 1.71m2 tile size we get the following results:
:::::* 1TU: 37,675,928 J - about 0.009 tons
:::::* one thousandth of a TU: 37,675,928,185,077 - about 9 kilotons
:::::Again, this assumes that all the damage seen inside that 11 tile radius was caused by the fireball. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 18:57, 5 November 2007 (PST)

::::::These "initial fireballs" are a somewhat artificial concept, allowing you to gauge the yield of a nuclear weapon. But equalling it to any distinguishable radius of destruction is nonsense. I suggest you refer to [[wikipedia:Effects of nuclear explosions#Direct effects]] instead. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]]

:::::::I see your Wikipedia article and raise you the one that spawned the equation I used - [[wikipedia:Nuclear weapons yield#Calculating yields and controversy. I never said "Initial Fireball" and that isn't an "Artificial Concept". Each Nuclear Detonation creates a "Fireball" of varying size, simply because, in pure fission reactions, it causes the air to superheat and in Fusion reactions, because that is what the insanely hot, reacting plasma is - a mass of super-hot plasma. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 19:23, 6 November 2007 (PST)

::::::::A value of 200m for the Nagasaki Bomb struck me as a trifle odd. Ain't that a bit small? Also, what's this talk about a precise fireball size? Shouldn't it just get larger and larger until it eventually dissipates? So, when exactly will the fireball have the stated size?

::::::::I therefore read that article and a followed a few source links (hint: each picture has an article of it's own). Apparently, the given size refers to the moment when the shock wave will overtake the plasma; the air at the shock front will be heavly compressed, hence also hot and bright, but nowhere as bright as the plasma; also, the shock front is incandescent, eclipsing the fireball inside (I'm really struggling for words here, I hope you still get what I'm trying to tell). It was me who called it an initial fireball because it happens after a few milliseconds. Check that Trinity photo -- it's dated 25ms and depicts the shockfront, not the fireball. Maybe I should have named it not "artificial but an "abstract" concept, though. But I still hold the opinion that it's too simple to equal the burst pattern on a UFO floor to the size the fireball happens to have by the time the shock front catches up. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 14:14, 7 November 2007 (PST)

:::::::::Ah, okay. I can't argue with that. And you are right, that picture is from the moment when the shock front ovtertakes the plasma. If memory serves, it's the shock front that does the damage, so I'm probably wrong in the figures, although thinking about it, there is no real way to apply the equation in the manner that I did. At that, it might be impossible to apply it at all.

:::::::::As to the small size of the fireball from both the Fat Man and Little Boy devices, you have to remember that both Hiroshima and Nagaski are located in natural depressions in the terrain. They are something like bowls, low plains surrounded by hills and mountains. The shock front was powerful enough that, when they contacted the surrounding terrain, they reflected back into the bowl. So the cities were destroyed by more than the initial shockwave and fireball - they got hit by the shockwave at least twice. And the area directly under "Ground Zero" (both bombs were air burst - Fat Man had a radar proximity trigger) got hit even worse, because it was caught by the shockwave and used as a reflector for the shockwave. - [[User:Shadow|Shadow]] 07:42, 8 November 2007 (PST)

:::::::::If you absolutely want to gauge the yield of a power source explosion, I suggest you compare it to the damage done by something we know. How many grenades stacked on top of each other would it take to damage the UFO interior (walls & floor) in the way a power source explosion does? Then look up the amount of explosives in a typical hand grenade and there you go. As to fireball size... there's an old saying, comparing arguments like this to the paralympics. Yet I can not resist.

:::::::::a) the size stated in that wikipedia article is by no means the final size. It's not as if the fireball would reach a certain size and suddenly vanish. It grows ever larger and starts to rise, becoming the cap of the mushroom cloud (by then it's no longer a ball and merely glowing, of course). Defining the fireball size as "the size at the moment when the shockwave catches up with the fireball" is somewhat arbitrary, but you've got to draw the line somewhere. And this definition refers to a time when it's still most certainly a ball, and it'S size directly related to the yield of the bomb (that is to say, other factors like terrain, wind, air pressure, moisture etc are relatively insignificant). That's alright for an article that deals with yield (as in kt or MT equivalents); damage is something else entirely, covered in another article.
:::::::::b) "Overtaking" sounds as if the shockwave would start somewhere inside the fireball, but of course the shockwave is not a seperate effect. It's the result of all the superheated air trying to expand rapidly. Some sources say the shockwave "detaches from" the fireball, which seems more apt.
:::::::::c) I guess you've misunderstood the Mach Stem: the reflected shock front moves faster in air that has already been accelerated by the main shock front; the reflected front will therefore catch up and combine with the main shock front, reinforcing it. ([http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Mach_effect_sequence.png diagram]). That's reinforcement, not amplification: the shock wave will not become more forceful because of the Mach effect, but it will lose power at a slower rate (which means same damage over a larger area). Please note that the development of the Mach Stem does not depend on any terrain features (in fact, a flat surface may be as good as it gets). In the past few days I've read more than I ever wanted to know about nuclear explosions, but all sources go along the lines that the valley at Nagasaki served to confine the damage, not a single word about reinforcement or amplification. Maybe destruction in the valley was so complete that a possible reinforcement would have made no difference any more. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 13:42, 8 November 2007 (PST)

Talk:Elerium-115

2007-11-07T22:14:32Z

Schnobs:

Talk:Elerium-115

2007-11-06T15:38:37Z

Schnobs:

Talk:Elerium-115

2007-11-05T18:51:54Z

Schnobs: 20kt? no way.

Talk:Elerium-115

2007-11-04T02:01:07Z

Schnobs:

Cydonia

2007-11-03T16:05:45Z

Schnobs: /* Tips & Tricks */

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

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

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

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

'' [ [[User:NKF|NKF]]: I think the easiest way to look at it is that this mission is basically a Sectoid Battleship/Base crew in a one-of-a-kind map with a choice of two different winning conditions] ''

==Alien Deployment (Surface)==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Rank</th>
<th>Beg./Exp.</th>
<th>Vet./Gen.</th>
<th>Super.</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Soldiers</td><td>4</td><td>5</td><td>6</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Navigators</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Medics</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Engineers</td><td>0</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Leaders</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectoid Commanders</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Cyberdiscs</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>12</td><td>16</td><td>20</td></tr>
</table> 

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

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

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

'' [ [[User:NKF|NKF]] : This is UFO's only mixed crew mission. It's mainly an Ethereal crew with a few extras, mainly [[Terror Units]], from the other races. This mission only really needs a Blaster Launcher, and with luck, if you locate the command theatre right away, will be over in less than a few turns.] ''

'' [ [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] : If you want to bypass the "luck" element, you can take advantage of the fact that you can see unexplored terrain by moving the cursor over it. The brain room is quite recognisable, and once you've found it, it's simple enough to send Blaster Bombs there on your first turn.] ''

'' [ [[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] : If you choose to find the Command Center the harder way ("Blaster Launchers? Bah! Too impersonal for my taste") be aware that unlike the Alien Bases there can be dead ends.]

==Alien Deployment (underground base)==
<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th align="left">Rank</th>
<th>Beg./Exp.</th>
<th>Vet./Gen.</th>
<th>Super.</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Ethereal Soldiers</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Ethereal Leaders</td><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Ethereal Commanders</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Chryssalids</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Silacoids</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Celatids</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left">Sectopods</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><th>Totals</th><td>17</td><td>24</td><td>31</td></tr>
</table> 

==Tips & Tricks==
Go armed for bear. Best agents, best weapons, best armour. Bring many troops. The 80 Item Limit is perhaps your worst enemy.

The surface part of the mission is nothing special; you should however have some means of illuminating the battlefield. The [[Auto Cannon]] with incendiary rounds (14 light sources per clip) can come in handy. Only eqipment carried by your soldiers at the end of that stage will be taken into the base proper, so you maybe want to take it slowly and pick up some ammunition before killing the last alien or activating the lift.

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

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

=See Also=

[[Category:Missions]]

Motion Scanner

2007-11-03T12:13:19Z

Schnobs:

This sophisticated device uses a variety of detectors and advanced computer algorithms to identify moving enemy units. However, it requires some practice to use effectively.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

== Hints and Tips ==

If [[Flying Suit]]s are available, a soldier on the roof of the UFO with a Motion Scanner can pinpoint aliens moving around inside the craft. Same for buildings in Farm terrain or on [[Terror Mission]]s.

'''BEWARE:''' Motion Scanner will only pick up units that moved. Enemies lying in ambush will be invisible.

== See Also ==
[[DETBLOB.DAT]]

[[Category:Equipment (UFO Defense)]]

Talk:HackerTools

2007-11-03T02:39:32Z

Schnobs: just nitpicking

''for values less than 28, you have to go through special gyrations (these were "control characters" for DOS).''

Actually, the control characters date back to the days of the typewriter, or rather, teletypes. More upon request. Actually, I came here looking for a means of making screenshots – ye goode olde printscreen returnse false colors and whatnot, it's not even psycedelic (or very much so). --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 19:39, 2 November 2007 (PDT)

Yet Another Scheme

2007-11-01T10:52:26Z

Schnobs: /* Find the Enemy */

=The way of the Privateer=

Many players try to get a steady production of Laser Cannon off the ground as soon as possible, and fund further activities with the revenue stream from their factories. That's nice and fine and works a treat; however, it's cheesy. Besides, X-Com was founded in order to fight the aliens, not as an arms producer.

Your funding fathers provided you with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque letter of marque] entitling you to intercept, seize, and sell any alien vessel you might encounter. Prizes can generate quite an revenue stream, even a small scout will easily yield over one million. Unfortunately, privateering is not as easy to pull off as just building a number of workshops and (in effect) print your own money. This guide tries to point out some of the difficulties you may encounter, and how to deal with them.

==Immediate measures==

At the beginning of the game, do the usual run-of-the-mill stuff: sell gear you don't need, purchase stuff you want. Build a few base facilities. However, you should maybe be a bit more radical than usual about the abilities of the soldiers you hire. You will fight a great many battles, and this will be much less frustrating if you have good troops.

Personally, I consider reactions to be far and away the most important stat. Of course, the soldiers should have some firing accuracy as well. However, mediocre marksmanship can be mitigated to a great extent, and will improve soon enough. The same is true for Time Units and Strength. But there's no way to fake reactions, and training is difficult or virtually impossible if your soldiers don't have high values to begin with.

However, there will be casualties; and loosing one of your precious hand-picked squaddies will be even more frustrating. So it's maybe a good idea to have a few [http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/2007/09/ensign-expendable.html Ensign Expendables] around.

==Find the Enemy==

No matter where you build your initial base, you are guaranteed to have the first aliens show up right on your doorstep. Strangely enough, they will only send small craft, and by the end of January they will cease. Even if you leave the early UFOs alone, there will be no follow-up missions with larger craft. So, after the first windfall (recovering every landed UFO through January will easily provide four or five million worth of loot), you're on your own. Getting your hands on more UFOs (=more revenue) after the initial batch is crucial.

Aliens may show up anywhere on the globe. However, anywhere is not everywhere: they will perform one or (at best) two missions like "Alien Research in Australasia" or "Alien Harvest in North America". There really is no way to tell where they will go. With the world so large and your funds still limited, you cannot afford to build bases just any old how.

Alien missions always follow the same basic pattern: first there will be a survey ship (that maybe doesn't even land), then small and large scouts (usually more than one each) until eventually larger craft show up, performing the actual mission. This can all take place within less than three weeks, but usually it takes at least five, sometimes up to two months. If you manage to intercept one UFO, the time until the next one arrives will increase a bit.

===The UFO activity graph===

With the world so large and your funds still limited, perhaps the best you can do ist to pay close attention to the Graphs. Much could be said about how to read it, but you will soon be able to see the difference between a simple flyby and an actual UFO landing. When you notice a landing in a given area, it's a clear indication that more can be expected to happen in that region in the next few weeks.

===Patrols===

Once you know the approximate area where the enemy is, send some of your craft to patrol the area for immediate radar coverage. If you think that sounds weird, you haven't tried. Example: If you expect UFO activity in North America, have a [[Skyranger]] patrol over the central US. Alright, so "North America" can be anything from Alaska to Cuba, and craft radar range is nothing to write home about. BUT: within it's limited range, craft radar is frightfully efficient. Given the tendency of UFOs to zigzag over the region before landing, you've got a pretty decent chance that it will at some time come into range of your vessel.

It's a good idea to decomission one Interceptor in favor of a second Skyranger, you may even consider to go without any Interceptor at all. Generally you don't want to shoot down alien craft as long as there is any chance of capturing them in one piece, and two Skyrangers taking turns can provide 24/7 coverage of all but the most remote areas.

===Listening Posts===

Eventually you want listening posts all over the world. However, at approximatly 2 million apiece, it will be quite some time until you've go the world covered. What's worse, they take a long time to build: you may have an idea where the center of alien activity is right now, but there's no telling where it will be by the time your detection systems finally go into service. There's no point in rushing the development of a Radar network, however, you should still try to somehow build at least one new listening post every month.

===The February Famine===

For some reason or other, there often appears to be a distinct lack of alien activity in February. Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on what the random number generator spills out. But it's not at all uncommon that there will be a grand total of two or three scouts (plus one terror mission) in the entire month. In short: don't rely on having a high income.

==Research and Production==

If you do not want to build Laser Cannon for for money, you will only need a small number of technicians to provide necessary equipment for your troops: a few laser weapons, armour and (maybe) a handful of medikits. The one workshop you begin with will suffice for a long time, up to and including the production of Flying Suits: it will take about a fortnight to make ten of these. You only really need more production capacity once you have found out how to build your own craft.

Research is more important, though. Weapons, armour, Hyper-Wave Decoder, Psi Labs: you want all of these as soon as possible. Any spare penny should go into the construction of more labs and hiring more scientists.

However, that is "any ''spare'' penny": detection is even more important. The best equipment will do you no good if you can't find any aliens to use it on. The decision wether you can afford scientists because the current radar coverage should do for a while is part of what makes privateering fun.

===High-priority research tasks:===

* Laser Rifles
:You really need that firepower.

* Psi Labs
:If one of the early terror missions is Sectoid, capturing the leader becomes the primary objective. Then drop all other research and try to get Psi Labs researched and built in time for the next 1st.

* Hyper-Wave Decoder
:The latest and best in Alien Detection. You want it anyway; getting it early will save lots of cash you don't need to spend on soon obsolete radar systems. It requires you capture a live navigator, but that's usually not that hard to pull off.

* Armour
:Although armour is vital, it's not top of the list: getting it two weeks sooner or later really means only one or two more missions you will need to fight without. So you can relax – a bit. Although Body Armour is still insufficient, you should hand out at least some of these while waiting for Flight Suits. I usually don't manufacture Power Suits, though.

* Mind Probe
:Mind Probes take a long time to research, and are generally rather useless. After all, you can predict with reasonable accuracy that the interesting aliens will be on the bridge of any given UFO. However, there's one scenario where Mind Probes can make all the difference: when you try to pick out the leader on a sectoid terror site. This may never become necessary, though; and even if, it's not guaranteed that it will lead to success (with all those cyberdiscs around, the leader may die in an accidental explosion or whatnot). Research of Mind Probes should hence either be high on the queue or postponed until your scientists haven't anything else to do.

===What you don't need just now===

* Plasma Weapons
:The Laser Rifle will go a long way. You can postpone research on Heavy Plasma until either: a) you have the Avenger and want Plasma Beams or b) the first Smakemen or Mutons have been sighted.

* Motion Scanner and Medi Kit
:Both can come in handy at times, but really, armour is more important. First things first.

* Laser Cannon
: The sole use of Laser Cannon is to give your engineers something to do while you have no other assignments; as long as you have only comparatively few technicians, you won't lose much if you busy them with (say) Laser Pistols instead.

==Bases==

===Placement===

South Italy, Crete, or east Turkey rank high among the best places for the starting base. For starters, a base there will cover Europe, North Africa and a large part of Central Asia – that's three out of the eleven areas. In addition: provided you detect an UFO early during it's mission, a Europe-based Skyranger can reach any point in Africa, much of the Americas and almost all of Asia before the aliens take off and leave for good. Alaska, Chile and Malaysia mark about the outer fringe where you may still reach at least some UFOs in time.

If you're unlucky the Aliens will schedule a mission in Australasia. Your only chance is to build a base complete with hangar, quarters etc and either relocate your squad or hire a wholly new one. Yes, that's a lot of dough, but ultimately worth it. If you manage to take a single Harvester that way, the bill is paid.

===Development===

Most bases can be mere listening posts, consisting of nothing but the acess lift and a small radar at first. You certainly want to add Hyper-Wave Decoders as soon as possible, but those cost a lot of money and it may take a while. However, you should build a string of general stores at your first listening post: when the time comes you can quickly expand this to a large production plant. Research is best left at your initial base.

Later you may want to station a number of Firestorms at every base, but that's beyond the scope of this document.

===Random Tips===
* You really need that cash from the umpteenth small scout, but playing so many battles can become tedious; you may want to check out [[XcomUtil]], if only for it's "AutoCombat" feature. Although I found Statstrings invaluable, too.

* Sell the loot! For every item in storage, you shouldn't ask wether you will need it someday, but if you will need it anytime soon. The habit of keeping "one of everything" ties up a lot of cash; money that could buy you another listening post, hire more staff, or whatnot.

Statstrings

2007-11-01T10:26:48Z

Schnobs:

==The default configuration:==

Open XcomUtil.cfg with any text editor. The section on Statstrings is at around line 1200 (and can be easisly found if you search for "statstrings"). This is the default configuration as it comes out of the box. The comments have been added to make it more readable, but the actual data has not been changed. In case you messed things up and forgot to make a backup, you can copy-and-pase the following code:

NameStats
StatStrings

x p:-30 //Psi strength (resistance) 30 or less
P p:80- //virtually immune to Psi attacks
p p:60-79 //reasonably safe from Psi
K k:60- //high Psi Skill
k k:30-59 //good Psi Skill
b b:60- //very brave
c b:-10 //coward
w s:-25 //weak

Snpr f:60- r:60-

M f:70- //Marksman
m f:60-69

Sct r:50- d:60-

R r:60- //Reactions
r r:50-59

The main problem with the default scheme is that sooner or later, most of your soldiers will become a "Snpr". The same string for everyone is like having no string at all.

==Simple Numeric StatStrings==

Instead of Mnemnonics, many people prefer to have actual figures displayed. Like: firing accuracy from 45-54 becomes a "4", from 55-64 is a "5" and so on. The following statstrings will do just that, first digit is Firing Accuracy, second reactions, so "Anton Miller /45" would a Soldier whose firing accuracy is about 40, and reactions about 50. Just copy and paste this into the statstrings section of you XcomUtil.cfg file:

1 f:0-14
2 f:15-24
3 f:25-34
4 f:35-44
5 f:45-54
6 f:55-64
7 f:65-74
8 f:75-84
9 f:85-94

1 r:0-14
2 r:15-24
3 r:25-34
4 r:35-44
5 r:45-54
6 r:55-64
7 r:65-74
8 r:75-84
9 r:85-94

==Detailed numeric strings==

I've been using the above scheme for a while, but noticed that I don't really care what the actual firing accuracy of any given soldier is – all I want to know is who's better or worse than the next man. In the following example, it's no longer easy to map the strings back to actual stats; higher numbers indicate better soldiers, that's all.

I habitually only hire sodliers with 50+ in both reactions and firing accuracy: anyone who doesn't meet these requirements will have a dash added to the name.

Again, you can copy this into your config file if you want to give it a try.

NameStats
StatStrings

- f:0-49
1 f:50-54
2 f:55-60
3 f:61-64
4 f:65-70
5 f:71-75
6 f:76-80
7 f:81-85
8 f:86-90
9 f:91-95
a f:96-100
b f:101-105
c f:106-110
d f:111-115
e f:116-

- r:0-45
0 r:46-49
1 r:50-53
2 r:54-57
3 r:58-61
4 r:62-65
5 r:66-69
6 r:70-73
7 r:74-77
8 r:78-81
9 r:82-85
a r:86-89
b r:90-93
c r:94-97
d r:98-100
e r:101-

W s:0-19 //weak. can only carry Rifle + clips OR Laser Rifle + grenades
w s:20-25 //additional Medikit or Stun Rod or grenades possible
n s:26-30 //normal. no problems with standard gear
h s:31-40 //heavy cannon or auto-cannon, each plus spare clip
H s:41- //can handle 4 Large Rockets + Launcher

1 p:0-15
2 p:16-25
3 p:26-35
4 p:36-44
5 p:45-54
6 p:55-64
7 p:65-74
8 p:75-84
9 p:85-

0 k:1-15
2 k:16-24
3 k:25-34
4 k:35-44
5 k:45-54
6 k:55-64
7 k:65-74
8 k:75-84
9 k:85-

This results in Soldier names like "Anton Karas /13n" (before Psionic Training) or "Grace Kelly /41H81" (after Psi abilities have been unveiled). The scheme is: 
firing accuracy - reactions - strength - Psi strength (resistance) - Psi skill

Notes:
* I wanted to use W-w-n-s-S for weak-normal-strong, but it's impossible to distiguish an S from a 5 which really looks weird. So I settled on H for "heavy gear" instead.
* values for Firing accuracy and reactions are pseudo-hexadecimal, 1-9 then a-e; it may be that the sudden appearance of letters where you're used to numbers may look strange. I don't know, because my soldiers never become that good.

Statstrings

2007-11-01T10:09:04Z

Schnobs: /* The default configuration: */

==The default configuration:==

Open XcomUtil.cfg with any text editor. The section on Statstrings is at around line 1200 (and can be easisly found if you search for "statstrings"). This is the default configuration as it comes out of the box. The comments have been added to make it more readable, but the actual data has not been changed. In case you messed things up and forgot to make a backup, you can copy-and-pase the following code:

NameStats
StatStrings

x p:-30 //Psi strength (resistance) 30 or less
P p:80- //virtually immune to Psi attacks
p p:60-79 //reasonably safe from Psi
K k:60- //high Psi Skill
k k:30-59 //good Psi Skill
b b:60- //very brave
c b:-10 //coward
w s:-25 //weak

Snpr f:60- r:60-

M f:70- //Marksman
m f:60-69

Sct r:50- d:60-

R r:60- //Reactions
r r:50-59

The main problem with the default scheme is that sooner or later, most of your soldiers will become a "Snpr". The same string for everyone is like having no string at all.

==Simple Numeric StatStrings==

Instead of Mnemnonics, many people prefer to have actual figures displayed. The following strings do just that: "Anton Miller /45" is a Soldier whose firing accuracy is about 40, and reactions about 50.

1 f:0-14
2 f:15-24
3 f:25-34
4 f:35-44
5 f:45-54
6 f:55-64
7 f:65-74
8 f:75-84
9 f:85-94

1 r:0-14
2 r:15-24
3 r:25-34
4 r:35-44
5 r:45-54
6 r:55-64
7 r:65-74
8 r:75-84
9 r:85-94

==Detailed numeric strings==

I've been using the above scheme for a while, but noticed that I use only a small part of the range. I'm habitually sacking soldiers with a firing accuracy below 50, for example, so the numbers 1-4 aren't really needed -- they indicate that a soldier won't meet my requirements, that's all. More generally, the purpose of statstrings is to make soldiers easily comparable when hiring and sacking or when you have to decide who's the first to go through an conspicious door.

NameStats
StatStrings

- f:0-49
1 f:50-54
2 f:55-60
3 f:61-64
4 f:65-70
5 f:71-75
6 f:76-80
7 f:81-85
8 f:86-90
9 f:91-95
a f:96-100
b f:101-105
c f:106-110
d f:111-115
e f:116-

- r:0-45
0 r:46-49 //sometimes I'm short on cash and have to hire zeroes...
1 r:50-53
2 r:54-57
3 r:58-61
4 r:62-65
5 r:66-69
6 r:70-73
7 r:74-77
8 r:78-81
9 r:82-85
a r:86-89
b r:90-93
c r:94-97
d r:98-100
e r:101-

W s:0-19 //weak. can only carry Rifle + clips OR Laser Rifle + grenades
w s:20-25 //additional Medikit or Stun Rod is possible
n s:26-30 //normal. no problems with standard gear
h s:31-40 //heavy or auto-cannon plus spare clip
H s:41- //can handle 4 Large Rockets + Launcher

1 p:0-15
2 p:16-25
3 p:26-35
4 p:36-44
5 p:45-54
6 p:55-64
7 p:65-74
8 p:75-84
9 p:85-

0 k:1-15
2 k:16-25
3 k:25-35
4 k:36-44
5 k:45-54
6 k:55-64
7 k:65-74
8 k:75-84
9 k:85-

This results in Soldier names like "Anton Karas /13n" or "Grace Kelly /41H81". The scheme is: 
firing accuracy - reactions - strength - Psi strength (resistance) - Psi skill

Notes:
* I wanted to use W-w-n-s-S for weak-normal-strong, but it's impossible to distiguish an S from a 5 which really looks weird. So I settled on H for "heavy gear" instead.
* values for Firing accuracy and reactions are hexadecimal, 1-9 then a-e; it may be that the sudden appearance of letters where you're used to numbers may look strange. I don't know, because my soldiers never become that good.
* Psi strength / skill will only be displayed after a soldier went through his first tenure of Psi training. So, a blank means the soldier hasn't been screened yet.

Talk:Alien Missions

2007-10-29T23:00:15Z

Schnobs: New section: How do missions work

I'm curious, can people tell me if the aliens will ONLY retaliate against bases if the player is shooting down UFO's, and won't retaliate against the player always attacking UFO's while landed.

Having recently tried Superhuman for the first time, I was caught off-guard when the aliens retaliated against a base in early March for me shooting a single UFO down (in February, I think) near that base. It wasn't even in the same country... I got the impression that simply being in the same world-region draws the attack.

I decided to restart the game from scratch, disbanded all my interceptors, and only attacked UFO's using Avengers following them until they landed... this actually worked extremely well... I have the alien menace under control so far, and I've saved tons of money by not having interceptors, avalanche missiles, hangars, and all the other support infrastructure.

However, I'm actually a little disappointed that the game lets you get away with this no-intercept strategy. I think next game I will come up with a strategy to go back to interceptors with "hardened" bases very early in the game (though how I'll get cash for that, I have no idea).

If I were to come up with one improvement to the game, it would be to make air-superiority more essential throughout the game... I would make the UFO's "aggro" vs. Skyrangers -- if they spot a nearby Skyranger they will attack and destroy it! Later in the game, I would make the Battleship ALWAYS attack any SLOWER craft it spots in the air... the idea is to wear down the player's air assets and knock him out of the sky. As the game currently is, you really don't need air-superiority if you have ground-superiority!

[[User:Eric|Eric]] 21:57, 12 July 2006 (PDT)

----

I've had more or less the same experience as you with Retaliations: after shooting down only one UFO, I got regular visits from a Retaliation scout on that continent.

Ground Assault-only works pretty well, but there are several cases where Interception is preferable:

* When the UFO doesn't make a landing at all (Retaliation scouts don't, for instance, and bigger ships often don't know where to land if you kill their scouts beforehand);
* Infiltration missions (4 or more ships show up at once, and unless you have 4+ Skyrangers, you'll need to shoot down one or more craft); Harvesters often show up in pairs, too;
* Distance (unless you've got multiple Skyrangers posted around the world, you might not be able to reach a UFO before it takes off again);
* Night missions (If the UFO arrives at its target at dusk, it'll probably leave before daybreak; it's easier to down it, then storm it at your leisure);
* Terror Ships (I bloody hate terror missions).

--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 10:31, 12 July 2006 (PDT)

----

To be fair, after running a few non-related tests that involved getting a HWD from the very start, I have noticed that the very first UFO you spot can begin on retaliation mission.

Interceptions - or rather - shoot-downs do attract them, that's for sure.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

----------------------------------

I ran into the "latency" issue with using Skyrangers, but came up with a workaround: I figured out each month what region the aliens were focusing on -- Australasia in February 1999, for example. My main (first) base with my Skyranger was on the NORTH POLE!!!, so obviously catching a UFO scout picked up on radar over Australasia before it disappeared was extremely unlikely -- a 12 hour one-way trip -- and if I did it would probably be at night anyway. Well, my workaround was, once I figured out Australasia was "targeted", I would send the Skyranger down there on a regular schedule, timed to arrive an hour or two before dawn -- the immense fuel capacity of the Skyranger allows it to loiter on station, over Australia, for over 12 hours before returning. It would then spend the next 12 hours or so refueling and then be ready for the next mission -- thus I could have a Skyranger in the region of alien activity during daylight every other day. Turns out the aliens would frequently show up early in the day and land during daylight with the Skyranger right nearby -- I snagged several UFO's on the ground in Australasia this way.

Another strategy I came up with was placing my bases specifically to be equidistant around the globe -- the idea being to pick up the UFO's far outside the target region -- South Asia in March, for example, is picked up over New Zealand -- giving me plenty of warning to launch a Skyranger... by the time the UFO has picked a landing spot, the Skyranger is close enough to snag it on the ground during daytime. My bases are on the north/south poles, baja california, north africa, taiwan, fiji, paraguay, and madagascar -- roughly on the tropics every 60 degrees. I have Skyrangers based from the poles -- the rest are listening posts (and eventually interceptor bases).

[[User:Eric|Eric]] 21:57, 12 July 2006 (PDT)

----

Interesting approach. In terms of global coverage, I usually wait until I've got the Hyper-Wave to build most of my bases. One per continent generally does the trick.

Could you detail your build-out sequence more? When do you build additional bases, how many Skyrangers do you have, and when do you acquire them?

--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 22:58, 13 July 2006 (PDT)

----

Yeah I'm currently torn regarding the hyperwave decoder issue... not too long after I get my bases built, the radar systems become "obsolete".

The idea is to have a "picket defense" -- rather than putting a base smack in the middle of each "high value" country, distribute bases evenly and try to pick up enemy UFO's inbound when they're far away from the high value country, and (eventually once the bases are built up) I can send multiple interceptors to converge on the UFO, because I have plenty of advance warning on where it is going.

OK, to detail my build plan: I build X-ARCTICOM first -- what can I say, I'm a fan of symmetry... it also has the benefit of being at the "center" of the northern hemisphere. I of course build an Alien Containment facility on day one. In my current game, I scrapped the third hangar and the 2nd interceptor... but if I had to do it over, strictly from a "winning" standpoint, I would scrap both of the southern hangars and both interceptors... the Skyranger is all that's required early on. But, I'm starting to think the no-intercept approach is a little cheesy so I'm trying to work out how to play the game "honest" while still maintaining my basic strategy.

On day one, I begin construction of X-NOAMERICOM, on the southern tip of Baja California. All future bases are added as money becomes available, but I give them extremely high priority in terms of funding... each base gets just long range and short range radars -- they are listening posts. The idea is, I'm trying to prevent the aliens from having any open spots they can harrass with impunity early in the game (my first Superhuman game, Australia signed a non-aggression pact in either February or March). As funding becomes availabe, the buildout is as follows:

X-NOAFRICOM (on the Prime Meridian and the Tropic of Cancer -- saharan desert)

X-SEASIACOM (western tip of Taiwan -- the closest I could get to E120 degrees)

X-AUSTRALCOM (actually in Fiji, closest to the international date line and Tropic of Capricorn)

X-SOAMERICOM (roughly paraguay -- W60 degrees and Tropic of Capricorn)

X-SOAFRICOM (Madagascar, closest to E60 degrees and Tropic of Capricorn)

X-ANTARCTICOM (south pole)

Technically the latitudes should be a tad closer to the equator to be truly equidistant (I worked the trig out once) but the tropic circles are easy to find on a map, have a pleasing simplicity to them, and the "high value real estate" is closer to the poles than the equator anyway, so nudging the bases a little closer to the poles works just fine.

The idea is to build a mirror of X-ARCTICOM down at X-ANTARCTICOM -- again, this provides both redundancy and also makes it easier to cover the southern hemisphere.

As I happened to play the game I only had one Skyranger until I built up X-ANTARCTICOM, but if I did it over again, I would probably go with two per polar base and 20 soldiers at each base -- enough for 10 men + 1 HWP per Skyranger. Then once X-ANTARCTICOM was built I would transfer one of the veteran squads from X-ARCTICOM down south and draft some new soldiers for both bases.

But, the idea is to give the the listening posts absolute top priority. Also, I've found that it's not ineffective to build small+large radars prior to the invention of the hyperwave decoder... they do the job... just not as well as the HWD. If I had to do things over, actually, I would postpone HWD research for better interceptor tech... and then once I have great interceptor bases, I would worry about having perfect UFO detection. Not that I'm opposed to HWD's... it's just a question of priorities. It's also more in keeping with what the game designers intended... they expected us to have to slug it out with simple radar tech for a while.

[[User:Eric|Eric]] 17:44, 14 July 2006 (PDT)

== More info on mission waves ==

Every mission wave will be carried out by one alien race, typically in one continental zone over one month. Regular mission waves will consist of just a few small ships, increasing in size. These are the bread and butter missions for X-COM. Retalition waves consist of a series of scouts, increasing in size, ending with a battleship. If any of them detects the base then a new battleship will head straight for the base and attack it, otherwise the retaliation wave ends harmlessly.

The medium sized harvester and research ships have a different pattern, the same ships landing repeatedly until you deal with them. Large terror ships arrive once a month to terrorise cities but can also make extra unexplained flights without landing.

Alien bases are usually constructed by the simultaneous landing of a small ship, two large supply ships, and a battleship in the same zone. It's a good idea to recover at least the small ship to see what type of alien is building the base. Thereafter, two supply ships each month fly quickly into the base and depart, too quick for interceptors and distant skyrangers. - Egor

------
Something I noticed from a game I played when I made all my bases nearly impregnable with Fusion Ball Defenses and Grav Shields: The aliens seem to have a limited queue of missions. Since they were unable to break into any of my bases and had a large number of bases on Earth, the only missions I ever saw were Battleships on retaliation runs and Supply Ships on supply runs. On my newer file, where I use garrisons instead of flak, I see a lot of different types of ships on different types of missions.

--[[User:Dumas|Dumas]] 13:36, 8 November 2006 (PST)

-----

That is the FIRST decent reason I have seen to build base defense and avoid the tactical battles. With no infiltration or terror missions to worry about, the game becomes a lot easier. I wonder if the scenario can be easily reproduced?

- [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 14:32, 8 November 2006 (PST)

-----
I think I only managed to get the defenses up after I'd lost almost all the funding countries to infiltration. It definitely did cut down on the Terror missions, though. The Harvest, Abduction, etc. also went down a lot. The large amount of research required to obtain Fusion Balls would make it impractical, I think. You would need to assault an Alien Base or large UFO (I'm not sure which ones carry Blasters) for the Blaster Launcher (or take one on a base defense mission). The Grav Shield requires even more time for development since it follows the Lightning. And of course you have to do research for armour and troop weapons, too.

Add on top of that the high cost of the defenses ($1.2Mil for the Shield, $800K per Launcher...say, $5.2Mil for five Launchers and a Shield) and the month-long construction, and I'm not so sure that base defense missions are worth avoiding. Also, the Battle ships seemed to come every five minutes or so.

--[[User:Dumas|Dumas]] 15:01, 8 November 2006 (PST)

----

It sounds like good points, both ways... it sounds potentially really interesting, but it's also true that timing is everything... Many of us can probably get to a stable place where we've usually retained every country by the time we have the Hyperwave, ships, and men to shoot down or let land anything we want... At which point the cash is also rolling in and lots of defenses can be made... But once you reach that point, it becomes kind of moot, the need to channel UFO waves away from infiltration and terror... Hmm. Unless one is playing particular self-imposed variants (like, no Psi attacking), the rush for Hyperwave, Psi, and Avenger is probably the quickest course to domination. Hmm... - [[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 15:39, 8 November 2006 (PST)

== Retaliation Tradeoffs ==

Some people seem to indicate that shooting down a Retaliation Scout will intensify retaliation efforts, as if in some cases it's better to just hope the scout doesn't find the base. This seems a little strange on the surface, given there's already a retaliation mission underway, and in the end the key is to prevent the scout from finding your base -- shooting it down would seem to guarantee that.

However, I also read that retaliation scouting is performed by a series of ever larger craft until they find the base.

This makes me wonder if perhaps what's really going on is that shooting down a smaller scout will cause the next-larger and more dangerous scout to quickly appear... so it accelerates the escalation of retaliation scouting efforts by the aliens. I'm guessing that perhaps the larger the scouting UFO, the better its base detection capabilities. Perhaps you're better off risking a small scout wasting time looking, than to shoot down several UFO's until you have battleships scouting the area and posing a far greater threat.

The upshot being, if you have total air-superiority -- HWD coverage spotting everything, backed up by plenty of heavily armed Firestorms/Avengers to knock anything and everything immediately out of the sky -- go ahead and actively thwart the retaliation scouting missions, but if you only have limited air-defenses, you're better off crossing your fingers that they don't spot your base before the end of the month (the retaliation scouting mission terminates at the end of the month, yes?).

[[User:Eric|Eric]] 13:59, 9 December 2006 (PST)

* If the scout does not find your base, shooting down a retaliation scout has the same effect as shooting down any other UFO: the next retaliation scout UFO is delayed. Shooting down anything near your base can start a series of Retalation Scouts, as can simply scoring a lot of points.
* If your base is ''not'' found by any UFOs in the Retaliation mission series in [[MISSIONS.DAT]] (including the searching Battleships), the series will end normally.
* I do not know what the representation of a base being targeted for a base defense mission is, in the save files. It seems to be more of a fact about a base.

-- [[User:Zaimoni|Zaimoni]] 17:07, 10 December 2006 (CST)

LOL... I should have known that it was a waste of time for me to speculate on the inner workings of the game, when this group has already thoroughly dissected the game files and know how almost all of it works. Reading that MISSION.DAT page almost ruined the game for me... I'll have to make sure not to study it too much... the amazing thing about X-COM for me was always the mysterious behavior of the aliens.

[[User:Eric|Eric]] 07:13, 11 December 2006 (PST)

==Retaliation and Defenses==

:''Once your base is located, they will continuously send Battleships at the base until one breaks through your defences. They will not stop until this happens.''

Does this mean that base defenses are all basically valueless (except maybe Mind Shield), unless you basically want to get stuck with a constant stream of battleships attacking you over and over leaving little room for anything else to happen in the game (probably make for a very high score I guess)?

I have never really bothered with defenses because its more interesting to do the base defense missions to vary things from time to time, but seems a little odd that it is set up like this. Would the retaliations stop at the end of a month?

--[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 00:26, 4 March 2007 (PST)

: That is correct. They just keep coming until one comes through. Well, one for each group of aliens targeting that base, that is. I think we have discussed either on the wiki or on one of our associated web forums that destroying the battleship this way does not generate any activity points. But getting more concrete data always helps.

: The only real benefit of having impenetrable base defenses would be if you need some time to prepare for the battle, either through getting more soldiers, more equipment or going so far as to reshape the corridor layout in your base. Once you're ready, reduce the effectiveness of your defences and have at it.

:- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

::It suddenly occurs to me that since base defenses don't reduce the number of aliens that show up unless they shoot down the battleship altogether (right?), then they're totally useless unless they're impenetrable (and then you'll have to see the base defenses screen constantly).--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 02:29, 4 March 2007 (PST)

:::Well like a lot of things, if a battleship is destroyed by defenses is left up to chance. I've seen 3 Fusion defense hits take out a battleship, and 3 hits that don't. If you have less than optimal defenses like say 2 Fusion defenses and a shield (effectively 4 fusions) you will repel a good amount of attacks on the base, and hopefully the first one in case you didn't know it was coming (which I guess is absurd as you should have HWDs if you have good enough defenses) or you're not prepared for a battle (those HWPs aren't built quite yet). Hopefully the first few times the attack wouldn't get through, but in time it should. I remember Tsereve complaining how the aliens got through his defenses (which were pretty good, 3 or 4 fusion balls and a grav shield). The likely-hood of them penetrating it was less than a percent (I think). So I guess they are never truly 'impenetrable', but it's easy to get improbable odds.

:::It's kind of a wacky theory or situation to need it though, by the time you have these uber-defenses, the aliens should be putty in your hand. All in all I believe you get zip for shooting down a UFO this way, not even score (if there is a score it's little and less than the score from saving your base). Compare that to the spoils of the base defense and it seems rather obvious. I'll admit that I don't like base defense missions (especially early on) as I seem to do bad with them (getting better).

:::If I get around to working on PyXCOM some more, one of the things I'm hoping to 'add' is that base defenses will lower the number of aliens seen in combat, by simply 'simulating' the damage they would do and removing aliens before combat. (Exact scaling of such reduction I'm not sure of)
:::My 2 cents --[[User:Pi Masta|Pi Masta]] 18:51, 4 March 2007 (PST)

::::If the next battleship in the sequence had to find out the previous was blown up, prep, and come into earth with a few hours delay then I could see some point to them, as you could marshal your defenses to some extent while the first few are knocked out, transfer across some soldiers and weapons etc, and then let them in (which I guess if you had big enough defenses to hold them off, would probably involved disbanding your grav shield or something, which is fairly extreme thing to have to do). With it being a few minutes, it would just be a drag to have to wait out hundreds of battleship attacks while you got ready. And the same point you made - how can you have that much air defense in a base, but not enough ground defense, its far cheaper and easier to get together some soldiers, a few half decent weapons, and a few hwps on each base and beat up them up the first time they come for any reasonable strategy I can think of. --[[User:Sfnhltb|Sfnhltb]] 19:03, 4 March 2007 (PST)

::Mostly my point was the "lesser" defenses are really pretty pointless: you either build a superdefense or it's useless (provided you like watching the defense screen repeatedly anyway). One aspect of the game the devs failed to tune right. Can't complain; base defense is still fun.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 00:56, 5 March 2007 (PST)

==What does it take for Alien Infiltration to be successful?==

- I (tequilachef) had the following situation: After two failed attempts to infiltrate China (I had shot down every single UFO participating in the infiltrations, even the battleships) one single battleship returned on an infiltration mission (i am absolutely certain China was not infiltrated at this point). I shot down the UFO over India and checked the area for an alien base just to be certain... China had been infiltrated. Then I tried the following: I reloaded an savegame about 2-3 days before the battleship turned up. I ordered my Avengers (8 in total) to take up positions all over the globe. Even when shooting down the craft rigth after entering the atmosphere and thereby sending it to the ground of the antarctic sea (which is about 10.000 miles from China) the infiltration was successful. This made me wonder how infiltration works. My most intelligent guess was that even infiltration attempts that fail get the aliens some "infiltration points" for that specific country or area, depending on how long the UFOs are operational. This would explain why there was just one craft on that mission and why infiltrating China was sucessful. The ailens were only short very few points! My question to all the X-COM scientists around here: have you discovered the mechanics behind infiltration? Have you seen similar situations?

Zombie says, "According to my preliminary results, Russia cannot be infiltrated in the CE version of X-COM so losing the game by this method is impossible." (Jun 16, 2005, StrategyCore forums)

Several players have however offered a different opinion on this matter and have lost Russia.

== How do missions work ==

I'd like to know how missions work. In previous games (back in the 90s) I've seen quite a few abductors and harvesters. Now, not a single one. Is it possible that my early interception has become too good? Will the aliens cancel missions? Alternatively: in [[MISSIONS.DAT]] it says that downing one UFO will delay the arrival of the next one on the same mission... is there a maximum time per mission, so if the last ships are delayed too long they won't come at all?

All I see once HWDs are up are retaliation, infiltration, and terror missions. Incidentally, neither of these can be prevented by downing scouts. So is it just bad luck when I never get a harvest or abduction mission? --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 16:00, 29 October 2007 (PDT)

Yet Another Scheme

2007-10-28T23:18:37Z

Schnobs: more refinement

=The way of the Privateer=

Many players try to get a steady production of Laser Cannon off the ground as soon as possible, and fund further activities with the revenue stream from their factories. That's nice and fine and works a treat; however, it's cheesy. Besides, X-Com was founded in order to fight the aliens, not as an arms producer.

Your funding fathers provided you with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque letter of marque] entitling you to intercept, seize, and sell any alien vessel you might encounter. Prizes can generate quite an revenue stream, even a small scout will easily yield over one million. Unfortunately, privateering is not as easy to pull off as just building a number of workshops and (in effect) print your own money. This guide tries to point out some of the difficulties you may encounter, and how to deal with them.

==Immediate measures==

At the beginning of the game, do the usual run-of-the-mill stuff: sell gear you don't need, purchase stuff you want. Build a few base facilities. However, you should maybe be a bit more radical than usual about the abilities of the soldiers you hire. You will fight a great many battles, and this will be much less frustrating if you have good troops.

Personally, I consider reactions to be far and away the most important stat. Of course, the soldiers should have some firing accuracy as well. However, mediocre marksmanship can be mitigated to a great extent, and will improve soon enough. The same is true for Time Units and Strength. But there's no way to fake reactions, and training is difficult or virtually impossible if your soldiers don't have high values to begin with.

However, there will be casualties; and loosing one of your precious hand-picked squaddies will be even more frustrating. So it's maybe a good idea to have a few [http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/2007/09/ensign-expendable.html Ensign Expendables] around.

==Find the Enemy==

No matter where you build your initial base, you are guaranteed to have the first aliens show up right on your doorstep. Strangely enough, they will only send small craft, and by the end of January they will cease. Even if you leave the early UFOs alone, there will be no follow-up missions with larger craft. So, after the first windfall (recovering every landed UFO through January will easily provide four or five million worth of loot), you're on your own. Getting your hands on more UFOs (=more revenue) after the initial batch is crucial.

Aliens may show up anywhere on the globe. However, anywhere is not everywhere: they will perform one or (at best) two missions like "Alien Research in Australasia" or "Alien Harvest in North America". There really is no way to tell where they will go. With the world so large and your funds still limited, you cannot afford to build bases just any old how.

Alien missions always follow the same basic pattern: first there will be a survey ship (that maybe doesn't even land) then small and large scouts (usually more than one each) until eventually larger craft show up, performing the actual mission. This can all take place within less than three weeks, but usually it takes at least five, sometimes up to two months. If you manage to intercept one UFO, the time until the next one arrives will increase a bit.

===Listening Posts===

With that in mind, perhaps the best thing you can do in the early game is to keep some money in the bank and pay close attention to the [[UFO activity graph]]. Much could be said about how to read it, but you will soon be able to see the difference between a simple flyby and an actual UFO landing. When you notice a landing in a given area, it's a clear indication that more can be expected to happen in that region in the next few weeks. About time to build a listening post there. Don't forget about [[Small Radar System]]s which will be finished within a mere twelve days – large radars may or may not be finished before the aliens complete the mission (or call it off), so you may chose to skip them entirely.

===Patrols===

You should also send some of your own craft to patrol the area for immediate radar coverage. If you think that sounds weird, you haven't tried. Example: If you expect UFO activity in North America, have a [[Skyranger]] patrol over the central US. Alright, so "North America" can be everything from Alaska to Cuba, and craft radar range is nothing to write home about. BUT: within it's limited range, craft radar is frightfully efficient. Given the tendency of UFOs to zigzag over the region before landing, you've got a decent chance that it will at some time come into range of your vessel.

It's a good idea to decomission one Interceptor in favor of a second Skyranger, and may consider to go without any Interceptor at all. Generally you don't want to shoot down alien craft as long as there is any chance of capturing them in one piece, while two Skyrangers taking turns can provide 24/7 coverage of all but the most remote areas.

===The February Famine===

For some reason or other, there often appears to be a distinct lack of alien activity in February. Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on what the random number generator spills out. But it's not at all uncommon that there will be a grand total of two or three scouts (plus one terror mission) in the entire month. In short: don't rely on having a high income.

==Research and Production==

If you do not want to build Laser Cannon for for money, you will only need a small number of technicians to provide necessary equipment for your troops: a few laser weapons, armour and (maybe) a handful of medikits. The one workshop you begin with will suffice for a long time, up to and including the production of Flying Suits: it will take about a fortnight to make ten of these. You only really need more production capacity once you have found out how to build your own craft.

Research is more important, though. Weapons, armour, Hyper-Wave Decoder, Psi Labs: you want all of these as soon as possible. Any spare penny should go into the construction of more labs and hiring more scientists.

However, that is "any ''spare'' penny": detection is even more important. The best equipment will do you no good if you can't find any aliens to use it on. The decision wether you can afford scientists because the current radar coverage should do for a while is part of what makes privateering fun.

===High-priority research tasks:===

* Laser Rifles
:You really need that firepower.

* Psi Labs
:If one of the early terror missions is Sectoid, capturing the leader becomes the primary objective. Then drop all other research and try to get Psi Labs researched and built in time for the next 1st.

* Hyper-Wave Decoder
:The latest and best in Alien Detection. You want it anyway; getting it early will save lots of cash you don't need to spend on soon obsolete radar systems. It requires you capture a live navigator, but that's usually not that hard to pull off.

* Armour
:Although armour is vital, it's not top of the list: getting it two weeks sooner or later really means only one or two more missions you will need to fight without. So you can relax – a bit. Although Body Armour is still insufficient, you should hand out at least some of these while waiting for Flight Suits. I usually don't manufacture Power Suits, though.

* Mind Probe
:Mind Probes take a long time to research, and are generally rather useless. After all, you can predict with reasonable accuracy that the interesting aliens will be on the bridge of any given UFO. However, there's one scenario where Mind Probes can make all the difference: when you try to pick out the leader on a sectoid terror site. This may never become necessary, though; and even if, it's not guaranteed that it will lead to success (with all those cyberdiscs around, the leader may die in an accidental explosion or whatnot). Research of Mind Probes should hence either be high on the queue or postponed until your scientists haven't anything else to do.

===What you don't need just now===

* Plasma Weapons
:The Laser Rifle will go a long way. You can postpone research on Heavy Plasma until either: a) you have the Avenger and want Plasma Beams or b) the first Smakemen or Mutons have been sighted.

* Motion Scanner and Medi Kit
:Both can come in handy at times, but really, armour is more important. First things first.

* Laser Cannon
: The sole use of Laser Cannon is to give your engineers something to do while you have no other assignments; as long as you have only comparatively few technicians, you won't lose much if you busy them with (say) Laser Pistols instead.

==Bases==

===Placement===

South Italy, Crete, or east Turkey rank high among the best places for the starting base. For starters, a base there will cover Europe, North Africa and a large part of Central Asia – that's three out of the eleven areas. In addition: provided you detect an UFO early during it's mission, a Europe-based Skyranger can reach any point in Africa, much of the Americas and almost all of Asia before the aliens take off and leave for good. Alaska, Chile and Malaysia mark about the outer fringe where you may still reach at least some UFOs in time.

If you're unlucky the Aliens will schedule a mission in Australasia. Your only chance is to build a base complete with hangar, quarters etc and either relocate your squad or hire a wholly new one. Yes, that's a lot of dough, but ultimately worth it. If you manage to take a single Harvester that way, the bill is paid.

===Development===

Most bases can be mere listening posts, consisting of nothing but the acess lift and a small radar at first. You certainly want to add Hyper-Wave Decoders as soon as possible, but those cost a lot of money and it may take a while. However, you should build a string of general stores at your first listening post: when the time comes you can quickly expand this to a large production plant. Research is best left at your initial base.

Later you may want to station a number of Firestorms at every base, but that's beyond the scope of this document.

===Random Tips===
* You really need that cash from the umpteenth small scout, but playing so many battles can become tedious; you may want to check out [[XcomUtil]], if only for it's "AutoCombat" feature. Although I found Statstrings invaluable, too.

* Sell the loot! For every item in storage, you shouldn't ask wether you will need it someday, but if you will need it anytime soon. The habit of keeping "one of everything" ties up a lot of cash; money that could buy you another listening post, hire more staff, or whatnot.

Rear Commander

2007-10-28T17:30:28Z

Schnobs: lots of dead rookies who panic?

One common problem when taking a group of Rookies into combat is that some will die, whereupon the remainder will panic and go berserk with annoying frequency, even if they have maximum initial [[bravery]]. This is where having a '''Rear Commander''' can make all the difference.

This is because high [[rank]] soldiers give a [[Morale]] bonus to all lower rank soldiers. Unfortunately, this works both ways: if the high rank soldier is killed, morale will drop sharply. The higher the rank, the greater the bonus (or penalty). Maintaining a high morale thus becomes a problem of ensuring the officer's survival. A tried-and-proved approach is for the officer to act as a rear commander who remains in the safety of the transport craft, providing moral support and encouragement via radio to the rookies (he's a strategic officer, not a field officer).

This is a very useful tactic for training Rookies, particularly when training a second recovery/assault team, experienced base defenders, or just creating a decent selection of replacement soldiers.

==Selecting your Rear Commander==
Generally, you should send the highest officer at your disposal. Even a Sergeant helps, but isn't quite effective enough. The officer's combat skills do not matter in the slightest. This is an excellent position for that "why did X-COM promote that guy again?" officer! Finally, a use for the formerly useless officers!

Note that if you deliberately only take one officer, you're pretty much safe from morale issues. If you have a Colonel, a couple Captains, four Sergeants, and 7 Rookies, the Rookies will start to panic when you lose any of the numerous officers (though they might bear the loss of two Seargeants). But if you have only one officer, and the officer is alive, you can lose 7-8 Rookies before they start to panic.

==Benefits==
The officer provides several benefits:

*By staying in the 'ranger, the officer can abort the mission if there is a CF/SNAFU/FUBAR situation (choose your acronym).

*By staying in the 'ranger, the officer is unlikely to be killed thus the rookies retain their morale benefit throughout the mission.

*Excess [[weapons]], [[grenade]]s, and such can be left in the Skyranger. Rookies may not have the strength to carry everything. The officer (with a decent level of strength) can throw [[equipment]] out of the ranger to rookies in the field.

*The rookies will gain much more [[experience]], as they will make all the shots and all the kills. This keeps your officer from stealing all the experience with her superior skills.

*If you give the Rear Commander a [[Mind Probe]], [[Blaster Launcher]], or (assuming sufficient [[Psi Skill]]) a [[Psi-Amp]], a Rear Commander can still participate in the battle from the safety of the dropship. Read the safety instructions before using the Blaster Launcher in confined places, though.

Note that you can use this tactic well into the game. 25 Squaddies and 1 Commander who stays on the ship works very, very effectively. The Squaddies in the line of fire won't suffer huge morale losses when their buddies die. In addition, Squaddies in XCOM can (and often do) have better stats than the officers (unless you fire or kill low-stat officers). Basically, the idea is to minimize morale penalties (which occur when soldiers die, so you want low rank soldiers in the line of fire). And, you want to maximize morale bonuses (which occur when officers stay alive, so you want officers to be safe throughout the battle).

Adapted from a post by [Zeno] in xcom.co.uk, reposted by [[User:JellyfishGreen|JellyfishGreen]] 15:34, 25 Apr 2005 (BST)

[[Category: Tactics]]

Yet Another Scheme

2007-10-28T13:21:31Z

Schnobs:

=The way of the Privateer=

Many players try to get a steady production of Laser Cannon off the ground as soon as possible, and fund further activities with the revenue stream from their factories. That's nice and fine and works a treat; however, it's cheesy. Besides, X-Com was founded in order to fight the aliens, not as an arms producer.

Your funding fathers provided you with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque letter of marque] entitling you to intercept, loot, and sell any alien vessel you might encounter. Prizes can generate quite an revenue stream, even a small scout will easily yield over one million. Unfortunately, privateering is not as easy to pull of as just building a number of workshops and (in effect) print your own money. This guide tries to point out some of the difficulties you may encounter, and how to deal with them.

==Immediate measures==

At the beginning of the game, do the usual run-of-the-mill stuff: sell gear you don't need, purchase stuff you want. Build a few base facilities. However, you should maybe be a bit more radical than usual about the abilities of the soldiers you hire. You will fight a great many battles, and this will be much less frustrating if you have good troops.

Personally, I consider reactions to be far and away the most important stat. Of course, the soldiers should have some firing accuracy as well. However, mediocre marksmanship can be mitigated to a great extent, and will improve soon enough. The same is true for Time Units and Strength. But there's no way to fake reactions, and training is difficult or virtually impossible if your soldiers don't have high values to begin with.

However, there will be casualties; and loosing one of your precious hand-picked squaddies will be even more frustrating. So it's maybe a good idea to have a few [http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/2007/09/ensign-expendable.html Ensign Expendables] around.

==Find the Enemy==

No matter where you build your initial base, you are guaranteed to have the first aliens show up right on your doorstep. Strangely enough, they will only send small craft, and by the end of January they will cease. Even if you leave the early UFOs alone, there will be no follow-up missions with larger craft. So, after the first windfall (recovering every landed UFO through January will easily provide four or five millions worth of loot), you're on your own. Getting your hands on more UFOs (=more revenue) after the initial batch is crucial.

Aliens may show up anywhere on the globe. However, anywhere is not everywhere: they will perform one or (at best) two missions like "Alien Research in Australasia" or "Alien Harvest in North America". There really is no way to tell where they will go. With the world so large and your funds still limited, you cannot afford to build bases just any old how.

Alien missions always follow the same basic pattern: first there will be a survey ship (that maybe doesn't even land) then small and large scouts (usually more than one each) until eventually larger craft show up, performing the actual mission. This can all take place within less than three weeks, but usually it takes at least five, sometimes up to two months. If you manage to intercept one UFO, the time until the next one arrives will increase a bit.

===Listening Posts===

With that in mind, perhaps the best thing you can do in the early game is to keep some money in the bank and pay close attention to the [[UFO activity graph]]. Much could be said about how to read it, but you will soon be able to see the difference between a simple flyby and an actual UFO landing. When you notice a landing in a given area, it's a clear indication that more can be expected to happen in that region in the next few weeks. About time to build a listening post there. Depending on luck, the mission may be almost over by the time a large radar is finished; you'll probably miss at least two more scouts until even a small radar goes into service. But spotting at least some of the later alien vessels is better than nothing.

===Patrols===

Depending on distance, you can send some of your own craft to patrol the area for immediate radar coverage. Sounds weird? It isn't. If (say) you expect UFO activity in North America, have a Skyranger patrol over the central US. North America can be everything from Alaska to Cuba, but given the tendency of UFOs to zigzag over the region before landing, you've got a decent chance that it will at some time enter the radar range of your transporter. It appears that in the case of craft radar, UFOs will be picked up always and immediately.

It can be a good idea to decomission one Interceptor in favor of a second Skyranger. Generally you don't want to shoot down alien craft as long as there is any chance to capture them whole.

===The February Famine===

For some reason or other, there often appears to be a distinct lack of alien activity in February. Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on what the random number generator spills out. But it's not at all uncommon that there will be a grand total of two or three scouts (plus one terror mission) in the entire month. In short: don't rely on having a high income.

==Research and Production==

If you do not want to build Laser Cannon for for money, you will only need a small number of technicians to provide necessary equipment for your troops: a few laser weapons, armour and (maybe) a handful of medikits. The one workshop you begin with will suffice for a long time, up to and including the production of Flying Suits: it will take about a fortnight to make ten of these. You only really need more production capacity once you have found out how to build your own craft.

Research is more important, though. Weapons, armour, Hyper-Wave Decoder, Psi Labs: you want all of these as soon as possible. Any spare penny should go into the construction of more labs and hiring more scientists.

However, that is "any ''spare'' penny": detection is even more important. The best equipment will do you no good if you can't find any aliens to use it on. The decision wether you can afford scientists because the current radar coverage should do for a while is part of what makes privateering fun.

===High-priority research tasks:===

* Laser Rifles
:You really need that firepower.

* Psi Labs
:If one of the early terror missions is Sectoid, capturing the leader becomes the primary objective. Then drop all other research and try to get Psi Labs researched and built in time for the next 1st.

* Hyper-Wave Decoder
:The latest and best in Alien Detection. You want it anyway; getting it early will save lots of cash you don't need to spend on soon obsolete radar systems. It requires you capture a live navigator, but that's usually not that hard to pull off.

* Armour
:Although armour is vital, it's not top of the list: getting it two weeks sooner or later really means only one or two more missions you will need to fight without. So you can relax – a bit. Although Body Armour is still insufficient, you should hand out at least some of these while waiting for Flight Suits. I usually don't manufacture Power Suits, though.

* Mind Probe
:Mind Probes take a long time to research, and are generally rather useless. After all, you can predict with reasonable accuracy that the interesting aliens will be on the bridge of any given UFO. However, there's one scenario where Mind Probes can make all the difference: when you try to pick out the leader on a sectoid terror site. This may never become necessary, though; and even if, it's not guaranteed that it will lead to success (with all those cyberdiscs around, the leader may die in an accidental explosion or whatnot). Research of Mind Probes should hence either be high on the queue or postponed until your scientists haven't anything else to do.

===What you don't need just now===

* Plasma Weapons
:The Laser Rifle will go a long way. You can postpone research on Heavy Plasma until either: a) you have the Avenger and want Plasma Beams or b) the first Smakemen or Mutons have been sighted.

* Motion Scanner and Medi Kit
:Both can come in handy at times, but really, armour is more important. First things first.

* Laser Cannon
: The sole use of Laser Cannon is to give your engineers something to do while you have no other assignments; as long as you have only comparatively few technicians, you won't lose much if you busy them with (say) Laser Pistols instead.

==Bases==

===Placement===

South Italy, Crete, or east Turkey rank high among the best places for the starting base. For starters, a base there will cover Europe, North Africa and a large part of Central Asia – that's three out of the eleven areas. In addition: provided you detect an UFO early during it's mission, a Europe-based Skyranger can reach any point in Africa, much of the Americas and almost all of Asia before the aliens take off and leave for good. Alaska, Chile and Malaysia mark about the outer fringe where you may still reach at least some UFOs in time.

If you're unlucky the Aliens will schedule a mission in Australasia. Your only chance is to build a base complete with hangar, quarters etc and either relocate your squad or hire a wholly new one. Yes, that's a lot of dough, but ultimately worth it. If you manage to take a single Harvester that way, the bill is paid.

===Development===

Most bases can be mere listening posts, consisting of nothing but the acess lift and a Hyper-Wave decoder (or one of each radar system if you haven't discovered hyperwaves yet). However, you should build a string of general stores at one base: when the time comes you can quickly expand this to a large production plant. Research is best left at your initial base.

Later you may want to station a number of Firestorms at every base, but that's beyond the scope of this document.

===Random Tips===
* You really need that cash from the umpteenth small scout, but playing so many battles can become tedious; you may want to check out [[XcomUtil]], if only for it's "AutoCombat" feature. Although I found Statstrings invaluable, too.

* Sell the loot! For every item in storage, you shouldn't ask wether you will need it someday, but if you will need it anytime soon. The habit of keeping "one of everything" ties up a lot of cash; money that could buy you another listening post, hire more staff, or whatnot.

Yet Another Scheme

2007-10-27T22:11:46Z

Schnobs: all new. or so.

=The way of the Privateer=

Many players try to get a steady production of Laser Cannon off the ground as soon as possible, and fund further activities with the revenue stream from their factories. That's nice and fine and works a treat; however, it's cheesy. Besides, X-Com was founded in order to fight the aliens, not as an arms producer.

Your funding fathers provided you with a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque letter of marque] entitling you to intercept, loot, and sell any alien vessel you might encounter. Prizes can generate quite an revenue stream, even a small scout will easily yield over one million. Unfortunately, privateering is not as easy to pull of as just building a number of workshops and (in effect) print your own money. This guide tries to point out some of the difficulties you may encounter, and how to deal with them.

==Immediate measures==

At the beginning of the game, do the usual run-of-the-mill stuff: sell gear you don't need, purchase stuff you want. Build a few base facilities. However, you should maybe be a bit more radical than usual about the abilities of the soldiers you hire. You will fight a great many battles, and this will be much less frustrating if you have good troops.

Personally, I consider reactions to be far and away the most important stat. Of course, the soldiers should have some firing accuracy as well. However, mediocre marksmanship can be mitigated to a great extent, and will improve soon enough. The same is true for Time Units and Strength. But there's no way to fake reactions, and training is difficult or virtually impossible if your soldiers don't have high values to begin with.

However, there will be casualties; and loosing one of your precious hand-picked squaddies will be even more frustrating. So it's maybe a good idea to have a few [http://sixldswriters.blogspot.com/2007/09/ensign-expendable.html Ensign Expendables] around.

==Find the Enemy==

No matter where you build your initial base, you are guaranteed to have the first aliens show up right on your doorstep. Strangely enough, they will only send small craft, and by the end of January they will cease. Even if you leave the early UFOs alone, there will be no follow-up missions with larger craft. So, after the first windfall (recovering every landed UFO through January will easily provide four or five millions worth of loot), you're on your own. Getting your hands on more UFOs (=more revenue) after the initial batch is crucial.

Aliens may show up anywhere on the globe. However, anywhere is not everywhere: they will perform one or (at best) two missions like "Alien Research in Australasia" or "Alien Harvest in North America". There really is no way to tell where they will go. With the world so large and your funds still limited, you cannot afford to build bases just any old how.

Alien missions always follow the same basic pattern: first there will be a survey ship (that maybe doesn't even land) then small and large scouts (usually more than one each) until eventually larger craft show up, performing the actual mission. This can all take place within less than three weeks, but usually it takes at least five, sometimes up to two months. If you manage to intercept one UFO, the time until the next one arrives will increase a bit.

===Listening Posts===

With that in mind, perhaps the best thing you can do in the early game is to keep some money in the bank and pay close attention to the [[UFO activity graph]]. Much could be said about how to read it, but you will soon be able to see the difference between a simple flyby and an actual UFO landing. When you notice a landing in a given area, it's a clear indication that more can be expected to happen in that region in the next few weeks. About time to build a listening post there. Depending on luck, the mission may be almost over by the time a large radar is finished; you'll probably miss at least two more scouts until even a small radar goes into service. But spotting at least some of the later alien vessels is better than nothing.

===Patrols===

Depending on distance, you can send some of your own craft to patrol the area for immediate radar coverage. Sounds weird? It isn't. If (say) you expect UFO activity in North America, have a Skyranger patrol over the central US. North America can be everything from Alaska to Cuba, but given the tendency of UFOs to zigzag over the region before landing, you've got a decent chance that it will at some time enter the radar range of your transporter. It appears that in the case of craft radar, UFOs will be picked up always and immediately.

It can be a good idea to decomission one Interceptor in favor of a second Skyranger. Generally you don't want to shoot down alien craft as long as there is any chance to capture them whole.

===The February Famine===

For some reason or other, there often appears to be a distinct lack of alien activity in February. Your mileage will vary, of course, depending on what the random number generator spills out. But it's not at all uncommon that there will be a grand total of two or three scouts (plus one terror mission) in the entire month. In short: don't rely on having a high income.

==Research and Production==

If you do not want to build Laser Cannon for for money, you will only need a small number of technicians to provide necessary equipment for your troops: a few laser weapons, armour and (maybe) a handful of medikits. The one workshop you begin with will suffice for a long time, up to and including the production of Flying Suits: it will take about a fortnight to make ten of these. You only really need more production capacity once you have found out how to build your own craft.

Research is more important, though. Weapons, armour, Hyper-Wave Decoder, Psi Labs: you want all of these as soon as possible. Any spare penny should go into the construction of more labs and hiring more scientists.

However, that is "any ''spare'' penny": detection is even more important. The best equipment will do you no good if you can't find any aliens to use it on. The decision wether you can afford scientists because the current radar coverage should do for a while is part of what makes privateering fun.

==Bases==

===Placement===

South Italy, Crete or east Turkey rank high among the best places for the starting base. For starters, a base there will cover Europe, North Africa and a large part of Central Asia – that's three out of the eleven areas. In addition, a base in Europe provides good recovery coverage: provided you detect an UFO early during it's mission, a Europe-based Skyranger can reach any point in Africa, much of the Americas and almost all of Asia before the aliens take off and leave for good. Alaska, Chile and Malaysia mark about the outer fringe where you may still reach at least some UFOs in time.

If you're unlucky the Aliens will schedule a mission in Australasia. Your only chance is to build a base complete with hangar, quarters etc and either relocate your squad or hire a wholly new one. Yes, that's a lot of dough, but ultimately worth it. If you manage to take a single Harvester that way, the bill is paid.

===Development===

Most bases can be mere listening posts, consisting of nothing but the acess lift and a Hyper-Wave decoder (or one of each radar system if you haven't discovered hyperwaves yet). However, you should build a string of general stores at one base: when the time comes you can quickly expand this to a large production plant. Research is best left at your initial base.

Later you may want to station a number of Firestorms at every base, but that's beyond the scope of this document.

==High-priority research tasks:==

* Laser Rifles
:These weapons will be good enough for about anything you will encounter well into March or even April. You really should strive to have most of your squad equipped with Laser Weapons (Pistol or Rifle) by the first terror mission.

* Psi Labs
:Once you can screen your soldiers for Psionic abilities, you'll be forced to sack quite a few. There's no helping it, so you should do your best to get this over with as soon as possible. The problem is that you probably won't find a psionic alien before March -- with research and construction time, it will usually become May or June until you find out which of your soldiers are duds, at which point you basically have to start over. If your first terror site happens to be sectoid, consider yourself extremely lucky, and be reckless: try to stun every single alien on the map. You'll probably lose a good many soldiers that way, but getting you hands on a Psi-capable alien that soon is definitely worth it. Troops are cheap, especially early in the game when they haven't gained much experience yet. Possession of a sectoid leader by late January is priceless.

* Hyper-Wave Decoder
:The latest and best in Alien Detection. You want it anyway; getting it early will save lots of cash you don't need to spend on soon-to-be-dismatled radar systems. It requires you capture a live navigator, but that's usually not that hard to pull off (and should be done as soon as the Alien Containment is ready).

* Armour
:Although armour is vital, it's not top of the list: getting it two weeks sooner or later really means only one or two more missions you will need to fight without. So you can relax – a bit. Although Body Armour is still insufficient, you should hand out at least some of these while waiting for Flight Suits. I usually don't manufacture Power Suits, though.

* Mind Probe
:Mind Probes take a long time to research, and are generally rather useless. After all, you can predict with reasonable accuracy that the interesting aliens will be on the bridge of any give UFO. However, there's one scenario where Mind Probes can make all the difference: when you try to pick out the leader on a sectoid terror site. This may never become necessary, though; and even if, it's not guaranteed that it will lead to success (with all those cyberdiscs around, the leader may die in an accidental explosion or whatnot). Research of Mind Probes should hence either be high on the queue or postponed until your scientists haven't anything else to do.

==What you don't need just now==

* Alien Weapons
:A point could be made in favor of Small Launcher / Stun Bomb, but when it comes to killing Aliens, the Laser Rifle will go a long way. You can postpone research on Heavy Plasma until either: a) you have the Avenger and want Plasma Beams or b) the first Smakemen or Mutons have been sighted.

* Motion Scanner and Medi Kit
:Both can come in handy at times, but really, armour is more important. First things first.

* Laser Cannon
: The sole use of Laser Cannon is to give your engineers something to do while you have no other assignments; as long as you have only comparatively few technicians, you won't gain or lose much if you busy them with (say) Laser Pistols instead.

==Use XcomUtil==
Playing so many battles can become really tedious; you probably want to check out [[XcomUtil]], if only for it's "AutoCombat" feature.

Avenger

2007-10-27T13:49:46Z

Schnobs: /* How to use it */

[[Image:avenger.png|right|Avenger - Ultimate Craft]]
The '''Avenger''' is the ultimate replication of Alien technology. It is both the best troop transporter and best interceptor available in the game.

==How to use it==

The Avenger is the fastest craft available to [[X-COM]], capable of reaching any point on earth within one hour and intercepting any UFO. With enough fuel for six hours of flight, it can still patrol a bit and/or follow UFOs around. It's also very resilient to damage. When armed with dual [[Plasma Beam]]s, the avenger is the only craft available to X-COM that can reliably intercept an alien battleship single-handedly without risk of complete destruction.

On top of that, it has a huge amount of room in the cargo holds, enough to carry 26 [[soldiers]] (or a mix of soldiers and up to four [[Heavy Weapons Platforms]]). So once you have the Avenger, you don't need any other craft any more.

Or do you? The downside is that an Avenger is expensive and takes a long time to build; and although it can take a lot of damage and still limp home, it will then be grounded for over a month until it is repaired and back in service. It is therefore recommended to still join forces and attack Battleships with several of your craft at once to minimize damage sustained. Many players find it more convenient to employ numerous cheap [[Firestorm]]s all over the world, and have only a few Avengers to supplement them in times of great need.
 

== Special Requirements ==
The "Avenger" craft is fuelled by [[Elerium-115]]. Before [[manufacturing]] this craft, ensure that you have sufficient stocks of Elerium in your [[General_Stores|general stores]].

While airborne, the Avenger consumes 1 fuel unit (1/5th unit of [[Elerium-115]], 1.66% total fuel) every ten minutes, regardless of the speed of the craft. The Avenger has a maximum (radial) range of 27,000 nautical miles, while being airborne for 5 hours. Its maximum (distance) range is 54,000 nautical miles for a total fly time of 10 hours. Patrolling has no effect on fuel consumption.

One Avenger requires 12 units of Elerium for refuelling. When refuelling, the Avenger receives 8.3% more fuel (one unit of Elerium) every half hour, on the half hour. So it can take up to six hours to refuel, and will be finished fuelling precisely on the turn of a half hour.

If Plasma Beams have been fired, it will take 3 hours to re-arm, regardless of how many PB shots were used. At the turn of the first hour after refuelling (measured by hour on the clock, straight up), your left Plasma Beam goes to 100 ammo. Turn of second hour, right one goes to 100. Turn of third hour: Craft drops out of REARMING status and is ready to fly. Even if your craft has not fired (ammo=100), it will still wait until the next hour (straight up) going through that last REARM phase after refuelling.

Avengers are repaired at the rate of 2% damage per day. Thus it can take e.g. THIRTY DAYS to fix a 60% damaged Avenger. A Firestorm would recover from 60% in just 12 days (5%/day). However, what's really happening here is that they both repair approximately the same ''Damage Capacity'' (i.e., "hit points") per day... 2% of 1200 equals 24/day for Avenger, and 5% of 500 equals 25/day for Firestorm.

Service is done in this order: Repairs, refuelling, rearming. If you transfer an Avenger between bases, it will still need refuelling and rearming when it arrives even though 12+ hours have passed (if it needed them before it left).

== Vital Statistics ==
<table>
<tr><td>Maximum Speed:</td><td>5,400</td></tr>
<tr><td>Acceleration:</td><td>10</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fuel Capacity:</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td>Weapon Pods:</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Damage Capacity:</td><td>1,200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cargo Space:</td><td>26</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[:Category:Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]] Capacity:</td><td>4</td></tr>
<tr><td>Work Space Required:</td><td>36</td></tr>
</table>

== See Also ==
*[[Skyranger]] - Standard Troop Transporter
*[[Lightning]] - New Fighter-Transporter

[[Category:Crafts]]

Firestorm

2007-10-27T10:54:33Z

Schnobs: /* How to use it */

[[Image:firestorm.png|right|Firestorm - New Fighter Craft]]
The first X-COM craft engineered from Alien technology, the '''Firestorm''' is a direct replacement for the standard combat craft [[Interceptor]].

With a crew of one, the Firestorm has been designed around the classic "Flying Saucer" concept, with a central propulsion unit identical to those found in UFOs.

== How to use it ==

As a fighter the Firestorm is much faster than the [[Interceptor]], capable of travelling fast enough to keep up with almost any [[UFO]]. It also has much better armor and is not easily destroyed by enemy return fire. It therefore makes an excellent interceptor in the true sense of the word: launch, intercept, return to base. However, that's about all it can do: Due to it's very low range it is incapable of shadowing the enemy and following them around half the world as you're used to from the Interceptor craft.

So you only should launch the Firestorm if you positively want to shoot down an alien craft.
 

== Special Requirements ==
The Firestorm is fuelled by [[Elerium-115]], so before manufacturing this craft, make sure that you have sufficient stocks of Elerium in your [[General_Stores|general stores]].

When airborne, the Firestorm consumes fuel at the rate of 1 fuel unit (1/5th unit of [[Elerium-115]], 5% total fuel) every ten minutes, regardless of the speed of the craft. The Firestorm has a maximum (radial) range of only 7,000 nautical miles, while being airborne for a paltry 1h, 40m. Its maximum (distance) range is 14,000 nautical miles, while having a total fly time of only 3h, 20m. Patrolling has no effect on fuel consumption.

One Firestorm requires 4 units of [[Elerium-115|Elerium]] for refuelling. When refuelling, the Firestorm receives 25% more fuel (i.e., 1 Elerium) every half hour, on the half hour. So it can take up to two hours to refuel, and will be finished fuelling precisely on the turn of a half hour.

If [[Plasma_Beam|Plasma Beams]] have been fired, it will take 3 hours to re-arm, regardless of how many PB shots were used. At the turn of the first hour after refuelling (measured by hour on the clock, straight up), your left Plasma Beam goes to 100 ammo. At the turn of the second hour, the right one goes to 100. Turn of third hour: Craft drops out of REARMING status and is ready to fly. Even if your craft has not fired (ammo=100), it will still wait until the next hour (straight up) going through that last REARM phase after refuelling.

Firestorms are repaired at the rate of 5% damage per day. Service is done in this order: Repairs, refuelling, rearming. If you transfer a Firestorm between bases, it will still need refuelling and rearming when it arrives even though 12+ hours have passed (if it needed them before it left).

== Vital Statistics ==
<table>
<tr><td>Maximum Speed:</td><td>4,200</td></tr>
<tr><td>Acceleration:</td><td>9</td></tr>
<tr><td>Fuel Capacity:</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><td>Weapon Pods:</td><td>2</td></tr>
<tr><td>Damage Capacity:</td><td>500</td></tr>
<tr><td>Cargo Space:</td><td>None</td></tr>
<tr><td>[[:Category:Heavy Weapons Platforms|HWP]] Capacity:</td><td>None</td></tr>
<tr><td>Work Space Required:</td><td>30</td></tr>
</table>

== See Also ==
*[[Interceptor]] - Standard Fighter Craft
*[[Lightning]] - New Fighter-Transporter
*[[Avenger]] - Ultimate Craft

[[Category:Crafts]]

Talk:Reactions Training

2007-10-26T21:20:57Z

Schnobs: /* Redundancy Alert */

I find that reaction shots on aliens leaving a spacecraft are exceedingly dangerous. You can lose a lot of soldiers doing this. It does however train up soldiers and is tidier than grenades. If you think that covering the spacecraft door is just going to be too dangerous then just don't do it. Hold your troops further back and scout the exit area each turn instead. Here are my experiences.

Alien grenades are the biggest threat to reaction shooters. Aliens need time to take out, arm, and throw the grenade however so you're generally safe unless the alien needs to move only one or two spaces to see a soldier. Use a motion scanner to check the position of aliens and if they are close enough to throw a grenade you should take precautions, such as placing a proximity grenade.

When an alien leaves a spaceship it will generally shoot at someone in their sight, someone who shot at them, or the closest person. This means it is generally a good idea to put the most expendable soldier closest to the door. Even then though the alien can shoot at another target so I wouldn't cover the spaceship door with anyone that I really wanted to keep alive.

If you're using proximity grenades to cover the door then you might lose a lot of money unless you have someone running through to pick up any valuables before the you place the next grenade. Don't be too greedy or else the runner will get caught when the next alien walks out.

- Egor

----

Alien grenades are generally attracted by large packs of soldiers. Therefore, spread out. The example screenshot is one good example where an alien may choose to throw a grenade if it manages to get the higher reaction level.

One good trick to reactions is to make use of the 20 tile visual limit. All units can see that many tiles in front of them in full daylight. Aliens don't get a visual penalty at night, but you can negate this with a flare or two (on top of the UFO, for safety). Sit your soldiers at around 18 - 19 tiles away from the door within visual sight of the door. This way, after you defeat the alien leaving the door, the aliens directly behind the exiting alien will not be able open fire on your reacting soldiers, and will be forced to walk out. The main disadvantage of this strategy is that your distance is increased. More distance means bullets have more room to fly off course. One other disadvantage is terrain and the availability of open space.

Hmm, you know it's a funny thing, but I did not realise this section existed.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

----

If you drop a smoke grenade in front of the UFO door, you can reduce visiblility for both sides, meaning you can safely perch about 10 squares away. Any alien reaching the "visible" threshold of the cloud will have walked enough to be severely TU-depleted.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 22:08, 18 September 2006 (PDT)

----

I see what you're saying, but doesn't that only help you for one turn? After one turn, there may have been aliens that stopped just within the edge of the cloud. I think the safest way to watch a UFO door is to use a [[Scouting]] variation: Have most of your shooters laying in wait a fair distance from the door. Each turn, have scout(s) advance to within site of the door, stopping if they see someone. (You might have it covered from 2 or even 3 sides - left, right, directly outward.) Some math could probably be done to figure a safe range: 1) takes maybe 10(?) TUs to exit door, 2) most TUs for an alien is ~78 (Ethereal in Superhuman game, not counting Zombie which is melee and Celatid with short distance); many aliens have less, and this can be modified if/when you know your target type, 3) the lowest-TU weapon likely to be used is Heavy Plasma (30% Snap) which is 23 TUs for 78-TU Ethereal. So an Etheral can walk 78-23-10=45 TUs from the door, or 11 tiles, and shoot. For other aliens, the distance would be less. Position your guys at 31 then, and run your scouts in. Sounds like a good plan in theory, but I'm not sure how workable it really is... that's a lot of ground to cover, and you don't always have clear visibility or 30 tiles of room from the door. Anyway... it's a thought. --[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 16:26, 20 September 2006 (PDT)

:I can vouch from from experience that smoke-in-front-of-door plus 10-15 squares distance works quite well. It's not whether they have TUs enough to fire, it's whether they have TUs enough to reaction fire before your troops. A firing line of 4+ troops some distance away plus a smoke cloud makes for a very unprepared alien. Bang-bang-bang-bang. It's rare that aliens stay in the cloud -- a common alien movement pattern is to step outside, take one shot, then go back in. With the cloud there, they can't shoot, so they just go back in -- or they advance, and get shot down. You can also safely advance one spotter towards the cloud; due to mutual surprise, the aliens won't shoot the spotter -- and you can snipe with the other (unseen) troops.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 21:07, 23 September 2006 (PDT)

::Makes sense to me. It all sounds like fun things to play with, to me. :) --[[User:MikeTheRed|MikeTheRed]] 15:26, 27 September 2006 (PDT)

:::It's very pleasing that with all the discussions we've had (here and there) that we're actually making the smoke grenade useful as we come to understand it more. You don't have to like it - you just have to understand how it works.
:::- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

----

Minor edit - it takes 8 TUs to go out the door, not 4. (Which makes no sense to me. Surely once the door is open, the empty space which the alien has to walk through is the same as any other empty space anywhere else)

On grenades:
I agree that the 4 soldiers in my picture are grenade bait. Spreading them out would not help much because the only have personal armour and would probably die anyway. Putting 2 on either side would help vs grenades but then they'd shoot each other. I'd rather be killed by aliens than by friendly fire... Once you have power suits, either approach would work well. (And flying suits can solve all your grenade problems.) Also, you can stay out of grenade throwing range when the UFO is a battleship, because of the low ceiling.
Don't forget that priming a grenade eats a lot of TUs (50%!) and provokes reaction fire. With any luck this will drop the pesky alien, and the grenade will go off beside the door (which will still be open I believe) A pity this destroys valuable loot.
All my grenade-related reaction training disasters have been from mutons - they have too many HP, too many TUs, and excessively high reactions. (I don't even try it with Ethereals)

Smoke grenade trick sounds interesting - I'll have to try that some time.

-[[User:MB|MB]]

:If the 8 TUs to walk through a doorway is true, is there an additional 4 TUs for the first alien to walk through it (to open the door)? --[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 11:42, 12 October 2006 (PDT)

----

It's kinda counterintuitive with doorways and TU's. It takes 8 TU to open a door and step through. Stepping through a doorway which is already open still takes 8 TU. However, Daishiva's MapView program claims it takes 4 TU to walk through a closed UFO door and 0 TU for an open door. Not sure how this applies to in-game TU useage though. Hobbes would know. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 14:30, 12 October 2006 (PDT)

----

Zombie, I've replied to your email but now that I've read this I think I understand the confusion. There are 2 types of doors in UFO: normal hinged doors (like those in barns and city buildings) and sliding doors (UFO doors, X-COM Base doors, etc.). To go through a closed sliding door it would cost 8 TUs: 4 to open the door and 4 to walk into the tile adjacent to it. Usually when the door is opened there won't be any extra cost to move a unit across it (other than the cost of moving it to the next ground tile) BUT in the case of UFO hull doors it will still cross an additional 4 TUs, thus it will always cost 8 TUs to cross a UFO hull door, open or closed.

[[User:Hobbes|Hobbes]] 07:56, 13 October 2006 (PDT)

----
Thanks Hobbes, I think that explains everything! ;)- [[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 19:26, 13 October 2006 (PDT)

----

Thanks people, I've checked this in-game and I'm pretty sure the article is right now. I suppose one way to explain this is that it's an automatic door which detects a body walking up to it and opens by itself - so no extra action is needed to open a closed door. --[[User:MB|MB]] 00:54, 14 October 2006 (PDT)

== Section rewrite suggestions ==

I've actually started writing some notes for a section rewrite on paper. But it's confusing even to me. If any of the following seems disjointed - they are.

I think what I'd like to see starting off the section is a very basic run-down how to get the best out of your reaction thoughts. Some points include:

1. Be patient.
2. Let them come to you
3. Use fast firing weapons (quick list of all weapons by snap-shot mode)
4. The key is to react to the alien, not kill it right away.
5. Best done in large groups, regardless of reaction level

Then to move on to explaining some of the more common ambush locations can be found. Basically, the easiest and most controllable will be the UFO entrance. Out in the wilderness, there's not much you can do but the next best and the best friend of the reaction fire team is the humble corner or door (plus pros and cons of sliding doors vs. conventional doors).

After that a discussion on a variety of firing team patterns. The firing squad and the random scattered in wild abandon pattern. Notes on line of fire, and whether you should brave it or to make use of the alien's blind spots. To help that last bit, diagrams of the line of sight for the alien inside a doorway (looking out) and also for the aliens in position just behind and to the left and right of it.

Flare on top of the UFO if it's dark. Flying suits to hover and get a different angle. Using the maximum visible distance when lining up with the doorway so that the aliens come within range just as they leave the door - not before. Why soldiers should not face each other.

Then, perhaps a whole new section of its own, special notes on the various UFO types, marking out good looter/scavenger/short-range attacker locations and arrows to show which directions can be used to ambush the aliens. So on and so forth.

Warnings: scale your weapons to your enemies. It's crazy to face sectopods with pistols, for example even though they are the best reaction training weapon in the game. Though you'd train well, you wouldn't stand a chance against the sectopod's plasma gun.

Notes on what to do if nothing seems to be happening ~ aliens may be stuck and need to be coerced out by moving units close to it. Notes on unique UFOs where the alien usually won't move - or will not come out (i.e. alien in bridge of abducter).

Etc, etc, etc. I've even got a funny picture of a sectoid surrounded by guns pointing at in the frame. Odd that.

I think a good place would be to start with a good contents to work off. Any suggestions?

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

:Well, I've started off with the "exit door ambush" section, which as I said in my edit summary, I'll probably move out into its own article, as it is a very basic tactic which incidentally is good for reaction training. What I haven't gotten to yet is emphasizing AC-IN vs. Silacoids as the "training of choice", which I finally tested in the field and is flawless. You can give all your soldiers maximum reactions training risk-free as long as you bring enough clips.

:Most of your points are good (and specific to door-ambushing). A few I contest: you ''do'' want the best possible chance to kill the alien, unless you know it to be unarmed. As has been mentioned elsewhere, soldiers get reactions experience from being in the "reaction shot queue" even if the alien dies before it's their turn to fire. If it gets a chance to shoot back, someone dies. (Unless maybe you're using a tank as reactions bait -- but only if that works flawlessly. I haven't tried it myself yet.)

:Because of blind spots, corners are very bad for reactions training -- although a corner bathed in smoke might work well. Then again, corners are even better when blown up, if possible, or scouted from a distance so as to snipe whatever you find there. Corners inside UFOs are tough propositions in general.

:Using maximum visual distance is impractical on most maps, as you rarely get a clear shot at the door from 20 paces away. The smoke grenade trick is the same general idea, but more practical: much less distance needed, and the aliens have fewer TUs when they come out of the cloud. It's a pity you run out of smokeable tiles so quickly, otherwise I'd use smoke everywhere.

:Aside from those, I agree with all your points.--[[User:Ethereal Cereal|Ethereal Cereal]] 12:42, 15 March 2007 (PDT)

:: A lot of these are just notes I'd jotted down on a piece of paper while I should've been working. Didn't have much time to think them through. However, I think that some of them (like range) should still be considered even if you cannot always get into the right situations where they'd come in handy. But when you do, it's worth to have a few tricks in the toolbox to use.

:: The corners aren't useful for concentrated reaction training sessions ala the ufo door ambush, but it's still a great tool if you spot an opportunity where you can set up a small ambush for a small bit of spontaenous training.

:: I was also stressing that the point of reaction training is not to kill the alien, but to react against it. Whether you kill it or not is another matter entirely. By the way, will a second volley of reaction fire count in the queue if you do get to fire twice before the alien gets to react? One other benefit, now that I think about it, is that if the alien fires (and misses), you'll get yet another chance of launching into opportunity fire.

:: -[[User:NKF|NKF]]

== Redundancy Alert ==

Seems as if much of this article was once copied over from [[UFO_Exit_Ambush]]. Now some additions have been made here, some there... they're diverging. I suspect that people editing one version didn't know that the other one even existed. Methinks it would be better to merge the articles, and only have a link from here to there. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 10:50, 25 October 2007 (PDT)
: Yep, both articles were created independantly with the same ideas. There are actually a number of redundant sections that need ironing out, I suppose this is a good one to start with. - [[User:NKF|NKF]] 21:15, 25 October 2007 (PDT)

::My suggestion would by to turn UFO Exit Ambush into a guide on the exact hazards of a UFO Exit Ambush, much like I'm trying to do with [[Clearing UFOs]]. For example, the risk that a Muton will exit, survive the fire from ambushing troopers, and then turn and kill one or more soldier. Or the high risks of UFO ambushing a Battleship(Blaster Bombs ahoy!) Or the danger of trying to ambush a Snakeman Terror Ship or Battleship. Also include weapon usage tips, of course. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 21:56, 25 October 2007 (PDT)

I've now tried to merge the two articles; haven't deleted the stuff over here yet, though, in order to make it easier for others to double-check wether I did a good enough job. Once the ufo camping stuff is out of this article, it will be a mere stub; I suggest to relocate the remainder to the [[Reactions]] article and delete this one. Incidentally, [[Reactions]] also needs a cleanup; way too much discusion in the actual article.--[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 14:20, 26 October 2007 (PDT)

UFO Exit Ambush

2007-10-26T20:37:57Z

Schnobs: medium rewrite, merged stuff from Reactions Training, but no substantial changes. Probably many typos, though.

While you are [[Sweeping the Battlescape]], the aliens will often remain inside the UFO. Inside the UFO, aliens have many places to hide, and your troops risk getting gunned down every time they stumble blindly into a room. It is therefore usually best to stake a position outside the UFO's outer doors and let the aliens come to you.

Successfully ambushing aliens in this manner requires soldiers with high [[Reactions]]; the [[Reaction Fire|reaction shots]] they take will provide good [[Reaction Training]].

== The Basics ==

Arrange your troops with a clear line of fire to the door, and wait. At about turn 20, the aliens in the UFO will start wondering what befell their comrades and leave the UFO. With your soldiers lying in ambush, finger on the trigger, this resembles a turkey shoot more often than not. This is probably the most convenient way of [[Reaction Training|training reactions]], and reasonably safe provided you take a few precautions.

How things may go wrong:

* often more than one alien will come through the door in one turn. Your troops will usually kill the first on the spot, but (depending on how good your troops' reactions already are) the second, third, or ''n''th alien will have time to fire it's weapon, possibly killing a soldier.
:However: even if an alien gets to shoot, it may still miss; and even if it hits, it may cause little or no damage (at least after the introduction of armor). Also, the chance of too many aliens popping out all at once is directly related to the size of the UFO. So, if you restrict yourself to smaller craft at first, you won't lose many soldiers – while the survivors gain ever more experience, becoming better and better at handling such situations.

* if your troops are assembled in close ranks, this basically is an invitation for the aliens to use grenades, killing one and wounding several of your troops.
:However, in the early game only few aliens are carrying grenades; in addition, it still has to get out of the door and face your troops before it can perform the evil deed. Chances are you will catch it before; and once you have flying suits, you'll be safe from grenades anyway.

* if the aliens have [[Blaster Launchers]] at their disposal, things may become really really ugly.
:In nine out of ten battles, they fail to use it; however, if they do, you're licked. If you don't want to resort to save-and-reload under any circumstances, you better don't camp [[Battleships]].

==En Detail==
=== Troop positions ===

# The best place is to the side of the UFO door, as far away as possible (but remember that your troops mut be within 20 tiles in order to spot the aliens).
# Avoid stationing soldiers on both sides, as they may catch each other in a crossfire.
# Avoid positions where aliens may still see (and shoot at) your troops from inside the UFO.
# Absolutely avoid placing your troops in front of the door. In addition to risk #3, this will create a [[mutual surprise]] situation where the alien gets a guaranteed first shot.

If possible, spread your troops out: troops which are standing shoulder-to-shoulder are very attractiveGreande targets. [[Flying Suit]]s are excellent for UFO door ambushes: hovering troops are immune to grenades, and since they are firing downward, they can be placed on both sides of the door with little risk of accidentally hitting each other.

[[Image:Shooters_and_looter.png|center]]

The soldiers assaulting this UFO have decided to wait for the aliens to come out. Four shooters are kneeling, facing the UFO's only exit. These soldiers have the highest reaction stats in the squad. It is recommend that only soldiers with good reactions should be used. However, the more soldiers the merrier no matter their reaction level.

The main benefit of having more soldiers is to have reserves, just in case there's a whole bunch of aliens coming out all in one turn. If your high-reaction soldiers have spent their first shots, things may become hairy – this is the situation where the presence of a merely mediocre soldier will still prevent the worst. Besides, only soldiers who are there have any chance of increasing their skill at all.

Before shooting one of the soldiers, an alien must:
* Open the door and step outside (8 [[TU]]s)
* Turn to face the target (2 TUs)

The total is at least 10 TUs. For slow aliens like [[Snakeman|Snakemen]], that's a significant fraction of the total TUs, and the loss of 10 TUs often allows a soldier to fire first. Also, aliens do not always start on the square next to the door so they may have used up even more TUs.

The other soldier in the frame isn't a shooter. He's a looter. Looters have nothing to do with increasing anybody's reaction stat and everything to do with increasing X-Com's "bank balance" stat. Looters pick up corpses, stunned aliens, and dropped equipment and carry them somewhere safe, where they won't get destroyed by an explosion. Stunned aliens can optionally be left alone to provide even more reaction training once they recover. The looter can also be used to scan the entryway for any possible movement during some of the more quiet turns.

===The Troops===

The soldiers lying in ambush should have pretty good reactions to begin with; as a rule of thumb, 45-50 should suffice for the Beginner experience level, while on Superhuman the best rookies money can buy are still at risk. See [[Alien Stats]] and [[Difficulty Levels]] for the raw data, and [[Reaction Fire]] for how it computes.

===Decoys===

''If you're nervous about your troops getting shot, put a tank nearby. HWP's draw fire; aliens prefer to shoot at them over troops. As long as the tank is in the aliens' line of sight, and as close or closer than the troops, the aliens will always shoot at it before the troops. When I train, I keep several tanks on hand, replacing damaged ones with fresh units as they get shot. --[[User:Papa Legba|Papa Legba]] 14:09, 28 Nov 2005 (PST)''

=== Smoke Grenades ===

One way to reduce the likelihood of return fire is to drop a [[Smoke Grenade]] outside the door and station your soldiers 10-15 tiles away. Aliens emerging from the UFO will have to walk several squares before they will be able to see your troops, reducing their TUs subtantially, making it much more likely that your troops will be able to fire first. This also blocks the view of aliens within the UFO, making it impossible for them to shoot at your troops from within the craft.

The smoke will thin substantially within 10 or fewer turns; a new Smoke Grenade should be triggered at least that often. The smoke from a Smoke Grenade is much thicker than the moke generated by explosives ([[Proximity Grenade]]s, [[Rocket Launcher]]s, etc.) and is much more effective in this role.

=== Proximity grenades ===

The square marked with a 'G' is a good place to put a [[Proximity Grenade]]. It is a good idea to mine the exit while the shooters are getting into position - in case an alien pops out before you are ready. Once the shooters are ready, the proximity grenade can be destroyed with a normal grenade. If the UFO contains [[Muton]]s, you may consider to leave the proximity grenade where it is to soften them up before the reaction shots. Then grab the loot and set another proximity grenade for the next one.

'''Note:''' Prox Mines do not give you any experience. More specifically –and oddly– unlike other grenades, they give experience to the unit that makes them explode, not the unit that primes or throws them. So, [[Experience]] that might've been gained is basically lost – newbie units (pre Power or Flying Suit) dare not set off their Prox Grenades (which is counter to their purpose), and PS/FS units generally have psi capability and don't need proxies any more. ''Sure wish they designed Prox Mines differently – Ed.

===Which weapon to use?===

This depends on how many shots you expect to get, which in turn depends on how many shooters there are, and how good their reactions are. If the number of shooters is small, it is best to use something accurate and powerful to get a quick kill. The [[Plasma Rifle]] has the most accurate snapshot in the game, is an excellent reaction weapon, and sufficiently lethal as well.

====[[Laser Pistol]]====

With more deadly weapons, it's often the same ambusher who, time and again, gets to loose the first and only shot. With Laser Pistols, on the other hand, it usually takes several hits to kill even a Floater. This directly translates into more reaction and hit events you can milk from a single alien, hence leading to a greater stat increase. In principle, the standard issue [[Pistol]] would be even better, but also opens you to all sorts of logistical issues like bringing, and keeping an eye on, ammunition.

The little time neede per shot means that your soldiers will still get to shoot first against the second and maybe even the third alien; five or six top-of-the-line rookies with Laser Pistols will be able to safely deal with a typical Large Scout's payload of Mutons.

Another benefit is that the Laser pistol is also incapable of penetrating the front armour of a [[Flying Suit]] or [[Power Armor]], which makes it possible to set up shooters on both sides of an entrance. However, shit happens, so dont rely on this being safe.

====Heavy weapons====

Lack of an autoshot mode is not a disadvantage, because reaction shots are always snapshots. The [[Heavy Cannon]] does more damage, the [[Auto Cannon]] has the larger clip; both offer the chance to kill additional aliens still inside the UFO, or at least hurt them (so any shots they might get off will be more likely to miss your troops). Use of high-explosive ordnance also means that you will destroy much of the loot and gain less experience overall.

The same caveats apply to the use of the [[Rocket Launcher]]; in addition, due to the time spent on reloading, it will only provide a safe reaction shot every other turn. But then again, it can be fun to watch.

====The [[Small Launcher]]====

This weapon has the potential to generate many reaction shots - first to put the alien to sleep, and then every time it wakes up. This is bordering on an [[Exploits|Exploit]]. But keep in mind that a stun bomb can do up to 180 stun damage, so it could take tons of [[Medi-Kit|medkits]] to wake up the [[unconscious]] target. Maybe it's not so hot a trick - but plenty of fun!

==Tips and Tricks==

* If you shot down the UFO and the explosion of the [[UFO Power Source]] made any holes in the UFO outer hull, you will have to set up ambushes at those locations too in order to avoid aliens circling around behind you.
* Aliens tend to prefer to use the door further west on the [[Supply Ship]].
* Make sure not to stand right outside the door, otherwise you may be at risk of angled fire coming from INSIDE the UFO after the door is opened by the first alien you kill. On a similar note, watch out for [[Known_Bugs#Door_jam|door jamming]].
* The protruding upper storey of the [[Supply Ship]] means that you have to get down on the ground in order to properly watch the door. However, the roof above also means that the aliens cannot throw grenades very far.
* Likewise, the upper storey of a Battleship protects you from grenades as long as your troops are sufficiently far away from the door (five or six tiles, diagonally). On the other hand, there's usually at least one Blaster Launcher on board, which can be so much worse.

Talk:Weapons

2007-10-26T17:35:19Z

Schnobs:

Just reading through most of the equipment entries in sequence, I must say we've gathered some very good information over the years. There's always work to be done, of course, but I thought I'd mention some to-do's that just occured to me that need looking into at some time in the near future.

* Standardisation of the individual weapon subsection layouts - suggestions welcome. It's rather inconsistent at the moment.
* Improvement of weapon stat display. I was thinking, perhaps a template would be handy in this respect? Perhaps two or three varieties such as for items that don't need the different firing stats. Sort of like what I did for the base display kit template, only less complex.
* Some descriptions of weapons need work on - although I must admit I quite like the extremely short description for the [[High Explosive]]. Short and sweet. It conveys so much!
* There are some universal notes in the various sections that could use a section on their own. Like the tips for the rocket launcher usage or the notes on the special qualities of the basic pistol and the idiosyncrasy involved in pistol armament in UFO. Lots of little interesting things like this that deserve a place of their own rather than being tucked away in all the pages.

- [[User:NKF|NKF]]

:Here's my suggestion for a standardized template, starting from the top of a page.

::Blurb
::Auto-generated Table of Contents
::General Description
::Recommendation
::Weapon Statistics
:::Size
:::Weight
:::TUs
::::Auto(Auto Accuracy) (If applicable)
::::Snap(Snap Accuracy)
::::Aimed(Aimed Accuracy)
:::Purchase/Manufacturing Cost
:::Sale Price
::Ammo Statistics(If applicable)
:::Power
:::Ammo
:::Size
:::Weight
:::Purchase/Manufacture Cost
:::Sale Price
::Continuous Fire Rate
::Tips And Tricks
::Anything else(Grenade Relay, Pistol distribution notes, Blaster Bomb Safe Practice section, etc.)

:Suggestions? Comments? Approvals? [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 11:47, 13 September 2007 (PDT)

==Quick Overview Table==

It's ugly, too ugly for the article IMO. But after all that work I want to put it *somewhere*. So here it is.
''old table has been cast away''
--[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 13:50, 25 October 2007 (PDT)

----

Yeah, sad to say that does look a bit clunky. Perhaps Zombie would be willing to put together an HTML table saying the same thing? I can think of a few other things that should go on that list myself, such as loaded weight and size. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 15:45, 25 October 2007 (PDT)

----

A quick tweak to the header and you get this:

{| {{StdDescTable}}
|- {{StdDescTable_Heading}}
! Weapon !! Damage !! Accuracy !! TUs !! Rounds per Clip
|- align="center"
| [[Pistol]] ||26 || 60/-/78 || 18/-/30 || 12
|- align="center"
| [[Rifle]] || 30 || 60/35/110 || 25/35/80 || 20
|- align="center"
| [[Laser Pistol]] || 46 || 40/28/68 || 20/25/55 || ∞
|- align="center"
| [[Laser Rifle]] || 60 || 65/46/100 || 25/34/50 || ∞
|- align="center"
| [[Heavy Laser ]] || 85 || 50/-/84 || 33/-/75 || ∞
|- align="center"
| [[Plasma Pistol]] || 52 || 65/50/85 || 30/30/60 || 26
|- align="center"
| [[Plasma Rifle]] || 80 || 86/55/100 || 30/36/60 || 28
|- align="center"
| [[Heavy Plasma ]] || 115 || 75/50/110 || 30/35/60 || 35
|- align="center"
| [[Heavy Cannon]] || 56 AP 52 HE 60 In || 60/-/90 || 33/-/80 || 6
|- align="center"
| [[Auto Cannon]] || 42 AP 44HE 48 In || 56/32/82 || 33/40/80 || 14
|- align="center"
| [[Rocket Launcher ]] || 75 HE 100HE 90 In || 55/-/115 || 45/-/75 || 1
|- align="center"
| [[Small Launcher]] || 90 Stun || 65/-/110 || 40/-/75 || 1
|- align="center"
| [[Blaster Launcher]] || 200 HE || -/-/120 || -/-/80 || 1
|}

There's also damage tolerance (endurance?), value, damage types (laser/plasma/AP), the [[Stun Rod]], the double-handed req, and perhaps grenades.

- [[User:Bomb Bloke|Bomb Bloke]] 17:00, 25 October 2007 (PDT)

----
A major tweak and you get the following:

<table {{StdCenterTable}}>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th rowspan="2" width="110">Weapon</th><th colspan="2" width="100">Damage</th><th rowspan="2" width="50">Shot Type</th><th rowspan="2" width="50">Acc %</th><th rowspan="2" width="50">TU %</th></tr>
<tr {{StdDescTable_Heading}}><th>Value</th><th>Type</th></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Pistol]]</td><td rowspan="3">26</td><td rowspan="3">AP</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>NA</td><td>NA</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Snap</th><td>60</td><td>18</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Aim</th><td>78</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Rifle]]</td><td rowspan="3">30</td><td rowspan="3">AP</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>35</td><td>35</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Snap</th><td>60</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Aim</th><td>110</td><td>80</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Auto Cannon]]</td><td>42</td><td>AP</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>32</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><td>44</td><td>HE</td><th align="left">Snap</th><td>56</td><td>33</td></tr>
<tr><td>48</td><td>I</td><th align="left">Aim</th><td>82</td><td>80</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Heavy Cannon]]</td><td>56</td><td>AP</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>NA</td><td>NA</td></tr>
<tr><td>52</td><td>HE</td><th align="left">Snap</th><td>60</td><td>33</td></tr>
<tr><td>60</td><td>I</td><th align="left">Aim</th><td>90</td><td>80</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Rocket Launcher]]</td><td>75</td><td>HE</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>NA</td><td>NA</td></tr>
<tr><td>100</td><td>HE</td><th align="left">Snap</th><td>55</td><td>45</td></tr>
<tr><td>90</td><td>I</td><th align="left">Aim</th><td>110</td><td>75</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Laser Pistol]]</td><td rowspan="3">46</td><td rowspan="3">Las</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>28</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Snap</th><td>40</td><td>20</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Aim</th><td>68</td><td>55</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Laser Rifle]]</td><td rowspan="3">60</td><td rowspan="3">Las</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>46</td><td>34</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Snap</th><td>65</td><td>25</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Aim</th><td>100</td><td>50</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Heavy Laser]]</td><td rowspan="3">85</td><td rowspan="3">Las</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>NA</td><td>NA</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Snap</th><td>50</td><td>33</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Aim</th><td>84</td><td>75</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Plasma Pistol]]</td rowspan="3"><td rowspan="3">52</td><td rowspan="3">Pla</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>50</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Snap</th><td>65</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Aim</th><td>85</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Plasma Rifle]]</td><td rowspan="3">80</td><td rowspan="3">Pla</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>55</td><td>36</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Snap</th><td>86</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Aim</th><td>100</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Heavy Plasma]]</td><td rowspan="3">115</td><td rowspan="3">Pla</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>50</td><td>35</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Snap</th><td>75</td><td>30</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Aim</th><td>110</td><td>60</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Small Launcher]]</td><td rowspan="3">90</td><td rowspan="3">Stu</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>NA</td><td>NA</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Snap</th><td>65</td><td>40</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Aim</th><td>110</td><td>75</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" rowspan="3">[[Blaster Launcher]]</td><td rowspan="3">200</td><td rowspan="3">HE</td><th align="left">Auto</th><td>NA</td><td>NA</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Snap</th><td>NA</td><td>NA</td></tr>
<tr><th align="left">Aim</th><td>120</td><td>80</td></tr>
</table>
I just reused a bit of the code I made for the [http://www.strategycore.co.uk/ufo/pg/amweapons/wide/1 UFO Aftermath] weapons at StrategyCore. I suggest we use the same format as that page. (Why reinvent the wheel?) Granted, this table isn't as condensed but it at least it is organized. Also, I didn't add any other stats to it. No time right now, but tomorrow maybe. --[[User:Zombie|Zombie]] 21:28, 25 October 2007 (PDT)

::O! M! G! -- You didn't do this by hand did you? It has indeed become much prettier. However, I don't agree with the way you arranged the auto/snap/aimed stats. Having one line per weapon and all data sorted in columns allows for easier comparison, which was the prime reason why I started a table in the first place. First glance issues are also the reason why I prefer a dash over "NA". Hmm. It just changed the header first, did it, my precious? Let uss ssssee...

{| {{StdDescTable}}
|- {{StdDescTable_Heading}}
! Weapon !! Damage !! Acc !! ura !! cy!! TUs !! !! !! Rounds per Clip
|- align="center"
| [[Pistol]] || 26 AP || 60 || -- || 78 || 18 || -- || 30 || 12
|- align="center"
| [[Rifle]] || 30 AP || 60 || 35 || 110 || 25 || 35 || 80 || 20
|- align="center"
| [[Laser Pistol]] || 46 Las || 40 || 28 || 68 || 20 || 25 || 55 || ∞
|- align="center"
| [[Laser Rifle]] || 60 Las || 65 || 46 || 100 || 25 || 34 || 50 || ∞
|- align="center"
| [[Heavy Laser ]] || 85 Las || 50 || -- || 84 || 33 || -- || 75 || ∞
|- align="center"
| [[Plasma Pistol]] || 52 Pla || 65 || 50 || 85 || 30 || 30 || 60 || 26
|- align="center"
| [[Plasma Rifle]] || 80 Pla || 86 || 55 || 100 || 30 || 36 || 60 || 28
|- align="center"
| [[Heavy Plasma ]] || 115 Pla || 75 || 50 || 110 || 30 || 35 || 60 || 35
|- align="center"
| [[Heavy Cannon]] || 56 AP 52 HE 60 In || 60 || -- || 90 || 33 || -- || 80 || 6
|- align="center"
| [[Auto Cannon]] || 42 AP 44HE 48 In || 56 || 32 || 82 || 33 || 40 || 80 || 14
|- align="center"
| [[Rocket Launcher ]] || 75 HE 100HE 90 In || 55 || -- || 115 || 45 || -- || 75 || 1
|- align="center"
| [[Small Launcher]] || 90 Stun || 65 || -- || 110 || 40 || -- || 75 || 1
|- align="center"
| [[Blaster Launcher]] || 200 HE || -- || -- || 120 || -- || -- || 80 || 1
|}

Not better than before, under "first glance comparison" aspects. Even if I could make ''rowspan'' work on headers. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]]

Auto-Cannon

2007-10-25T21:05:44Z

Schnobs:

This is the automatic version of the [[Heavy Cannon]]. It retains the versatility of the Heavy Cannon and features a larger magazine as well as the capability for automatic fire.

The Auto Cannon is heavier than the Heavy Cannon and is thus less accurate. It is a slow and cumbersome beast of a weapon. Though it is called an "auto" cannon and looks like a large gatling gun, is not a fast weapon. It is the slowest operational three-shot-burst weapon in the entire X-Com armoury. It is also the Auto Cannon's ''most powerful'' feature.

As with its close cousin the [[Heavy Cannon]], the Auto Cannon retains a versatile selection of shells to suit your every need. Armour Piercing, High Explosive and Incendiary rounds are all available. By reducing the effectiveness and size of the shells, more shells can be stored in the Auto Cannon's ammunition magazine, and the shells are slightly lighter to carry than Heavy Cannon shells. The shells still pack a considerable punch nonetheless.

:'''AC-AP''' rounds are standard for the Autocannon, but are not particularly remarkable since they straddle the middle-ground between the Pistol and Cannon Tank shells. However they are reliable when you need to fight in close quarters and you do not want to cause any damage to your surroundings or destroy equipment.

:'''AC-HE''' rounds are by far the most popular and most useful shells to be crammed into the cannon's ammo hopper. They clear terrain, wipe out mobs of enemies and can cause utter mayhem as effectively as a cluster bomb. The enemies ACHE at the mere sight of it. Note however they they may not be suitable against very heavily armoured units like the [[Sectopod]]s. HE shells are unfortunately also a major source of self inflicted wounds or kills, so be very careful when using them.

:'''AC-Incendiary''' rounds are not as popular as the other two, but can serve two very important functions. The first is simply to start fires. As the impact damage for incendiary rounds is the same regardless of the weapon, AC-I rounds are the most effective means of dishing out incendiary damage against Zombies to prevent them from hatching into [[chryssalid]]s. Burning down a building or orchard is often safer then going inside or blasting away the obstacles, which would expose you to reacion fire. Also if you wish to abuse the game bug where all units standing in fire will take on incendiary impact damage, then again this is the most efficient mean of producing the damage.

:The other, probably even more popular use, is simply to start fires and illuminate the battlefield.

==Recommendation==

The Auto Cannon is most efficient when armed with AC-HE shells and excels at close to mid range combat. If you must fight in long range combat, use the same strategies that you would use with the Heavy Cannon or [[Rocket Launcher]]. Use terrain to your advantage and try to hit a wall or climb up a level or two and fire down at the ground.

When using AC-HE shells, be sure to wear some armour. A [[Power Suit]] or better is most ideal, but [[Personal Armour]] can do in a pinch. Armour will protect you from any back blast from shells that detonate too early. With Power Armour in particular, the Auto Cannon is turned into an extremely potent close combat weapon and can safely attack from an adjacent tile without fear of damaging yourself. Be careful of the indiscriminate destruction of anything and everything around you, especially around UFO Power Units.

Direct hits from the Auto Cannon may harm you even in a Power Armor, but it will not be very severe. This is extremely useful knowledge to have when you face enemies with psi powers. Though not especially powerful, the auto cannon packs enough firepower to be a real threat against most enemies such as [[Muton]]s, but is a very insignificant threat to your own soldiers as long as everyone wears Power Armour or [[Flying Suit]]s.

When inside buildings of UFOs, you can also shoot AC-HE rounds at the ceiling and defeat anything that's directly above you. This is a very useful strategy to use in UFOs that have aliens waiting in ambush, such as in the [[Abducter]]. This strategy works with any weapon that produces an area of effect, including incendiary rounds or stun bombs.

See also: [[Heavy Cannon (UFO Defense)|Heavy Cannon]]

== Stats ==
Auto Cannon:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS07.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Size: 3 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 19
*TUs:
**Auto: 40% (Accuracy 32%)
**Snap: 33% (Accuracy 56%)
**Aimed: 80% (Accuracy 82%)
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $13,500
*Sell Price: $10,125</td></tr></table>

<table style="border:1px gray solid;"><tr style="border:1px gray solid;"><td style="border:1px gray solid;">
[[Weapons#Armour-Piercing|AP]] Clip:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS08.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 42 AP
*Ammo: 14
*Size: 1 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 5
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $500
*Sell Price: $400</td></tr></table>
</td><td style="border:1px gray solid;">
[[Weapons#High Explosive|HE]] Clip:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS09.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 44 HE
*Ammo: 14
*Size: 1 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 5
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $700
*Sell Price: $560</td></tr></table>
</td><td style="border:1px gray solid;">
[[Incendiary]] Clip:
<table><tr><td>[[Image:BIGOBS10.GIF|left|64 px]]</td><td>
*Power: 48 IN
*Ammo: 14
*Size: 1 high x 2 wide
*Weight: 5
*[[Buying/Selling/Transferring#Non-Manufacturable_Prices|Cost]]: $650
*Sell Price: $520</td></tr></table>
</table>

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

* Aimed: 1 Shot, 20% Remaining TUs
* Snap: 3 Shots, 1% Remaining TUs
* Auto: 2 Shots, 20% Remaining TUs

[[Category:Equipment (UFO Defense)]]

Talk:Weapons

2007-10-25T20:50:41Z

Schnobs: Quick Overview Table

Talk:Reactions Training

2007-10-25T17:50:24Z

Schnobs: New section: Redundancy Alert

Template talk:Main

2007-10-25T17:47:32Z

Schnobs: failure.

I thought I'd just copy over "template:main" from the Wikipedia. Nice try. However, it depends on "pp-template" which in turn depends on a host of other templates. Not all of them are necessary, but... well anyway. Does someone here happen to know what's necessary for a basic Main Template? I don't think we will need the full-fledged version anytime soon. --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 10:47, 25 October 2007 (PDT)

Template:Main

2007-10-25T17:42:59Z

Schnobs: ...

:<div class="noprint">''Main article{{#if:{{{2|}}}|s}}: [[{{{1}}}|{{{l1|{{{1}}}}}}]]{{#if:{{{2| }}}
|{{#if:{{{3|}}}|, | and }}[[{{{2}}}|{{{l2|{{{2}}}}}}]]}}{{#if:{{{3|}}}
|{{#if:{{{4|}}}|, |, and }}[[{{{3}}}|{{{l3|{{{3}}}}}}]]}}{{#if:{{{4|}}}
|{{#if:{{{5|}}}|, |, and }}[[{{{4}}}|{{{l4|{{{4}}}}}}]]}}{{#if:{{{5|}}}
|{{#if:{{{6|}}}|, |, and }}[[{{{5}}}|{{{l5|{{{5}}}}}}]]}}{{#if:{{{6|}}}
|{{#if:{{{7|}}}|, |, and }}[[{{{6}}}|{{{l6|{{{6}}}}}}]]}}{{#if:{{{7|}}}
|{{#if:{{{8|}}}|, |, and }}[[{{{7}}}|{{{l7|{{{7}}}}}}]]}}{{#if:{{{8|}}}
|{{#if:{{{9|}}}|, |, and }}[[{{{8}}}|{{{l8|{{{8}}}}}}]]}}{{#if:{{{9|}}}
|{{#if:{{{10|}}}|, |, and }}[[{{{9}}}|{{{l9|{{{9}}}}}}]]}}{{#if:{{{10|}}}
|, and [[{{{10}}}|{{{l10|{{{10}}}}}}]]}}''{{#if:{{{11| }}}| (too many parameters in {{[[Template:main|main]]}})}}</div><noinclude>
</noinclude>

Template:Main

2007-10-25T17:41:46Z

Schnobs: will copy-and-paste work?

Talk:Statstrings

2007-10-23T22:10:19Z

Schnobs: /* Edit for clarity */

==Edit for clarity==

The "default configuration" example was literally the default configuration, copied verbatim from the xcomutil.conf file as it comes in the archive. Are you sure that this is valid syntax? Even if the pluses work just as well, I don't think we should present a "default conf" that has already been tampered with... --[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]] 12:13, 22 October 2007 (PDT)

:I didn't realize that was taken verbatim right out of the code file. If you're looking to have machine-readable examples, or examples right out of the file, feel free to revert it; my apologies. [[User:Arrow Quivershaft|Arrow Quivershaft]] 13:16, 22 October 2007 (PDT)

I tried to come up with an explanation of the syntax, but... Maybe someone whose english is better than mine should try his hand at this.

An entry consists of two parts:
*first, the statstring that will be added to a soldiers' name. It can be anything you like, but should better be short.
*second, the condition to trigger that string (like k:30-59), which itself is made up of two parts: a one-letter handle for the stat (like r for reactions or b for bravery), and the experience range.

Note that these are ''ranges'': lower boundary, dash, upper boundary. Either one can be omitted if the range should be open-end. So 30-50 means "from thirty to fifty", -25 means "anything below 26" (and is equal to 0-25) and 60- means "sixty or higher" (equal to 60-255). 42, unsurprisingly, would mean "a value of exactly 42".

I'm not quite sure how some strings override others.--[[User:Schnobs|Schnobs]]

Statstrings

2007-10-23T21:55:08Z

Schnobs: /* The default configuration: */

==The default configuration:==

Open XcomUtil.cfg with any text editor. The section on Statstrings is at around line 1200 (and can be easisly found if you search for "statstrings").

NameStats
StatStrings

x p:-30 //Psi strength (resistance) 30 or less
P p:80- //immune to Psi attacks
p p:60-79 //reasonably safe from Psi
K k:60- //high Psi Skill
k k:30-59 //good Psi Skill
b b:60- //very brave
c b:-10 //coward
w s:-25 //weak

Snpr f:60+ r:60+

M f:70- //Marksman
m f:60-69

Sct r:50- d:60-

R r:60- //Reactions
r r:50-59

This is the default configuration as it comes out of the box. The comments have been added to make it more readable, but the actual data has not been changed.

The main problem with the default scheme is that sooner or later, most of your soldiers will become a "Snpr". The same string for everyone is like having no string at all.

==Simple Numeric StatStrings==

Instead of Mnemnonics, many people prefer to have actual figures displayed. The following strings do just that: "Anton Miller /45" is a Soldier whose firing accuracy is about 40, and reactions about 50.

1 f:0-14
2 f:15-24
3 f:25-34
4 f:35-44
5 f:45-54
6 f:55-64
7 f:65-74
8 f:75-84
9 f:85-94

1 r:0-14
2 r:15-24
3 r:25-34
4 r:35-44
5 r:45-54
6 r:55-64
7 r:65-74
8 r:75-84
9 r:85-94

==Detailed numeric strings==

I've been using the above scheme for a while, but noticed that I use only a small part of the range. I'm habitually sacking soldiers with a firing accuracy below 50, for example, so the numbers 1-4 aren't really needed -- they indicate that a soldier won't meet my requirements, that's all. More generally, the purpose of statstrings is to make soldiers easily comparable when hiring and sacking or when you have to decide who's the first to go through an conspicious door.

NameStats
StatStrings

- f:0-49
1 f:50-54
2 f:55-60
3 f:61-64
4 f:65-70
5 f:71-75
6 f:76-80
7 f:81-85
8 f:86-90
9 f:91-95
a f:96-100
b f:101-105
c f:106-110
d f:111-115
e f:116-

- r:0-45
0 r:46-49 //sometimes I'm short on cash and have to hire zeroes...
1 r:50-53
2 r:54-57
3 r:58-61
4 r:62-65
5 r:66-69
6 r:70-73
7 r:74-77
8 r:78-81
9 r:82-85
a r:86-89
b r:90-93
c r:94-97
d r:98-100
e r:101-

W s:0-19 //weak. can only carry Rifle + clips OR Laser Rifle + grenades
w s:20-25 //additional Medikit or Stun Rod is possible
n s:26-30 //normal. no problems with standard gear
h s:31-40 //heavy or auto-cannon plus spare clip
H s:41- //can handle 4 Large Rockets + Launcher

1 p:0-15
2 p:16-25
3 p:26-35
4 p:36-44
5 p:45-54
6 p:55-64
7 p:65-74
8 p:75-84
9 p:85-

0 k:1-15
2 k:16-25
3 k:25-35
4 k:36-44
5 k:45-54
6 k:55-64
7 k:65-74
8 k:75-84
9 k:85-

This results in Soldier names like "Anton Karas /13n" or "Grace Kelly /41H81". The scheme is: 
firing accuracy - reactions - strength - Psi strength (resistance) - Psi skill

Notes:
* I wanted to use W-w-n-s-S for weak-normal-strong, but it's impossible to distiguish an S from a 5 which really looks weird. So I settled on H for "heavy gear" instead.
* values for Firing accuracy and reactions are hexadecimal, 1-9 then a-e; it may be that the sudden appearance of letters where you're used to numbers may look strange. I don't know, because my soldiers never become that good.
* Psi strength / skill will only be displayed after a soldier went through his first tenure of Psi training. So, a blank means the soldier hasn't been screened yet.

Talk:Statstrings

2007-10-22T19:13:11Z

Schnobs: Edit for clarity?

Statstrings

2007-10-21T14:30:51Z

Schnobs: New page: ==The default configuration:== Open XcomUtil.cfg with any text editor. The section on Statstrings is at around line 1200 (and can be easisly found if you search for "statstrings"). Here's...

==The default configuration:==

Open XcomUtil.cfg with any text editor. The section on Statstrings is at around line 1200 (and can be easisly found if you search for "statstrings"). Here's what it looks like by default; comments have been added to make it more readable.

NameStats
StatStrings

x p:-30 //Psi strength (resistance) 30 or less
P p:80- //immune to Psi attacks
p p:60-79 //reasonably safe from Psi
K k:60- //high Psi Skill
k k:30-59 //good Psi Skill
b b:60- //very brave
c b:-10 //coward
w s:-25 //weak

Snpr f:60- r:60-

M f:70- //Marksman
m f:60-69

Sct r:50- d:60-

R r:60- //Reactions
r r:50-59

:''fixme: maybe a detailed description of the syntax might be in order. However, I'mm to lazy atm.''

The main problem with the default scheme is that sooner or later, most of your soldiers will become a "Snpr". The same string for everyone is like having no string at all.

==Simple Numeric StatStrings==

Instead of Mnemnonics, many people prefer to have actual figures displayed. The following strings do just that: "Anton Miller /45" is a Soldier whose firing accuracy is about 40, and reactions about 50.

1 f:0-14
2 f:15-24
3 f:25-34
4 f:35-44
5 f:45-54
6 f:55-64
7 f:65-74
8 f:75-84
9 f:85-94

1 r:0-14
2 r:15-24
3 r:25-34
4 r:35-44
5 r:45-54
6 r:55-64
7 r:65-74
8 r:75-84
9 r:85-94

==Detailed numeric strings==

I've been using the above scheme for a while, but noticed that I use only a small part of the range. I'm habitually sacking soldiers with a firing accuracy below 50, for example, so the numbers 1-4 aren't really needed -- they indicate that a soldier won't meet my requirements, that's all. More generally, the purpose of statstrings is to make soldiers easily comparable when hiring and sacking or when you have to decide who's the first to go through an conspicious door.

NameStats
StatStrings

- f:0-49
1 f:50-54
2 f:55-60
3 f:61-64
4 f:65-70
5 f:71-75
6 f:76-80
7 f:81-85
8 f:86-90
9 f:91-95
a f:96-100
b f:101-105
c f:106-110
d f:111-115
e f:116-

- r:0-45
0 r:46-49 //sometimes I'm short on cash and have to hire zeroes...
1 r:50-53
2 r:54-57
3 r:58-61
4 r:62-65
5 r:66-69
6 r:70-73
7 r:74-77
8 r:78-81
9 r:82-85
a r:86-89
b r:90-93
c r:94-97
d r:98-100
e r:101-

W s:0-19 //weak. can only carry Rifle + clips OR Laser Rifle + grenades
w s:20-25 //additional Medikit or Stun Rod is possible
n s:26-30 //normal. no problems with standard gear
h s:31-40 //heavy or auto-cannon plus spare clip
H s:41- //can handle 4 Large Rockets + Launcher

1 p:0-15
2 p:16-25
3 p:26-35
4 p:36-44
5 p:45-54
6 p:55-64
7 p:65-74
8 p:75-84
9 p:85-

0 k:1-15
2 k:16-25
3 k:25-35
4 k:36-44
5 k:45-54
6 k:55-64
7 k:65-74
8 k:75-84
9 k:85-

This results in Soldier names like "Anton Karas /13n" or "Grace Kelly /41H81". The scheme is: 
firing accuracy - reactions - strength - Psi strength (resistance) - Psi skill

Notes:
* I wanted to use W-w-n-s-S for weak-normal-strong, but it's impossible to distiguish an S from a 5 which really looks weird. So I settled on H for "heavy gear" instead.
* values for Firing accuracy and reactions are hexadecimal, 1-9 then a-e; it may be that the sudden appearance of letters where you're used to numbers may look strange. I don't know, because my soldiers never become that good.
* Psi strength / skill will only be displayed after a soldier went through his first tenure of Psi training. So, a blank means the soldier hasn't been screened yet.